Yep, a genuine sample of the Elandai series. I haven't looked it over yet (I'm just basically copying and pasting--I'm in a HUGE hurry today!)
But before that, I'd like to ask for prayer for my mom's uncle. He has some health issues, and they may have (or will have, or already have) to amputate some of his foot. I just hear snatches from phone calls, so I just know that it's sort of serious.
And another one...my uncle was hit by a car about a year ago, and now he's paralytic. However, he's lost the use of one or more of his hands rather recently, because of something they forgot in a surgery. He's in a lot of pain, so please pray for him. The good thing about it is that it brought him to Christ!
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Ben Wilson woke with a start as his alarm clock suddenly blared. he groggily blinked and squinted at the clock. It read 6:00 AM.
Six AM? Why--oh, I forgot. I promised Kaela that we'd get up early and go exploring. The Wilson's had just moved into their house, which backed to woods. Ben and his sister, Mikaela (or Kaela, as everyone called her) had lived in the city all their lives and were willing to get up early to see what adventures the forest contained.
He jumped as he heard a clock go off in the room next to his. That would be Kaela's alarm. Her clock was exactly thirty seconds later than his. Ben quickly dressed and then went down to the kitchen, only to find his sister had beat him there. She was very punctual, even though she was nine, four years younger than him.
"Mom left bagels out for us." Kaela told him. "With cream cheese and jam, too."
Ben licked his lips. "We can always depend on Mom to feed us well." he remarked, and then plopped down at his seat. Kaela sat down across from him and spread her bagel with a thick layer of cream cheese. Ben and her were alike not only in their love of bagels, but also in coloring. Both had blond hair, though Kaela's was more dark, and blue eyes. They were both 'string-beans' as some people call long and thin people.
Ben was reaching for the jam when he noticed a piece of paper lying on the table. He picked it up and noticed it was from Mom. It read:
Ben and Kaela,
Have fun out in the woods and remember to cross the creek. Go left on the big path until you get to a ford. Cross there.
Love,
Mom
Ben read it out loud to his sister. She cocked an eyebrow and looked at him. "Why does Mom specifically want us to cross the creek? She even gave us directions to get there!"
"Well, maybe there's something really neat over there. She
did live here when she was a kid, and she could have explored yesterday when we were at Grandma and Grandpa's."
"True," pondered Kaela. "But she talked a lot about the cliffs and the caves." she gulped down the rest of her orange juice. "C'mon, Ben, let's go already. We'll find out why when we get there."
The siblings raced out the back door and looked at the woods for a moment from their backyard. The woods was in two layers, the first was more sparsely wooded, but had a lot of long grass. The other one, which was further back, was more thick. They were separated by a large dirt path that was half overgrown with grass.
They scrambled through the grasses of the first layer to get to the path. When they reached there, Ben stopped for a moment to breathe in the fresh morning air. A solitary bird twittered from a branch on the skirts of the deep woods.
"Hurry up, Ben!" ordered Kaela starting down the path to the left. "Don't you want to find out what's on the other side of the creek?"
"Hold, on. I'm trying to find out which way is north. Let's see, there's the sun; that's east. So if we go left we'll be heading almost due north."
Kaela had given up on her brother's slow pace and had started running on the path. Ben sighed and tried to catch up with her. She was very fast, and played a lot of sports, but Ben still outdistanced her by a few minutes.
"Alright." he said presently. "Around here is probably a ford." he took note of the surroundings. As they had been running, the deep woods (which they had been traveling parallel to) had thinned out until they could see that the creek had been behind it. They were now standing almost on it's bank, and they could both see that they had reached the ford. A long line of rocks marked the shallow area.
Ben and Kaela climbed down the bank and paused at the edge of the water. "Whose going first?" asked Kaela.
"I guess I will," replied Ben and stuck his foot in the creek. He was wearing boots, but he could feel the chilliness of the water. He looked down and could see bright green algae waving with the current, attached to the dark rocks. A few clam shells were scattered along the bed. He glanced back and could see beyond the bank and the trees were houses. He could hear some far-off trucks from the subdivision, and there was a bright yellow spray-painted board propped against a tree.
He reached the other side and scrambled up the bank. He looked at Kaela, who was almost across. When she reached the shore he helped her out and up. Then he looked back at the side they had been on just a few minutes ago. He inhaled sharply.
The houses and board had completely disappeared! Ben blinked twice, and then looked again, but they were still gone. "That's strange," he commented.
Kaela peered at him. "What's strange?" she asked.
"Last time I looked on that side, there were houses and other modern stuff. Now there aren't any. I could hear trucks, too."
"I can't hear any trucks, and I don't see the houses."
"I know, neither can I. And it's not like I can't see them from this angle. I should be able to see them better, if anything."
Kaela frowned. "Could that be what Mom was talking about? That we're isolated from the modern world on the other side of the creek?"
Ben shrugged. "Maybe. What d'you think we should do? Go on and explore this side of the creek, or go back. I'll let you choose."
Kaela pondered for a moment. "I think...we should explore. We're already on this side."
"Alright. Which way?"
She looked both ways. There were three paths. One led to the left, the other to the right, and the last straight ahead. They all met where the siblings were standing. After a few seconds of thought, she said, "Straight."
Ben and Kaela stepped forward and began walking.
Chapter 2
Ben glanced around as they walked. They were going through a woods now. For some reason that he couldn't explain, the woods felt...evil. The trees were all crooked and dead, and there was no grass or flowers. No birds, either. It was unnaturally silent. Neither of the children talked, and they walked almost on tip-toes.
He happened to glance to the side in time to see a dark shape, passing from tree to tree, following them. He blinked and then it was gone.
I must be imagining things, he told himself.
But it looked sort of human. Ben watched the woods anxiously, keeping a sharp lookout for the dark shape. Kaela, walking beside him, asked "Ben, what's the matter?"
"Shh." he shushed her. "I thought I saw something."
Kaela shuddered. "Was it a bear?" she whispered.
"I don't think so. Oh, there it was!"
Kaela turned her head in time to catch a glimpse of the shadow. She gasped and whimpered, "I'm not really liking this... that looked like an ogre!"
"Don't be silly, Kaela. Ogres aren't real. You're just over-imagining."
"I'm sure it was an ogre, or at least what I've always thought they were like. They're sort of hunched over, and they walk flat-footed. I think they
are ogres."
"Well, you can think what you like. They aren't--"
Ben was interrupted by a whoosh, and an instant later, a quivering arrow buried itself into one of the twisted trees, nearly clipping his ear. They froze for a second, and then another arrow landed inches from Kaela's foot.
The arrows were coming from the direction of the creek, so there was no way to go back that way. As one, the siblings began sprinting down the path, headed nowhere but hoping it was somewhere without arrows.
Ben risked a glance behind as they ran. Several dark shapes stood on the path behind them, all with bows bent and arrows on the string. They were hunched over and their feet turned outward, just like Kaela said. He managed to get a glimpse of their faces and knew immediately that his sister had been right. They were ogres.
One of the ogres fired his bow, and Ben swerved. The arrow missed and fell in front of him. He tripped slightly on it, and then continued running for dear life.
Suddenly, the ground beneath Ben and Kaela's feet swung open, and they fell down into a hole, clumps of dirt and rocks falling in with them. They landed with a thud at the bottom.
Ben looked around to find that he and his sister were in an underground room. It was small, containing only a table, three mats, and some chairs, as well as several swords propped against a wall. A lamp was on the table, and Ben could see by it's light that they were not alone. An old man with a flowing white beard sat in one of the chairs, and a man and a young woman, both maybe in their twenties at the latest, had just leapt out of their seats in surprise. They all were staring at Ben and Kaela.
The woman suddenly started. "Learka, quick--help me!" she yelled as she grabbed a sword and climbed up the earthen wall with amazing agility. The man also picked up a sword and followed her, and they disappeared from view when they got out of the hole in the ceiling. (As Ben watched them he saw that the hole was actually a hatch with a wooden door. His and Kaela's weight had must have triggered it somehow to open up) There were several flashes of light from above, followed by deep, gurgling yells. Then all was silent.
The man and the woman climbed back down into the hole, closing the hatch behind them. They propped their swords back against the wall, and then the woman addressed Ben and Kaela. "Good day," she greeted. "I am Yevelina Taelri Mahal Ka'amia Daria, but you can just call me Yev. The young man over there is Learka. He's my brother. And this is my father, Klii. Are you, by any chance, from other worlds?"
Ben, still slightly stunned by the rapidity of events, wondered
, From other worlds? Oh no. We aren't in another world are we? Not a big surprise, actually. I sort of guessed that with the disappearing houses and the ogres. "I guess you could say we're from other worlds. I am Ben, and this is my sister, Mikaela. Very pleased to meet you."
This time the old man, Klii, answered. "And I, you. I must say, you are an answer to our prayers."
Learka looked strangely at Klii. "You aren't saying that they--" here he gestured at Ben and Kaela. "--sent from Adonai?"
"Learka," Klii said patiently. "It is written that help from these circumstances will fall from above. It did not say that Adonai would send warriors. And Ben and Kaela certainly did fall from above."
"Wait," Kaela frowned. "How are we an answer to prayer, who is Adonai, and where are we?"
Klii turned to the children. Ben got the immediate impression that he was very wise, expecially from his bright pale blue eyes. They held a spark of merriment, but also a solemnity. "Children, years ago, our beatiful land called Elandai, was a wonderful place to be. The forest that you passed through used to be green and living. Adonai is it's maker, and he made it as a paradise for his people.
"Unfortunetely, those people rebelled against Adonai, led by the evil one, Daran. They changed Elandai into a wasteland. There are some people whose hearts have changed and they follow Adonai, and the followers are greatly persecuted. They live underground, waiting for Adonai to come back and overthrow Daran. Adonai has promised that help will come, and he has said that it will fall from above. Like you did."
Ben nodded. "I get it. The dude called Adonai got overthrown and the dude in charge isn't that great, so you're planning a take-over."
Klii looked shocked. "No, you don't get it. Adonai is still in power, but he is a just ruler. In the beginning, he told the people that if they obeyed his statutes, they would live without death and so on. If they disobeyed, they would have to be punished with death. It is really our fault."
"
Our fault?" Kaela asked. "I didn't rebel against him."
"Whenever we do something wrong, child, we rebel against Adonai. But, there is a way to escape death. Adonai has promised that he will send someone who will conquer Daran."
"Are we those someone's" Ben questioned.
"No. That someone has to be perfect, to carry out all the statutes, like we failed to do. You two, on the other hand, were sent to help prepare the way. Do you understand?"
Ben pondered for a moment, and then realized that yes, he did understand. He and Kaela nodded.
Klii smiled. "Good answer. Now, before you start your work, you must be trained. We will start immediately."
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Izori
