I sat down by the river and took off my boot, dipping my foot into the black water, creating ripples in the calm running liquid. It upset me, I was hoping that there would not be as much cruelty in this country, I was hoping for a better place across the Plains but I had only been disappointed; the woman and her son; so quick to fight and try to get his own way by force, and then Ando, the worst so far, his cruelty towards girls and his younger brother truly shocked me. Admittedly, the woman had saved my life, but all I had needed was water and a place to rest.

Abe, he was what I imagined that all the people would be like on this side; kind and caring. He seemed so genuine and innocent; it had upset me when I had seen the fear in his eyes. I just hoped with all my heart that Ando would not affect him and influence him; Abe deserved a better brother, someone he could look up to, someone like Jacob.

  I sighed and stared into the black water, trying to figure out what to do, I knew I could not stay here; I had never intended to, but I did not want to spend the rest of my life travelling from place to place. I wanted a new life.

Walking over to the huge tree I stared up at its branches, the only protection I would have tonight, and wondered if there was a place where I could grow and flourish like this tree had, it must have been here for hundreds of years, yet here it still stood. I sighed and lay down on the springy grass, falling into troubled dreams.

I woke the next day to bright sunshine streaming through the branches of the magnificent tree. I carefully washed my face in the clear water of the river to wake myself up and then wandered back over to the tree.

I heard shrill bird cries as they flew up into the sky and looked in the direction that they had flown from, seeing Abe standing at the edge of the clearing, trying to hide behind the trees. He looked at me with disbelieving eyes and I walked over to him, my feet making no sound on the grass, I stopped a couple of paces away from him and waited to see what he would do. “Why did you come with last night? Truthfully.”

“You reminded me of a friend I once had, I always used to protect him, I felt like you needed me too.”

“So you came to protect me… What from?”

“I was not sure at the time.”

“But now?”

“I think it was your brother.”

“That’s what I think too.” I smiled at him and said nothing, “So you came with me to protect me.”

“Yes.” I knew it was a statement, but I wanted to confirm it for him.

“In that case you must be my angel?”

“Your angel?”

“Yes, everyone has an angel that protects them from evil; that looks after them when they need it most, you must be mine.”

“But I did not do anything.”

“You gave me courage, you showed me that I’m just as good as Ando, but for a different reason. I was sinking deeper and deeper into a place where I couldn’t get out, you’re the one that pulled me out. You made me believe.”

“In what?”

“Myself.” He smiled at me and I saw that his eyes were contented and happy, he was happy. I walked over to the river and made a crystal clear droplet of water come up from the surface. Walking back over to him I made it float just above my hand, moulding into a pair of hard, translucent wings, at the top of the wings there was a hole.

“Hold out your hand.” He held out his hand and I dropped the wings in it. He held them in his fingers and then put them up towards the sun; a small rainbow fell on the ground where the light shone through it. He examined them closely and then turned to me, his eyes bright.

“Thank you.” He took a leather strap out of his pocket and threaded it through the hole, then put it round his neck and tied it. He looked at the little pendant and then smiled at me, “You truly are an angel.” I just smiled back at him and said nothing. “How long until you leave?”

“I am just about to go.”

“What, now?”

“Yes.”

“But it’s only seven o’clock.”

“It does not matter; I have a long way to travel.”

“Oh, where are you going?”

“I do not know yet, but I will know when I get there. It is hard to explain.”

“I think I understand. Well I guess this is goodbye then.” I nodded, “Do you think I’ll ever get to see you again?”

“Possibly, although I do not think it likely, however, I do like you Abe, you remind me of my childhood.” He smiled at me and then I turned around and walked away.

I journeyed up the river for another three days; I noticed that the villages were getting more and more spread out along the river. On the third day I came to another town. By this point I was hungry, I had not eaten in a week and the traveling had used up a lot of my energy, I needed to eat something. Walking into the village I saw a man standing at the door of a bakery, the only money I had on me was in the small pouch around my waist, it was money from the other country, I did not even know if it would be worth anything here, but I was desperate. I walked up to the man at the door and asked him if he accepted money from the other country.

“Which other country?”

“The one across the Plains.” He started to laugh.

“No one has money from across there, although I’ve been told it’s made out of gold.”

“What else would you make money from?” I asked him, slightly confused. He looked at me curiously for a moment and then walked back into his shop. I followed him and breathed in deeply, the scent of bread hung in the air and it was filling in itself, the baker walked behind the till and I went over to him and placed a single coin on the counter top. He bent over it and examined it closely, and I let my mind slip into his; I did not trust this man.

‘it’s real gold! I can’t let her know,’

“I can’t give you much for this, maybe two loaves of bread.” I stood there for a moment, pretending to think it over.

‘She’s going for it! I will be a rich man for the rest of my life!’

“No.”

“What?”

“No deal, I know for a fact that that coin is made from real gold.” He made a grab for the coin, but it was gone from the table and back into my pouch quicker than he could move a finger. He looked at the counter, slightly confused. I snorted at him and walked back out onto the street, my stomach growling for food.

I wandered down the main street of the village hopeless and hungry. I went back to the river and sat down, trying to figure out what to do; obviously the whole coin was too much to give for one item and I did not have any smaller ones, but an idea struck me. I laid the coin on the grass and melted it, carefully pulling off little pieces until the one coin I had was split up into about fourteen pieces. I put all the pieces into my pouch and walked back into the village, happy with my conclusion.

I walked into another baker’s and asked him for a loaf of bread and half a dozen bread rolls. He put them together for me in a bag and I showed him one of the small pieces of gold. He looked at it in amazement and then took it out of my hand quickly, happy with the exchange. I walked through the village to the other side and then found a place to spend the night.

I sat down and ate a hunk of bread from the loaf quickly and greedily. Once that was eaten I pulled off small bits until half the loaf was gone. Happy and fed I settled down and had the best night’s sleep that I had been able to have in a long time.

I woke up the next morning feeling fully refreshed and ate the rest of the loaf. I got up, splashed my face with water and then took out my sword, running through the Tingure a few times, just to keep myself supple and to make sure I was keeping my skills. After that I set out on my way. It was not a hard walk along the river; it had mostly been flat and grassy with the occasional muddy patch that I had to walk around.

As I made my way down the river for the next few days the ground seemed to get greener and lusher, the river itself turned into a large stream which twisted and turned every few meters. I walked along it, enjoying the wide expanse of land around me, seeing mountains in the distance and thriving green fields all around; it was a beautiful part of the country.

After a week I entered a forest with strange trees that had huge, wide leaves, the same size as a dog. I wondered through the forest in utter amazement of all the things around me; the trees were so different and the birds were brightly coloured, massive and eating fruits the size of both my fists put together. Huge vines hung down from the trees and helped me to cross the stream when the path disappeared on one side.

I had been walking through this forest when I came to a small village in the middle of no-where; all the houses were wooden huts, made from strong saplings and leaves, tied together with vines from the trees. The whole village fitted in with the forest perfectly, it was as if it had grown up out of the ground that way.

I walked into the village, surprised to see how full of life it was. From the outside the whole village looked as if it was menial and small, but when I got to the main road I saw water pumps and all the usual resources that I had seen in the built-up towns and cities that I had passed. I walked to a shop in the centre of the village and was surprised that it even had wooden flooring and shelves.

I went up to the counter and asked for a dozen rolls, handing over another of my golden pieces to the owner, he looked at it and then sniffed it. I assumed that he knew it was real because he looked up at me in amazement and then grinned hugely, passing me another dozen rolls. I laughed pleasantly. “I do not need that many.”

“Then come back tomorrow and get them.” He said, refusing to take my money, or gold, off me without giving the right amount in return.

“Okay, I will come back tomorrow to get them if that is what you really want?”

“Yes, please do.” He smiled at me with bright white teeth and I could not help but smile back.

I walked through the village and people greeted me warmly, saying hello and smiling at me as if I was some-one that lived there. It felt nice just to be included. I wandered further up the gushing stream, trying to find somewhere to sleep so that I could come back tomorrow. I found a small stream that ran into the larger one and followed it as it wound up through the trees.

I must have followed it for about an hour, wandering along it slowly, and taking in all the strange sights around me. After a while I saw a tall waterfall that the stream trickled down from, there was no way to get up the steep rock face so I quickly checked around to see if anyone else was there and then I lifted myself up to the top. I was so surprised at what I saw that I nearly lost concentration and fell back down.

At the brink there was a deep pool, crystal clear and blue. At the edge of the pool there were a few over hanging trees with long willowy branches that dipped into the water gently, just wetting the tips of their leaves. The pool’s edge ran up onto a clear area of grass about ten meters across by fifteen or so meters wide, on the other side was another gently inclining rock face where a trickling brook flowed down, joining the pool and creating a small current, just pushing the water over the edge of the opposite rock face to create the waterfall. It was beautiful.

I floated over to the grass area and stood at the edge of the pool, looking across over the views of the entire forest and landscape beyond. It took my breath away. I knew at that moment, just looking out across the forest, that this was where I was going to stay. There was no need for me to travel any further; I would never find a place more fitting than this.