Grim Faith

Inside a wooden cabin in a frontier village in the kingdom of Estodore.

Light leaked out of a window, filling a small room with vitality. In the midst of shuffling and soft groaning, Galvar shifted the thin linen blanket off his body and lifted his upper back up. Rubbing his eyes, Galvar shook a shrouded figure amongst three underneath the blanket awake.

"Guenor, wake up."

"Mmmgh" the small figure mumbled, followed by a cute grunt Guenor's eyes opened. She looked over at the only window held open by a stick with contempt before slumping back to sleep. She was 10 years old; 2 years younger than Galvar.

Galvar rubbed Guenor's short black hair with a smile on his face. Noticing Guenor's lips twitch into a soft smile, Galvar lifted his body off the bed and walked towards a wooden chest secluded on the corner of the room. He opened the chest and took out the linen shirt he wore daily. With little struggle, he got it through his head and over his shoulders. I'll ask father for another pair of his old clothes.

After wearing the shirt, he looked at his father and mother sleeping on the bed showing no sign of breaking their deep slumber.

"Wake father and mother up. I'm going to start the soup." Galvar said to thin air while turning and walking towards the only door in the room opposite the beds

"Okay" came a sweet voice underneath the sheets.

Stepping into the room, he squeezed past the small wooden table and chairs that they ate their meals on. Crouching beside the fireplace close to the table, Galvar lifted the wooden board that laid on top of a large pot of water and put it aside. Into a smaller pot, he poured in just enough to fill it half way through.

Taking the small pot with him, Galvar walked towards the corner of the room five steps away and placed it beside many shabby looking sacks. He opened a sack and stared at the dried potato chips inside. As he was contemplating whether mother had put two handfuls or just one when she cooked, a loud squeak interrupted his quandary.

Glancing past his shoulder, Galvar saw his father staring back at him like the deer he failed to catch two weeks ago. His father straightened his legs back straight from his slightly crooked stance.

"Good morning, son." he said with a straight face.

"Were you trying to scare me, father?" Galvar furrowed his brows.

His father had done many harmless acts just to get a good laugh out of Galvar. Just five days ago he had put a small piece of a goat's turd inside a piece of meat. When Galvar was offered the piece, he could not refuse it and ate without hesitation. In retrospect Galvar wondered why he ever left his guard down. His father was a dozen successful pranks ahead of him after all.

"Your sister told me you are planning to make breakfast." Galvar's father's sturn voice remarked, ignoring Galvar.

"Yeah, since I woke up first, I will do it for a change." Galvar shook his head and replied, reluctantly holding in the harsh words in his head from gushing out. He took two handfuls of potato chips and put it in the pot. It looked a little more than the usual amount, but Galvar did not care. After all, if his mother were to complain about it he would gladly eat the extra he added in everyone's stead.

"Are you trying to be a man?" Galvar paused to shift his position and saw the smug look on his fathers face.

"And what do you know about being a man, 'Wymon'?"

Galvar smirked and decided to put a handful of dried carrots and fresh spinach from their respective sacks into the pot. Without even looking at his father, Galvar could already see the shock in his face. Galvar had decided to count this as a win, which made him one step closer to beating Wymon in their little game. After all, his father seemed to have agreed with him; he stood still without saying a word.

Galvar walked back to the fireplace to start a fire. He took a small bundle of straw that laid underneath a pile of wood; left side of the fireplace. He directed the sparks made from a flint strike towards the bundle of straw. He placed the bundle inside the fireplace and stacked three broken chunks of a log on top of it.

The sparks began to devour the straw. A small fire broke free from its constraints and began emitting smoke as it declared its arrival to the world. The pungent aroma of burning wood filled the small wood cabin.

Galvar sat on the floor, near the fireplace and took in the thick scent that he loved so much. The soft warmth of the fire and the crackling of the wood ferried Galvar into another reality. As he was immersed in its infatuation, a soft yet alarming word voiced out behind him forcing him to break free from the fires grasp.

"Catch."

Galvar could not react in time. As he turned towards the voice, a small linen pouch crashed into his face forcing Galvar to stagger back. His face did not hurt, as whatever was in the pouch did not weigh much. Galvar took one glance at the pouch on the ground before looking at the annoying face in front of him.

"Father!" Galvar bellowed.

"Shh, careful. You do not want to wake up your mother and sister, do you?"

"Hmph". If it weren't for them, Galvar would've pushed the chairs aside and tackled Wymon to the ground. Galvar knew his attempt wouldn't amount to much as not just anyone could overpower Wymon in brute strength.

Wymon stood about six and a half feet tall and the laborious work of a farmer had chiseled his body. If it weren't for Wymon's stout beard that made him look thinner, Galvar doubted whether anyone would pick a fight with him.

"Why did you do that?" Galvar toned down his voice from his previous shout.

"We will begin harvesting the phunger crops today. I bought some meat from Willis yesterday so cook it in the soup. We need all the energy we can get. Besides, It's not my fault you did not catch it. I did warn you after all."

Galvar did not hear the latter of his father's words. As soon as he learned of the bag's contents and was granted permission to cook it, Galvar's mouth had already started watering. Meat was not something Galvar's family could afford daily. They would only prepare meat every other week. The last time Galvar's family had meat was five days ago and the pleasant surprise made Galvar forget about his father's previous actions.

Galvar grabbed the 2 ounces of meat and plopped into the pot and added 2 small pinches of salt. He then crouched and squeezed the pot inside the fireplace. His arms kissed the heat as he placed it on top of the fire. I can't wait to dig in! Letting out a sigh of anticipation, Galvar sprung up to his feet and walked swiftly toward the door leading outside. He had to finish his morning chores quickly so he could eat the meat sooner. For the past month, Galvar had been helping Sagard deliver milk to his customers.

"Say hi to the cow that kicked Sagards knee in for me." Wymon said with a soft smile.

"I will!" Galvar exclaimed and adorned his wood sandals. He opened the door and took 3 steps on the kept dirt road before he reined in his gushing vitality and stood on the spot. Galvar felt like he had forgotten something. After moments of pondering, Gulvar turned back and saw his father leaning against the door frame giving a questioning glance back at him.

"Thank you." A soft smile formed on Galvar's face as he continued his way to Sagard's barn. Galvar had realized his father had never made an exception in the days he bought meat before. He had probably done so for Galvar and as an apology for all the nonsense he had to deal with recently.

Galvar walked past many wooden houses and people either loitering in front of their cabins or walking towards the village well carrying a huge urn made of clay. Galvar greeted a few people and maneuvered his way around puddles of water and mud formed from the previous night's rain. In the middle of one such occasion, Galvar had decided to challenge himself and jump across a large puddle of mud to save the few seconds it would have cost him to walk around it.

He bent his knees and stared intently at the otherside of the puddle. With a running start of one step, he jumped and flew into the air and immediately began cursing inwardly. The soft earth had cushioned his jump and he fell short by a couple inches. As his right leg hit the puddle, it sank into the mud by an inch and mud flew everywhere. With great effort, Galvar steadied his unbalanced posture that was adamant to slip and fall.

Galvar walked a couple steps away from the puddle and admired the mess he had created. He reluctantly looked at his legs and feet that were now caked in mud.

"Fuck."

"Watch your mouth Galvar." A raspy female voice came from his side.

Galvar looked towards the voice and saw an old woman sitting on the step that led towards her cabin. He did not recognize the old woman but he was not surprised by the fact that she knew his name. The village was small and the old woman had probably learnt it from word of mouth.

"Sorry."

Galvar did not spend any more time lingering there. He did not want to waste time talking to the woman, nor did he want to be the focus of the many stupid looks he had gotten from the people that noticed his small mishap. Galvar paced towards the well in the middle of the village to wash off the mud that stained his body and clothes.

Galvar passed another three houses then took an alley between two of them. After he awkwardly passed a guy taking a dump, Galvar's eyes furrowed as a long line of a dozen chattering men came into his view. Galvar did not have the patience to stand idle. It was the reason why Galvar and Wymon fetched water during the evening and used it liberally until the following evening. Galvar was about to walk towards the back of the line when he caught a familiar face. It was hard to miss since she was the only female present.

"Adeline! You have no idea how glad I am to see you." Galvar rushed to the front of the line towards a girl who carefully placed an urn on the ground beside the well. Adeline was 16 years old. Her blond hair was wrapped into a bun and her face was covered in freckles. Adeline looked surprised upon seeing Galvar but a moment later it was replaced with understanding.

"How did you get your clothes so dirty?"

"Huh? Oh, I uh… tripped. I tripped while I was zoning out." Galvar forced a soft smile. He did not want to share his embarrassing story to Adeline.

"Yeah right you did." A voice came from the back of the line. The speaker's face was familiar to Galvar. What was even more familiar was the stupid look that stuck on the mans face. Galvar scoffed and turned to face Adeline.

"Come to think of it, why are you fetching water Adeline?"

"My father woke up sick today. He told me he could barely walk." Adeline's mouth crept into a weird smile and continued.

"My mother was worried about father so she could not sleep much last night. So, here I am. How hard can it be?"

"I hope your parents feel better." Galvar felt really concerned for them. Medicine was not a miracle. It was not uncommon for people to die of sickness. The men around Galvar began to chuckle. 'Did someone say something funny?'

"You are not strong enough. There is a reason why only men draw water from the well." Galvar stated.

"Hmph. I've carried heavier things than a bucket of water."

"But…" Galvar could not finish convincing her. A flurry of berates gushed behind him.

"Oi, let the woman try her best."

"Yeh, let the 'strong' woman try."

"This is going to be fun, let's cheer her on guys."

"Fine, do your best" Galvar had never liked being told what and what not to do, so he could only reluctantly let Adeline do the impossible. Besides, he was quite curious about the outcome.

Adeline took a glance at men behind her with doubtful eyes. She hesitantly dropped the metal bucket with a rope tied to its handle into the well. The bucket along with the rope that laid across a pulley fell deep into the abyss of the well. As seventy feet of rope dwindled from its coil besides the well, a "plop" was heard within.

Everyone watched on as Adeline hoisted the bucket. She had managed to pull the rope for thirty seconds before the rhythm of her pulls became erratic and beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

'Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull'

The chant echoed all around Galvar. He could not help but smile and joined in on the fun.

"Pull, pull, pull, pull"

Adeline kept on slowly pulling for another 20 seconds. She started breathing heavily; sweat now drenched her shirt.

"Galvar, help me!" She bellowed. She seemed to be not able to hold on any longer. Her body was shifting erratically and her fingers were trembling. Galvar rushed in and took the rope from Adelines hands. She plopped down onto the coiled rope behind her and breathed heavily. In time, Galvar hoisted the bucket all the way to the top of the well.

"Not so hard now, is it?" Galvar smirked. "Hmph" came a short reply from Adeline.

"Why is the bucket so big? If they made it smaller, I could've hoisted it myself."

"If it was any smaller, we would be here all day." Galvar gestured towards the line behind them. He poured the water from the bucket into Adelines urn. The urn filled all the way to its brim. He made sure to leave five handfuls of water left in the bucket so he could wash himself with it.

"What the hell is that?"

As he cleaned himself, he turned to look towards the voice. One of the men in the line pointed at the straight road that led out the village. The man's eyes were glistening with fear and his body was almost slumping to the ground. Galvar felt the tension in the air and as he glanced around him, he noticed the relaxed and funny atmosphere around him was no longer there.

He hurriedly looked towards the outskirts of the village and saw something that shattered his heart. A huge dust cloud was floating above the horizon. The vague figure of hundreds of horses could be seen galloping through the desert towards the village. 'What is going on?'