The ground was doing a scary little dance under my boots.

  thump-thump-thump

  My heart start breathing fast and the air didn't smell like pine needles or yummy dirt anymore.

  It smelled like when Father burns the old autumn leaves, but way, way bigger.

  It was hot!

  Like the giant stove in the kitchen was left open, and the heat was trying to give me a big, prickly hug.

  "Frans, why is the sky turning grey?" I asked, but he didn't answer.

  He just squeezed my hand really tight, so tight it kind of hurt, but I didn't say anything because his face looked like it was carved out of a very serious mountain.

  We burst through the bushes, and my mouth went pop open.

  Our village! Our pretty, quiet village had orange hair now!

  Bright, flickering orange hair made of fire was jumping on top of the roofs.

  And right there, standing in the middle of all the smoke like he was the boss of the fire, was Uncle Friedric!

  "Uncle Friedric!" I cheered.

  He's so strong! He's like a giant stone tower that never falls over.

  He turned around fast.

  Uncle Friedric is Father's best friend, and he's the one who teaches Frans how to be a super-warrior.

  He's way scarier than Frans, though.

  One time, he left Frans in the woods for three whole days!

  I cried because I thought Frans was gone, but Uncle just folded his arms and said Frans had to "find his own way."

  When Frans came back, he was all covered in scratches and mud, but Uncle didn't even give him a bandage! He just said, "Good, you didn't die."

  Uncle Friedric says only the people who survive are the ones who get to be "forged," which sounds like what happens to swords in the blacksmith shop.

  I don't want to be hit with a hammer, so I usually hide behind the water barrel when Uncle Friedric visits.

  "Good. You're alive," Uncle said. He didn't say "Hello, Rick!" or give me a high-five. He just looked at us with eyes that were sharper than my little sword. "Now listen carefully."

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "The Empire has gone mad," he said, his voice sounding like gravel. "They've started attacking us in full force."

  "Empire?" I whispered. I thought they were just the silly men with the shiny coins!

  Why would they want to play tag with fire?

  "Is it a game, Uncle?"

  "There's no time to explain!" He grabbed Frans's shoulder. "You two run. Now. Go!"

  "Uncle, the village…Father…" Frans started to say.

  He looked like he wanted to run into the fire to find Father.

  "Follow the river," Uncle barked.

  He was using his "Do-As-I-Say" voice.

  "Go to the Cave of Honor. From there, you can escape."

  "I'm not leaving!" Frans yelled back.

  I jumped a little.

  Frans never yells at Uncle!

  "I'm going to the village. I'm going to help Father. I can fight!"

  "No," Uncle said.

  That one word felt like a big, heavy blanket falling on us.

  "That will be my job. You take Rick and go. Rick can't escape by himself. He's too young."

  Hey! I wanted to say I'm almost ten, but Uncle's face looked so scary, I kept my mouth shut.

  "There are around two hundred knights and mercenaries already here," Uncle said. "And more are coming."

  Two hundred? That's more fingers and toes than I can count!

  That's like... a whole mountain of people!

  My legs started to feel like they were made of jelly.

  Why would two hundred people come to our tiny village?

  Did they all want a turn to see our special eyes?

  Frans's hands were shaking.

  He was making a fist so tight his knuckles looked like little white eggs.

  He was looking at the fire, then at me, then at the fire again. It was like his heart was playing tug-of-war.

  Then, I saw it.

  I saw Uncle Friedric's eyes.

  Usually, his eyes are just plain brown.

  But suddenly, they went zloop! and changed! The four rings appeared: the blue, the white, the yellow, and the bright, angry red on the outside.

  They were glowing!

  The Blessed Pupil of Avenir!

  Papa says our eyes only come out when we're super-duper focused or when our hearts are very, very full of big feelings. Seeing Uncle's eyes made my tummy somersault.

  If Uncle was using his special eyes, that meant this wasn't just a practice fight.

  This was a "real-life-scary-monster" kind of fight.

  "FRANS! WE DON'T HAVE TIME!" Uncle roared.

  The ground went BOOM-BOOM-BOOM.

  It sounded like a giant was walking toward us. I could hear metal clinking, clank, clank, clank, like a million spoons hitting each other.

  I think it was the Empire knights.

  Uncle Friedric grabbed Frans again.

  "Just go! I will hold them back!"

  He looked like a hero from the storybooks, standing there while the smoke curled around his head like a crown.

  Frans closed his eyes for a second, looking really sad, but then he opened them and his face was like stone again.

  "…Yes," Frans whispered.

  He grabbed my hand hard and started to pull. "Run, Rick! Run!"

  We turned our backs on the orange fire-hair and the black smoke.

  We ran past the bushes and the flower patches I liked to play in.

  We ran toward the big, cold river and the Cave of Honor where the old stories are kept.

  I looked back once, just for a tiny second.

  I saw Uncle Friedric standing all alone against the grey sky, waiting for the two hundred men.

  He looked so big and so brave, but the village looked so small in all that fire.

  "Frans! We forgot the boar!" I shouted because we worked so hard to get it.

  "Keep running, Rick!" Frans yelled.

  He didn't even look back.

  So I ran. I ran until my chest felt like it was full of hot coals and my boots felt heavy, leaving our burning home behind.

  I wondered if we'd be back in time for dinner. I really hoped Mother saved some stew, but the smoke was getting thicker and thicker, and the "help me" noises were getting further away.