A Writing Journey; Little Bird Singing

My favourite thing to read and to write is fantasy. I’m talking like Lord of the Rings, The Inheritance Cycle fantasy. Fantasy that involves magic and sword fights and dragons etc. And this short story is a little taste of that.

I’m not sure where the inspiration came from for this story, or when I wrote it, but it’s one that I have always really liked. I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually developed into something more one day.

I haven’t got much more to share about it, so here it is for you to read. Would love to hear your feedback and thoughts too.

Enjoy!

Little Bird Singing

Lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the clouds for a brief moment before the world turned back into darkness. Large raindrops landed on the old tin roof, they sounded as though some god far above was dropping small metal balls. The wind whistled around, rattling the corrugated iron of the hut.

Suddenly thunder cracked through the air, and I felt my brother jump beside me. His little hands gripped the warn fabric of my dress. I tightened my grip around him, holding him close hoping to keep us both warm.

A gale lifted the roof, making it strain against the rusted bolts that just held it down, and through it, I gained a glimpse of the ominous black clouds as they, once again, were lit by the lightning.

“… can’t stay here, Peach!” Landon said, his voice just making it over the rawr of the storm.

I looked at him. His brown jacket was drenched and full of holes; the brim of his hat was still dripping. “We gotta move, Peach, we can’t stay here, they’ll...” The rest of his sentence was cut off by another clap of thunder, this time closer. The golden Labrador barked, and Landon had to pull him closer again.

“We can’t leave…” I said, trying to fight the tears that were threatening.

Landon leaned over and gently placed a warm kiss on my lips. “I know these lands, Peach. There’s an old castle down ‘bit further. We’ll be safe there. Will be better sheltered too.”

I looked at him sceptically.

“The soldiers won’t go anywhere in it. They think it’s haunted or something of the likes. Bad things happen to them there.”

“Why would it be any better for us?” I said.

“Cuz we ain’t soldiers and we’re looking for refuge.” He said, smiling. “Listen, Pea… Maddy, we’ll be able to light a fire may even get some food along the way…” He stood, keeping hold of the dog’s lead in one hand and offering me his other.

“Timothy… He can’t.” I said cradling my brother.

“I’ll carry him. You take Chester.”

So we swapped. Landon took Timothy in his arms, and I took Chester’s lead. Cautiously we ventured out the door into the rain, into the storm.

The winds and rain made it hard to walk. Chester followed me trying to shelter, his nose was close to the ground, and his tail was between his legs. Landon had his head down too, concentrating on the slippery path, Timothy now clinging to his back. Something made me look behind just as lightning flashed again. And there, at the top of the hill, I saw them, the soldiers. The soldiers in blue. Their Captain who had the scar, which cut right across his face. Somehow I knew that he had seen us too.

“Landon!! Landon, they’re right behind!”

He looked back, his keen eyes picked up the dark silhouettes. “Run…” he said, looking at me. “Peach RUN!!”

I did. I ran, pulling Chester with me. The rain lashed at my face, obscuring my sight, I barely missed running into a tree. I knew Landon was just ahead of me. I could see the heels of his boots and occasionally a flash of one of the gems that decorated his sheath. I kept running, hoping that the soldier’s horses were having trouble on the muddy ground.

Something caught my boot. Suddenly the ground was in front of me. I lay for a moment, stunned. Then a dog barked. I pushed myself up.

“Chester…” I looked around me, then behind me. I could see the Captain on his horse, a giant dark figure moving closer. And Chester, Chester was standing behind me snarling and barking in the direction of the Captain.

I got to my feet. “Chester!!” I yelled. “Come here, boy!!” He didn’t move.

An arrow shot at him. I heard him yelp.

“Chester!!” I screamed.

Landon grabbed my arm. “Maddy!! We have to…” He was pulling me away.

“Chester!!” I yelled louder.

The Captain got to the dog.

“No!! Chester! Come!” My voice broke.

With a single sweep of his sword, the Captain decapitated him.

“CHESTER!!” Landon pulled hard on my arm, and I stumbled backwards, but he didn’t let go. He kept pulling me until we were running again. Tears and rain made me almost blind.

All of a sudden, the muddy ground became hard. I paused for a moment.

“Not safe yet…” Landon panted to me. Running still, he pulled me along. Then the rain stopped falling on us. But we didn’t stop. Down a dark stairwell, we both slipped on the wet bricks. Soon we were at the bottom.

“Landon…”

“It’s OK. Trust me.” He squeezed my hand slightly and led me through the darkness.

Voices came from the stairs. But the wind blew the words away from us. The darkness seemed never-ending, not even the lightning made its way down there. I stubbed my toes several times on unseen rock.

Then we stopped.

“Peach, take Timmy.”

I followed his arm up until I found my brother, I carefully loosened his grip on Landon and took hold of him.

“Maddy…” Timothy’s voice was quiet. “Maddy, it’s dark.”

“Don’t worry Timmy.” Landon said. “I’ll get us some light soon.”

“Maddy… I wants Chessy.”

I choked slightly.

“Chessy… Chessy.” Timothy called. “Chessy comes here!!”

“Timmy.” I whispered.

“Chessy! Chessy COME HERE!” He squirmed in my arms.

There was the sound of Landon trying to light a fire.

“CHESSY!!...”

“Timothy STOP IT!” I said, more harshly than I had expected. “Timmy… Chester’s not coming…”

“Why not?”

“He’s gone to join Mum and Dad.”

“But… He’s not allowed to run away. He has to come back.” Timothy said his little voice fill of determination. “We have to go and get him, Maddy.”

“I wish we could… I really do.” I whispered.

Just then Landon got a small flame going. In the fireplace, there were old half-burnt logs, and after a bit of trying, he got one of them to catch. I carried Timothy over and sat beside Landon.

The storm sounded like it was miles away; it was the occasional clap of thunder that reminded us of it. The firelight danced on the ancient brick walls that were covered in green moss.

Landon handed out the last of the bread, it was soggy and had a bit of mould, but we were hungry and ate it without complaint.

Soon Timothy lay down, his head on my lap as I leant against the wall.

“Maddy?” He said, “Sing a song.”

I looked down at him and gently stroked his hair, it was black just like our mothers had been, but he looked like our father with a strong jaw and bright green eyes.

“Pwease. The little birdy one…”

Little bird singing,

In the golden oak tree,

Singing songs of times gone by,

Tweet tweet tweedle dee.

Little bird singing,

About the golden knight,

Who killed the black dragon,

Who’d stolen the suns light.

Little bird singing,

In the golden oak tree,

Singing songs of times gone by,

Tweet tweet tweedle dee.

Little bird singing,

About the golden sailor,

Who sailed the oceans great and wide,

And won the kings favour.

Little bird singing,

In the golden oak tree,

Singing songs of times gone by,

Tweet tweet tweedle dee.

Little bird singing,

About the golden queen,

Who helped the people of the land,

But never was seen.

Little bird singing,

In the golden oak tree,

Singing songs of times gone by,

Tweet tweet tweedle dee.”

Timothy breathed deeply, already fast asleep. I looked over at Landon who was staring into the flames. He stayed silent for a while before he looked at me.

“We have to cross the mountains. We have to leave.”

“But, this… this is our home.”

“I know Peach… but we’re never going to be safe here.” He sighed. “We have to take the risk…”

I just looked at him. I knew he was right. They’d always be looking for us. Always be hunting us. We’d never be able to stop running. Unless we crossed the mountains.