HUGO - prologue
"So then the ironhead said, 'He's not from around here, for karayan out loud!'"
Hugo laughed with his friend's raucous quacks at the corny joke, shaking his head and practically skipping along the dirt path that led back to his home. He was almost giddy, having just returned from his official journey into manhood, a clan tradition that had forced him away from home and all that was familiar for four whole years. Just when things had seemed to be getting back to normal in the Grasslands--the villages were rebuilt, new alliances created, peace made prevalent--it had been time to make his journey. And what a journey it had been! Hugo and Jordi, formerly Sergeant Joe, of the Duck Clan, had had many great adventures in the past three years, and the boy had grown up. And he had fallen in love.
Oh! So much to tell mother! Hugo thought excitedly. He'd been so many places, seen so many things, met so many people... met Nelara...
"Hugo! Slow down, quack!" Jordi cried, walking as quickly as he could to catch up. "In a hurry or something?" he chuckled.
"I can't wait to see my mother," Hugo admitted, his eyes gazing brightly ahead. Just one more corner to turn, and...
Jordi reached out his wing to halt the man in his tracks.
"Is something wrong?" Hugo asked, puzzled and a bit impatient.
Jordi shook his head, his own eyes a bit misty. "I just wanted to look at you."
"Oh, Sergeant..." Hugo still called him that, though Jordi had long ago left the Duck Clan Army.
The duck sniffed. "Just four years ago we walked this same path, and... well, in the other direction of course, haha... quack." He cleared his throat, then gave another little laugh. "You always were embarrassed by public displays of affection."
Hugo put his hands on his hips, looking at his friend with mock scorn. "You're not going soft on me, are you, Sergeant?" He grinned, poking Jordi's soft, feathered chest.
"QUACK! You've also become a smartass!"
The two wrestled for a moment, Jordi quacking his head off and trying to ward Hugo off with his wings. "Quack! Watch the feathers!" Hugo tackled him to the dusty trail, springing off of him in a superhuman bound, jogging ahead to the village.
Hugo looked behind him and laughed merrily as he watched his friend struggle to catch up once more. But when he turned his eyes ahead to the village, he stopped dead in his tracks.
Gone. Everything was gone.
Impossible!
"Qua... qua... Wear you out, did I?" Jordi panted as he caught up. He gave Hugo an odd look. "What's wrong?"
"Where... is it?"
"Where's what?"
Hugo slowly raised his arm, pointing to a large area of ground, blackened with ash, where his village had once stood.