Chapter one grandma Alba
A few days went by after the events that took place After the cave incident, grand elder Alba chose to take Ulghar home with her. The pair have been traveling for three days now, “Ulghar is scared of this forest “ he says after hearing a loud howl coming deep from inside the forest they are entering, he nervously grabs the back of Alba's robe burying his head in the cloth shaking a little.
Alba pauses in her slow walking and turns toward Ulghar and pats him on the head, “that was just the guardian of the forest, he is a great wolf and only wishes to greet us with his voice” she says looking deeper into the forest “if it will make you feel safer you can hold my hand” alba offers her hand to Ulghar as he slowly takes it.
“Grand elder Alba I still think you should get rid of that runt, it could be dangerous those who attacked him could surely attack us for helping the Ogre” Renard the Ranger says to Alba as the three of them walk to where she lives
“Renard if you don't want to get hit again I suggest you shut it! The boy is innocent, he is now in my care” Ulghar takes her hand and looks fearful at Renard “Ulghar promises to be nice and helpful!” Alba pat Ulghar head gently speaking “it is okay we should be getting to my home soon”
After an hour of walking the three of them arrive at a small clearing in the forest. In the clearing is a giant oak tree with a house growing out of it. The tree has carved stone steps leading to the door attached to it. Ulghar looks at the house with wonder and lets go of Alba's hand jumping happily asking “Is this Ulghars new home? It not made of stones!” Ulghar runs around excitedly touching the tree and examining it. “does that look like a monster to you Renard? Ulghar is just a young boy” a bluebird flies down from the tree and lands on Ulghar's head and begins to chirp up a song, Ulghar freezes not knowing what to do.
A few minutes go by as the bluebird sings its song and then flies away. “Whoa, that bird was pretty!” Ulghar shouts, Alba opens the door to the house telling the others “come on in and make yourselves at home!”
Ulghar runs inside exploring the whole house and soon Renard follows him to make sure he does not break anything inside. “The youth is so full of energy,” Alba says after closing the door to her house.
Night slowly settles on the house as Alba puts a lid on the pot of vegetable soup she has been cooking, ‘hmm I wonder what those two are doing I best check things out” Alba thinks to herself looking around her house for them. She finds Renard in the living room unstringing his bow “so did the two of you have fun?” she asks Renard sitting down in her wooden rocking chair next to the fireplace. “That little fellow ran around the house like a wild animal, he finally calmed down when he found my old lute and I played him a small tune” Renard replies pulling out a rag dipped in linseed oil and wiping down his longbow. “I still wish you became a bard and not a Ranger, the animals in the forest enjoyed listing to your tune,” Alba says slowly reaching down for her knitting needles, Renard pauses in what he was doing and replies looking at the fire “if I had done that then I would never get the strength I need to avenge my village and my family”
Alba knits and speaks up as Renard continues his work “I miss seeing you, if it wasn't for the same employer hiring the both of us I'm sure I wouldn't see you again.” Renard replies “Well I did not think you wanted to see me after my argument with you as a teenager so I choose to run away”
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Both Renard and Alba talk for a few hours, unknown to both of them Ulghar listens from the second floor not understanding them. Alba gets up to check on the soup and speaks to Renard “can you please get Ulghar so we can have dinner” Renard agrees and quickly find Ulghar sleeping holding the wooden totem his mother has given “Hey it is time to eat, you best wake up before it gets cold” Ulghar slowly gets up, the two of them soon join Alba and have a good meal
A week goes by as Ulghar gets used to the new place he finds himself, Renard finds Ulghar sitting next to a tree with birds surrounding him. “I have to go you little runt, but before I do here is a gift “ Renard hands ulghar a large box, Ulghar smiles and takes it slowly “Ulghar only got gifts from mother in the tribe” once the box is open the young ogre pulls out long strands of leather.” what is this?” Ulghar says tilting his head in wonder and curiosity. “They are hand wraps, this part here is a leather bracer” Renard replies as he shows him which piece goes where. “Why did you give Ulghar this?” ulghar hugs Renard happy with the gift, “I thought maybe you like something to help you train so you can defend yourself or those you love”
Ulghar thinks then nods “ulghar wants to learn, but he doesn't know how to use these,” he says holding the wraps. “Well I can teach you for the next hour, but then I must leave for Iron keep my wife waiting for me” Renard helps Ulghar wrap his hands and attach the leather bracers. Renard leads Ulghar to a tree that has old cuts in it “this tree here is your enemy, he may not be able to fight back so we tie this to him!” Renard says attaching a rope holding a leather bag filled with sand
Renard stands in front of the bag and gives it two quick jabs then doges back to avoid the swing back “the hand wraps are for protecting your fists, now you try!” Ulghar nods standing in front of the bag and giving it a hard punch “Ulghar did it! Ulghar di-” the bag swings back hitting ulghar mid-sentence making him fall backward. Renard barely catches him in time before he hits the ground. “Whao you okay? In a fight an enemy won't let you pumble them without fighting back” ulghar nods standing back on his two feet “ulghar okay, just did not expect to be hit, can Ulghar try again?”
Renard nods replying “yes but watches how the bag moves, think of it as a fist coming at you” Ulhgar stare at the bag thinking it is another ogre, and takes a quick jab at it. As ulghar does this his fist and eyes glow invisibly as Ulghar's blessings kick in.
Renard watches with surprise as each fist that comes in contact with the bag looks to be getting stronger and stronger. Ulghar reaction to the bag swinging back at him gets better as the hour goes by. “Well kid I think you might beagle to give some people a decent fight with your fist, but here are some tips.” Renard spends the remainder of his time with Ulghar teaching him how to improve himself.
Alba watches Renard teach Ulghar how to practice and thinks to herself ‘i remember when you were little Renard full of anger you took it out on that tree’ Alba sighs, leaving to go make a meal for ulghar.
As the hour comes to an end Renard turns to ulghar pats his head and says “I must go now take good care of the wraps” he stands up to leave when suddenly his legs get hugged from behind “you will come back to visit Ulghar yes?” Renard pauses to think then replies “I will come back in two years by that time you should be a natural fist fighter!” ulghar nods letting him go and tearing up.
Renard heads inside the house to say goodbye.” take good care of your self Alba I will visit again in two years, I'm sorry for abandoning you years ago.” Renard and Alba hug each other “I would love that, take care” Alba replies
As the sun reaches mid noon Renard heads out on his journey to iron keep both alba and ulghar waving goodby.
End of chapter one