“Another one here, brother!”
Barth jumps toward us as he tries to avoid a grunt who charges at him from another room with a short sword.
I stopped from where I stood as Garth stepped in front of me, setting me aside safely. I see Barth running until he finally reaches Garth and stops behind him. Our brother, meanwhile, was already punching the poor grunt senselessly, disarming him in the process.
The grunt groans. Barth and I watch as Garth releases his grip on the poor soul. After all, Garth is only fourteen years old, no adult-sized person deserves to be beaten by someone who hasn’t reached the peak of his puberty.
But Garth isn’t just someone. I was told when he first arrived at Imelda and Howie’s doorstep, he wasn’t crying, but shouting in rage. The apothecary warned our parents that he is no normal child, but is someone who was touched by the Goddess of War herself.
“They’re not telling us where Ansel and the girls are…” Garth inspects his fists and wipes off residues of blood.
“How about asking them instead of beating them first,” Barth examines the pockets of Garth’s fallen opponent.
“Well, he was going to attack us with a sword.” I picked up the short sword from the floor.
Garth motions his hand, showing his palm to me. He wants the short sword.
“I can sense they’re near, we should go outside,” Garth said as I gave him the weapon.
“Right, we must find our way out first… Daggerhand’s mansion is huge!” Barth takes out a set of keys from one of the pockets. “This might help us.”
“We just need a window and we escape from there.” Garth walked a few steps until he reached a locked door right across where Barth jumped from.
“Well, I ain’t jumping!” I fear the height might break our legs.
Barth puts the set of keys inside his pocket, “Look, we just need to ask for directions. Ask first, punch later,” he said glancing at Garth who is about to kick a door open, “Right, brother?”
Garth, with all his might, forcefully kicked the door open causing it to shatter and fall on the floor. It made a loud noise but what was louder was the whimpering from the room. Garth steps inside and points the blade at the person cowardly hiding from us.
“You breathe from your mouth and it is too loud,” Garth menacingly stares down the poor person, “Tell us where your master is and I will think about sparing you.”
The person emerges slowly from the shadows with his hands up, trembling in fear, his small stature and poor posture reveal more of his cowardly demeanor.
“Speak!” Garth growled, pointing the blade at their neck.
“I am just a servant, sir!” he said showering in sweat, “Please, I have no involvement whatsoever!”
“We don’t care about your involvement! We need to know where your master is!” Barth shouted, ready to hit the poor servant down but I doubt that.
“Master Ansel ordered us to stay off the courtyard! M-maybe he’s there!” the servant cries.
“What are they planning, why did Ansel do this to us!” I asked as I stepped closer.
The servant appears to be in distress, “I- I don’t know! He told us never to approach the yard and just serve the mercenaries, sir!” his eyes dart around the room.
Garth lowers his blade, “Mercenaries?” his voice in disbelief, “Ansel paid mercenaries for this?”
"How many of them are there?" Barth maintains his stance, poised as if he's ready to strike with his fist.
“I- I don’t know! About fifty? They are only a small band of men…” the servant answers.
“I’ve beaten twenty-three when I escaped my cell, another twelve when I rescued you two, and fourteen just now…”
“We must be close to the courtyard.” Barth nodded in hopeful affirmation.
“Indeed, but we should be cautious. They might use that gas again and knock us up.” I stressed my concern.
“What do you know about the gas used in our home, is it some kind of alchemy?” Garth’s deep voice commands authority.
“I- I don’t know please, sir, spare me!” the servant flailed his arms, whimpering.
I stepped in closer, “Show us how to get to the courtyard. We’ve been going around this part of the house, the Daggerhand’s mansion is quite big. Will you help us?”
“O- Of course! A-anything!” the cowering servant beams with relief.
“Good,” Garth said as he turned around, dragging the sword, “Let’s go.”
“Fifty mercenaries… Twenty-three plus twelve… plus fourteen?”
I whisper to myself as I prepare to move and follow behind Garth, not minding Barth who is aiding the servant to stand up. But within my periphery, I caught a glimpse of how the seemingly trembling servant pulled a dagger from his garments and stabbed it into Barth’s chest.
“Barth!” my voice filled with terror, stunned. Garth swings his sword just as the would-be servant lunges at me.
The sword sliced off the servant’s hand, the dismembered flesh flings somewhere in the room, and our attacker screamed in anguish as he knelt in pain just inches away from us. The dagger clatters on the floor.
“Oh, you, damned kids, Oh, you, and your wretched life! You will pay for this!” the servant cried, revealing his true nature.
“You dare threaten the face who could’ve spared you,” Garth’s voice rumbles with rage.
“Brother, he’s the last one. I counted. He’s one of the mercenaries.”
I take a step back in fear, I have no fighting experience, and I would not risk our safety any further. My concern is with Barth, who remains unconscious on the floor.
“Shut up, squirt!” the servant shouted, as he removed his garment. Underneath the cloth he was wearing was a leather get-up of sorts, with small sharp blades hanging about, “You killed my men, now I shall kill you and your brothers.”
The remaining mercenary must be the captain of the band, “Brother, watch out. He must be strong!”
“I doubt it,” Garth said with confidence, “He only has one hand.”
The mercenary captain’s face contorted with seething anger, “Die, you bastard!”
Garth propels himself to the captain, his stance on the offensive.
The mercenary captain smirks, he raises his arms laterally, he is full of openings.
“Torpedo Blades!” In a surprising move, he cast a magic incantation.
At the back of my head, I was confused, why the need to announce your next move?
But the incantation worked, the sharp blades hanging on his leather armor levitated and served as projectiles swiftly launching towards Garth.
I jumped away from the proximity of the blades while covering my head, “Watch out!”
However, Garth did not steer himself away. Instead, he continued his charge.
I stood in awe at Garth’s display, his agile movements made it look easy as he dodged every small sharp blade surging towards him. The ones that missed hit a wall behind him, burying on the wooden surface.
The mercenary captain gasps, taken aback by Garth’s performance. He quickly tries to pull a dagger sheathed from his lower back.
But Garth is also fast, he effortlessly got near the captain, ready to swing his sword and end him. But, he froze and stopped just a literal inch away from his face.
I remember the day when Howie told me the night Garth accidentally awakened his mighty prowess. They call it the Fury Fever. Garth was unleashing rageful tantrums and already breaking furniture. The Goddess of War is a ruthless being, heartless for giving a three-year-old child sickness of endless fury. It may be an exaggeration of the story but it was terrifying as Howie claims.
Garth looks up to his opponent’s dumbfounded face, trembling in actual fear this time around.
“Furious smite,” Garth incanted with a raspy monotonous tone. A magical circle formed on the floor they stood, it smolders and glows with a crimson haze. A symbol of the Goddess of War rapidly flashes in two continuous seconds. I covered my eyes.
The last flash of light sent a shockwave that bursts around the room. The circle they were standing on sank.
According to Howie, when all methods failed, Imelda took it upon herself to try and tame Garth. Everybody called my brother a hopeless case and that he should be surrendered to the monastery for a perpetual cleansing. This means they will have to make Garth a priest eventually. But Imelda refused to give up Garth and with patience and motherly care, Garth calmed down the morning after.
As the last flash of light diminishes, the mercenary captain is left wide-eyed and motionless. He groans in disbelief. He staggered and fell on the floor.
As I heard a loud thud, I came forward and slowly approached Garth.
“Arys, how is Barth?” he said.
People say that Imelda and Garth performed a miracle but they didn’t know they defeated the Goddess of War that night.
