Wendigo Wars Read Online Free Page B

sisters. Unity was the most important key to the continuation and survival of the tribe and this was taught from a young age. Amelie pulled a chair up to the table and sat opposite Mathilde. Mathilde smiled at Amelie, her violet eyes crinkling as she peered up from under her blunt fringe at the nearest thing she had to a mother.
    "Do you have a busy day today Mathilde?" asked Amelie.
    Mathilde leant back in her chair, relaxing for the first time that morning. Though everyone in the settlement was kind and friendly they all treated Mathilde with a sense of awe and respect. She was the first teenage Protector Superior to have ever looked after a tribe. Most Protector Superiors were forty or fifty years old and of course everyone had heard the rumours of the prophecy. With Amelie, Seb and Jaya was the only place where Mathilde be treated like a normal seventeen year old. Her answer was cut short before she even began but it was a welcome interruption.
    "Tilly!" a big voice boomed as a tall teenager bounded into the room, big thick arms carrying bread and cheese and a flagon of warm milk.
    "Morning Seb," said Mathilde, smiling at the pet name he had used for her since she arrived at the settlement aged five to his seven years. He was the only person, apart from her sisters, to call her Tilly. He flung the breakfast goods on the table and flopped down next to Mathilde then ruffled her hair, completely ruining the tidy style which Amelie had just made.
    "What are today's plans then Til?"
    Mathilde smiled fondly at her best friend as she smoothed her hair down again and tucked it behind her ears, conscious, as always, of the white stripe which had appeared in her black hair the morning after the wendigo attack which had killed her mother. He couldn't look much different from Mathilde. He was broad shouldered and almost 6ft 5 with mid length, blond hair. Mathilde’s pale skin was in stark contrast to Seb’s tan and freckles, a result of his usual role of supervising the Protectors who worked outside of the settlement building which meant that he was constantly in the sunlight which bounced off the snow and ice.
    "I have something important to talk to you about this afternoon but it can wait. For now we have a date this morning.”
    Seb looked surprised and turned bright red. “What? Erm… we have?”
    “Have you forgotten Seb? I thought you would have been looking forward to today," Mathilde teased knowing that Seb did not want to do what they were about to go through despite having done it every year for the past four years.
    "Oh no! Already? Boy that came around quickly. Damn!" said Seb as he banged his fist on the table, making one of the mugs of milk wobble until Amelie stilled it.
    Amelie and Mathilde shared a look and a smirk. It was the same routine every year. Sometimes Mathilde was sure that Seb was kidding when he pretended to have forgotten but even so he always looked truly exasperated about the one day a year which he dreaded - Career Day. This was the day that Mathilde, Seb and Amelie attended the graduating class of the settlement school to talk to the twelve year olds about the work of Carers and Protectors so as to help the class decide whether to train in the same trade as their families or whether to take the three year training course and apprenticeship to become a Carer or Protector.
    "Ha! I loved Career Day. You were rubbish though Seb. Do you still blush and stutter when you do your speech?" asked Jaya collapsing in laughter. Jaya had not been accepted onto the Protector training course as he had not passed the physical tests and so had to train as a Carer - his family trade. He still desperately hoped to become a Protector one day and idolised Seb.
    "Yeah hilarious," said Seb rolling his eyes and slumping further down in his seat.
    "Time we got going," said Amelie as she kissed Jaya goodbye. "Make sure that you have prepared something for the children to eat when they return"
    "Sure" said Jaya and Mathilde