Out of range

It was his first time waking up standing. He was in the middle of the living room, fairly lost while Meryl orbited akin to a tornado around him. She was speaking but none of her words reached his brain.

"I should've never done that, you're too young and fragile to be left alone. Hands up young man!" She said as Oswald dizzily obeyed.

The contact of his skin with the water woke him up little by little. Meryl had two water bucket with a cloudy liquid inside, her apron was as dirty as Tina's and so was her body.

When he opened his mouth to utter a word, he smelled his own breath, a scent that could awaken the dead. Nevertheless the air that escaped his throat allowed words to form. "Are you hurt?"

Gasp! "Ozzy? You're with me? I'm so glad! Can you not move around? Right, stand still, and give me your clothes. All of them, including your underpants pretty please."

Her hands touched his forehead, she wasn't sure of what she was looking for. "No! Don't walk around!" She pleaded. Oswald wanted to sit or lean down. But Meryl prevented him from moving, though she allowed him to move aside from the entrance door to close it.

She threw a towel that landed on his pale and indifferent face, he had yet to realise he was drenched in blood. His hair stuck to his forehead, his ears were obstructed by the liquid and every part of his body was sticky.

"Add two logs to the fire and stay in front of it." She hurried to say while leading him to the chimney.

Once he managed to get a hold of himself, he staggered while his mother kept washing his body. He stared at the strong flames in front of them, his clothes ended up in it.

While Meryl brushed the floor to erase every traces on the wood, Oswald shook in fear.

'Why?' He asked himself.

'Why can't anything improve without backlash?'

It was no use trying to remember every events of the past night, the cow head on the living room's counter said it all. 'It was preferable to have wild animals, now problems will rain from the sky.'

By the time she finished, her son was still quivering and sobbing, looking at the flames in deep concern. Meryl brought him clothes because he hadn't moved without her accompanying him. "It's okay my dear. It's fine. You're not hurt and neither am I."

'Hurt? Am I hurt? All of the pain I felt is gone. For now. I don't want it to increase. I can't bear this...' He thought, a bit of the morning light entered his sight.

He was stressed and adressed Meryl with a reproacheful tone. "You can't keep ignoring it. Mother, you just cleaned a puddle of nightmares. How many times did you happen to clean my mess before? Was it every time I went outside? There's no telling what can happen every time I go out. I can't refrain myself from venturing outside. The whole area calls me for adventure. You can't do as if nothing happened!"

Their eyes met. The persistent doubts in the boy's heart kept his heart rate fast as his widened eyes filled with his monstrous traits seriously disturbed his mother's speech.

"And what can I do?" She painstackingly replied. "What in the world a mother is supposed to do when this happens? You can't imagine how hard it is for me to stay calm. You can't say I'm not trying. I won't blame you for what's happening, ever! So please, calm down, take a deep breathe and go wash your head."

The love of his mother reassured him, although he had plenty to worry about, he managed to quieten a little. In the water bucket, he saw a mess. He stuck his head in it, checking if he could breathe in water as well.

Cough cough.

'It's just another day.' He thought.

He went downhill with his herd. He stared at the moon, nearly full. The constant tint of the animal's bells kept his mind busy. He saw three men approaching, all of them had a bow on their back and heavy cloaks to cover their shoulders. None of their face was known to Oswald.

They came next to him. By looking at their outfit, he noticed he lacked proper protection against the harsh temperatures, because he was wearing a long sleeved shirt and a simple pant, he caught their attention.

After they commented on it, the tallest one asked. "Are you Oswald Bendis?"

"I am."

Their rejoice manifested with a smile on their face. "Perfect! We want you to join our group. There has been an attack last night. A pack of wolves attacked the southern farm and one of its cow was eaten."

"Why?" Was Oswald's only question, but its meaning wouldn't be comprehended by the strangers.

One stepped forward, he had a square head and long hair tied at the back of his head. "I heard from my little Ugo that you were a hunter. The more we are, the better it'll be. Have you ever used a bow?"

"No. I throw knives." He said, throwing his pocket knife on the closest tree around. Even though he wasn't devoted to the task, he made a perfect shot, it landed right at the center of the trunk, seven meters farther.

"Hah!" The first one laughed. He patted the third and gave a head signal.

The third, short-haired, bent his arc and shot toward the forest.

About a hundred meter farther, Oswald's eye caught the sinking arrow. 'Wow.' He thought. Now wanting to try, he observed the bow, its fine woodworking made it a deadly weapon. As for the arrows, the bunch they had in their quiver bag had a metal head and black feathers.

Passing down the weapon to the boy, they wanted to test or tease him a little, they had never heard of a hunter without a ranged weapon.

The three hunters had a good laugh seeing Oswald figure out how to wield it properly, that until it broke under his strong pull.

Crack!

"Sorry."

"That's fine, I've got plenty at home." Said the man with long hair.

"You mentioned Ugo, are you Tina's husband?"

"Yes indeed."

Oswald's smirked for a second. "I can work with you but I need one day to unsure my mother's safety, she is suffering from severe fever episodes."