The bandits were confused by his sudden appearance and shoved him aside, questioning him about where he came from. When no answer was forthcoming, they hurriedly searched the interiors, tearing the floorboards apart and tossing wardrobes and cupboards aside, trying to find the hidden entrance but to no avail.
While this happened, Godwin and his subordinate tried to salvage his left eye, but he cut it out instead, seeing as it was futile. That’s when he noticed a small blonde kid standing over the general’s corpse, staring daggers at him.
Godwin stood up, walked past him, knelt to grab the eye patch from the director, and covered his left eye with it. He barked, “What good was struggling till the very end?” Then, spitting at the corpse, he added, “You should have just slumped over and died quietly.”
He then turned his attention to Arlen and said, “Are you one of his little toys, using you to play savior while chasing something as vain as redemption?”
Seeing how Arlen maintained his emotionless expression and unblinking gaze, as if trying to carve Godwin’s face into memory, Godwin began laughing hysterically. “A little mutt wants to take revenge against a lion, ahahahaha! Well, this should be fun. Go on then, grab it and come at me!” He gestured at the director’s sword lying beside his corpse.
The brigands were amused by this turn of events, cheering Arlen on and placing bets on how long he would last. As Arlen extended his slender arm to grab the sword, he barely managed to lift it off the ground. He made a clumsy swing that almost tipped him over as the blade slipped from his grasp.
Everyone laughed hysterically, mocking him. Godwin scratched his head in disappointment, having lost interest. He told the bandits to do as they wished with Arlen. One of them stepped forward, undoing his belt buckle, his mouth watering as he reached out to grab the boy.
As Godwin turned and started walking away, adjusting the eye patch over his eye, he heard a loud grunt. Arlen had grabbed the director’s knife and shoved it into the groin of his would-be assaulter, leaving him squirming in pain.
Arlen then twisted the knife around, cutting out the man’s right eye, and took out an eye patch hidden in the director’s pocket—a memento he had made for him. All the while glaring at Godwin, Arlen never made a sound.
The gutted brigand, enraged and eager to kill the boy, was stopped by his companions. “If the boss lady finds out about this, she’ll skin ya alive. You know how she doesn’t like harming kids.”
“We didn’t even tell her about this job. She won’t find out anyway! I’m gonna kill this little shit and defile his corpse.”
“Defile him with what? You already lost your balls! We still gotta explain how we lost two men and your junk, dimwit. We can’t show her all the gold we got, or we’ll end up penniless,” one of the bandits said, preparing a rope. “We’ll take him for now and offer him to her. She’s got a soft spot for blondes; maybe she’ll let us be.”
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Godwin, impressed by Arlen’s fighting spirit, considered taking him along but was already short after paying the bandits their fee. He still had a long trip ahead of him.
He recovered his subordinates' bodies and had the orphanage burned down. He stopped a fight from breaking out when the bandits wanted to loot the corpses, simply handing over their armor and brushing aside his attendant’s protests.
As the flames consumed the old, creaky wood, Arlen trailed along, holding the director’s sword with both arms. When the bandits tried to take it from him, he almost turned feral. Seeing that he could barely lift it and followed obediently, they allowed him to carry it for now. Soon, the crackling sound of the burning wood grew distant as the group vanished into the horizon.
--
Back in the forest, Joshua and his friends were done with their short break. The trio was now contemplating their next course of action.
On the one hand, they didn’t know how long they would need to stay stranded in the forest. Ever since they escaped the orphanage that morning, they had to assume the worst-case scenario had happened.
They didn’t want to risk hunting again, fearing that riders might comb the forest looking for them, so tossing aside this heaven-sent prey was out of the question. However, carrying this 100-kilogram boar back along with the deer was beyond their physical ability.
Pressed for time and with the smell of blood lingering in the air, they had no way of knowing when other predators might show up unannounced. They were, in essence, ringing the dinner bell for anything within a few miles.
Altan had an idea: “Quick! Help me cover this boar with leaves,” he said, gathering various herbs like sage and pine needles. After covering the boar sufficiently, he began breaking apart the herbs in his hands, scattering them over the pile of leaves. “This should be enough to mask the smell for now. We’ll return before the meat starts to rot.”
As they carried the deer back to the cabin, Joshua periodically carved symbols onto trees to mark the direction of the boar.
When they finally arrived, Reynard was the first to notice the pillars of smoke rising in the distance. Joshua nearly went into a frenzy, trying to rush toward the orphanage and almost tripping in his haste.
Fortunately, the firewood-gathering team was just returning. Sai, realizing what was happening, rushed off to stop him. He grabbed Joshua by his shirt, continuously urging him to snap out of it while being dragged to the ground.
It took the combined effort of Sai, Herbert, and Teuta to finally stop Joshua in his tracks, throwing him to the ground as he continued trying to inch forward.
Sai reminded him of his duty as a leader, imploring him not to abandon his responsibilities and warning him of the fate that could await the group if he were to leave, especially with the situation unclear and the enemies' whereabouts unknown.
Joshua regained his composure, apologized for his outburst, and thanked his siblings for stopping his reckless actions.
They then headed back to the cabin, which was abuzz with activity. Everyone gathered around the fire, enjoying their plates of venison—well, everyone except Herbert, who was dragged by Altan to retrieve the boar, amidst the group’s chuckling.
Thus, their hectic day came to a somewhat peaceful end, with the group huddling together for their first night, as the crackling of burning firewood died down into the quiet of the night.