Six Warriors

Patron Festival - (Fenrir)

Merlina was already awake when they were back at the Fallfrsky house. Lord Hoster asked her if they had fun and Merlina said yes very excited and then told several of the things they had done that day, the old man just listened to everything with a fatherly smile on his face. Meanwhile, Alexia spoke in a low voice to Fenrir that he should meet her and the others in the meeting room, they were going to discuss a few things. Even on that day before the meeting with Alexia, the lord and the others, Merlina discovered in Fenrir's things the boy's portable games, she asked what was that and Fenrir gave a smirk, saying he was going to show her which was real fun. Merlina took a while to learn the commands and how to play, but after she did, she seemed to be having a lot of fun and, oddly enough, Fenrir too.

"Big Brother" she said out of nowhere as they played, "these days you came here have been pretty cool!" She looked at him and gave him a very sincere smile.

"Yes...yeah, I think so" Fenrir smiled back.

"Things were weird before you guys showed up..." she said and for a moment she seemed to hesitate.

"What you mean?"

"I mean...always at this time of year, even if I'm left out by my cousins, my grandfather's house is always full of kids, but this year...it's like there's something besides, my grandfather for some reason forbade me to talk to my friends. He had never prohibited anything like that before."

"What do you mean? What friends are you talking about?"

"My friends... the forest people."

"Fairies, you mean?"

Merlina nodded.

"They were my friends, my grandfather never had a problem with me interacting with them...but this year...I don't know, grandpa is different...he was really, really weird before you guys got here, even Adger noticed."

Fenrir frowned at that information. Maybe it was just the old man's concern and that's why he seemed strange, maybe it was something more...

...

Fenrir's meeting with Alexia and the others consisted of them saying that more children were taken, not only in Childangelvill but also in the previous villages, in fact more in the previous villages than in Childangelvill, where only one child was missing. Bard, the imp of Othala, said that they gathered information from inhabitants who saw lutins, that kind of fairy, in the outskirts of the villages. The festival was to take place the next day and Lord Hoster Fallfrsky looked very worried. Percival and Alexia also found information about the man with the wart on his hand, he found himself in a somewhat remote region with a well-known criminal sorcerer, Percival already knew him and Alexia had heard of him, his name was Handrox and he was dangerous. Whether there was any connection between Handrox, the wart man, and the Fae, they still didn't know. Fenrir tried to observe the mannerisms of Lord Hosten Fallfrsky. He hadn't known him before all this, so he couldn't tell if he was acting weird or not, however, that Fenrir's keen-smelling issue made him feel... a peculiar scent note coming from that man, from day one when you first met him. The lord superficially smelled of essences and flowers, but deep down, deep down he had a strange smell, it wasn't quite a natural human smell, it was a bit rancid, a bit putrid, a bit greasy, Fenrir didn't he knew how to explain, but it was strange.

"Is there a problem, Fenrir boy?" the lord asked, realizing that he was being watched very closely by Fenrir. Everyone looked at the boy and he hid.

"No, it's nothing, I was just thinking about the best way to face a fairy or something."

The lord laughed.

"Iron, young boy, a good iron bar should be enough to make those creatures die."

Despite the apparent good humor in Lord Fallfrsky's speech, Fenrir felt a certain hostility in his eyes.

...

Fenrir was in bed now, but he felt uncomfortable, he felt like he was being watched. He looked out the window, among the vegetation and trees darkened by the night, the boy thought he saw strange pairs of bright eyes watching him, what was that? Perhaps the evil fairies the lord spoke of? Fenrir squinted his eyes trying to see better, but when he turned back to where the eyes were they were gone. An impression? Anyway, the boy got out of bed and decided that he would investigate some things on his own, somehow he could see almost perfectly in the dark, but he didn't differentiate between colors. Everyone seemed to be sleeping except for the guards outside the mansion.

Fenrir walked silently to Lord Fallfrsky's office. She was locked. He looked for some way to enter or observe what was inside and found a small window that could serve that purpose. The lord was inside, standing, looking awake and looking at the vegetation around his property, almost as if he were mesmerized. The old man then turned his face slowly and frighteningly Fenrir saw that Hosten's eyes were shining... almost like those eyes that watched him in the darkness. With fright, the boy made a minimal noise, but enough for the lord to realize that he was being watched. He turned towards Fenrir, the boy immediately left the window, the lord left his room, looking for whoever was watching him, but the shadows seemed to shelter the boy, hiding him like a black cloak, the old man's eyes still sparkled and Fenrir had the impression that he had no problem seeing in the dark either... Fenrir was close to being discovered, but seeing no one with those fantastic eyes, the lord just turned and walked away.

The chosen young man emerged from the shelter of his cloak of shadows and headed towards the old lord's room, looking for anything that would give him away, but a short time later he felt himself being watched again.

"What are you doing here?" Asked someone whose shadow, cast through the moonlight coming from the big window in that room, was huge. It was Adger, the tall, thin raven butler.

Fenrir thought of something quickly.

"My video game" he said picking up one of the portable consoles Merlina had left there, he mentally thanked the girl for that carelessness, "I couldn't sleep and then I remembered he was here, I came to get him to play a little and maybe get it fall asleep with it."

Adger remained silent, and Fenrir got the impression that he didn't believe it, but that he couldn't just call the boy a liar.

"Go to sleep, Fenrir boy." he said in a dry voice.

"Yes of course." Fenrir nodded and was withdrawing, when he passed Adger's side, he noticed something strange. It was that same stale smell that old Hosten had, even worse, Adger had never called him Fenrir boy, who called him that way was Hosten, Adger was always a formal Mr. Fenrir. The boy decided to go his way and then hid in the shadows again to watch that strange Adger, which he suspected was a fake. The chosen one hid in the shadows again, but they welcomed him even more now, Fenrir not knowing how he ENTERED the shadows into a dimension that seemed dark and semi liquid, where he saw the surface world from within the shadows and still not knowing how, the boy appeared in another shadow somewhere outside the mansion, as if the shadow had acted as a mini portal. Out there was the imposter Adger, he was watching the forest mesmerized, just like Lord Hosten before him, and then what happened in the next moment left Fenrir even more scared... Adger's entire body began to squirm in an unnatural and bizarre way, his forms moved as if they were made of putty or clay, and then in the next moment the imposter revealed his true form. It was a dark being with alien features, its large eyes emitted a dull luminosity, its arms were huge and clumsy, and its forms were wrinkled. The monster looked from side to side and then headed into the forest, transforming into Lord Hoster shortly thereafter.

...

"Big brother, big brother, it's the day of the festival, wake up!" Merlina woke Fenrir with jolts.

Fenrir hadn't slept, he'd just dozed off, maybe half an hour from fatigue. He couldn't sleep at night, he was very scared by what he saw yesterday, he tried to warn Alexia but he couldn't.

"Very well then" Fenrir thought with a tired face "it's time to start another day."

With a smile that should have been cheerful but which Fenrir now thought merely cynical, Hosten told Fenrir to take good care of his granddaughter at the festival.

"Yes, that odor, it's still there." thought Fenrir, but he only responded with a smile and a wave. With that Fenrir, Adger, Merlina and Evagore prepared to go together to the festival. Although the moment seemed to precede great joy, Fenrir had a bad feeling about it...

"Alexia told me about her skill with magic" Percival was telling Fenrir, before he headed to the big outdoor fair that was the small town festival of Childangelvill, "however having another resource can be of use, here's a gift to you." The young knight then handed a sheathed sword to Fenrir. It was a slightly lighter sword and smaller than an ordinary longsword, but it looked good enough to use in battle. "Protect Miss Merlina at all costs" Percival asked.

"Okay, thanks for the gift." Fenrir thanked him holding his sword. That was pretty cool.

Fenrir also received from the lord a brooch bearing the symbol of the Fallfrsky family, indicating that he was in the service of Lord Hosten.

"We're counting on you two, be careful." Alexia spoke to Fenrir and Evagore, the girl smiled at that.

"Count on me," Evagore said, "I take care of things.

...

Adger was with them, so altogether there were four of them, Evagore, Fenrir and Merlina, so whoever it was was going to have a hard time doing harm to Miss Merlina. Many people were there, tents were set up and the streets were decorated with flags, ropes and ornaments, there were several activities going on at the same time, tents with food and images of a young man with big wings on his back, like an angel. There was a lot of music and joy, although the fearful news of the children's disappearances had not yet been forgotten. For Fenrir that was a super stimulus for different senses of his, a lot of different music in various parts of that festival, a lot of colors and a lot of people, a lot of different smells of different foods, essences, sweets and not-so-good odors such as human sweat, ammonia and horse poop. That thing about his sharper sense of smell had been cool at first, but the boy still hadn't gotten used to it very well.

"Look, look, big brother, that's Kim Itor, he's been the patron of our little town since the foundation of the village." Said Merlina, pointing to the statue of that angelic being, "it is him that our festival is paying homage to."

"Certainly so, my young lady Merlina." Said an old man nearby. He wore white robes and looked like some kind of priest, "the mighty Kim Itor, one of the celestial archagylions, direct servants of the gods, the celestial guard, Kim Itor has been patron of our little town for a long time, different lords ruled this place, but Kim Itor has always been revered for generations and generations."

"Priest Tewdric" Adger bowed slightly and the priest returned the gesture.

"These are the adventurers I was told about then? Well, look how young they are. Are you enjoying the festival?"

"Where I come from we had similar festivals, but we honored the spirits of the seas subordinate to our Great Mother Arian."

"Blessed be" the priest gestured, "I am a priest of Magnar, god of peace and all peaceful gods are admired by us, a goddess like Arian, who acts as a mother to his creatures, is very much loved too for us. Anyway, my young Merlina, I must tell you, Kim Itor was known for many things, his radiant sword, his unshakable honor and bravery and his defense for the oppressed and for justice, but he is also known for something much more... we must say, sweetie." The priest gave a very gentle smile, "do you know what it is?"

"Kim Itor's Blessings!" Merlina spoke very excited.

"What a smart girl! Come on, I'll let you and your friends taste the first wave!"

So after Fenrir and the others followed the priest they got the first copies of that edition of the festival of an ice cream treat called 'Kim Itor's Blessings'.

"A cold, creamy blue sweet, with small pieces of fruit and another percentage of vanilla, all inside a cone of a candy made of wheat and very crunchy butter. Crispy and creamy, warm and cold, this is the sweetest candy. festival famous, Kim Itor's Blessing!" The priest said very excited. To Fenrir it was basically a blueberry ice cream cone with vanilla ice cream, but oh well, it was actually pretty tasty anyway, especially on a hot day. After that they walked through the festival, Merlina wanted to do several things at the same time and seemed very excited.  At one point Fenrir heard some lively music. And a circle with several people dancing while another part of the people just watched the dancers and musicians playing that upbeat music with somewhat archaic instruments. They watched for a while until they announced that there would be a dance called the "Angelical Polka" and that it was a tradition there. Merlina was very excited by that dance, Evagore said she was very good at dancing and invited Adger to go with her, to which Fenrir was surprised to learn that the butler was a good dancer. Merlina also wanted to participate, she said that Adger was her company for the other years, but now he was with Evagore and that Fenrir should accompany her. The boy vehemently denied it, he said he didn't dance, he wasn't good at it and didn't even like it, but Evagore encouraged him and told him not to mind that it was just for fun.

"Fenrir, you're just a boy, stop worrying so much and just have a little fun like a normal boy your age would." It said Evagore and even Adger agreed. So there was Fenrir in one of the rare times in his life that he's ever danced something and oddly enough, even though he was horrible at first, the boy soon learned and was surprising... he thought maybe he also had something to do with it. with the powers acquired by the crystal? Maybe the old Kerd bearers were good dancers as well as good warriors? After the dance, which seems to have a lot of fun Merlina, the best pairs were called to participate in a small competition, Fenrir didn't want to go, but again they insisted and for some kind of event that Fenrir couldn't explain he and Merlina won that competition , first place, while Evagore and Adger came in second. Who knew Fenrir was so good at polka? He would never know! They won some medals and were laughing about the competition after it was over, Evagore even teased Fenrir, saying he was too good for someone who didn't even want to participate.

 Everything was going well, until Evagore noticed a woman desperately asking for help from some adventurers, who didn't pay much attention to seeing that the woman had no money. She then asked the guards for help, who urged her not to disrupt the festival, but made no move to help her. Evagore went towards the woman to know what it was, Adger followed and then Merlina and Fenrir.

"Please good adventurers," said the woman to Evagore, "please, out of Kim Itor's pity, help me, my son has been taken!" there was a desperation in the woman's eyes and voice. Evagore and Adger asked the woman what had happened, she begged them to help them, that little beings had taken her children and that she needed help. Evagore and Adger looked at each other. Despite everything, Fenrir smelled that rancid odor somewhere there, the same one that was slightly perceptible in Lord Fallfrsky, that odor was too characteristic to be confused, Fenrir just couldn't identify where it came from, there were many smells there... it was difficult, he still didn't control that skill as well as he would have liked. Adger and Evagore offered to help the woman, Fenrir was already getting ready to go too, but they both said that Fenrir should stay there and take care of Merlina, they would be back as soon as possible and that Fenrir should have his attention redoubled now that he he would be the one to look after the lord's young granddaughter. Fenrir and Merlina continued through the festival, Merlina continued as if nothing had happened, she was still happy, but Fenrir tried to keep her attention active and doubled.

"I see a sword on your back, I see you wearing peculiar clothes, an adventurer!" Said a man suddenly appearing in front of Fenrir, "a brave young adventurer, valiant adventurer, fearless! I have countless products that might interest you!"

That festival site was quite tumultuous, besides everything that man had suddenly appeared, Fenrir almost lost sight of the little girl Merlina.

"Not very interested, thanks." Fenrir shrugged.

"But you haven't seen my wares. Potions! I have an interesting variety of potions, healing potions essential for adventurers like you, or maybe you're a magic user, how about a mana potion?" The seller approached, "I have potions that can be used even in other contexts, growth potions, how about surprising the ladies, huh?"

"I don't have money!" Fenrir scolded the man.

"But today the discount is unmissable! You should certainly be interested! Okay, I think I know something that might please a young man like you. Here” the salesman held up a small box with magical inscriptions, “the box of illusions, you can create any image you like with it, I mean any image at all.” He winked suggestively at Fenrir.

"This is interesting." Fenrir liked tricks and things like that, surely illusions would be put to good use.

"It really is, isn't it?" The seller smirked, "hey you don't have any money, but this is a lord's brooch right?

 And that young girl you're with is the lord's granddaughter, you're on the lord's errand, in this case that's it it's yours," he handed the crate to Fenrir, it was a small object, it must have been the size of a hand.

"Wow! Seriously?"

"Of course! I'm just going to charge the lord later, nobles usually pay double for my wares!" The seller blinked and looked at the boy. The seller quickly explained how the item worked.

In the meantime Fenrir lost sight of Merlina, and he was very worried, but the boy remembered that the girl insisted on going to see the puppeteers show so he went there, breathing relieved when he saw Merlina there. In the meantime Fenrir lost sight of Merlina, and he was very worried, but the boy remembered that the girl insisted on going to see the puppeteers show so he went there, breathing relieved when he saw Merlina there. He watched from a distance for a while and thought she wasn't such a annoying kid, I mean, she was a bit annoying, but she was kind of nice.

The girl was quietly watching the puppet show when she was surrounded by three boys about her own age. They started to tease her.

"You must be so happy you won that stupid dance competition, right you schizoid?" It provoked one of the children.

"Yeah, the schizoid must be all happy." Laughed another pushing her.

"You know, I wouldn't mind if you were one of the missing kids, schizoid. No, actually, you SHOULD be one of the missing kids." The brat laughed.

"I wouldn't mind if that stupid strange butler of yours disappeared too, a crow man, what a weird guy, I hate him just because he exists!"

"Just as we hate you, schizoid!" The boy laughed and tried to push the girl harder, but Fenrir stopped him by holding the brat's arm.

"Better leave her alone, you little suckers ." Said Fenrir.

the boy backed away from Fenrir aggressively. The other looked at Merlina and asked:

"And we should be afraid of that i***t bodyguard of yours?" The boy teased by sticking his tongue out at Fenrir.

"Yeah, he's just a skinny boy, I bet my brother would beat him hard!" The other brat laughed too.

"Yeah, maybe, but your brother isn't here now, is he?" Fenrir smirked, for a moment the brats looked scared, but only until another of their ally threw a rotten fruit on the back of Fenrir's head that made a rotten crunching noise and a rotten tomato smell, it even it even hurt a little, which made Fenrir a little bit angry. The brats ran away and laughed, which left Fenrir even more upset, the boy then concentrated magic in his hand and tensed his arm, Merlina, realizing what Fenrir was about to do, asked:

"Big Brother Fenrir, no!"

But the boy didn't care if it could kill those little kids, he just threw his magic technique at them.

"ECLIPSE HARPOON!!" And the javelin-shaped shot, made of black and purplish energy, came at the boys and barely missed him, hitting the ground in front of them and causing a small burst of magical energy.

Some people let out little screams, startled by this sudden attack, and the brats were lying on the ground, very scared and about to cry.

"Don't worry guys, this was just a joke between us, this attack was just illusory, go back to watching the show." Fenrir lied, smiling, to reassure people as he walked over to the fallen brats. and then crouched down next to them, "so... which one of you threw that rotten tomato at me?" The brats looked at each other, startled, but said nothing. "Won't tell, huh? Okay, camaraderie, I admire that, but I think it's time we set things right." 

So a short time later, a little removed from the rest of the festival, Fenrir had a bucket of rotten fruit and was training target practice on the boys with an almost malignant smile on his face. The boys looked like they wanted to cry while they were covered in rotten fruit Fenrir had hit them.

Merlina hadn't said anything so far, but when Fenrir took another of the fruits to throw at another of the brats, the girl interrupted.

"Enough, Fenrir!" She said looking a little angry, "don't you think that was too much?"

"They are the ones who started it." Fenrir shrugged with his usual bored look.

"Fine, but you're over the top!" The girl looked very stressed, "when... when the big water sister said you were a cruel boy, I didn't want to believe it. But now, seeing that... I think... I think maybe she was right !" Merlina turned on her heel and walked out of there taking hard steps with her eyes watering.

Fenrir raised an eyebrow. Okay, maybe, just maybe he really overreacted. He looked at the brats and said they could leave, which they did very quickly, running away and crying scared. Fenrir went after Merlina, he couldn't let her out of his sight. He asked her to wait, but the girl didn't want to stay there, Fenrir said he should protect her, but Merlina said he'd rather be with his fairy friends than near a bully like Fenrir. Fenrir apologized and said that he didn't want to hurt the boys, but wanted to teach them a lesson so they would stop pestering Merlina. Merlina replied that she did not approve of this kind of help and said that this was not how he was going to change the boys' attitude, that Fenrir had been worse than them. The chosen one remembered what Adger had said, that Merlina was kind even to those who teased her...

"Right, look, I've crossed the line, I shouldn't have done this…in front of you, I think I owe you…that thing that people ask for when they do something wrong."

"What thing?" Merlina asked, finally looking at Fenrir, her eyes watering and sniffling.

"That word that starts with an S."

"I don't know, what word?"

"The one that starts with S. Nothing? That starts with 'SO'. 'SO', you know what I mean?"

"No, I don't know. Say it, what word is it?"

"Argh!" Fenrir rolled his eyes, "I'm sorry, okay?"

The girl then changed her expression and opened a smile, like a ray of sunlight that appears after a cloudy day.

"Alright big brother, this time I forgive you." She got up and went out humming and bouncing around.

"Hey, you were just doing drama weren't you?" Fenrir asked pretending to be angry.

They were going back to the festival, Merlina was talking excitedly about how that place was much prettier at night, with the lights lighting up all over the place, but before they got back, they saw Evagore there. She was different, she was sweaty and seemed to have struggled, her gaze was pained. When Fenrir and Merlina asked what had happened, Evagore spoke desperately about how Alexia and Othala appeared there and suddenly attacked her and Adger, she said she came to ask Fenrir for help, to which Merlina spoke desperately for them to help her beloved friend butler Adger.

Fenrir agreed with this and headed in the direction where Evagore had come, when he passed the girl who didn't even make a point of hurrying, he smelled... that same characteristic, rancid, muffled odor, not the faint smell of salty air that Evagore had with her. Finding this strange, Fenrir was about to turn to the girl, but before he could complete this action he felt a sharp steel blow piercing his back.

Evagore laughed and Merlina screamed in fear.

"Foolish boy! Now die with that poisoned dagger, perish slowly with the bloodletting or the poison that bathes that blade."

Feeling weak in his knees, Fenrir fell to the ground, that dagger still in his back. Merlina screamed worried at him, when the little girl was going towards a fallen Fenrir, Evagore advanced against her wanting to grab her, Fenrir wanted to stop that, but her body was weak.

Her gaze was blurry, so he didn't see it very well, but apparently creatures akin to garden gnomes prevented Evagore from catching Merlina and so these tiny beings took the girl somewhere in the forest. Fenrir didn't know if that was real or illusion, he just blacked out the next moment.