“Then who could’ve…”

My voice trailed off as everyone, everything came to a complete standstill. The guards, Eagle and the queen turned motionless. The air around me shimmered, distorting the light coming in.

********

“What? Then whose is it!?” A rough voice resounded across the tavern, causing all conversations to come to a halt.

A well-built man reached for his cup sitting atop the wooden table, his burly arms bulging out of an intricate, white gown covering his chest. He threw his head back, emptied the metal cup bottom up and wiped his mouth with his hand before slamming down the cup against the tabletop he was seated at.

The man rose from a nearby seat and after a single step, his body slanted, struggling to stay upright.

‘Great, a drunkard. Just what I needed to keep a low profile.’

With one arm he steadied himself on the bartender’s table and with the other grabbed the drink I ordered.

‘Best if I just defuse the situation now and leave.’

“Listen sir, I’m afraid I drank too much already. Here take mine, it will be a shame to waste it.”

“Take yours?! Ye ‘cusin me ‘o stealin? In mah own house?!” The man’s brows flared as he misunderstood my intention.

“B-Bob-sir! Please calm yeself! Tis is not worth dealin’ with kids!”

“Quiet! I'm not standin’ here while them brats ‘cuse me o’somethin’ I ain't done!”

The man, Bob, slammed his fist onto the polished wooden table sending woodchips flying as it cracked. His friends,

‘No, no friend refers to another as sir. Servants perhaps?’

His servants jumped out of their seats to try to stop him. But with a build three times my own and arms as big as a grown oak log, he knocked them down with a single sweep of his hand. With knitted brows, he glared down at us with the metal cup full of alcohol.

“Hey ye two! Quit fucking with me ya brats! You know who ya fucking with?”

‘Negotiations broke down. Time for a more direct route.’

A sudden quiet that washed over the dimly lit inn. A multitude of hushed whispers together with the clinking of coins passed between strangers. I put myself on guard from the immediate threat. It didn’t seem like the guy would be difficult to handle, even more so in his drunken stupor. Even so,

‘If I don’t finish this fast, protecting the child sitting beside me will prove to be quite a difficult task’.

As the tension in the air escalated, Bob’s servants went to the front of the inn. Most likely to call the guards they have no doubt bribed. I rose from my seat to face the challenger, all while imbuing trace amounts of essence into my arms and legs, to not be detected.

Bob placed a foot back, brought his right arm back and wobbled. His sense of balance sapped by the alcohol. I took the opportunity and burst into action.

‘Ack!'

After a single blow to his stomach, the elf fell from his feet and planted his face onto the wooden floor. The cup was released from his hold and the contents spilled beside his face.

I was about to turn and leave with the kid when three figures came running through the door.

“I am terribly sorry for my son’s behaviours. Please forgive me.” Said a stout lady.

Her looks were strangely similar to Bob's who was lying on the floor.

‘Wait, the servants called for his mother?’

“Mom…” Bob wailed. His voice drowned in his parent's anger.

“Tis is all fine. You will be dealt with later.”

Bob’s face went pale. He stopped struggling to raise himself and dropped down in defeat. He laid motionless, as if there was no life left in him. Despite his mother having dealt with the matter of her son’s punishment, I did not relax in the least bit.

‘How would she react to me injuring her son?’

I readied more essence in case she was as rash as her son, but will her servants fight as well? In that case fleeing with the child would be easier than protecting him.

“How dare you try to lay a hand on our customer!” To my utter amazement, she directed her voice towards the drunken elf.

“P-please, forgive me, mother.”

An almost inaudible whisper came from the still Bob.

“My dear, I hope you are alright and my foolish son did not cause any problems for you. Please, is there anything that will allow you to forget this incident?”

As the lady said that the two servants behind her showed a stoic expression.

“...If you could cover the bill for me, then I will be more than happy to take my leave.”

I smiled and gave a polite bow.

“Very well, in that case I wish you the best of luck in your travels.”

Bob’s mother did not show any sign of respect or kindness. Instead walked over to the bartender and started speaking with him about something. Having finished, she motioned for her servants to pick up her son and the four of them walked out the door.

Only after they left did I lessen the essence in my body and glanced over my left shoulder.

‘He's safe. Good.’

With that over it’s time to get a move on,

‘The brown-haired child seemed frightened, it’s best to make sure the boy trusts me. It’d be a pain if he runs away.’

I stepped towards the boy with a smile,

“Are you hurt?”

‘Wait, why am I even protecting this kid?’

“Nu-uh”

The boy shook his head while clutching his teddy bear. Its arms were singed from the fire that took his house. He was lucky that his dad left to go visit his grandparents, his mother…. wasn’t so fortunate. I shook off the doubts I had from a moment ago and asked,

“Are you ready to go to your grandparent’s house and find your dad?”

I asked the boy while patting his head and ruffling his hair to keep him at ease.

“Mhm”

A short response was the most I could get out of him ever since I found him in the remains of the house.

“Alright, follow me then.”

Once he hopped down from the stool I led him out of the tavern and down the road towards the northern gate. His family lived south of the city as hunters. While his grandparents lived the same distance north of the city, also as hunters. A tradition passed on for generations in their family.

I’m not sure why, but seeing the boy standing before the dying flames, crying in silence made me want to help him out. After I found by helping him I would pass through the city, my decision was solidified.

As we passed countless buildings I took his hand when it became far too crowded and headed for one of the blacksmiths. My gear was long past due repairs, and some were unsalvageable. I traded some furs with a tanner and meat with a butcher before entering the tavern hoping to get something to eat. We had just finished our meal when the drunkard decided to interrupt us.

I clenched my fists,

‘How could that brute frighten a child after what he had been through?’

Finished cutting through the market, I led the boy down a few more turns and we arrived at one of the blacksmiths.

“Five silvers for the replacement of the three throwing knives and two for the dagger.”

I started up another round of bartering.

‘Greedy bastards, the lot of them.’

The elf across the counter shook his head with crossed arms,

“No can do, with the poor condition those things are in, I could barely even make a single dagger out of them combined! Ten is the lowest I’m willing to go.”

I took the dagger and started twirling it in my hand,

“How about nine and I’ll put in a good word for you with the Mo’laf’s?”

The elf raised his eyebrow but sighed dejectedly,

‘The Mo’laf’s were the local hunters and they are consistent customers at the blacksmiths around here. In constant need of knives and daggers to skin their prey.’

“Fine, as long as you don’t come back with your atrocious haggling!”

As he exclaimed, the elf knelt below the countertop and took out three short throwing knives and one dagger.

“Here you go.”

I took the weapons with haste and turned to leave.

Finished with my tasks I wasted no time in leaving the city. I wouldn’t want the boy waiting for much longer. It would take us a couple of days to reach his grandparents’ house during which I planned on seeing how much his parents had taught him, perhaps even learn a thing or two myself.

The wall was lacking and the security even more so. The guards didn’t even check our names or purpose, just confirmed that our faces weren’t on one of the wanted posters and let us pass through.

I thought I knew the direction but after only an hour the kid spoke up,

“Uh...sir…why are we going in this direction?”

I turned towards the boy and sprouted a kind smile,

“To go to your grandparents of course.”

He tilted his head to the side,

“But their house is in that direction.”

As he said that he pointed a bit to our left with one arm, the other tightly holding on to the teddy bear.

“Oh... of course, I just forgot.”

I hastily turned around and went in the direction he pointed. Despite his outward appearance, he was at least fifteen years old and had visited the place several times.

‘But still, when I spoke to him earlier I swear he said it was a bit west of where we are headed.’

Regardless, I trusted him and so we walked through the trees until dusk has dawned upon us. At which point, I asked him to place some traps so we can get an easy lunch the following day. As he did so, I gathered some firewood and returned.

After the fire got going I roasted some of the meat I got from the butcher and shared it. Neither one of us spoke a word as we enjoyed the meal and the peaceful silence below the starry sky.

********

Something bright shone upon my eyes and I got up while stretching my arms. The boy was already up and watching the final embers of the fire die out.

“Good morning.”

I tried to get him to speak some more.

“Morning.”

A distant reply came.

“How do you feel? Did you catch anything?”

The boy got up and handed me a pair of bonis,

“That’s all that got trapped, I’m sorr-“

“That’s perfect! Now we don’t have to worry about hunting later on and can just go straight home! Don’t worry, we’ll be there before sunset.”

I put on a cheery atmosphere as soon as I saw the glum look on his face. I didn’t want him to apologize, he went through enough as it is.

‘Why am I trying so hard to consolidate this child?’

A wry smile formed on the child’s lips. He turned and started to pack his things, I followed suit and we were back to travelling within minutes.

‘Perhaps it’s because he reminds me of myself at his age…powerless.’

“Come on now, we should take a break and have lunch.”

I slowed my pace down so that negotiations would be in my advantage. We walked for several hours without stopping, pushing the child too far is meaningless.

“No, I can still keep going. It’s too early, not hungry.”

The boy kept going, but I found out he is more talkative when frustrated.

“Well you can go on ahead. But I, am going to enjoy a nice lunch break.”

To drive my point home, I dropped my gear and started getting more firewood for another fire. Having done this countless times, it didn’t take long and before he even knew it, a mouthwatering aroma filled the air.

Yet he still persevered and stood there looking down on me.

“Come on, why not have a bite yourself? You wouldn’t want to waste anything now, would you?”

Since he comes from a hunter’s family, they pay their utmost respect to the animals and wasting food is akin to a taboo act.

“Fine.”

With a clenched jaw, he plopped himself down next to me. Good, at least he’s starting to show emotion – a huge improvement over what he was just a day ago. Still, he forced the food down as fast as he could and we were back on the road in no time.

“H-hey, is that smoke?”

The boy looked up ahead, indeed there was smoke coming from…where his grandparents should be!

“Sorry about this but we have no time.”

I turned towards the boy and threw him over my shoulder.

“Hey, what are you-!”

His voice was cut off as I flared my legs with essence and took off at a pace twenty times faster what we were going at before. The sudden speed put an end to his outburst. It took me ten minutes to get to the source of the smoke.

‘Wait a second, this building…it’s familiar…’

I couldn’t quite put it, but the remaining flames coming from the house were in the same spot as-

The air in front of the house shimmered as the boy rushed in.

********

“Hey wait!”

The boy ran towards the house but as soon as he got past the shimmer, it stopped.

‘Wait a second, why is this house on fire? And why am I here?’

‘My head… What’s going on…?’’

“Hello! Is anyone inside?”

I shouted inside the building, maybe there was someone left. I took a few steps closer and heard the distant sobbing of a child.

‘Oh god, was a child trapped inside!?’

I rushed forward into the remains of the house. A few walls and pillars were all that were left standing. Everything else was turned to ash or severely burned. The sobbing grew louder, it was coming from the other side of the seared wall.

Navigating my way around I found a child sitting while looking down towards to ash filled floor. He was crying. With one hand full of dust he rubbed his eyes while with the other, he gripped a brown stuffed toy. It was the same brown colour as his eyes and its arms were singed black by the fire.

It’s a miracle it survived the fire.