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"Mother! Look at what I caught."
The words startled me out of my reverie. Of course I was a mother, and I was a woman, but I am what is referred to as a Lore Keeper. My family has been Lore Keepers for generations; they have kept the best and brightest secrets in the area from the evil creatures that threaten our people.
"What did you catch, Timmy?" The man standing next to me asked. I can never remember his name. "Lore Keeper?" I thought for a moment then realized that I should remember him. He was not on the list of people who can be trusted to keep the secrets, he is a soldier. Soldiers can be had. The shiver that ran through me was not a good one.
I paused to consider the question. "I'm not quite sure," I replied. It WAS an interesting creature. I looked around. There were many of them. All similar in height and build, but different in coloring. How could I tell? I had only two clues; THEY CAN'T TALK, and SHE SAID SHE WAS "THE LOREMASTER".
As the sun began to rise, the creatures all fell to their knees. The one with the long green hair looked a bit cross-eyed. I knew better than to approach him too closely. My legs went a bit shaky anyway. Actually the shakiness started the moment I saw the first creature in the State Forest. I knew then and there that I would have to live a lie for the rest of my life. All I could do was hope that no one noticed.
While I stood there watching them, the Loremaster had disappeared into some buggy. Suddenly he wove and swerved around the creatures. The thought came to me: "He's showing off for his mother." The creatures seemed impressed and bowed their heads. "Why is the Loremaster driving a buggy anyway?" I thought, "Someone's servant should be driving that thing. I think one of my boys should be driving that buggy." I knew the others would think so too. We had many discussions on that fact.
Then I was distracted by something happening on the ground. I suspected I knew what was happening. Something like a dust column rose to the sky. I knew what it was. It was a dust storm. This is something they get often in the winter. Usually they are small, slow and have pink and blue because they have a rainbow of colors in them. This was a big one and it was coming our way. I began to feel nervous. "I'm going to have to pay more attention to the weather now. Everyone knows how superstitious the old soldiers are." I pictured the scattering soldiers who would accuse me of something.
Anxiously, I looked around. I assumed that Timmy could take care of the situation. I never would have thought that. As usual, I was all wrong. I knew it immediately. The creatures began to look like they were thinking. That made me feel even more nervous.
It was too late. The cyclone was upon us. The creatures all began to whoosh around in the eye of the storm. Even Timmy was now off the ground, hanging onto the buggy as it was tumbling through the air. I could see the storm coming, a big spiral next to the ordinary cyclone. The wind and the cyclone were already upon us. The dust and dirt were peppering me; the whirlwind was trying to lift me off of my feet. I did the only thing I could; I flattened myself to the ground and held onto the buggy as it was twirling around. Everything was dark from the dust. The wind was howling, the creatures were howling, and I did not even want to imagine what Timmy, the Loremaster and the cyclone were doing.
Suddenly I saw shadows moving on the ground. I tried to get up, but I got hit harder by the winds. The swirling winds of the cyclone are very powerful. I could feel the winds pushing me up against the buggy. I couldn't breathe. The dust had gotten into my eyes. I hoped that my eyes weren't full of dust. I stayed as flat as possible and willed the dust storm to go away. I could hear Timmy and the Loremaster trying to calm the creatures. The creatures started to go towards the dust storm. Then something miraculous happened: The creatures began to slow down. I felt it was safe to move to the side. I took a deep breath in relief. I got up and brushed the dust and dirt out of my hair.
Above me, I could only see a gray-scaled cloud. The sounds from the dust storm were faint, but confused sounds that were hard to understand. "I need to get my glasses," I thought. Just then, my eyes began to feel heavy, but hese weren't my glasses. It felt like something heavy was touching my eyelids, preventing me from getting the information to my brain. "Oh no, my glasses are crushed, my glasses are crushed."
The Loremaster and Timmy had finally found each other. They were in the middle of a group of creatures. I walked towards them. This was more than I could have imagined. I had no idea that things like this could happen. One of the creatures walked over towards Timmy and Mr. Literal and they were talking. All of a sudden, Timmy and Mr. Literal put their hands up to their ears, then their beasts went up to the side of their heads like someone was talking to them. Finally, Timmy and Mr. Literal pulled their hands down from their ears. They both looked stunned. The Loremaster and Timmy exchanged some words that I could not hear, then both Mr. Literal and the Loremaster looked at me with expressions of awe.