Year 6983 st (settled time)
Town of Feltworks in Brust Valley
Today the kids of Malo’s town of Feltworks are playing Invaders and Defender against the kids from Riidenaeris, the next town up valley. There’s a natural rivalry between the town’s kids, the merchants of Riidenaeris buy fur from the same inu farm as the Feltworks and it drives up prices. That’s what their parents say, the children take it personally. This is the first time Malo gets to be the Defender, white scarves are tied to each of his arms to show his role in today’s contest. The role of Defender is a huge honor, those white scarves act as a substitute for the combat prowess and superhuman abilities of a real Defender and mark him as untouchable. Since his winter growth spurt, he’s now the same weight and height as the average young man of 14, and as he is soon to be seven years old himself everyone agrees it’s time to give him a chance as Defender, to stop the Riidenaeris invaders from taking the town, and slaughtering their families. Since this is only a game, there is no killing; they just need to steal a flag to win. Real invaders used to kill people though, so the flag is called the slaughter. The rest of the Feltworks’ kids are soldiers, stationed around the town center to stop any invaders that get past the Defender. If they can be kept from stealing the slaughter, the Feltworks win, the next time they play the roles will be reversed.
Other defenders would wait close to town and chase after the slowest kids first. Leaving the fast ones to the soldiers to fight. Malo has a different plan; the game always begins right at sunrise and ends at noon. As soon as the sun appeared in the west end of the valley, he set off at a sprint towards Riidenaeris using the road that connects the two towns. That’s the route they’ll take until they get close to Feltworks before they split up and enter the woods. The farther out he reaches them, the more invaders he can run down, he hopes. The road is three miles of blind turns and switchbacks as the land between the towns is littered with boulders and old growth trees. Patches of evergreens and pine fight for sunlight, the pine trees create a canopy 50-yards up, the evergreens only extending up in winter, cap out a little lower at 40-yards. It’s almost as dark as night since the sun is only barely clearing the surrounding mountains and is heavily filtered by the forest canopy. If it wasn’t for the lighter colored dirt defining the road it would be impossible to navigate.
Malo is more than three quarters to Rhiidenaris when the sound of young voices alerts him that the invaders are nearby. Malo moves from the road, steps behind a pine, and waits for them to get closer. Catching them walking would be a big advantage. Malo enjoys sneaking as much as any kid, crouches down and waddles behind a thick bush and lays down flat with his head towards the road. Keeping himself as flat as possible, he hopes they won’t be looking for him this far out from Feltworks.
The invaders from Riidenaeris are talking excitedly, boasting how they will outrun the Feltworks Defender and beat-up the soldiers easily. Not expecting an encounter with a defender this early they obliviously pass young Malo’s position.
Malo excitedly watches the group. Working on the assumption that the taller kids will be quickest. He stealthily rises and picks his first target. The tall girl leading the group with the yellow hair looks like a good place to start. Stepping into the road he roars, “Feltworks,” and charges through the crowd of approximately a dozen kids. They’re stunned for just a moment but that’s enough time for Malo to close in on the yellow-haired girl who is just starting to turn towards the noise. Malo balls his hands into fists and lays an upper cut into her jaw. She drops like a bag of fur to the ground and is out. The other kids, seeing his white scarves, realize they can’t fight back, break into a run heading towards Feltworks.
Malo goes to work racing behind the fleeing kids. He passes and ignores the slower kids and doggedly paces the quicker ones. After several minutes even the older kids begin to tire. Malo catches the lead runner and kicks at a trailing foot. Off balance that kid goes down in a heap and is eliminated. The other kids slow down as their fastest two runners, both leaders are knocked out in the first of the three miles before they reach the flag. Malo doesn’t hesitate as he jabs with his left hand into the shoulder of a girl trying to slip by him, her long brown hair hits him in the face as she’s spun around and falls sprawling to the ground, another invader is out. While this is happening three others get by him and rush towards Feltworks. The other five or so scatter into the woods making him choose between routes. Malo opts to pursue the three that made it past him and are still using the road.
The three were fast but tired and began to slow after another quarter mile of sprinting. Malo never tires, catches them, and once again goes after the lead runner. As he passes the other two, they dart off the road and disappear among a bunch of evergreens. Malo catches up to the last runner on the road, grabs the shorter boy by the arm and jerks to a hard stop, then when the kid is off balance, he continues to swing him around. This jerks the smaller kid off his feet and sends him flying into the woods in a slow spin that is abruptly stopped when his legs clip a young pine tree, he’s out. As someone who’d been heaved through the air that way himself, he has been determined to try it as the flinger at least once. Malo only takes a moment to enjoy the moment before turning his attention to the invaders that slipped into the woods.
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Malo moves 30 yards up the road because the kid he threw into the tree was crying loudly. Listening for the tell-tale signs of movement, he hears someone and starts dodging through the dark woods until he catches a glimpse of movement. Another kid, again shorter than himself probably a boy, his awkward running puts him at maybe four years old is the next to face the Feltworks Defender. Malo overtakes him and simply shoves him to the ground. He pauses to make sure the kid won’t stand back up. Then runs towards the town center where the others should be closing in.
Malo was so intent on reaching the town center where the soldiers would be guarding the slaughter he almost ran past the cluster of four exhausted invaders crouching behind a boulder trying to catch their breath. Malo stops, they see his intent to take them out and all together they lay down on their backs, exposing their necks and stomachs in a sign of surrender.
“I accept your surrender, you will receive the Free’er’s justice for the crime of cowardice,” recites Malo as the game dictates, seeing which kids surrendered he wanted to be away as quickly as possible.
“You got us this time; next time you don’t have those white scarves we’re going to pound you; runt!” yells one of the kids.
They may not be happy about the surrender but if any of them got up and tried for the slaughter now, their own friends would pound them.
I should have counted how many were on the road at the beginning, Malo thinks as he runs the rest of the way to the town center and finds his soldiers looking bored.
“Did any get through?”
“Any what, they won’t be here for another hour with how slow and lazy those weaver-faces are,” answers Kaden, the youngest soldier who is happily participating in his first game of Invaders and Defender.
“They were running when I last saw them. I ran all the way to Riidenaeris and attacked them on the road as they were leaving. I took out the three biggest kids and the rest scattered into the woods. I got two more there and I flung one...,” Malo pauses and smiles.
“Cool you said you wanted to try that,” exclaims Kaden!
“…it was awesome Kaden. I think I broke his leg too! Then I found four of them hiding and they rolled over like cowards. There should be two or three more slow-faces coming, I forgot to count.”
That was it, the two remaining ‘invaders’ decided to turn back when they found out they were alone. They were too young to fight their way through the soldiers, besides how would they outrun that Defender?
“Did you really run all the way to Riidenaeris and back and take out all the Invaders?” inquired Kaden.
“Yeah, it was the best. I ran them down like a real Defender.”
Rin, daughter of Hachi, the owner of the only store in the town center jibbed, “A real Defender would have stood out on the road and killed them as they came, you’re not a real defender, runt. If you didn’t run like the wind I wouldn’t let a jerk-face like you wear the scarves.” Malo was used to her constant criticisms and ignored them like he always did.
The rest of the morning passed with no action. The kid-soldiers were looking forward to a fist fight. Even some of the townspeople and parents were disappointed by the no show of invaders. Watching the kids’ brawl is one of the few entertainments available to them. The Feltworks kept their slaughter past noon, the game was over, they had won.
All that running didn’t make him tired, but it did make him hungry, he doesn’t understand how nobody else ever seems to care about food. Some days it’s all he can think about. Two meals a day is not enough for him, no matter what his papa tells him.
Malo trails behind Rin as she heads to her father’s store. While he walks, he unties and removes the white scarves.
“Rin, the scarves. Don’t you want these for next month?”
She stops, turns, and answers with a sneer, “not if they’re covered in runt-sweat. You can keep them, or better yet burn them.”
“That’s fine by me”, retorts Malo, tucking the scarves into the waistband of his pants as he passes her.
He reaches the store steps and bounds up onto the porch in a single hop and walks in without another thought of Rin.
There’s a loan occupant in the store, Rin’s mother.
“Hello Rana, how’s Hachi?”
“He is well; I received a letter from him the other day. He’ll be back in another week to reprovision our shelves. Especially the candies that certain hungry boys are always eating.”
The door swings open again, Rin storms in, makes a wide path around Malo and heads towards her room on the second floor.
“I should have asked, but from the mood she is in, I take it you lost the contest this morning.”
“Not at all, we won easily. She’s only mad because I did all the work. Next time I’ll make sure to let a couple get past me so she can hit someone,” as he speaks; Malo approaches Rin and sets the white scarves on the counter, “Rin wanted you to launder these.”
Ignoring the scarves, “You are generous to attribute her rudeness to the outcome of today’s match. I don’t know why so many people treat you like that, including my own daughter.”
“I gave up asking that question a long time ago. Some people like me, and some people hate me. I once asked Friar Lash about it, and he said strong spirits are both admired and abhorred. I had to look that word up in my dictionary. It means some people think I’m gross because my spirit is too big. My Auntie Ge’get said he’s both right and wrong, and the only important thing is to like myself. That’s why I stopped trying to impress people. I like me, that’s all that matters.”
“Your auntie is a wise woman. I wish she’d come around more often.”
“I’ll tell her you said that when I see her next week.”
“Thank you that is too kind. Did I hear you say that you won the contest single handedly?”
“Yeah, it was fun. I took the fight to them and caught them by surprise.”
“I think such a decisive victory warrants a reward. Pick a candy and take it as a gift from the people of Feltworks, for upholding our honor.”
“Thanks!”, Malo quickly went to a bin and grabbed his favorite candy, a small brick of chewy honey covered peanuts. Peels away the wax paper covering and stuffs half in his mouth.”
Mumbling, “ank ewww” he hurries out before she changes her mind or Rin comes downstairs.