Water Moon, the Brave

The rain gently pattered the puddles on the road outside the long hall.  Warriors ran past screaming and shouting as they splashed the through small puddles of water screaming battle cries. The smell of smoke and blood filled Birrol’s noise and terror filled his heart.  He hid trembling as the splashes outside got louder.

As he hid under the stairs, the door to the children’s long hall opened and Jeffro the biggest bully in the hall stepped down. He saw Birrol under the stairs and screamed coward pointing at Birrol until an Abbey ran around the corner.  The orcish looking beast saw Jeffro smiled as he mumbled, “First kill.” in a threatening growling voice.

Jeffro puffed his chest and pulled his tiny rabbit knife sprinting up to the Abbey with the best kid battle cry he could make. The Abbey turned and grabbed Jeffro by the neck and shoved him in a puddle of mud in the road. Birrol grabbed his legs tightly burying his face.

Jeffro coughed and spat out mud as he struggled with the Abbey now on his back now. Jeffro craned his head around and stared right in to Birrols frightened eyes, choking “Help!”. He weakly swung the knife around trying to stab the Abbey. But Birrol’s ears were filled with Jeffro shouting coward at him, so many times for so many years, always “Coward! Coward! Coward!”, the mean singing of children filled his head as he grabbed his head. Meanwhile Jeffro’s hand dropped to the ground and the knife slid out of his palm and landed at the base of the stairs.

At that moment Birrol holding hands over his ears started to scream, crying with tears on his face and sprinted forwards. He grabbed the knife and mounting the Abbey, ferociously stabbed it in the back causing it to squeal and roar. His hand slipped off the blade leaving the knife in it’s back doing almost no harm, but the Abbey thinking the human child was on its back jumped backwards and tried to ram Birrol into a wall.

Birrol however had fallen off leaving the Abbey to slam straight into the wall causing the knife ram into its heart. The Abbey exhaled a great breath falling to its knees.

At that moment a group of clan warriors ran around the corners to see the Abbey on its knees slumping to the ground. Birrol was on the ground breathing heavily and shaking. The men picked him up and carried him in to the hall and laid him on a bed.

The next day the clan held a coming of age ceremony. Birol had become a man. On this month during the full moon as it rained he had shown himself to be a brave warrior, a man. The other men named him “Water Moon!” as his man name and granted him his own cottage and servant. All of the clan shouted the name of the bravest warrior from last night, “Water Moon! Water Moon! Water Moon!”

Later that night, after the servant had returned to the servant long hall he sat along on the chair in his own house. For an hour he had there remembering his celebration which brought great honour to his father and family. Especially his father whose heart had been filled with joy.

Still he sat there, in the dark, thinking of the attack against the Abbies planned for dawn. The tears dripping from his chin and his cried and shook and just wanted to go home and cuddle his mum.

He was only 10.