The Fallen Stars

Chapter 13 Esme

As the birds start to wake up, they sing a song of joy for another day. Although I woke up earlier than the birds this morning... I am too excited to sleep.
Which is probably going to take a toll on me later, but who cares?
Immediately when I woke up, I got dressed in a brown dress with an off-white apron and quarter sleeves.
And brown lether boots that end at my mid calves.
I look out my tiny round window... the sun is starting to rise...
I jump at the sound of a knock on my door.
Although, I was expecting Ainsley to knock... I just got a small fright.

I open the wooden door, and Ainsley and a girl, a bit older than me, and a boy also a lot older than me, are behind him.
"Morning... how did you sleep?" Ainsley asks enthusiasticly.
"Yes, thank you." I answer with a smile.
"Great, this is Echo." He gestures to the girl. She's native Indian. Soft brown skin beautiful cheek bones. Small nose and thin lips. Long curly and plated hair. She's wearing a crop top blue shirt with tossels at the hem. And a matiching skirt that ends just passes her knees.
With brown boots ending at her knees, they are tied with strings around her legs. And feathers in her hair and necklace.
She dips her head in response.
I give a qurt smile.
"And this is her older brother Coda." He gestures to the boy.
He's tall and muscular. With a long face, sharp jawline, big nose.
He's shirtless, exposing his tattoos.
His hair is half up half down with a big white feather in his bun.
His wearing a brown skirt tied around his waist with a few leaves.
He also has the same looking boots, just bigger.
"Hi." I say, giving a small wave.
"They'll be your tour guides... sorry that I can't come with... I have some arrands to do here." He apologizes, giving a sad look.
"It's okay... I'll be fine." I answer gently.
He gives a small sad smile.
"Thanks for understanding... I'll see you later then." He says, giving me a quick hug, then he walks away.

I look at my two tour guides.
"Let's go." Says Echo with a thich accent. She starts walking, and Coda follows.
"Okay... good start... I guess?" I whisper to myself.
I sprint to catch up with them.
"So... thank you for showing me around the island." I say kindly to both of them.
"We'll be back at... so noon." Coda says, also with a thich accent.

                               ***
The island is quite big...
It's been a few hours since we left.
They have shown me a magnificent waterfall from the mountains near town. They also showed me the big tree house where lost boys get trained, and that's where they live.
Most of the island is just a jungle, so I mostly saw the jungle.
Tgey took me to the beach, and that is covered with the most beautiful colored rocks.
Echo said the rocks and ocean glows during the night. I kinda wish they brought me during the night to the beach, but okay.
I can always sneek out or just come with someone.
Then they took me to the fairy town... well, tree.
I didn't see fairies, though... I think they were hiding. But there was something magical about the tree that I couldn't fathom.

"It's almost noon... we should go back." Echo states to Coda.
"No, she needs to know where they are so that she'll know not to go there." He says to her quietly.
The tree line broke, making a circle around a weird shape rock... shaped like a corn. It's almost twice the size of me, and if I hugged it, two others of me would be needed to go around it.
It almost looks like round, smooth rocks stacked on top of each other. Then, at the bottom, the rocks get spiky for the leaves. But if you look again... you can see it's one rock, brown smooth rock.

"Corn?" I ask, furrowing my brows.
"Yes, corn... it represents our goddess of earth, Atira. Legend says she came to Isla Nunca Más, and formed this rock so that her people will never forget her." Echo eplains, walking towards the corn shaped rock... touching it.
"The pirates are not allowed to pass Corn Rock. Or in our language is Naadą́ą́' Tsé." Coda says quietly. He bows his head respectively towards the rock.
After a few moments, they both turned to me.
"We are going to show you where the pirates are... but from afar, you have to stay quiet." He says sternly.
"Okay." Is all I can answer.

As we walked away from Corn Rock, I started to hear waves crashing against sand... a beach. But we didn't go towards the sound. We turned left, up a hill. Then the ground started to look like grey rock covered in moss, grass, and wild flowers. We are close to the tree line... and I see bright light at first when we walk out of the jungle. Onto a cliff.
It's quite high and covered in bushes, and there is the wooden ship, with his sails tied up, resting on the sand of the shore. Crew working on the shore, fixing and loading the ship. They take wooden crates up with fruit and other goods.

"The captain of that ship is a frienemey of Ainsley." Explain Coda explains suddenly.
"Oh? How so?" I ask, looking at the ship , I can see boys and a few girls around my age, in rags and jewelry.
"Captain Damião, made a treaty with Ainsley. The pirates are allowed to get some food and goods... but that's it they can't go further than Corn Rock.
"What if they do pass it?" I ask, looking at Echo, who is standing next to me. "Ainsly will declare war against the pirates!" He says with a smile.
"Do you want to war?" I ask, confused.
"Those savages almost killed my mother when she was young... they were cruel to my people! They must feel how pain feels li-." "SPIES!" He gets inturupted by one of the girls on the shore. "RUN!" Echo screams.
Coda and Echo disappear into the bushes. I try keeping up with them, but I fail miserably. I trip over a branch, and my knee landed on a rock. I scream of the pain, and I start crying.
I hear the pirates coming closer, still out of sight, I quickly get up, standing on one leg, looking for a place I can hide.

Tree climbing is out, bushes is useless, ahh, there's a small cave! I quickly start jumping towards it... but the pirates ambushed me before I got to it.

Someone grabs me by the waist, and an asian girl is holding a knife against my throat. I hold my breath, and tears are in my eyes.
"Hah! I thought the 'Pan clan' stick together... It's too bad for you that that moto didn't stick." Says the girl smiling at me wickedly.
"Don't bite her just yet, Hae." Says a deep voice that belongs to the person holding me.
"Maybe it'll help for her to start talking." She says, annoyed.
"I'm not a s-spy... those two were just showing m-me around the i-island." I stutter.
"Hhmmhm. And why should we believe you?" She says already bored.
"Ainsly brought me here a week ago. Please, I don't want any trouble." I gasp. It's starting to go black on the side of my vision.

"Let's take her to the Captain." The voice said behind me.
"Aye." She agreed.

The person who was holding me by the waist picked me up, and I could see his face now.
He's probably eighteen or so, tall, long dark brown hair that stops at his cheekbones. Hazel eyes and freckles cover his nose and cheeks faintly... He sure is handsome... he smiles at me, not a cruel smile but a genuine smile. I don't do anything. The pain in my leg is too much to smile back.

We finally get to the ship... it's huge up close. The boy who's carrying me takes me up to the deck.
One of the other pirates was kind enough to put a barrel close to me so I could sit down. "T-thank you." I say to him. "No problem." He says, walking away.

I pushed myself up the barrel, and then Hae came to cuff me. "Don't get any ideas." She says warningly. But it feels like she's talking about something else than me escaping. "I'm telling the truth!" I say trembely.
"You know pirates. Can't take any chances." She says with a cruel smile. She walks away towards a dark red door, probably the Captain's quarters. She knocks 3 times, then speaks. "Captain, we caught something... I think you'll like it." She says, giving me a wicked look over her shoulder.

I hear some mumbling from the inside.
"It's a girl from Ainsley's clan." She replies. A few moments later, the door starts to open, and there comes a tall boy, probably seventeen. He's wearing black pants with a belt that has a lot of weapons attached to it. Knifes, a sword and a weird looking gun.

What did they call that gun again?
It's in the back of my mind!

Oh! A pistol! A pistol!

He has long brown hair that stops just passing his jaw. Which is a fine looking jaw.
Not bad looking... I must add.

I meet his eyes, he looks at me confused, and curious. Then his face goes blank.