Aslak, like Felix was a 6yrs old boy with a more rounded face, lean body and timid stature. Born on almost the same time as Felix, they are practically brothers, with Felix being younger to Aslak by only a week, but even if Aslak was elder, he was much more timid and more submissive than Felix. Aslak, just like his father Julian, has a head full of blonde hair, pale whitish skin and bluish-green eyes, making him a perfect foreigner to Cainshire, where people tend to be more skin or dark-colored. The only odd thing about Aslak was that he didn’t know anything about his mother. It is a well-known fact that Julian, his father is a famous womanizer with many lovers and admirers in various cities and towns and it is speculated that Aslak is a result of one of his ‘adventures of night,’ you know what I'm speaking about, as Julian often states. But it never quite affect Aslak’s life much, because Felix’s mother, Lady Faye took care both of them simultaneously just like her own son. Infact, being a priestess of the Temple of Earth, she has served as a mother to many orphaned and disabled children in almost the same way she treated Felix, with love and care and Aslak was no exception.

Being brothers almost since births, Aslak was Felix’s constant companion just like how Julian was to Aston. Starting from sleeping, bathing, playing and training, Aslak has always been with Felix. They did most of their achievements simultaneously, starting from walking, toddling, writing and even talking with Aslak leading the tables by only a few days. But this was completely reversed when their training began under Master Loann, with Aslak being in the losing end of the stick while Felix progressed quickly. Actually, it was wrong to say that Aslak didn’t improve. He improved tremendously in archery and was on the level of a normal professional archer, with his only fault being too timid.

After Aston went after Julian, who was apparently trying to climb a stone wall and Torgeir to his smithy, it was only Felix and Aslak. Aslak looked around for a bit, as if checking whether Master Loann, The Demon, as he refers to him, and then dashed towards Felix.

“Felix! Felix! Are you okay?!!”

“Huff… yea… I think so… damn…my legs…cough!” coughed Felix as he leaned on his Greatsword. The fight with the wooden Greatsword was extremely tiring for Felix and had nearly made him pass out. If it wasn’t for the extreme determination he has inherited from his family, he would’ve long fell to the ground and started whining in pain and this fact was understood quite well by Aslak.

He immediately swung his arms around Felix’s shoulder and took one of his arms to support him but he was then greeted by the tremendous weight of Felix’s bones. “Damn! You are heavy!!!” grumped Aslak but was only teased as ‘Too weak’ by Felix. He adjusted Felix’s correctly and precisely, as taught by Loann on how to support a wounded soldier, and took extra care on not to hurt or press too tightly, even though there wasn’t any real wounds or injuries.

“Heap! Heap! Hurrah!!!” shouted Aslak as he picked Felix up with an impulse, but the moment he did the wooden Greatsword slipped Felix’s hand. Oblivious to this fact, Felix gritted his teeth in pain, but then laughed out, “You sure are weird, Aslak.”

Aslak, who was apparently having a hard time with carrying Felix, was getting red all over the face and was making a funny face. “Pfffft!!” laughed Felix but it was ignored by Aslak. He walked step-by-step and pulled Felix with a great effort, but not half a score away, Felix realized that he has made a mistake. His Greatsword.

“Ah! My Greatsword. I think it slipped my hand!!” cried Felix.

“What does it matter now?!! Gragh!!” cried Aslak in extreme pressure. “Idiot! If Master Loann sees the blade, he is going to kick my a*s and yours too.”

“Damn!” cried Aslak and the moment he did, his grip came loose and Felix, who was even more wobbly now, fell with a shout.

“Ahh!!”

Bam!

“F*ck!!!”

…

After almost 15 minutes, the pair reached the Keep with the Greatsword and the first place they barged in, was the kitchen. They barged into the kitchen because it was the only place where they could Lady Faye, Felix’s mother, the place where she always experiments on new foods and improves existing ones.

“Mother! Mother!!!!” shouted Felix with a fatigued voice, instead of Aslak, because he had already become a red tomato while carrying both Felix and his Greatsword. “Coming!” came a shout from one end of the big kitchen.

Bam! Badump!

Felix and Aslak crumpled down in a heap in fatigue and started huffing and breathing heavily, especially Aslak, who looked as if he had come straight home after doing a 25miles hike and slaying a huge boar. He was bright as tomato and was sweating even more than Felix. Felix glanced at Aslak, smirked a bit and teased, “So weak… ha…”

Aslak looked weakly at Felix and made some vague gestures of which the only understandable gesture was a slicing neck. Felix laughed weakly and turned towards his wooden Greatsword, which was lying silently beside him. “You are such a badass ….”

After a few minutes, a woman in her late-twenties came out from the far reaches of the kitchen and walked briskly towards the pair. She had long flowing brown hair, pale-blue eyes and a light skin-color, a typical of Cainhorn resident. Her face was triangular-shaped with her hair tied in a long pony-tail. She didn’t look all that dashing and beautiful but her positive-attitude and clear personality was clearly radiating from herself. Her bright eyes and large laugh lines were a clear sign of it. She wore a long white linen flowing gown which covered her entirely with a leather strap binding it tightly to her waist. Her long sleeves had a triangular ending at the end and was slit right from her elbow displaying her almost flawless skin and the only jewelry on her, was a wedding ring on her ring finger and a diamond necklace on her neck.

She looked curiously at the pair and asked, “What the hell were you two devils upto? And why is that Aslak is more tired that you, Felix. Did you go stealing or something?”

“Ha… ha… like we would … do something like that… mother…” replied Felix.

“Whatever! Go take a hot water bath and remember to dry your heads after bathing. Be wet and you will catch a cold, got that?!”

“Awwww!” cried out Aslak from the side. He was just too tired to go and take a bath, but Lady Faye wasn’t someone to kid on the subject of hygiene. She glared at them for a moment and then pulled them by their collars.

“Wah!! Wah!! Mom! Mom! Stop it, stop it! We get it, so please stop pulling us!!!” cried Felix in fright. Felix’s fear wasn’t unbounded, because unlike most women, his mother was quite trained in battle and has enough strength to pull two 6yrs olds to bath. Infact, she has done it a few times in the past, when Master Loann training knocked both them out cold. There was another reason and that was, given that they were 6yrs old, Felix was kinda embarrassed about standing naked infront of her. It wasn’t a natural embarrassment shown by teenagers or adults, but the induced embarrassment or in simple fact, he was told that naked equals embarrassment. It was all due to his father, Sir Aston, who told many tales of lunatics embarrassing themselves and others by barging onto the public naked. All in all, it wasn’t really an embarrassment, but a state of his mind.

Lady Faye frowned at them for a minute and asked, “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”

To which Felix nodded vigorously. “Very well then!” replied Lady Faye and dropped both of them like papers. Lady Faye, then walked briskly off to her own work, without sparing a simple glance at the pairs. She had very accurately judged the reason for Felix’s refusal and she was going to take action on it. Basically, have a spat with her husband for telling weird tales to her sons.

But with her gone, the pair now had to walk to the bath by themselves which was on the other side of the Keep. Another perilous journey for their legs. Aslak, who looked blankly at Lady Faye’s back said to Felix in a blank voice, “I'm not gonna help you ever, dumba*s.”

“…”

…

Eventually, the pairs made their way to the bathhouse, which had already been filled with hot water and not only by simple water, it also contained some local herbs meant for rejuvenating the body and cells. It was probably arranged by Lady Faye to help their weak selves as much as possible, before going into war with her husband. As for Felix and Aslak, with the hot water ready and set, they didn’t wait a single moment. They unwrap their clothing and Felix’s scale-armor and jumped into the mediumly hot water without a delay.

“Fue!!!!!” cried Aslak in joy as the herbal hot water rejuvenated his weak and tired muscles. Felix on the otherhand, had to take more caution because he was still carrying the wooden Greatsword. This was a part of his Greatsword training, whereby he was ordered to get accustomed to holding a Greatsword by constantly carrying a Greatsword with him at all times. This, in reality, wasn’t much favored by common knights or lords, but according to his father and Master Loann, veterans with experience would always carry at least a Shortsword or some kind of weapon with them, at all times. Even then, Greatsword isn’t much preferred because of its immense weight, but for the Wardens, Greatsword is their life and they protect it at all times and at all costs.

Aslak pouted at the big Greatsword Felix was carrying and asked, mockingly, “Is it really necessary to carry such a biga*s weapon with you all the time. I know. I know about Master Loann, but even then. Don’t you find it … tiring?”

Felix shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Yea, I do find it tiring but I’ve got no choice. If I don’t carry it around, I bet Master Loann would kick my a*s.”

“Whoa! Mind what you say, man. I hear that walls have ears and with a person like Master Loann, it won't be strange if he suddenly appears behind you.”

Almost immediately as Aslak said it, Felix turned around in fright, but obviously there was no one. He looked sharply through the mist which had covered the bathroom and finally, when he couldn’t even find a single shadow, he sighed in relief. He turned back and said, “Don’t scare me like that, dude.”

“Hahaha…. I … actually get what you say…”

“Uh huh…”

After discussing a few more general knowledge, silence spread around them, as Felix tried to catch a little wink of sleep, while Aslak did his free-swimming. But after almost five or so minutes, Aslak springs up with new vitality, “Lets go to the town!!!!”

…