Chapter 8 Abigail

After about an hour of walking, the rows of trees grew monotonous, and it felt as if we weren’t getting anywhere. The long journey had broken our spirits, and we started to second-guess our choice.

“Look, Robin. We’ll stop before the Swine can even see us and not draw any attention to ourselves and maybe not even have to fight anyone and just sneak out my family, OK?”

I stopped for a moment and thought about the possibility of sneaking in and out, and I figured, by the time we reached the Swine, we could come up with a solid plan. “OK then. Well, let’s go.”

Adam stopped in the middle of the trail, throwing his hand in the air. “Stop. I heard something,” said Adam.

“What? Where?”

He pointed to a bush that was shaking in violent spurts.

“There! Did you see that?” Adam asked, stealthily moving toward the bush.

“Adam, be careful,” I whispered.

Adam shooed me away and continued to approach the bush.

“Adam?” I said once more.

With a brief pause, he moved his finger to his lips and motioned me to be quiet.

Peeling back the tall leaves, he was startled by a fat round face staring back at him. Adam let out a horrified scream. “

! What the … ?” asked Adam as his face turned ghostly white. He must have flown back at least ten feet from the scare before falling backward into my arms. Soon no noise was made but only by the wind blowing through the trees. We sat there, waiting for some kind of movement from the face staring back at us.

I was afraid to break the silence, but I demanded to know who was staring back at us.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Abigail!” she said, darting back into the bush, ruffling the leaves. “Abigail Grace.” Then she crawled out from bush and took a bow.

Adam and I looked at each other in confusion.

“I can’t believe there was someone else here this whole time,” said Adam.

“Not just some ,” said Abigail, putting her fingers to her lips, whistling a shearing screech that made me and Adam cover our ears.

Our eyes grew as the field around us began to morph and move. We realized we were surrounded by hundreds of people who had been cleverly hidden in the field.

Abigail stretched out her arm and spoke. “And these are countrymen from all over who have joined us to be allies against the Swine. Some of them from the tribes of Legna and from Yve and others from Shamon to Kenosh. We were growing impatient for your return and chose to commence our attack on the Swine, but we are honored by your arrival, and now, with the prophecy being fulfilled, we have the upper hand.”

Adam and I were curious how so many people could survive in the wilderness for so long. Abigail explained how they’d lived off the land, showing us which plants were safest to eat and which were not and where we could get fresh water.

Night had fallen, and everyone had picked a spot and settled around a small fire. I sat down beside Adam, while Abigail and a few others told stories. After several failed attempts at conversation with Adam, I knew his mind was elsewhere. Adam glared at a young man, prodding at the fire, who then spoke to Adam but never made eye contact.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Adam, my mother’s own little prodigy.”

“Phillip? Even after all these years, you still carry animosity toward me that your mother took me as one of her own? How did you escape the Swine anyway?”

“Robin, did Adam ever tell you that he had a big brother? I’m guessing not.”

“Stepbrother,” snarled Adam.

“Well, Adam, like most of us, I ran to the wilderness, but my mother insisted on looking for you. I begged my mother to run with us, but she pulled from me and ran back, searching for your selfish, arrogant, little jerk self.”

“Mom? No,” Adam said, sobbing.

“I figured you should know you are the reason Mother was captured and most likely killed. If only Mother was around so she could see how her precious little baby boy is out prancing around with some whore.”

“I’m going to kill you myself,” Adam yelled as he reached for his sword.

“No! Wait! He’s not worth it!” I screamed. I threw my arms around Adam’s neck and whispered in his ear, “I’m sorry about your mother, but killing him won’t bring her back.”

Abigail intervened and invited us to sit with her by a big oak tree covered in some debris, all coated with a layer of ashes. Adam sat on a big rock, still irritated, being very antisocial. After a few minutes in silence, Abigail and I looked at each other, both of us feeling the tension in the atmosphere coming from Adam.

My eyes squinted, looking at the leaves of the tree above me.

?

! I thought to myself. To break the silence, I asked, “Abigail, what’s up with all the bracelets tied to the tree limbs?”

“They represent something.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s like this. The Swine have evil in their veins and have the desire to control everything and to spread their hatred like a virus. Many have come and gone throughout the lifetime of our world, some wearing bracelets like these. All of us battle with some kind of illness, but it was only when the bracelets left our arms that we could truly be set free from our fear of dying. For the ones who have escaped, you see our bracelets here, but there are still many shackled by their minds. The Swine know that, within everyone, lies something very precious. It’s like this. A positive person possesses the necessary skills to abolish any intruder of the mind, but, for the ones who are ill, their minds are easily breached. With a constant assault on their minds, the Swine slowly destroy the hope of people and set boundaries which keep us from living a true life.”

“So we destroy the Swine.”

“Yes, Robin. We stand here in front of you as a whole and have formed a military to destroy those putrid Swine, to take back our people and our lives.”

“So what do we do?”

“We do something so unpredictable they won’t see it coming.”

“OK, I’m listening.”

“You give them what they want. You surrender to them, but, rest assured, there are still more of us waiting to attack. I will send a messenger to notify a second army who will be waiting for our signal.”

“Man, and I thought Adam was crazy. … Let’s do it.”

I wrapped my brain around what Abigail had told me, and my mind became fuzzy from all the thinking. I tried my best to fall asleep, but I had so much on my mind, and I had grown tired of wearing the feathered wings because they were heavy and very uncomfortable, so I laid them down on the ground beside me.

“Adam, I’m so sleepy, but I’m too anxious about tomorrow. Can you rub my head until I fall asleep?”

Adam nodded, and I lay down in his lap. I watched the wind ruffling the feathery wings in the firelight and soon fell asleep, but into a nightmare. Adam was dying in my arms, and, no matter what I did, he wouldn’t respond to me. It wasn’t until I closed my eyes in my nightmare that I was able to wake up, safe but in a cold sweat. I sat up and saw that Adam was fast asleep, confirming it had all been a nightmare. Lying back down in his lap, I looked for the entrancing ruffling feathers of my wings to help me fall asleep, but my wings were nowhere in sight.

“Adam, get up. My wings are missing.”

“What? What do you mean?” Adam yawned.

Adam and I tiptoed around the sleeping bodies, searching for my wings, but were unable to find them.

“What are you guys doing?” said Abigail, propped up on her elbows.

“Robin’s wings are missing.”

Abigail’s eyebrows arched, and she got up and joined our search, but, even after looking everywhere, we were unsuccessful.

“It’s late. Let’s try to get some sleep and search for them in the morning when its daylight,” Adam said, yawning once again.

I thought about how the wings were uncomfortable and would probably just get in the way anyhow. I was able to calm my mind a little and lay back down and drifted off to sleep until the next morning. Abigail was already up and moving about.

“I had everyone look for your wings, and they were nowhere to be found, so we took the liberty of making you this, a more symbolic version.” Abigail handed me a set of wings made out of the hospital bracelets and vines.

“Thank you, Abigail. I absolutely love it.”

Abigail smiled and added, “A few hundred yards ahead, just beyond the tree line, is the city where the Swine live. We’ll be surrounding the perimeter with the second army.”

Adam spoke up and said, “Robin, I’ll walk with you to the tree line, and, from there, I’ll scope out the Swine city. Abigail, can you tell Phillip for me that I’m sorry?”

“I would, Adam, but I haven’t seen him all morning. When I do, I’ll be sure to tell him.”

Adam nodded, and we left our campsite.