An Unamed Story That Belongs to Kateri

Ok, guys, I need some help! Here's the beginning of a story I started but never finished. What do you think of it? Be honest! (You won't hurt my feelings.)

The whole idea (I find), is a little strange...could mountain raiders and villagers fight for so long and hard?!? I have no idea! Hehehe!

Anyway, tell me what you think. If you like it, I might get myself to finish it, and give it a name.

Thanks!

(Oh yes, I know its killer sad!!!)


~Introduction~

It could not be helped, there was going to be a war. The mountain rebels could not be kept away from the small country-side villages. It had been put off long enough, and now it was time to act.

Troops needed to be gathered. The Cathedral bells rang loudly, calling everyone, old and young alike, to the center of their towns.

All men, from sixteen to sixty, were called to fight. None were spared, they had to go.

Fathers, brothers, cousins, husbands, grandfathers, sons, they all had to go.

This war against the mountain rebels changed the lives of everyone. The grief and worry of families effected people like an illness. But what had to be done, had to be done. And it was war they needed.

Life for life, death for death, blood for blood.


(Two years later)

Chapter 1


Lost in thought, lost in fear, lost in worry, but it could not be helped.

Bella, a poor shepherdess, leaned on her staff, looking down upon her meager flock grazing in the rocky mountainside.

Only sixteen, yet she already knew and felt the sorrow of war. It had taken her father, her uncle, and her friends' fathers. And it was not close to being over.

The rebels had joined forces with a few other small countries hungry for blood and war, and were now twice the strength they had began with.

The small village armies needed more men, and they called everyone. But still, it was not enough.

There was little food, little people left, and little hope. There was no such thing as safety. Everywhere was full of danger. No one was safe any more.

Tears slipped from Bella's eyes and slid to the mossy ground. Her Father had not written in several months. Suppose he was gone...forever?

And now her own brother, Jacob, would turn sixteen in a few months. Then he too, would join up. Her poor Mother, sick with worry and trying to make the best of things, would have another worry added to her heavy heart.

Bella thought of her younger sister Marta, already, at only six, she had seen men fall and blood pour onto the ground.

Karrie, Bella's cousin and closest friend, had already suffered too. Her twin brother, Sam, had been called, he rarely wrote her. Karrie's Father had gone too, but he was never coming back. He had been killed only a few weeks after he had left.

Bella shuddered under the weight of the sorrow. She looked at her skinny sheep, picking at what they could find in the rocky land. Her flock was only half the size it used to be. Many had died, either from hunger, or from the angry starving wolves the prowled about in the mountains.

"We're like the sheep." thought Bella "We are all on the edge of death, either by starving or by the raiders. What hope do we have?" And her tears began to fall again. "How many tears will I cry before tis' all over?"

Oh the pain of it all!

Her Mother's empty face, full of worry. Her brother's longing to go "help the boys out". Her sister's quite fears and childhood lost. Her cousin's tears and sorrows.

The village, her home, was now like a ghost town. Just waiting, waiting, waiting...for the end to come.

For there was no hope.