Living Dreams

Chapter 4

"Its no good, we weren't ready for this one." Ford shouted and I agreed as a plan formulated in my mind.

"How quick of a runner are you?"

"I have long legs for a reason." He retorted and I grinned.

"Good, we need to jump him again. This time, when he runs into your shield, I'm going to jump off your shoulders."

"You can explain why later." He grunted, but picked up his shield and ran forward, jumping in between the boar and our priests. Once again, the boar ran into the shield.

I kicked off the ground hard, running over Ford's arched back as I lifted the sword above my head. My bodyweight and gravity pulled me down as I shoved the sword into the boar's head. It was a critical hit and the red bar disappeared in an instance and the beast echoed one last screech before exploding into dust in front of my eyes.

"Damn, remind me not to piss you off." Ford whistled and picked up his shield as he stared down at the wad of meat and pile of bones.

"That was amazing!" James called, his eyes filled with a new level of respect and I merely shook my head and turned towards the two archers.

"What was his name?"

"Daniel." The girl answered and I nodded.

"Thank you." I told her and walked over to where Daniel died and saw a pile of broken arrows and a shattered bow sprawled out on the ground. "What happened was not fair and no one is to blame."

"His sister was here." The girl told me and I growled.

"Where is she?" I demanded.

"In the orphanage with the kids, she's only eight." The other archer took a step towards me. "I'll tell her what happened, sir."

"No, it's my responsibility." I told him. "What's her name?"

"Elyse."

I nodded and turned around to face the group. "Let's head back and make our report. Get your rest while you can." I told them all and started on the way back to town, not looking forward at telling an eight year old girl that her big brother was dead.

*

"Why do you even want me to be here?" Ele demanded as her gaze switched between me and the orphanage towering above us.

"I'm telling an eight year old that I watched her brother get trampled by a boar, why do you think?" I retorted as my hand mindlessly fell onto the hilt of my sword. "Aren't girls supposed to be in tune to each other's feelings?"

"That's empaths, Einstein." She sighed bitterly before turning towards me and crossing her arms across her chest. "Look, don't tell her that he trampled by a boar, that'll only hurt her more. Just, tell her he died a hero."

"How is that going to alleviate the pain?"

"It won't, but it won't diminish her thought of him." She muttered under her breath before turning to me again. "I'm going in there for the girl, she's going to need someone to help her through this."

"I was hoping you'd say that. I don't know how many people she may know here or how willing they'll be to help her, especially since he was not the only one to die."

"How many died?"

"From our people? Six." I grumbled angrily to myself and shook my head. "Three of them went off on their own, one of the parties found their weapons littering the ground."

"That's horrible!"

"Yeah, the worst part is that we don't know how they died." I closed my eyes and groaned before taking a step forward and walking inside. Ele stepped up next to me as a girl around my age walked up to us and my stomach dropped.