Chapter Twelve: Children
"Wait, stop, I hear something," I said, stopping dead in my tracks. Erik, straight ahead of me turned around with a raised eyebrow. We had both dried off from our little swimming adventure that morning, and had long since begun walking again. Once back from the river, shivering, we had changed into dry clothing (behind a bush of course). The costume he had grabbed for me was a light, sky blue color and had a cottony texture to it. The sleeves went almost all the way down my arm, leaving maybe five centimeters of bare skin of my small arm. The skirt was just below my knees, and was still modest. Not the most glamorous dress I'd ever worn, but it was still practical and I could move easily in it.
Erik's clothing looked nearly exactly the same as it always did, consisting of a white button down shirt, pressed black pants, but instead of a black overcoat that he usually wore, he had a brown, earthy vest that he must've snatched from the costume department. Although since we had come back from the river, he'd once again taken to wearing his eggshell mask. Personally, I had come to the point where I didn't care whether or not he had his mask on.
I listened, swearing I heard laughing for a split second. "I-I must be going crazy. I thought I heard a child," I said, laughing weakly to myself. Erik smirked.
"There must not be any shred of sanity between the both of us, then, I suppose," he teased and I rolled my eyes.
"For being my elder, you aren't exactly the most mature, now are you?" I shot back with a smile. "How old are you, anyways? You can't be much older than thirty, can you?"
Erik smile went away. "I've never given much thought to my age, I don't know my own birthday, so I have no recorded age, I'm afraid." We kept walking along, and I felt a shred of sympathy for the man.
"I'm dreadfully sorry, that must be a bit of a burden," I commented. "Well, why don't we declare a birthday for yourself? We could make it today, except I'm not exactly sure the date. The fifth, maybe? Then it's settled. Your birthday should be April 5th. And why don't we just say your age is thirty-two? Yes, that sounds about right. Speaking of birthdays, ages, and such, I think that mine might be coming up soon." I did the math in my head. "Yes, just a few weeks. I'll be eighteen on the twentieth of this month."
"Eighteen," he raised his eyebrows. "You look much older than your age suggests. You'll be an adult." I looked thoughtful.
"I suppose so, I just wish that-" I began, but he held his hand up, a sign to stop speaking. I shut my mouth, and curiously raised an eyebrow. "What are you-?"
"Sh, I heard it too. The laughter," he said in all seriousness and we were silent for a minute. The only sound in the forest was the scrambling of small animals in the bushes and the songs of birds in the trees sounded. Then suddenly, out of the blue, children's laughter. There were a few shrieks of joy, and yelling. I looked around incredulously, wondering where it could be coming from. Why were there children in an abandoned and remote forest?
"Where is it-?" I started, but he turned and put a finger to his lips, a sign to hush. He scanned the area, then pointed up towards a hill to the east of us. There were four of them, children, running and chasing each other. And they were headed our way. "We have to hide, if they see us, they might recognize us from the papers," I hissed, grabbing Erik's arm and hiding us behind a huge boulder. I crouched down, but positioned myself so I could still see the children. I observed them each closely.
There were four, three boys and one girl. They all looked different, so they were obviously not related. One of the boys, the tallest of them all, wore a pageboy cap, and had hair down to his shoulders, dark brown and straight. He looked in his late childhood, ten or eleven at most. His clothing was dirty, with worn denim pants and a pale yellow shirt. He had a rough, teasing look on his face as he laughed and ran.
A second boy was right behind him, following him like a shadow. He was wearing a pointed cap with raven colored hair that curled up in locks around his cap. His skin was tanned, but not dark enough to be black. He looked more Spanish than anything. His ragged brown shirt hung over his body, looking a size or two too big for him. His pants weren't denim like the older boy, but a more cloth-like material that matched the brown color of his shirt. He looked around the ages of seven and nine.
The third boy and one girl were walking hand in hand, running and giggling. They looked much like Christine and Raoul, surprisingly, although much, much younger. They looked only about seven or eight each, but looked as much a couple as anyone did. The boy had a pageboy cap like the eldest, but had short curly, blond hair. He wore too-big overalls over a light green button up shirt, and wasn't wearing any shoes. The little girl was wearing a white frock that was full of many, many stains. It almost looked like a pattern of colors over a white surface, but I knew the stains were unintentional. She had short, boyish hair, however, much unlike Christine's. Her hair was dark brown like hers was, but her skin was more tan and sun-kissed. Not like the second boy, but a natural tan that suggested she was in the sun much.
They all laughed and ran down the hill, not twenty meters from us. "I'm tired of this game, let's play something else," said the oldest looking one, puffing his chest out to make him look big and proud.
"I'm done with this too," said the second boy, with a Spanish accent, confirming my suspicion of his ethnicity. "Sarina, what do you think?" he asked, turning to the girl, whom I supposed her name was Sarina. She looked to the boy who was holding her hand and smiled.
"I don't know, I think this game is pretty fun. Tag is my favorite," she said, looking back to the Spanish boy.
"If Sarina wants to play tag, I think we should play tag," said the blond boy, making the little girl blush. The Spanish boy crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, and the one with the dark brown hair pretended to gag.
"Fine, you two lovebirds go play tag or whatever. Antonio and I are going to go play something else. What do ya' say, Antonio? Let's ditch Sarina and Claude," said the oldest.
"Well, how about hide and seek?" Sarina suggested, sitting down on one of the various boulders with the blond boy, Claude, following suit. "That's a fun game." The oldest crossed his arms. Antonio's eyes lit up.
"Yeah, hide and seek! Kristen taught me that when I was just a niño," he exclaimed. "C'mon, Tony, let's play that!"
"Your still a 'niño', Antoinio. And that game is for losers," snapped the older boy, Tony, who was obviously their ringleader. Sarina frowned, her face kiddish and pouty.
"Oh, Tony, you're never any fun. Listen to Antonio. We outnumber you three to one, anyways," she said with a smug smile.
Tony looked at his friends, then sighed dramatically. "Fine. Hide and seek it is. But it's still a stupid game," he grumbled. Sarina's face brightened.
"Tony's it!" she squealed and jumped up from the boulder. Her and Claude ran off laughing, still hand in hand as Tony started yelling protests after them. They disappeared and Tony kicked a rock, growling. Antonio shrugged.
"It's alright, amigo, they're just kids. Let them have their fun," Antonio shrugged. Tony frowned down at him.
"Shut up, Antonio. They're only a little younger than both of us. Now go hide before I give you a reason to hide," he threatened and Antonio shrugged, running towards the spot where we were hidden. I froze where I was, not knowing what to do. He was only a child after all, and couldn't hurt either of us. But why were children just out on there own out here? They surely must be part of something bigger, somewhere that had adults that could possibly pose as a threat to us. Maybe he wouldn't notice us.
He was just about to turn around and see us, when suddenly a new voice yelled across the wooded area. "ANTONIO! It's time for supper, mi hermano!" I looked up, and running down the hill was another girl. She looked much older than all the children, in her teens, I supposed. Her body was tan like Antonio's, and her hair was the same dark color, suggesting that she could be a relative of his. Her voice also sounded of Spanish origin, and her hair was pinned back into braids. The girl's dress was a light purple, lavender almost. It fluttered all around her as she ran down the hill, and made her look almost angelic in the last rays of light from the setting sun.
Antonio grumbled. "Kristen, we were just about to play hide and seek, and Sarina and Claude just ran off. Now we have to find them right now? That's no fun," he complained. Kristen smiled.
"I know, I'm no fun," she said teasingly. "We're having stew, and I know Claude wouldn't want to miss that." She started laughing. "CLAUDE! SARINA! DINNER TIME!" She yelled across the area. There was some rustling, and I saw two bodies drop from a tree, and then watched the two children run up, still miraculously holding hands. They must've been surgically attached to the hand.
"Did you say we're having stew?" Claude asked excitedly. Kristen laughed again.
"Claude, it's a miracle you stay skinny as you are, with all the food that you eat," she teased. Sarina giggled.
"I'm trying to keep him on a diet," she giggled, dirt smearing her face. Kristen rolled her eyes.
"What would we ever do without you?" she sighed and rounded up the children. They were about to go back up the hill, but suddenly the teenager looked over at the rock, cocking her head. "Hello? Who are you?" she questioned loudly and began walking over to our rock. My heart stopped.
"Kristen? What's wrong?" asked Antonio.
"There's some people here, two of them. Hello? Would you please come out? There's nothing to be afraid of," she said, approaching us and turning around the rock. She spotted us and smiled. "Hello, there. May I ask what you two people are doing back behind this rock?"
Before I could react or ask how on earth this girl had found us, being silent and hidden as we were, Erik stood up and spoke. "We are two travelers, weary and lost. You wouldn't happen to know where in the world we are? We had almost given up hope on any civilization nearby. But surely there must be a village or two?" He spoke confidently, and I was stunned by his improvisational skills. I blinked with surprise.
"Oh, dear! You two are lost? Well, I'm afraid that there isn't much civilization around these parts of France, where are you two headed? Or running from, maybe?" she asked curiously.
"Strasbourg," he answered in a heartbeat. "We have been trying to get there at least two days, now, and I'm afraid we took a wrong turn."
"How dreadful! And may I ask why the mask? You look like you are lost from a circus or theatre production," the girl said with a small smile.
"Ah, the mask. I'm afraid I've taken a rather nasty spill, and my face is still in the stages of healing. I hope it won't be any bother to you," he spoke with the true art of an actor.
"I see, Monsieur..." she trailed off.
"Erik. Erik Graye. This is Mademoiselle Meg de Barbazac," he spoke. I just sat there, dumbfounded by how easily the words came to him, that even I was almost convinced. The girl nodded.
"Of course, Señor Erik. Would you both care to join us for supper? We have a band of gypsy folk just less than a mile from here, and it would be a delight to have you," she said in a new, kinder tone. I looked up to the strong man and saw some of his face muscles tense at the mention of gypsies. I knew that for some reason, he had a strong feeling of animosity towards gypsies.
"We'd be delighted," I said, standing up before Erik could refuse. We needed a place to stay, and he should get over his silly fear of them. I couldn't tell if his face was straight or if he had another mask to shade his actual expression.
"Fantastic! Follow me. C'mon, kids, vaminos!" she began walking up the hill, the kids behind her, and us following quickly behind.
