386 Siblings
"Have you searched everywhere?"
"Yeah. They're not around here."
"Tsk!"
The man with numerous scars on his face kicked the ground in annoyance. "Why are we even wasting so much energy on those two brats?"
In between the thick bushes that were covered in thick leaves, two boys were curled up without caring about the small wounds caused by the thorns. They were hugging each other quietly and stayed as silent as possible. They weren't discovered yet thanks to the darkness of the night and the thorns all around them. "I guess the boss was too offended by that woman's suicide so he wants to vent his frustration on her children. That's not something new."
"But weren't both of them boys?"
"Who cares? Plus, it's for the better. If they survive the boss's wrath, they can be sold as slaves."
"That's right!"
The older boy's grip around his brother tightened as his hands shook non-stop. The little kid in his arms was as silent as dead. He has never been this quiet in his little years of life. "Anyway, it was a nice decision to strike the farms surrounding those villages. These fuckers had pretty good products thanks to that river."
"The river is now ours, and so are the farms."
"Hahahah! Thatn's true!"
The two men chattered as they looked around the area in search of the two kids. Little by little, they walked further and further away from the place where the children were hiding. By the time they felt safe enough to come out, the sun had risen in the sky. "...Reyn," Redmond called for his brother with a weak voice. The little kid wasn't even moving since a few hours ago so he thought he might be asleep. "Mmm..." The boy groaned softly. "Let's get out of here," Redmond looked around them. They were on a plain near the jungle. "They've taken over all the villages in the area so we must pass through the jungle," He smiled at his baby brother. "It'll be fine. We'll manage to reach the city on the other side of the jungle."
"...Mmm."
The child nodded his head without asking anything. . . . . . . . . . Passing through the jungle wasn't an easy task at all. Even the adults who were trained to fight found it hard to safely move around inside it. The outer areas of the jungle, which was where the little kid would visit to gather fruits, were relatively safe, as the wild beasts were cleared by the villagers and the farmers, but the deeper one went, the more dangerous it got. "Huff... Huff..."
Once again, the two boys were running away from the beasts they'd encountered along their path. They managed to run away from a few of the beasts at first, but as time passed and as their hunger and exhaustion piled up, they found it difficult to avoid or escape the threat.
But they were almost there. They could see the city far in the distance. They weren't outside of the jungle yet, but if they managed to go to its outer areas, it'd be safer. They just needed to move a little bit and go down the hill. Just if they ran a little bit longer-
"Ugh!"
Unable to keep up with his brother, Reyn fell down to his knees while panting. He could hear the growl of a wolf not too far away from him. He closed his eyes shut, waiting to be bitten or eaten, or whatever else could happen when caught by a wolf, but none happened. It was his brother's groan that he heard instead and his body was raised up to an embrace. He didn't see what happened and how Redmond managed to block the beast, he only saw his brother's bloody shoulder while raising him up and running with him in his embrace. The beast's head was bleeding. The rock that was smashed to the wolf's head, was rolling around in the grass. Running long with an injured shoulder and a kid in his arms wasn't possible for the 10-year-old boy. A hit from a child was also not enough to hold back a wild wolf. The beast growled before leaping up toward the children who hadn't managed to run far from it and slashed down with its sharp claws. The force shot the two boys forward, making them fall to the ground and roll down a few times. "Aah-"
Redmond wrapped his arms around his brother as they rolled on the grass. They were almost at the peak of the hill, so their bodies didn't stop rolling so easily. The little boy didn't know how much, but he and his brother fell down the hill for a long time. By the time their bodies stopped moving after hitting multiple bushes and stones, the wolf that attacked them was no longer visible. They had escaped from it. "Brother..."
After struggling for a while, the kid finally managed to move out of his brother's still-tight embrace. His whole body ached, small and big cuts all over his skin were bleeding, and he felt dizzy, yet, he managed to sit right beside his brother, his brother that wasn't moving. "Brother..."
His brother was crimson all over, just like how their mother looked after stabbing herself. "Brother..."
He shook the older boy's body with trembling hands. The kid's voice was low and husky.
"Ugh..." the boy, who had shielded his brother from the beast and from the fall, finally opened his eyes. His hazel eyes were dazed and unfocused, unlike how they brightly shined every day. "My... little Reyn..." The boy whispered, his voice fleeting, as lifeless as his weak grasp, yet, it was warm and gentle as ever. "..." Little Reyn moved forward and touched the reddest spot on Redmond's body. He pressed his small hands on the wound on the boy's shoulder. His brother completely ignored the boy's attempt and continued to whisper at him. "That is... The path..." He looked at a spot behind the kid's back. "...Take that path and you'll... Find... A city..." His gaze shifted back to the little kid who was only looking at his wound.
"Reyn..." Redmond moved his neck a little bit. A necklace was dangling from it. It had beautifully engraved patterns all over it. Redmond moved a trembling hand and removed the necklace from his neck. "This is... Mother's... M-mother's... cough-"
Blood splattered out of the boy's mouth, yet he didn't stop talking. "T-take... it with... you... huff..."
"Brother!" the child called out the same word, not knowing what he was supposed to do or say. His brother opened and closed his mouth, but little Reyn couldn't hear anything. He moved his head closer to Redmond's mouth and waited for him to speak, as it seemed to be the only thing his brother wanted from him. "S-sell... at city..." A larger hand grabbed his tiny palm and pushed the necklace inside his hand. "L-live-" The boy couldn't finish his sentence. The hand that had placed their mother's necklace on the last remaining member of their family fell down weakly. "...."
The little child looked at the necklace in his palm. It was wet, wet with the crimson blood of his brother, the brother that no was no longer smiling. "...."
Little Reyn sat there, beside his brother, who didn't wake up no matter how many times he called out his name. He sat there unmoving until it got dark. When it was dark, it was time to sleep. Little Reyn laid down beside his brother, like he always, did, and wrapped his arms around him, like how he slept every night, and closed his eyes.
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