Chapter 3: Poisoned!
"Happy Birthday to…. Forget it, I don't want to sing" Strollheim sang then stopped. " So, you said you'd actually get me something this year." I asked. " Yep," Strollheim Replied. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was going to get a gift. Maybe, I wouldn't be bored most of the time anymore. Maybe, I could actually have some fun for the first time in 4 years. I was shocked when I heard him say. "Your present is being able to fight with us on a village raid. You can use it tonight, or you can save it till another time." I sighed and threw my head down but then I realized I'm going to fight, I'm going to get to stab and kill people. What every 10-year-old savage boy would want. "I'm in," I said.
I decided to go tonight, even though I had no Battle experience except practice fights with Sephir, and my fight with Strollheim. I got a Dagger, that's all, just a dagger. I was beginning to regret accepting my gift so soon. But if I didn't fight, Strollheim might be let down. What was I saying, what would it matter if I let done the man who killed my mother. I shouldn't be feeling any sympathy for him. Fine, I'll fight, but if I survive, when I get back I'm making my escape.
Bandit spoke to me right before we left. He said "hey, go for the mayor, he a weakling." I was shocked. It was the first time he had ever spoken to me. I didn't know if I should trust him. Well, I wasn't going to let my birthday present go to waste. " Charge!" I yelled. I regret that when they (armed citizens ready to defend their village) chased me until I hid in one of the abandoned houses. I stealthfully snuck through the village and into the mayor's house.
True, I expected to find a sniveling weakling hiding in the corner wishing for the bad guys to go away. Bandit lied. The mayor was a man who looked stronger than Strollheim. Oh well, I couldn't turn back now. The mayor turned around and expected to find a man who would say " give me your money, and I will leave you alive." Of course the mayor probably knew that that man wouldn't leave him alive anyways. Instead of a man he found me, a bloodthirsty 10-year old with a dagger implying with his eyes " when are you gonna stop staring, ya freak." I charged for him, ready to kill. He obviously fought back, but I didn't give up.
He laughed and then, when he found out we were equally matched he said "No, how can this be, I the great Heimlick of the Crusal clan, mayor of Frichten town, be matched up to this kid!" Man, that was stupid, I thought. Our fight resumed but he got tougher. He slashed me in the left arm and then again, and over and over again. The pain just wouldn't stop. After he tore my arm to bits, I found enough strength and courage to stab him in the chest with the dagger in my right hand, after that we both fell over.
When I woke, I once again heard the sound of wheels on road that could mean one of two things. The villagers found me and are sending me to the big courthouse of the west to arrest me for murder and treason, or that my bandit friends found and escaped but now they are taking care of a near-death kid. Fortunately, it was the second one.
After 15 minutes I found enough strength to thump my head on the ground beside me. Luckily, that was enough to catch Spire's attention. He realized I was up, and walked over to me smiling. He said (I can't talk, but I can listen) "Oh, Auron, thank god, you're ok, I'd thought we'd lost ya."
My strength was coming back, so now I could move my head both ways, left and right. So, I just noticed Strollheim sitting in a chair, next to me. I was on a mat on the floor. Who knows how long Strollheim had been sitting there. He looked he was in a state of mind, thinking about something, something important. I knew what it was when he said " Aye, it's my fault, you're too young to fight, I should have known." If I could talk I would say, "Strollheim, I don't care about fatal injuries, ok, well that's a lie, but it was a great thrill, it was fun and exciting, yet very very painful." Besides, it wasn't his fault, it was…Bandit's.
That guy was no good; it couldn't have been an accident. I had to warn them. But how, I couldn't even move my arms. Man, this put me in a very bad position; literally, it was uncomfortable for my back. I knew it wasn't a mistake, he meant to kill me, I always knew he hated me, but that bad, huh.
Days passed by and I knew that when I got better I was leaving, no, scratch that, I was escaping.
One night I heard Spire and Bandit talking, Bandit said he knew of something to help the wound. Watch it be poison. Anyway, when he returned he actually came with something called Boar's Blood (which was probably just blood from a boar but I could be wrong). Bandit kneeled down and starting dipping his hand in it and rubbing it on the cut, it burned, but don't all wound healers hurt.
I heard Spire gasp and drop something on the floor, I turned my head and read what Spire dropped, it said Boar's Blood, Deadly Poison. I was shocked but hey, I told you it would be poison. Too late, it was already in my arm. Before I knew it, Bandit took an Arrow, strapped it to his bow, and launched it through Spire's neck, hitting the tendons and separating his head from his neck, making blood squirt on the wall. I yelled with all my might, (which wasn't that loud) "HELP". That cost me all my energy and it hurt a lot too.
Strollheim immediately ran through the room and smacked Bandit through the caravan wall. Bandit bounced and tussled for a while, but then although bloody and bruised, he took an arrow and fired it in Strollheim's chest. He pulled it out, and it didn't seem to hurt him much. Bandit stood up and ran down the road. Strollheim knew talking to me was useless. We both had a lot of work to do.