Huguel

Huguel and the leader of the Jacare   Sul favela will be focusing on and realizing his goal to keep his community in control and get the bandits out of his favela. As a member of the favela community he can only do so much while in it; he has to have some sort of support structure. He doesn’t want anyone questioning him as to how he was able to take down such a large criminal group and make a success out of that feat. He needs someone to look up to him. He knows he could ask the leader but he also doesn’t want to bother him with things like this. The best solution is if he manages to bring down the entire bandit gang on his own and then he would tell everyone about it and maybe even get a small pat on the back from the leader for his efforts. It will take time to put together the plan however.  The whole favela community of the Jacare Sul is gathered around their leader and are all listening intently, waiting for what he has to say. Hugo is just as interested. They haven’t seen anything like this kind of thing before. They are always the last one to see an actual outlaw or criminal who had taken down a large group before they came into the favela community. They were usually scared off by the mere sight of them, fearing they might harm them. No wonder they kept quiet about everything, afraid they would upset their beloved leader with their complaining.  Aluguel clears his throat before speaking, “This is going to be dangerous. We have never fought a real fight against something like these before. This is a very large group we are dealing with here and they are not easy to catch or capture; we’re probably not going to survive. All I know about these guys is that they are bad news and we need to make sure they go straight away. If they decide to stick around and cause problems for us, we don’t stand a chance against them and we won’t win against all of them.” Aluguel pauses for breath and looks at everyone in his community who is nodding along, clearly agreeing with Aluguel. Hugo nods along too, silently agreeing with his leader. Everyone knows what he’s talking about. These bandits were hard to beat and no one has ever been able to catch a single one. “So we are going to have a little competition. Those who manage to get their hands on a few of the bandits, we will send them on their way after we finish our business with them; the rest of you are welcome to join in if you want. We will need all the help we can get.” Hugo nods and turns to smile at Aluguel when he sees his leader smiling back at him. The two boys turn back to the others. “I’m ready! What do I have to do?” Someone shouts, jumping up excitedly. Hugo recognizes him as one of his fellow acolytes; he is actually very nice and Hugo likes him, which makes Hugo feel a bit bad about having such mean thoughts towards him. The other members of the group cheer loudly in agreement. Hugo knows he’ll make sure he gets those bandits today or die trying. His reputation as the smartest acolyte of all of the other acolytes is well known throughout the community and they respect that about him and he respects it about them. “Okay, I am thinking…” Aluguel starts, thinking through the list they had made earlier today to figure out exactly what each person needed to do when they went out on their mission. The first person he assigns to go is Hugo. He is tall and lanky, with short brown hair and dark blue eyes. Hugo seems quite confident in himself when talking about his skills with swords and bows. While the other acolytes are eager to get out there and do battle, Hugo is more focused on what he’s going to do once he’s finished this task. Aluguel has seen him in action several times before and knows this boy isn’t going to let some bandit group stop him from doing what he thinks is right. “ Hugo, would you go check on some bandits and make sure none of them are lurking nearby to sneakily attack someone while Hugo goes on patrol? I want to try something new and think Hugo is the best person to test it out.” Hugo smiles at Aluguel, who can see the relief in his eyes. Huguel jumps up and salutes. “Aye sir! Thank you, sir! I shall give those bandits a good run for their money!” With that he quickly scampers outside. Everyone cheers again for Hugo and yells a couple other things to him in encouragement. Hugo grins widely, pleased with himself for being chosen. Once he leaves the group, it’s quiet again. Hugo heads into the jungle and walks around for awhile. He tries to look at every direction so he can avoid any suspicious looking objects. After a couple hours of walking, Hugo reaches a clearing. There, resting in the clearing, is a large wagon with a sign above its doors reading ‘Jaime Sul Mercado (Javier’s Mercantile)’ written across it. There is no door to enter though, so Hugo can’t really go inside. Hugo considers his options for a bit. There are three entrances to the clearing, all leading to different parts of the forest. None of them are open though. Maybe Hugo could climb over the fence to the outside of the settlement. He decides that the best course of action to take right now is to wait for Javier to come by. If someone comes by, Hugo can easily grab them as an accomplice and escape. Hugo settles against the side of the building, leaning casually against the wall. Hugo takes out the small bottle of water he brought and takes a sip to quench his thirst before resting his head on his bagged up sleeping mat he brought along. The day has started off pretty good and Hugo is happy to finally have a bit of fun without worrying about the war that looms behind him. Even with his worries, Hugo still feels like he can relax for a while and enjoy himself in the peace and tranquility of this quiet place. Hugo closes his eyes and tries to fall asleep despite his nerves. He hopes tomorrow is better than today was, after all. It wasn’t long after Hugo fell asleep, someone approached the warehouse where he had found shelter. Hugo wakes up in fright and stands up fast, swinging his arms around, trying to find his sword so he can defend himself from whatever threat may be coming at him. The man he saw approaching was tall and muscular; he looked strong. Hugo didn’t recognize him. Hugo is surprised; he hasn’t seen many people in the favela besides himself, Aluguel and Javier, and none of those seem like they could fight. The man was dressed simply and cleanly, his shirt, pants, and shoes matching each other perfectly. Hugo noticed that the man wasn’t carrying a weapon but Hugo had already figured that out on his own. The man must be someone working with Javier because he would never wear such simple clothes otherwise. But why would they dress like that? Unless, this guy knew about all of the bandits and wanted to take them out without getting caught. Hugo felt his stomach turn a little bit at the thought of having this man in charge of capturing all of these dangerous outlaws, especially ones of which he knows he cannot beat. Hugo wonders if there are enough people around the camp so he wouldn’t need his friends to protect him from the enemy, and whether or not he could sneak past whoever is guarding the camp to rescue the bandits without being noticed. He knows that his friend Aluguel wouldn’t hesitate to help if the situation called for it, especially if he knows he can trust Hugo to help him out. Hugo sighs as he realizes that he’d most likely have to face an attacker alone; he hates that idea. However , Hugo also knows that he doesn’t have much choice in the matter because his friend is only half the problem: the rest of the men of the community are far larger and stronger than he. If they decided to try and attack him during his patrol, he would be helpless and unable to fight back effectively. Not wanting to have to worry about that happening, Hugo decides to stay quiet and watch until he sees who is coming towards him, so he can prepare for whatever might happen. After watching for several minutes, Hugo hears another set of footsteps approaching from somewhere else in the woods. The newcomer sounds heavy breathing and Hugo notices how slow they are walking, trying to cover a lot of ground as quietly as possible. He decides to stay completely silent himself. If this man wants to approach him, Hugo is going to show him that he’s not afraid and that he can be very deadly when necessary. When the second man is directly in front of Hugo, he waits for a moment to see what he will do next. The man doesn’t seem to notice Hugo so Hugo keeps watching closely until he spots it, a flash of red moving swiftly through the trees towards him. Hugo ducks and rolls as fast as he can. The dagger flies over Hugo’s shoulder and embeds itself in the trunk of a tree close by. Hugo scrambles to his feet and runs toward the spot he rolled away from. When he finds a rock he’s hiding under, he drops into a crouch just in time to see the man coming toward him. This time he doesn’t duck, instead he rises up to his full height and throws a punch, connecting solidly with the mans cheek. He hits the ground with a loud thud as Hugo pulls back his fist. Hugo watches closely as he struggles to rise to his feet but soon gives up. He lies still on the ground, blood trickling down his mouth from where he fell. Hugo can tell the man is unconscious from here, but there is nothing he can do about it. He glances around for the nearest entrance to the camp and decides that the back entrance will lead him outside. “Well that was unexpected.” A familiar voice says suddenly in surprise. Hugo spins around to see the speaker standing behind him, staring at him with wide eyes. It’s Hector. Hugo frowns and glances away, embarrassed to have been caught attacking someone and hoping the guard didn’t recognize him. It took Hugo longer than it should’ve to get used to his identity. It seemed like years ago that he came to the village, wearing nothing but rags that couldn’t possibly fit over his head in those days. Now here he was in the middle of the desert, dressed in clothing that would be considered a little bit more formal if his clothes were worn on the streets. But it’s not everyday you see a man with a black cape and red gloves fighting for his life. His friends will probably be thrilled to know who it is that is helping them. “Uh, yeah, guess so.” Hugo responds nervously as Hector steps closer and leans against the tree next to Hugo. Hector raises his eyebrows as he looks at Hugo. “Wow. You’re really out here fighting for real, aren’t you?” Hector asks as he tilts his head slightly. “Yeah, I guess so…” Hugo answers awkwardly. He can feel Hector staring at him, so he continues to look away and stares off in the distance instead. Hector lets out a deep breath and then speaks up again.  “Do me a favor and don’t kill anyone tonight. They’ll just come looking for you later.” He turns and grabs the handle on one of his weapons and starts to walk away. “Hey, Hector, wait! Why would they be looking for me anyways? Shouldn’t the camp just have to deal with everything that happens?” Hugo calls out to Hector. Hector stops walking for a minute and turns to look back at him, holding his weapon tightly. “The people of this settlement know of you but don’t know why exactly. And I doubt it would be wise to go asking for their help when we’re in the middle of a rebellion…” Hector mumbles the last part quietly, almost as though he isn't sure if he’s allowed to say it. Hugo nods and Hector turns to walk away once more. As the man approaches the opening of the alleyway that leads out of the camp, Hugo takes the opportunity to run for the edge of the clearing. Just as he is about to jump over the fence, Hugo hears voices coming from the opposite side of the clearing. “Alright everyone, we won’t have enough guards for everyone anyway so just leave it up to us! We’ll be taking the ones we have left with us tomorrow anyway. We’ll start gathering up the bandits in the morning, okay?” The owner of the voice states and laughs loudly. Everyone else agrees and Hugo can hear the crowd shuffling around and packing their belongings up. Hugo watches as some of the bandits carry boxes and carts of supplies into the woods. He doesn’t understand why all of the bandits are leaving  so early in the morning. He figures that maybe they got attacked yesterday and needed the night to recuperate before they continue the battle. He knows that the guards must’ve been doing things differently since the previous night if they are already done preparing for a fight with the rebels. It makes sense to Hugo; it must’ve been late at night. If it hadn’t been for the sound of gunfire, Hugo might’ve gone out to check what happened to the bandits who attacked them yesterday. It seems strange to him that the bandits wouldn’t want to risk themselves in the middle of an ongoing rebellion to help a bunch of kids who barely even made it out of their town alive. Maybe the bandits weren’t so bad. Maybe he shouldn’t judge these people based on the way they were living in their village and he should just focus on his mission to take care of the bandits so that his friends will be safe, including Javier. Still, the feeling of guilt doesn’t go away, even after Hector walks away from him and disappears into the night.  “What did you think, Hugo? Did you learn anything new today?” Javier says when he arrives shortly afterwards, a small smile playing on his lips. He places his hands on his hips and shakes his head. Hugo shrugs as he replies “I learned some things about the bandits, but none that actually help me save the day.” He sighs as he sits down against the large stone wall surrounding the clearing in exhaustion. Javier sits down besides him and crosses his legs, resting his elbows on his knees. “That sounds like a bad thing. How does one become proficient in the skills required to defeat bandits when they are as skilled as you?” Javier questions and smiles softly when he catches Hugo looking at him in confusion. “Don’t you want to save the day when your job involves being able to defend yourself? Do you enjoy killing them?” He questions curiously and reaches over to gently poke his friend in the arm while laughing slightly, “Of course, you do. Who doesn’t want to win every time you fight?” Hugo huffs as he pushes Javier's hand away playfully. “Well… no. I mean I’m not a good enough fighter to defeat the best and toughest bandits. Plus I know that they’re going to try to catch me off guard when they come at me.” He explains and pauses to think for a moment before continuing, “Besides, killing the bandits isn’t something I do to be successful. I have an entire crew I’m supposed to look out for.” Hugo pauses. “I don’t have an excuse to kill them…” Javier watches him carefully as he talks, his brow furrowed slightly. After a moment he speaks quietly, “Is that what you think is happening here? That you aren’t good enough for a job like this?” “It could be.” Hugo mutters angrily. Javier lets out another long sigh. He rubs the back of his neck with his hands for a moment. “Look, I’m not saying that this is all just some elaborate plan to try and make the other bandits think that you killed them. What we found out from the prisoners wasn’t all fake either. The bandits that attacked us had a lot of supplies on them and that kind of makes the whole situation even stranger. So, whatever is happening is definitely bigger than any of you.” A silence passes between the two of them as both of them ponder the possibilities. Neither one of them has ever met anyone who was captured by bandits before. Even now, they have only seen two of these people. One was in their village and the other had just arrived yesterday. There is no way these men have the resources to capture everyone they want.  The first one was definitely caught and tortured, but the second one… what does he mean? Was he kidnapped or something? Is it possible that they’re working together with somebody else, someone whose goal is to capture all the villagers? The possibility intrigues and horrifies him simultaneously. He doesn’t know how to react to these sudden changes of events. Javier breaks the awkward silence, his gaze never wavering from Hugo’s face. "We need to figure out what’s going on first before we discuss this. So let’s talk to everybody else." he says matter-of-factly. "We'll tell everybody we find that we're trying to rescue you, okay?" Hugo nods and follows Javier back to the camp where they all gather around. They sit on the ground with the horses standing near them. Hector is sitting across from Hugo with his back leaning against the rock formation that he used to sit against when he watched him sleep.