Tranquil Darkness

The Plan

The next evening, Kerrin awoke to the sound of her mother calling her name.

"Kerrin! Your friends are here!"

Kerrin pulled back the covers of her bed and rushed to the door. Sure enough, there stood Adreana and Lucera with huge smiles lighting up their faces.

"Kerrin!" Adreana's joy was evident in her voice. "We have wonderful news!"

"And although you have been absent lately," Lucera added. "We just had to tell you. It's tradition."

Kerrin's heart was filled with a warm glow at Lucera's words.

"Come inside," she said, gesturing for her friends to come in.

They did, and she followed them into the living room, where Kerrin's mother was waiting. They all sat down on the sofa, and Adreana began:

"You know how The Light is planning to attack us at the Tilting celebration?"

At this, Kerrin started. "Yes..." she answered faintly. She had been so distracted by Luke that she had completely forgotten about this much more pressing matter: the fact that The Light was planning to wage war against The Dark. She also realized that the Tilting celebration would be tomorrow night.

Kerrin's mother was having a panic attack. "What did you say? The Light? Attacking us? At the Tilting celebration? Why didn't we all know earlier? This is terrible! What are we going to do?"

Adreana shot an impatient look at her, then raised her voice and continued: "Well, Lucy and I have been persisting with trying to get the elders to acknowledge it ever since you first found out, and last night, we finally were successful. We were able to arrange something without the new eighth elder knowing, and this evening, instead of meeting to organize chores, we'll be meeting to discuss plans for the attack."

"Great going," Kerrin told her friends weakly. She was glad that the attack would finally be acknowledged and that they were going to prepare for it. But how would this affect Luke?

Kerrin's mother was still pale as they left for the community meeting. It was time to make plans for the attack tomorrow.

***

"Greetings, people of The Dark," said the chief elder, once everyone had gathered in the clearing. "Today we are gathered not to prepare for the Tilting celebration, but to discuss an urgent and pressing problem which has recently being brought to our attention."

Recently? thought Kerrin. We tried to inform you of it over a month ago.
"The Light are planning an attack on us tomorrow, during the Tilting celebration. They want to wage war against us, and hope to conquer us so they can rule the whole of Integria."

The reactions to this were are expected. And anxious murmuring arose in the clearing, and a feeling of unease filled the air. People turned pale and began to panic, and some even fainted.

"We must make a plan for when they attack," the chief elder continued. "Otherwise there is no hope for us. That is why we are gathered here today."

A young man stepped up.

"Yes, Alfred?" prompted the chief elder.

"I would like to propose a plan," said Alfred.

The chief elder nodded."Let's here it."

Alfred cleared his throat. "Well," he began; "I recommend that we retrieve our weapons from the weapon store and clean them. Then we should finish our preparations for the Tilting celebration. Tomorrow, half of us will celebrate, just as if we were unaware of the attack. Meanwhile, the other half of us will hide, and at a signal we will sneak up on the warriors of The Light and ambush them."

"Excellent plan," Evangeline smiled, and the rest of the elders nodded in agreement. "We'll get to work right away."

All the weapons of the people of The Dark were kept in a special weapon store inaccessible to their owners. Only the elders had the key, and now it was unlocked and the weapons brought out. 

As everyone got to work polishing their weapons, Kerrin began to worry. Of course they needed to protect themselves, but what would become of Luke? She couldn't leave him unaware of what they were planning.

I have to go and tell him. Now.

And she quietly slipped away from the clearing.