The Chellion Days Read online

The Chellion Days

  By A.S. Morrison

  Copyright 2016 A.S. Morrison

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  1.

  He could hear the carts when he woke—no horses, no animals of any sort, just people wheeling their carts through the dusty streets. They all wanted out, but there was nowhere to go.

  He sat at the end of his bed and listened to the screams and moans—everyone going nowhere fast. He pulled on his shoes and pulled back the sheets hanging in place of glass. It looked worse than it sounded. Without a crack of emotion, he sat back down on his bed, wondering when his brother would arrive.

  It had been quite a while since he saw his brother. Last he heard his brother was out in the Vastlands to the south, trying his hardest to keep back the invaders. It never worked. They were fast and sneaky, the two worst attributes for angry hordes with sharp swords. He heard his brother fought them back as well as anyone. He liked hearing the stories. But now that his brother was coming to take him away he wished his brother could stay in the stories and away from him. It had been so long after all. With everything going on he might be angry, or violent. He didn’t know how people turned when they fought like that.

  It was a miracle, though, that the invaders were only just now getting to that little town. At first they didn’t pay the little towns any notice, as long as they didn’t have any clear signs of money. Not a person there had a piece of gold or silver between them, they didn’t even have animals to pull their carts. That all changed a few months back, when the last of the poorly defended castles was sacked. The invaders turned their sights on anything and everything. They hadn’t yet attacked the king’s castle, but everyone knew that was because he was divinely protected. Divinely protected by a big wall. A lot of the walled places hadn’t been hit yet, or so he’d heard. The manors around the castle were said to be safe as well. News stopped coming when the invaders started destroying the little towns on the banks of the Mothund River. His little town wasn’t on the river, but it was close enough.

  That’s not to say that it was all bad though, living in that town with week old news and no idea where the invaders were. Before someone arrived a few days before with news of the other small towns, it had been a right nice place to live. But that seemed so long ago now to.

  There was a knock at the door, well, more of a panicked rapping. He went down and opened the door just a hair. Hands pushed through the crack and embraced him.

  “Oh, Ackerley, how are you? Have you been scared here all by yourself?”

  The boy, Ackerley, shrugged. “No, I’m fine I guess. It’s not so bad.”

  The woman held him at arm’s length and examined him. “Yes, you look alright. Your brother will think we’ve done a good job. He’s coming—don’t you forget—he’ll be here anytime. We sent the letter when we heard. Oh, you know—but he is coming. I promise. He’ll be here before night—I just know he will. But we should have cut your hair, you can’t see a thing.”

  “I’m fine.” Ackerley said, pulling himself away.

  The woman hugged him again. “You’ll be safe when he gets here, don’t forget it. He’ll know where to go. He’s fought them. He’s killed them. He can think like them by now. He’ll know what to do.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  The woman wrung her hands and nodded fervently. “He’ll know.”

  A man came up behind her. His eyes kept glancing around wildly. “Come on, heaven knows how much time we’ve got left.” He said, a tremor to his voice.

  The woman picked up a large bag with some difficulty and slung it over her shoulder. “He’ll be so surprised when he sees how big you’ve gotten. We tell him everytime—”

  “Come on!” The man yelled.

  People all around shouted—wheels squeaked and children cried.

  The woman gave the boy a terrified smile and took off behind her husband.

  Ackerley shut the door and shook his head. He listened to the chaotic sounds of the outside world for a bit and then sauntered back to his room. After a while of staring absently at nothing he picked up the last letter his brother wrote him. It was over a month old.

  Ackerley,

  How is everything? We’ve been in the Vastlands now for so long I keep losing track of time. Yesterday we encountered the Welgo’s but they didn’t stand a chance. We killed half the pack and sent the other half running. If only they’d go back to Welgland and leave us alone!

  I heard a town like ours went up to heaven about a week ago. It’s a ways away from you, but if anything happens around there I’ll be back as soon I get word. Remember what I said before? There’s a place I’ll take you to, a better place than where you are now. But I can’t take you unless the town is going up, that’s the one rule they have. They can’t take everybody after all.

  Tell Mrs. Tandry that she’s been a great neighbor to us. She didn’t have to check on you every day. Remember that she’s doing it because she’s nice. Don’t ever forget to thank her. I know it’s been hard since

  Ackerley stopped reading. He didn’t like the next part. He was curious about the place he would be going to. He’d been alone now for over a year. Well, almost alone. He’d have liked it much better if crazy Mrs. Tandry didn’t keep coming by every day. She never really helped any. She’d poke her head in the door, ask if anything was wrong, and then disappear. It was useless.

  That place, that better place his brother promised, it sounded interesting to Ackerley. He’d heard of better places but was never sure just how better they could be. The invaders, the Welgo’s as they called themselves, took out every place that could be better.

  He sat there on the bed all day, making quick trips to the store closet to get food. As time passed the noise in the street diminished. Once it was quieter he began to wonder if his brother got the message in time. Even if he did there was no telling if he could get there before the Welgos. Ackerley shivered at the thought of them at the door instead of his brother. He got up and looked through the sheets. The street was almost deserted. Only one family remained. They had to keep stopping as things kept falling off their cart. They’d packed it far too high. One of them yelled to leave whatever it was, but two little kids kept grabbing the stuff as it fell, tossing the things back onto the pile.

  He stepped away from the window and waited.

  Evening came and he was afraid that his brother wasn’t coming. The town had been quiet for a while now. He was probably the only one left.

  A noise made him jump. It sounded like a horse running into town. For a terrified second he was certain it was the Welgo’s, but then realized that they would come with many horses. Hoping for the best he ran to the front door and pulled it wide. A large brown horse came to a stop right outside. A man jumped down. The man looked at the boy blankly.

  “Alright?” The man asked.

  “Yeah.” Ackerley said awkwardly.

  “Did you see Mrs. Tandry off?”

/>   “Yeah.”

  “You thanked her?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  The man nodded. He took a rope out of a bag hanging off the horse’s saddle. “I’m going to tie this around us for the trip. It’s in case you fall asleep. I don’t want you falling off somewhere in the dark.”

  “Can we ride in the dark?”

  The man smiled for what was probably the first time in a long while. “I’ve got this.” He untied a long stick that had been secured on the saddle and hung a small lantern off of it. “It’s a terrible thing, but it’s better than nothing.”

  “Kenton?” The boy said, nervous about saying his brother’s name.

  “Yes.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “It’s a big castle a long ways away. It’s perfectly safe. You’ll see. It’s a hundred times better than this place. There are rules though, but they’ll tell you all about them when you get there.”

  Kenton helped Ackerley onto the horse and climbed on himself. He threw the rope around them and tied it tight. Ackerley hoped for more room, but he would take the constraint over falling off. His brother kicked the horse’s side and it took off. Ackerley strained to see behind him, to see the town he had lived in his entire life