Excerpt

“Do you really believe that we will never see our home and family again?”

“I’m not sure Peter,” said Dunstan gravely, “But I can see it now.”

Peter stared at him, and then he sneezed. His summer cold was still not gone despite all the water Marius had kept urging him to drink, which Peter did, though he was getting tired of it.

“I can see the pond glistening in the sun. I can see the trees with a breeze flowing through them. I can see the church, and the fields of grain, fruit, and vegetables.”

“Oh,” said Peter, sneezing, “I remember.”

“What are you two blabbing about?” asked Marius in a rather jokingly sort of way. Peter and Dunstan turned to see both him and Fluke looking at them.

“Nothing,” replied the siblings as they trudged over the hilly ground.

“Where do you think Emerin might be right now Dunstan?” Peter wondered.

“I don’t know,” admitted Dunstan, “But right now his chances don’t seem very good. Without care for his wounds he could die. He may even be dead right know.”

“Don’t say that!” cried Peter. A small tear fell down the lad’s eye, while his nose became stuffy and he began to sniff hard.

Dunstan put his arms around his younger brother and kept telling him to shush, like a little baby.

“We will keep searching for him,” assured Dunstan, “You have my word on that. I don’t want Emerin to be dead either. None of us do. So let’s just hope that he is still alive.”

“Thank you” Peter said. The young boy then rested his hot, sweaty head right beneath Dunstan’s chin.

Dunstan took a deep breath and then held Peter in his arms and rubbed his back. Then he stopped, and looked down at Peter, who looked back at him.

“Come on Peter,” whispered Dunstan, patting his brother’s shoulder. And with that, the two of them continued on walking.

Marius strolled a little bit ahead of the others, and then he stopped in his tracks, smiling as always.

They all stared at him. Dunstan hoped he recognized where they were, as he had claimed he could do that night they left home.

Dunstan remembered Marius’s pledge, that he would let the brothers leave him if he could not get them out. Dunstan could never do that to Marius, or any of them, not after all that they had done.

Going beyond the forest has really changed us, Dunstan thought to himself.