Quest

by Yufeng Zhuang

7

  Surrounding is all the miserable shrill cries, blinding firelight, and strong explosions. My hand hold tightly the unknown weapon, I take the lives out one by one with it. As long as being shot by the thing ejected from it, the living human body will spray out the blood fog. The fragments of internal organs and muscles splash everywhere, the incomplete bodies fall down with all sorts of unimaginable postures, there are no more signs of life on them…

  I don’t! I don’t want to watch it anymore! I scream in my heart, but, it seems like that a big stone press on my chest, it makes me can’t make a sound.

  I have already fallen down on the ground, a fat guy with extremely evil look steps a foot on my chest. He is laughing! My heart is full of anger, resentment, sadness, and a little bit of remorse.

  “Don’t blame me… I have to give you up!”

  “At least plus you!”

  My feeble hand holds up a silver object with constant flashing red light on. Looking at their enlarged pupils, their afeared faces, and their panic steps, I have the infinite excitement in my heart…

  Ha ha ha… Want me to die, you guys also have to accompany with me! Come on! “Boom”, the silver object explodes in my hand, my fingers are blown away, my arm is just a pale-white bone left, a ball of gas fog spreads all over the place… I can smell the breath of death.

  It’s such a strong explosion… The huge fire ball swallows everything… all kinds of debris fly to everywhere disorderly… The sound of the compressed air is so strange…

  “No!!”

  I struggle to wake up from the dream, the sweats on the forehead and the tears from eyes are mixed together. They run down on my face along with my rapid breathing. The ice-cold feeling makes me shivering… It’s so horrible……It’s such a horrible dream… Who’s the guy in my dream? It’s not me, it definitely not is me… I don’t want to kill people… I don’t want to… I don’t want…

  The sun is out! The warm sunlight shines on my face, it drives the cold of last night away, it’s so comfortable!

  “Kone, come to say goodbye to papa.”

  “Well, goodbye, papa!”

  “Kone, be good! What do you want papa to bring back from the Saint Capital?”

  “I want books. I want a lot, a lot of books!”

  “That’s alright. Papa will bring Kone books back.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise. Papa will not forget anything that I promise Kone.”

  “Thank you, Papa. Kone will be well-behaved and listen to mama.”

  ……

  It’s so boring… Mother goes to see father off. Brothers all go to the class. I am sitting under the tree in the garden, counting the bird’s twitters all by my own.

  What shall I do? Nobody plays with me, I want to go out to play!

  I finish my lunch in a hurry, I bring the book which is borrowed from the granny and run out of the house.

  I return the book to the granny first. And then I wander around in the market.

  Yee? There are several kids gathering over there, what are they doing? I want to go there to take a look.

  On a relatively deserted corner of the market, a discussion about “fat lamb” is undergoing.

  “Look over there, that’s the guy. The guy with black hair.”

  “Yes, Boss. I see him now.”

  “Marf, how much money did you see that he is carrying?”

  “Boss, I just saw that he has lots of money in his money bag with Jack. Yellowish that kind.”

  “You idiot, that’s called gold coin!”

  “Oh, Boss, I know now.”

  “Moah, You and Jack go to have a fight in front of him. Me and Marf go to take his money bag away.”

  “But, Hairt. Oh, no, Boss! Jack is my younger brother. I promise my father that I will not bully him. Can I fight with Marf instead?”

  “Shit! If you fight with Marf, who is going to steal… No… Who is going to take his money bag with me?”

  “Oh, Boss, I see. Jack, I will hit you very lightly, you just need to endure it a little bit. When we get the money, we can have something good to eat tonight.”

  “You just go ahead, I am not afraid of pain.”

  As a boss, Hairt assigns the tasks to his brothers not so easy finally.

  Come with the infinite mission, Moah and Jack just want to run to and have a fight in front of the “fat lamb” which the boss calls, they found out that the “fat lamb” is walking towards them by himself.

  “Hi, How are you doing? What are you doing over here?” I ask, I know nothing about that I am being a “fat lamb” this matter at all.

  When four seven or eight years old kids are looking at the “fat lamb” who is walking to them by his own, they are all dumbfounded.

  “Boss, Shall I still beat Jack up?” A still sniveling kid asks a gray hair kid.

  “Beat him up for what, you stupid head!” The gray hair kid knocks his forehead.

  “Hey! You this little guy. What are you coming here for?” The gray hair kid asks me ferociously.

  “I just come here to see what you are playing, I am just only a person all by myself. Nobody is playing with me.” I answer honestly.

  “Play? Who wants to play with you? Go away, don’t hinder what we are doing!” The gray hair guy seems not that nice to talk to.

  “Doing something? What kind of things are you doing? Can you let me join in?” I still don’t know that I am getting on the pirate’s boat.

  “Your dress like a little noble, what do you know to do?” The “slug” says aside.

  “I can do a lot of things.”

  Since I am saying so, the gray hair kid thinks for moment and says, “Alright, you can come and join us. But, you need to call me boss.”

  “Why do I need to call you boss? It seems that you are not much older than I am.” Boss, it’s such a familiar call.

  “Silly! Boss is the meaning of Leader!” The “slug” rushes to say, “Hairt is our leader. So we all call him boss. Hairt is very brave! Last time we didn’t have anything to eat, Hairt just by himself climbed up the cliff behind the red nose old man’s orchard to steal…no, I mean that he took the apples back for us to eat.”

  “Ah? You often don’t have anything to eat?”

  “Yes, do you want to buy us something to eat?”

  “Sure, that’s not a problem, what do you want to eat?” It’s really lucky, it happened that I bring some money with me today.

  “You… really willing to buy us something to eat?’

  “I want bread!”

  “Jack like to eat meat the most.”

  “Marf want to eat some chicken.”

  ……

  After eating and drinking to their heart’s content, the five kids are lying down and resting on the grass satisfied.

  “Hairt, this is where you climbed up last time?” I points at a steep slope and asks the gray hair kid, “It looks like that it’s not that high.”

  “You will know once you go to try it.” Hairt says lazily, “Up there is the red nose old man’s orchard. If you can go up there and bring a fruit down, I will call you boss.”

  “Really?” I ask seriously, “Will you really call me boss?”

  “That’s for real.”

  “Good!” How can I give such a good call to other people, it’s “Boss”!

  “When I see the flames shine in his eyes, and watch him walking to that small cliff step by step, I know that I am going to lose my boss status pretty soon…” Many years later, Hairt is already one of the five senior Generals in the duchy, he says to his wife like this with some bitter remorse…..

  I climb step by step, try to stick my body to the cliff as hard as I can. Every grass and every tree root become the tool for me to climb up, every bulge and dent will be the place for resting my feet.

  I have never climbed a cliff like this before, but I don’t have any fear. Instead, I feel pretty excited. This seems not that hard for me!

  When I finish climbing the last s
ection with sweats all over my head, I just reach my head out. What welcoming me is not the full tree fruits, there is no flowers and applauses neither. What showing in front of me is… a shining cold light sword!

  Looking at the sword swaying in front of me, I have to insert my hands into the soil, ten fingers grab the grass roots in the soil tightly. much more sweats are all over my body again, my disturbed heart beats faster and faster, I lower my head and wait for the trial of doomsday.

  Oh, My! What if the guy catch me and take me to my home?

  “Sis! Come take a look! I caught a thief!!”

  Wait a minute! Why the voice seems like a little girl’s? I raise my head and look up in a hurry. Oh, no…

  A little girl younger than me stares at me with her big eyes, it seems that she has big interest in me, it seems that I am a novel toy to her.

  The shining sword is obviously too big for her. Not to let the sword to fall down, she has to try very hard to hold it with her both hands.

  Even she try all her best, the sword is still swaying in a big range. Oh, my. That is what happening!

  After I watch her to put the sword blade on a rock smartly, I can take a deep breath finally.

  I always think that sword is a very dangerous object, but I never think that the sword can show its real menace power, until it is in a little girl’s hand. Because it may fall down carelessly at any time…

  “Sis,” Another girl shows up behind her, “What are you calling me for?”

  “Look, Sis, I caught a thief!” The little girl talks to her elder sister complacently, and she points at me to her sister with the index finger. Oh, please, young lady! Please hold your sword tightly and don’t let it go.

  “Really? Let me take a look.” The little girl’s elder sister looks at me this side. “He is just a little kid!”

  “You are not little kids as well? Why do you try to talk like an adult.”

  “Ah! Don’t you forget that you come here to steal things?” The little girl shouts again. “Be careful that I will call my grandpa to come to here!”

  “I am sorry, you two kind ladies. Can you please let me to climb up to there first? I almost can’t hold on it anymore! If I fall down, then you don’t have the war trophy anymore!” My body is getting numb. For the sake of my life, I talks the politest words in a most sincere tune that I can think of.

  “Alright, you can come up here!” It seems that the elder sister is more kindhearted.

  I climb up with the most clumsy move in my life. I lie down on the ground collapsed.

  “Hey, you little thief! What do you want to steal over here?”

  No need to ask, I can tell that it must be the younger sister talking by the ruthless voice.

  I lower my head helplessly and point at the trees over our heads, I tell my purpose of this trip honestly “Apple.” I say faintly and weakly.

  “Apple?? Ha ha ha!!”

  “What? What is so funny?” I really don’t know what they are laughing about. But, I am pretty sure that they are laughing at me.

  You know what it looks like that two girls laugh to lie on the ground? Now I can see what it is. Am I this little thief that funny?

  When they get up from the ground after they have laughed enough, they ask me to take a look at the trees, then I just know how stupid I am. There are little finger big green fruits swinging in the trees in the wind. This…This...This is apples?

  “Hey! Lovely Mr. little thief. Have you ever try this kind of apple before? Or you just don’t know what the season that the apples can be eaten at all? Ha hah ha!!”

  “Little sis. Don’t laugh at him like that! You see that his face turns all red.”

  Oh, My! Let me hit a tofu to die! Steal apples in spring, I am losing my face totally...

  …"It’s the first time I met him in my grandfather’s orchard, my sister and I just had our six years old birthday, he was seven years old then. Black hair, black eyes, delicate and pretty face. He showed up in front of me and my sister. Instead of falling from the sky, he drilled out from the ground. Of course, my sister and I welcome him kindly because he brings us a lot of …..happiness! Who knows in the end, my sister and I will both marry him together."

  … A passage from