3 A Father's Valour

[19th August, 1917, Forest Of Tats, Annarack, Nao]

It was dawn. The carriage swooped through the jungle, Natria in the back with the children sleeping. It was quiet. The only noises were those of twigs and wood crushed along the way. Flohelm and Nocus were in the front, navigating through the dense Forest of Tats. The silence was haunting, forest never goes quiet unless it had something to fear.

"Four more hours from now, we will reach the Karsen district, we may be the first of many survivors." Nocus said in a nonchalant voice.

"Do you think there would them at the border?" Flohelm questioned, his voice devoid of any emotions.

"Presumably yes, there are quite a lot of Farookhs in Nao, even though we are a minority, they might plan to seal the borders." Nocus replied.

"But I guess the government is working its way to lead us out of this mess. I still wonder why would they do this?" Nocus said in a thoughtful voice.

"Whom do you mean by 'they'?" questioned Flohelm.

"Everyone, the Narachs, the Chancellor, all their actions make little to no sense." Nocus replied in frustration.

"Yeah, why would they target us? I don't remember hearing anything about deporting Narachs in the Chancellor's announcement." Flohelm replied, his voice started showing traces of confusion.

"Some fanatic motherfucker must have spread rumours and now we pay the price of their deeds; my wife is no longer with me." Nocus punched the outer side of carriage in frustration.

The sudden noise broke Natria's slumber.

"Honey? Is everything alright?" she asked, her voice reflecting her concerns.

"Nothing, honey! It's just me and Nocus. I hope the children are all okay." Flohelm replied.

"Yes they are, all of them are asleep. I'm sorry I couldn't be of anymore help." Natria said.

"Don't apologise, take rest. It is still four hours since we reach the borders." Flohelm reassured her.

Natria obliged and returned to her slumber, Martin and Lucas by her side and Barchen neatly tugged, sleeping in her arms.

"I heard stories of bandits in the forest. Do you think they are true?" Flohelm questioned.

"Heh, you rich lads, are hilarious. They aren't stories of unicorns, those are cases of bandits. Of course they are real." Nocus replied.

Flohelm remained silent, his face developed an expression of tension and concern.

"Don't worry, I doubt they would waste their time on run-aways like us." Nocus tried to reassure him.

The carriage ran through jungle, nosies of the horses filling the surrounding.

Suddenly, a thick rope emerged from the ground. Nocus was caught by surprise, he tried to control the horses but was too late. The horses, unable to stop, carried on with momentum; tripping over the rope. The carriage toppled sideways. Flohelm and Nocus fell first, they rolled along the dirt road for a couple of seconds before coming to a stop. Bruises and cuts covered their face and arm.

"Natria, no!" he screamed as the carriage crashed onto a nearby tree, its two branches collapsing on the roof.

Flohelm ran towards the carriage. He prayed to his gods for their safety. Nocus lay still on the road, his vision was blurry but he could still make out his friends running towards the carriage. With all his strengths he got up, he could feel the blood trickling town his cheek, the smell of iron filling his nose. He ignored it and followed his friend.

"Natria, are you okay?" Flohelm shouted at the top of his lungs upon reaching the voice.

"Are the children okay? Please speak something!" he cried.

Upon hearing no voices, he sat by the side, mourning at his loss.

"Flohelm..Flohelm...FLOHELM!" a voice came from within.

Flohelm jumped in surprise.

"Natria? Honey? Are you still there?" he cried.

"Yes, I'm here. Barchen is safe. What was the crash?" Natria replied, confused of what had happened.

"How's Martin and Lucas?" he asked.

"They are also-" Natria stopped, something interrupted her.

Seconds later, sounds of puking were coming from the inside. She screamed.

"Honey? What happened? Why are puking? What happened to Martin and Lucas? Are they okay? Why did you scream?" Flohelm asked, the adrenaline rising higher and higher with his body.

"Help me! Please take me out of here. Oh, Martin and Lucas, how could this happen!" she cried.

By now, Nocus has reached the carriage. Flohelm froze upon seeing his friend.

"Nocus, your eye, it's bleeding!" Flohelm cried in shock.

"What?" Nocus asked, confused. He touched his face with the palm of his hand only to find blood all over it, the adrenaline was subduing the pain. But there were other important issues to consider. Flohelm's wife was trapped inside the carriage, he had to save her. He quickly grabbed the branches collapsed on the carriage, trying to remove them. It wouldn't budge. Flohelm thought of another idea. He quickly ran to the nearby tree, bringing another heavy branch. Using the nearby rock as fulcrum, he signalled Nocus to help him. Nocus obliged. With their strength, the braches were lifted. Though they weren't just branches they lifted, there was fresh blood stained upon the wood. Moment later Natria emerged from the carriage with Barchen in her arms. She ran towards her husband, hugging him tightly bawling her eyes out.

"They..They..They.." she sobbed.

"What happened Natria, where are Martin and Lucas?" Nocus asked in a concerning voice. He had used a handkerchief to cover his bleeding eye.

Natria was shocked to see Nocus, but alas, what she witnessed was far more traumatic. She fell onto his legs, apologising and crying at the same time.

"I'm sorry Nocus, I couldn't..I couldn't.. I couldn't." she sobbed.

"What are you saying, Natria? Where are Martin and Lucas?" he asked, as if it was a joke.

Flohelm with his heart in his throat looked inside the carriage; what he saw made him wish he hadn't. Infront of him was Martin, his neck twisted unnaturally, his nose face smashed against a large rock. He couldn't dare to turn him over. Beside him sat Lucas, blood splattered all across his clothes, coming straight out of his mouth. He couldn't take it anymore and retreated. Outside, Natria was still apologising, but Nocus refused to believe it. Flohelm approached him, with a deep breathe he whispered into his ears in a voice full of despair, "They are dead."

"Heh, see I told you you rich folk are hilarious. Tell me, they are sleeping, right?" Nocus replied.

"Nocus, listen to me." Flohelm pleaded.

"They are sleeping, right? Let me get them. Boys, wake up." he shouted. He tried to move towards the carriage, but Flohelm stopped him.

"Hey, Flohelm, what are you doing? Let me wake em' up." he said.

"Hey, let me go. Why aren't you letting me see them? Let me see them!" he cried.

"They are dead Nocus, they aren't in this world anymore!" Flohelm shouted.

"The realisation hit Nocus like a truck, his feet became weak and tears fell down like a waterfall. He pushed Flohelm away and ran towards the carriage, he couldn't believe it, he couldn't accept it. He couldn't keep his promise, he couldn't keep them safe. Like a madman, he started banging his head on the trunk of a tree. Flohelm ran to stop him, but he couldn't. The man had lost the will to continue.

"What better is left of me in this world? My wife, my children all are gone, there is no point left in escaping. I should just let them kill me so I can be reunited with them." he cried.

"No, we can't do that. Get up man, I understand, but we need to escape-" Flohelm tried to explain but was interrupted by a scream; it was Natria. Flohelm turned his head towards her. There in the distance, she stood with two figures. No, she didn't stand there, she was restrained, her hands twisted behind her back as the other figure held a bag of some kind in his hand; it was Barchen!

Flohelm left Nocus and ran towards Natria, the two figures seemed to have realised that, they started conversing loudly.

"Quite a catch, dont'cha think?" one of them scoffed.

"Certainly, she does posses some delicious features." the other grinned in a perverted manner.

"I envy the chief, he be fucking all those new captives while we have nothing but old sluts." another remarked.

"It's only an offence, if he finds ya." said the other, licking his lips in a perverted manner.

The man moved his hands towards Natria's chest, almost groping her, when Flohelm screamed, "I'll fucking kill ya, if you lay a single finger on my wife and child."

The men started laughing, "What would you do?" the men mocked.

"We just wanted to confirm that they were your kin." they laughed.

"Why?" Flohelm asked, terror and confusion seizing his body.

"This sucka' is too dumb, we are fuckin' bandits of the Tats; what do ya expect?" the bandit scoffed.

"I don't understand." Flohelm replied.

The bandit grabbed the lower half of Natria's dress, before Flohelm's very eyes, the fabric tore. Natria tried to hide her legs, but the bandit just twisted her arm even more. Natria groaned in pain, the bandits savouring every moment of her pain.

"Why you!" Flohelm raged as he attacked the bandits, but stopped.

"Ah, Ah!" the bandit motioned with Barchen in his hand.

"One step and the little fella is past, you understand!" he scolded.

"Now let's get back to our business." the other bandit said, grabbing Natria's cheeks.

Flohelm was helpless, he was seeing his wife get molested before his very eyes. He cursed himself.

When it appeared, all hope was lost, a stone came flying, hitting the bandit straight on his skull knocking him over.

"Who is there?" the other bandit roared.

But before he could realise, a branch came flying, smacking him straight on his face.

"What a weak blow?" the bandit scoffed.

Soon he started feeling itches all over his face, he tried scratching them for relief, but they got more intense. Barrage of stones followed, hitting the bandit on various parts of his body. Flohelm, quickly, snatched away Barchen from the bandit. As the bandits groaned in pain, Flohelm saw his saviour as his eyes focused. It was Nocus!

He held a long branch in his hand, he shouted, "Run!"

The bandit had already blown the horn, many bandits appeared from the right of the road. One of them lunged at Natria, but Flohelm smashed the bandit's face with a boulder. Another tried to attract Flohelm with a dull round blade, Flohelm tried to dodge but the surprise attack caught him off guard, causing him to lose balance.

CLECH!

There was the sound of flesh being cut, smell of iron filled the air, Flohelm opened his eyes, he was fine. Infront of him was Nocus, the branch piercing straight out of the bandit's stomach. He had blocked the blade with his arms; the blade was still there but its caster long gone.

Nocus said it again, "RUN!"

"What about you? Flohelm protested.

"I can't let my children see me as a coward. I will protect them here, together with them. After all, this is their father's valour." Nocus answered.

Flohelm didn't say a word, he grabbed Natria's hand and ran to the left of the road, deep into the jungle. His last parting words to his friend, "You truly are a noble father! Manliest of the men! Greatest of the greats!"