Editing Tales of Leo Attiel:Volume1 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 1===


Leo was lying spread-eagled in the grass.

The sky was a light purple. First one, then two stars started to twinkle.

''Will I die? he thought. Am I going to die?''

The sun would soon have set. He had heard that at this time of year, nights were unbelievably cold in the mountains. Leo had not yet experienced winter in these lands.

It had all started with the two brothers, Walter and Jack.

“We’re going out hunting,” Walter had suddenly woken him up early that morning.

“Hurry up and get ready. Everything you guys from Atall do is so slow,” Jack’s shrill voice came next.

Without understanding what was going on, he was made to get dressed, and a bow and arrows were shoved into his hands.

“The wild animals in Allion are way faster than someone like you, and they have keen noses. If you dress up too heavily, they’ll catch the scent.”

With that for an explanation, he was taken outside in thin clothing. Given that the brothers were properly equipped against the cold, it was obvious that this was what they had been aiming for from the start.

Each astride a horse, the three of them had galloped north of the Anglatt family’s manor.

“Listen,” on the way, Walter had sternly lectured him, “I don’t know what it’s like in your country, Atall, but in the Kingdom of Allion, a weakling who can’t bring down a deer can’t inherit his House, and wouldn’t even be recognised as a man in the first place.”

“And, of course, you can’t use a gun. You have to do it with a bow, like a man,” Jack, the younger brother, had followed up. “So in other words, here in Allion, you’re just someone who isn’t even a man yet. You’re already eleven, right? Go on and prove that you’ve inherited that noble blood. I’ll especially let you use this bow. This was specially made for when I killed a boar when I was two years younger than you…”

Leo realised they were lying. It didn’t seem like a very Allion-like custom. Besides, although the two of them were always taking every opportunity to boast about “here in Allion”, they weren’t part of Allion’s royalty or nobility. Leo Attiel, on the other hand, was incontrovertibly the son of the current ruler of the Principality of Atall. But when he had pointed that out –

“Oh, is that right? Is that riiight? Then in that case, can you show us your might, O great lord?” Walter’s lips had curled into a faint, contemptuous smile.

“Yeah, yeah,” Leo remembered how Jack had immediately chimed in. 

So he had not protested. He wordlessly followed the two of them into the mountains. After following a river on horseback for an hour, they had tied the horses to trees which had lost all their leaves, and had then climbed on foot for another hour.

“Right, this is the perfect place to hunt,” when Walter came to a halt, Leo was already drenched in sweat ad his breathing was ragged.

Seeing that, Jack sneered. “Men from Atall have no stamina.” However, given that he was three years older than Leo, and that Walter was more than five years older, that was not exactly a fair evaluation.

“There’s a good view from here. We’ll drive the game towards you right away, so you lie and hide in that underbrush.”
“Don’t let go of the bow. Keep your breath quiet and lie still.”

“Once the prey comes, kill it in one strike. Like you're hunting the heads of enemy soldiers.”

The two of them spoke in turns before leaving Leo behind. They were soon gone.

Leo lay hidden as he was told. He pulled the bowstring a few times. Although it was quite a bit smaller than the ones adults used to hunt and go to war with, his thin arms couldn’t even draw the bow a third of the way. He was worried that he would not even be able to kill a rabbit with it.

He realised at once though that it was a needless anxiety. He didn’t need to wait half an hour, or even ten minutes. Their two figures had vanished from sight, the sound of their footsteps faded, and afterwards all he could hear was the occasional sound of a branch swaying in the wind and the chirping of birds.

''Yeah, I knew it: it was a lie.''

There was absolutely no sign that the brothers were driving prey towards him. They had, from the very start, had no intention of going hunting. He was willing to bet that the horses tied fast in the woods – his own included – were already gone.

Even so, Leo continued to lie where he was for a while longer. If he hurried back to the manor, the two brothers from the Anglatt House would feign ignorance.

“Yo, you sure were slow.”

“It’s fine to be engrossed in hunting, but don’t get that caught up.”

While behind his back, they would be sticking their tongues out and jeering behind his back.

Therefore, Leo didn’t move. It didn’t need to be a wild boar or a small deer. If a bird or two could swoop down in front of him… or even just a squirrel that was late hibernating. As long as he went back carrying something, nobody was likely to openly make fun of him. 

''Oh, but I need to be careful. Florrie loves those birds with the green-tipped feathers. If I come back with a dead one of those, there’ll definitely be a fuss in a different sense.''

Leo pictured the sight of that girl who was a year younger than him sobbing and wailing. It was only at that point that his mouth formed into a wry smile. Determined to see things through, he once more turned his gaze forward.

In the end, however, he did not even stay at it another hour. His sweat had long since dried, and the cold wind had instead robbed his body of its heat. Leo stood up and brushed the dirt and grass from his clothes.

“Let’s head back,” he said to no one. Even though going back was entirely his own intention, perhaps he had needed to hear himself say it.

Although he knew that it was pointless, he went back to where the horses had been tied.

Or rather, he tried to go back, but was unable to do so. When they had climbed for almost an hour, they had practically walked in a straight line. He had though that going back would be easy, but no matter how much he walked, only unfamiliar scenery surrounded him.

''Weird…''

As was to be expected, he got irritated and impatient. He started worrying that he was going down the wrong way, and decided to go back the way he had come. Then, just as he was turning around, his ankle twisted beneath him. Leo’s small body went tumbling down the hill. Stones of all sizes bit into his back and his chest, and branches slashed at his hands and feet.

When he stopped rolling, the evening light washed over his face. He had arrived in a somewhat open space. Leo didn’t move and stayed lying spread-eagled. Or rather, he no longer had the energy to move. The sky he looked up at was almost shockingly vast.

''Let’s head back'' – he thought he was a complete idiot for having said that earlier.  

Go back? And where on earth to? The Anglatt manor? To helplessly continue playing his part as a hostage?

Or else, would he wind his way north-east across these mountains until he was treading on the soil of his native country, Atall? At that thought, Leo’s cheeks quivered with laughter. Although, right now, he couldn’t even go back the way he had come!

And to start with, he knew that he wouldn’t be welcomed even if he did go back. He was a hostage. The proof of friendship between the two countries of Atall and Allion – it sounded nice, but basically, this was a reprimand and a punishment against Atall for having defied the powerful Allion.

It had been about two months since Leo had left his native country and set foot in the eastern part of Allion.

A general named Claude Anglatt was to take charge of him. Thanks to his achievements in the previous war, he had only just been made lord of a keep. According to rumour, he was a man who had risen from being a simple soldier, which was rare in Allion’s long history.

From that day forward, the general’s manor became where Leo was to stay. He would live in accordance with Allion’s customs, would eat Allion’s food, and would study Allion’s learning. However, although it had already been two months, Leo had not yet met General Claude. Apparently, he had temporarily been posted in the royal capital, far to the west. 

Jack and Walter were the general’s sons. At first, they had been perplexed as to how to treat this noble who had suddenly come from a foreign country. No matter what the era or the circumstances, men were cautious towards those they did not know, exercised mutual restraint, and weighed up which attitude to take. The younger they were, the shorter that period was. The two brothers soon decided which manner to adopt.

''Even if he’s a lord, the fact is that he’s a hostage that a weak country presented to out powerful Allion.''

And like that, the mood coalesced into one of looking down on Leo.

Leo Attiel was eleven years old. He was too old to be cared for like a little brother, and too young to become a friend. Above all else, his attitude was not endearing. He was always plunged into his own thoughts, alone and with a sour look on his face.

Claude had one other child, the youngest, Florrie. From her, there was none of the caution and restraint between men. She simply innocently rejoiced that “now I have one more big brother.”

In the hall where dinner was being held, she would pay no attention to her mother’s attempts to stop her, instead pulling her chair close to Leo, and badgering him for stories about the Principality of Atall.

Although he didn’t go so far as outright ignoring her, Leo adopted an uninterested attitude. No matter what he was asked, he would answer coldly with something like “Heh, how was it again? I don’t remember,” or “I’ve forgotten. I’ll try and remember next time.”

As Florrie sadly lowered her large eyes, her two brothers almost looked as though they were about to leap from their seats and throw themselves at Leo.

“Leave it at that, Florrie. The prince has only just arrived and he isn’t used to the atmosphere in Allion.” 

The mother to Florrie and the boys, Claude’s wife Ellen, held the brothers back at times like these, but when she was not around, such as during his studies or martial training, Leo was made a target of. Near the eastern border was Conscon Temple, and Claude had invited one of the monks to educate his sons, but when Leo failed to answer the monk’s questions, they openly scorned him. 

“The barbarians from Atall don’t know a thing.”

During sword practice and barehanded training, he was always hit so brutally that if the instructor didn’t intervene to stop them, he would have been left not just with bruises but probably with broken bones.

On the whole, and right from the start, Leo had not been concentrating on the lessons in Allion’s learning or military arts. He simply needed to live a long life. The value of a hostage lay in their continued existence, and currently had no other worth except as a hostage…

''I…''

Who would welcome him back if he stepped into his native land, which was so far away from where he was in Allion? Not the soldiers who had been wounded in the war, not the people, not the members of the ruling princely house – nobody would welcome him. Especially not his mother: her gentle features would probably change all at once, she would look at him as though he were an enemy, and her plump lips would hurl out accusations as sharp as arrows.

“No!” In the same way as back then. “He’s only an eight-year-old child. And his health is particularly fragile. If it’s to send to Allion, can’t it just be Leo?”

Still lying stretched out, Leo harshly bit his lip.
[[Image: Leo_Attiel_Den_v01_023.png|thumb]]
As the darkness grew deeper, the ground under his back became colder and harder. His own body temperature seemed to be slowly seeping into the soil.

''If I’m here when the sun sets…''

He would die.

Would the point when his warmth finally disappeared within the earth also be the point when a beast prowling the mountain, now almost barren of prey, would smell the scent of fresh meat and gobble him up completely? The instant he thought of that, Leo felt a strangely pleasant sensation, as though his body had shattered into tiny pieces that were swept away by the early winter winds and flung to every corner of the sky that he had been gazing up at.

He didn’t have anywhere to go back to anyway, and his life didn’t matter to anybody, so it was better to end things that way. He was sure that the general he still hadn’t seen, and that general’s children, would be thrown into a panic. Worthless though Leo’s existence was, he was still supposed to be a guest who had been left in their care by a foreign country. Having struggled to become a general, he would end up in a wretched state. He would be made to take responsibility, and his land and castle would probably be taken from him. Leo smiled. His features were naturally delicate and when he smiled innocently, he looked like a girl.

''And in Atall…'' Just as he was about to imagine what would happen there, his hard-earned and happy delusions were shattered by the echo of horses’ hooves. 

He wondered if Walter and Jack had returned for him, but there was the sound of metal clanging. A sword at the waist. Leo didn’t need to see them to guess that whoever it was, they were wearing armour. Probably a soldier serving General Claude. They had come searching for him because he hadn’t been back in so long. The horse gave a light snort and came to a stop. Leo’s eyes turned towards its direction for the first time.

He was immediately startled. An unfamiliar man was staring down at him from horseback. Just as Leo had guessed, he was wearing light armour and a sword. His build was sturdy and large, and his skin was tanned from the sun, giving an impression of weather-beaten leather. His bushy beard probably hadn’t seen a razor in a long time, and above it, his large eyes were glaring.