Struggle

The next day, Lucien’s shoulder would throb in pain with any movement he made.

“What happened to you Lucien?” asked Kalin when they met up to walked to school.

“Oh, this…” Lucien told the entire story of going to the edge of the forest and running into the Siagan and his father coming to save him.

“That’s insane. You’re lucky your father showed up when he did.”

“Yeah, I’m lucky that this is all I received.” Lucien pointed at his shoulder. “A pretty good punishment, don’t you think?”

“For sure.”

After school, they both tried their best to make it out of school before Cletus, but they failed.

“Oh, hey! Looks like someone got to you before I could,” Cletus sneered as he pointed at Lucien’s shoulder.

“Cletus, I have a request,” Kalin stated.

“What makes you think you can request anything from me?”

“You’ll like it, trust me.”

“Go ahead.”

“Instead of messing with Lucien, could you focus all your effort just on me today?”

“Kalin, what are you…?”

Kalin interrupted Lucien, “Look, you’re never going to heal if he beats down on you. You know your shoulder’s the first thing he’ll go after.”

Kalin looked back at Cletus.

“How about it, bloody me up enough for two people.”

Cletus grinned, “Ok.”

Lucien stood back and watched the most brutal beating Cletus had ever delivered. Lucien wanted to step in and stop it, but he needed his shoulder to heal so he could start chopping wood again as soon as possible.

‘I’m so sorry Kalin.’ Tears began to form in Lucien’s eyes as he watched Kalin get pummeled by Cletus.

Cletus stopped and looked at Kalin who was now on his knees with his head hung low. Blood trickled out of his nose and mouth and dripped onto the ground.

Cletus looked satisfied then rejoined his followers before they headed out into town.

“Kalin!” Lucien called. “Are you ok?”

Kalin raised his head and gave Lucien a weak smile, “I’m ok. I’m not dead.”

“I’m so sorry you had to do that. I abandoned you and let you take it all!”

“You stayed till the end though, right? That was good enough for me.”

Lucien helped Kalin up with his good side and guided him out of the school yard.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Kalin asked. “This isn’t the way to The Tavern.”

“That’s right,” Lucien answered. “We’re getting you home.”

“But you’ll be late. You’ll get into trouble with Mr. Fuller.”

“That’s a small price to pay for friendship.”

Kalin smiled as Lucien continued to guide him to his house.

Lucien stopped short of reaching Kalin’s house.

“Your mother doesn’t want you to be seen with me, right? I’ll leave you here,” Lucien decided.

“Thanks buddy.” Kalin began to stumble towards his house. “Take care of yourself. Don’t let my sacrifice be in vain.”

Lucien chuckled a little before waving goodbye, then turned and headed for The Tavern.

As Kalin had predicted, Mr. Fuller scolded Lucien for being late and promised him half pay. However, Lucien accepted gladly and went to work, being careful not to use his right side too much.

After Lucien received his three coppers, he was sent home.

Lucien couldn’t practice with his bow and arrow, so decided to catch up on some schoolwork until dinner was ready.

His father came home frustrated.

“I can’t believe this! I did my best, but because of my broken ribs I wasn’t able to keep up and couldn’t meet my daily quota. As a punishment they increased the quota!”

Lucien overheard this since the house was so small. He closed his history book and stepped into the kitchen.

“They threatened to let me go if I didn’t make the quota for the next two weeks!” his father continued furiously.

His mother tried to console him, but his father was too worried about the consequences of him losing his position.

“Father?” Lucien spoke up.

“What is it son?”

“Let me help. I’ll help you meet your quota for the next two weeks.”

“No, you can’t. You have school.”

“That’s ok, I can have Kalin tell me what I missed and make it up. Think of it as my punishment. After all, I’m the reason for all this.”

His father thought about it, “I don’t really have a choice.”

This time Lucien’s mother stepped in, “No, it’s too dangerous. I don’t want Lucien near the Wasanola Ice Tops!”

“Look honey. There is no possible way for me to make the quota they set. He either helps me or I get fired.”

She thought about it, then gave in, “Alright.”

“Get ready mister. This is going to be the most work you’ve ever done,” his father warned.

Lucien woke up very early in the morning and set out with his father. They walked until they reached a path covered in snow that lead through the forest towards the Wasanola Ice tops.

Waiting near the entrance of the path was a group of about fifty men with pickaxes, saws, clamps, and wagons with horses.

“There you are Verglas. Well let’s get going,” announced the supervisor of the excavation team, a short skinny man in fancy blue tailcoat with blue eyes and a bald spot on the top of his head with brown hair on the sides.

The men began to whisper among themselves.

“Can you believe Verglas brought his kid?”

“He must be desperate.”

“It’s bad enough we have one Verglas, but two now?”

“That runts not working with us from now on, right?”

“Who knows. I doubt the kid will be much help. Just look at him. It looks like he can barely stand on his own.”

“Ignore them son,” his father advised. Lucien tried, but he couldn’t help but overhear everything they said.

They trudged on for about an hour and a half before they reached a vast lake at the foot of a mountain covered in ice.

They stepped onto the ice and headed for the west side of the lake.

Once they reach their destination the men went to work cutting out slabs of ice. As they finished that, a mage would step forward and lift the slabs with magic and lower them into the wagons. There were two mages in the group. Both were wearing bright yellow cloaks with hoods over their heads, covering their faces.

However, Lucien noticed that something was off. The mages were only helping the other men while Lucien and his father struggled to pull out their slabs.

“Father, why aren’t they helping us?” Lucien asked this question already knowing the answer.

“It’s because we own the name Verglas,” his father answered.

‘This is insane!’

Lucien worked as hard as his shoulder would let him and his father did the same. They had to cut smaller slabs in order to be able to pull the ice out and hoist in into the wagon.

As they worked, a knight in a gray suit of armor was on patrol watching out for any monsters that may decide to show up.

The excavation team continued to work for seven more hours before packing up and heading back down the path towards Cleardale.

Lucien’s hands and feet were completely numb from the cold. He began to shiver due to the frosty air.

“You alright there son.” His father asked as they walked alongside a wagon.

“I’ll be ok once I get home.” Lucien replied as he hugged himself in an attempt to keep warm.

After reaching the end of the path that revealed the white fields of Cleardale, they were dismissed, and they headed for home.

As soon as Lucien and his father reached the cabin, Lucien burst through the door and set himself up right in front of the fireplace.

‘Much better!’

“Lucien, Kalin stopped by and dropped off a list of everything you missed today,” his mother reported.

“Ok, thanks mother!”

Lucien ate his dinner and got to work on his schoolwork before he went to sleep.

…

Lucien repeated this process for two whole weeks and were the slowest two weeks of Lucien’s life. He couldn’t wait until it was his last day. His shoulder hurt and his entire body was tired and sore. When it finally was the last day and the supervisor called it quits, he almost started cheering.

The day after his last day he met back up with Kalin for the first time in two weeks.

“How was work?” Kalin asked playfully.

“The opposite of heaven, that’s for sure.” Lucien responded.

Kalin laughed, “I bet! At least you didn’t have to see Cletus for two weeks.”

“That’s true,” Lucien then had a horrible realization. “Oh crap!”

“What?”

“I just realized I never told Mr. Fuller about leaving for two weeks!”

Kalin’s jaw dropped open as a response to this,” You’re on your own there, buddy.”

Lucien sat through school dreading the moment he would have to face Mr. Fuller. School flew by, of course, because of this worry.

Kalin walked with Lucien as he approached The Tavern.

“I’ll wait here,” Kalin stated,

Lucien nodded and then took a deep breath before heading in.

“BOY! HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE HERE! YOU MISSED TWO WEEKS OF WORK AND DIDN’T SAY A THING!” Mr. Fuller roared. “I DON’T CARE WHAT EXCUSE YOU HAVE! YOU’RE LUCKY I DON’T KILL YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! YOU’RE FIRED!”

Lucien flew out of The Tavern and kept running. Kalin followed close behind.

When The Tavern wasn’t in sight anymore, Lucien stopped running and caught his breath.

“Did you… catch all of that?” Lucien heaved.

“Who didn’t?” Kalin replied.

“My parents aren’t going to be too happy about this either.”

They both decided to head towards Lucien’s home.

When they reached his home, Kalin split off and headed back to his house and Lucien entered and greeted his mother.

“Why aren’t you at work dear?”

“I was let go.”

“Why?”

“Probably because I failed to mention that I wasn’t going to be available for two weeks.”

His mother frowned at this. Then continued to clean some dishes.

Lucien decided to try practicing with his bow and arrow.

It turns out his shoulder had healed enough to where it didn’t bother him when he drew the bowstring back.

He continued to practice until his father got back.

“Hello father. How are your ribs?”

“Well, they don’t hurt as much. Now I can’t meet my previous quota.”

“I’m glad.”

“How was work for you?”

“Oh, about that. I was fired.”

“Why?”

“I failed to mention that I was taking two weeks off to help you.”

“Oh.” His father frowned like his mother did. “Well maybe someone else will hired you.” Deep down though, Lucien’s father knew this was highly unlikely.

“I’ll try tomorrow.”

They then headed in for dinner.

…

After school ended, he searched for a job. He tried the gift shop, the meat market, the armory, and even tried getting work as a farmhand to help out in the fields, but every single one turned him down.

‘Just because I’m a Verglas, they reject me.’

Lucien was very discouraged as he headed back home. He tried to stay positive.

‘Now I can work on my bow skills even more, yeah…’

…

The winter slowly passed by as spring began to bring back the green leaves and beautiful flowers.

Lucien worked really hard on his bow and arrow skills. He could now notch the arrow, cock the string back, aim and fire accurately in less than two and a half seconds.

He didn’t let his sword skills get rusty either. In fact, he had decided to work on his dual welding with the extra time he had procured.

Before Lucien knew it, it was time to take the end of year tests.

Both Lucien and Kalin looked at each other as the test was passed out.

“Good luck on the extended response,” Lucien whispered.

“Tsk, I might just draw a picture,” Kalin whispered back.

Both chuckled and then brought everything back into focus as the received the tests.

After four hours of grueling testing, everyone sprinted out the door and spilled onto the school grounds. Lucien and Kalin tried blending into the crowd again as they did last year to avoid Cletus.

However, when they got outside, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Maybe, he was in a good mood today and decided to just leave us alone?” Kalin guessed.

“Or maybe we just made it out here before he did.”

“Either way, I’m glad we don’t have see his freckled face.”

“Agreed,” Lucien laughed.

They continued towards Lucien’s home and then parted ways.

Lucien grabbed his bow and started trying to fire both of his arrows at once.

He pulled the bowstring back with both arrows notched and aimed at the bag. After he was ready, he let the string slip through his fingers. Only one arrow flew straight where Lucien wanted, but the other flew high into the air.

‘It looks I need to practice that one more. I’ll try just speeding up my reload time for now.’

Lucien went looking for the arrow that flew into the air, retrieved it, then stood about fifty feet back from the bag hanging in the tree and continued to fire at it.

…

A week passed and Lucien and Kalin went and checked their final grades, both passed. Kalin passed by a close margin and Lucien only scored a bit higher than he did. The two weeks he had missed really hindered him. However, Lucien was happy all the same.

The summer seemed to fly by as Kalin and Lucien horsed around. Since Lucien didn’t have to go to The Tavern anymore, he was able to spend a lot more time with Kalin before heading home to practice his sword skills, defensive maneuvers, or archery.

“Hey son, I’ve noticed that you’ve gotten pretty efficient with that bow of yours,” his father commented one summer night.

“I try my best father.”

“How about you and I go hunting. We’ll look for a nice deer so we can put some meat on this table.”

“Of course! I would love to.”

“Ok, but you have to be the one to shoot it. I’ll help with tracking it ok?”

“Ok.”

“Good. We’ll set out tomorrow morning.”

Lucien now couldn’t wait for the next morning.