Chapter 40: The Wheel
Footsteps loomed closer and closer, the company of three almost-drowned girls and two siblings looked towards the forest. At least they were human footsteps, and not the rustling of some unknown animal. Though, the trouble from an animal would have been easier to deal with…
A huge, towering man stepped out. He stood at least 6 foot and 8 inches, weighing 220 pounds. Muscles popped up out of the linen tunic shirt he wore, whose sleeves were visibly torn off, probably to further show the power of his body. Zan observed a scar covering his left eye, permanently closing it. It was easy to see that this man was not only powerful, but had some experience on the field.
Elea knew him for he was known for frequently harassing the young village girls, and being violent towards the men for no other reason than he simply could.
The other girls knew him for he was the wild dog of the Loya family. A bodyguard for the blonde boy from yesterday.
Despite seeing the man, the girls did not feel safe. They knew of his character thanks to the blonde boy, and they knew he was much worse than even him. If they were not the daughters of wealthy merchants…maybe he would have already done something to them. For he definitely did something to those that didn’t have such a backing…
“You, the red-haired girl.”
The man smiled with a devious grin.
“You’re coming with me.”
“No!”
The girls hugging Zan immediately voiced their feelings, glaring in anger but also in fear of the massive man.
“Do you know what happened yesterday?”
“What does yesterday have to do with anything!?”
“Yesterday, the kid I was ‘sposed to be watchin was almost beat to death— someone with red hair, hahaha!”
The man laughed joyously at the occasion. He did not care at all about the blonde boy he was supposed to have been watching.
“Anyone could have red hair!” The two girls screamed.
Zan knew this was serious, but to be honest, only he and his family had red hair from what he knew, so while he found it funny, he stifled his chuckle.
“Yeah but who else would have a motive?”
The girls were about to say something but they stopped.
Indeed…they threw rocks at her yesterday, so it wasn’t too far-fetched that Elea could have wanted revenge.
They took a moment of thought but in the end…she and her brother had just saved their lives.
Both of the girls looked each other in the eyes, communicating that they were on the same page.
“Well she didn’t do i–”
“She’s the one who did it! She told me in the morning after she did it!” Shelly screamed.
Everyone looked towards the brown haired little girl. The two girls stared at her in dismay.
Elea, looked at the girl whose life she had just literally saved. The scarlet haired girl was so hurt, that could only stand there and feel the sting of a second betrayal.
Zan meanwhile, stared at her with the same look he did with the blonde boy. The same heartless, emotionless wrath.
“No, she didn’t! We were with you the whole day!” The two girls yelled back.
“Well yes she did!” Shelly responded.
The man started to laugh. Now that he was given the greenlight, he could do what he wanted without facing any consequences.
“I’m taking you in,” he smiled.
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“Our fathers will punish you for this!” The two girls yelled.
“My father will support you! Go!” Shelly yelled in spiteful response.
Elea stared at the girl. The daggers in her back made it difficult for her to breathe, but nevertheless she asked the burning question in her heart.
“Why?” she whimpered.
“Why what!?” the brown haired girl snapped back.
“Why are you doing this!?”
Shelly, who was already having an emotional breakdown from almost losing her life in the river— and her crush falling for Elea at first sight— and finally her father cheating on her mother— finally collapsed, unable to tell anything but the truth.
“Because you’re prettier than me!”
“Because you’re smarter than me even when I have a library and you only have that small shack you call a house!”
“Because you’re kinder than me!”
“Because your parents are happy together!”
“Because you’re happier than me even when you’re a poor peasant! I hate you!”
“She’s the one who beat Adin up! Take her away! I want you to hurt her!”
The brown haired girl wailed, her broken figure lifessly collapsed towards the floor as she cried into the dirt.
Elea stared at her, losing all her words. Confusion, bewilderment and hurt were the only things on her mind.
What could she have done? Despite none of those things being her fault, the only thing the girl thought of was not how poisonous Shelly was, but how she could have seen and helped her.
The two girls meanwhile felt something click in their heads. None of those stories about their friend who turned out to be a “poor whore” were real.
Well, except for maybe she lived in a small house…but other than that, all of those vicious lies were fabricated.
They looked at the brown haired girl with disgust and revulsion…but then they looked at themselves.
Despite the lies, their tongues had already spit out venom, and their hands had already thrown those stones. It made them feel terrible.
The two girls let go of Zan, before looking at each other once again.
Despite the river taking almost all the energy out of their tiny frames, they ran forwards anyway, dashing towards the man. The two clutched onto his legs and promised to themselves not to let go until it was safe for their friend, for Elea.
“What the?”
“Elea just run!”
The two girls screamed.
“He can’t touch us because of our families! Go!”
Elea panicked, the sudden changes that had happened and were happening was all too much for her brain to process. The scarlet-haired girl simply stood there, watching as the massive man tried to pry off the little girls stopping him.
“C’mon.” said Zan.
The red haired boy grabbed Elea’s wrist and he pulled her with such strength that the only thing she could do was run with him deeper into the forest.
And Zan was fast. The speed at which he was running was basically Elea’s sprint.
“Wait! Go slower! Or I’ll stop soon!”
Zan didn’t want to but he did anyway. At the same time he looked back, and of course the worst had happened.
The man had forcefully knocked the two girls unconscious, before running at them at full speed.
Maybe the red haired boy alone had a chance to get away, he definitely ran enough everyday up and down the mountain. The forest could have also hindered the man unlike the small frame of the boy.
But together…they were not going to lose him.
While Elea was athletic, she didn’t do the same physical training that Zan did everyday.
Zan could also not coordinate with Elea what actions to take so that they could lose him. He couldn’t pull her arm every time they needed to jump over a log or swerve around a tree. Well, they could do that, it would just be too slow and the man would have already caught them.
Zan thought as fast as he could, grabbing whatever items on the forest floor just in case they came in handy.
Then suddenly, an idea popped into his head. The red and scarlet haired siblings ran in a straight line away from man, but suddenly they started to curve towards the left.
The man saw this and wondered why they were slowly turning back towards him, but he did not care.
As Zan and Elea curved to the left, making a sort of U turn, he ran a straight line to them in an effort to intercept them.
“C’mere lil’ girl!”
One of the man’s big, ugly, and dirty hands was just about to reach the hems of Elea’s rags, but before it could, Zan threw a rock at his face.
Experienced, the man was actually able to block it with his other hand, but he blocked his vision with his one good eye at the same time.
THUD!
He tripped over another rock that he didn’t even see Zan throw.
“URGHH.”
The man grunted like some mythic troll, before he picked himself up and started to sprint this time instead of enjoying his food.
Shelly, who was still crying with her face down on the dirt, suddenly heard a series of running steps.
‘Didn’t those two run away?’
She had heard what was happening even if she was too busy with her face in the dirt, despairing in her own world.
Slowly, she raised her head to see what was going on. The same time she did however, a bare foot kicked her face.
“Zan!”
“What? Just havin fun!”
“You didn't bring us back here just to do that did you!?”
“Maybe I did!”
Then, the two suddenly reached the river, and as Elea questioned what he was planning, he suddenly pushed her into the raging current.
“Brother!?”
The one-eyed giant of a man came out of the surrounding foliage to see her flowing down the river. And just as he was going to dive in to chase her, a young boy collided with one of his legs.
The last thing Elea saw before she was swept away, was the sight of her brother tackling and colliding with the giant man’s leg, and the corresponding color of red that ran down her brother's face.
Blood was already coming out of his head from the impact, but he achieved his goal and made the man fall down, stopping him from diving into the river.
More than that however, it would become harder for the massive man to both swim, and run.
A sharp stick protruded out of the man’s leg, going in quite deep.
Zan, stumblingly stood up.
Elea felt her heart stir once again, but the sight of it all was rapidly getting further and further away from her eyes. The endless trees concealed what was happening, and she was left with never knowing what was going to happen to her brother.
The red-haired boy saw Elea get carried away from the current and he heaved a sigh of relief. She knew how to swim now even if it was only in the moment. Zan had faith she could do it again if her life depended on it— they were siblings after all.
The comfort that his sister was safe was all that he needed right now.
Yet, right now he was having a big problem. The massive man pulled out the stick that Zan stabbed into his leg when he collided with it.
“I’m going to kill you boy. And I can do it because you’re just a peasant.”
Zan looked towards the floor, his right foot hurt a little but he could still run.
The plan, after all, was to lose the fucker within the forest after he stabbed the guy’s leg.
The problem now however, was that he was seeing two of each foot…