Chapter 6

Finding a way home after sunset was not a great idea. Besides being spooky, Tomer Forest is also terrifying in the dark. They had been walking for hours, and it felt as if they were just circling in it, while the night was getting late. Darkness surrounded, only the dim light from the moon accompanied the Grace sibling's journey. Phillip is exhausting, Lillian's heavy breathing shows that she feels the same way.

"That's it, Lill. We'll rest here, and continue tomorrow," he said.

Lillian immediately dropped to the ground and stretched her legs, while Phillip gathered the dry fanfare around to make a campfire. The previously mixed feelings made the young man forget tidying up the tent before leaving. Luckily the bag full of blankets was still stuck on his shoulders, he immediately spread out two blankets for the mattress.

When all finished, they rest leaning on the trunk of a large tree, this trip had been tiring and cause hunger. Lillian took out a piece of bread from her pocket, the rest from earlier lunch then shared it with her brother. After finishing the bread, they decided to sleep, but instead of lying on the blanket, they were comfortable the way they are now. Not long after in silence, Lillian grasped her brother's hand.

"Phillip, you know what?"

"What?"

"I love you so much."

The sentence spontaneously made Phillip smile. "Why are you acting dainty all of a sudden? You must want something."

“It's not like that, I just feel very grateful to have a brother like you. After Mommy's gone, it was you who always took care of me and protected me from Miranda. You always comfort me when I'm sad, also calm me when I'm afraid. Besides Mommy, you are the person I care most about in the world."

Phillip's smile grew wider. For Phillip, his sister is the sweetest girl in the world. Lillian can indeed be very annoying with all the questions that pile up from her mouth, or the stubbornness that must always be obeyed. However, all of that is precisely Phillip's favorite part of his younger sister.

"I love you too, Lill. Phillip strengthened his grip. "As long as I'm still breathing, I won't let bad things happen to you, this would be the only misfortune we face. Soon everything will be back to normal. I promised you."

Lillian embraces her brother tighter and slept on his lap. It felt more comfortable than lying in their bed, imagining tomorrow will be filled with suffering. Phillip's eyes slowly closed, the trip was draining.

It had only been a while for them to enjoy the peace when they heard the rustling of the bush in front of them. Phillip suddenly opened his eyes, stared at the bush, feeling uncomfortable. When the next second was silence, Phillip closed his eyes again, trying to relax. His eyelids opened wide once again when the rustling of the bush was heard.

"Lillian, wake up!" he exclaimed to his sister. Keeps the girl awake and straightens up.

"What is wrong?"

“There is something or someone behind those bushes! I am not sure." Phillip got up, walked slowly to the bushes.

"Be careful, Phillip," whispered Lillian, her finger interlocking in front of her mouth.

The young man parted the bush quickly but found nothing in there. Noises resumed from different bushes. Lillian turned quickly, then whispered.

"Phillip, they're over there!"

As Phillip scrubbed the undergrowth, the noise shifted to another place, then another, and another place, and so on, becoming louder and louder. The sound of the bushes grew even louder, coming from all directions. Phillip pushed Lillian behind her back. As the sound of the bush keep going and seemed to be moving at only one point, they were silent, waiting for what would come out of it.

Phillip picked up a large stick, ready to fight whatever would pop out of those bushes. In the blink of an eye, a dwarf creature with a long white beard and a conical hat emerged from the bush. The creature looked at the Grace siblings in turn.

Phillip squinted confusedly, this creature has two arms and legs, a nose, and a mouth, but Phillip was sure that thing was not a human, regarding the dwarf posture that the creature had even though he was quite old. It wasn't even taller than Phillip's knee.

What is that creature? murmured Phillip to himself. He stood closer to the strange creature, trying to smile even though it looks more like a grimace. "Excuse me, sir, are you the native of this forest?"

No answer. The young man turned to his sister who looked just as surprised. Then Lillian took over, with a much more natural smile.

"Excuse me, Sir. Can you help us get out of this forest? We've been walking for hours but still can't find it."

"Please tell me whether you know the way out or not. If you know, please take us immediately. If not, please leave! We're going to sleep,” said Phillip when the dwarf man didn't budge, until Lillian had to elbow him.

"Phillip, that's so rude!"

Finally, the dwarf raised its index finger, pointing directly in front of the Grace sibling's noses. They thought he was pointing the way, but suddenly he shouted. "Intruder!"

Phillip jumped in shock when a bunch of dwarfs came out of all directions. They were shouting something inaudible, everyone of them spoke so loudly at the same time that the words were difficult to understand. They surrounded the two desperate kids. Phillip pulls Lillian to stay close to him while he chases away the strange creatures that keep on coming with a stick of wood

One of the midgets caught the wood Phillip was holding, then pulled it away. Despite being a dwarf, the creature was very strong. Phillip tries to keep the wood in his hand, but the dwarf manages to grab it. The Grace siblings slowly retreated as the strange creatures drew closer.

"Take them!" shouted one of the midgets with a wide hat that was different from others.

The midget creatures pulled out a rope, made a knot in such a way, then swung it towards Lillian. The rope went right past Lillian's body and tucked her legs together. The midget creatures immediately pulled so that Lillian fell to the ground.

"Phillip, help!"

Phillip turned his head and was surprised to see his sister being carried by several midget creatures, struggling to escape. The girl had rolled over, fell to the ground, but the midget creatures swiftly returned to carry her. Phillip turned around — about to help his sister — but he immediately fell to the ground before even had time to take a step. The young man checked his legs, which were already tightly tied to the banyan roots.

"Damn it!" Phillip tried to grab the wet root, but several midget creatures quickly grabbed his hands and lifted themselves off the ground.

“Let go of me, ugly creature! Where do you want to take us! ”

All of Phillip's attempts to escape were in vain, these midget creatures are not joking. They were still shouting something vague, but Phillip caught a few words like "tie, burn, and drown". That three words made the young man swallow saliva with a pale face. He turned his gaze to Lillian who was quite far ahead, realizing that this creature would lead them to the same place.

He has no idea where that place is, at least he's still with his sister. In the end, Phillip tried to calm himself down, even though being calm was the hardest thing to do right now. The young man distracted his attention by gazing at the thousands of stars twinkling in the vast sky, as well as the moon that was shining so beautifully even in this situation.

***

Harold opened the door unsteadily, found Miranda sitting on a wooden bench by the fire, seen that the woman was waiting for her husband to return. He smiled broadly in welcome.

"You're finally home, Darling. I see our plan is working, are you having a hard time?"Harold didn't answer, walked over to another bench, then flopped down there. After that, he covered his face with his palms. "I'm a terrible father!"

Miranda's face frowned, but immediately took a deep breath before approaching her husband, and gently touched his shoulder. "We're doing the right thing, Harold," She whispered indulgently, "we're teaching how to live caring so that they stop wasting away."

“Isn't there any way other than sending them to the forest? Such as reducing their food portions or giving food rations a day so they can save it. You're their mother, you should be able to handle this!”

"Unfortunately I have tried all these things, but they always fight me." Miranda's eyes filled with tears, "They urged me to give more food rations and threatened to hurt me if I didn't obey!"

The umpteenth time Harold flinched before replying, “They did that?”

“When Lillian wanted extra food, she complained to her brother, and Phillip threatened to hurt me if I didn't obey. Did you see how he yelled at me yesterday? A good boy couldn't possibly do that if he wasn't used to it."

Harold was silent with his forehead folded, he couldn't believe his children were acting like that. There was no reason for them to act this way, but Miranda's sad cries seemed so convincing, the evidence she cited was hard to disprove.

“I didn't tell you because I love them, I don't want you to scold them just for this petty matter. But due to the crisis, I thought about the fate of all of us,” She explained, still sobbing. "They will be safe in the forest, eating fruits, and hunting animals, while we are here, working together to take care of everything until the situation is getting better."

"You know …." Harold muttered after a very long pause, “You're probably right. Phillip is a brave and smart kid, I'm sure he can look after his little sister. He's been doing that for more than two years, a few days must not be a problem."

"That's right, I'm doing all this because I love my family so much."

Harold smiled at Miranda, then kissed her cheek and hugged her warmly. While Miranda was smiling bitterly in her husband's arms, a purple glint flashed from her eyeballs.

***

The midget creatures take Phillip and Lillian to an open space in the middle of the forest. Surrounded by large trees with a small door in the middle, small windows adorned each side, it looked like a terraced house. The lighting is made of a swarm of fireflies placed in a transparent closed container, the poor fireflies tapping the glass walls, trying to break free.

The midget creatures tied the Grace sibling's hands to a dead tree trunk, then hung them like wet clothes. In front of them was a small pulpit which was now mounted by a dwarf with a wide hat, indicating that he was the leader. The other dwarves were still huddling around in a very difficult-to-understand language.

"Calm down!" The Wide Hat shouted at the funnel-shaped device. "Look what we found, Gnomes, a pair of intruders!" The creature called Gnome greeted him with great cheers. "What do we gonna do with them?"

One of the largest — but still a midget — Gnomes climbed the stairs so he could confront the two hostages. "A very beautiful girl," he said while holding Lillian's chin which looked terrified.

"Don't touch her!" snapped Phillip.

"Her hair is black and straight, her eyes are green, and her skin is not too pale ... hey, she is just like the girl Mr. Wiggy talks about a lot, maybe we can be recognized by Sir Wiggy if we give her," The Gnome continued, ignoring Phillip exclamation.

"Very good idea," continued the beaming Wide Hat, "but what about the boy?"

Big Body Gnome walked up to Phillip and looked at the young man, who looked back defiantly. Big Body Gnome shrugged. "We can make him a builder, his body is tall enough to reach the ceiling."

The Wide Hat nodded for a moment, then cleared his throat at the speaker. “Very well, Gnome! Our exile won't be long, we've got an empress for Sir Wiggy!"

The other gnomes cheered again, throwing their conical hats in the air and dancing strangely, making anyone nauseous when they saw them.

"But before that, we must give the Empress a sign so that Sir Wiggy will know that she is a gift from the Gnomes." said the Wide Hat again, "bring here the marking tool!"

"Marking Tool?" murmured Phillip.

Several Gnomes rushed into a building with different foundations, the building was made of river rock formation, and the entire walls were covered with vines. The Gnomes came out with a furnace filled with hot coal, and a long iron staff with a "G" engraved on the end. The iron stick turned red from the hot coal inside, and they led it towards Lillian.

"What are you trying to do?" cried Lillian frantically.

Phillip swallowed hard. “Hey, wait a minute, Gnome! This how you guys treat the future empress! ” The exclamation was successful in making them stop.

"So what? this is a tradition passed down from the Gnomes,” replied the Wide Hat.

"Sir Peggy definitely doesn't want his empress to have wounds!"

“Her name is Sir Wiggy,” corrected the Gnome, “after all, a small wound wouldn't change anything, and Sir Wiggy should know that this girl was a gift from the Gnomes. So ... come on, continue! "

"No! — wait a minute!"

Phillip pulled his hand as hard as he could to release himself, but his wrist was sore from the rough rubbing of the tree roots. As the Gnomes with "marker" iron sticks got closer, they started shoving the hot iron on Lillian's face.

"Were you out of your mind! Stop it!!" Lillian screamed, trying to look away from the flaming iron.

"Where are we going to sign?" asked the Gnomes.

"Let's just mark it on both cheeks, so it's easy to see."

"Get that thing away from her, Ugly Beings!" cried Phillip as he kept trying to untie the knots in both hands. "Damn it!"

Lillian screamed again when the heated iron was only inches from her face, she could even feel the hot steam. The girl lowered her head, the huge gnome flames lifted her again roughly.

Phillip couldn't take this any longer, he mustered up his strength, then swung both legs at the massive Gnome until it tumbled down.

Afterward, Phillip kicked wildly here and there to keep the Gnomes away from them. Phillip thinks the trick works when some of the Gnomes crash again. The young man continued the attack, even though the pain in his wrist had already reached the highest level. However, the attack was not effective enough. Three Gnomes approached, and immediately stopped Phillip's action.

The large gnome returned up the stairs, approaching the young man, wiping the dark liquid in his nostrils. The kick turned out to be right into the face of his old face. Phillip did not show any fear when he met Gnome Algojo, although to be honest that feeling dominates him now.

The Big Body gnome made a fist, rubbed it with another, and threw the fist right into Phillip's side. It felt like a rock had hit his stomach, Phillip gasped and coughed, spitting fresh blood from his mouth. While Lillian shouted his name.

"How does that feel, Champ," added the Gnome, then stepped back towards Lillian who immediately hit him with a scream.

"Why did you do that to my brother?"

"Shut up!" scolded the executioner Gnome, his wrinkled face furrowed in anger. He switched to another Gnome. "Hurry up and continue your works!"

Lillian was shocked when the two Gnomes picked up the fallen hot iron and thrust it back into her face, but this time the girl didn't dodge. After seeing what happened to her brother, she realized that Phillip would not be hurt if this marking process had been completed earlier.

The feeling of the hot iron couldn't be as bad as what her brother felt now. So Lillian just closed her eyes, ready for whatever sensation she will feel. Meanwhile, Phillip just stared at her, the young man also closed his eyes — couldn't bear to see it.

There is only regret in Phillip for failing to protect his sister. Now the promise that he passed on to Lillian, father, and mother will not be fulfilled. Instead of getting better, their situation just gets worse.

***