บท 15: The Best Summer Ever!(1)

I cannot remember where I used to live.

What I do remember is the day I was brought to the slums and left alone. That was the day my parents faces began to become blurry.

On the day I felt the most sadness and fear, I made a friend.

Her name was Sakura and like me she was abandoned in this strange place.

We were so scared to move very far. Part of me was grasping on hope. Hope that my parents would return for me like they always did before.

It was the start of Summer and the evenings were long. Fear made the slums and village seem like a large unknown place.

Looking back now, that village seems so small and insignificant to a me who is just one year older.

That is probably because of the influence of a boy not much older than me. Sakura says he is rubbing off on all of us.

Sakura is well 'educated' but I have never tried to rub off anything from the boy.

When we were both filled with fear and despair, a girl covered in a scarf came up to us. The first thing we heard after being alone was a muffled sigh. Then came the words I will never ever forget.

"Come with me."

Lucy took us to what would be our new home.

I cried some more that night.

The next day I awoke to the realization of the truth. I was abandoned by my family. Lucy comforted us saying everything would work out once we stick together.

So began my new life in the slums.

I soon understood the meaning of the words, hunger and cold. Our 'stick' shed was full of cracks that offered no protection from the cold at night. Summer was okay but when Autumn came it was different. Rainy days were even more unbearable.

More than once we caught a cold and had to use the few rags for warmth. Lucy tried her best caring for us. She was the sole breadwinner of our home. One day she fell ill for a week.

That week we starved and survived by drinking water mixed with crumbs of bread. Only because another girl named Miki brought us half a loaf of rock bread were we able to survive.

Lucy earned money collecting firewood. Sakura and I tried to help by doing the little chores of cleaning and collecting water from the horse trough at the stables. Sometimes we were lucky in getting small pieces of firewood that fell off the wagons coming from the forest.

Our clothes became worn and our hands and bare feet were filled with blisters and some sores. Charcoal from the precious embers became our only source of medication. Covered in charcoal and bleeding blisters I learned the true meaning of hardship.

During the passing of those months we had all become near skin and bones. The food was watered down gruel. More water and stones than hard moldy bread. Even the bread refused to melt completely in the water.

I started to get dizzy when I walked for too long. My movements became sluggish.

Lucy told us we had to prepare for Winter. Young children like us were normally the first to die in the cold. I saw the look in her eyes, she was scared. By force we started to work harder. Lucy made more than one trip carrying firewood to earn more money.

She always moved among a group to avoid trouble. I might be weak and young but I was not stupid. A girl in this place had a fate worse that death.

'People like us were not meant to live anyway.'

All because we were not strong.

One day a boy came to find us. I saw him a few times walking around the sheds in the slums. He was very easy to talk to but I felt he was like a simpleton. Or maybe crazy. He and Lucy were in the same group when they went for firewood. His name was Ming.

He was mumbling something about a plan to make more money. More money meant more food. Lucy was not too sure, but Ming was convincing. She left us and went that day.

It was the start of a new beginning.

She brought back solid food that we had not had for months. She watered it down for us to eat. That was the first night I slept with my stomach full and contented.

Lucy went out one evening and did not return. Luckily she had told us or I might have died from worry and fear. The next morning she came back tired but I could see the excitement in her tired eyes.

That night we went to another shack in the slums. From the outside it was the same as ours. I was shocked when we were ushered inside.

The place was filled with rags and clothes. Firewood was stacked at the side and a warm fire was already crackling.

The most amazing thing that night was what was on that fire. Slices of fresh rock bread were spread with butter. A boy was warming it over the fire.

'Soft bread!'

'Butter!'

I cannot remember when I ever was able to eat something special like this. Lucy introduced us to the boy named Chu. Soon we were all eating to our hearts content.

Chu was a boy from the slums like us. It was him who had Ming look for Lucy. We listened as they talked that night.

He was different.

He was not like the rest of us trying to just survive. Instead he was looking beyond that at the impossible. His aim was to leave the slums one day and he planned on leaving it together with us.

'Hope'

It was a long time since I had felt this feeling. I wondered if this was really true.

It is amazing what you can accomplish on a full stomach when you have a goal to work towards.

Chu made us start sewing those better rags into sheets and quilts. He had us patch up the shirts and pants until they were tough and warm. We even had proper tools, not wood splinters but real needles and thread.

One day I actually saw how amazing he was. He took us to the Trading Post and after spending time with the Master, he got us returning with a bale of rags each. I have never, ever known anyone in the village who could talk to the Master without trembling.

I think that was the first day I regained my pride. He said we were all his companions.

At the start of Winter he went house hunting. I knew now that they were risking their lives trying to make more money. First I felt fear that if anything happened I would be worst of than before.

All I felt after was pity, pity for myself who was not strong enough.

Chu got us new companions. They were kids like us who were willing to work hard. Miki joined us, I knew she was a good friend. Without her we might have starved when Lucy was ill. Clod seemed more dependable than the boy. Sue was a fine cook.

Together we moved into our new home as Chu called it. One large barn, complete with cellar and secret passageways. I could barely contain the excitement of the young girl in me.

We had meals made by Sue who was a great cook, book learning and counting by Chu and we practiced with weapons, even a crossbow.

One day I finally understood the sacrifice Chu and the others did to give us this new lease on life.

A wolf pack had come around the barn. Chu and the others began a battle while we hid in the cellar.

Again I chided myself for being weak.

Later he called for us. Amidst the gruesome scene in the barn, he made us kill our first wolf. That night I emptied my stomach. But I finally learned how we had accomplished so much in this little time.

They had risked their lives to provide us with this better living condition.

I decided to become strong to help Chu.

Then I went through an event that made me realize how weak I really was in this world.

I was one of the few people who saw a high-class, rare wolf demon and lived.

We survived against the impossible, lived when even the village patrol was helpless.

It was the crazy boy who killed it. By sheer luck he poisoned the beast. A creature so powerful it made even Chu terrified of it awesome power.

I still shudder whenever I remember how it died.

Miki warned me to never speak of what I witnessed that day in front of the barn. Since then I kept a distance from Ming. I can never tell what mishap might befall me if I stick too close. I think only Chu has the power to reign him in.

Just after that incident two things happened that changed my life forever.

Lucy was seriously injured trying to protect Miki from a wolf. I saw the helplessness in everybody eyes and I was scared because I knew she was going to die. I panicked and could not control myself.

Again Chu did the impossible. He brought her back to life. Better yet he even gave her some special abilities as he called it. I was frightened at first but after he spoke to us I understood it was a good thing.

The next event was when three half dead cubs came to the barn. I seized my chance and begged Chu to let me train them. He finally relented by giving me some rules to follow. As long as I train them according to the rules they were mine.

The first thing my new cubs did was break the rules and feast on the blood and heart of the wolf demon.

'Damn I was so pissed!'

During the course of the winter I began their training in earnest, both in the barn and when we moved to Chu's family home.

In that house I learned of the sacrifice that Chu made for his little sister. I was jealous that I never had a brother like that but also proud that he was my friend.

In Spring Chu invited an old man to join us in the barn. This old man thought me the basics on training my cubs. One large book on how to raise Hounds. I nearly fell over due to its sheer size and weight.

I once saw a Hound in the village.

If it was me from just a few months earlier I might have been frightened of its monstrosity. The me now only looked at it with disdain and contempt.

'Just wait! Wait until my cubs grow up!'

My wolves were much better and smarter than a Hound. I decided to use this book to make them the best hunters around.

Besides Lucy of course, she was so cool!

Usually Chu sold the inedible carcasses of the wolf, Jaga and others to the Trading post. Alchemist use them as ingredients for pills and potions. Now they were all allocated to me to make medicine and treatments for my cubs.

Chu said I had my very own wolf pack. Sometimes he was angry when the wolves and I took it to far. He called us thugs and ruffians. Everyone treated us nicely though.

'Was it because we looked like a group of hooligans?'

Before summer I had another run in with the crazy boy. Chu had asked if all the wolves were male. I did not really understand how to find out. Unfortunately the 'boy' heard our conversation.

He corralled my cubs in the barn without my consent. Ming then lifted my cubs one by one on while holding and spreading their back legs. He then showed me how to identify a 'boy'.

That day was the most humiliating day for me and my cubs. Miki covered my eyes halfway through and Amanda told me never to speak of this incident again.

Deep down I am glad none of my cubs were girls who had to face such embarrassment.

When Summer rolled around, my wolves were hunting pheasants as if they were picking up sticks. I do admit that they were growing very fast. Chu was mad when I strayed to far from the barn.

He always scolded me, but I never minded. Someday I would be so strong he would not have to protect me any more.

'I will be the one protecting him.'

In the village, people are so busy that they never bothered with their birthday. Near the end of Summer Chu had us all go to the house in the village to do the general cleanup. Only him and the Thomas's remained at the barn.

The next morning Clod drove the wagon back early. When we returned we were surprised with a large banner with the words Happy Birthday. There was lots of special foods and something called a cake filled with honey.

Chu said that this day every year would be our birthdays.

'Was I seven or eight?'

Chu said Sakura and I would be eight this year. I was so busy eating the 'sweet tarts' I agreed wholeheartedly. I gave Mrs Thomas and Amanda a hug for all their hard work.

We sat under the tree outside and ate and drank the whole day. Chu even made a swing on one of the branches. He said I should take some time from running around with my wolves and relax.

"Little girls should have fun every now and then. Its part of growing up."

Sakura and I played on the swing until it was night-time.

My family is the greatest in the world.

"Best Summer EVER!"