Adventures of a Little Sister

Part Four

Once they got home, Shadow lightly shook Little Sisters' arm as he tried to wake her. She mumbled something, sitting up and rubbing her eye. Her brother chuckled, picking her up in his arms and carrying her into the house while the other three unloaded the cart with their things.

"Brother," She said quietly. "Will I have to go to war too?"

Shadow stopped, looking at his sister in surprise. "Why would you have to go to war Sister?"

"Because all of you have to...and there's no one to watch me while you are all gone..."

Shadow sighed, wishing it didn't have to be this way. He wished that one of them could stay with her, if not all of them. They never thought of this happening so they didn't have a plan, and even if they did, they doubted it would've worked at this point in time. Most of the people they had known personally had all moved out of the village and they didn't know where they were now, or if they were even alive.

"We'll figure something out Little Sister, don't worry." Shadow finally replied, petting the girl's head. "You won't eve have to go to war."

Once in the house, he walked towards her room to put her to bed for the night. It was dark inside, night having set in on the second half of the trip back home. Thankfully, they had just bought more oil for lamps and Shadow lit one once they got into his sisters room. She had already passed out, too tired to keep her eyes open. Shadow smiled, lying her down in her bed and pulling the covers over her. He took Maimu off of his shoulder and placed it on her pillow, then leanded down and kisses his sisters' cheek.

"Good night Sis." Her whispered to her as she shifted in her bed.

He walked out, closing the door behind him and pulling out the book he had just bought from his pocket. Flipping through the pages, he heard the other three walking in after putting the cart and other things away. He didn't even look up as he sat in a chair by the fireplace where a fire had been lit by Vreal and inluminated the room enough for him to read with ease.

"Thanks for the help Shadow." Ebon said sarcastically.

"Hey, someone had to put the girl in her room for the night." He answered. "I figured I might as well do that."

Ebon rolled his eyes, sitting down to relax now. Wolf and Vreal sat as well, both leaning back in the chairs. The three of them looked into the fire, Shadow reading his book. All were quiet, no one wishing to speak first about what really needed to be talked about. The silence engulfed them all; they could even hear their little sister move around in her sleep. It gave them peace that she was sleeping soundly. Whenever she slept they felt peace, knowing they were watching their sister and protecting her like they had promised their parents. The poor girl hadn't known them, but her brothers did, and sometimes, though none would admit it, they wished they hadn't and was innocent again like Little Sister. But they had gone a long time ago, and now they had to face the truth of adulthood.

Finally, Vreal, the oldest brother, decided to break the silence. "So, what are we going to do?"

"What can we do?" Wolf asked back, "We are all of age and you heard what the man said."

"If we don't show, we'll be killed." Ebon finished.

Now Shadow had put his book down, a serious look on his face while they talked.

"We'll we can't bring her with us to the war. It's forbidden for one, and two, we can't show her war at such a young age, what would mother and father think?"

"They showed us war when we were young." Shadow simply said, now looking into the fire as well.

All of them fell silent once again, remembering what they had seen a few years ago before their sister was born. None of them wanted to bring that to her. They wanted to protect her as much as they could. They wanted to keep her their little innocent sister forever.

"I might know where we can take her." Wolf said, half in thought half out loud. "The forest."

"The forest?" Ebon questioned. "How is the forest going to keep her safe? There are creatures out there that would eat her on the first day, and she doesn't know how to survive on her own, especially out there."

"No, he's right," Shadow replied, "The forest is a great idea."

"Is anyone even listening to me? Come on, I'm playing the voice of reason for the first time here! I think you should believe me on this one."

"Ebon hush," Vreal said. "Now Wolf, tell us about this forest."

"In the forest," Wolf started. "There is the queen. She is said to watch over children who don't have anyone to watch and care for them."

"You seriously want to leave our little sister in the forest with this so called queen who is 'said' to watch children?" Ebon complained. "How do you know she's not some witch that eats kids?"

"Ebon, we'll go check it out before we put our sister there." Vreal said calmly. "I suggest two of us go and the other two watch Little Sister. If she askes, making something up about where the two are."

"We only have two days," Reminded Shadow. "Do you think we can find her before those two days are up and get our sister in there?"

"If two of us leave tomorrow morning we should be able to find her and make the deal before the second day even comes."

The boys had to admit, it was a good idea. If the queen was real, then they had a safe place for their sister. If she wasn't, then they didn't know what they would do. Either way, they needed to figure out something before the day came that they were to leave.

"Alright," Ebon finally sighed. "I"ll go look for the stupid queen."

"I will go as well. Shadow and Wolf will watch Little Sister tomorrow."

Shadow and Wolf nodded in agreement. Once the arrangements were made on the details, the fire was put out and the brothers went to bed. They needed to sleep and get as much as they could before their two days were up and they were sent off. But they found that as they tried to sleep, their minds wouldn't let them. Each of them had too much on their mind, and they couldn't clear their heads enough to sleep.