chapter 3 Brannella

'I can't believe it, both my father and brother haven't returned in a fortnight, and that could only mean one thing... Death.

Everyone in the village has been coming up to me and giving apologies and saying how sorry they are for my loss.

Fools, all of them fools, they all have given up hope, they never knew them, not like I did. My father was the greatest hunter our village had, he knows these lands more than the Magnar knows his own backside.

Father took my brothers out to hunt game for the family, the risk of encountering the children was low while being so close to the village, yet there's always the risk of encountering them.

Father told me stories of how he would go out with the other villages to fight the children and drive them away from our homes and villages.

My father would never die to those abominations, he would have slaughtered them and come back to the village along with my brothers boasting of their victory over the green ones.'

UMPH

"Hey, watch where you're going, what's going on lad"

"Sorry about that Mrs. But didn't you hear though, the Magnar is putting together a hunting party to go find the old man of the wailing trees." The boy that ran into me continued to run off in the direction of the Magnar's longhouse.

'Their going to find father! I can't stay here and do nothing, I can help.'

Brannella began to run towards the towering building in the middle of the village, tripping over her dress and almost landing face first in the mud, but is caught before she falls.

"Whoa there, what's got you in such a hurry Branella"

A large burly young man caught Branella before she could fall

"Carth, thank the gods you were here, quick, we need to get to the Magnar's longhouse."

"What's got you running like the children are burning the village down."

"Its father, their going to find him, I need to go with them"

"Slow down a minute, you're not going anywhere, who's going after the old man, and what about your brothers."

"The Magnar, Carth, the Magnar is putting together a hunting party to find my family. I'm the only one who knows fathers hunting patterns the best. You know he trained me in all he knows, I'm the only one who can find him!"

"Ella, I know you want to believe they're alive but they haven't returned in more than a fortnight. Your father took your brothers out to find food, but a man of your fathers skill would never take so long just to find game."

"You don't know my father like I do, he wouldn't just die, there's a chance he's alive and the Magnar believes he's alive, why else would he put together a search party."

"I don't know Ella, but we should go see the Magnar and figure out his plans to find your father and brothers, Alright?"

"Alright Carth, but I don't care what you or the rest of the villagers say, I'm going to find my father and brothers."

Walking with Carth towards the Magnar's longhouse we begin to try to maneuver our way through the crowd of townsfolk trying to listen to the Magnar's atop his platform speaking to everyone

"Everyone, listen, we shall return after 6 days and 6 nights, old man of the wailing trees shall return home with his sons safe and sound."

"Magnar Balrik, I wish to accompany you and your searching party"

"The more help the better, now step forward so I can see who wishes to join us"

I stepped out of the crowd eyes widening as I passed the people around me

"Branella? Where were going is no place for a young woman such as yourself, its not safe."

"My father is missing along with both my brothers, I will not stand aside and let them die out there while you try to find them. My father taught me everything he knows, I have the best chance at finding them, unless you want the hero of our home to die a meaningless death."

"Magnar Balrik, if it makes it any better I've seen Branella hunt many times before, she's far better than most hunters I've seen in the village, even better than me and my father."

"It's true Magnar, I've seen young Brannella hunt with me and my son and she felled 4 large stags in a day by herself. If she was taught by her father then I think she needs to join us to find the old man."

"Then it's decided, Branella shall join us for the search for her father, we leave when the sun rises. Prepare your things and meet us at the entrance of the village."

I watch the Magnar leave the platform he was speaking from and begins to walk back inside his longhouse and the crowd begins to disperse and return to whatever they were doing earlier.

Me and Carth begin to walk back to my home to prepare for the coming day

"Thank you, Carth, for siding with me, if it weren't for you I wouldn't be going with them"

"It seems only right, your family has gone missing and you want to help, if someone told me I wasn't allowed to go help my father who could be near death I wouldn't listen, and I know you and you would have gone with or without them."

"If my mother was here she would of already gone off and found them already, then she would hit them over the head for scaring her half to death"

"Haha, she was a wonderful spirit and was a shining star in the village, I know she would be proud of you Ella"

"Yeah..."

"There's something that doesn't make sense to me though, your father is one of the greatest hunters and fighters in the entire village and was offered to service to Garth the Gardner himself, how would an accomplished warrior like him get lost in the woods."

"What do you mean Carth, are you saying something like Giants found my father and brothers."

"Maybe, but Giants aren't this far south and we would have heard there were giants nearby from more northern villages. No, I think it may be something else that found your father, something we haven't seen before."

"Whatever you think, I don't care, as long as we find them alive and well is all I care about because if something like you described exists, then we're all in trouble, because we're going right where it may be.