Chapter One: Garrett

They were there to deliver a message- this woman was just getting in the way.

‘But I am Mrs Cotter!’ the woman lied, with her pudgy hands balling into tight fists, and, with the looks of how red her apple cheeks were getting, increasing blood-pressure.

We were there to deliver an important and very secretive message to Mrs Cotter, from her sister-in-law, about the passing of her late husband. This woman was just getting in our way and wasting our time- I hated people like that.

‘Mam, we’ve been given a thorough description of Mrs Cotter- and you are about three children heavier than her- now please get out of my way so I can do my job!’ I demanded, with an overly dramatic, exasperated sigh.

The Mrs Cotter- impersonator, predictably, went silent at that, gaped- with a mouth like a fish for a few seconds, and then stormed off with her giant behind wagging and her nose high in the air.

I don’t know why people kept insisting on lying to me- you can’t lie to one of our kind. We’ve been specially trained in noticing what people say, how they say it, and what encourages them to do so. We are trained to calculate the way people fidget, the way their eyes dilate, or how fast they breathe and which way they look when they talk. We know secrets, secrets many people would kill for- and we are trusted to keep them when no-one else can.  We are trusted to memorise (to the letter) important messages and facts, so that we can travel all across the nine lands and deliver them to the intended receiver and only the intended receiver.

We are the messengers- and there are no others in the entire world that can do what we do.

I turned to Tobi, one of the few people in this world I actually didn’t feel the need to strangle.

‘Can we please go find the real Mrs Cotter now?’ I asked. It had been three straight days of walking and I just wanted it over with- Toby though, had more patience than anyone I knew and just rolled his eyes at me.

‘Well maybe that woman would have told us if you hadn’t called her fat.’ He responded, rolling his eyes right back at me.

‘I didn’t call her fat!-Not exactly. Besides, I doubt she would’ve told us anything, she was such a hag!’

‘Hey! You!’ came the shout of the impersonators voice from the direction she had hurried off to.

‘Ugh! Not again, I thought you’d left!’ I complained, turning to meet the woman.

I didn’t expect what I saw next.

The woman was standing there, pudgy hands on her enormous hips and a triumphant expression on her face. Beside her were two large men. Like seriously huge. Looking at them, I had the slight suspicion they were they offspring of giants. One of them, the one on the right, wore a large, wide-brimmed, straw hat and had a piece of barley twisted between his yellow teeth. The other was a foot shorter, but that sill made him eight foot at least, he had the most amount of freckles I’d ever seen on a man.

‘There they are!’ the imposter screeched shrilly, ‘There are the boys who attacked me!’

“Attack- wait…WHAT!?’ I asked the lady, completely dumbstruck.

‘Hey, we never attacked her.’ I said, turning to the big guys next to her.

‘That’s just what an attacker would say!’ One guy, I’d decided to name him Freckles, said in, oh my lord, the most atrocious accent I’d ever heard. It was even worse than that of the locals of the Nerrah.

‘Honestly’ spoke Tobi, ‘we only spoke to her.’

‘You insulted me!’ the woman protested, ‘And you attacked me!’

‘Well I mean-yeah my friend may have said some rude things- that’s just the way Garrett is. And we’re sorry for that, but we didn’t mean any harm.’ And there went Tobi, the voice of all reason and pleasant in the world. His little speeches usually worked.  Not that time I guess.

‘We won’t believe the word of some disgusting kids that would attack a poor, defenceless woman!’ said Freckles- Straw hat was nodding in agreement.

‘But we didn’t even touch her!’ I protested.

‘ENOUGH!’ the lying woman screeched.

We both noticed it at the same time, the men’s body language. Both men had tensed up bodies and they had leaned forward slightly, placing their left feet back. They were getting ready to charge.

‘Run?’ I asked Tobi.

‘Run.’ He agreed. And we did just that.

Now, normally Tobi would be able to take on someone who wanted to cause us harm. That was part of the job- we came in pairs. One of us- me- was the guy who asks questions, remembers the messages and lies his way through sticky situations with his cunning wit. Toby was the bodyguard and the nice, polite voice that protected us when said wit got us into trouble.  But at that point in time, I don’t think even Tobi’s skills in self-defence could possibly save us from two men who were built like houses.

So we used something we also learned in our training- running for our lives.

Reviews

[Booklover200014]

That was an awesome chapter, it was so funny too. I loved it! I can't believe you haven't gotten any reviews yet, this is such an amazing chapter. Hope to read some more very soon. :)