Father Sword

Camping

I woke up in pain. My body felt like a noodle. The sun overhead didn't make me feel better. Even the trees around me couldn't help the pain.

I saw a river. Water. I had water.

I tried to stand, but couldn't. So I moved with my arms grabbing the grass and propelling myself forward. The trees around me seemed to be cheering me on with their waving leaves. The thirst overflowed through me and I tumbled into the river, drinking the purest water I had ever found.  The sun gave me warmth. Then I looked at my legs.

"AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!"

The legs that were once fair-skinned and tough were now covered in bruises, blood pouring out, and a bandage was wrapped around the left. The foot was twisted, its toes bent.

I heard voices around me, "What? What are you- Your high- Sorry."

My hands felt cool water no more and only brisk grass. A boy came by me and said, "Ribus. What are you doing, your maj- Sorry."

It felt familiar. My mind was too fogged up to tell who.

A girl's voice scoffed, "He's too injured to do anything useful. Leave him alone."

These people. Loi and Noctis? Maybe?

Then, everything flashed into me like a blur. I remembered. The dragon and the slug colony and everything that ever happened in my entire life.

"Loi, Noctis? How do I keep on passing out? Three times," I said. My head felt like a mess of spaghetti, but I had to make note of all the times I passed out.

Loi responded, "Yeah. I should make a tally chart of it."

I made a little chuckle, and Noctis replied, "Yeah. First you were knocked out by me. Then your stupidity, and.. What was the other time?"

"At the capital. From all the smoke."

For the first time, she smiled a genuine smile. "Well, Ribus. Looks like we're all out of here."

My mouth made out, "What do you mean?"

"The dragon, or slugly, whatever you want to call it- It led you miles beyond where we were. Loi and I searched into the night assuming you were dead when we found you here, next to the dragon corpse. However, the place we found you was outside of the High Mountains."

I cheered a silent victory. The High Mountains stunk. I looked around. Whatever this place was, it wasn't the High Mountains.

Loi asked, "How'd you take it down?"

I was tired, but he seemed engaged in the the zombie dragon, so I told him the story. Noctis seemed very peculiar about how the green slugly (the female) that continued to sustain power for a while, keeping the dragon's weight still drifting in the air. Loi was just amazed that I survived a fifty foot drop.

"I admit it, Loi. I was scared to death. Especially when the sword fell out of my hand. Oh, by the way, where is my sword?"

Noctis grimaced, "Over by the river. Duh."

I wanted to walk over there, but as soon as I tried, Noctis pushed me back down to the ground.

"It isn't safe for you to walk around. That leg could take a month to heal. Trust me."

Brilliant. So now I was stuck here. 

The days went by and Loi would head off in the woods, find some berries, maybe get some rabbit. Noctis would leave and bring back bears and moose and one time a troll. Things were boring. 

Nothing ever happened. I had to get back to my people, but how? I was stuck under a tree. I wanted to get up and head over into Metimur, gather the remaining people and recreate the country. I wanted to pick up my sword and destroy Covertunt for what they had done. They killed my mother. They deserved revenge.

But Noctis was from Covertunt. She hated me in the cave, but we didn't have to stick by each other anymore. But if that was the case, why was she still here?

It gets confusing when there are so many sides to an argument. Did I want to attack Covertunt? Magnum's people killed my mother, but on whose orders? Was it Magnum, or did they just have so much fury against me that they killed her?

I stumbled on these questions over the course of the weeks that I stayed in the shade by my tree. Summer was slowly coming to an end. I could tell. I heard it was the end of August according to Loi.

Speaking of which, Loi wasn't so scared to death of Noctis anymore. She became nicer over the course of those weeks. Things seemed to all settle down. Except for the leg, everything was perfect.

Finally, my leg had fully healed. We had a mini celebration by eating a moose with Noctis and Loi. Noctis in particular was eating faster than I'd ever seen someone chomp on moose leg.

In the late evening, she came up to me. "Ribus, I gotta go."

I felt confused, "Why?"

"I have to."

"Could you explain?"

"I'm doing an all-night hunt. We need all the food we can get."

"You sure? That moose will last us a week."

"No. It won't."

"Yeah. It will."

"Whatever. I'm going. Bye."

Noctis sprinted off into the woods at lightning speed, and I heard her grunt all the way.

I bursted and called out to Loi, "Come on!" But he was already running in her direction carrying his bow and arrows. I charged down into the trees towards him.

Air passed through my shoulders. My feet felt raw. My heart was pumping way harder than it should. I saw her in the distance, but I was bewildered. Could she already be fifty feet ahead? I wasn't far behind when I started charging after her.

I continued my dog-like panting. Loi was a good ten feet behind her. She couldn't leave. Why? But why not?

I kept on running until I heard a booming, "STOP!"

I spun around my surroundings but didn't see Loi. The voice sounded low. Noctis stopped in her tracks. Loi was nowhere to be seen.

We both, fifty feet apart, were scared to death. Who was the voice of fury, of death?

Finally, I saw where the voice was coming from. When I saw it, my guts flipped. It couldn't be. Everything I had ever learned in my entire life had ensured me that that voice would not be him.

He stood high in the sky on a huge rock, gazing out staring not at me, but Noctis.

The voice caused an earthquake under my feet and I tumbled to the soiled floor.

That voice.

That voice was Loi.

His bow was aimed at her, and Noctis let out a wail. Not a scream, or even a shout. Like a growl, or even a howl.

The silver moon lifted into the sky, being opened up to the world. She continued to bark, getting louder and louder.

I got up to my feet and charged towards Loi, with my sword in hand, ready for whatever was next.

I asked Loi, the bravest guy I'd met in the past month, and asked, "Is she?"

His bow was pointed at her heart, "Yes."

It all made sense. That's why Noctis could run so quickly. That's why she could bring back bears from hunting. That's why she escaped an entire slugly colony. That's why she could knock me out with her bare fists. That's why scars were left on my face after the attack.

I barely made out the words, because I could hardly digest it.

I said to Loi, "Noctis. Werewolf. Run."