In Search of Auria by Alexis Rojas

me. Deal?”
    “Wait, kill?” he responded innocently.
    “Yes, boy, Kill! That is the main purpose of
a sword. It’s not for playing, it’s for battle. Now, begin, if you
really want it.”
    There was a second in which he hesitated.
The children on the trees cheered him on, “Come on, Rich, you can
do it!” “Take him down!” “He’s just a greasy grown up!”
    Their support gave him the confidence he
needed.
    “You’re going to wish you had gone away,” he
told me and charged. First, he tried a downward slash. I dodged and
pushed him to the ground.
    “That can’t be your best,” I taunted him.
“Come on, try harder!”
    He got up and raised the heavy shield to his
front, attempting to ram me over. When he got close, I kicked the
shield dead-center and knocked him back. He hit his head on the rim
and started to bleed.
    “Aw, baby got a booboo? Please, promise me
you won’t cry.”
    Man, I was being so bitchy! It was not my
nature to be like that, but I wanted to teach the kid a lesson for
stealing my stuff. He rose to his feet and with his last chance
attempted a sloppy horizontal slash.
    “Take this!” he yelled. Before the sword hit
me, I closed in and seized his wrist. To end it, I gave him a
prudent fist to his ribs. The punch made him fall to his knees and
release my weapons. I walked around his wheezing body and picked
them up. I strapped the shield on my back and held the sword, since
the scabbard was still on him.
    “No, give them back,” the young man pleaded
while holding his ribs.
    “What I should give you is a good smack on
the head. You can’t just go stealing other people’s stuff!”
    “But I need it. We need it.”
    I did not understand his urgency. I looked
up to the children as they came down the trees by knotted ropes.
They all seemed worried, looking at each other with panic in their
faces.
    “What will we do now, Richard? How will we
defend ourselves?” the kid I first encountered asked the young
man.
    “I don’t know, Luc,” he responded while
staring at the ground. “I’m sorry. I’m simply not strong
enough.”
    It was obvious they needed help with
something, and seeing their troubled faces made me wonder what the
trouble was. The young man stood once more and threw the scabbard
to the ground. As they all walked away, I asked aloud, “What is it
that torments you?”
    “Just leave,” the juvenile shouted, “You’ve
humiliated me enough.”
    “Wait, listen. You are right in what you
did; using the sword and shield to protect the children. Weapons
are not only used to kill, but to protect the ones we love, the
ones who are important.”
    “You don’t know what’s important. You know
nothing!”
    “Well, I know you’re not
afraid of me, but you are afraid of something to get all frightful and
emotional. Even though you did all this things to me, I understand
why you did it.”
    The young man lowered his eyes. I walked to
him and stretched out my hand in good faith, “I am Erik, Erik
Belrose.”
    He wondered whether to shake my hand or not,
but he finally acknowledged my trust and stretched his hand, too,
“I am Richard, Richard Le Sainte. And all of these are of my
brothers and sisters.”
    “All of them? You’re a big family,” I
snapped. The kids smiled and shyly bowed. Richard then apologized,
“I am sorry that I stole your belongings, mister. But I was
desperate. You see, we are cursed here, never to leave this
forest.”
    The children’s smiles and laughs turned into
a grimace. Their angst and fearful faces clawed into my heart. I
felt the need to aid them in some way. That meant I had to make a
choice; to either continue my quest and leave them with their
worries, or stay to help them and lose almost a day’s worth of
time. I wanted to go after Auria, but if she were here, I knew she
would want me to help these brats.
    “Cursed, you say?” I questioned as I rubbed
my chin. “Well, how about you tell me what is the problem, and I’ll
decide