Two Brothers

Chapter 1

Young Orion smiled with glee as he ran through the tall grass that surrounded his home. The woods nearby didn't look as scary during the day as it did during the night, at times he thought he would hear yelling from the depths of the darkness. He would sink further into his bed and pull the blanket over his head.

The home was built by his father and older brother, Magnus. Orion was too young to help at the time but his father promised that there would be future houses he could help build. The town was still being built so there was definitely plenty to keep everyone busy.

The boy jumped when he heard yelling from the woods, he had told his father and brother once. Their father went to investigate and came back a few hours later, telling the two to ignore the yelling. There was nothing they could do.

Even though he was scared something told Orion to go to the edge of the woods. Taking a deep breath and puffing out his chest the child went to investigate.

Orion slowly made his way deeper into the forest. The boy knew that if his father caught him out here he was in serious trouble. Despite knowing that, Orion continued forward determined to find the source of the yelling.

The young boy didn't know how far he had gone. Turning around, he realized he couldn't see the edge of the forest any more. Taking a deep breath, Orion turned back around and continued to walk into the forest.

The deeper he went the louder the yelling got. Soon he could see an odd structure, a tent. But this was way too big for a family to live in. Crouching low the child quietly made his way over to the tent and looked through the tattered cloth.

Inside was a rather large crowd of people, a majority of them waving money in the air. Tilting his head he could hear a series of grunts, like when he and his older brother would play-fight. Was this why his father said not to come here?

His young mind couldn't comprehend why the adults were waving money around and shouting at whoever was fighting. But this was not what he was not focused on. Young Orion quickly spotted a boy in the midst of the grown-ups, this boy looked a little older than him but younger than Magnus.

Taking a risk, Orion quietly crept towards the entryway of the large tent-like structure and snuck in. The young boy stayed in the back of the large gathering in hopes of not being spotted. Remembering about the other boy he spotted, Orion crept around people in search of the other boy. While moving around, Orion was able to catch glimpses of what was happening in the middle of the gathering.

He could see two men fighting each other, wincing when the larger man hit the other rather hard. His father always said it wasn't nice to hit people. Hearing a higher voice he turned and saw the boy from before. Did he say "Pa"?

Tilting his head he made his way to the other child. Orion could have sworn that he heard the other saying "Pa". Or was he imagining it? There was only one way to find out. Once he was behind the taller child he hesitated before tapping on his shoulder.

The taller boy jumped and quickly spun around to face Orion, eyes wide in shock. He shook his head a bit to clear the shock before grabbing Orion's hand and dragging him back to the entrance, not glancing back once. Soon, they both exited and the taller boy let go of Orion before speaking.

"What are you doing here? You aren't supposed to be here," the boy said quietly, even though no one was going to hear the two. "Go back where you came from. This isn't a place for a little boy like you."

Orion let out a soft sound of surprise as the taller child led him back outside. Furrowing his brow he looked at the boy in confusion.

"But, you're here," he countered softly. "And I don't remember the way back home," he added sheepishly while looking back to the woods. He had a feeling that his father would be home now from his work and his brother was probably looking for him.