Nava's Story

Chapter 8: My Job

I got a job helping collect garbage left around Silvanesti. It's not the best job but it pays a decent amount. The Elves mostly clean up after themselves so I don't have to much to clean up. It's mostly the kids that make giant messes. I also collect leaves and sticks. The leaves and sticks can be used to make different projects. I'm not sure what exactly but I have to collect them separately from anything else. Every time I get payed I put it in a jar that I hide in my room. I have an easy job and I actually kind of enjoy it. It's not too hard. And no one seems to really fight me or tease me too much.

I walk home after getting some more money. I look around at the small market where people are selling items. I look at the weapon sellers and listen to there prices. I almost have enough to buy some weapons. I go home and practice fighting until my dad comes home.

I got a lot more sticks in my room that I broke some and started building random things with so my dad doesn't get suspicious. I'm eleven years old now and I'm still lying to my dad. I walk out of my room when I hear my dad come home and I ask him "How was work?"
"Fine. Like always. We have to go."
"Why?"
"We are going to visit your mom."
"Why? We just came back two weeks ago."
"It... doesn't matter. Just go pack."
I go to my room and pack my bag. Ever since the Evil races have been appearing my dad has been taking us to visit my mom more often. I'm guessing he's worried about her safety. And also because she's getting older. It's hard seeing her slowly get shorter. The grey and white hairs appearing in her skin. And the wrinkles too. I finish packing my clothes then walk back out to our main room. I see my dad finish packing food and has our waterskin's. He already had his bag packed. He hands me my waterskin before grabbing his weapons, putting the food bag in his bag, putting the bag on, then his waterskin. I already have my bag on and put my waterskin on. We walk outside and lock our door before quickly making our way to the gate. My dad surprisingly takes us to the stable by the gate. He pays for two horses and we get onto them. He helps me up before getting onto his own horse. We are allowed to leave and we start quickly riding the horses. We ride in silence most of the time. We occasionally stop to give the horses a rest and to eat. We also stop to sleep for a couple of hours. When we aren't too far away from my mom's town we run into Humans. They quickly start attacking us. They are mercenary's. They want our stuff. My dad yells at me to keep riding. I push the horse to run faster as I look back and see my dad pull his sword out and start fighting them while on his horse. He's outnumbered. Eventually I make it to the Human town. I make the horse stop running and I lead it to my mom's house. I get off the horse and tie it's straps to the fence before knocking on my mom's door. There's no answer. I knock again and I'm about to open the door when a voice behind me says "She's not in there?"
I turn around and ask "Where is she?"
The Human male grins and asks "How do you not know? This town isn't safe anymore. It was taken over by mercenary's. Like me. The people got killed or moved to another town. Whoever you want doesn't live here anymore. I'm gonna have fun with you."
He pulls a knife out and he has a evil look in his eyes. I get ready to fight even though I don't have any weapons. It's a good thing I watched the guards training and practiced otherwise I'd be in big trouble. He quickly lungs at me but I move out of the way. I turn around and shove him. He stumbles a couple steps before regaining his balance. He angrily looks at me and tells me "You shouldn't have done that."
He lungs towards me again and manages to shove me and pushes me against the side of the house. He slowly moves the knife closer to me. I'm trying to shove him away but he's too strong. I remember my mom joking about when women are angry the kick men where it really hurts. I move my leg up and kick him really hard. He drops the knife and falls down in pain. I quickly use that time to rush over to my horse, untie the strap from the fence, climb on, and make it start running back towards my dad. I hope he's ok. Other mercenary's from the town try and chase me. I am faster because I'm on a horse while they are on foot. I find my dad and he had minor injures but he's alive. He put his sword away and has his bow out. He looks relived when he sees me and also worried. He asks "Where is your mother?"
"The mercenary's took over the town. One of them tried to kill me. Others tried chasing after me but I escaped."
"How did you fight him? You don't know how to fight."
"Well...I followed mom's advice."
"About what?"
"If a man does something you don't like, kick them where it hurts."
My dad takes a moment to figure out what I said before he starts laughing. His laughing doesn't last long because he says "We need to find your mother."
I nod my head in agreement. I follow him on his horse and we start riding. I don't know where we are going but I hope my mom is still alive where ever she is.

*Picture at the top of the chapter is one of the mercenarys*