Ruby's Journey

The Runaways

A few days had passed since the Village of Twinnel and it's lord had perished, the twins were still taking in all that had happened to their home and their father.  As they sat in the woods under the moonlight and stars, Rudy was trying to help comfort his sister for all she had been through after seeing their father die right in front of her and watched as the village was covered in flames and turned to ruin. Rudy had tried to ask her what had happened but each time he asked she would start crying and have flashbacks of everything she saw like a nightmare forever looped in her head. He felt useless being unable to help his sister in her time of need, but he understood it was a horrific event to witness and bear so he decided to ask no further until she was ready. He stared at the sword his father had wanted to give him and was curious of the meaning of giving him the rusty old looking sword that seemed like it couldn't make even so much as a dent to metal, he stared at the stars while watching over his sleeping sister laying on his lap. He knew it wasn't the end of seeing Jinjaru and wondered what had happened to their mother as she sent them riding faraway on the horse. The next morning, Rudy decided it was time to move as it would be soon they would both be hungry. So he put Ruby, who was still fast asleep, safely and securely on the saddle of the horse and grabbed the lead and began walking. A few hours had passed since morning and they had traveled a long way from where they camped in the forest. He decided to take a short break as he walked toward a pond, He kneeled down and drank some of the fresh pond water, He stood back up and brought the horse over for a drink as well since it was clean and fresh. The horse head went down to get a drink then all of a sudden, Ruby, who had been sleeping the whole trip slid off the horses saddle and awoke from her slumber, wondering where she was and how she got there, she looked around. All of a sudden, she began to hear slithering from the bushes a few feet in front of her. Startled by the sound she began kicking away from the noise as she began to have a flashback of the event that had happened several days ago, She screamed. Rudy startled by his sisters screaming realized there was a snake coming towards her and figured it triggered the memories of that day, He rushed over, pulled out his dagger, and killed the snake. He walked over to his sister and noticing she was holding a orb which was glowing. "What's that?", he asked. "It's an orb, papa said it will keep me safe from Jinjaru", Ruby replied holding it tight. Rudy confused to why their father gave her an orb to keep her safe, didn't question it and dropped the topic for the time being. He held out his hand and said, "Come on, Rub, we have to keep going, we'll reach a village soon". He pulled her up and put her back on the horse and jumped on and continued heading north. An hour or so later, they finally see a village and decide to go to it. As they rode into town, he noticed the a few of the villagers were staring at the plaza in the middle of town. He jumped off, helped his sister down, put their horse in the village stables to be fed and well rested from their long journey, held Ruby's hand, and ran towards the center to see what the commotion was about. As they got closer they saw a messenger giving an important announcement. "Here ye, Here ye, a fellow village to the south has recently turned to ruin, Three survivors survived the attack, One mother and two twins a boy and girl, I come to tell you all today that the mother of those twins had asked that if they see two siblings to please tell the guards so they may be captured-- I mean safely returned to their worried mother it is said they were last heading north, so please be on the look out for any sign of them, Thank you for your attention and corporation, andplease keep an eye out for those children, That is all" He walked off and away from the center. Suddenly Rudy felt his sister start to loosen her grip on his hand, he turned around to see his sister walking the same direction of the man. Rudy ran after her and gentle grabbed her arm and ran down an alley. "Let me go I wanna see mama! I wanna go back to how things were before this!!" Ruby said trying to get out of her brothers arms.  Rudy then pulled his sister in and hugged her " I know you do, I know your scared, I am too, but we can't mom told us to run, plus don't you think the way that man said "captured" and fixed it like it was a mistake? If it was mama she would of come looking for us her self, she wouldn't put us in danger like this plus how would they know about there being 3 survivors from our village? It's not mama someone is purposely trying to lure us out of hiding!".  "Y-you're right, mama would look for us herself if that was the case."  Rudy looked over to see a person posting a bulletin of what the kids who were missing looked like.  "Wait here, I'll be back in a second". Ruby nodded and he let her hand go and ran to get the paper and went back to his sister. "What is that?" She asked. "It's a picture to what we look like, probably so we are found sooner" he replied. "So we need to change the way we look?" She said looking over his shoulder.  "Yes, whether we want to or not we mustn't be found, ok?" He said looking at his sister's sad eyes. "O-ok" she said looking down. "Hey, it'll be ok, we'll be alright". He holds his sister's had and walks out of the alley and tries to blend into the crowd. "Look!!" Ruby said while pointing. He looked over, "Nice, a clothes shop!", They run inside and look around. "Can I help you two, sweet pies?" A nice lady said. "Yes please, My Si-- (Rudy's mind: WAIT! They're looking for siblings if I say she's my sister, it'll draw attention to us) "Yes please, My Friend and I got our clothes ruined while playing, may we have a change of clothes, plz? I don't wanna have my friend to catch a cold because of me" he said with a little smile. "Oh, you poor things, here how bout you both come with me to the back and we get you cleaned up and something to eat you both look hungry and are covered in dirt from playing".  "Yes please, Thank you very much!". They go to the back of the shop. "Here sweetie, let's get you cleaned up" the lady holds out her hand. Ruby looks over to Rudy, he nods, and she follows her to the wash room.  As Ruby is being helped, Rudy stands outside the door to make sure nothing goes wrong. They come out, "Ok, your turn, little one."   "Ok", he goes in, cleans up, and opens the door noticing that Ruby was waiting outside the door like he did while she was in the washroom. They both smile and head to the table for some food and begin to eat. "Oh, you, poor things, you must be starving, here there's enough for you both" "Thank you!" The two said in sync. The lady gives a smile and says while handing them clothes, "Here you go, think of these clothes as a gift from me to you", she gives them the clothes as they finish eating and go into the changing room. They get changed and come out, "I don't think I did this right." Ruby says while coming out. He turns to see her outfit was alright, it was the bow in her hair that wasn't working for her. He laughs a lil saying, "Here let me do it, Silly!".  He fixes her hair, "There you go, Rub".  "Thanks", she says laughing. "Hey, you two, Cutie pies, I made you both a bed if you wanted to stay since it's real late."   "Thank you so much for everything!" The lady smiled and says, "Good night" she leaves the room turning off the lights. They go to bed and go to sleep, A few minutes later, he sees Ruby shaking, He gently pulls her closer and she calms down, smiling. He laughs silently, "No matter what or where ever you are, I'll keep you safe, Rub", He dozes off.

-----------------------------------------------------

Thank you for reading chapter 5 of Ruby's Journey, stay tuned for chapter 6 too!!!

Note:
In case, some get "Rub" wrong
It's Rub like Ruby but with out the Y in it
Not Rub like Rubber 😂

Thanks again and stay tuned!! 😄