Little Orphan Anvil: The Complete Trilogy by Joseph Beekman (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📕

pole as the current then took hold of the raftand began to move them down stream.

“No need to worry, young lad,” Will said. “Theoil slicks are what lurk in the dark undergrowth; if wemove quietly enough, they won’t pay much heed to us.They are a bit blind, though their sense of movementand energy of others is quite good. The clicking youhear—well, that’s just the little creatures that are fearfulof becoming the oil slicks’ next meal!”

Sonny sat down near his dog and huddled closelyto him. Their eyes darted about as the sky darkenedfurther and the clicking noises increased. Will sighedand lit a tiny iron lamp that was fixed upon a woodencrate. He then went to his task of keeping the raft on itscontinued course upon the river.

*******

As the river widened and daylight broke upon thewater, the raft was maintaining itself along at a smooth,cruising pace. Will stretched his tired body and thengrabbed a fishing rod he had stowed on the raft.

“Here, young lad—take this and try your luckwith catching us some dinner.” He handed the rod toSonny, who was more than ready to have something todo.

“Gee, thanks!” Sonny said excitedly, snatchingthe rod from Will’s hand. “My father always loved totake me fishing in the swamplands of the old land. Wealways ended up catching nothing but big ol’ crawfish,though.”

“Well you can cast off the back of the raft here,and troll the line along till’ one of the big fish take abite!” Will said. “Should be no oil slicks this time ofday round here.” He looked from side to side at theriver’s embankments. “But if you do catch one ofthose—throw it back!” He snickered at Sonny’sstartled reaction.

Sonny moved over to the back of the raft and tieda squishy worm to the line. “Funny—funny,” hescoffed at Will.

Will moved next to the robot and sat beside it.He opened a side panel on its dome-top and beganmessing with some green wires. “Your father, you say?He take off to the war in the north like so many of theothers?”

Sonny cast the line far into the water. “Yep…hewent,” he said sourly. “He never came back, though.And my mother died when I was a baby, so I never mether.” He stared off into the glittering dark water, keeping an eye on his fishing line.

“Sorry to hear that, son. Many never did comeback.” Will shut the panel and looked up the river. “Infact, almost everyone from the old homeland went offto the war and have yet to return,” he said somberly.

After a moment of reflection he turned back toSonny. “Catch us a good fish! We’ll soon reach myhideaway where we can eat! When it’s darker, it’ll besafer to journey forward—unseen. I don’t trust how farthat lady’s eyes can see, but with the cover of night itmay be safer. Also, the little droid will be set on highalert,” he added. “Dangers of other sorted sorts alwaysexist—as you are well aware.”

~ Chapter IV~ Between Two Lands

A warm fire burned inside the base of an oldgiant tree trunk. Faint wisps of smoke wafted out of asmall hole off to one side of the tree. Inside, Willmoved about the earthy interior searching for a fewmakeshift tools in an old iron box. Sonny sat near therobot, which had one of its panels open—wires dangledout of it like noodles hanging out to dry. Ranger laynear a shallow pit where a small fire gently burned; hiseyes would blink in reaction to any loud, metallic noise.

“Well, here it is!” Will said, as he picked out afunny-looking steel tool. “I think this should do thetrick.” He knelt down beside the robot. “Yes, thisshould fix you back to your ol’ self!”

While he munched on a piece of fish he caughtearlier, Sonny watched Will eagerly fumble around withthe robot’s wiring.

“So…you theef he’s gonna be ofay?” Sonnymuffled through a mouthful of food. “I meant—” hegulped down the food “—better than he was before meand my dog found him?”

Grumbling to himself, Will shuffled the robot’sbody around to look at the rusted panel on its dome. “Ithink with some of my ol’ iron skills and a little luck,he’ll be back to using all his magic skills! Heck—hemight even give us a hand catching a few more of thosebig fish!”

Sonny’s eyes widened with awe. “You mean…he can fish?” he asked excitedly.

“Well, if you mean like you and I—not exactly,”Will replied. He started untangling a couple of wires,his narrowed eyes intent on handling them with delicatecare. “But I sure didn’t build him to perform any onetrick pony shows! Just have to see if the wires here willstill fuse correctly; then we can try his fishin’ skills outon the river!”

“Wow! That should be really neat!” Sonny said,moving closer to see the old man wriggling two red andblue wires together.

“Seems he’s been through quite a bit,” Will statedflatly. “That dark storm the old lady spun seems tohave taken a pretty good toll on him. I can see wherelightning has burned scars into some of his metaldrives. But with a bit of elbow-grease and old fashioned handiwork, he should be up and spinnin’ his dometop just fine!” Will shot the boy a lopsided grin.

“I say we try to help those children in the otherland!” Sonny exclaimed as he stood up and movedover to the entrance of the tree trunk.

Rain fell across the front of the entrance, creatinga glistening sheet of water much like a funhouse mirror;it reflected the crackling fire.

Will paused, and watched Sonny with a sympathetic gaze. Sonny paced in front of the entrance,staring at his own distorted, rain-reflected image.

“I can see you have a kind-hearted spirit aboutyou, kid,” Will said warmly.

Sonny nodded, keeping his gaze fixed forward.“So—you were a blacksmith in the old iron house backhome, huh?” he asked over his shoulder.

Will sealed tight the panel on the robot. With afirm nod of satisfaction he gave the robot a pat. “Well,you might say I learned many of my trade skills there,under some of the best blacksmiths back in the day!” hereplied. He looked down at