2.

Two Hours Earlier

Florian lay fast asleep on his straw bed when a loud knock broke his slumber. He groggily got off his bed and onto his feet. He rubbed at his light brown eyes, desperately attempting to wipe away his sleepiness. His room was bare. The four cobblestone walls were largely empty save for the one large window where the light shone through. The only decor within the room was one large chest, where he kept his garments, and a small desk next to his bed. Despite the bleakness of the room, Florian would not exchange it for anything else. More knocking could be heard from his door. The wooden floors creaked as he walked toward the door. Dressed in only his white undertunic and brown breeches he swung open his door revealing the figure on the other side. Alaric stood a good few inches taller than Florian. Alaric stood frowning at the door refusing to go inside. Florian could sense something was amiss but disregarded it. In many ways, Alaric had been the complete opposite of Florian. Alaric had short, well-kept black hair in contrast to Florian’s unruly and curly brown hair. The differences did not end there however as Alaric’s piercing blue eyes contrasted with Florian’s soft brown eyes. Alaric had also been very skinny while Florian had been decently muscular. Alaric had worn a white linen shirt with black trousers and leather shoes.

“What have I done now?’ Asked Florian

For as long as he knew Alaric, he had always been a very stern person. This was the trait Florian hated the most.

Alaric shook his head as his serious expression turned soft.

Strange.

Alaric finally spoke up. “It seems our water reserves have run out already. I have already told Ashe but I was hoping you both would go and get some water from the spring.”

Florian gave Alaric a questioning look.

Alaric saw his confusion and continued to explain. “I spoke to some of the villagers this morning, they have informed me of some sort of leak occurring at the water tower. So I told them that I would send You and Ashe to gather some water for them.”

Florian hated the way Alaric would speak of the townsfolk. It felt as if Alaric did not belong with the rest of them.

“Very well, I will quickly gather my things and head out,” Florian said.

Alaric nodded at him. “Do make haste however, the townsfolk are getting rather impatient.”

Florian rolled his eyes. The townsfolk are usually very carefree. Alaric is probably exaggerating once again.

He turned his back towards Alaric and walked towards his large chest. He heard the door close behind him. He then got dressed. He now wore a brown leather tunic, brown trousers and ended with a pair of brown boots. He reached for the sheathed dagger that lay on the small desk. He quickly slipped the dagger under his belt and exited his room. His room had been on the end of a long hallway. Three other equally spaced wooden doors made up the left side of the hallway. On the right side towards the middle of the hallway were downward facing wooden stairs. He made his way down the stairs. The bottom floor was large. The floor and walls were made of cobblestone. There were rows and rows of wooden chairs leading up to an altar situated on the north side of the room. The townsfolk led by Priest Able held a ceremony in this room on the dawn of every third day. Florian attended these ceremonies but never understood their importance. At the southern end of the room in front of two large wooden doors stood Alaric and Ashe. With the exception of Priest Able, they were the only family he knew. The strict, older Alaric and the carefree, younger Ashe. He often wondered what it would be like to have an actual family but always concluded that he prefers his patchwork family. Alaric eyed him as he descended the staircase. Ashe was the shortest of the group. She had shoulder-length blond hair and brown eyes. She was dressed similarly to Florian however she had a large wooden barrel strapped to her back.

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“Greetings sleepyhead,” Ashe said with a smile

“Greetings” He returned the smile.

Alaric brought another wooden barrel over to the group and began strapping it to Florian’s back.

“What are you going to be doing?” Florian asked, glancing at Alaric.

“I promised Lady Alfreda that I would help teach her kids how to read and write.” Alaric finished tying the barrel and stepped to the side

The weight of the barrel was not anything new for Ashe and Florian as they were accustomed to transporting items for the townsfolk, be it water or food.

Ashe pulled on the wooden doors and cool fresh air entered the room.

“Best get going,” Ashe said.

Florian followed her as they exited the building.

“Be sure to dawdle!” Alaric yelled behind them.

Never heard that from him before.

The cool air bit at Florian's face as he walked through the town. He greeted the townsfolk as he followed behind Ashe. The small town of Diable, situated on Diable Island, was home to only about seventy-five people. Priest Able had once told him that every person that lived here was outcasted from the mainland. He never understood why, every person on the island was abundantly polite. Besides what would that say about him and Ashe were they supposedly outcasts at birth. He had asked Priest Able that exact question, the reply he got was that Priest Able found him as a baby on the mainland. Life on the island had been lonely at first, for the first two years of his life it had just been him and Priest Able. He was then joined by Ashe who was still a baby at the time, Priest Able said he found her in the same way as he had with Florian. When Florian had been four years old, their family grew again as Alaric was brought into their house. Alaric had been a year older than him. Alaric had been very dismissive at the beginning but as time continued he opened up. The only subject Alaric never spoke about was his parents. He had once snapped at Florian and Ashe when they asked him about it.

Ashe and Florian reached the entrance to the forest. The spring was situated amid a forest to the south of the town. Florian could see that Ashe was immensely happy by the expression on her face.

"If only I could find the bliss in doing Alaric's chores as you can," Florian said.

Ashe chuckled. "It is not so much the chores as it is the freedom these chores give me."

He expected this answer. She had always loved going outside and exploring the forest. She had begged Priest Able to allow her to travel with him to the mainland many times, he always told her that one day she would get the opportunity. She had always been saddened when heard that. He thought about the time she ran into the house crying stating that she had seen a gigantic black gooey spider in the forest. The entire town went into the forest that night searching for the spider only to find nothing. Florian chuckled at the memory.

"You're thinking about the spider again, aren't you," Ashe said.

"How'd you know?" Florian asked stifling laughter.

"Whenever we are traversing the forest, you always seem to bring it up."

"Come on, it was funny, you even had Old Dunstan up on his feet ready to hunt spiders."

Ashe flushed.

He knew that she felt guilty about that night.

"Now I wish Alaric joined me instead," Ashe said.

"We both know that is untrue unless you wanted to get lectured the entire way."

"You're definitely right about that one."

They were making steady progress into the forest, the spring was quite a decent distance away from the town.

"Has he been acting strangely?" Ashe asked.

"Who?"

"Alaric."

"You have noticed as well."

Ashe nodded slowly.

"He hates when we meddle with his business. He is most probably stuck on some arithmetic question Priest gave him." They both laughed as they continued to walk.

An hour later they had reached the spring. The spring was a beautiful sight. It was large, the water had been translucent with a tinge of blue and green. Florian, Ashe and Alaric played here many times when they were younger. It had been a place of fond memories for Florian. It represented his happiness, a place where his family were joyous.

Florian helped remove the barrel off of Ashe's back. Ashe was about to do the same with Florian's barrel when a loud screech attacked their ears. Both had placed their hands over their ears. After a couple of seconds, the screech ended. Both Florian and Ashe gave each other worried looks. That has never happened before. Ashe then immediately began to sprint in the direction from whence they had come. Florian withdrew his dagger, cut the rope that strapped the barrel onto his body and took off after Ashe.