THE WIEKTS

Hart blinked and found himself back on the cold ground in the battlefield. The memory was a pleasant one but in his state, he couldn’t really appreciate the happy imagery created by his brain. It served more as a mockery rather than something to bring him hope in order to survive his wounds. And now, just like what he remembered from that night that seemed like so long ago, it started to pour. Big droplets of rain came down from the greyish sky, wetting the ground below. He looked at the grey sky above and mourned for his life. Guilt and regret clawed at his heart. For once in his life, he finally had something to hold on to, to fight for, but he couldn’t do anything. He finally had his reason to live but instead, he threw away his life in this battlefield. Away from his wife and his future. With this in mind, Hart Wiekt began to sob. Then a loud noise of metal against metal was heard from a distance.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

The loud noise of metal against metal could be heard from a few houses away. Inside of the house, stood a man working hard in order to mold the scrap metal into a piece of art. He wiped his forehead in order to prevent the sweat to obscure his vision of the scorching metal. With a powerful swing, he hit the metal again and again. The noise of the impact and the roaring furnace was so deafening that it was very difficult to hear anything else. And so, it was not surprising that the blacksmith couldn’t hear the man who was calling him again and again for the last couple of minutes from outside of the house. It was until the man grabbed his shoulder and almost shouted his name that the blacksmith noticed him.

“Hart!” shouted the man. “I’ve been calling you since forever.”

Hart turned around and faced his mentor, Bern. He wiped the stream of sweat flowing down his face and looked down, embarrassed. “Sorry, Bern. I didn’t hear you.”

Bern gave him a loud laugh and a pat on the back. “It’s okay, Hart. I understand. I was like that too, once, when I was very young and just started to do this.” Bern gave a wave of his hand towards the room.

Hart gave him a small smile. He really liked Bern. He was a good man with a kind heart and an infectious smile and laughter. He was a bit pudgy in the middle but his arms were still as strong as ever. He was shorter than Hart, but made it up with the authority that surrounded him. He might take you to the tavern for drinks, joked with you, and shared a meal with your family, but he could still give you hell if you ever disobeyed him. However, there was absolutely no reason for Hart not to like him. Bern was the one that gave him a chance to live up to his dream. He became his mentor and taught him everything he knew about blacksmithing.

“Go home now, Hart. You’ve done everything that I asked you for today. Good work,” said Bern with a big grin on his face.

Hart gave his mentor a small smile full of satisfaction and pride. It was not an easy task to make Bern proud of his apprentices. Many had failed him in the past and many had run away during their course of apprenticeship with him simply because they couldn’t stand his perfectionist attitude. But Hart was not someone who gives up easily. He might be quiet and reserved, but he would not give his dream up so easily, especially because this was a hard-given opportunity. His father rarely listened to his children and that was why when his father gave him this chance, it was like a miracle.

“Thank you, Bern. I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Hart. He packed his things, put it into his bag, and went outside to walk the long way home.

While he was walking, many people on the street greeted him with a smile and a wave of their hands, offering simple congratulations for his marriage even though it was already a month ago. Here and there he heard snippets of the conversation regarding the price of bread, how to ensure a good and profitable harvest, and things about how to live a good life in general. When he reached the corner of the street leading towards his house, one of his friends from his father’s farm called him. He was more like his father’s friend rather than his friend, but they were very close in age and this made Hart consider him more as a friend rather than his father’s worker.

“Sam,” greeted Hart. Sam grinned and gives him a big hug, patting his back and murmuring his congratulations. Hart gave a simple thank you.

“How are you?” asked Sam. “Marriage life seems good on you, Hart.”

“Thank you again, Sam. Indeed it’s good,” explained Hart.

“Oh, I heard that you’re Bern’s apprentice now,” exclaimed Sam, grinning widely.

“Yes, that’s right,” said Hart bashfully.

“How’s life as his apprentice?”

“Good. It was good. Hard, but good.”

Sam laughed heartily. “I heard it was near impossible to please him with your work.”

“It is. That part is true, but he’s very kind to me,” explained Hart.

“Well, it’s good then. It’s nice to learn something from the best of the best. Soon, you’ll be the best blacksmith in the kingdom!”

“You flatter me too much. I still have a long way to go.”

“Nonsense!” Sam laughed again. “Trust me on this. Soon you’ll have the journey of your life! Going to the capital and accepting orders from the royals or even the King himself!”

Hart laughed at Sam’s enthusiastic response regarding his future career. It was nice to have someone with such a high faith in his capability as a blacksmith. He silently feeling extremely proud of himself and believed that someday he could reach all of the greatness that Sam predicted. Moreover, judging by the response that Bern gave him these last few days, he had quite a strong reason to believe that he would soon embark on a journey with the master blacksmith to the capital in order to deepen his understanding about the art of blacksmithing. He was almost a hundred percent sure that soon Bern would ask him to take that journey to the capital. It was just a matter of time.

They chatted for a bit more and then they bid their goodbyes to each other. They went to their respective houses to end the day and Hart went home with a light heart. His wife was on the front porch waiting for him. Kind and sweet Elydite, his smiling and beautiful wife. She was everything that a man would want in a wife. She was kind and loving, she was an extremely good home-maker, and he had no doubt that she would be a good mother for their children. He smiled and gave her a wave which she returned, still smiling.

“Welcome home, Hart,” welcomed Elydite. She greeted him and gave him a warm hug.

Hart fell into her embrace and smiled. He was feeling contented and thought that the day could not get any better than this. “Hi,” he murmured and gave her a peck on top of her head.

“How’s work?” asked Elydite.

“Wonderful,” answered Hart confidently.

They went inside and started to go with their domestic routines. Elydite went to draw her husband a bath, while Hart was catching his much needed rest after a long day at work, hitting and burning metals with Bern. They went over their routines with complete ease even though they had only just live together for over a month. After Hart took his bath, they went to have dinner together and they spent the rest of the night in a quiet bliss. That night, they went to sleep feeling even more contented than ever.

It was the sound of someone banging on the door that rouse him from his deep sleep, a proof as to how hard that person was knocking on it. He felt that the other side of the bed was empty and instantly he knew that his wife had already woken up and most probably was preparing for breakfast. He smiled at that smile fact and once again felt that he was so lucky having a wife as perfect as Elydite. He stretched a bit and then proceeded to go out of the bed and go to the door to find out what caused the commotion this early in the morning. When he reached the front door, he saw his father and his wife staring at each other with such a tension that he could even feel it on his skin. He walked towards the both of them and stopped at his wife’s side, putting his hand at the small of her back in a reassuring gesture.

“What happened?” he asked to no one in particular, hoping that at least someone would bother to answer his question. No one did. Both of them kept silent. “Father? Elydite? What happened? What’s wrong?”

“Son —, “his father began to answer when Elydite cut his words.

“You have no right, no right at all to order him to do that,” she said brokenly. She was almost choked trying to fight back the tears from falling.

Hart looked first at his now sobbing wife and then at his father. His face completely portrayed his confusion about the whole thing happening in his house this early in the morning. Has something bad happened? What do I need to do? And here I thought that nothing could go wrong, Hart thought. His curiosity finally won over his concern regarding the truth that his father and his wife were holding from him.

“Father, Elydite, what’s wrong?” he asked once again. He took a step forward towards his father. “Father, please, tell me what is wrong.”

Arn Wiekt gave him a determined stare. There was something there, something in his eyes that made Hart a little bit worried about the things that his father was keeping from him. In his father’s eyes, there was an underlying emotion of pride, hope, and expectations there. It gave him a slight chill that runs through his bones seeing that expressions in his father’s eyes. What could be the reason behind those whirlwind of emotion in his usually emotionless father?

“Father, please…” Hart whispered. He took another step forward. “Tell me.”

Another second that felt like hours passed with nothing but silence. Then, his father started to explain. His first word was, “Son.”

Hart gulped. Inside, he was trying to keep his emotions together. Beside him, Elydite started sobbing harder. She clutched at his arm, as if trying to stop him from going somewhere. Where he didn’t know. His father knew and his father would tell him. “Yes, father?”

“Son. The time has come for you to prove yourself,” said Arn Wiekt. His voice was strong, without no doubt whatsoever regarding stance towards the matter he was about to tell his eldest son.

“What do you mean, Father?” Hart asked.

“A call from the capital came last night. The King has called upon all the able-bodied men in the kingdom to come to the capital as soon as possible,” Arn explained. His pride was extremely apparent now. There was no denying it anymore.

Elydite gave him a pained look with her tear-streaked face and shook her head in denial. She glanced at her husband, her strong and wonderful husband. When Hart didn’t look back at her, she decided there and then that she would not stand this discussion anymore. She sighed and sobbed and left the room, running away from the heaviness of the fact that her father-in-law was about to explain to her husband.

Hart barely glanced at his wife’s absence from the room. His attention was solely on his father. His father words about the capital brought him back to what Sam said yesterday and his own feeling about going there as Bern’s senior apprentice. A little part of his brain was trying its hardest to ensure him that it was exactly like what he was thinking yesterday. That Bern had finally asked him to go with him to the capital. But a large part of his brain struggled with anxiety and worry. He knew, deep down inside his heart, that there was no way this news was about Bern’s offer to take him to the capital. There were just so many things that seemed wrong with his father’s attitude and his wife’s response to said attitude. Something was definitely wrong. He could feel it in his skin and bone. Something was wrong. That was why it was not shocking for him to find himself afraid to ask the question.

“Father, what do you mean? The King called us? Why? What for?” Hart bombarded his father with questions.

“You know that things are strained between Elesia and Proscris these last few years. It all came to this now, Son. Elesia has threatened our kingdom. They said that they will attack us if we don’t do as they say and submit to their will. They want to conquer us and make us one of their alliances.” Arn spat the word alliances with such hatred and disgust that Hart felt something inside him cowered in fear.

“Father—, “Hart began, but his father cut him.

“Hart,” said his father. “Do I really need to spell it out to you?”

A silence fell in the room.

“A war is coming. And it’s coming fast. Last night Elesia sent yet another threat to Proscris, saying that there will be a full blown war if we don’t submit to their demands.” Arn took the last step needed for him to be exactly in front of his son. He put his hand on Hart’s shoulder. “This is the time, Hart. You can guarantee a better future for you and your family.”

“But Father…I don’t know anything about fighting,” said Hart. He was going panic. He started to understand the way the conversation was going. His father would like to send him into a battlefield. His father would like to send him to a war against the biggest kingdom in The Island. In other words, his father would like to send him to his death. He gulped and tried, desperately, to breathe properly. It was absolutely not good if he started to show his innermost thought about this in front of his father. He opened his mouth to further explain his feelings when his father cut him once again.

“Hart. Think about it. You have the chance to secure a good life for your future and you want to throw it away just like that? A Wiekt must never back down from a challenge, Hart. I will go myself if not for my injured leg. And your brothers aren’t good enough. I won’t let them go to the battlefield, to serve the King, and embarrassed our family because they just can’t fulfill their duties.”

Hart opened his mouth again. Nothing came out. He gulped a large amount of air and struggled through his next sentence, “But, Father, I am also not good enough…”

“Bah! Nonsense! You are my son! When I said that you are good enough, then you are good enough! I’m trying to think about your future, Son. I want you to have a good life when I’m gone from this world. This is the chance! And you can also bring back glory for our family name. Your sons will be known as hero’s sons. You will live a good life, Son.”

“Father…” Hart whispered. He knew that he was fighting a losing battle. Cold dread creeping on his back. He knew that he must fight for his own life, but he also knew that by doing so, he was openly defying his father. He would be seen as a disgrace to the family. He and his wife would be thrown away from the society. And he knew that by doing so, not only him and Elydite who will face the embarrassment his action brought, but his family would also suffer the same fate. But if he didn’t fight this, then he would sign his death warrant, because there was just no way for him to survive the massive battles ahead.

“Think carefully, Hart. Don’t be a coward, hiding behind a barrier that is shielding you from the real world. Fight this war, Son, and our family will have its own history. Fight this war, and we will be remembered for years to come.” With that, Arn gave a determined look towards his eldest for the last time and left the house.

Hart stood there, frozen, rooted to the ground. His body felt numb. He didn’t know what to do. His own father was trying to send him to fight in a war that he could not win. On the one hand, he was disappointed and angry at his father for putting the family name above his own son’s safety and life. But on the other hand, Hart completely understood what his father had just told him. This was truly the chance. He went through with this journey, and he would become a better man. He could understand his father’s argument about him getting a good life out of this battle, because it was known that the King would reward the survivors of this war. He could provide more for his family with that reward money and gave them the best of the best. But then he thought of his wife. His sweet, loving, kind and perfect wife. They had just been married for over a month. Their marriage was still very new and fragile and now he would have to leave his wife to go to the capital and take part in something that would probably kill him. If he accepted the call from the King, it would not be fair for his wife. If he didn’t accept the call, it would be a disaster for his family. The more he thought about it, the more he was stuck with no answer as to solve his problem.

A loud creak of an opening door took him back to the here and now. Apparently, he was lost in his mind again. He turned and for the first time since his father came to their house to tell him the news, he looked at his wife’s face. Really looked at her. Her face was scrunched up as if she was in pain. Her tears kept on falling, making a wet track on her lovely face. His heart constricted.

“Elydite…” he called her name softly.

She looked at his eyes with a sharp gaze. She let out a broken sob and it was as if all strength in her body had abandoned her, she slumped, falling to the floor beneath her with tears flowing and her husband’s name on her lips.