The Foundling Saga: Revelation Read Free

Keller witnessed trade between the family and any Regents, he noticed that their children, when present, were taller than the children from the fields. He would watch these tall, plumper children who would be staring from a safe distance at the disorderly noisy families on the other side of the barrier. They would be in the background whilst trading took place, somewhere behind their fathers or guardians, and they would watch the strange Outsiders in their heavy, often tattered, clothes with many of the men sporting unkempt beards. The children were generally in awe of the Outsiders and showed a politeness and respect that their guardians clearly demanded.
    Trading with the Outsiders was a necessary part of life for the rich particularly for herbs, spices, vegetables and certain meats and game. The Regents would allow children to attend and watch from afar but often parents themselves would send paid guardians to do their trading at the barrier.
    Keller attended his first trading Sunday in the early summer, aged seven years old, after a long trek from Suffolk Road. The trading area was known to the Outsiders as ‘The Arpo’. The story his elders told him was that the pre-war people used to ‘fly’ from the Arpo to other parts of the world. Keller’s imagination went wild when he first heard that, visualising a race of graceful flying angels in his young mind. He soon forgot about this vision when he saw how some of the men and women behind the barriers seemed to have no warmth in their faces and no smiles. These were the troopers. They all wore the same grey clothes and carried the legendary and frightening stun guns that he had heard about from the other children who shared his field.
    Nola, standing nearby, told the young Keller not to stare. However, he noticed no fear in her eyes when she looked over at the troopers. Nola took his hand and distracted him with a task to watch over their bundles of unsold herbs and other items.
    Keller sat on the bundles and watched the brisk trading. Other members of his family were involved in discussions at various points along the barrier. Nola told him that each member of the family had a set task - effectively seeking a different type of product to trade for - be it medicine, tools, or manufactured and imported items.
    Cormic was seeking a musical instrument which was said to have come from the eastern lands of China. He would trade some jewellery and precious metals for this. Cormic was one of a group of men from the family who would wear protective haz-suits and venture into the abandoned cities and towns further north in the country. His expeditions would take weeks at a time but his homecoming was the most exciting time for Keller. Whenever Keller saw what the old people had left behind in the cities, he would wonder how such a clever people were no longer rulers of this world.
    On Cormic’s return there would be a procession of relatives and friends visiting Nola’s tent. Cormic would have his ‘showing’ in this tent which was roomier than his own. In truth, Nola loved to have visitors and her and Nerys would provide freshly baked bread, fruit and cider for the occasion. He would lay out all his treasures on a blanket and would talk about them one at a time to those present who sat in awe while he described his latest adventures.
    Later in the evening, when the procession of visitors had ceased, Nola insisted on hearing again how each of her favourite treasures had been found and what trials Cormic had endured to get the items. He had small toys on strings, jewellery in abundance, sharp knives for cooking and butchery, long boots for walking into the river with for fishermen, coats that required no drying as the water would run off the fabric. The treasures seemed never-ending to Keller, but these items were few and far between unless a man was willing to search for days in the old cities and towns. Keller would never forget the wonder of those evenings and he loved to