Auro Of Mount Ocean. Book 1 : The Infamous Trio

Chapter 4 : Arena To Stay

It's been a month since the Mount Ocean run and the tension between Auro and Kim have died down. Things were returning to normal, perhaps even better. Auro made a full recovery within a couple of days with Arena looking after him. In the case of Kim, after the event she felt extremely dizzy and sick. She threw up often and then fell into a deep sleep for three straight days. Mary tended to her with some help from Arena. Arena scolded Mary for giving Kim the extremely potent substance. Mary took full responsibility for it even though she told Kim about the possible side effects.

Once Kim was up and about within two weeks, she began training with Auro again just like they used to do when they were younger. This also gave them time to talk with each other, way more than they used to in the past.

Winter was coming and the mage told the followers that this winter will be a seriously cold one. The followers asked Mary to make ample amounts of medicine and help with distributing blankets. The Bandits even agreed to help with handing out fire wood and NovaGrad assisted by supplying some extra food.

As the temperatures were beginning to drop, Auro and Arena were out doing errands for Mary. Auro forgot one of his medicine deliveries, so he made his way back and noticed a tall, well dressed man enter Mary's shop. Auro had seen him before but couldn't remember where.

Auro approached the entrance to listen in on the conversation. Auro couldn't really make out a lot of what was said, because they were at the back of the shop. Mary interrupted the guy mid-sentence saying, "With all do respect Wilfred!"
And then she spoke with a more gentle tone. Auro thought to himself, "Who is this Wilfred?",Auro looked up in shock, "that's right, he is Brad's dad! "

[Flash back]
Auro despised Brad for a couple of things he did in the past. One event that stood out was about 5 years back, when Auro and Arena were helping Garthor, who was at the time second in command of the Bandits. The Bandits were getting in new stock and supplies for The Three Queen Kingdom and Empire Kaer. The Bandits were dispatch to help because there were rumors that there would be an attack on the ship to steal the goods. Kim was used to help scout out the areas to spot ambushes.

The rumors turned out to be true and the ambush was thwarted before they could even go through with their plan. Things went smooth sailing after that until Brad's boys nagged him to make his move on Arena. Auro was so jealous that he was hiding in the bushes close by, looking out for her. Brad looked around, probably looking to see if Auro was watching, but he did not spot him. Brad proceeded to put his arm over Arena's shoulder and said something that made her giggle. Auro was shocked with her reaction and decided that he was going to leave her alone. As Auro made his way out of the bush, he heard the one word that he was waiting for; a stern no from Arena towards Brad. The conversation continued as Arena moved away from him. Auro felt that Brad was pestering her by the time he got to her. Auro, with a smug look on his face, did what he wanted to do the moment he saw the two of them together; "get the fuck away from her you basturd!" Auro shouted as he pushed Brad away causing him to stumbled into his boys.
Brad picked up a stone and threw it towards Auro who deflected it. The stone flew towards Arena and struck her head. Both of them ran to her and asked if she was OK? She answered, "I'm OK." sounding dizzy. The two of them began arguing with each other over whose fault it was. Kim arrived to take Arena away and they didn't even notice.
They broke into another fight but this time Garthor broke up the fight and gave them a scolding. As Auro walked away from the boys, with his bloody nose, he noticed Brad's group huddle together scheming to do something. He would have placed more interest in finding out what it was, but Auro realized that Arena was gone and needed to know what happened to her.

That night Auro returned home after apologizing to Arena at her house. He was exhausted and immediately went to bed. His sleep was interrupted by the smell of smoke coming from outside his window. He raised his head to see his dad fighting the fire that was burning all his crops. Auro jumped to his feet to help his dad and the few Bandits on duty. The fire claimed almost half of the crops by the time they killed it. Dante was just glad that he still had some of his field in a good condition. Auro knew who was responsible for the fire and told his dad who reported it to the Bandits.