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Chapter 8: Kicking an Ass's Ass.

Bowerstone happens to be the most wonderful city. After I dropped Ellie off at school which I soon enrolled her in, I had plenty of time to start learning the alleyways, the twists and turns of the streets, and even the small garden patches from time to time. The whole place was enchanting. I did get quite a few looks from the villagers, but who could blame them? The clothes I wore were unusual for them. I thought to myself "Maybe I should find some better clothes." I found some clothing shops very fast. I decided to buy some more casual clothes. After a little while, I finally got the clothes I wanted. (In Fable II you'd know them as the Explorer's outfit + the high roller's coat.) They were very comfortable, and I walked off with a spring in my step.

Soon I decided to go to Old Town to see where The Hero spent his childhood. To be truthful there wasn't much to see. The houses were the same, his statue was still erected high, and it even had beggars. I was a little disappointed. I saw Castle Fairfax from a great view. However, I shrugged it off and continued onwards. While I was walking down the road, I started to join a large group of people. After five minutes in Old town I felt a sharp, metallic edge digging into my back. I sighed and smiled remembering I only brought enough gold for new clothes. "Don't even think about running."

"Don't have to." I grabbed the wrist holding the dagger, and spun it around until I heard a distinctive crack. The figure cursed violently and fled into the large crowd. I shoved my hands into my coat pockets and kept walking to return to the market.

I left the small episode behind me and I didn't care much about what happened. People get mugged all the time. "Maybe I should start to carry my swords with me." I thought to myself, thinking of all the criminals that could be waiting in Bowerstone. "Heath!" I saw Jessica walking towards me, and still with no makeup. "Hey. How do you like your house?"

"It's good. I still think I'd prefer Knothole." She shrugged.

"At least Gordon set us into nice homes. I got a job as a blacksmith, and earned about 2000 gold the other day. I guess four augment slots are pretty valuable here even though it must've been quite a long time since they've needed any swords." She soon retorted "But, you'll never know when you'll need a sword." She always had to say the last word. "I have to go do something." She said. She ran off, turning heads as she went.

As soon as I got home, I saw the pooch begging me for food. This was when I decided it was time for dog training 101. I took a few of the books out and tried to teach this mutt a few tricks. There is an old saying that says you can't teach an old dog any new tricks. Have you ever teaching a new dog any old tricks? It's basically the same concept. "Sit!" Dakota stared at me dumbfounded. "Sit!" I repeated the same word over and over again. A few times I even sat down to show it what to do. The dog remained still as a stone. I sarcastically brought up food and it sat down. "Good boy." I threw the small scrap of meat towards Dakota and he ate it all up. "One trick down… nine to go." I almost face palmed myself.

After an hour or two, Ellie came back home, and looked horrid. Her hair was a frizzed out, she had several bruises on her arm, while cuts and scrapes decorated her delicate hands. "What happened to you?" I asked her, tenderly looking at her cuts. "I hate school." She folded her arms, trying to hold the tears in. "Who did this?" she wept, clenching her fists. "Jonathan. He's big, mean, and doesn't have any manners." She only wept more as she described him. "How about I go to school with you from now on?" She shook her head. "You don't need to."

"I will until we get this bully problem sorted out." She wiped her eyes. "Promise?"

"I promise." She smiled, and then got some meat scraps for Dakota. "Here boy! Roll over!" he quickly rolled over in several quick successions. That time, I did slap myself in the face, frustration and anger hidden behind my mask of flesh. "Why are you angry he rolled over?"

"You achieve things in three minutes that I tried for two hours with this puppy."

"Puppy dog." She replied. It's hard to live with a young child.

The next morning, I woke up with a fresh feeling in my limbs. Ellie woke me up suddenly, yelling in my ear to get up. Damn bully. "That little bastard is gonna wish he never even saw Ellie." I thought to myself, starting to try to come up with a plan to make this kid's life a living hell. The walk to her school wasn't that bad. Most people think Bowerstone is only made up of the Market, the Gardens, and Old Town. There are actually thousands of more districts we've passed plenty of times. "I still don't believe you just 'want to learn' today brother." She said to me. "You don't always have to be overly protective."

"Did you see yourself? You cried, and looked like Stuart's big cousin fought you." She giggled with amusement.

We arrived early. Ellie always liked things to be early. Presents, parties, meals… the list goes on and on. When the teacher didn't recognize me, I lied and said "I'm an inspector. Don't tell anyone I'm here, I'll keep a close eye on many of the children." He nodded, revealing the fat glob he called his chin. I walked to a small closet, and it had quite the view of the classroom. I could see plenty of things, and most importantly, I could see where Ellie was sitting.

"Class starts now, children!" the teacher called. "Open your books to page…" it was a simple class. A little bit of history, math, and other stuff too I didn't really care about. In the middle of a music lesson, I saw the first move. A rough kid about one or two years younger than me started to jab at Ellie's shoulder with a pencil and hissed "Go back to where you belong!" seeing that spectacle made me want to take out my swords and… well, 'explain' to him what pain means.

Recess was on at about halfway through school hours. I decided to act like a new student, telling the teacher my plans. He simply agreed, and let me go to the school yard. He of course had absolutely no idea what was going on, so that left the perfect opportunity. Ellie was sitting at a little picnic table, while the moron was sitting across from her. "Hey! Swamp girl!" Ellie ignored the little fool. That was when I sat down next to her, ready to strike. "Hey! List'n to me when I'm talkin to ye!" the slurs on his word made him sound like his education was very poor. She still didn't look at him. By then, the bully made a fist, and began to bring it down. That was when I took it and swung him onto the table. "So… you're the little jackass? You've got to be kidding me." He scrambled off the table, and brought out a knife. He swung violently, but I quickly elbowed him in the stomach. "Why are you pickin on me?" he was pathetic. A little idiot pretending he was cool for picking on someone, but quick to expect sympathy.

"Why did you pick on her?"

"She isn't from here!" I brought his hands behind his back, and with my other hand gripped his face and put the ugly thing in front of Ellie. "Have a swing." Remember when I said Ellie was strong for her size? She dominated him. It took one punch. ONE! She swung with her right hand, right into the spot between his nose and his face. On impact, his nose swelled like a balloon, and blood ran like water. Several teeth came loose, and he spat out a vile mixture of blood and saliva. "Ellie, if he ever hurts you, punch him in the face, just like you did just now. OK?" she nodded. I decided it was time to give the punk another little lesson. I grabbed his dirty blonde hair and brought his head up. "Now, if you tell the teacher or anyone else about this, next time it won't be a six year old hurting you. If I ever, ever hear you hurting anyone, I'll knock you out." I slammed his head in to the table, and walked off back to the closet to remain there for the rest of the school day.

Gail wasn't too happy to hear my 'deed'. In fact, when I got home with Ellie, she was waiting right on the front steps. The first thing she said was this. "What the hell were you thinking?!" before I could reply, she brought a speeding fist to my jaw. I took the punch and nearly fell down to the ground. Ellie protested. "There was a bully!"

"Yeah! Gail, you didn't see the damage he did." I shivered, remembering the cuts and bruises. "If I didn't do anything, it would've gotten worse!" I tensed up as I saw her hand create another fist. "Remember Francis?" there was this ass in our village that never knew when to shut up. He always said that Ellie and I were 'abominations' to the Island. Gail soon stood up for me, and slugged him out. We've been friends ever since. "This guy was like five of him! I guess even a city has its prejudice against us." She shut up, and lowered her fist. "Well, I'm sorry. How's your dog?" she quickly changed the subject. "Stuart and him are best friends!" Ellie jumped onto my back. "I thought we named him Dakota." She giggled. "Good. Teaching him tricks was hard at the beginning, but it's easy when you use food." That was the whole conversation, and Ellie was boring quickly and ran inside to do her homework.

"So, whatever happened to Alex?"

"Dad told me that he moved to the Gypsy Camp at Bower Lake."

"That's great. We could really show this town a great fishing tournament." I planted the idea into her head. One of my flaws (millions and millions of flaws) was that I could never do anything I said I would do. That's why I would ask Gail to do it, or plant a seed in her head like I did with the tournament idea. "Well, don't get into any more trouble. And for Pete's sake, don't carry your swords around." My thoughts wandered aimlessly for a few minutes after Gail left. Just one thought really mattered at the moment, and that was on what to eat for dinner.