Iron Rations

Yule Connor- The Lost Hero

"A treaty?" James raised his eyebrows. "What's it all about?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I don't understand."

Thom snatched the paper from me and his eyes scoured the sheet of paper. When he stopped to look at us, his mouth was hanging open like he just won a bet.

"What's it all about?" Lyall echoed James's previous statement.

"T-this..." Thom's voice quivered. "It could stop the w-war."

Immediately, Lyall took the paper from him and seemed to read it. He looked at Thom. "What do you mean?"

Thom actually a managed to laugh. "You don't understand?"

Lyall's ears turned red. "I-I wasn't taught to read."

"So you can't read?" Thom seemed ready to loose it.

"I can recognize letters," Lyall said fiercely. He indicated several signatures at the bottom of the paper, probably to save himself from more embarrassment. "What is this all about?"

"The treaty says when all four generals of the four regions of Werravinn signs this paper," said Thom, "the war will stop. Every weapons, authorized or not, will end up being illegal and surrendered to a general, every soldier is commanded to retreat, and every army camp shall be burned."

"There are only three signatures here," I said, pointing out an empty blank. The other blanks on its row are filled with signatures, scrawled with letters filled with loops and blotches of cheap ink.

"My father said the last general, General Ross, did not want to sign on purpose," said Thom. "Saying that he won't sign until the territorial disputes and all those they're fighting are finally settled."

"So your father's plan is to get General Ross to sign this thing?" said Lyall.

Thom nodded. "Exactly."

"That's impossible," said James, folding his arms. "I heard General Ross is far off into the mountains or something. We'll get killed just going there."

"And besides," said Lyall, "we may be armed, yeah, but really, we're civilians. We're not supposed to meddle into stuff we're not supposed to touch."

"I'm not saying we're going to do that!" Thom exclaimed.

"Well you're telling us your father's plans," said Lyall. "It's like you want us to do it."

"We're not exactly going to be the one to do it!" said Thom. "You see, General Ross said another thing: he'll only sign the paper if the hero agrees to it."

I raised an eyebrow. "The hero? Who's that?"

Thom shrugged. "No one really knows."

"Are you telling the truth?" Lyall asked, eyes mistrustful. I blinked. I sort of already trust Thom. Why it is Lyall still doesn't think he's worth trusting?

Thom nodded. "If I'm lying, do you think I would've shown you these?" He indicated the folder.

"Hey, back to the topic," said James, settling himself between Lyall and Thom. He turned to Thom and used his piercing gaze on the lad. "So we're going to see the hero?"

"Hey, we don't even know who the guy is!" I interrupted.

Thom gazed directly in my direction, particularly into my eyes. "Listen, we may not know who he is or what he really is, but it's better than wandering aimlessly through the woods."

I met Lyall's gaze. He shook his head slightly, still wary of Thom. But I think maybe Thom has a point. Maybe it's better to do something than just trying to survive. I realized that's why the war keeps on going. We're all trying to survive for ourselves, we stop trying to figure out how to help others survive too.