My giant of a father, with an expression he never shows me, proceeds to attack the men in front of us, and following behind him, others try to help. The fighting goes on, but as expected, with the exception of a few of us, including my father, the rest of the people go down easily.
As their swords hit the bodies of everyone we see their blood fly, around, and it is a horrible sight. Holding my brother, I stand there frozen in shock, but then my father says, "Both of you grab the children and run."
These words unfreeze me and I say, "But what about you!"
"It doesn't matter, just leave!"
Swords swing towards my father's arms, but he is able to block the attack. Since my father has a bull as his animal, his muscles are quite a bit thicker than others.
But then, Hubert moves towards my father, and with two quick slashes he leaves a carve on my father's chest which causes him to drop to the floor, then moments later Hubert steps on his head, and says, "Is this all you people got?"
Me and my brother's bodies move without us being able to stop ourselves, and we head over to stop our father from being stepped on. We grab onto Hubert's foot and try to move it off.
He sighs and says, "You're both annoying."
Then with his foot, he steps on us, trying to knock us away, but we still hold on to protect our father.
ΦSeeing the scene in front of him play out, Andrew tries to crawl over. But as he does, he hears, "I wouldn't try that, it won't work out."
Crouching beside him, he sees one of the two boys who stayed in the tavern the night before. Looking at me, the boy says, "Even though the big man over there made sure to give you a bunch of free drinks and take you home, why did you decide to go over to attack them?"
I am unable to speak properly, so with no teeth in my mouth, I muffle, "I was angry, and I just wanted to get back at them. But I didn't want this, I didn't want everyone to be hurt."
"Well, that is just a shame, isn't it, because now everyone is going to die without even living half their lives. Very few things are as funny as this. But I bet that is the best a whimpering coward like you could come up with," The boy says while laughing.
Hearing the boys' laughter echo throughout my mind, I feel my body trembling in anger and humiliation. I have truly been made into a laughing stock.
But then I see it, Hubert's sword ready to pierce Fergal, who has moved his body to protect his two kids. Getting up, I run and end up running into Hubert, who quickly counters with a kick to the stomach.
Not wasting an opportunity, Fergal punches Hubert directly in the face, and following up, he is stabbed by Ibar and kicked in the balls by Laeg.
"FUCK!" Hubert screams. Staring at everyone in front of him, he says, "I am sick of all of you; everyone attacks."
Suddenly, all of the other men who have been dealing with others come and attack me and the O' Gearóidín family. But then, in front of all of us, we see new scenery.
Then we hear, "I thought you all were a bunch of cowards, but it seems there are some balls on the lot of you, how exciting."
Φ In front of me, I see one of the two hooded boys, but I can tell just from his voice that he is the one who was always asleep.
Getting up, he turns around and takes off his hood, and I see a young boy around our age with silver hair and golden eyes. The animal he has is some form of wolf, and in his hands is a spear made from pure metal.
Then, behind us, I hear from the other boy, "Please don't break more things than these brutes already have."
"Yes, yes, mother, I will listen."
"Make sure you do Setanta."
Φ Holding onto my sword, I look at the young boy named Sétanta walk up close to me and my men. Grinning, I say, "I know you have had a soon forced fed to you all your life, you noble brat, but this is the real world and I don't feel like going easy today."
Ignoring me, he starts to throw his spear into the air and catches it repeatedly, then he says, "I would like to make this fun for me, so for every time one of you manages to clash your fangs or weapons manage to clash against my spear, I will give one of you an opportunity."
Annoyed, I say, "An opportunity to what?"
With a smile, he says, "To beg for your life, silly." He catches the spear he had been throwing up into the sky, and moments later, I see the spear right in front of my eyes.
Φ Feeling the blood splatter on my cheek, I see that the Setanta has put his spear right through the boss's head, and before any of us can react to this, he has already moved on to his next target.
Before any of us had moved, 5 of us had already fallen. By the time the first one of us swung our weapons at him, 15 had fallen, and by the time I swung my sword, 30 had fallen.
Φ In front of me, I see a sight similar to that of a hundred children fighting a tiger. It is an indiscriminate slaughter. Our group is formed of around 55 warriors, an incredible amount for a common band of warriors.
Looking forward, I see that the more people who move towards him, the more blood that flows, yet despite that, I wouldn't call this anything other than beautiful.
The way that the spear moves in his hand is so careful and precise that one would think he is handling a brush. This land is the canvas, our bodies, our ink, and he is the painter. With his spear, he then moves to me to paint a picture.
Φ He continues to spill the blood of my compatriots one by one until they all fall but me. As he stares at me, I feel incredibly scared at the idea that any moment from now, I could be killed and wouldn't even notice, that any agency I had in my life is gone.
But then he says, "That last one actually managed to use his sword as a shield, even though I still pierced through it, I count that as a clash. So I grant you permission, beg for your life."
Suddenly, a tense sense of hope fills my body; I need to manoeuvre this well or else I am dead. I slam my head into the ground and say, "I will do whatever you say for the rest of my life. I have numerous connections due to my current job, and I can connect you with men who will do whatever you ask for the right price. That is just the start of the many gifts I offer."
I look up and see he is making a rather annoyed face. "Do you think someone of my stature lacks something that you have?"
I force my head back into the ground and say, "No, that is not what I mean. You are far greater than I; I was presumptuous. But I am rather skilled in many things, so having me as a friend or pet isn't a bad idea."
From the ground, the boy picks up my head and then crouches down to look me in the eye and says, "You are pathetic. If you are willing to humiliate yourself so much, does your life even have value?"
Seeing the unforgiving look that he is giving me, I say without holding back, "I am a member of the Tuatha Dé Dannan, I have fought in numerous battles for our glorious Empire. Our people's numbers have been damaged over the years and have finally started to recoup, yet you would kill us based on your whims. You are nothing but a fool who stands opposed to Louernia."
He puts his hands over my mouth and says, "The people are the most important part of Louernia and killing them for personal grievances is the height of folly, even I know that much. Yet you and your men were about to do the same, and who knows if you have done it before? So for the sake of Louernia, die."
Losing all restraint, I say, "You demon, you are merely doing this because you want to use Louernia as a shield!"
"Of course I am, because regardless of that, this is still lawful."
With that, he pierced me through the head.
Φ Looking at Setanta surrounded by bodies, I say, "What is he?"
"A rather bothersome boy," The second boy says.
Looking at him, I see a boy whose face is riddled with freckles, he has brown hair and silver eyes. Outside of his eye colour, he looks like someone one could find on any street, but his aura is something special.
"Oh, I guess I never said what my name was. I am Ferdiad, and we should get to work patching up all of your injuries.
-A little while later-
Location: Fergal's Tavern
Wrapping the last bandage on my body, Ferdiad says, "And with that, we are finished."
"You're rather good at this?"
"Well, I am used to keeping people from breaking. But make sure you eat the meat we brought, it will heal you up."
Ibar asks, "Is it really ok for us to eat something so high quality like this? The wonderbeast will end up within our cells."
"It is fine, and I brought that in case Setanta did something stupid and accidentally picked a fight."
Setanta, on a table surrounded by others, says, "I wouldn't do that."
"THE PAST SAYS OTHERWISE!"
"SHUT UP!"
Then someone says, "You're so strong, how did you become this way!?"
As my people stare at Setanta with glowing eyes, you can feel his ego swell, and he says, " HAHAHAHA, Alright then let us begin!"
Seeing them, I say, "He really is annoying," With a disgusting face.
"Very much so, but to me, he is also like a brother to me, so I can't do anything about it."
Staring at my brother, I say, "Yeah, I know how you feel when it comes to dealing with stupid brothers, but they do happen to be great."
"Now that we have settled all this, let's talk about what my friend and I came here to ask Miss Mistwalker."
Tensing up, I say, "Go ahead."
"Setanta family would like to hire both you and your brother to be Charioteers for his family."
"WHAT!" My brother says.
"Calm down, Ibar." Looking at Ferdiad, I say, "I am thankful for all the help you gave us, but we didn't deny Hubert just to accept the same proposal from you."
Ibar says, "I swear you people are always asking for favours without ever giving anything in return."
"If you accept my proposal, the land your village and everything within about 1000 acres of this possession will become your property, and that is if you merely fulfil the basic duties of your contract."
"What," I say, shocked. Smiling, I say, "I must have misheard you?"
"No, you didn't, and if you work harder, you and your brother could become the lords of rather large amounts of land."
"HOW!" I shout.
"The Setanta family is rather powerful, so if you work for them, you will be set for life."
Ibar says, "That is ridiculous, there must be some catch."
"Well, Setanta is rather special, and when the time comes, he will be at the head of countless battlefields, so as his charioteers, you will be facing mortal danger. I think the reward matches the benefits."
"You guys must be part of a red branch family?"
"I can neither confirm nor deny, but I say this is something that gives a fir bolg family like yours the ability to gain some actual social standing; it doesn't come along often."
As I think about this, I really understand how good this deal is, and I look to my brother, who is making a similar expression. But before we can say anything, my father slams his fist on the table and says, "I thank you for what you have done, so I will let you stay the night and serve you whatever you want to eat. But after that, go and never come near my children again."
"Daddy."
"QUIET!" he shouts. Which is something he never does.
My brother is shaken by this and just look is confusion.
My father then grabs both of us and leads us away, but as he does, Ferdiad says, "Due to our war with the eastern continent, many different Fían bands will be coming through, so I wonder if you people, by yourselves, will be able to protect the village?"
"That's none of your business," And like that, we are dragged away.