Chapter 3
May 2 2231
“Try it again Sarah,” Amy instructed the teenager.
“I can’t do it Amy, I’m not like you. You’re good at this
stuff, I’m not.” The girl complained, as she lowered the bow. “Why do I have to
practice? I’m never going to get any better at it.”
“Not with that attitude anyways,” the young woman smiled
down at her but decided it was time for a break. “Come on, we’ll take a break
and practice again-“she didn’t finish her statement as she caught sight of Kyle
approaching, a grim look on his face. “Kyle, what is it?”
“The Council is meeting; they asked me to come find you.”
Amy didn’t reply, but turned to her student.
“Sarah, will you please pick this stuff up and get it put
away.”
“Of course, I’m on it, you go.” She watched the two walk
away and sent up a quick prayer, ‘Lord keep them safe, no doubt they’ll be
sending them out again. Please be with them and bring them home safe.’ She
turned to the chore of getting the bows and arrows put away, Amy and Kyle still
heavy on her heart.
*
“Amy, Kyle, we’ve just received word that the team we sent
out yesterday has discovered a group of believers hiding out,” Bill wasted no
time in explaining the situation as soon as they arrived. “They sent a runner
back asking permission to bring them here, we’ve granted that but they have
several small children and the travel will take at least three days. We’ve
decided to send a small escort group to accompany them. You two are our best
archers; would you be willing to join the team?”
“Yes sir,” both responded immediately, no hesitation in
their voices.
“Good, we already asked Adam to go; the runner, Tim, will
show you the way. You’ll leave at dusk. A good portion of your journey will be
by canoe. We’ve got four boats waiting down by the river; you’ll have to be
careful, especially since you’ll be traveling in the dark.” He gave them a few
more details before saying they needed to prepare. Recognizing the dismissal
both took their leave. No words were needed, they were often sent out on
missions together with Adam and sometimes others, for now they were focused on
the task at hand, preparing to bring fellow believers back to the camp for
safety.
*
The trip was long, and rough. Each of the young people took
charge of one of the canoes, they knew that having all four boats was necessary
for the people they would have to bring back, but on the way there it made the
journey much more difficult. By traveling all night and most of the day, taking
turns sleeping and keeping guard, they were able to reach the end of their
river trip by the beginning of the second day. From then on, it took them the
rest of that day, before they reached the cave where the others were hiding
out.
“I was wondering who they’d send,” Matthew King greeted,
when he met the team at the entrance to the cave. Tim stood to the side, quietly
waiting for instructions until Matt sent him back to let the others know their
escorts had arrived.
“Disappointed?” Amy teased her friend, as she greeted him
with a brief hug and they walked into the makeshift shelter.
“To see you?” he gave an expression of mock horror, as he
draped his arm across her shoulders and fell in step beside her. “Never! Them
well…” he let the statement hang, laughing when Adam shoved him from behind.
Matt had quickly become one of Amy’s best friends when they first moved into
Paradise, about the same age they’d worked on the same team running messages to
scouts and going on the dangerous missions back to town to obtain more
information. When they needed a four man team, Matt, Adam, Kyle, and Amy were
always the first to volunteer. Although he had a teasing manner, Amy knew that
Matt took his job as seriously as the rest of them, for that reason she got
right to the point.
“So, what can you tell us Matt?” Stopping to lean against
the wall of the cave, Matt held his torch a little higher so he could see all
of them, he told the story.
“We were sent on a routine scouting mission, you all know
the drill. Everything was going fine until one of our guys thought he caught
sight of someone following us. We took off and were able to lose them and took
shelter in an empty cave, not this one a different one. We went on back,
figured we’d rest up and head back the next night. Except the cave wasn’t
empty, we’d barely gotten in there and made our plans when this little girl,
three years old, wanders out and just stands there looking at us. We searched the cave and found this group
huddled up in a little cavern. They’d heard us come in and thought we were
soldiers so they didn’t say a word, only no one had seen little Mary slip out.
They’d been hiding for days in that cave.
We knew it wasn’t safe to stay there, so as soon as we could, we moved
them all to a different cave, this one, and sent out a runner. Now here we are,
they’re good people, but they’re terrified and travel won’t be as quick as I’d
like. That’s why we asked for the escort.” During his story no one had said a
word, but now it was Kyle who spoke up.
“Well, I guess we’d better meet them, then hadn’t we.” Matt
straightened with a smile; Amy thought it looked a little odd. He was always
happy, but now he looked particularly excited about something. Not wanting to
risk an unpleasant surprise, Amy stopped his progress with a hand to his arm.
“Matt,” when he paused to look down at her she continued,
staring hard into his eyes her heart beating anxiously. “What aren’t you
telling us?” He stared down at her, his brown eyes softening, even in the
flickering light she could see his smile. He turned his hand over to squeeze
hers.
“Come see, I promise you it’s nothing bad, but it will be
easier to show you then to try to explain.” Amy hesitated only a moment more
before deciding to take the risk, this was Matt, he was like her brother, and
would never lead them into harm ’s way, so why was she so scared? Quietly, she
released his hand and stepped back allowing him to lead the way, she fell into
step beside Adam, letting his comforting presence wash over her.
‘Neither Kyle or Adam
seem upset, I’m just overreacting,’ she tried to comfort herself with the
knowledge as they continued to walk farther into the cave, now having to stoop
at the low ceiling. ‘Then why wouldn’t
Matt tell me what was going on?’ The internal argument continued until
finally they reached a tunnel that appeared to lead to another cavern. Matt
stopped turning to grin at them before he blew out his candle; now that his
light was gone they could see a faint glow coming from the other end of the
tunnel.
Matt’s voice echoed
in the eerie stillness as he called out.
“I have saints, sent by the angel, to deliver you from your trouble.”
Amy relaxed recognizing the familiar password, and its reply.
“Then come in and welcome, servants of the King.” As they
entered the tunnel, having to crawl on their hands and knees, Amy could hear
Adam making jokes from behind her.
“I thought you weren’t supposed to go towards the light at
the end of the tunnel,” he said, making his sister laugh. He may have continued, but just then they
reached the end and climbed out to be greeted by ten pairs of eyes following
their progress. Immediately, Amy spotted the source of Matt’s excitement. In
his arms was a round faced little girl, with dark brown curls framing her face,
and next to him was a young woman around her own age, Amy figured, standing
close to Matt and grasping his hand. Her expression was a mixture of adoring
indulgence and nervousness as she glanced between Matt and the little girl and
the group who had just emerged from the tunnel.
She took a deep breath not sure what she was feeling, her
friend hadn’t betrayed them at all, he’d fallen in love. She fought a smile and
made herself turn to greet her other friends from the scouting group before
greeting the strangers. When Matt introduced the young woman as Isabelle and
the little girl as her niece, Mary, Amy smiled kindly but made no comment. She
shot Matt a narrowed eye look, a sure promise that they’d talk later.
*
They’d been seated
around in a circle sharing dinner and telling stories. Matt told of their
surprise at finding a toddler in a supposedly empty cave. When he finished he
would’ve started another tale but Isabelle stopped him with a quiet word, Amy couldn’t
hear what they were saying but she saw Matt glance down at the sleeping child
in his lap and nodded. A moment later he was tucking her into a little bed made
up in the corner. Amy smiled at the picture, it was no surprise Matt had fallen
in love. Not just with the beautiful Isabelle but with the adorable wide-eyed
Mary too.
She continued to watch for a moment but the scene was too
painful, she had to wonder if there was any kind of future for them. Even if
they did make it back to the camp, how did you start a new life in the middle
of a war? Pushing the unwelcome thoughts away she turned to talk to Kyle and
Adam, discussing their route back and the details, they were still talking when
Matt slipped up.
“I’ve got to take over guard duty, come talk to me for a
bit?” he asked quietly. She looked over at him and offered a tentaive smile,
when they’d first come to the camp they’d been assigned guard duty together,
they’d stayed up for hours talking night after night as they struggled to
adjust to their new lives.
“I’d like that,” excusing herself from the conversation, she
followed him outside away from the warmth of the fire. She waited only until they were out of earshot
before commenting. “So Isabelle,” she drew the name out letting in hang in the
air a moment as they walked out into the icy cold night. “I like her,” she
finally said, smiling when she heard Matt let out the breath he’d been holding.
“I was hoping you would,” he told her as they walked over to
the lookout spot. He turned to the waiting guard, “all clear?” he asked. At the
affirmative he sent the young man on his way before turning back to Amy. “So
you really like her?” he asked, needing her approval. She laughed lightly,
making him smile as he leaned back against the rock.
“You had doubts?” she teased.
Neither said anything for a moment as they sat, Amy staring
up at the stars seemingly relaxed but in fact attentive to every sound, and
Matt staring off in front of him, his eyes constantly moving even as he let one
small part of his mind thank the Lord for his friend’s approval. It was Amy who
finally broke the silence with a simple question.
“What’s she like?”
she asked quietly, the question coming out as a whisper so quiet that he almost
didn’t hear it before the wind swept away the words. Matt looked over at her
for a moment unsure of how to answer, then it hit him. They had often commented
that they were like family, she the sister he’d never had, and he one more
overprotective brother always watching out for her. Now here he was telling her
he’d fallen in love and this calm, confident, stable, young woman was terrified
that things were going to change.
“Aim,” he waited patiently until she looked over at him
desperately trying to hide the fear in her eyes, but he saw through it, gently
he wrapped an arm around her and, as they’d done so many times in the past, she
laid her head down on his shoulder blinking back tears as she smelled the
comforting scent of wood smoke and the forest, that meant family and unconditional
love.
“Amy, just because I’m in love with Izzy doesn’t mean that
anything’s going to change, you’ll always be my little sister and don’t even
think about trying to get rid of me,” he teased her softly, relieved to hear
her soft chuckle. “Yes, I love her, but she gets it Aim, she gets the sense of
family. I’ve only known her for a week but she’s already heard so much about
you, Adam, Kyle and the others that she already feels like you’re family.” He
looked down into Amy’s pale face and felt his heart ache for this precious
young woman. She was so tough and had everything under control most of the time
that it was so easy to forget that she was so fragile on the inside. He hugged
her close for a moment, “You’re my family Amy, nothing and no one will ever
change that. You understand me?”
No reply was needed; he held her close for a moment more
before releasing her. She straightened to lean against the rock, letting her
guard down just a little. For a moment neither said anything, letting the
silence hang in the cold night air. It was Matt who broke the quiet first.
“How’s Sarah’s archery coming?” Amy laughed, making Matt
smile, for the first time in a long time the sound was completely genuine.
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