A Tale of Friendship

“A Tale of Friendship” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Lokesh, St. Mary’s Public School, India.

A Tale of Friendship

It all began when Robert stark was in an intense conversation with Brandon Cohen during a family get together. Years back during a get together, both of them got into an argument and to prove who is more powerful, they decided to have a Wolf fight. Robert announced, ”whoever loses, will have to give all his horses & wolves to the other”.

Robert Stark was the leader of the Starks and Brandon Cohen led the popular Cohen clan. The Starks & the Cohen's were the most powerful warrior clans of the town of the Dorne. Both had five wolves & ten horses each. Both the families shared a deep bond of friendship as Robert & Brandon were childhood friends and grew up together.

After that altercation, the families became rivals and it became customary for them to have Wolf fight every year to show their supremacy. Blinded by egos, every year they sacrificed the lives of innocent wolves to their false pride. There were the times, when Starks won but the other times emerged triumphant.

This year again, it was the time for the fight but the heir of both the clans, Robert's son Geoffrey & Brandon's son Ryan, didn't want a fight as both of them were peace lovers. They wanted this rivalry to come to an end. Moreover, as they grew up in the wild, they loved their wolves dearly. Both Geoffrey & Ryan went to the same master to learn archery, hence, they befriended each other and decided to put an end to this madness and came up with a plan.

A day before the fight, Geoffrey requested Robert to take him on a town tour as he was interested in knowing the family history. Robert, like a proud father, gladly agreed to honour his son's request. They first visited Robert's birthplace; an old age infirmary. As they entered, the first word that came out of Robert's mouth were “Brandon & I were born here”. When he realised what he had said, he began taking about something else. The next stop was Robert's school. Again without realising, Robert vividly described the childhood fun he had with Brandon and other friends. They next went to the archery training center. The arena reminded him of his training days and how Brandon was always a better Archer than him. All his memories flashed back and he recalled how good pals, he and Brandon were and how he dearly loved him. Just then, it dawned upon him how a foolish argument has spoiled his relationship with his childhood friend.

Robert immediately rushed to meet Brandon and apologised for his ruthless and insensitive behaviour. Seeing his friend genuinely regretting for his wrong doings, Brandon also admitted how wrong stubborn and self-righteous he acted all these years. They decided to burn the bridges and rekindle the bond they once had. This ended brutal sacrifice of innocent wolves, in the name of family rivalry, and a new beginning brought the families closer yet another time.