Chapter Two
The waters ran until they were tiredand the moon jeered all the way.
The waters raged over the sharp silver stones. White frost like foam sprayed the sky and any bystanders that dare get close enough to the frightening river. It's icy waves sucked at the beach, pulling anything its cold tendrils could reach. Including the small feet of a young otter. Her tiny paws would pull back at each wave but never once did she show weakness towards the river. Actually she loved it and she was no foreigner to this beast. Arten had been born just a few yards away from it's waters and had played in its rushing waves as a babe. Her mother had always objected the idea of her playing in it. But whenever she needed someone to back her up all she had to do was call her uncle. The Skipper. And everyone knows what skipper says goes.
Arten smiled at the idea of her uncle as the Skipper. He had always been close to Lucan, the former Skipper, and everyone knew it was him who was going to take the place of Lucan. Soon enough gray haired Lucan died and her uncle, Chese, was Skipper.
Mist swirled around her head like smoke and hid the approaching otter. His name was Stadil. He was a big tan otter with scars from numerous battles and a slight limp. He nodded towards the little otter as he emerged from the cloud.
"Arten, my little maid I've got a message from Skipper. He says there's something that you might want to see at the Abbey and he wants you to come right away." Arten waved back and shouted
"Right away? Does he want to show me some delicious pastry again? I told him that he should only use the messenger otters for actual messages of importance. What could he possibly want?"
Stadil shook his great big shaggy head and grunted,
"I don't know what he wants but when he told me to tell you he seemed excited"
Arten played with her silver bands that held on tightly to her upper arms. She had a slight feeling that maybe Stadil was right and she should go but there was always that nagging feeling that Chese was acting like a dibbun again and shouldn't be trusted. She finally decided.
"Well tell that old river dog that I'll be there by the next half moon" Stadil smiled broadly and waved back as he limped off into the mist. Arten smiled too. She didn't know what was waiting for her at the Abbey but she knew it just had to be interesting.