Abigail and the Angels

Chapter Six

Charlie lay with his back to Audra and thought long and hard about the day's events. It was silent all around and this was the first night in a long while that he wasn't patrolling with Jasmine and Audra. He felt Audra shift and move closer to him.

"So what do you think of her" She asked, breaking the silence. Charlie turned his head to face her.

"Who?"

"Abigail, who else?"

"Oh."

"Yes. So what do you think of her?"

Charlie thought for a moment and answered,

"Well, I think she's a nice enough person. A little ignorant and maybe selfish, but I don't expect much from a princess." Audra moved right next to him and leaned her head on his chest.

"I guess so. But here, she's just another human, a smaller fraction in the equation of Kovoreye. In her land, she was third from the top of the hierarchy. Here though, she's at the bottom of the food chain. Even the plants on this island hold more power than she does." He stroked her hair and wrapped his right arm around her.

"That's true. But who knows, we'll have to wait and see. Depending how long she's here for, she could turn out to be an asset or a burden or neither," He said. Audra nodded on his chest before yawning and drifting off to sleep. In the next room over, Nate and Jasmine spoke about the same topic: Abigail. Jasmine paced back and forth while Nate lay in bed watching her.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked her. His head lay propped up on his had and he had his knees up.

"Briar," she replied.

"Briar?"

"Yes. That's Abigail's family name For generations, her family have owned large resource districts," Jasmine said, still pacing. She wore an old t-shirt and shorts borrowed from Nate as Abigail had probably worn hers.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Well, when we still used to allow ships to pass, I'd listen to a lot of what the people on them would say. A lot of it was about the Royal Briar family. But that was years ago, so I don't know if it's still relevant," she said, scratching her head. Nate thought for a moment and nodded.

"And that means what, exactly?" She let out a frustrated sigh.

"It means that if her father comes to find her and sees the amount of resources on the island, he will most likely want to settle here and excavate whatever Kovoreye has to offer. He'd probably get rid of all the rhinos, scare off the wisps, capture the phoenix to sell it for a high price and kill the unicorns. I know they're malevolent, but they're still inhabitants of the island. What would happen to us? Where would we go? I mean, we can't just walk off the island. And what would happen to the portal to Magnia? Would they find it? What if they do find it? What if they don't?" She said, becoming more and more worked up. Nate sat up and beckoned her closer to sit next to him, which she did.

"You need to calm down. It's only her second day here and by the sounds of it, she doesn't want to stay, despite her internal gut feeling. When Daddy comes to fetch her, she'll be on her way and we'll be okay. If she does by chance choose to stay, we will look after her- just as we do to Nova and the island," he said gently, pushing her fringe out her eyes.

"And if anything happens to anyone or anything, then we've all got each-other to rely on and help. Plus, this is the portal to Magnia. If anything goes wrong, the gods will just slip through and save the island. Either that or destroy everything," he continued. Jasmine chuckled.

"I guess so." He nodded and smiled at her.

"So stop stressing," he said, flopping down onto the bed and pulling the blanket over him. Jasmine crawled in next to him and turned her back to him.

"Thanks Nate. Goodnight," she whispered.

"Goodnight."