William made his way towards the east gate, which lead to the surrounding forest. The forest was only supposed to be entered if your vocation called for it, such as woodcutting or herb gathering for healers. Many of the children and young adults still went to it for fun.
"Come on, Sam, We're just playing around! We'll give it back" a boy's voice came from around the corner.
David, of all the people for Sam to run into, it had to be you.
William ran around the corner, and sure enough, he spotted David and his lackeys surrounding someone. Peering through the group, he could see blonde hair and knew it had to be Sam. The group of boys was almost unremarkable in every way besides David and Sam. David was pudgy and rather short, but sure enough, his friends followed every word he said. He had something of a silver tongue. Sam could be easily mistaken for a girl with his long blonde hair tied into a braid behind him. His face was girlish and free of manly features. His body was slender from his avoidance of playing games outside or doing stuff the other boys did. William could see that Sam had been trying to hold in his tears, but his eyes were still leaking some.
"David, what are you guys doing to Sam now?" William asked, trying to hide his disgust at David.
They all turned to look at William, who had approached the circle. Sam looked up from the ground and then turned away once he met eyes with William trying to hide the fact he had been crying.
"Nothing regarding you Willy, Just saw that Sam had stopped at one of the clothing stalls, and we wanted to see what he got. But he didn't want to share for some reason" David made a mocking pout as the rest of his goons laughed at him. Sam remained silent.
"I don't think Sam's purchases are any of our business; why don't you just give him back whatever you took, and we can all go our separate ways? Sound good?" William said.
"Oh sure, Willy, Whatever you want, I'll hand it back to Sam right now." David unclenched his hand to reveal some sort of purple fabric as he walks towards Sam, who had begun to look up. Sam reached out to grab it, and David snickered as he ripped it in half and dropped the two separate pieces onto the ground. He and the other boys all started laughing as Sam collapsed to the ground as tears silently fell down his face.
"I don't get what you guys get out of bullying Sam. He's done nothing to you!" William shouted, his fist shaking in anger.
"Well, what are you going to do about it Willy, There's five of us and one of you" David shoved William as the rest of his group made a circle around them.
Jake and Cameron are cowards. If I beat up David, Josh, and Raymond, those two will tuck their tail and run. While David isn't too much of a threat, Josh is pretty quick, and Raymond is strong. He's a year older than me and has already been a woodcutter for about two years, giving him impressive strength. He's also got probably 4 inches of height easily on me.
William threw his satchel at Joshua, which caused him to fall over in surprise as the bag collided with him. David took this chance to try and swing his fist into Williams's face, but he was slow as he wasn't really the group's muscle. William sidestepped him and stuck out his right leg to trip him, causing David to go headfirst into the mud. William focused his attention on Raymond, who swung his fist into William's face with great force. It staggered him, and he could swear he was seeing three Raymond's. Raymond had raised his arms up and took a fighting stance. He truly was the enforcer of David's friend group.
As Raymond approached William, preparing to swing at him again, Cameron had decided to try and make a move on William from behind and rushed at him. William quickly spun around him and shoved him into Raymond. Raymond's foot slipped underneath the mud and the sudden force being thrown into him had caused him to fall over. William pressed his advantage and ran over to where Raymond and fallen and stomped his face once, causing blood to flow out of Raymond's nose.
"Will! Watch out!" Sam yelled, pointing behind William. William turned around to see David had gotten back up and brought out a dagger from his pocket.
"You're going to hurt someone pretty badly if you use that thing. Murder is punished with death under Omnituen law!" William shouted.
"That's why I'm not gonna kill you! But I might take a finger or two for the road!" David sneered at William as he rushed at him, brandishing the blade.
"Lesser Divine Defense!" Sam shouted while facing his palm at William, causing white energy to wrap itself around William's body. David stabbed the dagger into William's chest only to feel pain flow into his right hand as he dropped the dagger. It had felt like hitting a stone wall with a wooden club. William didn't give David a chance to recover and immediately grabbed David's collar to hold him in place as he slammed his forehead into his nose. David fell onto the ground clutching his face as he landed on his ass.
William immediately got on top of him and started punching David's face as his blood began to stain his hands. Joshua, who had recovered, tried to rush over to David's aid. Still, as he went to grab one of William's arms, William slammed his elbow into Joshua's face. Cameron and Jake stood over Raymond, who they were trying to help get up. William had a sinister smile appear on his face, much to the horror of David. He got off of him, walked over to where the dagger was, picked it up, and got back on top of David.
"Murder is illegal! You'll be hanged if you kill me! You won't get away with it!" David was screaming as William brought the knife closer to his face.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you, just going to give you a friendly reminder not to mess with Sam or I again." William brought the knife to the top of David's forehead and pressed it into him until his blood had begun to flow. He made two slashes, one horizontally and the other vertically, and then he tossed the knife away. William had carved an L onto the center of David's forehead.
"Next time you think of messing with Sam and me again, look into the mirror as a reminder. I'll keep carving letters until your forehead says Loser for the rest of your life! Do you understand me!" William shouted while pulling up David's head by his collar. David weakly nodded his head as his face was too swollen to try anything else.
William hopped off him and walked over towards Sam. David was picked up by Cameron and Jake as the rest of them hobbled away.
"You know those holy arts Sasha taught you are pretty helpful!" William smiled.
"Well, she did say it would be helpful to know a few for any vocation I might get" Sam smiled back weakly.
Sam was still holding the broken fabric, which William now noticed was actually a nightgown with little white outlines of lilacs spread throughout it. William wasn't surprised as he knew Sam liked to dress in feminine apparel. He honestly believed it looked more natural than the oversized tunic he was currently wearing.
"Can I have this?" William had kneeled down next to Sam and reached out his hands, gently brushing against Sam's fingers as he poked the torn garment.
"Are you thinking of trying out nightgowns? I can give you a non-ripped one if you prefer." Sam smiled with his tear-stained face. William took his handkerchief and softly wiped Sam's face causing him to become flustered.
"Hey now! I can wipe my own face!" Sam's face was blushed with embarrassment as he snatched the handkerchief. William took this as an opportunity to grab the torn gown and put it in his satchel.
"Hey, I've got a weird question…You totally don't have to answer it, but I had a weird dream last night, so I just need you to confirm this… You're a guy, right?" William stared at Sam, whose face had now turned a bright red.
Wow, I could not have asked that more awkwardly.
"Um, well, you've known me since we were kids, so I assume you would know I'm a guy by now." Sam rubbed his head, confused, and then he had a mischievous smile appear on his face. "So what kind of dream was it, Will?" He teased.
Well played. However, I will not be trounced so easily.
"Well, If you must know, it started with us at your house and you wearing an apron and nothing else." Willam spotted Sam now starting to crack and become flustered again. "You asked me if I would prefer dinner or a shower first, or you." He placed his hand on top of Sam's and got up close and personal as he delivered his killing blow.
"Alright, you win! If you're not going to tell me what your dream actually was, I won't press it!" Sam crawled away from William as fast he could. "Listen, I packed some sandwiches for lunch if you wanna get to the forest edge before we eat. The thing I wanted to show you is in the forest."
"You're not going to tell me what it is before we go?"
"That would ruin the fun in it!" Sam smiled.
"Alright, these sandwiches better be good!" William picked up the basket Sam had brought with him and carried it as they went out the east gate and head towards the forest.
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