Watcher Chapter 1
chapter 1
Dann
The wind is blowing my hair, and the salty smell of the sea is in my nostrels. The wet sand is between my toes, and the warm salt water is washing over my feet.
I’m walking along the beach looking for floatsam that has been blown in from the sea.
Gabe is following behind me, further up the shoar, and Cara is level with Gabe, but she is further ahead.
We are headed home from a rather bad catch on the beach, just some old bottles and bits of wood.
Over the rise is the village.
It is a small village. The market is in the center, surounded by the second wall and many homes mostly inhabited by farmers and fishermen. I live in one of the smaller ones with three rooms, closer to the docs. Most of the houses are made of pieses of driftwood thrown together, with stone chimines poacking thrugh the roofs. The richer villas reasting mostly within the second wall nearer to the market are made of fine woods from the only lumberjack in town, which is at the edje squated in front of its oak orcherd, the only wood in sight for a few miles, and smoth stones from some distant quary.
The town is only mostly on land, as the market gose some ways over sea. Their homes were replaced with great hulking merchant ships and the smaller fishing boats, where the more practical shops sit. The marketplace is currantly the most crowded place in town.
Outside the old first gate is a row of cottages faceing the dirt road into town.
We are running down to the town, racing. Caras small form is speeding ahead, passing the cottages on the hill.
Cara has reached the flimsy, creaking first gate of Hann. It dosent look like it will stand well in an actual siege, what with its rotting suports and sagging boardwalk, but it’s been standing for a couple hundred years or so with little to no mantanants so it probubly won't colaps right now.
I’m at the gate with Cara.
“Gabe, hurry up!” she is yelling, dark green eyes shining like stars, dark hair billowing in the wind.
“You had a head start!” He replied in his deap voice his barral chest is heaving and his shirt is coverd in soil and slightly torn.
“Did you trip man?” I ask.
“Uuuu, well…”
“Ya triped! Did you try to use the shortcut again?”
“Yeah…”
“Whose guarden did you ruin this time? Mr Finchs? Mr and Miss Shaptons?”
He is giving me a slightly pained look.
“Ms Dobles?”
“...Ms Durrrrrrrrslyyyyyyyyys.”
“What?!?” Cara is exclaiming.
“Dude I swair that she is actualy a witch,” I’m telling him.
“I know, I know, but I don’t think she saw me.”
“That would be a miracle, what with her seeing stone.”
“You know you don’t need to emphisize that.”
“Let's get out of here while we can,” Cara is saying, giggling.
“Yeah, let's,” I’m saying, smilling at her.
We’re walking thrugh the market down the main road towards the house when a group of kids rushed in, lagphing, and squealing as a small boy tryed to tag them. The boy ran up to Cara, and tryed to tag her but she sliped assid and is now looking at me pleaingly.
“Oh-ok, go ahead.”
She smilled widly as a Chesirecat, and ran off, away from a large girl who had been taged just moments ago.
Gabe and I walked over to the edge of the road and leaned on the back wall of a house in between two stalls, one with an old fisherman, and the other with a plump woman selling shell jewlery.
The crowded streets rushing past and we are just goofin off, waiting of Cara to come back, slightly winded, and ready to go home.
The sun is low in the sky. Father must be at the doc by now.
The crowd is parting in the middle. There are squires walking in telling people to make way. They have white bears on their chest. A coat of arms.
Sir Senitanl, the town knight.
He is a big man, with greying hair, and he always whers his armor, and his sword is always at his side.
He must be riding in his carrage to the doc. This is the cleanest route after all.
Just as the horse came into view, a beautiful, whight mottled creacher, Cara tripped, chasing after a whilowy boy, rolling to avoid being trampled by a mule, and right in front of the carriage pulling horse.