Nero is tied to a tree from his own cloak and brutally beaten up. His nose shows a harsh crack in the middle and his eyes closed. He was perhaps knocked out or praying to idol gods. His whole body shows bodily harm from blunt punching and kicking.
"I don't see anyone! We need to save him!" Georgios runs out and Nikolaos is not too far behind.
It might be a trap... But even if it is we could take them, we must help our fallen friend. I run out with them and eventually, we reach him.
"Nero, are you alive?" Nikolaos questions and Georgios punches him in the shoulder.
"Y-y-ea…" Nero softly speaks, his head hanging low.
"Nero your nose is badly broken, it needs to be put back in place…" I softly tell him and wave the others off. I've never done this before but if I don't, his nose will be a zig zag. The only experience I have in these types of situations is my past father doing something similar to a patient. He couldn't stop talking about it while having dinner causing the rest of my family to get some early shut-eye. Good times...
*POP*
"Aghhh!" Nero screams but he is still roped up by his cloak allowing me to correct it… He cries and we take off the tied-up cloak and he lays on the ground.
"What happened Nero?" Nikolaos bends down with his fist clenched.
"Remember the boy that said he was the son of Lysander?"
"Who?" Nikolaos's face turns confused looking over to Georgios and I. I send Georgios a nod and he replies.
"Yes. Please explain further.." Georgios offers a soft gaze also bending like Nikolaos, I join in on the act of solidarity.
"I was following the plan of tracking the red cloth and saw him just sitting underneath a tree. I asked him what was wrong and he talked about how lonely he has been since his friends have ditched him for some reason. I offered him to join me and perhaps even join the group. He accepted and we began to travel together… Eventually, he walked behind me, and boom he kicked me to the ground. We fought until he eventually got the best of me and tied me up here."
"Why did he do this?" Georgios's question is the same as mine. Just why would a 12-year-old already be so ruthless?
"Once I got tied up he explained how he is doing this because we are the reason he lost his friends. He figured getting me tied up at the very least makes things even…"
"How long ago was the last time you saw him?" Nikolaos questions likely wanting a quest for vengeance for our battered friend.
"He left 15 minutes ago… I"m sorry this has all happened guys…"
"It's not your fault! That damn kid is the one to blame!" I yell now not being able to hold back a scowl.
"He's dead!" Nikolaos yells as well even Georgios has his fists clenched.
"Nero, one last question. What direction did he go in?" Nero thinks deeply of my question and eventually raises his hand north of us opposite of the agoge.
"Thank you, Nero. Georgios, I want you to bring Nero to the creek and try to build a fire. Nikolaos, you and I are going to get our get back." Nikolaos smiles wide and Georgios hands the extra spear to Nero.
Nero slowly gets up and uses his stone-aged spear as a crutch with Georgios helping him. Nikolaos and I both look at each other and start running north.
"I don't care who his daddy is, I'm still gonna make him regret what he did to Nero!" I nod at Nikolaos's statement, our speed making our heads of hair fly in the air.
"He could be lying, Nikolaos. Just think about it, did Agesilaus ever mention Lysander having a son?'
"He would talk about Lysander a lot…Not one time did he mention him having a son?!" We run in silence as Nikolaos mauls the new information he has received over.
"That's what I expected. He's been lying about himself to gain respect. I bet that the teenagers ditched him once they realized he is nothing special just a scheming kid."
"You just might be right Damon what a pu-hold on I see something!" Nikolaos points to a large boy in a red cloak trying to climb a tree. We run to the cloaked boy until we are a few feet away.
"Turn around now!" Nikolaos yells and the boy stays looking away.
"Why would I do such a thing?"
"Why wouldn't you" I bud in and the boy stays turned around. Nikolaos gets impatient and walks up to the boy grabbing his shoulder to turn him.
*WHAM*
Nikolaos blocks a small rock straight for his head. If he got hit he likely would have dropped unconscious. The culprit was the same boy from months earlier trying to steal our honey. The same boy who assaulted our friend and left him tied up.
Nikolaos follows his block with a punch to the face. The boy takes the punch with grit and returns one of his own. Nikolaos smiles at the blow as they both begin to trade attacks.
There's no need to join in for this bout if I do Nikolaos would likely get mad at me for stealing his win. Nikolaos maintains his strong punches constantly making the culprit's body hit the tree.
"Alright! Alright! I give up!" The boy slumps down on the tree and holds his hands up. Nikolaos continues throwing blows now switching to kicks. The boy begins to cry at this rate he will likely die.
"Please!!! I'm Sorry!! I'm not even Lysanders son, my name is just Litos!! Just let me go!" He cries and cries at Nikolaos's blows now even coughing.
Should I stop it? Nero has never been anything less of a good person through the 5 years of us knowing each other… To think a person would beat Nero and leave him stranded makes my heart harden and my blood boil…