Lost and Found

Chapter 4 - Lar

The village was well hidden. A glade of trees surrounded it and seemed to form a sort of sound proof barrier around it. 

To Nya it looked like a typical little country medieval village, the sounds falling on top of each other like the murmur of the ocean. People talking, doors slamming, the hum of machinery and the clopping and creaking of horses pulling carts.

Pat led her around the centre plaza, where there seemed to be a market going on. People were wandering around browsing, haggling for prices, and some small children chased chickens all through the stalls, laughing. Their parents and the stall owners weren't as happy, and neither were the chickens.  

Every adult and older child seemed to be carrying some sort of weapon, all made from the same shiny, silvery metal that Pat's was. He noticed her looking and started to fidget with the strap on his belt that held his dagger in place.

"It's a precaution. Just in case the Umbra come." Even though Pat tried to hide it, Nya knew he was scared. In fact, when she looked around the village again she realised that it wasn't the happy little fairyland she had thought at first.

Most market stalls sold weapons and protection charms. People looked weary. One of the chickens ran off into the forest and the children didn't try to follow it, looking like they somehow knew it was never coming back. Everyone kept glancing into the trees, as if expecting a giant shadow monster would crash through them at any moment.

Which was very true. Too true.

The atmosphere was bleak, and once people had payed the stall owner they quickly went back to their houses, slamming the door shut. Fear was in the air.

~

Pat's house was on the outskirts of the village, just metres from the shadow of the forest. The wooden planks were painted green and a rusted mailbox threatened to fall over out the front. Pat knocked the door and Nya noticed the knocker was in the shape of a very familiar bear.

Before she could ask Pat about it, a bald man wearing a green checkered shirt to match the colour of the house threw opened the door and swept Pat up into a bear hug.

"Daaaad..." Pat's voice was muffled, his face being squashed into the man's chest.

"You're back! And you're early! I don't believe it! It's like a miracle star was watching over us and told your conscience to come back sooner! I -" Pat's dad stopped his rambling, suddenly noticing that his son's clothes were almost blackened with burns everywhere.

"Pat? What happened? You, you didn't have a run in with, with one did you? Tell me, Pattycake." He held his son tighter. Nya put her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh. Pattycake.

"Dad I can't breathe." 

"Oh, right" Pat's dad let go of him and stood back, a bit flustered. He finally tore his eyes away from his son and rested them on Nya. He smiled, if a bit sheepishly, at her.

"And  who might you be, eh? I haven't seen you in the village before." Pat's dad squinted at her, as if doing that would magically make him able to recognise her.

"This is Nya. She's from the outside, Dad," Pat answered for her, looking at his dad meaningfully.

"Is that so?" Pat's dad squinted at Nya some more. It was a miracle he could still see all his eyes were so narrowed.

"Yeah, I sort of went into an attic, came back down was in the middle of your forest here. I almost got run over by an Umbra but Pat saw me and told me to run. If he hadn't happened to be there I would've been ashes by now."