AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys, WriteFF13 here! I know this is totally unexpected, but I'm writing this story for another author on Fanfiction: ILoveMandieBooks also writes some verrryy fine Mandie fanfics, and I have requested her help to improved my Mandie fic. Just like with my Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly fanfic, Wings of Fire, I won't work too often on this, so rest be assured, I'll work more on Days of Darkness and Impure Eyes.

Summary of chapter: It's finally time to retrieve the gold left by Ts'ali, but Mandie seems to be exhausted. Something else is going on, but Mandie has no one to talk to about her frightening night terrors...

-A long time ago, I read the Mandie books by Llois Gladys Leppard, and I quite enjoyed them. While I'm not as involved with God as Mandie is, I wanted to respect the originals and put in a few random prayers, just like the books. I am not trying to persuade anyone at all to believe in God, nor am I trying to say not believing in God is wrong. I put some of those prayers in there out of respect to Leppard. Period.

Please feel free to comment, subscribe, favorite me or the story, and PLEASE review! I haven't had a good lengthy review since four months ago! If you find any errors, story-wise or grammatical, do tell me! Keep in mind that I do not have PM enabled, but you can easily contact me via review or go to my Profile on FictionPress .com (the link is in my profile, name is Cranberry Knight), and you can PM me that way.

This is my first Mandie fanfic, but I hope I did well with the first chapter! Enjoy!

Write on,

WriteFF13

Mandie and the Forgotten Falls

Night Terrors

Mandie yawned widely and rubbed her bright blue eyes of sleep. Pulling her blue frock over her head, she called out to her friend Sallie Sweetwater, who was already dressed and pulling her moccasins on.

"Good morning, Sallie," Mandie said.

Her Indian friend looked up and smiled at Mandie. "About time you got up! Everyone else is almost ready to go. You had better get dressed quickly," Sallie said, then pushed through the flap that separated the boys' side and exited the log cabin.

Finally! We can get the gold and give my kin people a hospital, Mandie thought. Oh, or a school! I hope I can keep up today…

Mandie hurriedly dressed and tied her long golden hair into a braid. The strong smell of bacon wafted into the room over the top of the deerskin door. She peeked her head around the flap.

"Joe?" she called, "Dimar?" Sallie, Dimar, and Joe were all outside. She hopped down onto the forest ground and looked around.

Morning Star spotted Mandie by her seat next to an open fire. She was just taking off a few bacon strips. "Hurry!"

"I'm sorry, Morning Star–I got up late!" Mandie apologized.

The Indian woman smiled and waved it off. "Eat," she commanded. Mandie took the bacon and oats she received. She hurriedly ate them, then joined everyone around the few wagons that were stationed there.

Deep Creek was very busy as everyone rushed to pack their things into the wagons. Elizabeth, Mandie's mother, ran past the cabin without even seeing Mandie. Through all the commotion Mandie spotted her favorite Indian.

"Uncle Ned!"

The old Indian turned towards her with a bundle of food in his arms. "Papoose sure she want gold? Gold bad for Cherokees," he said. His forehead creased.

Mandie sighed. Why didn't Uncle Ned understand they wanted to use the gold for good? "Oh, Uncle Ned! It won't be like before. We want to help the Cherokees. I know the white people did bad things in the past, but it's different now," Mandie explained, trying to reason with the Indian. "Don't you want to help the Cherokees?"

"Hmph," the old Indian grumbled. "Gold–bad, but gold also good. I say gold bad."

Just as Mandie opened her mouth to argue, a certain brown-haired boy drew her attention away from the unreasonable Indian.

"Mandie!" Joe Woodard called. He walked up to her. "You slept in this morning. When was the last time you did that?"

Mandie bit her lip. Did she want to tell him about the frightening nightmare she had last night? Just as it started to resurface and cloud Mandie's head with dark images, Joe's voice pulled her out of the darkness.

"Mandie?"

She shook her blond hair and forced herself to look at Joe. "I didn't sleep so well last night," she admitted.

"What, got some night terrors?" Joe teased.

Mandie frowned. "Maybe."

Joe was oblivious to the fact that Mandie was serious. "Only little kids still get nightmares, Mandie!" Joe laughed.

"What do you know?" Mandie snapped and stomped off to talk to Uncle John, who was climbing onto the top seat of the wagon.

Joe stopped in his tracks. What was wrong with Mandie? Had she really had a nightmare? He was just teasing her, but maybe they had really bothered her.

"Wait," Joe called. "Mandie!"

Mandie ignored him and climbed into the wagon. Ucle John, Uncle Ned, Elizabeth, Dr. Woodard, Dimar, Sallie, and Joe all climbed in after her. Uncle Wirt and Morning Star were taking a separate wagon to hold the gold in, if they found it. Being one of the youngest, Mandie was situated at the back of the wagon with Dimar, Joe, and Sallie. Dimar was in the middle of Joe and Mandie, much to Joe's annoyance. He wanted to talk to Mandie about her night mares, if she really had any.

Maybe she just got up on the wrong side of the bed today, Joe thought.

Dr. Woodard's son snapped out of his reverie when he heard the voice of Dimar. The Indian boy was speaking to Mandie, and she was giggling!

"Your dress matches your eyes," Dimar was saying. Joe glanced over and saw Mandie blush. Joe gritted his teeth. "You know, I have never seen eyes as bright as yours. Us Cherokees have brown eyes, not the sky-color of yours," Dimar said, and smiled when Mandie's face became redder.

"Oh, don't be a flatterer!" Mandie said, beginning to laugh.

Joe noticed Mandie was looking at Dimar a little more frequently now. Every time the Indian boy spoke, she would listen attentively. But, her eyes still flitted around the environment.

Joe was really furious now. Mandie was supposed to like him, not Dimar! She was going to be his wife, wasn't she? "Hey, Mandie," Joe said, leaning around Dimar. "What do you want to use the gold for?"

When Mandie looked over at him, there was still a hint of annoyance in her eyes. It looked like she was forcing herself to talk to him.

"Guess you'll have to see."

"Come on, why can't you tell me?"

Suddenly, her face reflected what Joe had seen earlier that morning.

"Because I don't want to, that's why!" she snapped, and turned away.

Joe sat back and shrugged his shoulders, still confused at her behavior. Mandie almost always told him what was wrong.

Well, he thought, if she wants to talk about it, she can. She's obviously touchy about it right now.

Throughout the entire ride to the mountain, Mandie refused to speak to him. Joe tried to break up her and Dimar's conversation, but eventually he had to give up. He talked to Sallie the rest of the time, who wouldn't at least bite his head off when he talked to her.

Meanwhile, at the front of the wagon, Elizabeth was voicing her concern about her daughter to Uncle Ned, Uncle John, and Dr. Woodard. Elizabeth looked back to make sure the children couldn't hear her. Mandie was busy laughing with Dimar. The wagon wheels rattled as they moved over the rough terrain.

"I'm very worried about her, John," Elizabeth said after she turned around. "She looks tired all the time. She perks up a bit around the middle of the day, but then she's exhausted again at sundown! I don't understand it!"

Dr. Woodard balled fist under his chin. "Hmm. When did you first notice her exhaustion, Mrs. Shaw?"

"About four days ago, the day after we found them, I believe."

"Papoose stay up with granddaughter all night?" Uncle Ned suggested.

Elizabeth considered it, but she knew her daughter would obey and sleep. "No," she said. "Even if she did, I don't think she'd get this tired. What do you think, Dr. Woodard?"

Dr. Woodard was quietly observing Mandie. He noticed two grey rings under her eyes. While Dimar was chatting, she yawned once and kept glancing around. Before she noticed the doctor looking at her, though, he turned around.

"Well, she definitely looks exhausted. Has she been eating well?" Dr. Woodard asked. Elizabeth nodded. "I don't rightly know what's wrong with Mandie. I think you should make sure she gets to bed tonight thirty minutes earlier, and then see how she is tomorrow. Make sure she eats all of her vegetables, and give her a lot of nutrition. We'll see if we can't get her back up to health with some healthy food."

Elizabeth was still unconvinced. She had only just been reunited with her daughter, but she somehow knew there was more to Mandie's exhaustion than was surfacing. Mandie was beginning to wake up a bit now, but her mother knew she would soon become tired again later.

Uncle John patted Elizabeth's hand and said reassuringly, "I'm sure Mandie will snap out of it. She's quite excited about the gold."

"Mmm. Maybe."

"We pray for Papoose," Uncle Ned said, trying to comfort Mandie's mother. He turned his eyes skyward. "God watch Papoose. Jim Shaw watch Papoose in happy hunting ground, too. Pray!"

They bowed their heads–or, in Uncle Ned's case, lifted–and murmured their prayers for Mandie.

"Please, dear God," Elizabeth murmured. She squeezed her eyes shut. "Give Mandie health and strength to help her recover."

Little did she know, Elizabeth was right–there was more to the story than she knew. Mandie wasn't just tired, either. None of them knew that Mandie's supposed sickness would cause a lot of distress in the days to come. Could Mandie disguise her exhaustion that long?