Amiria!” Someone shouted in the distance.
I sighed, why couldn't I be alone for more than a few minutes?
“AMIRIA!" The voice of the woman was getting closer.
Ugh. "Over here!" I shouted back.
The overgrown rose bushes moved as Emmie's white elongated hands shoved their way through the mess of branches, flowers and leaves. Why couldn't she have just gone through the gap instead of creating a new one? I thought, bemused and annoyed. Only five feet away from where Emmie's hands now pushed and shoved the branches out of her way lay a gap about three feet wide set in between two rose bushes.I smiled to myself at the thought of Emmie’s new scrapes that she was surely receiving from the sharp ends of many thorns hidden well in my rose wall.
Finally she was inside my little safe haven, my quiet place. Well it was supposed to be, anyway.
"May I help you?" I asked as politely as I could, silently laughing to myself at the sight of Emmie
Her hair, which was usually brushed back into a perfect pony-tail, was now all over the place and her face that was usually smirking at a small flaw unknown to the person who had it, was now twisted into a grimace. Her lips silently cursing as she viewed the new tears in her emerald green dress and the ruby red scratches covering her pale arms. Behind her legs peeked a little boy,; her son Apiatan.
"Yes, you CAN help me!" She said glaring.
I waited for her to go on, but she said nothing. “Well?” It was my turn to be annoyed.
“Don’t you take that tone with me little girl!” She shouted.
Slowly I stood up, I was nearly seventeen and I was also the heir to the position of Chief of our Tribe. I was no longer a “little girl”. It took all my self-restraint not to yell back at her. Although I was next in line to be Chief, I was not chief yet and she was an elder.
“I’m very sorry Emmie, how can I help you?” I asked, trying to keep the sarcasm in my voice to a minimum.
“Well,” she started to say, looking more pleased with my attitude and the smirk slowly returning to her face, “Actually, I don’t need your help… your grandfather requests to see you immediately!” The smirk now complete and her eyes filled with mischief.
My Grandfather was Chief Canowicate, he had raised me after my Mother and Father were mauled on a hunting trip when I was only one year old.
I lost my smile as soon as she said this. My Grandfather only ever summoned me if there was bad news that I needed to know about, being the next in line for Chief. My gut was telling me that this was no exception.
“Did he happen to say what he needed to see me about?” I asked hesitantly knowing that if it was good news he would have told Emmie.
Emmie’s face turned sour again, “no, he didn't,” she said disgruntled,“When I asked, all he said was that he needed to see you immediately and that I should ask no more questions. He was quite rude!” She barely muttered the last sentence and if it wasn’t for my keen ears I probably wouldn’t have heard her. I gave her a look that clearly read watch your toungue! I turned towards the gap motioning for her to come with me.
We travelled in silence along the forest floor making hardly a noise as we trod lightly across the fallen leaves. It was the middle of autumn and the air was crisp and had a small sting as it blew against my face. I didn't know what my Grandfather wanted to see me about...what could be so bad that he would summon me this way and not even tell Emmie? I wondered. In the background I heard Apiatan softly asking his mommy to carry him because his feet hurt, I listened to Emmie sigh and pause to pick him up. I kept walking, determined to get to my Grandfather. Fear flowing swiftly in my veins.
After thirty minutes of walking we made it to our little village, located in the middle of the forest that was now painted red and orange and yellow with the occasional splash of green. Even though our village was small, what it lacked in size was made up for in beauty. We were situated in the middle of a grand clearing. Apple trees now full of blood red apples, acted as a wall around us on the east and west side of the village. A large cave rested on the south side. A shining river sprawled out to the North. Each family had a cabin made of sandy brown logs with a wooden door frame and a magnificent wooden door. There were only two cabins that was different from the others. My cabin was made of darker wood and had a stone doorway and a beautiful stone door. My Grandfather lived in the Chiefs cabin, similar to my own but Ivy was draped over and around the cabin, adding to it's winsomeness.
I made my way to my cabin to change out of my mahogany dress and into something more fitting for a formal visit to the chief. Before I could set one foot inside however, Emmie’s ice cold hand grabbed my arm. I turned to demand that she release me but the look on her face made me bite my tongue.
It was not a cruel look, but a look of panic. “There’s not enough time for that Amiria.” She whispered looking at my Grandfathers cabin.
I turned my gaze to where she was looking and saw the tribes nurse rushing through the open doorway. I stopped breathing.
Slowly, as if I were in a dream, I walked to the Chiefs Cabin. “Grandfather?” I called softly.
“Ahh Amiria,” He sounded ill and sad.
Nervously I poked my head around the doorway and sighed as I saw that the nurse was not tending to my Grandfather, but to a small child who was coughing on the other side of the room. Canowicakte got up from his chair and smiled at me walking to me with his arms open. I walked over to give him a hug and heard the disapproving grunt from Emmie who was standing in the doorway now.
Canowicakte looked up at her and said with a faint smile, "do you have a problem with the way I greet my own Granddaughter Em?” I could tell he was amused.
Emmie looked a bit flustered at being asked such a question.
“Why, not at all!” she exclaimed, her voice, I noticed, had gone an octave higher and she refused to look my Grandfather in the eye.
I smiled, “so Grandfather, tell me, what is the meaning of my summoning?” I questioned pulling away and looking him in the eye.
“Ahh...” He sighed and looked away. “I have had a vision my dear.”
At this point Emmie left us as did the nurse and the little boy, as if those words were a signal they had been waiting for. He walked over to his old rocking chair and slowly sat down. I gulped as a wave of fear crashed upon me. A chill scrambled down my spine and I shivered, trying to regain control of my senses. My mind raced trying to decode on my own what he had seen. Ashe light his pipe, we were silent for a few minutes then he motioned to me to sit down.
When I had seated myself on the stool in front of him he began.
“I am sure you have heard the legend of the Aloe Mansion and the Cherry Code.”
I nodded; I had heard the old bedtime story more than once.
“What did you gather from it?” he asked looking at me quizzically.
“Well...” I was unsure of how to explain, “I didn’t really gather much from it. I mean, it’s only a bedtime story. Set before World War 1 even came into thought, about an Old Chief who built a mansion out of the roots of Aloe plants to keep the Cherry Code safe and hidden from outsiders. For it was his fathers' final wish as the chief before him."
“What did you find the Cherry Code to be in this story?” His eyes were soft and his voice was matching.
Wondering what he was getting at I sighed again and said, “The Cherry Code was said to be the secret to our tribe. Anyone who read it would know everything about our past, present and future.”
He was silent for a long time, then finally he spoke, .
“Amiria, the Legend of the Aloe Mansion and the Cherry Code is neither a bedtime story nor even a legend, it is simply, a story. A fact if I may. My vision was about both. An outsider is going to steal the Cherry Code.” He looked at me with sad eyes and sighed,”Amiria, do you realise how dangerous that would be? To have an outsider know everything about a Tribe said to be lost hundreds of years ago.”?
I went white, I knew what would happen. It wasn’t good. We would be destroyed.
My Grandfather began to retell the fable, “In the days of our forefathers, the Tribe of Running Waters was not a gentle tribe as the name suggested, the name was a miss-lead to make other people trade with us. After gaining the trust of the other tribes the Tribe of Running Waters would raid said tribe in the middle of the night and kill everyone save the babies who they would bring back to become a part of our tribe.
Because of this The Tribe or Running Waters were classified as outlaws and hunted by many. So they were forced to retreat deep into the forest. One day a wandering tribesman from the Eagle of Shining Mountain tribe stumbled upon the Tribe of Running Waters dwelling place and made his way out undetected. He ran to his tribe to share what he had found. One week later The Tribe of Running Waters was attacked and only the chief and his wife and son were able to survive; they fled with the Cherry Code and started to rebuild the tribe, unknown to the others.
The chief and his son would go under the cover of the night and kidnap women and the occasional man and child to be a part of the Tribe they were rebuilding. The chief became old and before he died he asked his son to build a temple for the Cherry Code to keep it safe. His son agreed and watched as his father passed into the afterlife. He stood up, now the chief of the tribe and walked outside to tell his wife what had happened. His first act as chief was that of building a Mansion made of Aloe roots and Ancient magic to keep the Cherry Code hidden.
Guarded by the magic and many traps, puzzles and mazes the Cherry Code lay. Hidden deep inside the Aloe Mansion on the edge of the forest.” Here he stopped and I knew that the story was finished. I looked into his eyes and he nodded and placed his pipe back into his mouth.
Drawing in a deep breath I asked, “What am I to do?” Surely he had called me because he wanted me to do something about it.
Looking up slowly he said,” Amiria, I want...no, I need you to go retrieve the Cherry Code and bring it back to me. It needs a new hiding place and I have located such a place for it.”
So this was the reason for the summoning, a mission. My palms grew clammy, my heart picked up speed and I tried to think of any reason that I shouldn't go do this. As I racked my brain looking for a good excuse I realised the unfortunate truth, there was no such excuse to found. I needed to do this for my Tribe. I needed to do what no one had ever thought of doing before.
I needed to find the Cherry Code.
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