Chapter 16 : Brothers

As Kieran walked out of the house and into the street, he had realized that it was actually quite bustling. Brindle Village, though small, had a large population. A lot of businesses were owned by women since a lot of men had gone to be Watchmen. There were houses, but also many stores. Drug stores, restaurants, clothing stores, plant stores, you name it. The quality might not have been there, but the quantity and sheer selection was huge. As Kieran looked at all the things the village had to offer, he heard a familiar, but unwanted voice.

“HEY!!! KIERAN!!! YOU DIDN’T WAIT FOR ME!!!”

Ren ran up to Kieran, out of breath, panting. He had his hands on his knees, breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath.

“You, huff, huff, you didn’t wait for me!” he said, still out of breath.

“Sorry, I forgot to,” Kieran said.

“It’s okay! Let’s go! There’s no school today, so how about we go to training yards?!” he asked excitedly.

“Training yards?” Kieran asked, curiously.

“Yeah! It’s where the watchmen can train and where my dad does too! Maybe he’s there today!”

Kieran remembered what Mason had said, but agreed to go. He was interested in the training and skills the Watchmen had. They walked together to the yard. It was a bit of a distance, towards the North-east side. They walked through many streets and alleys, yet a lot of people stared. Of course they would, since Kieran’s mom had just passed. It was a sudden loss that took many people by surprise, even the ones who hated her. They knew the type of woman she was, and that she wouldn’t give her life up now if she didn’t before.

Soon, after walking for what seemed to be a long time, they had finally reached the training grounds. It was a simple yard filled with wooden spears and swords, some bows and arrows as well. There were practice dummies, and a large square for people to spar in. There were even seats for people to watch. There were a few Watchmen in the training grounds. Most had spears, some swords, and few bows. They seemed to be practicing their form, since no one was really sparring each other. It was interesting to watch them practice. Some of them had a rough striking style, whilst some of them flowed. But even as someone who’s never touched the sword, Kieran could tell that they were sloppy. But who was he to tell them? He was but a 6 year old child.

“Hey look, it's the dumb kid from yesterday!” someone yelled

Kieran and Ren both turned to look behind where the voice came from. It was a group of kids, some around the same age and some older than them. In front of the group was what seemed to be their leader. He was a kid with blonde hair, messy. He seemed to be 11 or 12 years old. Though he was a bit older than Ren, he was only a bit taller.

“What are you doing here, trash boy?” he said mockingly, laughing as the rest of his gang laughed with him.

“Hey, my name's Ren! And I’m not a trash boy!” Ren said back angrily.

The boy looked over at Kieran, and smiled a bit.

“Aren’t you the kid who’s mom died from suicide? My dad says that your mom caused him a lot of pain!” the boy said, this time increasing his hostility.

“It’s a good thing that she’s gone! She probably didn’t want to have to deal with you, either!”

“Hey, that’s not a nice thing to say at all, don’t make me use my secret power on you!” Ren said, trying to defend Kieran.

Kieran, despite being attacked, stayed calm. He knew that the kid didn’t know any better since he was brought up in that environment. His father was the man who wished his mother dead. Even so, Kieran couldn’t let it slide. His own mother was being mocked, and he couldn’t let that go.

“Shut the hell up, boy. You ain’t hot shit,” Kieran said.

All the boys looked at him, covering their mouths.

“He said a bad word!!”

“He told Andrew to shut up!”

“No, he said shut the hell up!”

Andrew was flustered. His cheeks red with embarrassment, he clenched his fist tight.

“SHUT UP! YOU’RE JUST A KID WITH NO PARENTS!” he yelled in defiance, trying to get the moral back on his side.

Ren couldn’t stand it anymore. Ren was brought up to be kind, just like his father, but also fierce, like his mother. He rushed at Andrew, holding his fist back.

“You asked for it, Andrew!! I told you not to say anything mean!” Ren said, running towards him.

“ALDERCREST… SMASH!!!” he yelled as he threw his punch with his entire body. Though he ran fast, Ren was a scrawny boy, slender just like his mother, and nothing like his father. As he threw the punch, Andrew blocked it with his palm, then punched him back in the face. Ren couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down his face, even if he wasn’t actually crying.

“You keep talking about Aldercrest, but you aren’t going to go there,” said Andrew

“You can’t even throw a punch right, how dare you say the word Aldercrest,” he continued.

Ren stood in front of him covering his nose and mouth, which wouldn’t stop running. Tears covered his cheeks.

“Look at you crying, you don’t deserve to be there. Let me show you a real Aldercrest Smash!” Andrew said, mocking him

He pulled his fist back, and punched Ren in the liver. Though the form wasn’t great, to Ren, who had such a fragile build, it was a lot. He fell to the ground and writhed in pain, turning and tossing.

Unghh…

He whined, still on the ground. Andrew and his gang were all laughing at him. Though Ren was quite annoying, and Kieran didn’t like him at all, Kieran could appreciate one thing about Ren. It was that he was much like his father, and that they stood up for him when nobody else did. Kieran stepped forwards and walked towards Andrew. Andrew, having noticed this, tried to mock him as well.

“What do you want? Do you want to get a taste of my Aldercrest Smash as well?” he snickered.

Kieran kept walking towards him. He had a simple plan. Though his body was small, and he couldn’t generate enough power to throw a real punch, he had his experiences in his original world. He briefly took judo classes, and remembered that you could use your enemies' weight against themselves. This theory worked with a lot of martial arts, but in judo, it was true. He was going to wait for Andrew to throw his punch, then do a shoulder throw on him using his own weight. It was a risky plan, since he didn’t know if the child's body could handle such a big kid.

“Hey, are you a chicken? Come at me, otherwise I think you just might be!” Kieran yelled.

He was trying to provoke Andrew even more so that he would throw a harder punch. Andrew fell for the bait, and was charging up his punch. He ran towards Kieran, who was stationary.

“I only get one chance… If I mess this up, I’ll get beat up”

He prepared himself, and got into position. Andrew didn’t know what he was doing, but continued to throw his punch anyway. As Andrew threw his punch, Kieran saw the opportunity to execute his plan.

“Now!”

He dodged Andrews punch whilst grabbing it with his left hand, and his other hand around Andrews armpits. His left leg extended out to the side, and he twisted his back. He closed his eyes and mustered all his might into the throw. He felt movement, as if someone was rolling.

He wasn’t punched. He felt the feeling of moving. Did he succeed? He opened his eyes, but for some reason, there was no one on the ground. Rather, he was staring at the sky.

“Huh? Wait-”

He immediately slammed straight into the ground. Just like Ren, he writhed in pain on the ground. The boys all ganged up on him and started kicking him and Ren. Andrew, though caught by Kieran, was not thrown. Instead, using Kieran, who had tightly held onto his arms, he lifted him up and threw him backwards. They kept harassing the boys until one of the Watchmen saw the fight and broke it up. As soon as the watchman started running towards the group of boys, they scattered and ran off into the heart of the village.

“Are you kids alright?” the Watchmen asked, unsure of exactly what to do.

“No, it hurts a lotttt…” Ren replied, still in pain.

“I’m okay,” Kieran said, slowly getting up.

Though he was also harassed and kicked on the ground, he wasn’t liver punched, and he defended all his important parts during the kicks and stomps.

“Hey, wait, aren’t you Mason’s boy? Hold on, I’ll get your dad,” he said, as he ran off to the East gate.

Kieran got up slowly, sitting on the ground. He was weak, and this body was too. He needed to train. He would never survive if he was going to be the same weakling as he was today. He looked at Ren, then thought about the Aldercrest academy.

“Aldercrest, huh?”

“Hey, Ren,” Kieran said, “Let’s go there.”

“Go where..?” Ren asked, recovering slowly

“Aldercrest academy,” he replied “We still have a few years before it’s our turn. Let’s train before then and beat up Andrew.”

Ren’s eyes lit up instantly. His mother always rejected the idea of going to Aldercrest, even if it had a scholarship program. He finally had someone besides his dad who supported him, and Kieran wanted to go as well. They would be able to learn together, and support each other.

“Okay!” Ren said, smiling stupidly with dirt on his face.