Chartile: Prophecy Read Online Free

“There begins the territory of Humans. You are
Human, are you not?”
    It was the boys’ turn to be confused. The
idea of a government conspiracy was beginning to sound more
believable by the minute.
    “ So where are we in
relation to say, the Atlantic Ocean, or Russia? Australia, maybe?”
Leo asked.
    Piper did not answer. The group continued to
look at each other in an awkward silence.
    Jayson’s stomach made a terrible gurgling
sound.
    “ Sorry.” He patted his
stomach. “Do you have anything to eat?”
    Piper looked back up the path Taraniz and
the horseman had left by, and sheathed her sword. “Follow me,” she
whispered. “This is a conversation to be had under cover.”
    She headed down the steep hill toward the
mountain, not the village. The boys looked longingly the cozy huts
below, and trudged begrudgingly after her. She led them up and down
steep and winding roads, narrow squeezes between large boulders and
toe paths full of loose pebble under foot. She ducked beneath a low
hanging outcrop and seemed to disappear. Jack, Leo and Jayson
followed and found themselves in a small cave. A stone fire ring
lay in the middle of the room. A few natural shelves in the cave
wall held a collection of bowls, utensils and two water skins.
Another large natural shelf closer to the ground was covered in
blankets and furs.
    The boys stood just inside the mouth of the
cave as their eyes adjusted to the darkness. Neither of them had
ever been in a girl’s room before. Piper moved to the back of the
cave and pushed a large rock from over a hole in the cave floor.
She lowered herself through until only her head and shoulders could
be seen.
    “ Um… where…are we supposed
—” Jayson stammered.
    “ I’ll be right back. I’m
getting some water,” she said and disappeared.
    They listened until they could no longer
hear her. They stepped cautiously further into Piper’s cave and sat
around the fire ring. A few embers glowed from the charred logs in
its center. Their eyes began to wander from the fire ring to the
rest of the cave. An assortment of worn weapons sat in one corner.
Jayson stood for a better look, but immediately turned back when he
saw the dead game animals hanging from the ceiling.
    “ What have we gotten
ourselves into?” he whispered and nodded toward his
discovery.
    Jack and Leo did not answer. This was
definitely not Swansdale.
    “ You could have started
the fire,” said a voice behind them. They jumped and watched Piper
push the boulder back over the hole. She slung a gigantic water
skin over her shoulder and reached for a large pot that had sat
beside the hole. “Potatoes are in the rucksack over there.” She
pointed to the corner where the animals hung. The boys did not
move.
    “ Uh, we’d love to help,
but…uh — we,” Leo stammered, “We make our food a bit different back
home.”
    They all felt rather ridiculous and blushed.
None of them had ever done more than heat a frozen Hot Pocket in
the microwave. Piper furrowed her brow again. When the boys
continued to do nothing but look at her with shame, she busied
herself with preparing the meal.
    Soon, a roaring fire blazed beneath a kettle
full of stew. The boys ate as if it could be their last meal.
Jayson sighed and leaned back, rubbing his now bulging belly. “So,
why do you live here? Aren’t your parents worried about you?” he
asked.
    “ My parents are dead,”
Piper said.
    “ Oh,” said Jayson
blushing. “How?”
    “ It is a long story.” she
replied and tossed a bit of bone into the fire.
    “ We’ve got time,” said
Jack with a shrug.
    Piper gave a small, sad smile and
sighed.

Chapter Three
    Piper
    “ My parents were not my
birth mother and father.” Piper stoked the logs in the fire with a
long stick. She stared at the flames as she spoke, the light of the
fire turning her green eyes golden. “I was less than a day old when
a soldier rode into the village. He claimed he had found me
abandoned in the forest. My