The teen stumbled back while clutching his stomach, trying desperately to reclaim the air that just been jabbed out of him.
Despite his now windless body, he managed to catch the handle swinging towards him on this round and force a jab back onto the assailant on the other end.
The flat blade of the garden hoe gave what looked like another teen Nord boy a good push to his gut, but it wasn't pointed enough on that end to take much air out of him. He slumped forward a bit, the mess of curly bouncy blond hair atop his head encasing his eyes, but he quickly shook it from his view to glare his muddy brown irises at the sky blues glaring back.
"Ai! Fuck off!" the blond grunted and roughly yanked the handle from Aphid's grasp. He wound up a swing and Aphid was just a bit too slow this time, having barely regained any air, to snatch or block the hit that collided with his side.
Aphid slumped and stumbled and fell to his knees while the curly haired teen reeled up another strike, aiming for the head.
"NO!!" came a shout from Kor, who charged at the curly haired blond with a fury not normally seen in the sweet tempered kid. Such a fury that he seemed to forget all about his injured leg as he propelled himself forward and slung his shoulder clear through the garden tool's handle as the teen tried to use it as a shield against the charging lad. It snapped like a dry twig and Kor succeeded in ramming the curly haired blond flat on his back.
Kor remained on his feet as he gave an angry huff victory and turned his attention to his brother, who was working on getting back up to his own feet.
"Aphid," the little brother questioned, "Are you alright--"
THWACK!
"AOW!!" Kor hollered. The teen he had just shoved to the ground used part of his now broken implement to crack a hard hit to the boy's injured leg.
"Tough kid, huh?!" the assailant taunted the boy as he hopped up, tossed his broken tool, and appeared ready to fist fight the child.
But little Kor wasn't as tough as he obviously could be. Not that he knew yet, it seemed, as the kid fell down in a sob and clutched his throbbing leg.
The curly haired teen actually gave pause and looked at the crying child as if he was only just now realizing Kor was indeed a child.
"Hey c'mon," the teen said with an air of awkwardness, "you little punk thief, get up. Stop crying."
The off-guard teen didn't see the big brother now coming towards him during this awkward stand off. The big brother, who had every intention to end this fight and rectify this assault on his baby brother with the dagger he had upon his belt….only he no longer had that dagger. That dagger was currently well off in the woods, lodged in the ribs of a dying wolf.
The big brother instead quickly unslung his belt altogether and wrapped it around both hands with the intention to add that curly haired child attacker's neck into the tangle.
The other teen noticed the threat closing in just in time to scramble back and make a grab for a piece of his broken weapon. He snatched it up and readied to take on this fiercely protective brother.
However, a deep booming voice gave both the teens pause.
"HRIC!" the voice thundered, "Hric! Did you hurt that poor boy! Put that down now!"
The curly blond teen darted his eyes from Aphid to the source of the voice, as Aphid began to look towards the voice too but then quickly set his eyes back on the teen.
"He's tryin' to kill me!" the curly teen said.
"Looks like he's trying to defend himself and the kid you just thwacked, Hric," the deep voice replied.
"They were stealin' your apples! I caught 'em!" this Hric stated insistently, "Even Milks gave this one a what for!"
"That cat gives everyone 'cept his girl a what for," the voice once again shot down Hric's explanation.
"Freluff!" Hric huffed, but did not take his eyes off that big brother still staring at him with that belt threateningly wrapped in his hands.
"You just had to run off a thief last week!" the curly haired teen reminded.
"Yeah," this Freluff finally stepped into view behind Hric.
He was quite a imposing Nord man, but not by height alone. Aphid had become accustomed to his own unusual height equally, or even being over, that of fully grown Nord men. He and this Freluff probably would stand nose to nose, but this man had muscle to go with that stature. His arms looked as if he could bundle Hric and Aphid together and snap them both like a toothpick. Given, Aphid was a lanky sort of fella and Hric an average teen, but still, this man looked as if he could snap them without an effort. His little bit of middle aged gut did not impede this image at all, instead only adding to his overall girth.
Freluff continued speaking, scratching his dark beard casually—a beard not very long, but certainly full. His long dark brown hair framing around and intertwining at the beard's sides and some strands sticking to his face with sweat. Part of his hair was pulled back, but he had obviously been doing a bit of physical work that unraveled a bit of the tie back.
"I chased him with a boot to his backside," the man nodded and eyed Aphid and the crying Kor with his observant grey-blue eyes, "….but not without giving him a sack of food for the road. Hric, not every thief is a thief."
"What?" the curly haired teen actually dropped his guard to question that statement. Freluff only gave a calm smile in return, which seemed to agitate the teen a bit.
"Well, a thief last week and two this time," Hric replied, "One rat is a pest. Two is an infestation."
"Well, good thing it's just two boys instead of rats then," Freluff retorted and finally addressed Aphid directly, "You boys lost?"
Aphid hadn't let his guard up yet, but was just about to speak when his little brother gave a louder cry and so pitifully called his name.