7 Chapter 7: A Walk In The Woods (1/2)
Before the twins lay piles of the items which had been taken from the rest of the bags. Besides the meagre amounts of bread, dried meat and berries that could sustain them for two or three days at best, there was two short lengths of rope, three flint knives, three empty water flasks and six arrows in the collection. That's without including the larger three-pronged piece of rope that they had only recently unfastened from their ankles.
Despite the desolate situation, the twins were actually feeling a sense of accomplishment, this was the most they had ever had to their names. Looking over their new belongings again and again, their smiles grew larger and larger as they giggled like goblins huddled over their hoard.
”You know… Now that the wolf is gone… we could go back and get the stuff that was in the bags I dropped.” Rykar's eyes may have been on the pile in front of him, but his mind was on the treasures left scattered in the rest of the forest.
”True… and there's James… I don't care, if his bow isn't broken then its mine” Loki replied, his eyes similarly glistening as he regarded his new riches. ”And since the bow is mine I get the arrows, you cant use them anyway.”
”F*ck that! You can't take all the best bits. What am I meant to do, hunt with a tooth pick? If you get the bow then I'm taking the arrows, you can go find your own. I can use them in traps or to stab stuff!” Rykar snapped back as soon as Loki finished. Although he had no use for the arrows, he found it hard to let go of all the best things without a fight. The arrows were definitely the most valuable things in the pile besides the daggers, and the food would be split evenly regardless.
”Oho, is that right? I think you'd find it pretty hard to use the bow or the arrows if I hadn't pulled your dumb ass up while the wolf about to give you a massage earlier.” Loki wasn't letting this one go. ”And I lead the way here. Practically, this should be my tree in the first place.”
”HAHAHAHA, what!? Id like to have seen you make your way in through that damn hollow after you finished breaking your leg by tripping over nothing. I carried you here AND pushed you in ahead of me! Do you know how much emotional trauma you owe me for!? I basically gave my life for you!!!”
”Correction, you pushed me in AFTER I helped you up. So that means you only helped me because I helped you. You wouldn't have even had the chance to help me if I didn't save your ass! And the rope was tied to you! If you didn't take me then you would have gotten chewed up too. Don't pretend to be an angel you bastard!”
”WHAT!?!?”
Shrieks and yells marked the beginning of the trade deal between Rykar and Loki. Arguments and counter claims were thrown back and forth for over and hour before they settled on a common ground. Loki achieved his demands and was allowed to take the bow, if they found it, and all of the arrows. In exchange for this, Rykar would get two of the three daggers on top of the rights to call dibs on two items they came across in the future.
. . .
In a corner of the room, they sat at the short wooden table using the stools present while tearing into tough pieces of grainy bread. As the food entered Rykar, he felt slightly baffled. He was used to smaller portions of food and being able to feel satisfied however this was an even larger portion than usual and he couldn't feel anything. It was as though the food was falling into a bottomless pit. He wasn't feeling hungry, but he felt 'empty' as though there was a cold hollow within him.
Bushing the feeling aside, he wolfed down the last few bites of his bread as he saw that Loki was already finished and making his way towards the door. As he stood up and followed after his brother, he glanced around the room once again, hoping that they would be able to stay there for ever after getting their mother back. It was warm, there were two beds, shelves, a central fire pit, a table, stools. Hell, there were even books taking up an entire section of the wall! They hadn't been taught to read so they had only left them in their place after a brief look but damn, 'We have books!'. It seemed like they had only left the village a day ago but that moment had marked the ascension from hell straight up to heaven.
Walking out from the entrance, I was just like walking out from a normal door, the transition was smooth and the moment of awkwardness that they had been expecting never came. A few steps after exiting, they looked back once again to see that the tall entrance was gone, reverted back to the small hole that one would have to crawl through. A deep breath later, they made their way towards the location the wolf pounced upon Rykar.