The Lands of Ralosia & Ranuulo (Books 1-3)

Focus Chapter 2- Hyena Riders

~Chapter 2 - Hyena Riders~

"Are you sure you're okay, Corri?" Aero inspected his little sister's hand. Despite gripping a blade directly, she suffered no cut.

"I'm fine," Corri snapped her hand away. She looked at her brother and started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Aero asked.

"The guy hit you upside the head!" Corri burst into laughter, "And you just stood there! You didn't even jump out of the way!"

"Hey! That's not funny! It hurt!" Aero said while rubbing the top of his head.

The blonde-haired Jirro chided him, "You were being careless."

The boys were cousins. Both were twelve-years old born around the same time; Aero was only a few months older, while little Corri was a ten-year old.

After a brief rest, the cousins carried the wagon forward. Before the inconvenience on the bridge, they had just visited a town for supplies and trade and were returning home.

Aero and Jirro pulled their wagon past a modest town, one of few people, wooden stores and a couple buildings. A stable in the town housed several goats and one Labrador, all animals larger than typical Ralosians like them. People would commonly ride these animals for travel, though dogs were much more difficult to domesticate.

They passed by a small farm, where horses grazed on the land. The largest of the horses usually only came up to an adult's hip. People were quite fond of them as pets.

The wheel locked up on the wagon. Rather than fix it, the boys saw it as a challenge. They continued to pull it along as the lodged wheel grinded along the ground. They could've gotten some domesticated animal to pull the wagon for them, but their fathers thought it'd be good training for them to pull it themselves.

It was evening when the children left the grassy plains and began up the slope of the grey mountain ranges of Platt Mountain, leading to their home. They followed a winding path until they came to the area where their home lied, hidden amidst the mountains. It was built from stone with help from the Densius who lived nearby.

It was a humble abode. Most would consider it odd to live in such a reclusive place, but the children had only known homes like these.

Jirro and Aero pulled the wagon along the grey stone, eager to see their fathers. But when the children rounded a corner, they saw their home was terribly damaged, with chunks of it scattered around.

Corri hopped off the wagon, "What happened here? Where's dad?"

The children found no one inside the house. One of the walls of the home was completely blown out, with bricks and stones scattered about. From the way the bricks fell, it appeared as if the house was smashed through from the inside.

"I think there was a fight here," Jirro commented.

"Do you think your dad and ours got into it?" Aero asked, but after a moment, he rescinded his question, "No, if they fought, there wouldn't be anything left of the house."

"Let's look around, I'm sure they're close," Jirro said.

The children split up and searched the surrounding area. Aero and Corri checked on the plateau which served as a training ground for them. There were several rock pillars which had been split in half by their dad, but there was no sign of him. Jirro checked with the Densius living on the mountaintop, but they hadn't seen his father either.