Chapter 12 Skabb

The days were getting and shorter as summer came to an end and Autumn came around and it was now a vital time for the kingdom, all of the crops had been harvested from the castle gardens and it had come to that time when some of us were sent into the woods to collect things for the winter, me, Ballista and Vane were sent out to do the hunting while Nightingale was sent to collect some different berries and nuts for the castle kitchens.

Ballista got her crossbow, Vane got his bow and arrows and I got my club and spear before we ventured out into the woods, we were out there first thing in the morning, so it was rather dark. After we'd been out there for 2 hours, we hadn't had any luck, our legs were aching and our feet were throbbing so we decided to rest under an oak tree nearby.

"I'm exhausted." said Vane sliding down the trunk of the tree.

"Me too." Ballista replied.

"I wonder how Nightingale's getting on."

"Better than us, that's for sure."

"Obviously, she just needs to collect some different varieties of berries, fruits and nuts."

I was about to sit down with Vane and Ballista when I was sure that I heard some rustling coming from the right of us.

"Did you guys hear that?" I asked.

"Hear what?" Ballista replied, putting her crossbow down.

"I could have sworn that I heard some rustling coming from over here."

I stood up and walked over to where I heard the rustling coming from.

"Skabb, dude, just relax." said Vane.

Again I was about to sit down when I was absolutely sure and certain that I heard the sound of a twig snapped in half, I reached for my spear.

"You must have heard that." I said.

"Yeah, I did." Ballista replied picking up her crossbow.

"It's coming from over there." said Vane pointing to the left bushes.

We got prepared for whatever might have been in those bushes, the noises were getting louder and louder as it got closer, just before it emerged we prepared our weapons, I could see that Vane was slightly trembling, the bush started shaking before the creature emerged, I raised my spear, Ballista aimed her crossbow and Vane pulled his bow back, then we realised what or to be honest, who it was, it was Nightingale.

"Whoa, whoa, guys it's me." she said in shock raising her hands

"Sorry Nightingale, we thought that you were some kind of creature." Ballista explained. "How are you getting on?"

"Pretty good, what about you?"

"No luck so far."

"Oh, well I'm sure you'll get something sure enough."

"I hope so."

"Well, I better get going, I don't want to get in your way. I'll see you all back at the castle."

"Okay."

Nightingale then walked away from us to the right of the woods, I watched her as she walked away.

"You know, i actually think that Nightingale is very good looking." I said.

"What?" Ballista asked startled.

"Dude, you don't have a crush on her do you?" Vane added.

"What, no. I was just saying, I can see what Kook sees in her now."

"Hang on." said Ballista. "Are you saying that Kookaburra has a crush on Nightingale."

"Yeah, why is there something wrong?"

"Well, yes and no, obviously yes because he can't be with her anyway because of the rules and no because Nightingale also has a crush on Kook."

"Really."

"Yeah, she told me and the girls a while ago."

"That must have been what the king spoke to Kook about a while back."

"Shall we tell them?"

"Nightingale and Kook?"

"Yeah, I think that they should know."

"Yeah, but if we tell them it might make them feel upset because as you said they can't be together anyway."

"But what about the others? Should they be informed?"

"Maybe."

This was a big problem, Nightingale fancies Kook and Kook fancies Nightingale, I know that it's mean but it really is for the best that they don't know about this, if they did it could lead to loads of problems such as their hearts breaking seeing as they can't do anything about it, and this could also lead them loosing their jobs or them quitting.

I soon forgot about it when the hunting got into full swing, we'd tracked down the animals and were approaching silently, they had no idea that we were there...at the moment. I stepped forward onto the stick, it snapped under my weight and they went running off into the woods.

"Skabb you clumsy oaf."

"Sorry."

We ventured further into the woods, I was leading us with my spear pointed forward, Ballista was behind me and Vane was starting to lag behind.

"Vane come on. This isn't the right time for a rest." Ballista whispered.

"I know, I just thought that I heard something." Vane replied.

"Like what?"

"Like a rustling sound."

"It's probably a bird or something."

"Or it could be Nightingale again."

We continued to walk when we heard a sound that we'd never heard the time that we'd spent out here, it was the sound of some singing, it was beautiful, it got me thinking about what creature that sound could be coming from, as we continued to walk on further and further into the woods, the singing started to get louder and louder, it started to sound almost human, we followed the singing to a clearing in the bushes, we slowly peeped over the top of the bushes in front of us, the scene that confronted us was Nightingale again, living up to her name, she was dancing around, singing as well as collecting berries, she had the most beautiful singing voice that I'd ever heard, now I know why she's called Nightingale. She was rather startled when she spun around and saw us behind the bushes.

"Are you guys following me?" she asked.

"We were going to ask you the same thing." I replied. "We never knew that you could sing like that."

"Well you must have got a slight clue, I am a Nightingale after all."

"True."

We were talking for another 5 minutes before returning to the task in hand, Nightingale went back to the castle while me, Ballista and Vane were left in the woods trying to catch something, we're starting to reach that stage where we don't care what it is, just as long as we caught something.

We did actually go back to the castle with a few catches, they weren't big, but they were enough. When we'd taken the stock to the kitchens ready for what winter was going to have in store for us, we spent the rest of the day relaxing and catching up on what's been happening while we'd been in the woods, Nightingale and Kookaburra weren't with us at the moment so we thought that now would be the best time to bring up the subject we were talking about in the woods.

"Guys, you know that Kook has a crush on Nightingale right?" I said.

"Yeah."

"Well Ballista told me and Vane in the woods while we were hunting that Nightingale also has a crush on Kook."

"You're not kidding?"

"No really, I'm serious."

"Should we tell Kook?"

"That's what we thought earlier, but think about this for a second. If we tell Kook that Nightingale also has a crush on him, that'll most likely make him upset, because we think that the king has told him that he and Nightingale can't be in a relationship."

"Oh I see, and if he knows that Nightingale has a crush on him, it'll be much harder for him to stay calm knowing that she has the same feelings."

"Exactly, so don't go telling him any of this."

As Kook walked over to where we were sitting, we instantly stopped the conversation.

"What are you guys talking about?" He asked.

"Nothing important."

"Are you talking about me?"

"No."

I wanted to tell Kook the truth but like I said to the others, it may be best that he doesn't know, along with Nightingale.

I found it hard to sleep with this situation on my mind, look on the bright side Skabb, it'll be Christmas soon and your family is going to be visiting, that's the way it's always been in Splatalot.