Asher Baker's Point Of View

A scream echoes in my ears, the scream of my uncle.

Blood splattered from where the sword had cut, coloring the ground... and the bandits... red...

My father pushed us behind him while nervously raising his rolling pin.

My father was a wide man, but he wasn't brave nor strong... I knew that...

We were a small group of people. Two men, five women and four kids... Our family, my mother, father, two siblings as well as my uncle and aunt had been fleeing from the bandits when we ran into a maid from the castle and her girl that was pale with fever...

We were bakers, and my uncle was a shoe maker...

I glance to my uncle again with a cold dread running through my body.

There is so much blood.

He's gasping and choking on air.

"...R...un..." he gasps out before one of the bandits force a sword into his throat.

My breathing goes ragged. It tears at my throat and burns. I can't move...

There's only four of them, but they're all armed and have us surrounded...

"Just kill the guys," one of the bandits orders the others. They nod to each other, and father shakes in front of me like a leaf.

The bandit raises his sword... but as he does a shadow blocks out the sun... at least... so it seems...

The sound of horse hooves make the bandits hesitate and turn to the sound... and so do we...

A horse black as night is heading straight for us, and raised to the sky a blade glistens still dripping with fresh blood... my heart pounded faster...

The headless horseman... was coming for us.

I gasped for breath and stumbled backwards as the glistening blade moved.

The black figure moved past us in an instant.

Cling~! Splurt... thlud...

A scream... not fathers...

The bandit with the sword, his... head and shoulder was... missing... no, it was on the ground.

Another bandit was screaming from having been trampled by the horse.

A burst of color flew past me from the black horse, and the sword glistened again and sang as it cut through the air towards the third bandit.

My ears were ringing, and I realized... the figure in front of me wasn't a headless horseman, but a boy around my age. A roar escaped him as he swung the enormous sword and cut deep into the third unaware bandit's throat, causing blood to gush everywhere. Our eyes met for a second, and my body mysteriously relaxed.

He wasn't afraid.

The fourth bandit raised his sword at the boy who was getting the sword out of the bandit's body, but since my body was finally able to move I grabbed father's rolling pin and moved up behind the bandit. I aimed at his head and hit it with an uncomfortable sounding bok.

He went limp like a piece of dough and fell to the ground.

I stared at the bandit nervously, and then to the boy in front of me. His eye were open wide, staring directly at me. He looked surprised. He was... incredibly slender, with eyes and hair like water, but he looked confident without a single trace of fear to be found in his eyes. Those clothes... that mark... this was lord Celeste's son?!

Then, a wide unguarded smile spread on his lips.

"Oh! You're a courageous one! I like you! What is your name?" Despite the scenery around him he was almost cheerful, like it didn't bother him the least.

"Asher... Asher Baker..." I got out without stumbling too much despite being starstruck.

The boy nodded.

"Asher the Baker. Good." He looked satisfied and then turned his attention towards the rest of our group.

The maid was staring at the boy like she'd seen a ghost, but didn't say anything. Everyone else were too shocked at the sight of what just happened.

I knight suddenly formed next to the boy in the shape of water. It brought the boy's attention to the bandit at our feet without a word.

The boy glanced to the bandit and then to us.

"How much blood did they spill?"

"My brother! They killed my brother Celeste-sama!" My father fell to his knees in tears and cowered at the boy's feet. I understood that moment that my father was relieved... that he was pushing the burden onto the shoulders of this small boy.

"I see," was all the boy said, unfazed by Father's begging or the crying faces of my mother and aunt. He grabbed the bandit's collar and pushed him up against the wall and then stepped away.

Shing~

The sword sang again, and when it ended the bandit was dead. Without a moment of hesitation he ended the life of the bandit that was trampled.

His expression was no longer cheerful. It was empty.

My own hands were still shaking lightly from when I had hit the bandit, but Celeste-sama wasn't shaking in the least. Instead, as he finished he straightened with an air of authority.

"I would send you towards the castle, but since we do not know how many groups the bandits have spread into it would be too risky. I will guide you to the guard station instead."

It wasn't an offer. It may not have been phrased as an order, but from the way he said it I knew.

My father folded. He had already put his life in the boy's hands. My mother couldn't bare to part from my father, and my aunt was too distraught to say anything. The maid just watched the boy quietly, and I noticed the boy put a finger to his lips for but a brief moment.

"Come," he orders as he fetches the horse he had recklessly jumped off. He rested the sword on his shoulder, as it would be too large to have at his waist and then set off...

I stared at his small back and then made a decision.

I went to one of the bandits and picked up one of their swords... it was heavier than I expected.

---*---

We didn't have to walk far, I knew that. The guard station was pretty close to where we had been before. Originally we had headed there... but when we noticed the group of bandits in that direction we quickly ran away...

Of course the bandits had noticed us and chased us down... I couldn't help but to feel anxious as we headed back in that direction. There had been a lot of bandits... but... I guess the boy hadn't actually used magic yet either...

I shook my head as my body began to go stiff.

"I'll get you to safety."

I jolted at the words directed at me and stared at the boy. Our gazes met again, and with that my body once more relaxed... as I did I saw a confident grin spread on his lips.

"See, you're fine."

I stared quietly. He noticed.

Even though I was older than him I... like father was depending on him...

I pressed my lips together and puffed up a bit.

I couldn't do this, I needed to be brave. It likely wasn't over yet.

"Captain!"

"Captian!"

Yells echoed through the street. Celeste-sama sped up into a run.

"Go!" He ordered and set into a sprint that made the wind whirl behind his small body.

---*---

We turned a few corners, and in front of us was a sight that made my father drop to his knees.

The guards were in front of us in a tight shield formation, and behind them were injured guards and civilians alike, trembling while watching the shield wall being pushed back.

"Sargent! On your left! Don't loose focus and put your backs into this! This isn't over!"

The boy's orders bellowed over the group as he joined up behind them and cut down between the shields, cutting into the head of one of the bandits.

They were too shocked. They'd been panicked.

The boy took a breath and the air began to quiver in a way I'd never felt before. From behind the boy the knight of water appeared once more, and the boy's voice was filled with kindness though it bellowed loud enough for everyone to hear despite his small body.

"Mighty is the water in the air!"

"A force which never relents!"

"A force that never stops!"

"A force which invigorates and brings life!"

"Bless these warriors to stand another day!"

With a clap of his hands a wave went through the air, and water wrapped itself around the soldiers in the shield wall. Their shields raised up and when the boy's voice called out:

"Step forward!"

They did all as one.

The boy looked over the situation, and as one of the bandits made his way over the shields he cut the man down without a second thought and the air began to tremble again.

It was weird... his body movements... I'm not sure but it was elegant.

Another bandit made it through, but he wasn't ready to swing his sword, he was using poetry to cast his spell again. I took a breath and charged at the bandit with a scream like the boy had done earlier... but the bandit just stared at me with a grin and easily blocked my sword. With a light kick to my gut I crumbled to the ground coughing.

The sun disappeared again, replaced with a shadow... and clouds...

"... causing the tears of heaven..."

The boy's words echoed in my mind as I stared up at the bandit raising his sword at me. I didn't want to die... I didn't but... what should I do?

"STAB!"

My body moved on its own though my fuzzy mind was in a mess.

... There was a warm body against my shoulder... and in front of me...

My hands were... gripping the heavy sword closely... my ears were ringing and my shoulder stung...

I wasn't sure how... but I'd run a man through with a sword... the bandit...

Blood splattered on my face as the boy cut down another bandit in front of me. His eyes shone with a burning passion, even though I was trembling. How... how was he not afraid...

I felt sick... I wanted to vomit.. no... I was going too.

I lost track of my breath again and was about to crumble when I felt a hand on my shoulder, together with the cold drops of a beginning rain from above...

"You've done well. Now get up, Asher. You've more people to protect."

Those eyes devoid of fear gazed into my soul.

My breathing returned to normal, and as it did he turned back to the battle in front of him, roaring out orders.

I glanced to my shoulder and realized that the light sting was a deep cut... I... couldn't move my arm...

I turned my gaze to the boy's back as I realized the meaning of his words.

I was to fight till I died to protect... those behind us.

A few of the guards were doing it too... they had quite severe injuries, a couple were even hanging on while crippled...

How were you not afraid?

The boy's roar to take another step forward hit me like a wave... like it resonated inside me...

I stood up and gripped the sword tightly. I could barely lift the sword with one hand but I knew my role. If anyone moved over the barrier I was to cut them.

"If you're going to use a sword use your body, not your arms!"

The boy roared at me as I stood up.

My body?

"Like the blast of a wave!"

I nodded hesitantly, not sure what he meant, but it was better than nothing, right?

Then I noticed... the wound on my shoulder... was closing...

Those of everyone else as well...

The spell the boy had cast was healing magic. A light magic user.