Chapter 1

The Little Ones

The rapid trickling of the rain gives no solace. The calming ticking of the clock on the wall can't be heard past the rain. The winter's come early this year and is ruining the celebrations of the nectar season.

Little Ameriel sat up in his bed and watched the rain ruin the flower beds he and his mother had planted at the beginning of last year's spring.

They planted three types of flowers in one bed: petunias, violets and carnations. Ameriel loved them the most.

Frightening noises were sounding outside the door to Ameriel's room. He watched the door with wide open eyes and furrowed brow. Ameriel covered his head in the blanket and pulled a metal flashlight out from under his pillow. "There's no such thing as ghosts, no such thing." He repeated to himself, holding the flashlight close, his eyes shut tight and his body rocking back and forth with the rhythm of his chanting.

"Boo!" the blanket was yanked off Ameriel's head and he screamed fearfully. "Nupul! It's you!" The Little One cried, looking up at the older boy angrily. Nupul doubled over, unable to stop laughing. "You almost pissed in your pajamas!" he blamed little Ameriel.

"Not true!" Ameriel gave him a little shove. "Go away or I'll tell Mama you tried to frighten me!"

"You're a little coward, you know!" Nupul charged him, poking his finger in his little brother's shoulder. "You need to give up that stupid flashlight and go to sleep in the dark like a real man!" Nupul filled his chest with air to show that he himself has been sleeping in the dark for years and he's a real man.

"What's all this noise?!" came a voice from the hallway and both brothers jumped, worried it was their mother coming to tell them off.

The door opened and it was not their mother who stood there. "Gur! It's you!" Almeriel leapt off the bed and ran to hug his oldest and most beloved brother round the knees.

"I knew that." Nupul declared as if it were obvious.

"Not true! You almost pissed in your pajamas!" Ameriel got back at his annoying older brother.

Gur picked Ameriel up from the floor and balanced him on his hip. "Nupul tried to scare me." The snitch told the Good Brother.

"Tried?! Managed!" Nupul had to add.

"Nupul!" Gur's scornful voice thundered above Nupul's head. "You should be ashamed of yourself!" Gur glared at him, a glare that made Nupul wish the ground would open up and swallow him. "You know Ami needs his sleep, he's still growing! And speaking of growing boys, the same goes for you Nupul." Gur was excellent at playing the older brother.

"You're not Mom, you can tell me what to do!" Nupul shook himself and scolded his older brother.

"Nup!" Gur barked and bounced Ameriel, who had begun to slide off his hip. "Go to sleep and leave Ami alone." He said simply.

"Boys!" the voice of their Father, speaking of trouble, was heard behind Gur's back. "Gur! You know you're not supposed to play with Ameriel after his bedtime!" their Father scolded the oldest boy. "And why is Nupul here? You should be a good example to your little brothers and sleep, not make noise!"

"Yes Father." Gur nodded and placed Ameriel back in his bed, tucking him in. "Go to sleep Little One." He smiled at him, and then turned to shove Nupul out of the door.

"I don't want to hear a peep!" their Father warned, and they both nodded their heads, mumbling well rehearsed words of assent.

"You too, little cricket." The daddy smiled warmly at Ameriel. "Alright?"

"Yes Daddy." Ameriel smiled and turned on his side, going to sleep.

~

The next morning Gur woke early and started his daily chores. He chopped wood for the fireplace and shoveled the snow that had fallen the night before after the rain. He fixed the kitchen window so Mother wouldn't be cold while she made her world famous potato pie.

He brought water from the well. And meant to go and wake Nupul so he could help him drag out Ameriel's old chest of drawers, they'd replaced it last winter and it had just been standing in the hall aimlessly, when he heard shouting from Ameriel's bedroom.

Gur hurried inside and there stood the Mother staring at the empty and destroyed room of her youngest son. "Where is he?!" she caught Gur by the lapels of his coat and shook him.

"Mother!" Gur took her hands in his and stopped their shaking. "I don’t know." He mumbled apologetically.

The room was filled with the Father and Nupul who looked around in horror.

"Oy, Norina." The Father gathered his wife into his arms and tried to calm her. "Nupul, run to the sheriff and bring him here!" the Father commanded and Nupul took off. "Gur, make your Mother tea." Gur hurried off to the kitchen to make tea for his Mother.

In the kitchen he was greeted by a dog that had too much hair. "Not now Iggy, Ameriel's vanished." He explained to the dog that was waiting impatiently to be petted. "His room's been destroyed, and if you ask me Iggy, he didn't just 'vanish'." Gur mumbled half to the dog and half to himself as he placed the pot of water on the stove.

The water boiled and Gur poured it into a mug full of herbs from Mother's garden. "Here." He handed the mug to his poor pale mother.

Just then Nupul burst into the room at a run, and behind him the round little sheriff waddling still in his pinkish nightdress. "What is it-?" The sheriff gasped, "Kaliro?" The sheriff panted.

"Come," Kaliro led the sleepy sheriff to his youngest son's bedroom.

"Oh in the name of Sainted Abornufu! Kaliro! Your son's been taken!" the sheriff declared.

"Naah, really?"  Nupul made a face at the sheriff.

"Nupul!" the Father scolded and Nupul fell silent.

"Young man, run as fast as you can to the house of the deputy and wake him!" The sheriff ordered Nupul who gave him a look of contempt but did as he said lest his Father notice his scorn and scold him again.

Within a few moments Nupul was back and his face bode ill.

"What is it, my Nup?" his Mother held him by the shoulders.

"The deputy's daughter, Little Golin, her room is also empty and she's gone." He murmured unhappily.

"In the name of Sainted Abronupu!" the sheriff cried, "It's in epidemic!"

"It's not an epidemic you idiot, it’s someone who's come and taken our Little Ones!" Nupul scolded, and was immediately scolded in his turn by his Father.

"But Little Golin was barely five years old! Who would do such a thing?!" the Mother shook and her husband took her shoulders immediately to balance her. "It will be alright Norina, we'll find them I promise."

Into the room waddled the deputy who was also small and round and out of shape. "It's happened all over town." He informed the sheriff, "All the Little Ones have been taken." In his voice sounded the same horror that was in the shaking Mother.

"In the name of Sainted Abornufu! What shall we do?!" The sheriff appealed to the room at large.

"What do you mean 'what should you do'?" Nupul said, "You should check all the Little Ones' rooms, find clues, then gather a following of volunteers and go get them back!" Nupul ran out of patience with the lazy sheriff. His Father gave him a scolding look.

"You're absolutely right young man!" the sheriff cried and he and his deputy hurried back to their office to find clues.

"Nupul! I will not allow you to sass your elders! Especially not the sheriff!" the Father raised his voice.

"The sheriff's an idiot!" Nupul defended himself. "He passed his expiration date and he should have been replaced years ago!" Nupul didn't flinch away when his Father raised an arm at him. "You'll act and speak to your elders with respect!" he threatened.

"Not to the sheriff!" Nupul replied determination to hate the fat and lazy sheriff shining in his face.

"Kaliro!" the Mother grabbed her husband's arm before it reached the child. "Don't you dare try to hurt one of my Little Ones!" she scolded him and herded the two Little Ones she had left away from the Father, who was now exiled.