World of Taroo

By Jimmy Eriksson

The world of Taroo has many stories and while some are heroic and bring great rewards, others bring kingdoms to the brink of ruin. A young man becomes champion and earns both fame and fortune but will have to learn that not everything in life is happiness. A king faces the destruction of his kingdom and will do anything to stand up against it. A magic stone, strong enough to bring the most powerful kingdom to its knees, is awakening. Death is constant and no one is safe from it, as situations could set anyone close to the end of their life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Sep 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781528959872

Jimmy Eriksson

The creative mind of Jimmy Eriksson increases for each year with seemingly no end in sight. With this being the third book in the first trilogy, it finishes off a story that was first viewed in a series of recurring dreams. Jimmy, who still finds himself looking into another world, does his best to share the story he lives sometimes at nights.

Book preview

Sophia

About the Author

Jimmy was born in one of the suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden. With parts of his life very hard with events that come in life, Jimmy took escape in the imaginary worlds of books and his own mind. When Jimmy could no longer stay in his current life, he decided to make an adventure and choose the furthest country away from his birth place. He fell in love with Australia and decided to stay. With a new life, he found peace of mind and was able to focus on the future and what he truly liked, which is writing and family life.

About the Book

The world of Taroo has many stories and while some are heroic and bring great rewards, others bring kingdoms to the brink of ruin. A young man becomes champion and earns both fame and fortune but will have to learn that not everything in life is happiness. A king faces the destruction of his kingdom and will do anything to stand up against it. A magic stone, strong enough to bring the most powerful kingdom to its knees, is awakening. Death is constant and no one is safe from it, as situations could set anyone close to the end of their life.

Dedication

For my wife and son.

Copyright Information ©

Jimmy Eriksson (2019)

The right of Jimmy Eriksson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528959872 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2019)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

A Chance Meeting

In the world of Taroo, on the island of Nanta, there was a small town called Dofamu that was located in the very south of it. In the markets, a teenage boy was running fast between the people. He was holding oranges in his arms and was being chased by a man shouting to give them back. The man following him was the shop owner and was holding a knife as he ran not far behind the boy. The boy turned into an alley and pushed some crates of fish that fell down and filled the road behind him. When the man swung around the corner, he slipped on the fish and slid down a flight of stairs into another alley. As he went down, he saw the boy, and he knew where he could take a shortcut. When he hit the bottom, he entered a bread shop and he was not far behind the young teenage boy, despite the fall down the stairs.

The boy saw that the man was still in close proximity to him, and decided to run towards the harbour. Well down there, he realised the man chasing him had caught up almost completely. An opportunity opened up that he was quick to use, and he jumped up on a box that was being loaded on to a ship. However, the shop owner was able to get his hands on the large box and was easily able to pull himself up. The boy, who saw his situation was getting worse, jumped over to a bridge that was not far off. The man tried to do the same, but missed the bridge because of a miscalculation of the distance. He was dangling from it, but was helped by some townspeople that were standing on the bridge looking at what was happening.

The man continued after the boy, but he had then a little head start. The boy turned into another alley and felt he was about to get away, but when he had turned into the alley, a cold sensation came over him. The alley was closed and the only way was back towards the man. He got scared and realised then he might be in deep trouble. He was about to drop the fruit when he heard a voice saying if he gave him half of that fruit, he’ll help him. The boy looked around but did not see anyone. The voice came again and then said to look down at his feet. The boy looked down and saw a well. He moved to the side and the lid was lifted. A little older boy came up and asked him what he thought about it. The boy with the fruit said yes and hurried down the open hole in the ground. The lid closed just in time when the man came running. He looked around and listened for movement but when he could not see anyone, he took off back towards the other way, thinking he must have taken a wrong turn.

Down in the sewers, the boys divided the fruit and ate some while they waited for the coast to be clear. The older boy said his name was Gon, and he wondered why he stole the fruit. The younger boy said he was so hungry and could not pay because he was an orphan; after his parents died due to a disease that claimed many others as well. Gon asked for the name of the boy with the fruit. The younger boy introduced himself as Jay. They talked and after a while, after feeling the situation had become safe, they climbed the ladder leading up from the sewer and when they were standing above, Gon asked Jay if he had anywhere to sleep. Jay said no, and immediately, Gon offered to let his new friend come and stay with him. Jay accepted and they started to walk from the alley they had been hiding in. They looked around every corner to make sure the shop keeper was not waiting for them, but as they could not find any signs of him, they then made their way out of the town by walking on the main road.

Gon told Jay he had been forced to walk to the small town once in a while and especially when the wagon broke a wheel at his farm. He said they had to walk for a couple of hours, but Jay said he was used to walking so it would be no problem. While they walked, Gon asked if Jay heard about the rumour about a young girl vanishing from her home. Jay had many times as there were people out late for days looking for her. He wondered what happened to her and Gon said he believed it was the pirates. ‘Pirates,’ said Jay, who didn’t think they would leave so far inland to kidnap someone. Gon said that many brothels around the world pay high price for someone beautiful and from what he had heard she was quite stunning for her young age. Jay still thought it was a lot of trouble getting away with someone just like that. He said that anyone sold or taken into the brothels would eventually be found. If she were taken to the brothels, someone would contact whatever people in charge about it. Gon was not so sure and reminded Jay that not everyone had enough money to just leave to seek out all the brothels in the world. Also, some kingdoms or land owners would not let people from other places due to differences between them.

Gon said he had heard rumours about the pirates being able to sell anything or anyone to anybody. Jay got a little chill and didn’t think it sounded very fair. They lived in a town that was not really part of any kingdom so who would even care if anyone vanished. ‘Perhaps, it was not true,’ said Gon, ‘and perhaps the young girl had simply run off. Either way, we won’t know because in a few weeks, we would, most likely, never hear from anyone about her again.’ He and Jay both knew that even if such a horrible crime would happen, it would become nothing as soon as something else happens. They changed subject and tried to find other ways of making the walk easier to do.

During the walk to the farm that Gon had been talking about, Jay asked if it would really be okay to sleep there. Gon told him about his uncle, Endo, being gone and him then staying at the farm by himself. Gon said that he never knew his parents and he only knew his uncle. The relationship between the uncle and Gon had been nothing special, and Gon focused on what he loved, which was cooking and martial arts. Jay was fascinated with the stories and listened as they walked for a couple of hours until they got to the farm. The boys arrived when darkness was upon them, and Gon brought Jay to his uncle’s room that was standing empty while he was gone.

The room was full of horse shoes, and Jay wondered why someone would fill the room with so many shoes. Gon said good night, and Jay could hear the door to another room close. When Jay was about to sleep, he reflected on that day and how lucky he had been that he ran into Gon and that he had called for him under the sewer cover. He would have to thank Gon properly the next day, he thought. Then he fell into a deep sleep, and had many dreams that brought both joy and sadness to him.

In the morning, Jay woke up to the smell of something he never knew before. As he arrived in the kitchen, the smell hit a peak, and Gon said good morning. The boy he met in the sewer then stood in front of him in full chef gear and had cooked a lot of buns and egg dishes. Jay was very impressed and sat down with all the yummy food that just got ready for eating. Gon was interested to hear more about Jay and how it came to be that he ended up stealing fruit. Jay told his story about how he was forced out by the aunty that took over the house his parents rented of her, and since she already had children, she didn’t felt she had any responsibility to take care of him as well. At times, he was sleeping under bars where there were fights and was never really quiet. He even slept in the forest at one point and had built up a small shelter that had little protection against rain.

Gon found it very interesting and asked Jay what his plan for the future would be. Jay sat quietly, but then said he would do anything to get out of the situation he was in at the moment. He wanted to see what was on Nanta and then sail away from Taroo on a ship, strong enough to face the strong sea. Jay said he knew it was merely dreams, but still intended to try. He asked if there was anything he could do to help out while staying there in exchange for a couple of more nights. Gon told Jay about the reason his Uncle Endo had left. The uncle had had some financial troubles and needed to leave to another town, to get money by working as a horse shoe maker, and was a pretty good one. Jay remembered the horse shoes in the bedroom and now knew why there would be some in the room.

Gon continued that the uncle sometimes even got orders from the King Lenchi of the Grasoll Land to provide shoes to the stables. The uncle and Gon never really had any strong bond to each other, so Endo had just left him a note about leaving and that was all he said. That was three months ago, and Gon had a feeling something might have gone wrong as he never stayed for more than a month away from the house. Gon figured he might have tired of the house and moved somewhere else or even died. In any case, Gon didn’t care and he had, for many years, wanted to leave himself. His main interest was to be a chef and he would like to have a restaurant in the big city. Jay wondered how he could be so sure he had left for good. Gon said that the contract of the house would expire after another two months, and they would either have to leave or pay for another year’s rent. Gon said that Jay would be very welcomed to stay in the house and would be an appreciated help to the small farm. Jay was very glad to have been invited, and so began the first of many mornings for them.

Picking Up and Leaving

The weeks passed and the two boys worked at the farm. They earned money by selling the apples that grew on the farm and the buns and bread that Gon baked. Every day, they headed to the town and sold them in the markets. Jay picked the apples from the trees in the morning and brought them in a couple of baskets. Each morning, he would see Gon going up a small hill, and he could hear noises that sounded like things were breaking and, when he would come down, he looked sweaty and rinsed himself off before they would leave.

They did well in Dofamu markets and when Jay had made enough money from the apples he sold, he went back to the man he earlier stole from and paid him for the oranges. The man was happy that he tried to make up for the theft and forgave him for stealing. Jay, without feeling afraid that he would be grabbed by the guards for stealing, kept on selling with Gon. The days continued as the same, until one day, something interesting happened at the farm when the two boys were having breakfast. There was a carriage coming towards them and it stopped right outside the small house. The two boys were living in an area close to the Grasoll Land’s kingdom and the mark on the carriage suggested that someone associated with the kingdom was inside.

Gon went out and welcomed the new visitors with Jay standing a bit behind. A tall man walked out and asked for his Uncle Endo. When he was told about his absence, he told the man driving the horses to get ready to take off. He was stopped by a female voice that came from inside the carriage. The two boys looked through the carriage window and saw a teenage girl not much younger than they were. She leaned out and asked the boys if they would have the specialised horse shoes Endo was famous for making.

Gon was standing in front of the carriage and was looking at a girl he had never seen before. He thought she might be one of the relatives to the royal family. Perhaps, even a niece or cousin to the king. He responded to her by saying that he had 12 shoes left and she was welcome to buy them for a cheap price. The girl walked out and asked to see them. From the doorway, Jay was watching and observing their conversation. The man riding with the girl in the carriage asked her to be careful, but she ordered to be left alone.

Jay came out from the house and Gon told him to bring out one of the horses from the stable. When he brought them, Gon showed the horse shoes and fitted them on one of the horse’s hooves, then took it off. The shoe slid off easily and anyone could see the quality of the shoe. From the side, the man from the carriage was keeping an eye on what was happening and was walking around the small farm. Jay had not much experience with horses and when Gon told him to take the horse back, he did so, but when he was about to turn a corner, the horse suddenly got stung by a bee. It kicked and was scared and began to run, with him sitting on the back of the horse. He could only hang on as it ran around the farm, and Jay figured he would have to calm the horse down. He tried to steer the horse with Gon and the girl watching.

Gon shouted to Jay that he should jump off and roll on the grass. Jay saw the apple trees that the horse was running towards. The trees were next to the house and when he got close to one of them, he took aim and jumped right in to the tree. He was not visible, but when Gon came, running with the girl, and asked if he was hurt, he fell down and was lying on his back. In his hand, he held an apple and said to the girl that they also had apples for sale. The girl burst into laughter and so did Gon. At the carriage, the man had seen it all and was writing something on a note.

The girl found the boys very funny after spending some time with them. She had been treated to one of Gon’s buns and liked it a lot. She was very happy to be offered food as the road ahead would take some time to travel, and they were not sure they would have enough food for the trip and maybe be hungry later. The tall man at the carriage, as well as the driver, also got invited to have food. After that, the tall man felt the boys were good people and relaxed more. The girl headed back to the carriage after thanking the boys, and told the man travelling with her in the carriage to pay the boys. Gon was unwilling to ask for too much money since she had been so nice and he could only offer her 12 horse shoes. He offered a discount, but she stopped him and whispered something to the man riding with her. She then went in, and sat down on the beautiful seats inside the carriage. The man gave the boys an envelope and then also climbed into the carriage. The carriage took off, and they heard a voice coming from inside as it left. The girl said her name was Kemi and they should come to the kingdom sometime to see her.

After the carriage had gone, the boys went back inside and sat down at the table. Gon opened the envelope and inside were the payment for the shoes plus some extra. There was also a letter inside, which he took out and read. The letter was from the tall man and it said thanks for making Kemi laugh. He hadn’t seen her so happy for a long time and appreciated the boys for their kindness and hospitality.

The boys talked about meeting the people riding inside the carriage. When evening came, the boys were eating and talking. From outside, a noise came from the road, which sounded like a horse coming. The noise stopped, and the boys looked outside the window. There was someone coming towards them. The door got knocked on and Gon opened the door.

The man standing in front of him was known to Gon. It was the rental collector, and he told Gon that he had only a short while left and would have to pay before the time was up to keep the farm. Gon said his Uncle Endo had not come back yet, but they would try to come up with the money.

The collector was not a nice man, and Gon knew he would not hesitate to throw them out. After some discussion, the man agreed to give Gon some extra time to come up with the money. Jay could see that Gon was angry about the situation, and when he tried to say something, Gon stopped him and told Jay he needed to think. Gon went to bed, without saying another word, and did not come out until the next morning.

Jay asked if he was okay when he came out from the bedroom. Gon looked at Jay and asked him to come with him. The boys walked up the hill where Gon always went up during the mornings, but Jay never saw what he was doing there. Up on the hill, there was a small pit, and the boys jumped down into it. There was nothing there other than some broken barrels and other wooden boards. Gon walked to the corner and lifted one of the boards. He lifted up a chest and had something hidden in a cloth. He brought out a sword that he had hidden in the fabric.

The sword, he said, was given to his uncle for a job he did in the town, but his uncle didn’t like weapons so he told Gon to get rid of it. He had kept it for years, but never used it and handed it to Jay. As he held the sword, the weight felt light. It was not a big sword and the blade was smaller than regular swords. Gon said he would like to give him the sword to thank him, and tell him why he disappeared so fast after the man visited last night. If his uncle did not come back before the next two months, he would leave and since Jay did not have anyone, maybe he would like to go with him. Jay looked at the sword and told Gon he would be happy to go with him and was glad he asked. However, he wondered if he really didn’t mind giving him the nice sword and Gon said he would never use it. He told him he had something else to show him. The two boys helped out in carrying the chest and when they arrived at the house, they put it down on the table.

Inside the chest, there was a bag containing the money that he had saved during the time he had been selling buns, apples and the shoes his uncle left him to sell before he left. He revealed his plan that they would leave before the collector came back and they would head off to somewhere else, where they could build something for themselves. Jay thanked him for the offer to be included to travel, and they started to plan for the coming weeks. On the same day, they had collected anything owned by them that was worth keeping and planned to sell some of their things off in the markets.

Jay asked Gon if he would buy another weapon so that both of them had protection against thieves or killers. Gon remembered he was supposed to show Jay something else and looked at the curtains hanging in the window. He took it down and removed the fabric. The staff holding the curtains looked very different after being removed and Gon told Jay to follow him. The staff seemed strong, and when Gon started to wield the staff, it became one with him. It was clear he had some talents other than cooking also. It had a rounded tip on both ends and was being wielded as if it was always a part of him. Kicks and punches were also being added, and when he finished, he said he had been practising since he was a child and every day before the sun came up, he practised. He had put the staff up a week before Jay came as the old wooden stick broke and the curtain fell down. He had focused more on hand combat the past month to mix up his training. Impressed by what had happened in front of him, Jay said he was sure they would be all right now, and they both went back inside as the sun went down. There was deep snoring coming from inside the house and the next day, they took one of the two horses, together with some other things and headed off to the town. They managed to sell off everything they brought and even the horse.

The boys picked up a cheap wagon with a cover on to protect them from rain and pulled it all the way home. When they actually decided to buy it, they regretted not taking the other horse to drag it, but they were happy and took it as a challenge. Heavy though it was, the boys were happy and spoke excitedly about what to do when they left.

They made it almost all the way home when they heard three horses coming from behind. They moved to the side, but the horses were all of a sudden upon them, and the 3 horsemen jumped off. Without warning and with a surprise attack, one of the men grabbed Jay and held a knife to his throat. They demanded money and said they saw that they sold a lot at the market. With a situation like this, there was not much to do, and Gon threw a bag of coins in front of one of the men.

While the man was grabbing the bag, Gon noticed he had a brand on his clothes that he had never seen before, but it didn’t look like it would be from the Grasoll Lands. His voice was also very deep, and he told them he would not hesitate to kill them. When he had put the money on him and jumped back up on his horse, they released Jay and kicked him in to the mud then rode off.

Jay was not seriously hurt and apologised for what had happened, but Gon didn’t care about the money and was more relieved that his friend was not hurt. They had more money at home, he said and would find a way to get more. They continued on and Jay asked if they should tell the town guard, but Gon knew they would not be able to do much.

Jay hoped there was already a bounty on the men and Gon nodded as he believed there probably was one. The bounties for anyone wanted were few where they were but there were a couple that anyone could sign up to go for. He had seen people sometimes come to search for their targets, but never actually seen anyone being caught. Gon was once going to sign up for a hunt for an animal that was responsible for killing many farm animals, but someone beat him to it.

After walking for a while, they arrived at the farm. When they went inside, they talked about what happened and decided to make sure they were ready in case they would run in to people like those again. Jay said he had heard that the kingdom of Redonia had very few bandits on their island because of the tough laws in the land. Gon didn’t know and said he didn’t really care, but he found it interesting to hear Jay speak about weapons that were, supposedly, more advanced than anywhere else.

Gon had heard that there were primitive machines that helped with everyday work on the fields and also rumours about the Ocenian kingdom using them for their army. Machines were relatively new and had become more common to see, but in Dofamu, it was still rare to see even one. He didn’t believe Jay had got the right information off the people he listened to because some of it sounded impossible. Something about machines being used to dig under the earth had also been mentioned, and Jay himself didn’t fully believe what he had heard.

They stopped talking about it, and instead, they planned for the future of where they should travel. Every day, they spoke about where they should go and the time for leaving came closer every day. Five weeks had passed since the attack, and in those weeks, Jay had been training hard every day for six hours with his new friend. With each day, he got better and the sword became easier to wield. It started to become one with him. Gon said to himself that he could see Jay also enjoyed using it. Time continued to pass by quickly, and very soon, the time for them in the house was up.

On the morning of the day that they were leaving, Gon went through the house one last time looking around it. He had some good memories of the house and was sad to have to leave, but more excited to finally get away to find a new life. There was not much that they had left that would stay in the house as they had been very busy with selling everything off that could be sold.

The farm looked, for the first time in many years, like an empty home with the exception for some of the bigger furniture. Gon decided to leave all the beds and other things that either would be too hard to sell or too hard to transport all the way to the city. The chest with all of the money they had made during the sales of apples, buns and breads as well as some of the things that were in the house, were first to take place inside the wagon. There were lamps, cooking gear and sleeping bags with anything else they thought would be of use. Before taking off, Gon and Jay walked up the hill again with a smaller chest and entered the area where Gon trained and brought the sword out for Jay. They had dug a hole already and put a few coins in a bag together with a note from both Jay and Gon. They had agreed that if they were not successful, they would return and try again but the chest was a symbol of them leaving.

When they returned down again, they rode away and there was excitement in the air. It was sunny and the air was warm with a gentle wind that was pleasant to both of them. Their journey began finally and after some time, they had travelled in a direction Gon had never been before. He looked behind them and could still see the farm from far away. When coming far up on a hill, Gon looked back once more to then see a pile of smoke coming closer to the farm. He said to Jay he thought the collector was coming and would soon know he had to find new people to move into the farm. Jay asked if Gon would ever come back, but Gon said he would try not to.

Taking Back the Money

The boys were on the road and had just left a smaller village where they had stopped and refilled some supplies. On the road, the last couple of days, they met other people that had come to trade or were going home to their families. They talked about anything and everything and had a great time with those they met. At the moment, it was still day time for a while longer, and they would get far before they had to stop. They saw a sign that said there was a small town not far off and the boys decided to head towards it.

As they entered the town, they saw a busy place that looked like a market and parked the wagon next to some others. There was a guard that watched over the wagons for a small fee so no one stole anything from them, so they could easily move around without any concern for their possessions.

Gon was not as worried anyway as he felt confident that if there were thieves they would not find their wagon very interesting. Gon had made a little safe box that looked like it was part of the wagon, and, in there, he had the money they made.

In the town, they heard about another city famous for tournaments and wild nights, Shetana. Jay and Gon had heard much about this city. They were both very intrigued by the tournament, and there were several smaller ones that they could join to test their skills.

They met another couple of travellers that were headed to the Domoro Land and told the boys about the water that was supposed to be everywhere and about the villages that had irrigation systems in them. They all swapped stories, and other travellers came and talked to the boys. Some stories told by those they met sounded incredible, but they also knew not to believe everything they heard.

They had a great time in the town where they ended up staying for six days. Some small jobs to cover the cost of the stay were taken, and they actually managed to leave the town with some extra money. They weren’t supposed to stay, but they enjoyed it so much that there was no reason to leave so quickly. But in the end, both of them finally decided that they had stayed long enough. The decision was made easy after an argument had erupted between the boys and another couple of boys.

After leaving the small town, they stayed on the road for many days, and, so far, it had been a good trip with some great friends made and a new goal. Both of them would like to see the big arena in Shetana where the champions became famous. Soon, they would leave for the great city to perhaps fight in the arena themselves. Or if not, ‘At least watch some of the fights,’ said Gon.

None of them knew if they would be able to make it into the tournaments, but they would like to try. ‘Maybe there would be a line of people that was too long,’ said Jay, and then they had to wait until the following year. They both hoped not and had heard there were many different competitions they could enter.

Gon believed he would do well, but Jay was not so sure of himself. Gon said he would help Jay to get his confidence up, and they would, every day, for the whole time they were travelling, spend time to improve themselves. The tournaments in the great city would not commenced for a while, so they had time. They were not in a hurry and spent, sometimes, several days at one place.

Two weeks came and went and true to his word, Gon sped Jay’s knowledge up fast. However, Jay also had a talent, Gon thought he would only need to be shown the way as he increased his skills by himself. New skills were acquired both in cooking and fighting by Gon also, in case he had the need to use herbs he found in nature. Some animals that he caught became amazing dishes despite the lack of equipment, thought Jay. On the road, the darkness had then shown itself and the boys set up camp. The night became a little brighter with the moon appearing above their heads. The conversations between them soon turned into snoring and another night came to an end.

The following day, when the boys entered a valley, they noticed smoke coming from behind some trees. They were curious about what it was and soon saw a wagon burnt almost to the ground. From where they were, it just looked strange that someone would just put it on fire, but soon, they discovered why.

As they arrived, they discovered the horror that was then in front of them. There were five bodies lying on the ground and were all, seemingly, dead. They looked upon what had happened, and not all seemed lost, for there was movement in one of the bodies. There was an old man still drawing breath. They rushed up to him, and when he asked for water, he got it right away.

After he had his fill, Gon asked him what had happened and the old man mumbled out that there were a couple of masked men. He took another sip of the water and continued that they met the men that had followed them down the valley, who, at first, seemed nice. They spoke about how they were tradesmen, but then they suddenly began to attack them. They killed the others and took all their money afterwards.

He himself had only lived because he had pretended that he was dead after the knife that struck him hit him in the wrong place. He said he tried to move, but the knife hit something in his back that made him unable to move much at all. Jay asked if he wanted to be taken to the closest town to be treated by the local medicine man. The man said he would most likely not make the road there and would rather stay with his friends.

He then asked them to, please, lay him next to the others because he had no strength left. They did as he wished and placed him amongst the others. He closed his eyes and told them to be careful as the masked men, most certainly, were somewhere not too far off.

They walked away, and as they arrived to the wagon, Jay believed that this was probably not the first time the masked men had done something like this. Gon thought they both should be careful and left and tried to avoid going after the bandits. However, they had no idea as to where they were and how many they were. There was a possibility that they might run in to them. If they did, it could prove difficult to win in combat, even if they would both be able to give great resistance then. Jay had improved so much everyday with the sword that he was able to back Gon up.

They rode on the road that went down the valley, and they both had their eyes peeled on their surroundings. There was nothing else on the road, but the boys decided still to seek cover a little earlier. They headed to the side further away from the road to not be seen. They found some room under a tree and sat up their equipment for the night. The sun was barely visible, and soon, all light would be gone. They scouted the surroundings for firewood and made sure they wouldn’t be seen from the road, but there were also several big rocks covering them, so they found themselves in a good place.

As they walked around, Jay founds a cliff leading down to a lower plane and told Gon that they might use the cliff as an emergency exit if they ran into trouble. The small sparks from the tiny fire were the only noise for a long time, and both the boys talked about what happened earlier. Here and there around them, there were some sounds coming that made them silent and listening, but they were always from animals.

However, something did sound strange and even if the small fire made some noise, there was something new coming up from the cliff’s direction. Both boys got up quickly to seek out the new sound and walked over to the cliff. ‘It can be nothing, but it is better to make sure,’ both of them said at the same time.

As they got closer, they could hear voices from underneath. The voices were not loud, but there were some of them coming from down there. They listened, but could only make out some words and not from everyone who spoke. They wondered who the owners of these voices were, and Gon said to Jay that they should check it out. ‘Perhaps, the voices belonged to some farmers or travellers, but they wouldn’t know for sure unless they made sure of it,’ he added.

At first, Jay hesitated, but was easily persuaded by Gon, who started to move down the cliff very slowly. Jay was fast and easy on his feet, so he got down fast to the middle of the cliff. While he waited for Gon, he looked around the trees for movement, but there were only the voices and trees. Gon came down and they moved towards the voices. There was another smaller cliff leading down, but this time, they didn’t go down because below them was a fire set up in the middle of the trees and next to the fire were some familiar characters.

Even if the faces were not visible, they could clearly recognise the clothes. These were the same sort of bandits that stole from them before they started the journey. At the first encounter, there were three of the men, but there were now six of them. It could very well be the bandits, but they needed to get closer to see their faces.

Jay and Gon whispered to each other about what to do and also figured these were the men responsible for killing the other travellers. The camp below was full of movement and it would be foolish to climb down and engage in a confrontation with them right now. They climbed back up to their own camp to decide on what their strategy would be.

Maybe they should leave while they had the chance, thought Jay, but then doubted himself as to whether he really wanted to leave. Well up to the camp, both of them wanted to do something, but there were things to talk about, indeed. Gon laid out the fact that they should take revenge for what they took, and that they almost killed Jay last time they met. However, they couldn’t just walk in and start trouble. No matter how good Gon was and Jay had become, they were still six vs two, and there was the dark as well so it would be hard to see.

‘There was something else,’ said Jay. They had never killed anyone, but knew they might have to do so to protect themselves. This time would be their first if they decided to engage in a fight since the other men, most likely, would not hold back. Gon felt his hands get sweaty and knew Jay was right about what he had said. They laid up strategies and even considered riding back to the town to share the whereabouts of the bandits, but the masked men might just be stopping on the way and would be gone when the guards arrived.

After some discussion, both of them agreed to use a different tactic. If they didn’t have to, they wouldn’t kill anybody, which would be the best outcome. They would wait until the men were asleep, and then they would sneak into their camp to take as much as possible from them. If they had a chance, they would also scare the horses away. The plan was bold and dangerous, but they both felt it was what they wanted to do.

As they waited for the voices to be silent, they searched nearby for escape routes in case of emergency. The voices finally stopped, and even if they both had butterflies in their tummies, they descended the first cliff. As they lay looking down the camp, it was only one person standing guard that was seen. Very slowly and quietly, they got near to the camp. Well down, they took time to examine the camp and checked all of the exits they could use for an escape, and also what they could use against the men if there was a confrontation. The night guard had chosen a bad point and would not see them sneaking into the camp.

Jay walked, without any noise, up to one of the horses that had a big bag. He cut it off with a knife and took it back, where he could safely see what was inside. Disappointed, he saw that there were only some tools and some rope. Perhaps from when they built their camp, Jay quietly told Gon came close to see what Jay had found. They checked through some other bags and found clothes and more tools that were of no use to them, but also knives. So far, there had been nothing of interest, but there was more to be searched.

At least one bag lay next to every man in the camp who was sleeping. The bags would be hard to get and a great risk would be taken if they did. All of a sudden, one of the men woke up and started going in their direction. Both of the boys stopped moving and only had their eyes on the man. He was not wearing any mask, and his face had many scars and showed signs of combat. He stopped only a few meters from them in the woods and relieved himself.

There was still some moon out, but they had had luck because there had been clouds covering it up and they had used the darkness to their advantage. However, their luck suddenly changed and the situation became dangerous. The moon that was covered began to shine over them, and they dared not to move in case any of them were spotted. What happened was something that would change them forever.

The man looked up after an animal moved not far from the boys. He looked up expecting to see something small run away, but instead spotted Gon. He stopped with what he was doing as he got a shock due to the surprise. He was just about to scream to the others when he got a knife thrown at his throat.

Jay only threw the knife out of fear, and, as he saw the man was hit, he felt a rush of sweat coming over him. Quickly, the man, with all of the scars on his face, tried to grab at the knife that was placed deep inside his throat. He gurgled and made an effort to run back to the others, but got tackled down by Gon. The knife was pulled out by Gon, who also kept his other hand over the man’s mouth.

Before he could think about it, Gon stabbed him in the head. The man died immediately, and they both got ready for combat that became inevitable. The noise from the bushes had not gone unnoticed, and the guard was walking towards them. He called someone’s name that was most likely the dead man and was expecting a response. Some of the others woke up and wondered what was going on.

The guard could not find the dead man because the boys had dragged him away quickly. They were amongst a few thick trees, where they hid his body. The guard got louder, and then all the men were awake and reaching for their weapons. Gon and Jay were not sure what to do, but they needed to be quick.

‘Should we leave,’ suggested Jay, but Gon told him it was too late as the men would surely find them. They would find the dead man sooner or later, which would make them want to find those who did it. He said they couldn’t run from this, and both decided to do whatever it took to get away free.

They made use of the situation they were in and planned to draw all the men further into the forest. ‘Perhaps they could take them out one by one,’ they said to each other. Jay took off in one direction while Gon leapt up into a tree. The fact that they killed a man made the adrenaline come over them and also, their senses and concentration became stronger.

The now awake men threw more wood on the fire that had almost completely died out and started it again to gain light. One of them noticed some of the bags were missing and told the others. They all walked into the forest with drawn weapons and walked in a line. It would be hard to attack the bandits from where the boys were standing, so they had to think of a better way to get them one at a time.

Neither Gon nor Jay had seen the bandits that robbed them earlier at the farm, but Gon noticed something about one of the men. He had the brand on his clothes and there was also something else he recognised. His voice was very deep, and Gon immediately knew he was the same man.

Gon waited patiently for his chance that was coming soon enough. Finally, one of the men, who held a crossbow, walked right below the tree that Gon was hiding in. The archer never saw it coming, and with a heavy blow to the head from Gon’s staff, the man fell to the ground, unconscious. The others could not see him in the thick forest and with only four left, the odds became better.

The fire that then burned might have lit up the camp, but the light only shone a little through the forest. Jay also got a chance when another man got close, and as he turned towards Jay, he got the knife in the stomach. While the man stumbled back in pain, Jay looked on for a brief second as he just realised what he had done.

He then headed back to where he knew Gon was and saw the unconscious man on the ground. With all the men scattered around, the boys decided to run back to the now empty camp and had a head start from the other men. But not everything went as well as they hoped as their shadows gave them away while they ran. One of the men that saw their shadows called out for the others and then started running back to the camp himself.

As soon as the boys arrived, Jay released the horses and scared them off. The horses ran fast, and Gon and Jay now stood in front of three dangerous looking individuals. The man Jay stabbed with the knife was leaning over behind them and would not have too much power left. He made an effort to return, but he then sat himself down due to the amount of blood coming out.

With the situation now completely changed, Gon knew what he had to do. He asked if the bandits were responsible for killing the other travellers. One of the men, who was covering his face, asked Gon who he was. Gon replied that they should remember them from before because he said they had crossed paths once before.

The bandits looked at each other, and one of them, all of a sudden, remembered and said it was in the other town of Dofamu, maybe a few months ago, that they stole their money. Jay said, ‘Correct,’ and showed a little scar on his throat that had been a small cut the last time they met.

With a deep voice that the boys recognised, he said with an angry voice that there would be no scar this time when they were finished with them. He then charged at them, while the others quickly followed. Gon and Jay stood ready with their weapons drawn, and when the three bandits came running, it all seemed more exciting than scary.

The first swing of the sword was delivered by the first bandit, who missed completely. He got a foot in on the side from Gon, who attacked another man and swept the bandit’s feet, then continued with a strike towards his head. The bandits knew how to fight as well as defend, and they swung their weapons towards the boys, who jumped away.

Jay was engaged in a fight with a man who had only half an ear and managed to push him on the side and cut him over the leg. The man fell down on one knee, but was quickly up again and defended against a strike from Jay’s sword. The fight continued and there was clearly a difference between the knowledge of the bandits and themselves, when it came to swordplay.

Jay, despite only picking up the sword for a couple of months, was a natural and found the bandit he was facing to be easy to defend against. He cut the bandit more and more and when a chance came, he stabbed him in the shoulder of the arm in which he was holding the weapon. With a quick sweep, Jay slashed the bandit’s throat, who fell to the ground.

Jay looked for a second over the first person he had properly killed, then moved without sorrow over to Gon who was fighting well against the other two bandits in a fierce duel. Before Jay arrived to help, Gon swung his staff and hit one of the men in the stomach, and as he bent over, Gon snapped his neck with a heavy strike with the staff. The man with the deep voice, still wearing a mask, now found himself fighting two and was, for a brief moment, forced to defend himself as best he could.

From the side, suddenly, came one more previously unaccounted man who had returned late and saw what was happening. However, the assistance was nothing more than a brief one as Jay got a lucky strike with his sword over the knees of the man, who fell down. Jay stabbed him close to the neck and then continued to aid Gon.

The masked man with the deep voice lost his face cover and had to back away, but he was hit on the hand by a strike from Gon when trying to defend himself and lost his sword that dropped to the ground. Knowing he was outmatched, he ran towards the forest, and after him, came the boys. He ran past the bandit that had a knife in the stomach, who made a last effort to swing his sword at the boys as they ran past. He died from another blow from Gon’s staff that caused too much damage to his head.

The last of the bandits was at the cliff that he tried to ascend, but he went slowly with a damaged hand. Jay was about to climb after the man, but Gon stopped him. Both of them looked at the man who was struggling.

Gon pointed to the unconscious man still lying on the ground not far away, and Jay walked up to him and took his crossbow. Jay didn’t know how to use it, but Gon did and from below, he took aim. He breathed slowly and then held his breath for a few seconds. He fired the bolt that flew through the air and a scream followed as it hit into the back of the man.

He screamed, but still made an effort to continue to climb up. Gon reloaded another bolt that he got from Jay. Again, he took aim and, with strong concentration, again hit him in the back. The man was no longer climbing but only holding on. After a few seconds, he lost his grip and rolled down the cliff. He hit his head hard on one of the rocks and blood could be seen coming out from the head. His deep voice came out but with nothing they understood. The boys stood on each side and saw him gasp his last breath that came soon after.

When he was still, they decided to walk back to the now awake, but dizzy man who had the crossbow. He did not see the boys standing so close to him and began to walk back to the camp. They followed him to the camp, and none of them tried to soften their steps on the ground. Despite this, he still noticed nothing, and they could hear him call for the others.

At the camp, he saw the dead bandits and then woke up more due to the adrenaline that rushed throughout his body. He spun around after Jay said to him to do so and got a chill as his eyes met the two boys. Jay stabbed the man through the chest, so it was visible from the back. The man shook and began to cough out some blood while trying to speak. Jay pulled back the sword and the man fell to the ground and died within seconds just lying there.

The boys were surrounded by silence and were just standing there looking over the camp. ‘Strange,’ said Jay and told Gon he was not sad for what they did. Neither was Gon who replied, with a compliment to Jay for having grown into a great swordsman, despite the short training period. ‘At least no one else would get hurt by the men,’ the boys said at the same time. They smiled at each other, and without wasting time, began to look through the camp for anything of value.

If this were other people, both of them would have left the camp as it was. There was something about taking things from dead people that would usually have been a problem. However, none of them felt the slightest sense of guilt for taking from the dead bandits.

When going through what they could find, it became clear that the bandits were living wild on the money they stole. There was not much left, but they did find something of value in form of some gold coins. It was located in the bag that was in the middle of the men when they were sleeping. They also found other smaller valued coins in a small bag on one of the dead men in the camp as Gon searched his body.

Gon said he didn’t feel bad when he looked at the dead men, but that it scared him a little that he didn’t have these feelings. Jay said others would have gotten hurt from the men’s lack of compassion, so why should they show any. Still, this was not really who he was, thought Gon and rolled one more of the bandits to his side to be searched. He found a few more coins and said silently to the dead man that at least they would use the money for good.

After they had decided to finish and that there was nothing more to find, they climbed up the cliff again. They carried the gold and other things they had found to soon find themselves back at their camp. They wouldn’t light the fire back up again this night, and both of them were too tired to do anything more. After all that excitement, both of them felt sleep coming quick. They climbed up the wagon to sleep, with silence between them as they had much to think about.

Gon said maybe they should get a tent instead of sleeping in the wagon. He got no response and fell asleep when he saw Jay was already passed out from the intense fight.

Just in Time

The two boys had left the valley and had been travelling for some time now and had seen and experienced some things that they couldn’t imagine. They had to stop briefly at a pond after they realised their clothes had some blood on them. Going through the country wearing marks of blood would perhaps not be the best, so they took some time to clean them.

After the meeting with the bandits, they had gained more courage and confidence in themselves. Jay had become so confident with the sword, and it had seemed to be a