They begged the old hellkin to teach them to fight. True the apprentices were no masters and could teach as well, but he had been the first to actually be KIND to them. He didn't exactly teach them to fight.. as much as he did teach them how to accept life. -- Anon Guest
Everyone knew the daft old cheesemonger with a goat he called a dog. To be fair, the Hellkin's miniature goat certainly believed she was a dog and nothing would convince her otherwise. Everyone also knew that violent crime dropped like a rock wherever he was wont to wander. Mostly on account of the violent criminals coming down with a rash of broken arms or legs.
Skat knew this, too, but he was that hungry. And taking his life into his own hands by lifting a cruller from the basket hanging from the old man's elbow.
The goat barked at him after the old Hellkin's tail wrapped around both his ankles and snagged them tight together. When the old man turned, he had no anger in his glowing amber eyes. "I'm guessing you have not eaten, today, Kleiner."
Even though Skat was a fellow Hellkin, he put his hands on top of his head. "I'm sorry, sir. No, sir. I haven't sir. Not for a couple of days, nohow, sir."
"You need to have something better than a sweet," he said. He gently took Skat's hand in his, and let the ankles go. "Gekommen sie." It was a very short trip across the street, where he bought Skat a mountain fish. "Be careful, ja? It's fresh from the iron."
"But... that's for good children..."
"And hungry ones. Good enough for a meal, that. If you need to earn money, look for the house with all the Dire Goats. There is always some work." He left with just a whistle for his goat to come to heel.
It left an impact on Skat. Hells, it practically turned his world upside-down. Nevertheless, he quickly found a place safe from street bullies to devour his prize. Hunkered on a high roof where he wouldn't cast a shadow. Where he could also see the old Hellkin making his way back uphill to the cottage where Dire Goats grazed on the terraces.
It was a very good meal. Warm. Fresh. Worth savouring.
Skat licked up every crumb before he took the risk of wandering the streets again. One of the bigger kids punched him just for walking the same street as them. Three of their friends had sticks, and that was Skat's cue to run. No matter how little breath he had to do it.
He ran uphill. Up the street of the mad old cheesemonger. As soon as Skat was in sight of the house itself, the thundering feet of the bullies tapered off. Replaced with the jeers that Skat was a coward, running for the house of a Martialist. What did they expect Skat to do? Double back and let them pummel him into mush? He didn't mind being a coward if it meant he'd breathe another day.
Guts aching from the punch, Skat stumbled in via a side door, only to find the old Hellkin working on a Dire Goat's hooves with a rasp. "There you are. Delia will see to your hurts, and then we can talk.
The miniature goat inspected Skat's feet and tail like any other dog might. Delia was a kindly old woman with her grey hair wrapped in a crown around her head and beset with flowers. She had dimples when she smiled. "Another little student. Welcome."
A peek outside to the garden showed a small host of other "little students" learning martial arts. There were kids smaller than him tossing around people four times their size. Just a peek was enough for Skat to know... he wanted to do that. But he only wanted one teacher.
"Verdammt ziege kept running from proper care until she couldn't any more. Hallo, Junge. My shadows warned me you wanted to talk."
Well, if he already knew Skat was going to ask, he might as well say what he wanted to say. "I wanna learn how you fight so good you scare off bullies."
"Hah. So you already know they're cowards," he said. "You only wish to scare them?"
"If I could fight back, they wouldn't want to hit me any more," said Skat.
"Do you want them to go find someone else to hit?"
"NO! I don't want them to hit anyone!"
"Sehr gut, We have a spare room you can sleep in. Be prepared to be awake before dawn. Then you can join my other Novices." He gestured to a cluster of small kids in white, being taught by a teen in black.
"You won't teach me?"
"I'm retired, Junge. I will teach you other lessons when your Martialist lessons are done."
Skat found that Master Kosh taught wily wit and confidence. Even before Skat was halfway competent at the Novice's Kata, the wit and confidence was enough to make his usual bullies keep their distance.
Skat renamed himself Observance, and set himself the task of keeping the bullies away from as many people as he could.
[Photo by Yves Alarie on Unsplash]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends! Or visit my hub site to see what else I'm up to.
Send me a prompt [29 remaining prompts!]