Soon after, I had to help take care of the plantation with my parents—a pretty boring part of the day because I didn't like messing with the soil. Luckily, today was fine, and we spent more time picking some fruits than doing anything else. Half the morning passed until we finally tidied everything and headed to the village. On the way, we met my father's friend, Ruphos, followed by his son, Luis, who is my friend. Ruphos was a redhead, with tanned skin and long hair in a ponytail that went down to the middle of his back. He was also bearded. Luis was also redheaded and tanned, with long hair parted in the middle falling to the sides of his face, but tied only at the back, since the hair on the sides of his head was short—just to chin height.
"Have you heard about the recent events?" Ruphos said, talking to my father. "It seems soldiers are taking more and more people, and some thieves are attacking travelers on the way to the village."
Luis just sat on the cart beside me, and we listened to their conversation, exchanging quiet hellos.
"Yes, I heard rumors yesterday before coming home. We can handle the thieves, but the real problem is the arrival of these soldiers and how many people they're taking," my father replied, shaking Ruphos' hand. "I don't know what's going on, but we can't let them take the villagers like this."
"You're right—we need to deal with this," my mother said, then glanced sideways at us. "But I think it's better to discuss it later."
I was curious, and it seemed Luis was too, but neither of us asked anything. My father and Ruphos talked about the market, and it wasn't long before Luis started babbling.
"Nice tattoo on your cheek," he teased, lightly pushing my shoulder. "Lost in training?"
"Don't be annoying. I almost did as well as yesterday," I replied, leaning my arms on the cart and staring at him.
"I heard them say your dad goes so easy on you that a fish would do better," he teased again, poking the reddish mark on my cheek.
"Ouch, it still hurts!" I grimaced when his finger touched my cheek. "And you're joking, because my dad needs to get tougher every day since I'm getting stronger! You're the one always losing fights because you keep tripping and falling flat on your face."
We traded some insults and then started laughing. Throughout the journey, we only talked about random things while our parents talked about market stuff.
After a long walk, we were finally approaching the village. It was a well-centralized village in this territory, with many houses close together, a market area, and a fountain marking the village center. This was called Vila Passos—they say it's because everyone always passes through here to sell something or restock before a trip. We stopped because our parents were talking to the village's most famous merchant duo, Merchant Karis and Merchant Jenna.
They were on their way into the village, so they saw us and waited until we got closer. I didn't care much about market things, but whenever these two were together, it meant their kids were also there, which was definitely an attraction for me and Luis since we always laughed at those two. John was Karis' son, and Mary was Jenna's daughter. Those two were always fighting so much that they seemed younger than us, even though they were about three years older.
Karis is a woman with a thin and very delicate face. She's blonde with hair long enough to reach her waist, with a single braid on the right side of her head and a long fringe parted in the middle of her face. She's so beautiful that even her best friend, Jenna, constantly praises her. What everyone is always enchanted by are her eyes—very lively and bright green in two shades. One shade is emerald green, which predominates; the other is darker, in streaks that seem to decorate her eyes. Mary once said they looked like sea waves with many green corals, but I have no idea what that is like, since I've never seen the sea or those green corals. I think that's the best I can do to describe her. Karis also has very fair and pale skin. Her son, who is also blonde, wears his hair in a simple ponytail, somewhat like Karis, but since he's a man, I don't know much more to say. They say he's handsome, and maybe he is, since girls often gather around him, which makes Mary furious.
Jenna and Mary are two redheads and look very much alike, with short, layered hair down to their shoulders and a fringe on their foreheads. They are slim but strangely strong. Each has a round face, and I even find that a bit cute. Their eyes are red with freckles under them, which I think is amazing and beautiful. As pretty as they are, everyone knows they have strong and somewhat rough personalities, so not many men are brave enough to try to flirt with either of them.
I watched Mary and John argue over who found something first. I didn't understand very well and didn't know what was found until Luis poked my shoulder and glanced sideways at our parents. I then started paying attention to them.
"So, the Red and Black Group also heard about the thieves and the guards," Jenna said, addressing my parents and Ruphos. "But did you also hear what happened last night?"
Because my parents and I have black hair and Ruphos' family has red hair, some people know us as the Red and Black Group. Well, at least that's what I think. It's the only explanation I can think of for why they call us that. Once, when it was just me and my mother taking care of our shop, I heard someone mention the name Lords Red and Black, but after my mother stared at the person and that person laughed, I never heard anyone say it again. I tried to ask about it, but I was simply ignored, and they always changed the subject, so I gave up wanting to know. If very few people called us the Red and Black Group and only explained it because of hair color, even fewer would call us Lords and want to explain something. I will ignore that for now.
"So, there were more?" my mother said, stepping forward and clenching her fist.
"Eleanor, you have no idea what's happening," Karis replied, calling my mother by her first name. "To be honest, even we don't know for sure. All we know is that…" They then looked at all of us, their children, who were paying attention to the conversation, even Mary and John. "Well, what we know is that many thieves are organizing since the soldiers are patrolling more and more."
It was even ridiculous. Even someone my age would know they just gave some excuse so they could talk about it later among themselves. Mary and John crossed their arms, staring at the adults but said nothing. Honestly, I was curious, but I was more interested in getting to the village to go with Luis to the merchant Marco's shop to buy the new sweets. He had gone to a central city—I don't even remember which—and we both asked him to bring the best sweets our money could buy. We were nine years old, so you can imagine how little we could buy; all we got were some bonbons, according to Marco, but John always said the sweets from the Central Cities were the best, and we were crazy for some, even if just a few.
Our parents stopped talking. Karis, Jenna, and their children
went ahead. We still stood there for a while, and our parents whispered for a bit, but I didn't pay much attention.
"Hey, Kyle, do you really think Marco arrived today?" Luis asked, gently nudging me with his shoulder.
"I hope so. It's been eight days since he left. He said he would be back in six, so I hope he shows up today." I put one of my hands in front of my face and whispered, "I had to sneak some coins from the store without my mom noticing."
"And me?" Luis also put a hand in front of his face and whispered, "I had to break two jars at home and blame the cat. That was the only way I could distract my dad to grab some coins."
"Very nice, huh?" said a voice from behind us. When we turned around, we saw it was my mom. "Lying to your parents for something so childish!"
"Eleanor, but they're just kids." I was hoping this defense from my dad would work. Even I thought what she said was a bit much!
"No excuses, Sirius. They took money, so they'll have to pay for it." My mom crossed her arms and gave a smile that made me fear what she was about to say. "Ruphos, what do you think about having Luis join Kyle's training tonight? After all, he not only broke jars but also stole money. Tonight's hunt will be more intense so they can make up for it."
"Honestly, I was thinking the same thing as Sirius," Ruphos scratched his head, glanced at my dad, then looked at Luis and gave a mocking smile. "They are kids, but a little extra training won't hurt."
Ruphos slapped Luis on the back, more like a light shove, while laughing at us.
Training with my dad was already tough and only happened in the mornings. With my mom, it was much worse. I'm not some forest creature who can see in the dark, and her training always involved a nighttime hunt with a bow and arrow. I've always been terrible at archery—and I still am. Just thinking about having to go out at night made me tired.
We finally resumed walking toward the village. After a few minutes, we reached its entrance. Many houses stood close together, forming alleys between them, and one wide road ran through the middle, leading to the village center. At the start of this road were a few shops, but only in the center—where the fountain was—did the true commercial hub begin, packed with all kinds of stores.
Ruphos and Luis split off in another direction. I went with my mom to the village center, to a stall where we sold produce from our farm and meat from the hunts I did with her at night. As we entered the village, a man called for my dad. Judging by his face, it didn't seem to be about the bandits or the case of the soldiers taking people. I couldn't hear clearly what they whispered, but it seemed serious, and the two of them left together. My mom and I continued on.
In the village center, there were some fixed stalls assigned to out-of-town merchants. There were many who came just to sell something. When we arrived at our stall, my mom tied the horse to a suspended post that worked like a makeshift stable. I helped her set things up, and when we finished, I asked to leave for a few minutes. Since she knew about the candy story, I told her I was going to see Marco. We had already made the deal with him, and the money was paid, so she let me go.
I headed straight to Marco's shop. It was a bit farther from our family's stall but still in the town center and not far from the fountain. His store was filled with fruit-based sweets, but especially cakes made by his wife.
Honestly, I was hoping Marco would give us a few extra treats because of his son, so the three of us could eat and play together before I had to return and help my family.
On the way, I saw some small groups of people talking quietly, looking scared. I slowed down and listened. It seemed that whenever a child got close, people would either lower their voices more or stop talking entirely. I'm not slow—it was obvious something serious was going on in the village. I kept walking until I finally reached Marco's store. Apparently, Luis's father had let him come for the same reason my mom let me go, because he arrived shortly after I did.
"Hey, Luis. Did you notice anything strange?" I nudged his shoulder and whispered.
"Of course I did. It seems like something about thieves and an invasion. I heard the word 'invasion' from some people along the way." He rubbed his hands together, which for some reason reminded me of a fly, and I let out a quick laugh. "First, let's get our candy. Then we can try to figure out what's going on. Stop laughing like a weirdo and let's go!"
Luis was even more obsessed with sweets than I was, so his craving outweighed any curiosity. As for me, I've always loved sweets, but my curiosity was stronger—especially since Marco hadn't shown up on the agreed day, and he never broke a promise. We finally tried to enter Marco's store, but the door was locked, and there wasn't even a 'closed' sign. The store wasn't just closed—he really hadn't come in.