I had been able to interpret the map correctly. We were on a cliff, the road just below us. It was just low enough for us to not be too far away from the road and just high enough that I felt safe about probable archers trying to shoot us from the road. It wasn't a smooth cliff, but one with big stones that gave an excellent place to shoot and hide before anyone saw you. We could see a surprisingly long way, considering we were in a forest. The road was seven, eight meters wide, and we could see almost fifty to the direction where Folius was supposed to be coming from, and maybe twenty to the other. So we sat and waited for something to happen. We were expecting Folius around midday. It wasn't too far away, but having to wait made it feel like forever. It gave me too much time to think. I tugged nervously at my hair, which for once wasn't covered under the huge hat.
I wasn't feeling very good. I was supposed to be a hero today. I was supposed to kill the evil and free the land. I wasn't ready for it. I wasn't ever going to be ready for it. I wasn't hero material. The heroes in stories were always bold, and fearless, and they had special skills. They were self-confident. They were born to be heroes. They were everything I was not. And, most importantly, they were always, always, sure about their cause. They always knew they were doing the right thing. In stories, there always seemed to be a good and a bad. There was always clear evil, that had to be gotten rid of. That wasn't real life. There isn't a plain right or wrong in real world.
Then again, I wasn't sure this was a real world. This was a world with witches and goblins and centaurs and talking lions and magic. It was in precisely those worlds where there was a clear evil.
But I was in this world now, and I didn't feel like I was good. Not really. So why was I the ultimate good guy in the story I had been thrown into? I didn't want to be the good guy. I obviously didn't want to be a bad guy either, they always went down in flames. I just didn't want to take sides. No, it wasn't that. Of course I wanted to be on the side of those fighting for their freedom. It felt like the right thing to do. I didn't want to be in a situation where I had to pick a side. I didn't want to be in what felt like a fairytale. And killing someone for our cause didn't feel right.
I didn't know anything anymore. I knew what was right, but I didn't. This is a fairyland, I told myself, In this land, there is good, and there is evil, and the evil must be destroyed in order for the good to bloom and life to grow.
And then I heard the noise. The battle had begun.
~x~
I never remembered much of the actual battle. I don't know how anyone does. Remember battles well, that is, if they have been there themselves. I remembered horns. I remembered flags. I remembered looking down at chaos.
I concentrated my mind on finding Folius. The battle was taking place right below us. I didn't know what he looked like, but Narada was there with me. She knew. She helped. Besides, a high elf looking completely full of himself shouldn't be hard to miss.
But it took a long time. A long, long time. The fighting just went on. The time slowed. There was a scream. Another. There was nothing but scream, and metal clatter, and the smell of blood. I couldn't tell what was happening below us. There is nothing glorious, nothing heroic about battles, no matter what stories tell us. Only chaos, and death.
I had poked some of the arrows into the lemon before. I had them all ready. Narada wouldn't go near the arrows.
I saw the elf prince, in the middle of the chaos, when his hood came off. He was riding a horse. I couldn't tell who were with us and who against. But I had a target.
I couldn't think.
"You are the light that banishes the darkness."
It was Narada.
I had an arrow in my hand, smelling of lemon.
Shwing.
It hit someone. I never knew, who.
There was another arrow, just by my ear, pulled back on my bow.
All I had to do was not think. My mother's tune was playing in my ears. It was me humming. I didn't know if anyone else heard me.
I felt the bow. It was a friend.
Shwing.
Something appeared on Folius' thigh. My arrow.
There was something on my shoulder. In my shoulder. I felt something wet and hot running down my arm and side.
And then everything went black.
___________________________________________________________________
You want to continue, but don't know how? Don't worry, I had already figured out how the rest of the story should go, I think, when I finished my last part. We'll just see if you agree with what I think the ending should be.
So I think I will make wrapping it up a little easier for you with my topic. I hope.
Your topic, last topic, for tomorrow is Mother.
Christmas Eve is tomorrow. We'll be celebrating Christmas then. You'll do the next day.
I suggest, about the future posts, that we take a week's break, and I'll write the next post after tomorrow's next Tuesday. As in New Years Eve. And then we'll continue our normal Tuesday-Friday from there.
I don't believe in greetings, so I will not wish you a merry Christmas.
However, what I will do, is give you an example of what all Christmas carols should be like. This.
Of course for any of it to make sense, you need to realise he's Australian. So when it's Christmas and they go outside, instead of freezing (it's too warm here to have anything more snowy that slush right now) they get sunburns and skin cancer.
Have fun with the last part.
~matu
PS. Someone tell me if there is someone in Malaysia actually reading us, or did one of us write something that has caused our blog to pop up really often when people google something there? Our stats say we've had like 50 pageviews there in the last two days.
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