Sporting Attitude

11: Old Tricks

I had thought I couldn't get more stunned than I already was, walking through a tree. But I was wrong, I nearly lost my footing when I walked out the other side. The most staggering was Sportacus on his knees, his head down and shoulders shaking. I could just barely hear the sobs leaving his mouth.

I felt my heart twinge at the sight. Half from sadness, and a half from understanding. The thought of someone as nice as Sportacus going through what he did, made my blood boil. I slowly reached out and gripped his shoulder.

He tensed up and barely glanced back at me. His face turned red and he tried to wipe his tears away. I shook my head and gently squeezed his shoulder. Then I knelt beside him and wrapped my arm around his shoulders.

"It's okay to cry Sportacus." I said. "Trust me, it's better to let that out."

As soon as I finished speaking he started crying again. I made sure to keep my grip around his shoulders tight. He slowly calmed down and nodded his head. Then he looked at me.

"Then why don't you let your emotions show?" He asked. "You have nightmares, but don't tell anyone."

"How do you..." I started to ask but he cut me off.

"I've been woken up by my crystal every time you have a nightmare. I've seen you sitting out on LazyTown cliffs. I've seen when you've been close to... To... Please just let me help you!"

I stared at him and slowly shook my head. There were plenty of times when I wanted to talk to someone. But there are very few people who can relate to anything I've seen or done.

"Okay, Sportacus, we need to focus on where we are first." I said. "Is this the old village?"

"Yes, your family lived over there." He replied.

He made a small gesture toward a collapsing mound of dirt. I looked it over and frowned. Then I glanced back down at Sportacus. He didn't seem to have tear streaks anywhere on his face for someone who had just been crying.

"You sure we're in the right place, Sportacus?" I asked.

"Of course, I always came here as a child." He replied, his voice sounding a little odd.

My frown deepened as he became fidgety. He looked around the clearing. And never looked at me for more than a second. I slowly reached out and gently gripped his chin.

I turned his head so he was looking at me. His eyes locked on the ground. I huffed and let go. I stepped back. Then I turned back to the tree.

"You can't get out that way." Sportacus said. "You can't leave unless she lets you."

"Well done Rotten." A raspy voice said. "You've led me to the relic."

I looked around wildly. The Beldam was standing by the pine tree. I gasped when I saw she had another Sportacus, beaten and tied up. She let go of the rope she had him tied up with. She walked further into the clearing.

"What do you want me to do with them?" A voice asked.

"Put them in the prison." The Beldam said. "They can live out their lives there."

I was grabbed from behind and thrown into a wall. The beaten Sportacus was tossed after me. He grunted in pain and barely managed to look at me. I looked at the one I had been running with.

"Well Sara, I guess your family isn't all-loving after all." The Beldam said.

The second Sportacus reached up and pulled his hat off. Rage boiled my blood when I saw my Uncle had tricked me. Then the rage turned to sadness and shame. The Rotten family was supposed to be better than this.

"So who else helped you?" I asked.

"All of them, of course." The Beldam replied.

My knee buckled from under me as grief and rage combined caused me to be unable to stand. The laughter of my Uncle and The Beldam made things worse. As the world around me began to blur, their laughter stopped suddenly. I looked back up and saw nothing but dirt around Sportacus and me.

"They're lying Sara." Sportacus croaked. "They have to be."

"I came here to find out what happened to my parents." I said slowly. "And I find out the people who raised me, sided with The Beldam."

Sportacus grunted and groaned as he tried to sit up. I quickly knelt and tried to get him to lie back down. He stubbornly shook his head and continued to sit up. When he was finally sitting properly he sighed loudly.

"I can't prove that the rest of your family isn't working with her." He said. "But think about it, what would they gain?"

"I don't know, maybe the kingdom my parents had?" I replied.

"Huh-uh, they had their beautiful place. They had fields of flowers to tend, all the sweets they could eat, and their magic is just as strong as your people's magic was. Your parents had an alignment with Glanni. Together they were the strongest fighting force in all of Tír na nÓg."

I blinked in recognition, I knew that name. Everyone in my family sang a song about it around the beginning of spring. I had never joined in. Now the song made sense.

"So my family wants to regain entry to this Tír na nÓg?" I asked baffled.

"In a... way... yes." Sportacus whispered.

I looked down at him. He was fading fast. I knelt beside him and looked at the wounds I could see. He's lucky I don't go anywhere without my rucksack or a med kit for that matter.

"Okay, Sporty Boy, hang on for me, yeah?" I asked.

He grinned and huffed in pain. I pulled out my med kit and started treating his wounds. The groans of pain were a good sign, he wasn't dead. If I didn't get us out of here fast he could be. The outer wounds didn't look that bad, but there could be internal ones I wasn't aware of.

"You gotta hang on, Sporty Boy." I said. "I'll get us out of here, and you're gonna live."

"Heh, I'm counting on you, ástin mín." He replied.