Golden Feather

Hope was walking down an abandoned animal trail. It weaved through the tall grass and underbrush, barely still there enough to walk on. It was quiet except for the sound of the breeze through the trees, and her footsteps crunching on the dirt. She brushed some of her dirty brown hair from her face and looked around. 

“Falyn?!” Hope called out. “This isn't funny!” She paused walking, listening quietly for a response, and got nothing but an eerie quiet. She looked around with a nervous sigh but kept on the trail. “He always does this...” She grumbled quietly to herself. Every time they run off to play, whether it be hide and seek, tag, or tracking practice. Her younger brother Falyn always runs off and makes her find him first. Father always says that playing is immature now that they're grown. That they should be tending to the home and crafts that they’ve been accumulating over the past year. But it’s summer! It's too nice out to just sit around all day and do chores. Unfortunately, that means Hope has to use her not so great tracking skills, which seemed to have failed her today. 

The path took a sharp turn through a long wall of evergreen shrubs which had overgrown, blocking the path and preventing her from following it any further. Hope stood there and contemplated pushing through the shrubbery. After about five minutes or so, she decided she was going to go back the way she came and start over as it really wasn’t worth all the scratchy branches and needles. She turned around and started walking, but after a couple steps she heard a couple voices from behind the shrubs. Curious, she turned around and walked back over to the bushes. She waited until they faded away before quietly pushing her way through the brush, careful not to make noise or catch the needles in her long hair. After quite a bit of struggle, she got out of the thick tangled mess of shrubbery and stumbled onto an old road with deep ruts furrowed by carts over many years. The old cart track was hedged by tall weeds and overgrown with grass, making it look forgotten and unused.

She dusted off the debris from her battle with the evergreens and scanned the forest around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the strangers. With a light sigh Hope looked to the ground and noticed a couple sets of fresh footprints in the dust of the cart track. 

“Ah! That must be them.” She thought to herself. She pulled the hood of her linen capelet over her head and set after them.

It only took a few minutes to catch up to them and Hope decided to keep her distance, staying far enough to watch them and not draw suspicions. She observed them curiously, sticking towards the edge of the path, it was getting darker out, so she had an easier time blending into the shadows. The people were unlike any kind Hope had seen before, since Father didn’t let her or Falyn go into town, all she knows is her family. One of the two was twice the height and triple the size of his companion, His skin was like a roasted chestnut and his broad shoulders carried a dead boar and he wore a large sword across his back. The other person was shorter and more petite than the large man. Unlike their companion, they had hair that she’d never seen before. It looked dark black and textured, like a storm cloud atop the stranger’s head. The smaller stranger was carrying a large bag on her back, bulging from how stuffed it was. 

Moments later they reached a fork in the path, leading to a stone paved road. Hope slinked behind a tree and peeked round, even holding her breath as the two looked around the area. The woman scratched her head seeming deep in thought 

“I don’t know, Vance.. It’s getting pretty late, whaddya say we set up camp here and go back in the morning? We still have a couple miles left and I don’t know if we can make it back before it gets too dark.” The woman said, looking over at the large man. He stroked his long beard braid and grunted in agreement as he surveyed the area.

“Mm that should work...” He wandered off the beaten path over towards the trunk of a large tree, plopping the boar down next to the exposed roots. “Why don’t you prep camp and I’ll get the fire started eh?” he asked, dusting his hands off on his linen shirt.

“Why don’t you do that yourself old man?” The woman said with a faint chuckle, following Vance. “I shouldn’t have to every time-“she said sarcastically as she took her large pack off, setting it down next to the boar. She undid the ties on the pack, starting to pull out some supplies and set them to the side.

Vance chuckled lightly, as he trekked over towards the thicker wood. “Now Imani, I’m not that young anymore.” His raspy voice said loudly as he came closer towards Hope, picking up some small branches on the way.

Hope took a sharp breath and started to slink back quietly as he got closer. Vance meandered closer before stopping in his tracks. His nose scrunched slightly, and he squinted, furrowing his brows as he looked around. He stared in her direction for a moment, before shaking his head and picking up another small branch as he muttered something under his breath. Hope relaxed and let out a breath of relief as she was about to turn around.

“Going somewhere?” Imani hummed into her ear as she grabbed Hope from behind and pressed a cold blade to her neck.

Hope froze, her eyes growing wide with fear. “..uh.. uhm.. home?” she squeaked as Imani’s grip tightened. “.Why?”

“Is that so?” Imani chuckled lightly. “You’re gonna have to come up with something a little better that.” She said, pressing the knife harder on the skin, almost slicing her throat.

“I swear! I’m just going home!” Hope whined. “Please- “ 

“Is it just me or are they sending kids now?” Vance huffed as he approached them. “Last time they sent someone who actually knew how to follow us but now they’re just sending anyone they can get their hands on.” He shook his head with a scowl. “I mean look at her! She can’t even defend herself.”

“Well what do you want me to do then? It’s not like we can let her go, she’ll just go running back to them and they will send another untrained kid on a suicide mission” Imani stated plainly as she moved the knife away from Hope’s skin. “Plus.. she isn’t that much older than Benji..”

“I- I’ll tell you whatever you want to know- “Hope started, taking a shaky breath. “Just, let me go, please.” She begged, tears welled up in her eyes, and one fell down her cheek.

Imani looked at Hope and back at Vance, waiting for his decision. He contemplated a moment before nodding in Hope’s direction. “Let her talk.” 

Imani nodded and let Hope go, slipping her knife back in her sheath. Hope quickly stepped away, staring at the two with wide green eyes like a scared little fawn about to be devoured. Her eyes darted around the woods before settling back on Vance and Imani.

“Well now get on with it.” Vance grumbled. “We don’t have all day for you to sit there looking like a beaten puppy.”

“Well... uhm...” Hope sniffled, wiping her cheeks. “I just was looking for my brother because it was almost dinner time and I got a little lost and then I heard your voices and I’ve never seen anyone like you before so I was curious and followed you” She blurted out in one breath and then took a second to compose herself. “I didn’t want to hurt you guys..”

Imani and Vance shared an amused glance, and Imani chuckled quietly. “Well, that explains a lot..” she crossed her arms as she contemplated a moment, staring at Hope. “Well, if you’re so harmless, help us set up our little camp and we can talk about it after we’re done. I would hate to waste time we could be using right now.”

Hope gave a slight nod, her face relaxing a little. “Sure I can help with that.”

“Great. What’s your name girl? Mine is Imani, and this is my friend Vance.” She said, motioning to him

“My name is Hope. Nice meeting you?” Hope said unsurely with a weak chuckle as she looked between the two.

Imani smirked faintly and nodded. “I suppose nice meeting you too, Hope. Now you can help Vance here with the firewood. He could use someone to carry it for him, he’s getting to old for that kind of thing by himself you know.”

Vance curled his lip “I’m not that weak yet.” He muttered before looking over at Hope. “You better do a good job, or Imani wont be the one almost killing you, I will.” He growled. “now get over here and hold these logs for me.”

Hope looked at Imani with pleading eyes. Imani just shrugged before turning and walking back towards the ‘camp’. Hope watched her for a moment before hesitantly walking over to him. “what do you want me to do?” she asked quietly.

Vance plopped the branches in her arms ad shrugged. “Just hold on to these while I grab more. Easy enough for a weakling like you eh?” 

Hope nodded lightly, barely holding a straight face as she strained to hold them. Her brow was starting to sweat and her knees started to wobble from the weight “Y..yeah, I can handle it” she squeaked. 

He stared at her for a moment, shaking his head as he muttered something under his breath. He took one of the branches from the top of her pile back and turned around, walking away as he started looking for more branches. She adjusted her pile, relieved that the weight was more bearable before following him.