Chapter 5

I opened to see three heads peeking at me from the top of the crib. Lets just say, I woke up with a startle. It took some time for my eyes to adjust the light. It was Jeremy, Diana, and Anna. They had huge smiles plastered onto their faces when I stared up at them. Anna reached over and picked me up. 

I looked over to see Arthur’s bed empty. He never woke up earlier, so this was a first. We all walked towards the living room to see mom sitting on a chair, talking with my dad. They were both smiling, so they were back to normal.

“Mama, hi.”

Everyone stopped at what they were doing and stared at me. Was it that surprising that I talked? I heard a squeal from mom and saw her coming to me, slowly. She was still hurting from the way she was walking, but it wasn’t that bad. She must have healed herself before. 

She took me from Anna and gave me a tight squeeze. 

“Alex called me mama back in the woods, too. You should have seen it.” She gave me a kiss and smiled.

“No fair. Say dada, Alex.” Dad pouted and walked over to us. “Please. Dada. Da-da.”

How many times was he going to say it? Wasn’t that embarrassing for him, especially in front of everyone?

He started to put his bottom lip out and gave me the puppy eyes. I guess he really wants it.

“D-da. Dada. Dada!” I had to make sure I was struggling just a bit.

“Ha, that’s my son, people!” He was definitely proud. I silently groaned in embarrassment. 

“Hey, are we still going today?” It was Aston. He looked towards dad for an answer, but dad looked towards mom.

“I’m fine. I just need to heal myself just about four more times and I should be fine.” Mom, then, thought for a second. “What about all the stuff that was lost during yesterday night? There was a lot of food.”

“Don’t worry about the food. We are loaded.” The guy, the only one I didn’t know the name yet, spoke up.

“Are you sure it can support us too?”

“Of course!”

“Ok, I’ll go pack.” Dad stopped mom from leaving.

“No, I’ll do it.” He didn’t wait for mom’s response and went off.

My mom turned back to us and just shrugged. “I’ll go help him.” She handed me to Diana and went off towards their bedroom. 

Jeremy went towards Arthur and offered a hand. Arthur hesitated before giving his hand probably because he was shy. We all went outside.

“Ok gentleman, ladies, and kids, we are going to have a fighting competition. Anyone could challenge anyone, except the baby and the boy.” Aston took a breath but just as he was about to continue Arthur interrupted him.

“Hey, no fair, I have been learning how to fight with dad.” Arthur shouted out. Aston looked at the other and everyone gave him a nod. 

I didn’t really care. So I closed my eyes and leaned towards Diana. I started to train, but I didn’t want to stand out so I made it look like I was sleeping.

“Okay, so Arthur is in. So who wants to go first?”

“Me.” It was Arthur. “I want to go against you.” I peeked to see who Arthur was pointing to. It was Aston. Aston bowed and welcomed him towards the ground they were planning to fight. Arthur ran and stopped when he reached the ground.

I opened my eyes. I couldn’t concentrate that much because of the noises so might as well see the fight.

When the fight started, Arthur charged at Aston with both of his hands out in a pushing position. Aston just stood there, watching Arthur charge at him. Just as Arthur was about to push him, Aston dodged to the right by stepping. To my surprise, I don’t know if it was Arthur’s instincts, but just as Aston stepped away, his body turned and hit Aston. The push wasn’t hard enough to make Aston fall but Arthur made contact. Everyone gasped when he did that. No one expected a total beginner to do that. 

Aston rose his hand in defeat.

Arthur crossed his hand and made a proud smile.

We all started to clap for him.

“So what’s with all this clapping?” It was dad.

“Arthur won against Aston.”

“Really? Good job son.”

“Weren’t you packing?”

“Val kicked me out saying I’m useless when I’m packing.” Dad’s head went down and sighed.

The competition went on till it was sunset. There were several interesting fights. I found out that Diana and Jeremy were mages. Jeremy was a fire mage, while Diana was a water mage. Galtero, Aston, and Anna were swordsmen. Galtero was a dagger master, Aston was good with a long sword, and Anna was good with a Katana.

“I’m done with packing and dinner.”

“Coming!” Everyone was in sync when they shouted back.

We all went inside and ate. Everyone was chatty, especially mom. It was as if they knew each other for a long time. The women would always look at me and Arthur and talk about us.

“So Arthur, how much do you love Alexander?” That was my second time hearing my full first name. I look at Arthur to see what he would say. 

“I love Alex this much.” Arthur extended out his hands as far as he can. Everyone looked in awe as Arthur stretched out his hands.

Once we ate, we all packed our bags and went out of the door. It took us a while. Mom had packed a bag for each of us so in total we had four bags that we had to take to the carriage. Everyone helped out as much as they could. Mom and dad locked the house and walked towards the carriage. Once everyone got into the carriage, we all started to go toward our new home in Flores.