“This is the foulest game ever! I’m a warrior. I storm battlefields. And now I have to hide in this hole. Only kids play like this,” Hudyn grumbled, jamming his index fingers into his big nostrils. “Don’t give me that look. I’m a whole year older than you!”

  Hudyn and Katuo were hiding in a rundown, abandoned pigsty, rank with the stench of rat droppings.

  On that day, the children had just devised an grand new game: Two-Hide-Four-Seek. The rules were simple. Within two days, and in an area bounded by four streets, the seeking team had to catch every member of the hiding team, without missing a single one. They could hide anywhere, except on rooftops or inside places with doors. Only when the sun had fully sunk below the horizon could the game be halted and the children return home to rest. It was Ramii who had come up with the idea, and most of the children had voted for it.

  Ramii served as commander of the seeking team. From the outset, he split his squad into small groups of two or three, assigning each to sweep a different area. The seekers scoured the neighborhood’s alleys, and by the end of the morning they had already captured half the hiding team. The rest, quicker of foot and sharper of mind, were harder to pin down.

  That afternoon, Ramii left some to guard the ground already cleared and led the others through the taverns and the bazaar, thick with hiding places.

  Near the Drunken Pinecone, he spotted several kids crouched inside old ale casks. As he checked the last barrels, one boy burst out and ran, his face covered. Ramii lunged after him, trying to get a clear look at him. By the rules of the game, a seeker had to name the hider aloud to make the capture.

  The boy hurried past the tavern door and crashed into someone stepping out. He fell flat on his back. When he looked up, his face went pale, as if he had seen a ghost.

  An old man leaned down and stared at him with a gaze ready to devour him whole. A long, deep scar ran across the old man’s wrinkled face, cutting through his blind eye; only one ear remained, on the left. Two younger men emerged from the tavern behind him.

  Ramii went over to help the boy up, then froze for a heartbeat when he caught sight of the old man’s face.

  “You lot seen any old sod ’round here missing his left ear?” He jabbed a finger at his own ruined side. “Opposite of me.”

  Ramii slung an arm around the boy and squeezed hard. “We’ve never seen anyone like that,” he cut in. He forced himself to stare into the one-eyed man’s face and did not dare blink.

  The old man stood motionless for a moment, then gave a slight shake of his head. The two men beside him shoved Ramii and the boy aside and moved on to seek out others to ask.

  The instant they were gone, Ramii yanked the boy into a narrow, hidden corner. “Warn everyone,” he ordered in a low voice. “Absolutely no one is to mention a man missing an ear.”

  Ramii released the boy and was gone at once. He hurried off to find Hudyn and Katuo.

  ~~~

  “Mr. Rono!”

  Ramii burst into the house just as Mr. Rono sat absorbed in carving a wooden sword.

  “There you are,” Ramii panted, wiping the sweat from his face. “What happened to your hand?”

  “That would be your doing.” Mr. Rono pressed his right thumb against his index finger to staunch the bleeding. Ramii’s sudden entrance had startled him, and he had nicked himself with the blade.

  “I am well. What has happened, Ramii?” Mr. Rono’s face had already gone pale; he sensed some ill at hand.

  Mr. Rono had often spoken of a one-eyed enemy who had lost his right ear, the opposite of his own missing left. In that instant, Ramii understood. The scarred old man was that foe. He and his cronies were prowling the streets, sniffing about for Mr. Rono. His two friends, Hudyn and Katuo, were hidden so well that Ramii could not find them, however he searched. He had first run home to tell his mother, then rushed to Mr. Rono’s house.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  As Ramii described the one-eyed man, the color drained from Mr. Rono’s face. He lit his pipe and drew once.

  “The right ear was severed by my own hand,” Mr. Rono said, the pipe in his fingers beginning to tremble. “But the scar over his blind eye, that wasn’t my doing. That cur still draws breath! So he’s finally learned I’m still alive.”

  “Years ago, I spread word that I had died in the infirmary. I changed my name and fled here to hide. He’s borne a grudge ever since my company wiped out his men. The scoundrel’s notorious for vile tricks. Sooner or later, he’ll track me down to this place. I curse myself for not finishing him off when I had the chance.”

  “At my age, I’ve lived long enough.” Mr. Rono’s voice caught in his throat. “Death doesn’t frighten me. My only worry is Katuo, and that I might drag you children into this. Once Katuo returns, I’ll take him and leave. We’ll go somewhere else.”

  By now, Hudyn and Katuo had returned. The moment he spotted Ramii, Hudyn burst into a gleeful laugh.

  “Bong bong! Time’s up, mate. Sun’s gone to bed—we get to rest now! Heard you were looking for me all day, worn to the bone, eh? See my hiding skills yet?”

  He snorted, then added, “And what’s all this about not mentioning some man with a missing ear? Everyone knows that’s our Rono—”

  Hudyn’s grin faltered when he realized the gravity in Ramii’s face—and in Mr. Rono’s. Ramii told the two of them what had happened. At the same time, Mr. Rono urged Katuo to gather their belongings at once.

  The three friends looked at one another in silence. Only that morning they had been laughing, carefree and loud. Now they were about to part.

  ~~~

  BAM!

  The twin front doors crashed inward. Three men burst in, weapons gleaming in their hands. The scarred old man stepped forward. His single eye fixed on Rono, then slid to Ramii.

  “I’ve doubted you from the start, you filthy brat!” the old man roared. He slammed his boot against the half-packed chest, spitting a gob of saliva into it.

  “Well, well… my dear Lord Ledory. Where do you think you’re slinking off to?” His eye dropped to Rono’s wooden leg, lingering there with contempt. “Only now do I learn the great general’s turned into a wretched cripple.”

  “Mojack! You vile cur!” Mr. Rono shouted. He thrust out a hand and drew the children behind him. “These boys have no part in our feud.”

  “You know your old friend well, Ledory.” The scars on Mojack’s face twisted with his smirk. “Did you truly think I’d spare your sly little disciples? All these years you’ve been hiding in this dog hole, while I toiled to hunt you down. Fate let me catch wind that you were still breathing… And fate led me straight to these brats.”

  “You little punk,” Mojack sneered, jerking his head toward Ramii. “Do you know what that sniveling rat squeaked? ‘No one’s missing an ear,’—before I even mentioned the damned ear.”

  “Didn’t see it coming? Too easy. One crushed throat, and the good little boys gave up Lerody’s nephew.”

  As Mojack rambled on, Ramii slipped a small whistle from his tunic and blew with all his strength.

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  The sound was fainter than a mouse’s squeak.

  “You’re killing me… khak, khak…” Mojack wheezed into laughter, as if choking on it, while his two henchmen joined in with guffaws. “General Ledory’s truly finished—left with nothing but brainless fools for lackeys.”

  He waved a hand. “Go on. Blow that thing all you like. You could blow till tomorrow, and the dead would hear you before the living do… khak, khak…”

  While the three men jeered and mocked, Hudyn and Ramii spotted the weapons hanging on the wooden wall. Each lunged for a spear and took up a defensive stance. Mr. Rono also sprang forward, snatched up two swords nearby, and hurled one to Katuo. The three ruffians charged.

  “Aaah!” Hudyn yelled. He raised his spear high and swung it down at the old man.

  Clang!

  The spearhead stopped short against the old man’s blade. Hudyn recoiled in shock as a flash of steel swept past his face, leaving a thin line of blood just beneath his throat. It was the first time Hudyn and Ramii truly understood what a fight to the death meant. They drew on every move Mr. Rono had taught them, struggling with all their strength to fend off the three men.

  “Grandsire!” Katuo cried out.

  Mr. Rono clutched his belly; blood seeped between his fingers. He staggered, then folded his body over Katuo to shield him. In his effort to protect the boy, he had taken a sword thrust to the belly.

  Gaaow… Gaaow… Gaaow…

  All at once, a pack of lynxes burst through the doorway and windows in a flurry of fur and fury. Ramii’s whistle had led them there. With claws slashing and fangs bared, the lynxes tore into the evildoers. The three men, their faces stricken with terror, backed into a corner of the house. Their swords slashed wildly. They struck back like cornered beasts.

  Thwack!

  A spear transfixed Mojack through the chest. His single eye bulged. He fell dead where he stood.

  It was Mr. Rono who had hurled the spear. It had cost him the last of his strength. The other two ruffians stumbled and fell as they tried to flee. Blood spurted from their throats where the lynxes had torn into them.

  Without delay, Hudyn bound Mr. Rono’s wound tightly with strips of cloth, then hoisted him onto his back and rushed outside. Ramii had already run off to seek help as soon as the lynxes closed in around the men. He found a nearby cart and hurried Mr. Rono toward the Labyrinth of Venomous Thorns.

  ~~~