In the next few months Idris was introduced to some of the farmers residing near his home. Some of them had kids he wanted to befriend. He didn't rush and took it slowly. One of them named Adriel was his first friend and after that 2 more followed.
They would often meet at the same time every day. They had nothing to do at home, but to be bored, so it was always refreshing to hang out with each other.
The rest of the farmers kids too formed some kind of gang that would also meet up every day. Their numbers were 3 more than Idris' group.
Sometimes both groups would come together to fight against each other. They weren't serious battles so nobody besides them cared. They just wanted to see who the strongest was and test their own strength in a real life experience, even though they weren't necessarily brutal.
Today too they gathered to fight. They were in their usual spot, a clearing in the forest which was positioned a few hundred meters away from their homes.
It was the day all of the kids had waited for. On one side was Talmon, a relatively tall and strong boy, the self-proclaimed leader and strongest kid in the other group and on the other side was Idris. He had unconsciously become the head of his own party. He also was the most powerful of the 4 of them, but the skinniest too. He was not as tall as Talmon but his height was still far from small.
They stood 3 meters apart, while being cheered on from the sidelines.
Idris and Talmon charged at each other with their hands in the air. When they collided in the middle, both of their hands swung down. The two hands hit their target and the boys stumbled backwards.
A red spot appeared on Talmons cheek, as he grimaced.
"Not so tough and cocky now, are we?" Idris provoked his opponent. He hadn't received all the power in the punch, because he moved his head backwards to lighten the blow in time.
"Great Idris. Lecture him a bit more!" his friend on the side cheered for him loudly.
Talmon stood up again, spat blood on the ground and got into a fighting stance again.
He charged in with his defense up this time. Since Idris found an opening, he used his opportunity and swung his fist. Unexpectedly his opponent parried his punch and attacked him. He barely avoided the blow and retreated.
"Not bad." he praised Talmon.
"Of course I'm not bad. After all I learned my skills from my father." Talmon replied in a proud tone.
Even so, Idris attacked again. This time with his foot. The kick too was parried, but Talmon stumbled sidewards because of the force put in it. After that, a punch followed in the belly only moments later, laying him on his back.
"Yes you did it!" cheers were heard from Idris' friends. On the other side the moans were loud.
But before they could continue their fight, one of the kids standing besides them pointed at the sky and asked:"What's that?"
Everyone followed his finger until they found the smoke rising up. It came from the direction of the city. Did this mean that someone attacked Attikos or is it just a dumb person making a campfire.
Either way it could end badly. On the one hand, it was possible that when they returned the city and their homes would be destroyed. On the other hand, if it was a campfire, the trees could easily catch fire and the whole forest would begin burning.
"Let's get back first to see what's going on." Idris suggested. He just wanted to be sure nothing serious happened.
The others agreed and returned to the edge of the forest from which it was possible to overview the town.
As they arrived there, they suddenly froze with their eyes wide open.
The houses in the front were all on fire. There were people to be seen running around between the houses, slicing up people with their swords.
They looked like knights in their blood-sprayed armors.