“So, Airic,’ Thrash broke out once they had travelled deep into the trees, ‘I hope I did not separate you and Haul in the midst of something important.”
“No” Airic answered. Though the thought of Haul’s mangled face did invoke some laughter.
“What is this about?”
Thrash looked at him and sighed sadly. “Your sister needs someone right now.”
Airic didn’t understand what Thrash meant.
“Angela?” He asked shakily. “If that’s the case then I think you’re the one who should go instead of me.” He said, wanting to pass the buck onto Thrash. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to see his sister. But he knew that if he went, he’d probably end up doing something stupid to worsen the situation.
Thrash scratched at his dirty eye patch, “I can’t. Right now Angela needs her brother, more than anyone else. It’s my fault, I guess. I failed to realise that your sister…well, she can be a little touchy.”
Airic’s legs froze. “What do you mean, ‘touchy’?”
“I’ll let you find that out for yourself.” The barbarian spoke cryptically, pointing somewhere faraway in the trees. Airic didn’t know why but he sensed something wrong. His feet instantly broke into a run as he cruised along the thicket in search of his sister.
Trampling the grass under his feet, he rushed into the direction Thrash had pointing. And even though he tried his best to suppress it, fear had started crawling into his mind. If anything had happened to his sister…No!
Leaving Thrash far behind, he ran through the trees, arriving somewhere deep in the forest. Not knowing where to search, he carefully listened for a sound. But apart from the wind breezing on his face there was none. Finally, he cupped his hands together and called out his sister’s name.
“Angela!” He yelled.
“Angela!” He called again but there was still no answer. Airic was about to let his voice resound again but-
“What?” Angela quipped, sitting right to his side, mere feet away from him. “I do have ears, you know!” She retorted.
Airic thought of a snide remark to be even with his sister but her small shrunken face made him reluctant to do so. He could see that Angela was suckling on a large cache of hair, which was usually a sign that something was either wrong, she was nervous or she’d spilled something sweet over her hair. It was just a matter of guesswork. In the present situation, however, Airic could safely discount two of those.
“What’s wrong?” He asked as gently as he could.
“Nothing.” She replied briskly to his inquiry.
Airic took no notice of her words. He knew that she was lying, partly because he knew her very well and partly because her eyes had puffed up the size of two large nuggets. But still he said nothing. Over the long years Airic had developed a basic strategy for approaching Angela. It involved just two simple steps: Step one was to get her to talk, somehow, by any means necessary. Step two was even simpler…to shut up and let nature take its course (Angela’s nature that is!). With these two simple straightforward steps, success was guaranteed. Already he had completed step one, now the only thing left was step number two.
Throwing his back against the tree, Airic slid unnoticed next to his sister.
From there on it was a matter of wits. Both of them said nothing, gazing only at the swaying grass in front of them. For quite a while this went on until-
“Thrash is a pig.” Angela blurted out.
Airic silently yelled a cry of triumph and asked casually.
“So, what did Thrash-”
“Don’t talk to me about him!” She snapped. “I don’t want to speak about that pig.”
Judging by Angela’s frequent use of the word ‘pig’, Airic tried to wonder what Thrash might have done to so ruefully annoy Angela.
Both of them sat silently, waiting in the cold darkness. The silence was really starting to crawl on his nerves but just as Airic was about to open his mouth, something flashed among the bushes. By the time he could focus on what it was, it had already disappeared.
“What happened?” Angela asked, following his gaze into the bushes.
“No…nothing. I just-”
“-Thought you saw someone?” Angela completed the sentence for him.
Airic stared at his sister. “Yeah, that’s right.”
His sister smiled meekly. “I get that a lot. And every single time I think that it’s Uncle Dataron.”
Airic was surprised at his sister’s words. “Why didn’t you tell this to me before?”
“I tried but, well, you always seemed a bit…aloof, you know. So I told Thrash. I guess that was a big mistake.”
“A mistake? Why?”
Angela buried her head amongst her feet. “You don’t want to know”
“Angela, look at me and tell me what he said.” Airic ordered his sister.
His sister took in a deep breath, “Thrash…he told me to forget about uncle Dataron.”
“HE-WHAT?” Airic screamed.
Forget about their uncle! Their uncle! Unspeakable words erupted in Airic’s mind. Everything started to make sense. So this was the reason Thrash had sent him here…the rotten git!
“What exactly did he say to you?” He asked, solemnly.
Angela thought about it. “He told me some things about not living in the past and also things like moving on and such.’ She spoke in a voice that was growing increasingly wobbly.
Looking at her brother, he spoke in a hush tone. “Airic please…please tell me what to do.”
Angela’s eyes started puffing up again. Miniature drops, like small crystals, fell from her eyes. Her breath was short and her body had started trembling. Airic immediately rushed to his sister’s aid, consoling her as best he could. But there was only one problem…he himself was in dual minds!
Hugging his sister in his arms, he thought of what to say. But what was he to tell her? How could he ask her to forget about the one person who had cared for them all their lives? Was he to tell her to forget all those memories they had shared, good and bad? Or was he to tell her not to…not to let those memories go and live all her life engrossed in the past? To forever be sunk in that emptiness created by uncle Dataron’s abrupt departure? What in the world was he to tell her?
Airic looked into his sister’s swelled up eyes and took a deep breath.
“It’s all right, Angela. It’s all right to hold on to someone you love, even after they’re gone. That person has been a part of your life and it’s understandable if you don’t wish to let go, if you want to continue cherishing those moments. It shows your love and affection for that person. But that doesn’t mean that you never stop living out of those moments. You have to realise that you have a whole life ahead of you, a life with new moments, new memories and new dreams. It doesn’t mean that you love that person any less, it just means that you’re strong enough to go on. It means that you’re willing to hold yourself up and face everything ahead, just like everyone who loves you, wants you to. Scratching a wound again and again doesn’t help it to heal. The person you’re doing this for, the one you care about, wouldn’t want you to be lost in the past. He wouldn’t want you to forget to live. He would want you to go on living. So I guess it’s all right...it’s all right to smile.”
Angela looked at her brother through her moist eyes and smiled. Throwing her hands around him, she latched onto him, squeezing him with all her might. (Airic had a glaring suspicion that she simply wanted to wipe off on him) She clutched on and in just a matter of minutes, her breath returned to normal as she quietly drifted into an innocent sleep. Airic gazed at his sister for a long while before finally deciding to join her himself.
It was easy to think that the bark of a tree would make an uncomfortable bed, but at the time Airic felt as if that there could be no cosier place. His eyes instantly shut themselves as he was dragged away far away from all the confusion of the past. But fate, as it seemed, was not ready to let him have his peace.
A few hours into the slumber, Haul’s heavy frame burst out from the bushes, throwing them into upheaval. Both brother and sister were shattered awake as the big man thundered along the earth. At Airic’s instance, Haul pulled out his sword and pointed it straight to his face.
“Don’t move.” He barked gruffly at Airic. At first Airic thought it to be a joke, thinking that Haul was still engrossed with matter of the scabbard, but it was not so. Brawl then turned, with his back towards them and held his sword in front of him, pointing the weapon towards the bushes, as if anticipating something. His ears actually twitched at every sound.
Next to Airic, Angela stirred slowly. “What’s happening?” She asked, dazed to all the noise erupting around her. Airic didn’t know what to tell her and so asked the same question to Haul.
For a while, Haul said nothing. But then his body slowly relaxed a bit and he spoke in a soft, watchful voice.
“We’re not alone here. There’s someone else in the woods.”
“Who’s in the woods?”
Haul shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know that. But we just saw another campsite. It was deserted but looked as if somebody was keeping a watch on us.”
Airic mind snapped aware. They were being watched! And right now the person could be anywhere, waiting amongst the thicket.
“Where’s Thrash and Brawl?” He asked shakily.
“-Gone. Brawl jumped into the bushes and Thrash went after –Arghhhh!”
Preceded by a sharp ‘thud’, Haul yelled out a coarse groan and collapsed onto the ground. The huge man dropped onto the earth, lying motionless. And from the darkness behind him, came the crackling sound of leaves being crushed and a faint figure emerged out, shrouded in deep blood red cloak. Pointing a thin long sword towards the duo, the man smiled callously.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this…Airic.”