Hero

I should have asked them! I should have said,

"But what if there's another one? What if there's a one that can do it for them?"

Heroes never thought about this. They never met that boy. They were always fighting bad people. Bad people are easy to spot because they're always dark and evil and they shout awful things at you. They never had to fight other farm boys.

How long have I been standing on this hill, I wonder, looking out to the horizon? There's a line of smoke there, where the enemy have been burning houses. They might have burnt down mine. But the wise folk will have looked after my family, won't they? Of course they will. They're wise, after all, and they have to protect a hero. Because that would be the right thing to do.

It's strange. I thought heroes never got scared.