Snippet #2546027

"William, Amity!" Came their mother's voice, from the foot of the bluff. The siblings sat up and looked down at their mother, who gestured for them to come down to her. They slid down, and looked into their mother's grim face. She shifted her weight with a frown on her dark face, and the siblings glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes. They were nervous about this undertaking too, but their mother acting nervous about it made it seem... All the more real.
"Listen, you two..." She began. "We're not sure how legitimate these messages have been, and from what we've seen, it's worse than we thought."

She was right, they'd seen the suffering of the people, even so far into the Genius' territory. It made William's blood boil, and upset Amity, that she could take control of a people with promises she never intended to keep. Their mother raised her head to look the two in the eye.
"I want you two to scout ahead. Make sure that we aren't heading into a trap." She stated. William and Amity caught on to her implication almost at once. The two of them were the best placed and most capable to actually fight this battle, but everyone else needed more time, if they were able to at all. Sending William and Amity on ahead allowed the pair of them to at least get a head start in the fight with the Genius.

The two of them went to where the horses were tied, as their mother explained to the rest of the caravan, who sat around the fire and had certainly not eavesdropped on the whole conversation, what they were doing. The siblings took a horse named Butterscotch, an equally shaggy golden mare. They'd learned to ride double from a very young age, and Butterscotch wasn't a small horse, so there were no problems with Amity climbing on behind her brother. for a moment, Amity felt as though she'd forgotten something, but then her mother appeared at her knee holding up her bow and quiver. Behind their mother, the rest of the caravan had gathered to send the Clarence siblings off to the city. In turn, they gripped the pair's hands and offered hopes for good luck and well wishes. The smallest member of the caravan, a three year old girl named rini, tugged on Jim's trouser leg until he lifted her to his shoulder. She thrust out a handful of wildflowers, which she'd been picking under Edgar's watchful gaze. Amity accepted them with a smile and put them in her bag.

Finally, William and Amity's mother placed a hand on Amity's knee, and gazed up at the man and woman she'd raised. With her other hand, she gave William a sealed envelope and a note of where the two of them were to go.
"Be careful." She warned in a low voice. They both nodded, and finally urged the horse to carry them towards the city. They waved over their shoulders at the caravan for as long as they could see it, before they focussed on the way forward, and the city spreading out before them. It didn't take them long to find themselves in the dark streets of the city, well after dark. Amity shifted nervously, watching every shadow they passed, while William was singularly focussed on finding their destination.