so early in the morning. He figures that maybe they got attacked yesterday and needed the night to recuperate before they continue the battle. He knows that the guards must’ve been doing things differently since the previous night if they are already done preparing for a fight with the rebels. It makes sense to Hugo; it must’ve been late at night. If it hadn’t been for the sound of gunfire, Hugo might’ve gone out to check what happened to the bandits who attacked them yesterday. It seems strange to him that the bandits wouldn’t want to risk themselves in the middle of an ongoing rebellion to help a bunch of kids who barely even made it out of their town alive. Maybe the bandits weren’t so bad. Maybe he shouldn’t judge these people based on the way they were living in their village and he should just focus on his mission to take care of the bandits so that his friends will be safe, including Javier. Still, the feeling of guilt doesn’t go away, even after Hector walks away from him and disappears into the night.
“What did you think, Hugo? Did you learn anything new today?” Javier says when he arrives shortly afterwards, a small smile playing on his lips. He places his hands on his hips and shakes his head.
Hugo shrugs as he replies “I learned some things about the bandits, but none that actually help me save the day.” He sighs as he sits down against the large stone wall surrounding the clearing in exhaustion. Javier sits down besides him and crosses his legs, resting his elbows on his knees.
“That sounds like a bad thing. How does one become proficient in the skills required to defeat bandits when they are as skilled as you?” Javier questions and smiles softly when he catches Hugo looking at him in confusion. “Don’t you want to save the day when your job involves being able to defend yourself? Do you enjoy killing them?” He questions curiously and reaches over to gently poke his friend in the arm while laughing slightly, “Of course, you do. Who doesn’t want to win every time you fight?”
Hugo huffs as he pushes Javier's hand away playfully. “Well… no. I mean I’m not a good enough fighter to defeat the best and toughest bandits. Plus I know that they’re going to try to catch me off guard when they come at me.” He explains and pauses to think for a moment before continuing, “Besides, killing the bandits isn’t something I do to be successful. I have an entire crew I’m supposed to look out for.” Hugo pauses. “I don’t have an excuse to kill them…”
Javier watches him carefully as he talks, his brow furrowed slightly. After a moment he speaks quietly, “Is that what you think is happening here? That you aren’t good enough for a job like this?”
“It could be.” Hugo mutters angrily.
Javier lets out another long sigh. He rubs the back of his neck with his hands for a moment. “Look, I’m not saying that this is all just some elaborate plan to try and make the other bandits think that you killed them. What we found out from the prisoners wasn’t all fake either. The bandits that attacked us had a lot of supplies on them and that kind of makes the whole situation even stranger. So, whatever is happening is definitely bigger than any of you.”
A silence passes between the two of them as both of them ponder the possibilities. Neither one of them has ever met anyone who was captured by bandits before. Even now, they have only seen two of these people. One was in their village and the other had just arrived yesterday. There is no way these men have the resources to capture everyone they want.