Sorrows and Blessings

I wake the next day, my body aching all over as my eyes slowly flutter open. Looking out of my window I see the sun high in the sky, how long did I sleep I think to myself as I take step over to desk, struggling to stay upright on my sore legs.

I hear a tired knock on my door and my mother enters with fatigued eyes.

“Afternoon sweetie. I thought I heard you moving around up here” she says as she comes in and sits down on my bed with me. She embraces me in her arms.

I try to raise my arms to return the hug but struggle as the muscles protest.

“How long did sleep? What happened after I got back?” I ask as she finally lets me go

She sighs and looks at me with a pained expression as though being crushed by a terrible weight

“Mother? What is it? What’s wrong? Is Lord Beckront okay?” I ask into the silence, terrified by the look in her eyes as she looks at me, her grip around me tightening her embrace.

She shakes her head.

“No, He-- he didn’t make it” she says after a moment “Maya did all she could for him, but his lung was collapsed, and he was bleeding inside”

I look on in horror Lord Beckront? Dead? No, no it’s not possible. We KILLED the ogre. My body already exhausted from the day before and now my emotional energy drained, I can’t do anything but stare as a thousand thoughts rush through my head

“But… we killed the ogre” I find my mouth saying quietly, my mother looking down at me in pity. I feel like I should be crying but my eyes are empty following my reunion with mother the day before.

“I’m sorry Aucus, it wasn’t your fault. I should’ve known that there were ogres in the area, I should’ve been able to do something” she says, **** on her words as I realise why her eyes are red as another tear escapes from them.

She pauses for a moment and we both sit there in silence together as I process everything that has happened.

“He was a good man” she says at last, “I met a lot of nobles as an adventurer, too many. He was one of the few who actually cared about people, who wanted more than to sit in a manor and hoard his wealth”

“Yeah, he was” I say as I think of that grin that he always wore

“I doubt we’ll get anyone half as good as him” my mother says with a pained sigh as she looks out of my window

“Huh? What do you mean?” I ask

“The new lord. Beckront didn’t have any heirs, his wife couldn’t bear children when she was alive. His estate will return to the throne, and they will appoint a new lord for these lands. We sent word to the capital this morning and we can probably expect them to send word back on the replacement in a few weeks” she explains

I can’t help but think about how people are already making plans for life after Lord Beckront when he had only been dead for less than a day.

“Oh, right” I say quietly

My mother turns to me with a soft smile plastered on her face, brushing away a tear. “Enough of that. How are you feeling, you did fight an ogre after all. Even I started off with weaker monsters”

I roll my shoulder as I try to work my muscles in my sore arms, “er, everything hurts” I say with a little smile “but I think I’m okay, I managed to avoid most of its attacks”

She looks at me again, as though examining my body to see if I’m telling the truth. Finally she pulls me in for another hug “well don’t you go making a habit of killing ogres” she says “anyway if you’re feeling strong enough, Elsie and Henry have been asking about you since last night. I’m sure they’d love to see you”

“Yeah, I think I’m able to walk at least” I say with a grimace as I stand up and struggle for a bit again before I finally find my footing.

“Here you go. As much as I’m sure Elsie would enjoy it, I don’t think the whole village needs to see your body” she says as she hands me a pile of clothes from my closet with a knowing smile on her face.

I blush at the comment about Elsie as I slide my legs through the pants with a grimace and cover my chest with the shirt with the help of my mother. Finally getting my boots on, my mother takes my hand and walks me down the steps and to the front door until I assure her that I wont break. She gives me a kiss on my cheek and stands at the door watching me walk as I go towards the village.

It takes me much longer than usual to reach the village square, struggling with the ache in my legs. After nearly half an hour I reach the square and see Henry and Elsie sat on a bench with each other outside of the bakery. I look at her in her red summer dress, matching the colour of her hair; henry is wearing an apron stained from the preparation of food that he must have been helping to cook when Elsie arrived.

I take a step towards them and Elsie’s head swivels, her training must really be getting on, she stares at me for a minute a strange look on her face.

“AUCUS!” she screams in a high-pitched tone, pushing off from the bench and running towards me. Her arms outstretched as my eyes traitorously watch her ample bosom bouncing in her dress as she charges at me.

“Ugh” I grunt as I feel the full **** of her body wrap around me in a hug and almost buckle as he legs lift off from the ground.

“Elsie... ugh” I gasp, “a bit of help” I ****

She looks at me and let’s go, her face flushing as she gives me a more tender touch and still holding me close.

“Oh, right. Are you okay? How are you feeling? I’m not hurting you, am I?” she says, throwing the flurry of questions at me

“Elsie, Elsie calm down. He’s only just recovered” Henry says as he comes over to join us and gives my back a pat, “But seriously Aucus, are you okay?”

I nod my head as we go over to the bench, Elsie insisting on giving me even more help to walk than my mother did. “Yeah, I’m okay. I mean I hurt all over, but I’m not really injured or anything” I say as we sit down, Elsie pushing up against me despite the room on the bench.

“Come on, tell us. Did you really kill an ogre?” Henry says sounding a bit excited as he looks at me

“Er no. I mean there was an ogre, it caught us by surprise, and we had to fight it. It was Lord Beckront’s wolf spirit that finally got it, but he got pretty beat up in the fight” I say, my voice quieting towards the end before I sigh and recount the whole story of what happened.

Elsie looks at me as I talk, looking a bit angry as I tell them the story, but I can still see the worry in her eyes as I tell the parts of the story where we were attacked. Henry goes quiet to as he listens intently

“I’m sorry Aucus, I wish I’d gone with you. Maybe I could have helped” he says, making Elsie turn to him and give him a soft punch in his arm

“Don’t be ridiculous Henry, you might’ve died too” she says, sounding annoyed that he would even suggest a thing like that.

I nod my head, “I think I’ll need to get a lot more training before I do something like that again” I say

We hear a noise from the bakery and Henry turns his head, “Sorry, my dad really needs me to help with the cooking. I’ll bring something by your place later to help you recover” he says to me with a smile before rising and heading inside.

We watch him leave and I turn to Elsie, that angry expression still on her face.

“What’s wrong Elsie? Are you okay?” I ask concerned, not having seen her really angry before and thinking about what made her this way.

She hits me, her hand slapping across my face, not hard enough to sting but still a fairly strong blow. I look at her shocked as her fists start pounding against my chest, frustrating my bruises and muscles as I look at her, noticing a glisten to her eyes. I hold her wrists before she can carry on hitting me and her body slumps into me.

“Elsie? What is it? What did I do?” I ask with worry

“Don’t do it again… don’t get yourself hurt like that” her voice chokes as a tear leaks from her eye “if you had been hurt… if you had ended up like Beckront…” she trails off as she looks up at me.

I stare at her shocked at how worried she was about me, how much she cared. I’m even more shocked when she leans forward, and her lips press against mine. I feel her soft lips, clumsily pressing against mine, her arms clutching my body as my hands release their grip on her wrists. We stay like that for a while, my heart racing as I run my hand through her fire of hair,

When we finally release each other, I sit there staring into her eyes, “Elsie…” I croak as her face matches the colour of her hair

“I’m sorry Aucus, I don’t know what came over me. That was my first… well you know what I mean” she says, my eyes watching her lips as the words flood from her mouth “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just really care about you, and you can’t go fighting ogres away”

I open my mouth to tell her something, I don’t know what. That it’s okay? That I enjoyed the kiss? That it was my first too? But before I can say anything she gets up from the bench, her face as red as a beetroot as she runs off, leaving me thinking about her in all sorts of new ways.