The Bitter Revenge

The Bitter Revenge
By
Riter

CLASH. SLAM. BANG. Gar’s sword slammed against his opponents, causing an eruption of sound. His entire body was covered in water, but whether it was the rain falling from above or sweat he didn’t know. Gar screamed and made a wild slash with his blade. The other man raised his blade and blocked the attack, but his sword split in half and fell to the ground with a large clang. A bolt of lightning hit a tree, causing it to break out in flames. Gar placed his dull wooden blade on his opponent’s throat. Gar asked the man if he surrendered, the whistle blew, and the practice match ended.
As Gar calmed down from the match, the rain stopped. Hatchy, Gar’s best friend, ran up to him with a towel and said, “Nice job. You won that one in three minute even.”
“Yeah. He couldn’t have fought his way out of a paper bag.”
That night after his day at Xavier school for the Warring Arts, Gar, his mother Pam, and his father Hourtous, were finally trying to sit down and eat. They hadn’t gotten a chance to since Gar went back to school. Everything seemed like it was going well but as soon as the delicious chicken touched Pam’s lips, a trumpet sounded outside their house. Everyone jumped to their feet and sprinted out the door. When they got outside, the first thing they saw was the scouting party that circled around the village. The group of men were unimaginably pale. Some were screaming, that is except for Etym, who led the party. He was the strongest warrior in the village. At his current age of twenty-two he was said to have heard of everything that could ever be done in a fight. He calmly stepped forward and announced, “A band of Urgals is approaching. I want every man in the village to grab his sword and armor. Everyone else I want in the houses.”
Within an hour every man was at the base of the forest with their sword. Unfortunately, Gar was not considered a man yet and therefore couldn’t go, but he craved battle. He begged his dad to allow him to go, but every time his father rejected him.
Hourtus ran out the door, a fierce smile on his face. Gar sat at the window disappointed that he was missing out on the great opportunity to battle for the first time. Just when he was about to give up, he saw it, his father’s silver helmet gleaming in the moon light. Gar snatched it up and ran to catch up to the battle. He knew that without the helmet his dad could not fight. Gar also knew he might get a chance to fight once he was there.
Once he was at the battle, he saw some of the scariest things he had ever seen. An Urgal came at him then twisted in pain as an arrow pierced its green skin, causing blood to squirt in every direction. The archer cursed at Gar, and shouted, “Follow me.”
They ran through the trees jumping over dead bodies, sweat streaming down their faces. Out of nowhere, a staff came and the archer fell over, his leg twisted. An Urgal jumped on him hitting the archer with a sword. Gar didn’t look back after that, he just ran, crying filled with fear and anticipating death. He wanted it all to go away; he wanted to be back in his room drinking coco only worrying about what he was doing in school the next day. He already knew though that he could never go back.
Gar reached an open plain in the center of the forest. He stopped dead in his tracks from shock. There stood eight Urgals, four attacking his father and four attacking Etym. Then the strangest thing happened. Lightning bolts shot from Etym’s hands and Hourtous’s sword lit on fire. Just then the urgals swung at them. Hourtous saw the first one coming and caught him with a sword, then threw the flaming corpse. The third one swung and Hortous blocked it, but there was no way anybody could have seen the axe coming from behind. Etym yelled to him “Look out!” Gar dropped the helmet, but they were too late. The axe was in his head and Hortous was dead.
Gar screamed with rage. His head was swarmed with emotion. Gar charged at the Urgal who had killed his father. A gust of wind lifted him and the Urgal off the ground. Then Gar felt his hands tingle, and a tornado appeared. All the other urgals were swept into the air and hurled far away. Gar returned gently to the ground, saw Etym’s surprised face, and passed out in the mud.
Gar awoke two days latter to the face of a little ugly elf like creature. He jumped up and backed into Etym. That was it! Gar had had enough. He tried to run, but Etym’s firm grip held him tight. “Careful there, you might trip.”
“What do you care? You didn’t even try to help my father and now he’s dead!”
“I couldn’t have sav…”
“Yes you could have.”
“Not with out dying.”
“So what? I saw that lightning stuff you shot from your hands no way they would have hurt you!”
“Your dad could too and that didn’t help him much.”
“Don’t talk about my dad, you…you…you Meany head.”
“Wow meany head, so that’s the best you can come up with.”
“Do you ever shut up?”
“No I don’t. Ugh. This is pointless all I want to know is how you got your powers.”
“What powers. You’re the one with magic.”
“So you didn’t notice that you lifted the Urgals into the air and threw them. I didn’t think it was possible to subconsciously do that.”
“Do what!”
“Magic!”
“I didn’t use blasted magic.”
“Look, you used magic. Your father is dead and there’s nothing you can do, so suck it up.”
Gar stormed out of the room, muttering curses under his breath.
The next day Gar went to find Hatchy. Hatchy was sitting under a tree munching on an apple. When he saw Gar, he stood up and walked over. “Have you heard the rumors?” Hatchy said “You’re gone one day, and everyone thinks you died protecting your father.”
“Well,” started Gar, “There is some truth to that myth.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“My father died and I was watching the whole thing.”
“Ouch, I’m sorry.”
“Save it. Just tell me if Wry is ready to ride. I’m ready to get some revenge.”
“Sure, she’ll be ready by three hours.”
“I really can’t wait that long.”
“Fine. .Be here in ten minutes.”
“Good.”
Nine minutes later
“Were is he?” shouted Gar to himself
“Right here.” Hatchy said as he rounded the corner.
“You’re late.”
“No, actually I’m early.”
“Whatever. Where’s Wry?”
Just as he said this, a muscular horse walked out from behind the wall. It had a thick black mane and yellow fur. When he saw it, Gar got a smile that went from ear to ear. The horse neighed; Gar took an apple from the bag on his shoulder and fed it to Wry. Then Gar’s smile fell, and his eyes went back to their icy cold angry look. Revenge had just been refreshed in his mind, and he was ready to go. He hopped on Wry just as Etym pulled around the corner on his horse. As soon as Gar saw him, he rode off away from everything he held dear. His eyes welled up but he didn’t cry.
The time passed until Gar was in a thick forest. Fear hovered within him, as he had heard the stories of people disappearing in the forest and never coming back. He tried to tell himself these were all myths and that nothing would happen. But he caught himself flinching every time a twig snapped or bush rumbled. He decided to get off and lead Wry. Then another bush rumpled. He froze. His hand dropped to his sword. Within a matter of seconds Gar had the shorter shadow in a headlock and his sword at his throat. He was about to kill it when the taller one said, “What are you doing? Are you insane?” Then a little bit of light fell on the shadow, and he saw that it was Hatchy.
Gar said, “I’m sorry.” And let go. Now that he knew who the shorter one was, he tried to figure who the taller one was, but he could not get a glimpse of his face. Then Hatchy in his usual eager tone, shouted, “Gar, it’s so good to see you. Etym and I have been traveling for hours trying to find you.”
“Wait! Wait! Wait did you say, Etym?” said Gar.
“Yeah he came just after you left. He was saying something about you being angry and doing something stupid.” As he said, this the second shadow stepped forward revealing Etym’s face.
“But still I don’t get it. Why did you bring him?” asked Gar.
“Well”…. started Hatchy. “Didn’t exactly bring him, he brought me.
Etym walked over and said, “Its getting dark. let’s set up camp here.”
Gar slept heavy hearted. It was his first conscious sleep since his father had died. He had nightmares every time he would close his eyes.
They were up as early as the sun, riding through the forest to where the search had spotted the Urgals. It was their main city, Van Hal. Almost as soon as they emerged from the forest, they saw the huge gloomy stone gates of the city. A shiver went down their backs with the exception of Etym. He never got nervous, not once. When they started to see the Urgal search parties, they hid behind some large rocks. Etym spoke first. He said, “They have up out numbered by four thousand to three. But I can take care of that.”
Then Gar said, “I think the best way to take out the city is to take out the king. And if you and Hatchy distract them, I can slip in and get the king.”
After that they all got busy preparing. They put on their armor, drew their swords, and mounted their horses. Then Hatchy said, “Etym, I thought you said you would take care of the numbers.”
Etym said, “I can.” He closed his eyes and about three hundred almost identical copies of himself appeared from thin air. There was one small difference; the copies carried a red shield while Etym carried a blue shield. Then out of nowhere an arrow was shot and one of Etym’s copies fell off his horse. He was dead. The war had begun. Half of the copies followed Etym to the left and the other half followed Hatchy to the right. Gar charged straight up the middle toward the castle. Loud horns started to sound. Battle cries were in the air, but Gar did not hear them. All he was focused on was making it to the castle alive. As he got closer to the castle, arrows began to fly in his direction. He tried to dodge them, but one hit his horse, Wry, in the leg. Gar jumped off and ran the rest of the way to the castle wall. Then he started to climb. The archers lost sight of him and ceased firing arrows in his direction.
He was almost at the top of the wall when a large explosion went off below him. Dozens of Urgals were thrown into the air, but only one of the Etyms. Gar didn’t think anything of it at first. It was only one soldier. Then he noticed the color of the shield. It was blue. All the heavy Urgals fell to the ground immediately, but Etym seemed to linger in the air. Tears filled Gar eyes, but he promised himself he wouldn’t cry. He continued to climb.
At long last, Gar reached the top of the wall. He could see the king’s chambers. He smashed one of the windows and went in. There he saw the ugliest Urgal he had ever seen. Its barf green skin looked uglier than the others. Its glazed eyes appeared even farther away than the others. Its shabby hair was very short in some places and extremely long in other places. The only way he could tell it was the King was by the crown on its head and the battle axe that had a royal seal carved into it. Immediately, the King started swinging wildly at Gar. However, Gar managed with some difficulty to dodge all the attacks of the King. Then Gar swung and the king’s blade and Gar’s blade got caught together causing a loud metal clang. Gar thought to himself that there was no way to defeat the king. But suddenly he remembered what Etym had said he had done. Gar closed his eyes and focused on a huge gust of wind. It worked! Suddenly, the wind came and the King flew through the window and over the wall. But before meeting his doom, a small pouch fell from the King’s waist and landed in a fire in the middle of the room. A deep voice came from the fire and said, “From this powder you will be granted one wish.”
Many things to wish for came to his mind. But Gar knew what to wish for. He stated clearly, “I wish my father was alive.” The fire stared to crackle and a human man emerged from the ashes. It was Gar’s father, Hourtous. Gar embraced his father and led him out the castle. This was easy because when the King died all the Urgals stopped fighting.
He found Hatchy by the rocks near the gate to the city. Then they rode back to their homes. Hatchy on his horse, Gar and his father on Etym’s horse.
When they arrived home they built a memorial to Etym and everyone in the city came to pay their last respects. From that day on, no Urgal ever attacked their city.