Spirit Tether

The night began with cries, a sword that sliced the bones of those who uttered those cries, and blood splattering into the lush grass, turning it a deep scarlet.

The fire's embers quickly spread into the evergreen forest, which burned a woven house with a reed roof and mud walls that readily broke due to heat.

As he hid in the muck beside a stream of water, a child witnessed his neighbors being slaughtered like cattle and the capture of children he could not relate to by armored men brandishing swords, bows, and spears.

The bowman would launch an arrow dowsed in flames toward the roofs to start or amplify the fire, and escape attempts were prevented by an arrow to the head or heart.

The sword men killed some of the pleading men and women as laughter and fire filled the night.

The child stayed motionless and quiet as a mouse as he remembered strange people coming to their country with promise of friendship and peace.

They provided gifts and we'll spoken promises that hide a dark motive, one day they showed their true colours.

They began attacking our men and kidnapping the women and children; those who did not resist were beaten with long, thick sticks to the back until they could not stand up.

The aged men and women were forced to see this abuse, which caused them to cry out. Those sickly were killed as a show mercy for the hush true to come for us, the healthy.

Then they were executed or died of heart attacks due to their aging bodies, while the youngster who had been hidden as slowly returned to the stream, keeping his gaze fixed on the invaders. His mud-covered body gradually washed away, and he maintained his head above water to observe them.

The water was not strong enough to push him away, and he used the river floor to build a grip for maneuvering. The child reached the other side of the water and hide in the grass, he exhaled somewhat.

He said in his own tongue, "Made it."

He stepped out into the grass and paused, watching the men who were busy committing atrocities against his people with a savage gaze, his eyes blazing with anger.

(I'm going to get them, I promise.)

Nonetheless, he felt compelled to depart at this time. A startling glimmer of little steel flew through the sky, missing him by a hair's breadth; he did not move his body, only his eyes, to see where the arrow had come from. To his amazement, a bowman with an eagle-like look was staring at his position unconcerned.

The boy continued to stare back as usual, but then a guy with a sword approached the bowman and inquired in a voice the child could hear:

{What's wrong?}

The bowman continued to glance that direction before closing his eyes and adding in their language:

{Something moving caught my attention; it must have been a crocodile}

The swordsman gave his friend a thump on the back and remarked, grinning:

{You are a very stiff you know that man; you have nothing to be afraid of from these savages. They let us enter their country without military support, and now it's back to bite them in the arse, never accept a stranger on the dinner table and might eat all your food and now we are doing that at the moment. Come we have some slaves to ship to the homeland}

The bowman still held his bow in his right hand as he reached for his quiver of arrows, but he paused and nodded before being dragged by his comrade toward the terrified screams and cries mixed with the blaze.

The child then looked around to see whether the coast was clear before standing up and sprinting toward the woodland, his feet and grass colliding to give him an unobstructed dash.

The youngster, who appeared to be in his thirteens, wore an animal-skin based garment to conceal his unmentionables and was black as charcoal and ash.

He was hairless on his head. The wind was carefree as it blew his garment to wave with the wind; his body was muscular and built for speed and agility. He heard a whistle blowing quickly through the air before he could make it to the edge of the forest to escape.

Some might have mistaken it for someone making a signal sound to alert someone, but the kid knew what it meant as he ducked to the opposite side of the whistle he heard and crouched to see, but to his horror and astonishment, another arrow was seen in the air aiming for his head, which he easily dodged by moving his head left.

The arrow was close enough to nick a portion of his ear that was bleeding slightly now.

In the distance, he observed the same bowman going into his quiver for another arrow, which he then threw at the youngster, who stood and evaded the arrow without fear because his eyes were set on the bowman.

As he ran toward the youngster with the sword in hand, the swordsman, dressed in flexible armor with some apparent chainmail, crossed the stream. The boy closed his eyes briefly as another arrow whistled through the air when it was shot.

When the boy squatted and ducked from the arrow, his eyes opened from a drab brown to a deep ocean blue, a wisp of energy rippled by his eyes. He then straightened himself as he sprinted toward the oncoming man with the swordsman, his blade poised to slice at the boy's body with minimal effort.

He was simply a child, the man reasoned inwardly. He was not like the warriors on the front lines he thought again; he was aware that these savages trained their sons and daughters how to battle and kill at a young age like they do in the empire. He was not terrified; the boy ran with steady speed, weaving around the arrows aimed at his head.

The bowman shot arrow after arrow, but they all missed. before the boy caught one of the arrows, he slowed down and sprinted as fast as he had before attempted to flee to the forest.

The boy is almost touching the swordsman when he slips on the green, tripping the swordsman who missed his downward stroke. The trip forced him to fall to one knee, and the child spun his body with his foot. He quickly leaped on the swordsman's back, grasping at the chainmail for support; the night felt remote and chilly.

The boy had stabbed the side of the throat, the swordsman was stabbed once and which was enough to stagger him as he fell down to the ground clenching his neck. The village continued be burned down and wagons and horses came to collect the merchandise, largely slaves for the empire.

The child grasped an arrow in his bloodied hand which was cut by the arrow head which he held and peered at the distant fire as armored warriors raced toward him, weapons at the ready.

The child did not move as his eyes dimmed and turn back to his dull brown. When the swordsman reached him, didn't hesitate and one raised his sword's hilt.

He was knocked out with the hilt of the sword as he fell to the grass with the last sight being surrounded by the sounds of screams, cries and burning houses and roofs with his eyes seeing the embers.