Free Revelyn: 1st Chronicles - When the last arrow falls by Chris Ward Page A

kindma did always, just in case her daughter came home unannounced, which she mostly did, since news traveled more slowly than she and Lightfoot could travel.
    Sylvion stood for a moment looking at the lovely old woman and felt such love that a tear slipped quietly from her right eye and gently splashed onto the freshly swept floor.
    ‘ Kindma wake up I’m home,’ she called softly not wanting to startle her. The sleeping woman stirred and looked at Sylvion for a moment before realising who it was.
    ‘Sylvion oh Sylvion! What a wonderful surprise. Come, come my child…’ and they embraced and sat and talked and ate and laughed well into the night. They talked of homely things, the garden and how the bulbs were late again, and the large oak which needed pruning and the chickens which were not laying as they should although there was plenty of eggs all the same. There was the neighbour’s bull which had broken into the orchard and destroyed her favorite revelapple tree… on and on they chatted.
     And they spoke of other matters, of the town which was so changed and this made Syvlion’s kindma cry in frustration.
    ‘They leave me alone out here, ‘she said,’ but it seems there are so many soldiers about and they harass everyone. The King’s taxes have risen and some can’t pay so they have lost their farms and must work them as tenant farmers. I can’t bear to go to town, everyone is so afraid of their own shadows. It makes me so angry but what can I do?’
    Sylvion decided not to mention her encounter with the King’s guard, judging that it would only upset her kindma; but she bitterly regretted that she had not just ridden quietly by and ignored their lecherous taunts. If she had brought trouble for her mother she would never forgive herself.
    She spoke about Rema and their plans for marriage the following year, and his decision to travel to Ramos to help his troublesome cousin Serenna. At this her kindma, became quite agitated.
    ‘Oh Sylvion that is no place for him to visit, the king is becoming more unbalanced every day. We hear reports that very bad things are happening there. I do hope he does nothing foolish. When is he due back? What does he want to do there?’ She became so upset that Sylvion changed the subject.
    ‘I want to go see the Equin tomorrow .’
    ‘Is that a good idea dear, the forest is a strange place? I’ve never really liked you wandering about in there.’
    ‘ Kindma I’ve been wandering that forest since I was eight. There is no danger for me there, and besides I haven’t seen the Equin in ages. Lightfoot will love it.’
    ‘Well I don’t know, I’ve never seen your beloved equin and it all sounds very romantic, but for a young girl; you’re grown now, you don’t need to waste your time wandering in such a strange place. I know that there is magic in that forest, and that means danger.’
    ‘I’ll be fine kindma. I’ve never had the slightest problem.’
     
    Sylvion went to bed happy to be home, but with an anxiety in her heart which she had never felt before. She lay awake feeling angry at the change which had come to Wildwood and frustrated that there was nothing she could do to change it. She thought of Rema and whispered her love to him hoping that somehow he would know, and then fell asleep, and dreamt of the forest, her wonderful magical forest.
     
    Her kindma however lay awake deeply troubled; there were things she had never told her daughter about Revelyn and now that the king, that maniac Lord Petros Luminos was unraveling, she wondered about the future, and whether she should tell Sylvion more than she knew, but she was torn by her promise to her husband Sontim and despite his disappearance and death, wanted to honour that oath. She too finally fell asleep, but her dreams were sad and unhappy and the dark forest kept trying to overrun her precious garden, and she spent all night just keeping it back.
     
    Wildwood forest lay behind the small Greyfeld estate.