Blizzard

Chapter 6: At Home

Eske ran through the woods quickly, faster than his friends could see. He had left them behind and they were chasing him, looking everywhere. Eske had jumped on low branches, making his way up, and now jumped through the trees chasing a large deer with antlers that branched into the air like a tree. it ran fast, jumping and weaving through trees, but Eske ran faster. It came upon a small clearing in the trees where it briefly stopped as it watched Eske emerge from the trees, floating through the air with his bow aimed at the deer. The sight was exalting, and went by in slow motion. Eske, surrounded by glimmers of snow, floated in front of the moon making him give off a radiant glow, looking almost godlike. That would have been the last sight the deer had ever seen if it weren't for Dunka, who had screamed out to Eske just as he was about to shoot. Eske missed and fell into a pile of snow, distracted, and the deer fled through the wilderness, fading away into nature.

"Eske, we finally found you!"

"Dunka! What were you thinking!? I would have caught that deer if it weren't for you!"

Dunka recoiled at this remark, and the other kids had just caught up to them.

They all stared at Eske in disbelief as Valya, a young girl, and the second best hunter of her age, stepped forward.

"Eske, I don't know what's come over you recently, but you aren't the boy I used to know. What happened?"

Eske recoiled himself this time, replacing his aggression with a more depressed face.

"I... I'm sorry... keep going without me, I need to go home..."

Eske began to walk off, and Valya followed, sending the rest off to keep hunting. Eske's grayish looking hair flowed in the wind. He wasn't quite as tall as his brother was at that age, but he was still looked quite like a well grown boy.

"Come on Eske," she said gripping his shoulder, "What's going on?"

Eske stopped and sat on a hill overlooking the village which had now grown quite larger since the troll's death.

"I'm sick of living in my brother's shadow. I want people to know my name, not just "Enar's brother". I never got credit for fighting the troll, only Enar did, even though I'm the one who shot it's eye first."

Valya sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Eske, you don't have to be famous to be a hero. You'll have your time, I promise. One day they'll sing songs and write poems about your great hunts."

Eske sighed and leaned into her, contemplating what she said. They sat there for a while before suddenly, running footsteps came from behind. Kiervas, another boy from the hunt, came running towards the two.

"We need you guys now, we were attacked by a strange group of men. They said they were looking for you, Eske. I got away, but I don't know what happened to the rest of our group."

Eske hopped up and Valya followed. They ran into the forest fast. Eske's furred leather gear made him look majestic as he ran ahead of the group. Eske was probably the fastest person in the village, despite his age.

They came upon a clearing where there appeared to be a group of soldiers guarding tied up children. That was definitely their friends. There were 4 men there total, all armed in heavy armor with varying weapons. They looked experienced, with battle scars and rugged looks.

Kiervas pulled out a knife and Valya already had her bow ready and trained on one of the men. However, Eske felt something deep in himself. There was something familiar, yet wrong about these men. He told the other two to stay back, and with some difficulty, convinced them to lower their weapons. After sneaking as close as possible without entering the clearing, Eske lurked forward. Slowly, he went forward before running ahead and jumping high in the air, snow drifting up with him. One soldier saw him and briefly looked up in awe before an arrow struck his neck. Eske then fell down, sliding past the falling soldier and jumped back up onto another, he then pushed off the second man and entered the air once more. An energy, an exhilarating rush flowed through his body. He pulled back the bow string as it began to glow a bright blue, and the arrow was enveloped in strings of bright lights. The sound of a blizzard could be heard by everyone in the clearing as Eske's eyes turned blue and he released the shot. It struck the ground, instantly freezing all three remaining soldiers. Eske then flipped backwards as he was falling and aimed three arrows at once. They simultaneously shot at the crystal men in front of him and, all at once, the ice exploded into shards. The statues that once were men, had seemingly disintegrated into thin air. Eske landed on the ground where the snow floated around as if a small blizzard had kicked up around him. Every single child that was tied up stared in awe as Valya and Kiervas rushed out to secure the area. Eske breathed slowly as he opened his eyes. They were back to normal, and he seemed calm yet serious. He looked down at his hands and looked back up smiling

"Did you guys see that?" He said

Everyone began to laugh and cheer. Valya approached him and smirked

"I told you your time would come."

Eske smiled at her, then suddenly his expression went dark

"What's wrong Eske?"

She began to reach out her arm when an arrow pierced directly into her shoulder. All the people in the clearing drew their weapons as more soldiers like the ones from before emerged.

All of the kids began to back into a circle. They were outnumbered agianst older, more experienced, and better equipped soldiers. Valya stood close to Eske, her knife in her good arm. Things looked grim, and Dunka was breathing hard. Kiervas stood with two knives looking like he was ready to become a savage against his enemies.

Esks felt tired, but he stood with his bow at the ready. He whispered to himself loud enough that only he and Valya could hear it.

"Valhalla"