The New Tribe
Disclaimer: I do not own the Rise of the Guardian's Universe
Author Note: Thanks to my reviewers and followers. I was getting a little confused with the time line so I made one. I'll post it at the end of the next chapter. As well as a character description list of the kids in the Warren.
Chapter 6: The City
For any novice, the task that Spoot had demanded would have been near impossible in the rain. Fortunately for Jack, he was no novice, but while he was raised with a shepherd's crock in hand, getting sheep to follow a stranger was still difficult. Jack stumbled and slipped on the muddy ground as he carried a young ewe. His heart followed his stomach's prior downfall into an unseen ravine as the sound of dog-wolves howled way too close for comfort. Jack had no problem with the other ewes that were following him, but the dogs that circled them only convinced Jack that they were herding him as well. He didn't dare run for it.
Spoot looked like he had just finished eating something warm, based on the fire and bowl in his hand. Jack dared not look enviously at the fire or food as Spoot would surely tease him or punish him. Still, as Jack shivered and shook, settling the young ewe down on the dirt floor, the completely chilled child couldn't help but glance at the fire.
"So you made it back Albino? Look a little wet there. Did you see the dogs?" Spoot looked way too smug.
Jack dared not answer. While he had tried to drink some of the rainwater, despite the fact that Jack knew that it would just lower his temperature further, and eat some wild plants, the shepherd's boy was still very thirsty and hungry. If he said anything, the changes of getting something to strengthen himself was basically nothing. He had tried to escape once, but then three wild-looking dogs had driven him back. They didn't attack... but certainly looked prepared to do so.
"Catch!" Jack looked up, eyes widening as an egg hurtled toward him. By some manner of great fortune, Jack managed to catch the egg without it exploding or slipping. "That's your dinner, along with any milk you managed to get from that ewe." Spoot pointed at a random ewe, throwing a thin, battered metal plate with curved edges at Jack, who caught it but then it slipped through his fingers. Jack nodded at the man in careful acknowledgment, cautious as he cracked the egg with trembling fingers. He added a little milk from the ewe with some raspy pleading and mixed the two ingredients with a couple of his fingers. Keeping an eye on Spoot, who seemed to be practicing knots, but could potentially decide to ruin his meal at any point. Jack winced when sparks hit his hands as he struggled to keep his food cooking without spilling. Eventually Jack had basic scrambled egg, something he hadn't had in months. Jack hurriedly ate it all as Spoot began to move.
Jack cowered against the wall as the knotted rope suddenly looked less innocent. He raised his hands to defend his face, but was surprised when he was yanked by his leg towards the stronger individual. His leg was dropped as Spoot moved back to a newly set up hammock. Jack blinked, surprised that he hadn't been hurt. The boy looked at his leg, scowling in dismay as an impossible set of knots, just as bad as any chain, anchored the white-haired shepherd's son to a metal pole near Spoot's resting location. Spoot's smug laughter echoed in his ears as Jack tried to loosen the knots.
"You're mean." Jack grumbled childishly under his breath when his heart rate returned to normal. Jack's air deserted him as Spoot only laughed harder, dread crossing the boy's face as Mr. Spoot suddenly stopped chortling and stared into Jack's brown eyes.
"Oh no, Jack. I'm harmless in compared with real mean people. At least I have a conscious." Jack watched Spoot explain, "I'm not cruel for any odd reason. It's simply for tradition and the money."
That... didn't really assure Jack. It would explain why Spoot fed the kids the bare minimum he felt he could get away with and even so, half of what they were fed was basically free. "Tradition?" Jack asked hesitantly.
Spoot snorted, kicking back into the hammock, "Just be glad I'm not handing you over to my old partner. While I enjoy a little fear, even retired, my old partner nicknamed 'Basebat' was taught by fear itself."
"Then where are we going?" Jack softly questioned, flinching when Smoot opened his eyes.
"Like I'm going to tell you." Spoot jeered, "Go to sleep Albino."
While Spoot snored on, Jack sighed miserable in his damp clothes (the sheeps' wool not being much better) as he continued to halfheartedly pick at the threads in the rope.
"Just think of Emma and the others. Remember your promise to Pippa." Jack tried to cheer himself up. It wasn't very successful, as his eyes watered more than once. Without an audience, even a pretend one, it was hard to put his mask of cheerful determination on. He buried his sniffles into his folded arms. I hope they were saved by the Pooka.
"How far avay did Spook get?" North sighed, a little puzzled, "Even with sleigh on rollers, mortals don't travel this far in little time."
Bunny's eyes lit up, "Time! How much time did Spoot have? The trail was very faint, a lot more than a few hours older than the building fire." What Bunny wasn't saying, was that it was only because he was once a ranger Pooka that he could even smell Jack's scent. It was a thin, nearly invisible string of a trail. He was fortunate that the wind hadn't snapped that string. If he had noticed before, Bunny would have even thanked the wind for seemingly helping him go the right direction. "North, did you hear anything in that town that could tell us where Spoot was heading or how long he'd be gone?"
"Possible village named Burgess, maybe. But if Jack is still alive then Spoot not going there."
Bunny stilled at North's 'if', "Jack is alive! He has to be alive!"
North hastily calmed the Pooka down, "Just rumors from town, mostly odd."
"Well, where's a map, mate?"
(line break)
"Hah! Look at that." Bunny pointed to the city of Burgess, "It's in the direction of when we lost the trail in the rain and then the night. But on a road division, there's a major city in between the town where we were coming from. Traveling, as fast as mortals can, it would take two to three days to reach the city from the town."
"So... portal to city?" North tried to seem innocent.
"Not on your coat sleeves, mate." Bunny looked unimpressed, "I'm going to follow the road, just in case Spoot's not going to the city. At the city, before kids wake is a good time to call either Sandy or Tooth for help search'n the place."
"Meet you in short time then, Bunny." North looked faintly disappointed but left shortly after.
"Nothing's faster than a Pooka." A large smirk from the Guardian of Hope and then he was gone, dust settling on the road again.
Meanwhile at the Warren...
"Is she gone?" Josh whispered, the nine-year-old poking his head out from behind a bush.
"I think so..." Caleb's head popped out of the bush, followed by his brother on the other side of the bush.
"My mouth hasn't ever felt this clean before..." Claude inserted a finger into his mouth, touching each really well brushed, flossed, and rinsed baby teeth.
"...It's weird!" the brown-eyed, black-haired twins looked at each other and chorused.
"Hide! It's one of her minions!" Josh squeaked as he ducked back into the bush. The twins quickly obeyed, hiding in the leaves.
(line break)
"Ready or not, here I come!" The brown-black haired six-year-old giggled as she came out from behind a tree.
Helen found Tyke first, "Aww," the blonde haired boy, also a six-year-old pouted.
"You can help me find the others." Helen offered, both knowing that this was a big deal!
"Ok." Tyke nodded, smiling. He shuffled over and whispered in Helen's eye, "Tree."
"Which one?" Helen whispered back.
Tyke carefully pointed at the tree next to his hollow log, "Shh."
The six-year-olds carefully tip-toed to the tree trunk, before struggling to pull each other onto the lowest branch. Triumphantly, they cautiously clung to the branch that was only slightly higher.
"Found you Willow!" Helen pointed in excitement.
"So you did! Oh!" Willow exclaimed as the two nearly slipped of the lower branch. "Be careful." Willow gently scolded them as she hurriedly caught the startled youngsters, hanging upside down. She lightly lowered them to the grass below and scampered down to their level. She was relieved that Helen and Tyke had only been startled and were easily distracted by the game instead of crying. She watched, nearly cooing as one blonde-haired, green-eyed boy held the hand of the brown-black haired and dark-blue-eyed girl while they 'seeked' for Emma and Kristopher.
(line break)
"Help us Thad!" one nine-year-old and two eight-year-olds shrieked as they ran into and then clung to the older boy's leg. "She found us!"
The Tooth Fairy laughed as she and a few of her helpers zoomed toward them. At first playing with the kids had been awkward for Tooth, but now the children were fairly comfortable with her as she tickled their feet with a feather. The twins and Josh were quite daunted of how many times she had insisted that they brush their teeth and then she rattled of a list of what would happen if they didn't take care of their teeth. (So were the other kids, but they weren't playing hide and tickle wars with Tooth and a few of her lieutenants).
(line break)
Ever since all the orphans had woken in the Warren from a nap with pleasant dreams, little Lana had been trailing after the Sandman. While wearing Jack's old hoodie (even though it was larger than her), Lana had been imitating all the Sandman's expressions. She went as far as to try and copy Sandman's sand by drawing in the dirt of the egg gardens. Sandy found it fun and started to play charades with her. Not too far away, Tyke and Helen found and proceeded to pounce on Emma.
The city designated as 'Philmark' seemed destined to disappeared. The 'city' was no bigger than most towns with a population of (at most) approx. six thousand personages. At one point it had about ten thousand personages living there, but most were temporary of a couple of years. The 'city' was large, but not well kept. People with an option moved out to farmland or to other members of their family.
Spoot's large hand clutching Jack's arm kept the boy from running away. Well, that and the rope around Jack's leg tied to the horse pulling a cart of last season fruit and vegtables. As part of Spoot's 'traditions', Spoot had cut off the sleeve of Jack's hoodie while the boy was still wearing it, asleep. Spoot had proceeded to hit Jack awake with the thin material. Once awake, Spoot made a deliberate cut on Jack's sleeveless arm and soaked the the sweatshirt sleeve with the spilling blood before the blood clotted. Dizzy by the blood loss, Jack watched with a queasy stomach as Spoot tied the bloody rag to one of the guard dogs. Unable to focus, Jack may have blacked out, waking up as his limp body was settled into the passenger's side of a second cart. The first cart with the basic coffin was left at the 'Basebat's' farm, while the shorter second cart held unsold farmed goods. While they traveled into the city center, the autumn rain that had lasted through most of the night was becoming tiny hail drops mixed with an early slushy snow.
Jack shivered as some of the out-of-season cold fell from a tree onto his head. Brushing it off, Jack looked up. The sun's rays were beginning to pierce through the clouds, melting the snowfall. Within the hour, the clouds would probably clear up. Jack scanned his surroundings, not too surprised that people were already up and moving. People had to eat and so opened their businesses in all but the most dangerous weather. (Sometimes even then if they were that desperate).
Last time Jack had entered Philmark city, it had been right after his parents' and most of their flocks' deaths. He and Emma had been escorted to the orphanage, only to be told that the orphanage was full. However, there was one in the nearby town... and it had snowballed from there into Jack's current situation.
"LOOKY OUT!" Someone screamed as a carriage horse spooked and bolted. Spoot's eyes widened in alarm and anger as the carriage slammed into the cart, causing Spoot's own horse to bolt. In the ensuing chaos of the farmer cart flipping, Jack's shoulder was dislocated and the rope around his leg snapped. Spoot, as soon as he could stand, started yelling and ranting at the other driver.
"This was my last crop of the season!"
A local Watchman halted Spoot before he could get to the other driver, "Calm down, sir. Everything will be sorted soon."
"Farmer! Here's your horse." Another man eventually led the normally docile mare back to Mr. Spoot.
Spoot gruffly thanked the stranger, and then discovered something and made up a story, railing again at the other driver, "You caused my nephew to run off! He's already frightened of carts, you didn't need to make the memory of his parent's death even more scarring!"
"That's enough sir. Let's all go to the station and you can file a complaint farmer." The Watchman scowled
Sam, the man who returned Spoot's horse volunteered, "I'll go look for your nephew! What's his name and appearance?" But Spoot never answered as the other driver, fined for 'driving under the influence' clocked the lopsided eared man out, shouting,
"The Spook!"
"North's calling for back up." Tooth took a break from playing and informed Sandy, about to leave,
"Wait! How are they?" Thaddeus stopped her just in time,
"North's searching Philmark the city just in case Spoot somehow dragged Jack that far. Bunny's searching on the road if they didn't go that far."
"If they did make it as far as Philmark city, look for the Underground." Emma pleaded
"The Underground?"
"It's where runaways and street kids hide. Jack knows where it is, but all I remember is something about the back the baker's shop."
"Thank you Emma." Tooth flew off, leaving Sandy and the kids to figure out his question,
"...How does Jack know about it then?" Thaddeus eventually put the clues together
"He got lost in the city once. Our... parents hardly let him leave the village after that."
"Sandy? Do you know what time it is?" Thaddeus asked, partially to distract Emma, but also because he really wanted to know.
Sandy nodded, making a sun begin to rise over a circle and repeated it.
"The sun is... peeking out from behind a rock?" Emma guessed
Sandy replaced the circle with a mountain, "It's morning?" Thaddeus asked. Upon receiving Sanderson's thumbs up, Thaddeus smiled, "...so about six hours left before we become Pooka?"
Jack shivered violently as he scraped ice with his fingertips off of bricks behind the bakery. Eventually, Jack was able to get a grip and lift the heavy iron lid leading to the swamp overflow pipes.
After turning around a few twists and curves, crawling, getting lost a few times, backtracking, and going forward again, nearly an ice cube himself, Jack found the Underground. He stumbled a little as the other strangers began to move, leading him to a fire.