Chapter 2:

Little one makes a discovery

I sighed, pulling a brown, bulbous vegetable out of the ground and tossing it into the sack with the rest. This had been my life for the past four years. After my little stunt, my father had tried to train me (because otherwise I would hurt myself). The results were less than ideal.

After hundreds of hours of brutal practice with every weapon at our disposal, there was one thing that was certain; I had absolutely no talent with any weapon. Swords slipped out of my hands, arrows fired from my bow missed their mark, and any firearm i attempted to use inevitably covered my face with black smoke. I was determined, sturdy, and was actually starting to gain some muscle, but sadly I had nothing else going for me.

I had begrudgingly resolved myself to helping my other with the cooking and housework. As such, while the other 12 year old boys and girls were out having their combat training with the warriors; I was here. Picking potatoes. Needless to say, I was not happy. Sighing once more, I slung the sack over my shoulder and started heading back towards the house.

I pushed the door open with my foot, letting the bag slide off my shoulder onto the ground. “Mother, I’m home!”

There was no reply. I called again, starting to walk into the house. I saw the front door open; No… broken.

“Mother!” I called, running up the stairs of the house. I heard a scream. As I rounded the corner, an arm flew out to grab me. I instinctively ducked it, sliding forward on my knees and standing again. I turned to see a stranger coming towards me. The room next to him was open. As he tried to grab me again, I ducked between his legs and through the door.

Another man had my mother held up against the wall by her neck, ripping off her shirt.

“Let her go!” I shouted at the man, diving for his legs. I knocked them out from under him, causing him to drop my mother as he fell to the ground. My mother grabbed a candlestick and started hitting the man with it as the other man came in. Acting on instinct alone, I ran at him, veering to the side and running shortly along the wall to gain enough height to push off and catch him in the face with my knee. I landed on the ground and, as the man reeled in front of me, shoved the butt of my hand up into his neck. His hand shot up to his throat as he gasped for air, falling to the ground.

I turned around, and the other man had overpowered my mother once more. I saw him land a punch, knocking her unconscious before turning towards me. I probably should’ve been scared, but I wasn’t. I ran at the man, who tried to connect with a kick. I jumped up and pushed off the wall, hooking my legs around his neck. I sat myself up and clapped my hands on either side of his ears, popping his ear drums. When his hands shot up to his head, I threw my weight sideways and twisted, swinging the man to the ground. He screamed in pain before I sat on his chest, my fist colliding with his mouth, breaking his teeth. My other hand left the imprint of my knuckle on the bridge of his nose. My next punch landed on his cheek, fracturing if not breaking the bone. I pummeled the man with all my strength, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw my father looming over me, having just returned from training. I panted and breathed heavily, meeting his eyes.

“They.. they tried…” I tried to explain between my heavy breaths. My father simply nodded, looking around the room. My mother had propped herself against the wall, regaining consciousness slowly. The two men both lay unmoving on the ground, one with his hands still around his throat, the other with blood pooling around his head. My knuckles were raw and covered in red liquid, and the scar on my lip had torn slightly, dripping blood down my chin. As the adrenaline faded, I started to feel light-headed. I gave up trying to babble out my explanation, but gave up and collapsed into my father’s arms. He patted my head against his chest reassuringly.

“Ya did th’ right thing, Little one. Ya done good, son.” He comforted me.

I took deep breaths, trying to calm down. The adrenaline had completely worn off, and I was starting to go into shock. I wasn’t naive enough to think I didn’t kill them. One look at them was evidence enough. Even so, I wasn’t scared that I did it, or that someone would find out, since it was self-defense. I was scared at how easy it was; how instinctively I fought. I decided to try not to think about it, calming down enough to slip out of my fathers arms and go to help him with my mother. She was a little rattled, but alright. She didn’t seem to remember any of what happened, so my father decided to tell her it was he who saved her. I didn’t mind.

It was a long while before anybody in my family talked about what had happened, and the only other person in the village who knew was the chief. The two men had no family, and it was believed they died hunting out in the woods, and were devoured. A few weeks after the event, my Father stopped me as I was bringing some crops in from the field. He took the sack from me. I wasn't sure what I had done to get into trouble, and I was getting ready to protest when he put his calloused hand gently on my head.

“The chief wants to see you…” He said with a small smirk. From his tone and expression, I was sure I wasn't in trouble, but still had no idea what was going on. I excused myself and headed towards the village center to meet with the chief. He wasn't there, oddly, so I went to his home.

Once there, he ushered me in very quickly, as if I couldn't be seen. I was very nervous by this point. Was my father just putting on a brave face? My mind was racing through all the possibilities.

“You will train with my son to be a warrior,” the chief interrupted my thoughts.

“Wait… What?” I asked again. It was decided years ago… What changed? “I can't use any weapons…”

The chief simply nodded. “Follow me.”

He led me out the back of his house to the private training grounds, only used by the village’s top warriors. There was the chief’s son, Rayd, in a sparring match with four of the men from the village. Rayd held no weapons and wore no armor, yet he stood confidently in the middle of his four armed adversaries. One held a spear, another an axe, and the other two a sword and buckler.

I mumbled to myself, “He’s going to get himself killed…”

As if in response, Rayd looked over at me and gave me a thumbs up. I was a little startled, seeing as how Rayd was always viewed as a serious man; and not very friendly. It was an odd gesture to see from him.

The four men charged him at once, and before I could register what had happened, Rayd had his foot on the chest of the axeman, the spear laid broken in half on the ground, the two swordsman were unconscious, and the spearman himself was looking at his hands, just as awestruck as I was.

“What…” I stammered, as the chief grinned.

“You need no weapons to be a warrior, Little One.”

“But-” before I could finish my rebuttal, the chief shoved me towards Rayd. I turned back around after stumbling a few steps, and the chief was gone; the door to the house closed. I turned back and walked towards Rayd.

“Go home boys, we’re done for today,” Rayd boomed. The two conscious men stood and laughed, exchanging few words with Rayd before carrying their champions out of the training area towards the barracks. Turning to me with his hands on his hips, the chief's son turned to me. He was extremely muscular, and at least a foot and a half taller than me. Compared to my small, childish frame, he was a monster of a man. He grinned at me wide.

“However, you are just getting started!”