Chapter Two
I am cradling my baby brother in my arms as he points to a brightly shining star and whispered, "Look! So shiny and pwetty!" He bounced happily before I cuddled him more and he sits still. "I luuv thtars, Sil," he said, his eyes shining with a joy that I loved to see in him. My little Hummingbird, I thought, is the real star. We heard our mother shuffling around in the house and I felt nothing for her but pity.
All my life she had never shown me much love, even when I needed her. She once looked at me with loss, now she looks at me with emptiness--such emptiness I cannot explain how or why. I remember little happiness in my dull childhood, and I never had much innocence, neither. I remember a lover my mother courted--a Guardian from the Kingdom.
"A nice old wolf," she'd said. "You must be a good little girl now, Silveranna. He does not like bad little kittens." My mother once had beautiful fur. Pure white with black leopard spots and a few tiger stripes on her paws. I knew her mother--my Grandmamma--was a leopard and her father--my Grandpapa--was a tiger before they were killed. She was beautiful then, before the Guardian. She gave him everything, and he took it and gave nothing back but hurtful words and bruises. When he left, my mother's fur was a greyish-white, no longer as beautiful as it once was. And after a few months, my mother had my brother. And, at first, I hated him. Another abusive wolf to harm us, I'd thought bitterly. But when he was born, Hilda, a neighbored fox, said, "Sil, come! Look and your brother!"
I'd looked because she'd asked, and I couldn't believe my eyes. He was so beautiful. And when he moaned, just about to cry and whimper for mother's milk, he hummed. I laughed. "He sounds like a hummingbird, Mama!"
"Yes," she smiled...barely. "He does." Mother fell asleep with her newborn cub attached to her breast, and I couldn't wait to hold him. I realized she'd been drained of her happiness. From then on, I felt nothing for her but pity.
"Sil?" My brothers' voice brought me back from my memories and I smile down on him.
"Yes, little Hummingbird?" I ask softly, scratching his little doggy ears. He yawns with no sound but a tiny little mmwaaaaaaaahh, and I smile. "Are you tired, little one?"
He rests his head against my chest and that is my answer. I pick him up with gentle arms--wings pulled so, so tightly to my back--I step to the little cottage door where Mother waits for me. "Asleep?" she asks.
I nod as I handed over my precious burden. She grunts and walks through the cottage, around the corner to where my old bedroom was where he now sleeps, and came back handing me a basket. I sigh as I take it. "How much food do we need now?" Since the Darkness which almost consumed our country, Mother never left her home, so I was the one whom did everything outside of the house.
"Some bread and some apples, maybe oranges if we can afford it or if there are any at all. Things have been a little rare since..."
Since the Darkness and since my father left. She didn't have to say it, I knew. I said, "Make sure he is safe, Mother. Do not leave him alone." Since being the son of a Guardian, his father could come and claim him for Guardian Training at any time since he was of age. "I'll be back by the hour, and I want the both of you safe, so lock what doors and windows you can, Mother."
A while back, we were robbed one night and we awoke to the sounds of Kyuma screaming in fear as a tiger had busted through his window, and Mother hid in her room.
She nods and waves me off.
I walk through the deadened forest, though it was coming to life--little bit by little bit. When I got to the little Village, I noted how many folk were here collecting for their families. I smile as many wave to me. "Silver!" said a friend called Nina, a young dragon, her scales only just forming. "Have you come to shop?" she asks excitedly.
"Yes, I have," I answer and I walk to my favourite stall. Hilda had gotten older since we last seen each other and when she sees me, her eyes shine and she smiles ear to ear. "Sil! Hello, dear! Come!" she cries, her happiness obviously apparent and proud.
"Hello, Hilda," I laugh.
"The usual?" Two loaves of bread and ten apples.
I shake my head. "Four loaves and sixteen apples, and one loaf of berry bread, if you please?"
"Ooooh! Special occasion?"
"Kyuma turns four in three days," I said, smiling, "I want to make it special and filling!"
"Done!" She sang In the Garden while she took my basket and filled it with my order. When I held out six gold coins to her, she shook her head. "On the house, honey," she smiles. "Tell the little cub I said happy birthday."
"I will, Hilda. Thank you so much."
When I realized I didn't need to be home for another twenty minutes, I decided to go for a wander around the stalls. I walked among the folk, tightening my wings behind my back. Some folk marveled at my wings, others stared in confusion or disgust--I don't mind, as long as they don't try to murder me, I will be fine.
Though I find it a little heart lifting when young cubs and older cubs wish to touch my wings, or ask to watch me fly. It makes me believe in the world again--believe in the innocence again.
When I was passing a stall, a croaky old lion called out to me. "Young one! You! With the pretty wings! Yes! Here!" I walked over to him and acknowledged him and he smiles a toothless smile and said, "You loo' like the typa girl who likes flowers, aye? Well, lucky fo' you, I gotta a small bag full of Marigold's! Different colours, too!"
I almost laugh. "Since the Darkness, there have been no flowers in this forest, dear sir."
"Because nobody's planted them! The seeds are bloody everywhere but no one does nothin' about it!"
I shrug. Why not give it a try, I thought. "How much?" I ask.
He smiles another toothless smile and says, "Fo' you, three silver coins and two gold coins."
I hand him the money and he grasps for it greedily and threw me the black leather bag of trillions of seeds, different colours--blue, brown, pink, red, green, yellow, orange, purple, indigo, violet and even white. I smile and I go to thank him, but he is already gone.
"How rude," I mumble to myself as I head home. As I began walking, a figure brushed passed me quickly, almost knocking me over. I am about to protest when the tangy, iron smell of fresh blood filled my senses. I tried to look for the figure, in case they were injured...but they were gone, with drips of blood creating a small trail before disappearing completely into nothing.