Hello There! Here's another chapter! Yay!
Enjoy! -Joyful Wild :)
CHAPTER 24: WILLIAM ZACKMENS
Esben, Nia, Janner, Kalmar, Leeli, and Oskar walked down the steps of the town hall as another breeze came through the town. "So…how do you think we did in there?" Kalmar asked his parents.
Esben and Nia both smiled at their children, "You all have done a great job!" Nia said.
"Yes, and you were able to speak loud and clear enough for people to hear you." Esben said.
"Well, it wasn't our first meeting that we went to. The first one was during the war." Janner said.
"True but even then you all still spoke with great courage in your voices." Oskar pointed out.
"But it still was a bit scary. I guess 'cause all the people are staring at us and waiting for one of us to say something." Kalmar said.
"Papa, what was it like for your first meeting?" Leeli asked.
"Well, uh, let's just say it wasn't anything like that meeting." Esben said.
"What happened?" Janner asked.
"Well, I was very nervous so of course I would freeze a bit but it was when I had to talk my voice decided to crack and I made the loudest squeak and even I didn't know I had the ability to do that." Esben said while everyone laughed. But Leeli whispered to Oskar "Don't forget to write that down."
"Oh don't worry princess," Oskar whispered back, "I won't forget." He winked.
"You never told me about that." Nia said.
"Well, you never asked." Esben replied with smile. Janner looked at his parents and realized how they looked younger. There was something about them that warmed his heart. It was probably the way Nia looked up at Esben with love in her eyes or the way Esben would gently brush her hair behind her ears so that it wouldn't be in her beautiful face. Janner couldn't help but smile at them. "Hey I see the others!" Kalmar said before bolting off towards Artham, Arundelle, Amrah, Laylah, and Sara who were all standing in front of a tavern. "Kalmar wait, don't…run off." Esben called out but stopped when he realized that there would be no point since Kalmar was already out of hearing range. Nia giggled and said, " He really reminds me of you."
" How's so?" Esben asked.
" You two tend to bolt off quickly before anyone can stop you." Nia said with a smile.
"What me?!" Esben said pretending to be offended but failing to hide his smile. "Runing off without thinking?! I don't recall ever doing that!"
"Maybe Uncle Artham says differently." Janner said laughing. Everyone laughed. Once they caught up to everybody Podo had just come out of the tavern. "Hi Grandpa!" Leeli exclaimed before giving him a hug. "Hello Leeli girl. Ya'll had a good meeting?"
"Well, what I'm happy about is that it's done." Kalmar said before Janner elbowed him. "Hey, Artham do you remember your first meeting?" A smile came upon Artham's face before bursting out into laughter. "Well, you don't have say anything about it because I already told them." Esben quickly said.
Artham continued laughing, "You sounded like SEAGULL!" Everyone started laugh a bit as Esben stared at Artham and lifted an eyebrow. "Well, I know the most embarrassing moment for you." Esben said crossing his arms and smirking. Artham froze, "You wouldn't."
"I would." Esben said as walked up next to Artham and put an arm around his shoulders.
"What is it?" Laylah asked excitedly.
"Don't tell them!" Artham exclaimed.
"Tell us!" The children exclaimed.
"Well… it was during the years of trying to impress Arundelle," Esben started.
"Oh no, please don't." Artham said while putting his hand on his forehead.
"And we were at this festival one time," Esben had already begun to laugh at this point. "And he insisted that he could carry five books on his head while skipping around and everything was fine at first. Until he skipped too far down the sidewalk and ran right into the street sign!" Now Esben was laughing so hard he was putting most of his weight against Artham.
"Well, that probably explains why Artham was angry at the street sign in Glipwood when he ran into it." Janner said. Everybody started laughing and even Artham had to admit it was pretty funny. As everyone started to leave to go get lunch Artham said to Esben, "In my defense I wasn't in the right mind then."
"But even as a kid you had pretty weird ideas." Esben said.
"Says the troublemaker." Artham said elbowing Esben.
"Says the featherhead." Esben did the same thing.
"Hey!" Then Esben ran to the wagon with Artham at his heels.
"Now I see what you mean by they run off." Janner said to Nia.
"Who Papa and Uncle Artham?" Kalmar asked.
"No, you and Papa." Leeli said.
"I don't run off." Kalmar said.
"Hey, look a stand giving away free desserts!" Janner exclaimed.
"Really! Where?" Kalmar said as he was about to bolt off again but couldn't when Janner grabbed the back of his royal cloak and pulled him back onto the sidewalk before saying, "Sike!"
"Hey what was that for?" Kalmar glared at Janner.
"Try to think about what we just said about you and Papa." Janner said with a smirk. Kalmar looked at the ground thinking for a few seconds trying to put pieces together although it felt like thirty seconds. Finally Kalmar smiled when he figured it out, "OOOOhhhhhh." And then that's when he realized the point that Janner was trying to make, "Oh…well from my point of I see that as win!" He said before running after Esben and Artham who were already waiting at the wagon.
…
A week had passed and everything was smooth. Artham, Arundelle, Esben and Nia had just finished discussing the double wedding. Of course there was still a lot to talk about. Artham and Esben had decided to spend some time together and was walking down the halls of Castle Rysen. They stopped at a hallway filled with family portraits that went all the way down the hall. "Artham remember this hallway! We would come here all the time!" Esben said as he looked around the place in awe.
Artham smiled, "I remember there was a secret doorway that led to everyone's memory boxes." Esben looked at Artham and smiled, they both had the same idea. They went to the closest painting which was of their parents each holding a little boy in their laps. Their mother held a five-year-old Esben and their father held a seven-year-old Artham. They stood there for a while thinking about their parents who unfortunately didn't live to see the miracles that the brothers saw. Or would be able to sit down and listen to their two sons who missed them very much. Finally Artham stepped closer to the painting and got a good look at the golden plate at the bottom of the picture frame that listed the names of the family in the painting. He lifted his hand and gently pushed the golden plate into the frame as a quiet clicking sound was made and the painting slowly opened up as two stone steps slid out of the stone wall beneath the painting. Behind the painting was a twisting stair case that went up passed the ceiling with torches that lit the way. The brothers looked at each other again before entering the secret staircase. Just like they did when they were young.
Once they got to the top they entered a room full of trunks and boxes with different names on them and a closed window to their left. They opened the window and was surprised to find trunks with the children's names on them. Even Sara and Laylah had a trunk of their own. Soon they found their own trunks and pulled them out to see what was inside. They both smiled when they saw the treasures inside of them. Everything inside had a story of its own, from the time they were babies to now. Artham found his old journals and winced when he read his old poems, some of them he couldn't even read because his handwriting was sloppy for some reason. Esben was more excited to look through his old drawings but of course there were those drawings that made him want to cringe and hide all evidence that his art style was that terrible in the beginning. As Artham looked through more and more of his trunk he found something unexpected…a journal that had the name "Jru" on it. It was his father's sketchbook! What is it doing in my trunk? Artham thought. He was about to reach for it but Esben said, "Hey Artham, remember William Zackmens?"
Artham turned to Esben who was looking at his sketchbook, "Uh…the name sounds a little familiar."
"We met him at the docks when he used to work for a crew of some sort. I can't remember exactly what he did at the docks but he was a good friend. Remember we helped him gather the courage to talk to his crush. Or the time we went to his wedding or how we would babysit his daughter?"
Artham looked at Esben, amazed at how he much he was starting to remember. "Yeah I…I think I remember." There was a pause, William Zackmens, William Zackmens, William Zackmens… It all sounded so familiar. Slowly a picture of a teenage boy with black hair and brown eyes came to him. His dream! He finally remembered his dream! "Artham? Are you okay?" Artham snapped out of his daze and looked at Esben again. "Yeah, I just…"
"What is it?" Esben asked.
"I've been having weird dreams about him."
"Weird dreams?"
"Yeah, they've been happening more frequently."
"How long have you been having these dreams?"
"Ever since we were at Throg. The night we met Laylah and that big storm came. At first I couldn't remember what the dream was about but as time went on the only things I could remember was sort of like a memory about an old friend."
"That is strange."
"But…I feel like Laylah has something to do about them too."
"Why Laylah?"
"I'm not sure but when I first met her she seemed familiar to me but then when I saw her as a human she looked even more familiar. And last week we went to this painting shop and she found a painting and said that it looked familiar to her then when we left she said how everything around her felt like deja vu to her."
"What did the painting look like?"
"It was this farm that had a garden next to it-"
"And a flock of sheep?" Esben said finally looking up at Artham with wide eyes.
"How did you know?" Artham asked as Esben turned his sketchbook around to reveal one page that a drawing of a horse but the next page looked like the painting in the shop but at a different angle! "I drew this picture when we went to William's farm for the first time."
"But how does Laylah recognize it? She says she's never been to Anniera."
"But what if her memory is a bit mixed up and blurry like ours was when we were in Throg."
"I suggested that to her but she pointed out that no one will ever know."
"Then maybe you should bring her to the farm, maybe you two might get answers."
Artham thought about what any of this could mean. He had so many questions that he couldn't sort out. Maybe he's right. I probably should go to the farm with Laylah. He wasn't sure how it would help but he had feeling that this could be an important piece to his strange mystery.