Appear

Chapter 22 - Huyana

Sofie became a transfer student from her hometown to Dengar. She was only to be there for a whole school year, then report back home. During the course of those nine months, she met many friends: Jayne, Bonnie, Vlad, Mina, and Vincent. The group definitely was outgoing and mischievous, and they all paired up: Bonnie and Vlad, Mina and Jayne, Vincent and Sofie.

One morning as they all played together, a stranger known as Llyr, 36 at the time, came up to them and spoke to them of their futures--but mostly to Vincent. He told Vincent he would be a great leader and that he could help him if he went with him. Being the ten year old he was, Vincent dismissed him as a lunatic and ran home to his mother, his friends following; Huyana made the best cookies.

Llyr followed as well. It wasn’t for the cookies.

Huyana lived in a small cottage outside of Curaga made of wood. A whole room was hers, filled with books and books and books where the group found her. She was a 28 year old mother and had beautiful long, dark hair, light skin, and gorgeous blue eyes. She was a single mother, she left Vincent’s father when she was pregnant. He had beat her repeatedly, her wounds were mended but not her heart, which suffered the worst scars of all.

he group piled on top of her as she laughed sweetly saying, “Hey, you’re back sooner than I thought,” She smiled, “Let’s go bake something, shall we?”

“Okay!” They said simultaneously.

They bounced into the kitchen as Huyana pulled out the ingredients for cookies, “Oh no. I have no eggs. Can you lovelies go buy some?” She went through a locked safe and pulled out cool, gold and silver coins, and handed them to Vincent. He nodded and told the crew to follow him. Huyana was alone, and she began as much as she could to begin the batch of cookies, humming as she worked. The door creaked open and she turned around, her smile fading as she looked into the eyes of a terrible beast.

It bit and scratched her, leaving her ill but not killing her. She had been sprawled on the floor near the rosewood chairs when Sofie came in before all the rest. She gave a scream and Huyana helped her to calm down and told her what to do. Llyr watched from an open window as Sofie dragged Huyana to a bed and helped her in.

Vincent and them arrived shortly thereafter and were instructed to call a doctor.

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“She’s been badly scratched and bitten by this animal, but I doubt it’s fatal,” The doctor reported, “She will have to go into the hospital, though, for routine check-up,
“But you’re a doctor. You should check her as well as they can.” Bonnie replied to him, as-a-matter-of-factly.

“They do X-rays there. That’s what he means,” Vlad replied, his southern Dengar accent thick within the sentence.

Vincent had been silent, holding his mother’s hand--Huyana asleep--and caressing it, “Anything. Just make her feel comfortable.”

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Huyana stayed in the Hospital for two months and Vincent visited every day. He missed class sometimes to go visit her for a longer period of time.

“No,” She would say, “Education is much more important, Vincent.”

Then the bills started coming in, at overwhelming prices for the ten year old. He sat in the park that afternoon with his friends, thinking of ways to make money.

“You could sell things,” Jayne offered.

“Like what?” Vincent asked, “We don’t have much of value.”

“Those books or your mother’s pearls--”

“I can’t sell those! She loves and cherishes them! I can’t!”

“But it’s the only way,”

“I can’t…I wont.”
“Fine,” Mina replied to him, “We’ll think of something else.”

Sofie patted his shoulder, “Maybe--”

Before she was able to utter another word, Llyr appeared to them again, staring straight at Vincent, who stood bravely.

“What do you want?”

“To help,” Llyr contorted, “I am Llyr. I know of how to raise the money for your mother.”

“How?”

“Let’s speak in private.”

“Anything you can say to me can be said in front of my friends,”

He stumbled on his words, “Become a thief. Steal from the rich and give to the needy. Start a guild, it will work. You will be a great leader.”

Sofie glared at him, “Vincent is not going to steal. He will get this money legally. Right, Vin?” He had looked away from her, “Vin!”

“I need the money right now, Sofie,”

“What will your mother say to your new title, ’Thief Lord’?” Sofie’s face turned apricot.

“She won’t find out.” Llyr smiled.

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Vincent went to see Huyana again that night, he had brought her favorite book and box of pearls with him like she requested. He set them down on the immaculate bedside table at sat on a stool. His mother covered herself from head to toe in the sheets.