THE WATCHER'S;BEGINNING

CHAPTER FOUR:JOURNEY!

"Are we there yet?" I inquired for at least the hundredth time,allowing myself a few minutes of self pity. This was getting so boring, we had walked for miles with no rest and I was definitely starting to regret my decision of having to follow this stranger. I absorbed this emotion with great care, letting it permeate my whole being as in some kind of breathing exercise of the soul.One,two,three,four.
"Not yet and would you stop asking, it's starting to get on my nerves," he answered,fed up with my constant nagging. He seemed angry. Very angry. With different levels of angry, of course. Lightly pissed, mad, boiling mad, tantrum mad, red faced mad, rude mad, silent treatment mad, and 'I'm-going-to-murder-you-literally' mad. On the other hand,I was wallowing in hunger. I desired some of the piping-hot croissants, orange-blossom or rosemary honey, English marmalades and Kiletean tea I used to steal from bakeries.
"Can we rest? My legs are killing me!" I sat down on some grass which greeted this (me) ungrateful inhabitant with a bright freshness for which the climate was unjustly not renowned. But he just kept walking on. I expected him to acknowledge this but he just walked on. Well, seemed like I had no other option as I stumbled to my feet, "Jeez! What is wrong with this guy."
"I heard that!" he shouted as I tried so hard to keep up with his walking style which was entirely a compilation of long strides. If he would not let me rest I just had to make it as uncomfortable for him as it was for me.
"Are we there yet?" I knew this would catch his attention. It did, A-ha!
"I fucking told you not to ask me that question again!" he barked.
"And I thought I told you I needed some rest. Are we there yet?" I kept on and smiled inwardly as I spotted rage written all over his face, it was working. I took time to scrutinize his face.His gaunt face and flesh less limbs put him in the category of persons destined to turn back to dust without ever passing through the stage of life when increasing convexity lends the riper years an air of dignity. He let out a sigh, obviously fed up with my constant ranting,"Okay we can rest!"
"Finally!" I shouted and sat down. He followed suit and from his leather bag, he removed two pieces of bread, "Here!"
I took one piece and ate it without a word but my curiosity knew no boundary. "How do you know my parents?" I asked and then I noticed the sadness on his face.I bent over him like a question mark or a curving vine, as the differential, soliticious arch rising up from his rounded shoulders and ending in a fleshy white face whose eyes seemed to pinch his. He stayed silent for quite a while but finally uttered, "We fought side by side with your father and he also trained me and as for your mother, she was a very close friend of mine." He tried momentarily to step out from the anonymity of our 'professional' relationship and introduce a new vein of discussion.
"What do you mean 'fought'?" I inquired surprised for I never knew my father as a fighter,lest even imagined it.
He glanced at me as if he knew exactly why I was surprised, "You see Ladin, your parents were not the people you thought them to be, they had a past that caught up to them and now to you."
I just stared at him trying so hard to digest these words though I had already contemplated the possibility before, "What are you talking about?"
"I'll explain everything when we get there."
"Where exactly is 'there'?"The blade of vexation began to cut through my consciousness, penetrating deeper and deeper through tortuous channels that first began to intersect, then merged with one another, widening until they formed whole cavities of resentment. Why and what was he hiding from me?
"You'll see!"
"Do you ever answer questions fully? Far from that, why did you just appear now? I have been leading this shitty good-for-nothing meagre living for years now, so why now?"
"All those years you forgot who you were,you lost it all in the blur of the stars and became a thief so I waited till you remembered the reason you are still alive."
"Which is?"
"To become the person your parents wanted you to be."
"Cut the riddle crap and just tell me, why does everyone even take me for someone special when I couldn't even protect my parents, I just watched them die like a coward. My entire life is just a show of cowardice. "
"And what could you have done? Begged him not to kill them? Look Ladin, I am here to ensure that you never feel helpless the way you did that night but that will only work if you put your trust in me."
"I do trust you ,after all, it's not like I have any other choice," I sighed."Are you going teach me the art of fighting? "
"Yes and no!" he replied leaving me confused once more.
"I really hate it when you do that, does it hurt to give a full answer or a clear one in that case?"
"What I mean is that, I won't teach you just to fight but to use it for good reasons, for the right purpose," he answered standing up, "Get up! We need to keep moving."
"What! So soon!" I exclaimed.
He started walking and I had to follow. We walked on and on and on. Through dark forests, in the deep uninhabited valleys, up the rocky hills, past several towns until we finally came to a clear path. What am I really leading myself into? What's in store for me? These and other thoughts had barely enough time to form in my mind before they became entangled with one another. I had always seen myself as the unhappy incarnation of all the historic defeats of this century, butusually this conviction was composed equally of irony and bitterness, which balanced each other out, so that the final result was fairly acceptable.
"Are we there yet?"
"Just be patient!" he said shuffling his feet then he came to a sudden stop at the end of the path.
"Why did you stop?" I inquired, as he took a glance at me.
"We are here!" he replied.
"Where exactly? I don't see anything. You know, I knew you are going crazy but this is another level, considered checking into an asylum before? "
"HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS!" I heard him whisper.
Abruptly I heard a rumbling sound as I took some steps back, "What the heck is that?" but he did not answer. That's when I saw it, a castle standing in the middle of a large field surrounded by a vast forest and the path that led to its door.
"Woah! Did you steal this?" it was just too amazing to belong to the prick standing next to me.
"No,its all yours, left behind by your parents," he answered with a quick glance accompanied by a smirk on his face. The reality was more unbelievable than my assumptions
"You mean to tell me, I had such a magnificent house and yet I lived on the streets for all those years. You keep giving me more reasons to hate you," I said throwing him a dirty look.
"That's expected. Are you ready?"
"Heck yeah!" I eagerly replied my mind already envisioning the glamorous life I could lead in there. "Let's go in then," he requested,leading the way.....