Untitled

An Effortless Dance

Chapter ten

An Effortless Dance

Camellia

Well, you already know what happened. You know how my fool of a father just had to get involved with these strangers and their stupid plan. I had to find out from Mr. Prike, who saw Papa go into the bell tower. I knew Papa was guilty the second I saw the gold coin, and so did everyone else. After that no one defended him. Not even Harman or Smith.

People were scared of Mr. Prike but it was more than that, they felt personally betrayed. They didn't understand that Papa had a good heart. For years he had talked about the town coming together to build a dam for the stream and then a water mill. He probably thought that this would finally make it happen.

When I saw Papa in the town square, I lost it. I had to be strong, instead I just felt as if I was twelve all over again and Papa was telling me Mama was gone. I started to scream and hyperventilate, while Mr. Prike just looked at me with an amused smile and announced that he was taking Papa to Redwood for a formal trial.

Harman took me to his home and calmed me down. Harold was also there, trying to comfort me. The two of us had just returned from our date when the mill had caught fire. Harold was cute and I liked him, but he just didn't understand what I was going through right now. "Maybe he'll be cleared at the trail" he suggested timidly. I snorted; we all knew Mr. Prike would have the judges in his pocket.

"I'm going to see Freda" I mumbled and left the house.

Freda is an elderly woman of around sixty, but I don't know exactly because she always smiled mysteriously when I asked her. She owns a lot of livestock, but most importantly she owns oxen that she lends out to everybody to plow their fields. I worked with her a lot, for being able to talk to animals definitely comes in handy. She's the only one who discovered my gift, and she agreed to keep it secret.

I had just reached the last corner before her house when I heard Mr. Prike's voice. "What do mean you don't agree?! Fifty thousand coin is more than a fair price for a pair of oxen you old hag. Is it because I'm paying with an iron bill? You know that refusing to take payment with the king's bills is punishable by death!" He finished threateningly.

"Of course I'm not refusing the bill" answered Freda quickly, "it's just that we need those oxen, we can't exactly eat iron can we?"

"I don't care what you eat, I'm not asking, count yourself lucky I'm paying you this much in the first place." He snapped.

My blood boiled as heard this exchange, I knew Freda was brave, but she didn't really have a choice. "Very well then, you have a deal" she answered quietly.

"Good, we'll leave tomorrow morning then" and he left her standing in the dark.

I knew this was my only to chance to see Papa, so ducking between the houses, I quickly ran to the stables where I thought they were keeping him. As I expected, he was being well guarded by Mr. Prike's men. Focusing, I started to tear up (which wasn't very hard) and stepped into the torchlight. "May I p-please see my f-father before you take him?" I cried. One of the guards, a tall man with a massive fuzzy brown beard, looked around,

"Okay but make it quick" he said gruffly."

Inside, it was dark and obviously smelled like a stable, a sharp scent of fresh hay and horses. Papa lay on the floor, shackled and chained to the wall, his head covered in dry blood. I shook him, "Papa wake up" I whispered, he stared blearily at me.

"Camellia! What are you doing here??"

"I came to see you stupid"

"I'm so sorry.. I shouldn't have gotten involved... It.. it was selfish and I wasn't thinking about you."

"Quiet" I said fiercely, "you did the right thing, I know that even if no one else does."

"How is our good for nothing thief doing?" drawled a voice from outside "I hope this will teach the residents of this pathetic dump a lesson" he continued.

At the sound of Mr. Prike's voice, Papa grabbed my arm and looked deep into my eyes "promise me, promise you won't do anything stupid. I, I can't lose you too" he said pleadingly.

"I, I p-" I then realized what I needed to do. I ran to Peanut and saddled him. Urging him to run, I burst out of the stables just as Mr. Prike started to enter, Peanut knocked him to the ground, his fancy clothes submerging in the muck that naturally surrounds stables.

I rode quickly to my house and retrieved Papa's sword. Galloping out of town, I hoped Freda would forgive me for taking Peanut. In the moonlight, I was able to find the direction that my Papa's accomplices headed in. Come morning, it rained, wiping the trail entirely. Yet with the help of a friendly falcon, I was able to locate them.

I could hear the big one snoring peacefully even from behind the reeds where I was hiding. Peering in, I could see the halfling walk over to the edge, distracted. Suddenly overcome by anger, I entered their small clearing. I grabbed the big one and let them know I wasn't messing around.

Well, it's embarrassing really. First that little annoying halfling doesn't take me seriously at all, as if it's a laughing matter. Then I fell for their stupid trick. I should have known that the elf was simply trying to placate me, and then their argument was a perfect distraction. Next thing I knew a dagger was rushing right at me, and I knew it was all over.

Smack! A cold smelly object slapped me in the right side of the face, nearly knocking me to the ground. Shocked, I looked down the ground to see a huge, quivering, grey fish with massive razor-sharp teeth, a dagger protruding from it head.

"It's Flying Pirafish! Braga keep the horses here!" yelled the Halfling.

These Pirafish seemed to hunt in.. well a horde? A school certainly seemed too timid a term to describe it. I ducked as another one sailed towards me. It's snapping maw striving to devour my head in one bite. The air around us was soon filled with these ravenous monsters. I raised my sword and started cutting them down, ducking and spinning to stay alive. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the silver-haired elf had raised his bow was somehow managing to shoot them out of the air. As for the halfling, like me, he was more than what meets the eye. He was rolling, slicing, stabbing and throwing knives in what seemed like an effortless dance. His was weapons were perfect for such an encounter. As for the big monstrosity, he hadn't even bothered drawing his great axe and was simply punching them in the air and swearing at them while defending the horses.

It might have been an hour or just a couple of minutes, but suddenly as I raised my sword for another swing, there was nothing to hit. We were surrounded by dead fish, their quivering bodies flapping on the ground. As I set about to stab them and make sure they were truly finished, the halfling raised both his daggers, a fished impaled on each one, "Sushi, anyone?"