I know, this is a lot to stuff into just one post, but...well, I thought I might as well try. :) Here it goes:
Happy New Year to you all! I hope that your last year has been as eventful and exciting as mine was. I decided to do a monthly review of each month last year as my New Year Post:
January: Not a lot happened this month, but we did have Sarah turn 18.
February: I got to help out in the valentine's banquet for the first time! It was really fun. No birthdays.
March: William and Samuel had birthdays, William turned 6 and Sam turned 4.
April: I found out I got to go on a missions trip with Dad and some others from our church to Ethiopia! We also had an Easter Cantata at our church, which most of our family participated in.
May: The big trip was upon us! We had a great time fellowshipping with other believers, my biggest experience was having to wash my hair with a water bottle. :) School was finished.
June: Margaret graduated from high school, and summer stuff began!
July: We went on a couple trips to Eastern WA. A trip to Leavenworth for Marta's 8th birthday, and a trip to Penial Ranch with some of our church family! Ah, good times.
August: A big month of birthdays for us, Margaret turned 17, Mom had a birthday, and I turned 15.
September: Andrew came back from his missions trip to visit Uncle Richard and Aunty Christy and the cousins in Indonesia, Bible Bee, Janelle Hageman got married, and my Aunty Sarah got married. Also, this was a big month for birthdays too: Dad, Maxwell turned 13, and Tabitha turned 10.
October: We went to the Blossey's pumpkin patch, Miracle Ranch's Fall Festival, and our own Harvest party at our church!
November: Andrew turned 20 this month, and Mom, Dad, Sarah, and Margaret all got to go down to Bible Bee Nationals. Andrew and I babysat. :)
December: Typical Christmas stuff happened. One of these was our Christmas Cantata. Also, to Welcome in our New Year, our church did a Watch Night service that included a lot of Round Robin, and Apples to Apples. :) We had lots of Fun!
Like I said, I hope your year was a fun one too. God Bless!
(And now the TWO chapters of The Silver Flower: Enjoy!)
The door swung open,
and Valkin led the group down the prison hall. Mary was behind Valkin, followed
by Duncan, and then Justin, Vinea and Dusak were the last in the line. They
made their way carefully through the prison.
Quietly, at the next
door, Duncan held the pendant to the lock and the door also opened as if never
closed. They filed their way through.
Mary almost fell on the rough floor once, but Valkin quickly steadied
her with his arm before they went on. A guard almost walked right into them,
but the humans and elves flattened themselves against the wall while Duncan
held the pendant in front of them as a shield, keeping the guard’s eyes from
them. The guard passed after mumbling something about black magic, and the
group went on.
Suddenly, Justin
stopped. The line stopped when he did and he turned to them, frowning as he
just remembered something.
“Wait a bit.” He said.
“We be forgettin’ somethin’.” Mary looked at her brother.
“What be we
forgettin’?” she asked the question on everyone’s mind. Justin looked at them.
“We have to tell the
princess that Valkin be her brother!” he said. “It’s part o’ our mission!” Mary
slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand.
“Ah, I kenned we were
forgettin’ somethin’.” She said, giving Justin a grateful look and then turned
to Valkin. “Let’s escape the prison and then get to the castle an’ find the
princess. She’ll want to ken she has a brother, an’ I think she’d prefer to ken
sooner rather than later if I had to guess.” Valkin replied to this statement
with a quick nod, and the procession continued, carefully but with speed
through the prison.
Suddenly, the
procession stopped again. Valkin held up a hand, and the group became still. In
the cell next to them their came a consistent scratching sound, Valkin laid his
ear next to the wall, listening closely. Scratch…scratch, scratch,
scratch…scratch…scratch, scratch...scratch…scratch…scratch…scratch, scratch,
scratch. Valkin’s face was grim, and he motioned the others to come closer.
“Duncan,” he whispered.
“The elf in this cell is one of the king’s mother’s men. He is to be killed
tomorrow. We must rescue him.” Duncan gave him a puzzled look.
“How could ye ken that
be what he said?” he asked. Valkin chuckled.
“It’s a secret code we
elves on the princess’s side use to communicate with others of the same
loyalty.” He replied. The humans were impressed.
“Can we learn?” Justin
asked. “After all, we be on the princess’s side.” Valkin smiled.
“Yes, you could learn.”
He said. “But shouldn’t we let this poor man out first?” Duncan hastily
apologized and held the pendant up to the lock. The door swung out silently and
a haggard elf stumbled out.
At the sight of him,
Mary drew back, a bit frightened, for the elf was thin and pale, his clothes
hanging loosely on him, worn and ragged. But when his hollow, hungry eyes
looked at her white face, he smiled, and his entire frightening figure melted
away under the kind smile.
“I am afraid I do look
a sight,” he said, his eyes somehow twinkling from the depths of his face, “For
I have been starved and tortured for many, many days.” A cloud passed over his
cheerful face, but only for a moment. “I had almost given up when I heard this
young man’s voice.” He smiled at Justin, and Justin smiled at him. “I am very
grateful to you all.” He gave a deep bow, and made Mary smile, despite her
timidity. Valkin laid out a palm facing upwards, and the elf solemnly laid his
own hand on top. The same procedure occurred for the elves, but for Justin,
Duncan, and Mary, he gave them all a proper handshake. In reply to their
astonished looks, he said, “I learned how to greet humans from Elliot. He was a
great friend of mine.”
Suddenly, Mary looked
over a Valkin. “Come on!” she said. “We need to get to the princess withoot
further delay! It’ll be morning afore long!” Valkin agreed and explained to the
new elf their mission quickly as they continued. The elf looked at the castle
as if an idea was coming to him. He turned to Valkin.
“I’ve an idea, why
don’t we free all the elves that are still loyal to the king’s mother.” He said
quietly. Valkin smiled, this was an idea he liked, after all, they had the
Silver Flower, and with that, who needed the keys. He turned to the humans.
“Can we?” he asked. The
siblings exchanged looks. It would definitely delay the princess knowing she
had a brother, but all the prisoners could be on their way to death by
be-heading or hanging. With an anonymous decision, Mary turned to Valkin.
“Aye.” She said. “Let’s
free the prisoners. The princess has waited this long, surely she can wait a
wee bit longer.” The elves exchanged smiles, and they went to work, quietly and
swiftly.
The human’s helped as
they could and soon the jail was free of all loyal elves. They all ran through
the prison and over the wall while the humans kept watch and soon were gone.
That was one thing about elves that the humans learned: not only were elves
quick, but they were always efficient. The jail was now mostly empty, and the
loyal prisoners free. The one elf they had freed earlier decided to help them
rescue the princess, so they now went to the castle. Mary still had some of her
left over supper in her pocket, so she gave this to the prisoner (they found
out his name was Felin Deena: Acorn Hill) who devoured it.
They soon came to the
same wooded area they had used for cover the other time and Valkin shinnied up
the wall with the help of his elfish rope again. The other elves followed, and then
helped the children. At last they were inside the castle again. Valkin led the
way, and in single file they made their way carefully to the princess’s room.
The guards were awake this time, but with the stealth that only elves could
have, Valkin, Dusak, and the Felin had all the guards knocked out and tied up
in no time at all, and with little noise. Mary gently opened the door, and they
crept into the princess’s room again.
She was standing with
her back toward them, looking out the window behind her desk. A small sigh of
longing escaped her lips and she turned sorrowfully back to her bed. Then she
saw the elves, and her hand flew to her mouth in surprise when she recognized
the humans.
“You are here again?”
she said, somewhat breathlessly. Mary smiled.
“We delivered yer
letter.” She said. “And now we’ve come fer ye.” The princess gasped, and a
smile of utter happiness came over her face making her seem even more radiant
than usual, but Mary wasn’t finished. “Shetta, meet yer brother, Valkin.”
Valkin stepped forward, and Shetta almost fainted, but he explained to her
quickly the history of his birth and answered her questions until she was
satisfied.
“I have longed for this
day of freedom for many months, it seems as if it a beautiful dream.” She
clasped her hands blissfully in front of her. “If it is a dream, I never want
to awaken.” Justin grunted.
“Dream or nay, we’d
better go, or it’ll become a nightmare.” The elves and his siblings chuckled
together, and the princess hurriedly donned her cloak and gathered all her
money. In reply to the sibling’s questioning looks as to why she took her
money, she smiled in grim satisfaction.
“I’m not going to leave
anything of value here for the counselor to claim.” She said, and her eyes began
to sparkle dangerously. “He’s claimed far too many things that aren’t his, and
I don’t intend to reward him by fleeing. No, he shall suffer even more with me
gone.” She paused and flung her sack over her slender shoulder, despite
Justin’s offer to carry it for her. “I am ready to go.” She said with a
triumphant ring in her voice. Valkin smiled, and beckoned the group to form
into a line yet again.
Through the castle and
into the star-filled night the procession went. The princess’s face was pale
with fear and excitement, but a reassuring squeeze from Mary’s hand brought a
hopeful smile back into her eyes, and she gave a grateful look to Mary, who
replied with a warm smile. They arrived back at Dusak and Vinea’s house, but
realized it would not be safe to be there anymore. The sky was starting to grow
brighter, and a thin line of gray showed on the horizon. They had to find
shelter before daylight, or they would be found.
Valkin quickly led them
deeper into the wood for a ways, switching directions so often it made Mary
feel dizzy. He at last stopped in front of a house. The house was nearly
invisible, even as they were standing right in front of it, for it seemed to be
a part of the hill it sat in front of, and it was covered in brush of all
kinds. Valkin scratched a signal of some kind on the door, and it was opened by
a very old elf. He smiled through his many wrinkles, showing his missing teeth,
and showed them in. He bowed respectfully to the princess, and kissed her hand
as if he was still a gallant young knight. She smiled and he led her into his
humble abode.
They gathered around
the crackling fireplace and the old elf served them all some delicious soup.
While he bustled around his home making them as comfortable as possible, Valkin
told him their story. He was quite happy to see them all safe, and Dusak
quickly whispered to the humans that the old elf was the midwife’s husband, and
so he was Valkin’s foster father. They chatted in elfin tongue for a while and Mary
provided the two boys’, who still hadn’t learned the language, with
translation.
Finally, when all three
humans were beginning to nod, the old elf showed them their sleeping quarters
for the night, and they soon went into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter Eleven: The Kingdom’s
New King
Duncan awoke first, and
for a bit he couldn’t remember where he was. As his mind slowly came into
focus, he sat up and took a good look at his surroundings.
Right now, his two
siblings and the four elves were sleeping in a medium sized room with beds
lined up along the walls. It looked as if Valkin’s foster father was used to a
lot of guests at the same time. There were three empty cots, but only one of
them looked like it had been slept in. Duncan realized that must have been
where Valkin’s foster father slept.
Duncan’s gaze wandered
from the beds to the widow, which he could hardly see out of because it was
almost completely covered with some sort of vine and a few different types of
tree branches.
Now fully awake, he
jumped out of his bed, making no noise in his stocking feet and found that he
had slept in his clothes. A step saved, he merely shrugged and ran a hand
through his hair quickly before opening the door.
He was greeted silently
by the old elf that smiled at him and gave him a bowl of some sort of mushy
substance. He shuddered inwardly, but only smiled back at his host, afraid to
hurt his feelings, and hoped against hope that it would taste better then it
looked. He warily tried a spoonful, and then quickly finished the dish off
while the elf looked on in some amusement. It tasted like a pancake with maple
syrup drizzled over the top and milk. He was also quite full by the time he
finished, and pushed his plate away with a satisfied sigh.
The old elf was looking
at him curiously, so he decided to introduce himself. “I be Duncan.” He said,
pointing to himself. The elf nodded to communicate he had understood.
“j klos Wenkin.” (I am
Wenkin.) He said, pointing to himself. Duncan, who had been picking up a few
elfish words here and there decided to try his hand at speaking it now.
“j…fetick…desh…gresi…adenk…dessinkae.”
(I…do…not…speak…your…language.) He said slowly. The elf smiled.
“A cesik?” (a little?)
he asked, and Duncan closed his eyes to remember what those words meant. There
was a moment of silence, and he heard the others getting up. Then he
remembered.
“Nedin…a…vennae…cesik.” (Yes…a…very…little.) Just then, Mary came in
followed by Justin and the elves. They all sat down, and Duncan thoroughly
enjoyed watching his siblings’ reactions to the mush. He asked Dusak behind the
host’s back what it was made of, and Dusak told him it was made out of a
special kind of moss found deep within the forest. Duncan raised his eyebrows,
but said nothing.
After breakfast, Valkin
stood up, and cleared his throat. He spoke first to his foster father,
explaining why they were leaving, and then spoke in the children’s language so
they would be able to understand their plans.
“We will leave the
princess here where she is safe and Vinea is going to stay and help my foster
father with the house and care for the princess. Dusak, Felin, you children,
and I, will get into a disguise and go to the king to tell him his daughter is
free and he can give up his throne.” Mary was chewing on her lip thoughtfully
and she finally looked up from her musings.
“What aboot the
counselor?” she asked. Valkin’s eyes darkened.
“He will be thrown into
prison.” He replied.
“What aboot his
followers?” Valkin smiled grimly and looked over at Felin, the newest addition
to their group.
“Did your men take care
of the dangerous ones?” he asked. Felin nodded with a gleam of satisfaction in
his eyes.
“Yes.” He said. “Last
night they were put into the cells we were taken out of.” He replied. The
human’s glanced at each other. Elves really were
efficient; they thought of everything.
“So…” Justin was now
speaking. “Do we just march into the king’s throne room and demand that he give
up his throne?” he asked. Valkin smiled, but shook his head.
“It’s not going to be
quite that easy, Justin.” He said.
“It will take some caution. Just follow my lead and you’ll do fine.” He rose
and spoke to his foster father, Wenkin. He turned to a smaller door and led
them into another room that had a huge chest in the middle of it and a few
smaller chests. The walls had several different mirrors on them and the chests
were opened to reveal clothing, fake hair, and fake jewelry of all shapes and
colors.
The three siblings had
fun, too much fun, trying on different outfits over their own, and finally
Valkin had to stop their games when Justin tried on a beard and a cape that
were much too long. Mary finally settled on a simple brown peasant gown, a fake
black braid, a dark blue cloak, and a small dagger that fit into a beautiful
silver sheath. Justin chose a dark green shirt and brown pants, with the
finishing touch of a dark blue cloak and dagger in a sliver sheath. Duncan
dressed similarly to Justin, and they both had a small beard applied on them by
Valkin to hide their facial features that may give them away.
The elves all wore
outfits that matched the boys’ outfits, but they had swords as well as daggers.
Mary was allowed to bring a bow and arrows when she told them she could shoot
them better than use a knife, and Justin and Duncan were allowed another
dagger, hidden in their cloaks. The adventurers looked themselves over and were
quite pleased with their looks, but Mary had to put a hand over her mouth to
keep her laughter hidden at the sight of her brother’s in beards. She could
barely recognize herself in one of the mirrors with her fake black braid
hanging down over her shoulder and the cloak shadowing her face. She suddenly
felt years older. Here she was in a strange land, helping others and
endangering herself by doing so. It made her feel queer to think she may die in
the attempt, so she shook off the feeling and followed Valkin, Dusak, Felin and
her brothers outside after a hurried goodbye to the princess and Vinea.
Valkin again lead them
in a zig-zag pattern through the forest, and they were soon back inside the
village. The castle came into view and Mary swallowed her fear as she thought
of the many elves depending on them. Sadan Flettica, the guard let them past,
and Mary suddenly realized that he was one of the loyal elves. She smiled at
him, but he merely shrugged slightly and gave a small salute.
They went on down the hall,
and stopped outside the king’s throne room. The guards gave the procession a curious
look and opened the doors. Down the rich carpet they continued and stopped in
front of the throne. The king was sitting in his throne still, but it was
obvious his time was up and he was finished. Glevanne stood to one side of the
king, and the counselor on the other. The latter frowned at the new comers
menacingly, but Glevanne seemed to see through the disguise and gave a small
salute behind the king and counselor’s back. Valkin spoke first, his voice
ringing clearly through the room.
“Your Majesty, I am
here.” He said. The king looked at Valkin.
“Who are you?” he asked
hoarsely. Mary stepped forward on Valkin’s signal, and threw off her cloak and
fake braid. The king sat bolt upright in his seat when he recognized her. She
gestured towards Valkin.
“As ye ordered me.” She
said. “I’ve brought yer son, the rightful heir o’ yer throne.” The counselor
turned white, whether from fright or rage, Mary was not sure, but the king was
undecided as to cry or to laugh and finally ended up doing both at the same
time. Glevanne was grinning widely as were the children and the elves. The king
and Valkin embraced for a long time; the king apologizing, and Valkin
forgiving. The counselor tried to sneak off, but Glevanne caught him and he was
soon locked up in one of the deepest dungeons.
The hours went by as
Valkin explained everything, from beginning to end, about the children, about
Shetta, about Glevanne, about the history of his birth. The king just kept
having tears of joy running down his old cheeks, and embracing his new son.
Valkin was given the
crown by the king himself showing he willingly gave his throne and kingdom to
his son. Shetta and Glevanne were married, Mary was the maid of honor, and
Valkin was the best man.
The day ended much
happier then it started, and the children felt that they had at least one
mission that finished well. Shetta and Valkin insisted that they stay the night
at the castle before leaving, and were told to make a speech at the wedding
feast that night. How could they refuse?
