2. The Barren Road

Going with Rogue to visit his grandson, Brooke encounters some strangers who obviously know her, but she doesn't know them. Who are these people?

Brooke drew her curtains aside and the morning light washed over the room. She gazed at the vast sea outside her window. Tucking the confirmation letter into her pocket, she marveled at the waters rocking against the peninsula that held her dad’s home. She wanted to tell Rogue about her acceptance…Four days…in Four days she will have to spar with a master guardian and hope he or she finds her skills worthy to allow her inside the academy. Brooke shuddered at the nervousness sneaking into her skin yet she found herself impatient to start. She also wanted to increase her training time. Dad might have a problem with it, but Brooke wanted every doubt she had to whither on the battlefield.

She walked to her closet and clamped her sheath to her belt. She held her sword up by its cord wrap as the sunlight glinted off its blade. Her mother’s favorite yellow ribbon shined as a beacon for her ambition, tied just above the guard.

She left her room, wrapping a jacket around her shoulders. Brooke bumped into Dad dressed in a suit and tie. It was probably time for work at the diner. He owned the diner and the movie theater, businesses passed down from his father. He hoped to pass it down to a son if he ever got one. The thought of Mary bearing her a stepbrother made Brooke shiver. “Good morning, Dad.”

He scratched the stubble on his chisel jaw. “Morning Brooke, where you headed off at this hour?”

“Over to Rogue’s place,” she answered.

He yawned and stretched, a weary look looming on his face. “Brooklyn, it’s bad enough seeing you come home with wounds all over you-”

 “We’ve been through this; I’ll see you later.” She gave a reassuring smile to her dad and kissed him on the cheek.

Once outside, she breathed in the winter air and walked out of the Far East plains, following the road through the rural city, until she came upon the Lavender Stream. She strolled along side its pleasant rushing sound.

Brooke often wished she had a car, wished her father would buy a car for her, or dreamt about the day she’d be working for the royal family and have enough to purchase her own. She feared sometimes that she would miss this- the salving winds and the scents of a dry morning. These things made her start the spar session calm. She still needed to focus on controlling her emotions better, though, thought Brooke as she came upon the entrance to the mountains.

When she approached Rogue’s cottage, she rapped on the door, hoping that Rogue was even awake. He didn’t believe in phones and had no car. What will she do if he’s not even home? Before she had time to ponder on some ideas, he answered the door with a loud grunt.

Brooke studied Rogue’s appearance and noticed a brown tunic stretched across his broad chest. He wore khaki pants and deer fur boots. His hair, usually in ruffles was tame, and his beard was trim. At least she hadn’t interrupted his sleep.

“Hey, Brooke!” Rogue’s eyes squinted at her as if seeing her for the first time. “You’re early.”

“I got my confirmation letter yesterday.”

Rogue opened his door wider. “Well, it’s a bit cold, won’t you come inside?”

Brooke nodded. She hadn’t seen inside his cottage for a while and forgot how messy Rogue was. Brooke stepped over clothes and garments thrown on the floor. The kitchen stood across from the living room. She smelled that Rogue had cooked breakfast. Uneaten hog meat lay like bacon strips on the plate set on the tiny, round table of dark cedar. Brooke settled on the couch. Rogue’s living room was devoid of any electronics. No phone. No radio. No car. No television. Only a couch, two sofa chairs, and a hearth.

Rogue tended the fire; the sun dimmed its light over the wooden walls. Above the hearth, beside two deer heads and a trophy trout plaque, was a portrait of Rogue’s wife and daughter that Brooke always admired. His wife was an elfin woman, slim, tall, and beautiful. She held a screaming, restless girl in her lap. Brooke knew they both died, not sure how because Rogue wouldn’t talk about them.

Rogue plopped down on the sofa chair. Brooke reached into her pocket and gave him the envelope. He read it. “This is great, Brooke!”

She nodded. “Four days…”

He laid the envelope on the coffee table, got up, and returned with two cups of tea. “Is that all you came here to tell me?”

“I was also wondering if you would increase our sparring time.” Brooke brought the glass to her lips.

“You want to be prepared I see?” Silence answered yes for him. She sipped the tea, its warmth against her tongue. “I understand, Brooklyn, and we definitely will if you’d like.”

“Are you sure?” Brooke lifted her mouth from the cup. “I’m not taking up your time am I?”

Rogue laughed and waved his hand dismissively. “It’s good to put this knowledge of swords craft to use anyways, besides it’s the least I could do after Rain left without a trace the way she did.” Brooke cleared her throat and Rogue blushed. “Sorry, but I’m happy to help.”

“I brought my sword with me.”

Rogue shook his head. “Not today, Brooklyn.”

“Huh, Why?”

“I’m gonna visit my grandson today; he asked me to bring him something.” Brooke forgot that Rogue occasionally went to visit his grandson at the market complex. At least she got him to increase her training hours.

“Mind if I come along?” she asked. There was nothing to do for the day. Dad won’t expect her back soon and he didn’t hint that he needed help at the theater or the diner.

“Not at all; I should be on my way now if I am to catch the ferry.” Brooke and Rogue finished their last of the tea in silence. Rogue put the fire out, ate, and placed the dishes in the sink. Rogue grabbed a bag out of his closet with branches protruding from of it. She saw that it was deer antlers, and wondered what his grandson wanted with them. Rogue threw on his overcoat and they went.

Brooke followed Rogue back into the kingdom walls and they treaded by the road that lead to the docks. Travelers, tourists, children, and executives bustled around gazing upon the Akasha Ocean and boarded the ferryboat.

As they approached the docks Brooke noticed the ferryman wasn’t the same old, sweet man she knew. There stood ushering people onto the boat was a short man with long, red, fox ears and bushels of hair all over his skin. “Seems the royal family has become humble with the anymalis, eh?” whispered Rogue.

Brooke gawked at the creature of human and fox mix. When he caught her stare, he frowned; his brows thin and light as if not even there. His eyes were wide set and brown, set eyes of a fox, yet filled with human intelligence. His long, snout-like nose furrowed and he growled. “What are you lookin at?” he barked.

Brooke turned away, and Rogue rushed her onto the ferry boat. “That was rude,” scorned Rogue as the anymalis unlatched the boat.

Rogue and Brooke leaned on the rail. She smelled the salty winds of the ocean. They didn’t make her as seasick when she was younger. The sun beamed against the waves as they pushed on the crests of the upcoming docks.

“I didn’t mean it, honest, I’d never seen one before.” Brooke mashed her lips together. “Last I checked Alagracia treated them like pests and banished them to the forest…” Brooke paused. “So how is Shawn?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Good. He’s almost become a sword smith now,” answered Rogue, smiling with pride. “His master just needs to make his license; he wanted to make a sword to impress him.”

Brooke chuckled. “Soon I’ll be just like him,” She said, looking at her master and grinned.

“Yes you will.”

The boat stopped. Brooke noticed another anymalis, a stocky woman this time with ears of a rat. She had a deep, rasped voice as she screamed, “All aboard!” She tried not to gawk this time.

Brooke followed Rogue off the boat. Brooke and Rogue caught the bus and rode it to the entrance of the market. After exiting the bus, they walked into amaze of perfumes and gunpowder offered by shouting sellers standing by their stalls. Gypsies held out their potions screaming for buyers and executives shouted out the benefits of their guns.

Rogue and Brooke started to pass rows of houses, side by side as if tied together in a bundle. The only thing that stood out was the color of the panels, and even that became a dull pattern. Red. Green. Yellow. White. Blue. Black. Then it started over. They were unlike the ones on the other side of the kingdom where each house was different in its own way.

They stopped at a house with a vase full of wildflowers by the doorstep. It was a little set from the rest. Firstly, it had it was a space away from the previous house and it had a brown pitch to its plastic walls. It had a yard and a white fence. Rogue put the bag of antlers down, walked up the stairs, and knocked on the door. He knocked and waited, but no one answered. He groaned and clasped his hand over his head. He turned to Brooke and said, “He must be at work; come on.”

“So we’re headed to the sword shop, right?” Brooke asked.

Rogue nodded lugged the bag of antlers on his back again.

They found a bus stop by a mall complex and rode it to a drop off by a barren road. The sword shop rested in a desolate area before the entrance to the Wilderness. Wanderers, men, and women that hunted or trained entered the Wilderness to test their abilities, challenging demons and monsters they encountered. She wasn’t ready for the Wilderness and she knew it. She hoped the academy would whip her out of that fear because the royal family traveled in the Wilderness to get to their designated area many times.

The shop was a small, brick cottage with a metal roof. Rogue knocked on the door, barely sizable for him. A very thin woman answered it. Her long earrings dangled beneath her ears like wind chimes. A single, extended strand stuck out from a semicircle of short tresses and lay over her shoulder. She had two incense sticks in her hands and wore a purple robe with strange symbols rolling across the silk cloth. The woman scowled at Rogue. “Stop knocking so hard you big idiot!”

“Let’s not start with a headache today, if you don’t mind of course,” he reprimanded.

The woman grunted, crossing her arms, but her face loosened up when she saw Brooke. She gasped and gawked at her. Brooke blushed. Now she understood how that anymalis felt. “Is that Rain’s baby?” asked the woman. Brooke arched a brow at her. How did this woman know her mom? Brooke didn’t recognize the woman at all. Rogue nodded. “Does the baby know me?”

 “Probably not.”

The woman returned to scowling, the expression wrinkling her dark complexion. “Well don’t just stand there!”

Rogue rolled his eyes. “Brooke, this is Madam Moon, Shawn’s boss.”

What a strange name, thought Brooke. She shook the woman- Madam Moon’s hand and Brooke said, “Pleased to meet you.”

Madam Moon curtseyed and a grin crossed her face, her lips glossed with purple lipstick. It matched the strand of hair lying over her shoulder. “The pleasure’s all mine; you have Rain’s eyes, grey as the mysteries within a field of fog, ugh, I’m no good at riddles.” Madam Moon laughed.

“We don’t have time for your stupid rambles, let Shawn know we are here,” scoffed Rogue.

“Oh fine,” huffed Madam Moon. “I have a chant to get to anyways.”

“No one cares about your little witchcraft.”

“Magic has its wonders, but as you wish.” Madam Moon led them inside the cottage. A counter stretched throughout it. Behind the counter stood a wall framed with swords, hammers, axes, and other weapons. In the recess of weaponry, stood an oval archway. Madam Moon disappeared behind it.

“Does she really use magic?” Brooke finally asked.

“Yep.” Magic use was illegal. Only the royal family can use magic. Of course, many illegal things went on in this side of the kingdom Brooke figured when she saw the gypsies selling such illegal products as potions.

Shawn walked out, drying his hands and unrolling his sleeves. He saw them and smiled. “Hey Granddad, oh, thank you!” He took the load off Rogue and stashed the bag in the back. “Two more months and license here I come,” bragged Shawn, and then he glanced at Brooke. “Oh hey, Brooklyn.”

It had been a long time since Brooke had seen Shawn. He always seemed like a frail boy. He was skinny around the waist, but muscular around his arms. His eyes were a deep brown and he had a baby complexion that made him appear soft. It was hard to imagine he worked hard at constructing swords all day. “Hi Shawn, what project are you working on now?” she asked trying to make conversation.

“Uh, well, this hunter sword; it’s hard to explain. What about you? Did you get accepted into the guardian academy?” he asked.

Brooke nodded and held her confirmation letter in the air. She grinned and he understood. “Congratulations.”

“Congrats to you for almost getting your license.”

Shawn chuckled. “Yeah, it took awhile, but this hunter sword project will finally put me above my master.” He turned to Rogue. “Hey Grandad, I’ve been meaning to ask you, did you want to go to this party thing with me?”

Rogue shrugged. “Not really a fan of parties.”

“I’d been invited by the royal family to forge a powerful sword and they’ve also invited me to this party thing…should’ve known you wouldn’t come though, what about you, Brooke?”

She suppressed the tingle sensation in her cheeks and words started clogging in her throat. A party? She wasn’t so much a fan of parties herself, mostly because she was never invited to one. “Uh, sure, when is it?” Brooke replied.

“Here’s the invitation.” Shawn gave her a pink sheet with fancy, scribbled writing on it. The youngest princess was holding a violin recital. Someone knocked at the door. “I got it, Boss!” yelled Shawn. Rogue and Brooke looked to see who it was. Shawn invited the stranger inside. The figure appeared young and boyish with a head full of short blonde locks. There was a smaller figure behind him. A girl with cat ears sticking out of her red head and whiskers on the side of her stubby nose peaked at Brooke and Rogue, clinging to the stranger’s black overcoat.

“Well I came to request a sword if you will,” said the stranger bearing a nice, pleasant voice.

“Right away sir, I need your name and the request,” answered Shawn as he closed the door.

“My name is…call me Dorian and the anymalis is Ellis.” The anymalis waved shyly. The man named Dorian stared at Brooke. “Who are you?” he asked Brooke.

She arched a brow at him and replied, “Brooklyn-”

“Keeper?” finished Dorian hastily. Brooke nodded. Who else knew her that she didn’t know? “You must be Rain’s daughter.” Dorian grinned and turned to Shawn.

“Never mind, dear swords smith, I must be on my way now.” Shawn looked nonplussed and nodded.

“Uh sure?” Dorian and Ellis left with Brooke, Shawn, and Rogue giving him dubious stares.

 

Author's Note

Dear Reader,

What can I say about this chapter. It is simply meant to introduce some important characters. Shawn is a main character and Madam Moon is a minor character, but she is very helpful as the story progresses. I wanted you to enjoy the setting, the writing style, and characters. Let me know if I achieved that purpose or not.

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely JazzSoulKeke,

God bless

Reviews

[Jane P.]

I love the world you have created! Mentioning the Wilderness was a nice touch and really perked my curiosity. Also, the shortness between Rogue and Madame Moon's conversation was quite funny, I'm dying to know what happened between them in the past for their relationship to be this strained!

Omgosh and everyone seems to know her mother! This is a really interesting aspect of the story and further stresses the mystery of her missing mother. Great work! Also, totally loving the anymalis and their presence in your story. I love how this is sort of set in our world, but it appears more like a collision between fantasy and reality. Beautiful imagery.

Amazing writing! I can't wait to continue reading!

[Kianna]

Thanks so much! This just made my day :)

[MoonlitAngel]

"Brooke drew her curtains aside and the morning light washed over the room." There should be a comma after aside. Also, I think you could use some better descriptive skills. I know this is a rough draft, so hey, just put down what's going on, but now that you have people editing/reviewing your work, and you might be editing your own book, it might be prudent to start thinking about putting in much more description. I think you could make this sentence astounding, rather than having an average room be filled with light.

"She wanted to tell Rogue about her acceptance…Four days…in Four days she will have to spar with a master guardian and hope he or she finds her skills worthy to allow her inside the academy." Rewrite: She wanted to tell Rogue about her acceptance. Four days... In four days she will have to spar with a master guardian; hopefully, he or she will find Brooke's skills advanced enough to allow her to join the academy. --- Or something to that affect, maybe not what I wrote word-for-word. So I fixed the ellipses, the capitalization, and I added a semi-colon to help the sentence flow a little easier while reading.

"His wife was an elfin woman, slim, tall, and beautiful." change to: "His wife was an elfin woman: slim, tall, and beautiful."

You have a LOT of comma splices. The sentence above that I copied was a comma splice and this sentence is a comma splice as well: "Brooke knew they both died, not sure how because Rogue wouldn’t talk about them." Best way to fix comma splices - put in "for", "and", "not", "but", "or", "yet", and "so" or FANBOYS (the acronym).

If Rogue represents the town hermit, in a way, why is he so sociable and doesn't mind getting out of the house? Rhetorical question... Just something for you to think about.

I like the anymalis idea, it's quite clever. I wish I would've thought of it first. :P

I would love to review the rest of your chapter, but I'm exhausted. I read through it all and there are some mistakes, but ones that are easily fixed with a lot of editing and help from your peers. Great second chapter. :)

[zainul]

You are really very polite.
This is a wonderful write.
Go ahead like a sprite!

[Larry Dyson]

...and the request details for the sword?

[Kianna]

Didn't think it was important

[Larry Dyson]

it just completes the thought for me...just my observation..

[Larry Dyson]

here are a few tidbits I caught at the beginning of this chapter that I want you to think on..?maybe make a bigger more descriptive comment on handling the lettter and maybe placing it over her heart and saying a little prayer ...etc..also.."Brooke shuddered at the' anxiety sneaking into her skin '-yet she found herself impatient to start."..thaink about this description..how does anxiety get into you?..thru your skin?..maybe thru your mind doubting it ?...or maybe by an outside force putting this doubt in her mind or heart?..as a christian ..what should she do to also fight this..kind of attack?..just some thoughts...

[Kianna]

It was a form of diction. Brooke is a proud person, so for her to feel anxious is weird. Therefore Anxiety sneaked through her skin. When you're anxious or nervous, you get butterflies in your stomach and your skin feels tingly. I probably can revise it to say nerves instead of anxiety. When you are nervous about something (esp. performance related), you get nervous because you want to do well. To thwart nerves she has tea with Rogue and/or brush it off.

[Larry Dyson]

that makes sense...good observation by you.