Sinful Pride - Volume 1 Chapter 5 The Time Is Right

The Village Chief was standing on a boxe at the center of the village. People were beginning to gather around in a panic but the Chief didn’t say anything. He seemed to be looking for someone.

He was an elder man, with a beard and long eyebrows that concealed his eyes. He was old. Very old. He half jokingly would say that he was chosen as the Village Chief only because he was the oldest person around. After all, he could barely take care of himself in his old age, let alone a village. He needed a stick in order to walk and he couldn’t tend the fields anymore. This day however it seemed he forgot his age. His body was full of energy and his hands seemed to have stopped shaking.

Pride and Helene finally arrived and they met eyes with him. He was standing straight on top of the box above a panicked crowd and cleared his neck before starting to speak. Everyone quieted down to hear what he had to say.

Pride felt a bit relieved. The Chief didn’t seem panicked or afraid so there was probably no invasion.

“Everyone, a rider came from Atestari…” the Chief said in a clear voice.

‘Wait…’ Pride didn’t seem to understand.

“An Orc horde is coming from the West. They will be arriving sometime tomorrow to Atestari city…” the Chief continued.

Atestari was one days walking distance to the village. For an army maybe two days. If wolf riders were send to the surroundings as scouts however there was no way of knowing when they would arrive.

Pride felt a chill run down his spine. The situation was bad. Very bad. The Orcs couldn’t come through the West unless they fought through the Southern defenses. Since they heard nothing from the South, that meant that the Orcs came from the Demon’s territory. He wasn’t the only one who noticed. When he looked around he saw everyone’s faces darken.

‘Then why are you like this?’ he wanted to ask the Chief. His voice had no hint of panic or fear. ‘Do you not understand the situation you good-for-nothing-Chief?’

He was looking at the others when he met his father’s eyes. He was holding Pride’s mother and looked at him with his usual stern face. He also seemed strangely calm.

Pride wanted to curse at those two for being so calm. Then he felt his right hand being held tightly. When he looked Helene seemed to be on the verge of crying. Her shoulder’s were shaking and her eyes were glued to the ground.

‘Ah… That’s why you…’

The Village Chief continued saying something about evacuating the village and something or other but Pride couldn’t hear him anymore.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He tried to focus on his poker face and held Helene closely.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you” he whispered at her ear with a resolute voice.

Helene shaking stopped but she didn’t look up to him. She pushed her face to his chest and hugged him tightly.

The villagers run to their houses to grab supplies and their valuables to prepare to evacuate. If things didn’t go well, this might be the last time they would see their own homes.

“Keita!” he head a voice call to him. It was his mother.

Pride was a bit embarrassed because he was still hugging Helene but didn’t let go.

“Keita, you need to hurry and gather your things. We…” his mother’s panicked voice was like a slap to the face.

‘Even though you are on the verge of crying… Worry about yourself a little’ he thought with a sad smile.

He knew what he had to do from now on. There was no better chance than this for him to be his own man.

He didn’t have a straightforward plan in mind but he had found an objective. In order to realize it, now was the best time to leave.

Pride opened his mouth to say something but his father beat him to it.

“Go prepare, me and Keita will soon follow, honey.” his father told her.

“Darling…” his mother responded with blushed cheeks, as if she forgot the situation they are in.

The two entered their own world staring at each other’s eyes and a pink light with flowers seemed to form around them.

‘Ugh… I beg of you, please stop doing that in public. At least don’t use your pet names’ Pride was embarrassed with his parent’s usual behavior and begging them in his head.

After flirting for a while, his mother left for their house and his father stood in front of him with his arms crossed. His face reverted to his usual strict one and they just stood there looking at each other.

His father looked at Pride and then Helene. Then back to him.

Pride pretty much understood what his father meant. He wasn’t very good at showing affection – at least in Pride’s case – but he supported him in his own way. When he had to help around the farm, his father would work for both of them and told him to go play. He still called it “playing around” but Pride knew that his father meant practice.

His father, understood that Pride wasn’t going to stay in this village for the rest of his life and seemed to sensed what he was thinking.

After looking at each other for a while, he turned around and left.

‘Say something’ he wanted to laugh at how bad his father was with affection but instead he was tearing up. ‘They really are good parents’ he thought.

His father raised his right hand instead of a proper farewell and continued walking forward.

Pride smiled, pushing his tears back and held Helene’s shoulders.

He gently pushed her away from him and leaned a bit to look her in the eyes.

“I’m going” he said.

“I know…” Helene responded.

She raised her head and looked at him. She had tears in her eyes but still managed to force a smile.

“Don’t go eyeing other women at Atestari . I will know if you will” she said half jokingly.

“I won’t.”

“Don’t…” die, she wanted to say.

“Don’t take too long to come back. I am not going to wait until I become a granny. Me and your parents will be waiting so whenever you want to take a rest it’s fine to come back”

“Yeah, I will be back” Pride said with a bright smile.

He gave her a kiss to the cheeck and let go of her. He did not need anything else from this village. He had his short sword, some berries and a flask of water. He prepared for many years for this time.

Pride started running towards Atestari city without looking back.