The Scullum Tree: Shattered Earth Book One

The Scullum Tree

Shattered Earth

Book One

Copyright April 13 2012 J.G.Adams All Rights Reserved

By J.G.Adams

First Edition

Smashwords Edition

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Acknowledgement

As it is and was I would like to thank my late wife for pushing me into fallowing my dreams to write. I wish you could see what I have done with what you gave me. One for you, one for me, one for us. Forever and Always, my thousand mile wish.

Prologue

As she sat on a small half rotted wooden stool Quinn watched the children in the nearby field as they played. They ran calling out the names of their friends, they argued about who was it and what the rules of the game were. A much younger girl sat under the branches of the sole tree in the yard. It was a Scullum tree which only bared its fruit once every ten years, but it was some of the most delicious fruit Quinn had ever had. The little girl sat brushing the hair of her doll while singing. Quinn wondered if she knew the meaning behind that song, she wondered why the little girl even knew the song.

"Come all, lost and alone

Follow the dragon of the sons of frost

Come and be free, cry no more

Shed no more tears for he brought us a new"

The verses sang out to Quinn as though they were calling her, calling her to a time long ago, a time when things were not so peaceful. As she sat and listened to the young girl, she couldn't have been much older than eight or nine. Quinn couldn't help but look back across all those years.

She never had children of her own, she supposed that’s why she always sat there watching them play in field. She never found another that she loved like him. As Quinn looked back over the last eight decades she realized just how much she missed him. Quinn called out to the children in the yard, calling them to her, to sit with her.

Coming Mamma Quinn they called back to her. They all called her Mamma Quinn, all the children in her village. Even most of the adults called her Mamma Quinn, and why not she was there to help raise most of them. Ninety nine years old she was that very day, she always said she was living on borrowed time, time that wasn’t hers.

As the children came to her she motioned for all of them to sit around her, she looked each one of them in the eye and gave them all their own little smiles. That was one of the many reasons they all loved their Mamma Quinn, she loved them and loved them all for who they were. Not as children but as who they were and who they would be.

What is it Mamma Quinn the little girl from under the tree asked as she brushed her dress under her so that she could sit on it. Her name was Merry, Quinn loved her for her never ending curiosity, and she supposed that even when Merry was Quinns age the girl would still be full of curiosity.

I want to tell you all a story. It is the story of man that saved his world Quinn replied to the confused faces. She closed her eyes and sang the words to that song. First she sang them to herself so that she was sure she remembered them, each and every one. It is the story of the Scullum tree, and the frost dragon she said to the blinking eyes gone wide with interest. Some of the children made themselves more comfortable while others shuffled closer to the old woman; they all loved to listen to their Mamma Quinn’s stories.

Quinn slowly closed her eyes and mouthed the words to the rhyme once more before saying them out loud...

"Come all, lost and alone

Follow the dragon of the sons of frost

Come and be free, cry no more

Shed no more tears for he brought us a new"

She settled in to those words and let them carry her off to a time long ago to a world very different from the world she knew now. You see children the world wasn't all ways as it is now. People lived in great cities all over the world, most of which are now abandoned. Some of these great cities are still around and have gotten bigger but most of them have fallen and have been swallowed by the Earth. A very long time ago, around one thousand years or so, the world had fallen in to despair. Our population had grown so large that there was very little food for all of us and even less room for us to live. War broke out all across the planet. Countries fought each other for food and land; they dropped bombs and killed each other by the thousands. These wars eventually grew into one great big war and the world was divided into two parts. Over the next four hundred years these two parts would fight each other until only one was left and the planet would been engulfed by them, consumed by them. The leader of this half, our half, had been crowned Emperor and had given complete power over everyone and everything in our half. As a result of this the Emperor past new laws that would help to control food, water, and the population, every person that could not contribute to society in some useful way was put to death. Every one that was over the age of fifty was put to death. Families were only allowed to have children if the Emperor issued them a license and could only have a child of the gender that the Emperors license said. That meant that if the family could only have a boy and had a girl the girl was taken from them.

Mamma Quinn what happened to the children that were taken asked one of the children gasping in horror and disbelieve.

They were put to work and often used as the Emperors own servants Quinn replied some of us escaped and lived in the dark places, in the shadows and underground of the city that were left after the wars she added.

That sounds awful said another one of the children, both sad for Quinn and the others but happy she wasn’t there now.

It was awful, it was much worse than awful. Over the passing centuries the Emperors changed but the laws only got worse. More and more people were being taken and more and more people were dying. We called it the Reign of Blood. On the years went and down the population went. Then some time ago I met the boy that would change everything Quinn lost herself in her memories.

Quinn closed her eyes again and this time sang the words out loud, she sang with the power of centuries behind that voice, she sang as though the lives of all those lost had stood together to power her normally week and frail old voice.

"Come all, lost and alone

Follow the dragon of the sons of frost

Come and be free, cry no more

Shed no more tears for he brought us a new"

Lost In Shadow

Chapter 1

Smoke rose up from the street as it all ways did in the cold air of night. This night was a little colder and that always meant trouble for the street kids like Quinn. The hunters knew they had to find a place in doors and that they would have to stay together to keep from freezing to death. That meant that they would be out in larger number then normal and they would be relentless in their search for the runaways. Quinn wished she could just take off but she knew she couldn't Lock and Sara were too young and too sick to make any sort of run. She would have to find a safe place to hid for the nigh. Quinn ran as fast as she could down the alley trying hard to find some place, anything really that could hid the three friends. She could hear the hunters as they kicked in doors and pulled out any one they found street kid or not. She couldn't wait any longer she had to get back to the others before they were caught and taken off. She ran as fast as she could and when she got back she was relieved to see that they were both still there waiting for her the guards had not come, not yet. Her heart sank though when she heard the heavy boot steps of the hunters coming down the alley towards them.

What are we going to do Quinn, I can't go back there, I won’t go back there I'll kill myself before I go back said Lock tears building in his eyes.

Calm down Lock, Quinn will figure something out, she always does, right Quinn? Sara asked staring back at Quinn.

Quinn wanted to tell her she had a plan, she wanted to promise them that everything would be OK and that they would never have to go back there again. She wished she could tell them a lot of things, she knew they were doomed.

PSST...Hey you, over here called a voice from somewhere down the alley. Over here, there’s no time hurry, now said the voice. When Quinn looked over to where she thought she heard the voice she saw only a wall of a building that despite its age had still managed to stay mostly intact over the years. Down here said the voice. Quinn looked down a little bit from the wall, there was an old manhole cover that was slightly moved and had a hand waving at them, she didn’t have time to think of how bazaar it looked. Without another thought she grabbed Lock and Sara by the arms and pulled them over to the whole. There wasn't time to wait for them to climb down so she winced and shoved them down the Lock first.

He landed in a heap but luckily wasn't hurt bad, though the air in his lungs was blasted out when Sara landed on top of him pushing him back into the sewer water he sat in. Sara giggled when he came back up choking to get the nasty water out