Dwellers of the New World Chapter Eleven ( Pt 4 ) The Search

That very same morning that Cinnamon left, Daisy discovered she was missing, as she climbed into the wagon with some tea for the girl. Daisy was annoyed because Tansy was supposed to be watching her. Panicking Daisy put the tea down and jumped out of the wagon, quickly making her way across to where Brad was sleeping. Pulling the curtain back, she called out. “Brad...Brad! Wake up, the girl's gone.”

Poor Brad didn't know what she was on about at first, he'd been dreaming of Martha and his family, it annoyed him that he'd been woken from such a wonderful dream. “What! Who's missing?”

“It's Cinnamon...she's not in the wagon and I don't know where she is.” Daisy bit her lip as Brad sat up.

“What do you mean...she's missing? I thought Tansy was watching her?” Brad kicked off the blanket and came to standing.

“Well I did leave Tansy to watch her...but obviously she decided to leave the girl to sleep.”

Brad was so annoyed, he had a funny feeling that something might happen to Cinnamon, which was why he'd asked Daisy to keep an eye on her. “You should have stayed with her, or made it clear to Tansy that on no condition was the girl to be left alone.”

“I'm sorry Brad,” Daisy felt awful, but didn't really feel it was all her fault...'why was Brad so angry with her?' she thought to herself. Tears started to fill Daisy's eyes, then she sobbed.

Brad couldn't be angry for long, now he felt terrible for making the girl cry. “Look...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take it out on you, it's just that Cinnamon's so young and I think she could be a little adventurous and may be too trusting of others which could land her in a lot of trouble. She needs to go home to her parents, they must be so worried about her.”

Stretching, Brad started to dress as he looked around for his owl who was perched at the back of the wagon. Daisy then remembered the tea. “I made a cup of sage tea for Cinnamon, but you might as well have it now,” she said rushing off to get it.

Jumping down from the wagon, Brad called to Tawny, the owl flew out and landed on Brad's shoulder making itself comfortable. “Well Tawny...it looks like we've got a search on our hands, what do you think?” The bird gazed at Brad, wide eyed, then closed his eyes as if uninterested. “Well...you're not much help my friend, perhaps I'm on my own in this search,” Brad declared.

Daisy came back with the drink, Brad thanked her and looked to the ocean gulping his tea, wondering which way the girl might have gone. He decided to go across to the main bay and ask if anyone had seen Cinnamon, feeling sure someone would know where she was. Tipping the dredges out, he passed the mug back to Daisy. “Can you go tell Ida that Cinnamon's disappeared and I'm going to look for her...Oh! Yes and tell her I might need to take River too...that's if I don't have any luck in making enquiries, if anyone can find Cinnamon it will be River.?” Daisy understood and felt much better now she was doing something positive.

Brad made his way along the cliff top to the next bay, he could see the people lining the beach, loading stuff onto the ship. Making his way down the path, he began to look around, deciding on who he should ask first of the whereabouts of the girl. He noticed a man leaning against a wall of a cottage smoking a wooden pipe, so decided to approach him. The man seemed miles away, as he looked out to sea.

“Excuse me...I wonder if you can help me?”

The man turned to look at Brad, an annoyed look on his face. “Yeah...what is it?” he said, smoke billowing from the pipe.

“Sorry to bother you...but I'm looking for a girl and was wondering if you'd seen her?”

“There be loads of girls around here...which one you be looking for?” The man was now sneering and mocking Brad.

“Look!” said Brad getting annoyed. “She's a pretty young girl with long brown hair, she was wearing a dress made out of deer skin, in fact she would have probably stood out as she doesn't come from round here.”

“I ain't seen no one like that...you wanna go speak to someone else, I've got more important things to think about than some kid who's lost.”

 Brad couldn't believe the rudeness of this man, it was so unlike the people of the bay, so without even hesitating he walked away, leaving the man to brood alone. Making his way further down the beach, where the people were loading wood and food onto the ship, Brad noticed a woman with a child carrying some materials, he walked towards her feeling sure she would know something. Calling out, the woman looked back smiling at this stranger who was approaching her.

“What can I do for you on this fine morning?” she said in a totally different manner to the man Brad had just spoken too.

Out of breath after running down the beach, Brad caught up to her. “I wonder if you can help me...I'm looking for a girl of about seventeen, she's with some travellers and has gone missing...she's got long brown hair and is wearing a deer skin dress, which would make her stand out in a crowd.”

The woman thought for a moment, then spoke. “I'm sorry I can't help you, but if you go down to the ship and ask Kai, I'm sure he will be able to help, there doesn't seem to be anything he doesn't know about.”

“That's good...but can you tell me who Kai is and where I can find him?” Brad looked around as he spoke.

“Yeah! He's on board, putting finishing touches to the ship before it sets sail tomorrow.” Pointing in the direction of the ship, the woman spoke again. “There he is at the stern busy as usual.”

 Brad thanked the woman and made his way down to the ship. People were climbing aboard, there was so much activity, that Brad found himself climbing over logs and sacks of food and barrels. There were chickens clucking in wooden cages and flapping of wings as the birds were desperate to get out. Brad felt quite upset at the spectacle and wished he could set them free. Finding his way to the back of the ship, he noticed a man engrossed in his work and presumed that this was Kai the woman mentioned. “Excuse me...but are you Kai?”

The man turned to face Brad. “It sure is and who may I ask wants to know?”

“Oh! Good at last...I was told you knew most things that went on around here.” Brad started to explain about Cinnamon and how she'd gone missing.

Kai immediately knew who Brad was on about by the description. “Yeah...I saw her, in fact we spoke, she told me her name was Cinnamon and she was kind enough to admire my work.”

“Did she say where she was going? it's important you see she's missing and doesn't really belong round here.”

“Sorry can't tell you much more...she didn't hang around long enough, to be honest I was so engrossed in my work, I didn't take much notice of her after she left.”

Brad felt disheartened and decided that the best thing to do, was to go back to the travellers and let them know what was going on, after all they were supposed to be leaving that day.

Dwellers of the New World Chapter Eleven ( Pt 5 ) The Fog Returns | ABCtales