The Eclipses

Chapter 1: Isaac

Village noises echoed from below, donkeys braying, wagons creaking, people yelling, the typical village sounds. Yawning, a tired young boy, 14 years old, almost 15 in a few days, gradually stood up and got out of bed. Glancing at the window, beautiful rays of the sun, which was just peeking over the mountains. Dawn filtered through the one big window in the room, casting a pinkish, gray sky over the world. Getting dressed into a tight gray long-sleeved shirt and sand-colored trousers, Isaac Robinson crept silently over the creaky wooden floor and opened the door. He passed the closed door of Isaac's mother, Martha, and down the stairs. Closing the door behind him, Isaac fled to the forest. He headed for the dreaded Uncle Caleb's cottage to work for his daily earnings. Isaac adored the forest. Majestic trees stood tall and proud, vibrant green growth sprouting and stretching farther than the eye could see. Dew dripped silently on the newly grown leaves and bush creatures chittered and chattered somewhere in the forest, birds chirped and sang their morning songs, but morning had already passed. Spotting his uncle's lodge, Isaac came closer, realizing the door was open just a bit. Not caring if his uncle would see him, Isaac drew closer for a tiny peek. Dark and a little chilly, and not considering the consequences yet again, Isaac took the unexpected chance and willingly stepped into the shack. Dust rained on the work boy's blond hair while he scanned the room. An unmade dirty bed was sitting in a corner while a tiny birch table and chairs were standing a few feet away from the cot. It was very unlikely that Uncle Caleb was not in his dwelling because he is a very lazy man but surprisingly well built. Caleb was not the most favored relative in the Robinson family. He was a loner, rude, impolite, and hated children, especially Isaac. When Caleb wanted and very much needed someone to do physical work for him, like cutting firewood or killing the animals in the forest for food, making blankets, jackets, gloves, and so on, Martha offered her son for the job. Now, Caleb to you might seem like a person who would not even dream about earning money from, but as it seems, Uncle Dreadful was a very good shepherd and seemed to have a way with livestock, mainly sheep. Caleb worked for a very wealthy man who had great amounts of livestock and hired Caleb to the job. Isaac earned money by working for his uncle, but since he wasn't there that day, Isaac sensed it was time for another adventure. Another very adored hobby, the boy was an adventurer. However, not the kind where you would go wandering, go back, thinking it was an adventure. Isaac going great distances, climb trees higher than the Council's building, and swim in rivers and lakes. Isaac also liked animals, even if he had to kill them. Animals like hares or squirrels would come to him, borrowing the food he always gave them. His mother could not stop her son, he had proved to her repeatedly that he could survive the forest. He opened a door for light. Because Caleb hated bright lights, there were no other source of light could be found in the stinking shack. Isaac crept around the room, searching the bow that the lazy man owned, but never used. Noticing a slight glint of silver underneath a heap of old shoes, Isaac pulled out the mighty bow, made in fine dark oak wood, unknown markings engraved by a hand of an artist, the string strong and silky. Catching the sight of the quiver, large, and filled with knife-sharp arrows. Now I'm definitely ready, thought Isaac, grinning mischievously. His father taught him all of the skills of the bow. Isaac was a very skilled archer, some may even say he was the best throughout the land. Knowing that he could kill animals for a source of food, Isaac flew out of Caleb's collapsing hut and headed for an adventure. Treading through thick growth and leaves, Isaac listened to songbirds, the distant wind echoing its melody through the trees of the forest and felt the sun's rays warming his hair and back. Not so long after walking, Isaac noticed movement among the trees. Thankful for his observant blue eyes, Isaac made out a figure. Definitely a creature of sorts, he thought. Swift...and wearing a dress? No, thought Isaac in disbelief. Probably a trick of the eye. Suddenly, the figure stopped. Reacting fast so it wouldn't spot him, Isaac hid behind an aspen tree. Pinpointing where the creature was, he took his bow and by that, he slowly pulled out a silver arrow, placed it on his bow and steadied it. Positioning his weapon just slightly to the side of the creature, he pulled the silky bowstring, and he pulled the string back and fired, his eyes grew wide as he saw the shape of a young girl.

* * * *

Cynthia awoke in the early morning rays. It was late September and a thin mist filled the air, but not a sound was heard. Suddenly, the distant town clock tower bellowed its tune and rang five times. It was 5 o'clock! Right on time, thought Cynthia. She got dressed into her gold rimmed silk white dress and put on her red combat cobblers. She crept down the stairs, closed the majestic doors of her chambers, making sure that the guards there were asleep, and ran down to the old brick house down the road. She knocked on the door, a rusty voice answered "come in". She closed the door behind her.

When she exited the crumbling house an hour later, patches of her white dress were brown and she had bruises all over her body, but a broad smile on her face. She had passed level 29 of sparring class and was moving to the last level. 30. She was the best of all the 13-20-year-old boys & girls in the country. If she passed level 30 she would train to become a sensei. She couldn't wait. She decided to take a celebratory walk in the beckoning forest. Not more than ten minutes into her walk a silver arrow zoomed past her ear. Oh great, thought the girl, annoyed. Another princess assassin. Being a princess, there was always someone who wanted to kill her. She sighed. This particular assassin didn't have a very good aim. He was going to be easy to defeat. Judging from the direction the arrow came from, if she snuck behind the tree to her left, he wouldn't be able to see her. She went behind it, climbed it and hid in the leaves. Once safe, she unsheathed her sparring sword and waited. The assassin came out from his hiding place. Merely a boy. The boy, assuming she was still behind the tree crept noisily towards it and peeked behind it, and shrugged. He didn't even bother to look up. The tree wasn't very tall so she stepped down the branches onto the boy's head, hopped down behind him and put her sword on his neck and just for fun... she kicked him in the calf. He toppled over and she leaned over to look him in the face and said, "Hey".