Traveling is usually simple, direct, straightforward and uneventful. Occasionally, the unexpected happens. When one member of the party is a small, yet eager girl with special “abilities,†the unexpected occurs much more frequently. So it went for Michael and Arvonia.Arvonia was a bundle of elation and excitement. She was ready to plow forward to places unknown. Michael, on the other hand, was more reserved and uncertain. A very short time after they set out, they would need to pass by the one place Michael had not been in eight years.
Ever since that fateful night, when Arvonia had come into their lives, all residents of the village were forbidden to go to the castle ruins. If you had business outside of the village, you were required to take an approved escort to ensure you would not venture near the ruins. The escort would then wait for you to return in order to maintain your compliance with the directives on the way back down the path.
Michael never would have needed an escort. He still had a faint scar around his ankle where the rope had worn through his skin eight years earlier to remind him not to go near the ruins. On Michael’s sixteenth birthday he had registered to become an escort now that he had reached the minimum age. As such, it was with apprehension that Michael led his sister up the path past the castle where his sister had briefly lived.
Arvonia, on the other hand was ready to boldly march up the unknown path to new adventures. She had never been allowed beyond the edge of the forest at the village limits. With each new bend in the road, she found something new and interesting to examine. She was constantly running here to there saying things like, “Look at those mushrooms!†and, “Oh, Michael! I found a toad!â€
Michael was already exhausted from this start of their journey as they approached the castle. He wasn’t sure what to expect. Would the place still look the same? How would Arvonia act when she saw the ruins? She would want to explore it, of course, but would she take, “no,†for an answer?
Fortunately for Michael, it wasn’t an issue. The place did not look like it had eight years ago. With Evelyn gone, the saplings had turned into a stand of small trees. The dark green moss and lichens had helped the walls camouflage perfectly with the canopy of leaves from the copse. When Arvonia went scurrying up the path chasing after a chipmunk, she didn’t even notice her former home.
Relieved at his good fortune, Michael trotted up the path after his sister certain that this was a sign of good things to come on their journey. Time would prove him wrong. In fact, in hindsight, this would be one of the only good things that actually happened on their entire journey.
Ever since that fateful night, when Arvonia had come into their lives, all residents of the village were forbidden to go to the castle ruins. If you had business outside of the village, you were required to take an approved escort to ensure you would not venture near the ruins. The escort would then wait for you to return in order to maintain your compliance with the directives on the way back down the path.
Michael never would have needed an escort. He still had a faint scar around his ankle where the rope had worn through his skin eight years earlier to remind him not to go near the ruins. On Michael’s sixteenth birthday he had registered to become an escort now that he had reached the minimum age. As such, it was with apprehension that Michael led his sister up the path past the castle where his sister had briefly lived.
Arvonia, on the other hand was ready to boldly march up the unknown path to new adventures. She had never been allowed beyond the edge of the forest at the village limits. With each new bend in the road, she found something new and interesting to examine. She was constantly running here to there saying things like, “Look at those mushrooms!†and, “Oh, Michael! I found a toad!â€
Michael was already exhausted from this start of their journey as they approached the castle. He wasn’t sure what to expect. Would the place still look the same? How would Arvonia act when she saw the ruins? She would want to explore it, of course, but would she take, “no,†for an answer?
Fortunately for Michael, it wasn’t an issue. The place did not look like it had eight years ago. With Evelyn gone, the saplings had turned into a stand of small trees. The dark green moss and lichens had helped the walls camouflage perfectly with the canopy of leaves from the copse. When Arvonia went scurrying up the path chasing after a chipmunk, she didn’t even notice her former home.
Relieved at his good fortune, Michael trotted up the path after his sister certain that this was a sign of good things to come on their journey. Time would prove him wrong. In fact, in hindsight, this would be one of the only good things that actually happened on their entire journey.
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