As soon as we heard Burny we all rushed to the entrance of the village. There, Saura (Vaela's mother) and three of her children were present. We joined Shufa who was waiting for us.
"Where is Vae ?" I asked.
"She is with Ulga, she was badly hurt and needed to be treated as soon as possible. She should come back in half an hour." Answered Shufa.
...
Several minutes later.
"Someone is coming out of the forest" yelled Vorl.
When I looked at the dark forest I could barely distinguish a figure running as fast as possible, as if he was doing the race of his life and a competitor was just behind him.
"Aarrrrh" he roared in anger and determination.
'Is he the kind of guy who always gives it all till he faints of exhaustion' I thought. But a second later, a bigger shadow appeared behind him. I began to take a step back with the other orphans, but before we could even take another step, it came out of the forest. It was boar of four meters with a long black mane and red eyes.
Vaela's mother and the guard posted here didn't take long to react. Everything was happening rapidly but when my gaze landed on Vaela's brothers who were leisurely continuing to talk after their initial surprise passed. I told myself that everything was under control. Still slightly shaking, I stood before the other orphans who stopped backing off when they saw me standing fearlessly. At first, wondering if I have gone crazy yet again, but then remembered they were orcs and orcs don't know the word scared. They slowly came back to stand next to me shaking each time the ground slightly shook because of the battle.
Saura dashed in front of the boar and charge at it. I couldn't make sense of what was happening. A woman of 2,3 meters was facing, bare-handed, a beast forty times her weight. What was even crazier is that she didn't have any plan and simply run toward her opponent.
it's like we had on one side an elephant charging at full speed toward another strangely confident beast which was a small wolf. You can easily guess which one would end up in meat pasta. And yet both of them were rushing at each other in a pure show of strength.
However, in the last ten meters before the clash of titans, a spear flew straight to the boar and pierced one of his front legs. The sudden pain destabilized the beast and it fell.
Saura put her shoulder a little back and readied her fist. She then jump above the beast who was still progressing his head hitting the ground. When she was just above the boar's head, she released her might. During this short moment, I saw some light briefly emanating from her tattoo. Then the fist made contact with its forehead.
BAM !
The earth shook, and the huge boar was stopped short. Blood exploded from its eyes, the punch was powerful enough to pierce through the skull and squash the brain. The wild boar didn't even have the time to feel any pain that it was already dead. That was it. The whole fight took less than 30 seconds to end. We were astonished by the power displayed by Saura. Vaela was always boasting about the strength of her mom, now we understand why.
Staying dazed for two more seconds, I Shook violently my head while reminding myself 'Yalak you are in another world, crazy things aren't crazy here. Think of it as something slightly extraordinary. You can do it !', I raised my head and quickly headed carefully toward Saura and the corps. I had to take this opportunity.
"You were incredible, it was a really powerful punch !"
Saura turn around a bit surprised.
"Oh, You didn't flee little one! Thanks for the compliment, you might be able to do the same in a few years !"
As direct as ever, I asked :
"Why did your tattoo glow earlier when you smashed it ?"
Saura let out a long sight and mumbled
"Aaah, Kids and their questions" and then looked back at me.
"You'll be able to learn it at your ceremony but if you still are too curious to hold yourself, you can try your luck with Baruba, you might get an answer from him if you help him.
You came to see Vae didn't you ?"
"yes"
"She did well and even succeeded in killing a great mountain adder."She proudly said "She shouldn't be long now"
I was impressed, great mountain adders are very venomous snakes. They are no longer than twenty centimeters. They specialized in freaking fast sneaky attacks. Countless young and even older orcs have died because of them.
'Well, it's not surprising knowing who her mother is.' I thought landing my eyes on the boar's corpse. While I wandered my eyes on the lifeless body, an idea made its way into my head. We need a lot of meat to reinforce ourselves, especially Ushha. Maybe we could take some of it.
So I quickly looked back at Saura with shining eyes. I was about to ask her but she chuckled and said before I have the time to open my mouth.
"You want the meat don't you ?"
"Well Yeah, I wanted to ask you if we could cut the boar for you in exchange for meat." I embarrassedly said.
"I don't need it, so you can take it all"
"Really !"
"of course if I tell you so ! Consider it a gift"
"But what about the guard ?"
"I would have easily killed the beast myself without even needing his help. So he has no words in this."
"Oh great. Thank you very much"
She nodded and I bid her farewell.
I returned to the orphans. 'Is it me or are they looking at me a bit differently ?'
"Hey, guys I have great news." I then drop the bombe. " The boar is ours".
"WHAT ?"
"Saura gifted it to us !"
"No way !"
"Youpi !"
"Is it a dream ?"
It's indeed a dream, with this much meat, not only will we be able to eat to our fill for a year but we will also be able to boost our training speed. Ushha would have much more chances for the upcoming ceremony.
We made our way to the corps and started to discuss how we should deal with it.
We were so excited and engrossed in our reflection on how we should bring and stock the meat that I didn't remark that someone was poking my shoulder.
"My mom gave you a gift and you're already forgetting me ?"
We looked, dazed, at the person who interrupted us and...
"VAELAAAA !"
All the girls plus Vorl jumped on her and hugged her.
"I'm glad to see you guys again as well !"
" I missed you" cried Zala.
"Me too"
"Me too"
After they all hugged for five long minutes. She looked at me with a chilling gaze.
" So, Yalak you don't come to hug your big sis after she comes back from a deadly forest where she nearly died from affronting dozens of mighty and vicious beasts."She calmly said with the scariest smile I ever saw on her face.
Cold sweet dripping my back, I run to hug her.
"Of course not, wouldn't I be the worst if I did that."
Women can be scary sometimes.