Out of Trouble

That little girl, daughter of the blacksmith, had more energy than I gave her credit for... Only now, at the end of the day, with the sun almost hiding behind the horizon, the girl grew too tired and fell asleep with the fox in her arms...

The fox wasn't ready for that either, it seemed like he had a lot of fun, but halfway through he was already exhausted and I had to play with her while he rested. Can't say I hated it, though, I did have some fun... Perhaps it was really worth wasting my time with this.

On our way out of the blacksmith, he warned us that it would take a few days until the armor and sword had been completely adjusted and sharpened, so he warned us to go back in four or so days... It was before the Moon of Carus, luckily.

"Let's go back to that valley with the fireflies...", I said to the fox once we were out. "It looks like a deserted place, it will be safer to sleep there".

The fox agreed with me and so we walked out of the little town... The place was already small and with very few people, but at night it got even worse. It was a dead silence through all the streets, it was almost as if something bad was about to happen... And I wasn't totally wrong...

"You thought we wouldn't find you in this small town, didn't you?", a voice came from a nearby alley, close to the city's gate.

"Look... Just leave me alone, I never told anyone anything about you"

"It doesn't matter what you said, or rather, what you didn't say. But the rules we told you are important. We warned you about what happens if you abandoned us, didn't we? Now face the consequences!"

A scream of pain came right after what the voice said... It couldn't be anything good, were they torturing people? I couldn't just stay there doing nothing, so I walked into the alley, seeing two men with knives, a man with a sword, and a young-looking guy with a wound on the stomach.

"Umm... Excuse me, what's happening here?", I asked them without even thinking twice. It was maybe the dumbest thing I could have done in this situation, mainly when my sword is currently not with me, but the blacksmith.

"Mind your own business... But if you insist to see", the guy with the sword said, gesturing for the other two armed men to step aside, letting me approach and see the wounded guy more clearly.

"Sounds like I will have to call the authorities...", I said. That was probably the second dumbest thing I did, I should just have stayed quiet.

"Why don't you just walk away in silence and stay out of trouble?"

"Well...". I took a minute to look at my surroundings and prepare a plan.

"Alright... I am going away...", I said and, by the wrist, I pulled the guy with me to out of the alley, running the fastest I could.

"Hey! Come back here!", they shouted and ran after us.

We had a distance advantage since they were not expecting me to do anything, but the wound on the guy's stomach, as well as the four loaves of bread I was carrying, didn't help much. Without thinking much, I got a part of one of the loaves, gave the guy, and while he was eating, I picked up his shoulder bag to myself, putting the four loaves inside it. It was strangely light and large enough for all the four loaves, while it was also empty.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, I return to you once we defeat them!", I said to him and kept running, turning towards the gate and then running away from the city.

The three men were still chasing us, but they were now far behind. The bread had helped the guy's wound to close and the loaves on the bag helped me to run better...

At the first tree that I saw after I losing sight of the three men, I climbed it up, the fox going ahead and I after it, later offering my hand to help the guy to climb last. Hidden between the leaves, we waited up there while the three men stopped running just under the tree.

"Damn, they escaped". One of them said. Though it was a moment I should be relieved, I was almost sure that this wasn't the end... If the three men managed to find this guy when he was in this small city, what would stop them from chasing us three later? I needed to give them a lesson and show my skills.

I jumped from the tree right over the one carrying a sword, sending him to the floor while I stole his sword to fight properly. As an extra, I used the handle of the sword to knock out the guy before he could do anything else, letting me alone with the other two men. They were afraid, apparently, and retreated a little, but quickly were ready to fight back... They seemed confident now, probably because I was outnumbered here, but much for their demise, I wasn't really alone.

Seconds after I stared at the two, the guy jumped together with the fox, each of them getting one of the men. The guy missed the men, but he still managed to act by kicking the men before he could attack, sending him to me. Disoriented, he almost dodged my sword, but his arm ended with a cut anyway, finalized by a punch on his stomach that made him fall on the floor in pain.

The last one was trying to get the fox out of his head, but the fear of cutting himself when attempting to attack it made him only use his hands to pull it off. But the fox was smart and fast, the men couldn't hold him...

Taking the chance, I approached and gave him a sweep kick, sending him to the floor like the others while the fox jumped from his head to my shoulder during the fall.

With one of the guys knocked out and the other two on the floor, I gestured for them that I would be watching if they plotted anything else... If they got what I mean, I wonder, but I just left them there and walked away with the fox and the guy following me.

"Oh, that was amazing! You knocked them down as if they were insects! You have so much skill!", the guy started to say as soon as we were away from the three men. He seemed to be overly excited about my battle performance.

"Umm... Thank you...", I said and started to take my loaves from out of the shoulder bag to return it to him.

"I wanted to be someone like that, you know? But instead, I only got into trouble... Their boss sent them, I was taken to this alley..."

"Their boss...?"

"Yeah, they are part of a crime organization I took part in once. You know who are they, right? A part of this organization, the 'Red Arrows', was responsible to go after me....".

I sighed a little once I heard that familiar name... I knew that organization way too well, the other two parts of it and the "Red Arrows" themselves composed most of the criminals I faced when serving the Coventry Kingdom... And now, I just got myself in trouble by defeating those three men they sent. The organization as a whole would try to chase me down now, I am sure of it.

"Well, we should part ways then... It's probably harder for them to find us both if we're separated", I suggested to him and gave him the shoulder bag back. As a bonus, I gave him the sword of one of the three men.

"But... But-"

"There's no 'but', just go away", I said and he shook his head to the sides.

"No... We should stay together, I can fight too! We would be stronger if they happen to find us", he shouted.

"Are you sure? I am not exactly the person you'd want to walk wi-"

"I will go, okay?", he interrupted me. "Independent of what you say and who you are, I know you can and will protect me, mainly after what you did"

To be honest, I guess he was right about that. I couldn't deny that I would protect and jump into protecting him just like I did at that alley and just like I did with the fox at the forest.

"Okay, hurry along then. But you will have to help me and I will stay with this", I said, getting the shoulder bag back from him and he, without even giving a thought to my words, agreed... I wonder if he is always reckless like that, this might be more trouble than helpful.