Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Haha! Yes! It is yet another story from the fearsome Captain Jacklyn Sparrow!! Beware! This story is projected to be short, but that is subject to change.


Chapter 1

"Come back here Kal!!" the young blond, blue eyed boy of only nine years yelled to his older brother as he chased him through the trees of the black forest.

"Don't be such a sissy Kaleb! I want to get my lucky arrow back! You're the one that shot it in here, remember?" Kal called back as he ran along side the trees while keeping a sharp eye out for his favorite arrow. He started to climb one of the trees so that he could get a better view.

"I am not a sissy! We're not supposed to be out here for any reason without a grown up, and you know it! Besides, it's only a dumb arrow! It's lost in here, so how lucky can it be?" Kaleb shouted, about out of breath from all the running.

Kal stopped for a moment to look back at his brother with a smirk on his face. "I never said it was lucky for anyone else, but I always hit my mark with that arrow no matter what! I am thirteen years old, and that means I'm practically an adult!" He said as he brushed his short black hair out of his sky blue eyes and continued his climb.

"You are not a grown up yet, so I'm gonna run home and tell Mama if you don't come with me right now!" Kaleb said when he saw his brother up in the tree. Kaleb couldn't climb any of these trees because he was too small, and he was also afraid of being alone down below.

Kal took rolled his eyes at his little brother's worrying before he took one last good look, and then he began his descent from the tree. They both walked quickly back through the black trees to the village, which was surrounded by evergreen pine trees, from which the village got it's name.

Evergreen village was not the place where the most wealthy in the land would want to stay, never the less, it had it's own importance to the kingdom of Karolot. Some of the most skilled hunters in the whole land were born and raised in this little village. Most of the best furs were from the beasts hunted down by these hunters. Many of the nobles sent their sons to this place to be trained in the art of hunting.

A red headed boy of about 13 was practicing archery with the straw bales as targets when he saw Kal and Kaleb walking out of the forest. "Kal!" He called as he waved to him and set down his bow.

Kal waved back and walked over to him, Kaleb following. "Good afternoon, Joseph." He said to the red head and then turned to his brother. "Go home Kaleb." Kal snapped.

"Why!?" Kaleb whined.

"Because you're a sissy who needed to go cry to Mama, remember?" Kal scoffed.

"I am not, and you'd better stop saying that!" Kaleb pouted and stomped off.

"Gee, you're in a mood." Joseph laughed.

"Never mind that, how goes your practicing?" Kal said trying not to think about the loss of his arrow.

"It's going alright, and I think I'm going to be able to out do you for the twenty meter target soon!" Joseph said, picking up his bow and leaning on it.

"Not a chance! There's no way I'll lose to you, not unless you somehow get a year or two ahead of me in practice." Kal said.

Joseph?s younger sister came running out yelling something that they couldn't really understand through her heaving breathing as she ran.

"What!?" Joseph yelled back to her.

When she finally got close to them she was too out of breath to speak normally. Part of her speechlessness could have had something to do with the fact that she was blushing almost as red as her hair when she looked at Kal.

After a few moments she tossed her red curls and said, "I said that Nana says it's almost dinner time, so you need to come home now." Their father was a nobleman who's wife had died, and so he sent them to Evergreen village for Joseph to train and sent his sister with him so she wouldn't be alone. Their Nanny took care of them because their father was too busy and didn't live there all of the time.

"In a few minutes Terra. So, Kal, ten pieces of gold says that I can win three out of five shots against your three out of five for the twenty meter target. What say you to that?" Joseph challenged.

"I say you're a fool for offering to give me your money since you know I'll be the one with it at the end of this game!" Kal laughed.

They both loaded their bows with practice arrows and released them. Kal's arrow was in the second ring, while Joseph's was in the fourth. They were just about to notch their next arrows when they heard a scream and the unmistakable growl of a wolf ringing through the trees not far from them.

The black forest was known to have many wolves, but not very many times had one attacked in daylight and so close to the edge of the evergreens.

"Terra, go home now!" Joseph yelled at his sister as he and Kal grabbed their quivers which were full of real hunting arrows which every archer carried just in case.

"No, wait! Go and get my father Terra, my house is closer, and then stay there!" Kal said as he began to run toward where they heard the sound of the scream.

They readied their bows and each notched an arrow as they entered the forest. The sun was threatening to go down soon, and so they knew they must hurry if they were to help the poor soul who had screamed for help. Something white caught Kal's eye not far off, and he motioned for Joseph to follow him quietly. It was a white wolf hovering over something, something that was whimpering. Suddenly the wolf jumped back and howled in pain.

Kal knew this was his chance to take aim, and he did so. He was about to let it fly when he saw that it was his brother who lay at the wolf's feet. He let out a gasp, and the wolf turned his gaze on the two boys, it's right eye had a fresh cut running down it. Joseph began to shake with fear and he ran back toward the village. The wolf began to dash their way when Kal released his arrow, but his aim was not true and it only grazed the wolf's right foreleg. That was enough to stop the wolf in his tracks before he ran off in another direction. As it ran it caught Kal in it's sight one last time, sending chills through his whole body, knowing somehow that this was not the end. Kal ran to his brother's side. Kaleb's left leg had been bitten through, the blood leaving his body much too fast. His chest had the wolf's claw marks going all the way down to his stomach.

"Kaleb, Kaleb, what were you doing out here all alone!? You have more sense than me! Why!?" Kal began to cry, knowing that his dear little brother would surely die. He took his jacket off and put it under Kaleb's head while get took his shirt off and tried to stop the bleeding from his leg.

"I'm not a sissy," Kaleb said and held up the lost arrow. "see? I got it back for you. It gave me a little good luck after all."

The arrow was covered with blood, but not Kaleb's, the wolf's. Kal understood now what had prevented the wolf from delivering his final attack. Kaleb was choking on his own blood now, and he would soon take his last breath. His eyes looked up into Kal's, pleading, hoping, but Kal knew that there was none. Kaleb tried to speak again, but just started coughing.

"Don't try to talk now Kaleb, Father will be here soon and you'll be alright. Just...just rest. I promise that you won't hurt anymore really soon." He said, not wanting his brother's last moments to be filled with the fear of death.

Kaleb just nodded his head slowly, and gave his brother a weak smile, trusting his older brother completely. He closed his eyes, the pain leaving him as he drifted into eternal sleep.