Prologue

A shimmering, golden disk began to shine through the forest. Through the many cracks, tiny little beams shone small amounts of light, stirring several of the creatures within. Ever so slightly, the sun rose up above the tips of the trees, bringing light to the land and banishing the darkness. It was the beginning of any typical summer day, with the birds singing their soft morning songs and the rays of light reflecting off the lake like crystals. By the side of the lake, animals creep from the forest to take a sip of the clear, clean water and breathe the fresh morning air. On the west side of the lake, there was a small monastery that looked out at the forest and lake. It was surrounded by a small stone wall that was slowly falling apart from age, along with the rest of the building. The gate was made of the toughest lumber in the area, but was slowly beginning to rot away from age. There was a kitchen on the south side, with a small garden in the middle of the yard, and the church on the west side. The north side was the study hall for the people in the monastery and the west side was where everyone slept. A small little sparrow flew to the round, stained glass window and began to sing its heart out to awake the sleepers within.

“BANG!” went a loud noise. The sparrow and many of the animals at the lake fled back to the forest for safety. Smoke began to rise from the roof of the west side of the monastery. Inside, everyone within had awoken suddenly from the loud noise. These were not monks though, nor were they nuns, pilgrims, or weary travelers. Instead, they were children, all but one of them below the age of eighteen. This monastery was not a regular monastery. It was the orphanage known as Greymoor, named after the lake.

Greymoor Orphanage has once been a regular monastery, inhabited by men of the cloth. They were monks of the Holy Guardian, the religion of the native humans, who would provide food, shelter and safety to those in need. However, the monastery was sacked by bandits and it’s holiness tainted by sin and evil. People forgot about the monastery and the forest overcame the entire area, enshrouding it with plant life. Years passed on, until a group of travelling pilgrims of the Holy Guardian came across it while travelling. After searching through the ruins, they decided to restore it with the blessing of the church and the help of a nearby village named Cathvas. Greymoor was restored, but not for the purpose of a monastery, but as an orphanage for any children, even if those children were elves, dwarves and orcs.

However, the orphanage had fallen on hard times. No orphan had been adopted for over a decade, many sections were falling apart from disrepair and there was only one of the sisters left to tend to the children. That woman was Sister Hanalos. She was but an infant herself when her mother along with several other women discovered the ruins of Greymoor and restored it. Seventy years later and she is still tending to the place and to the children. Despite her age, Sister Hanalos was very strong willed to complete any task she came across. This would be a very stressful for her, leaving many lines and creases across her face. Her nose was long and pointed, but her face always had a calm and gentle expression. Tied up in a white cowl was Hanalos’s long, soft hair. The hair showed little remaining snippets of black hair, but the years had turned most of it a very dull grey. She was also a very tolerant person of people with negative sides to themselves and would always offer comfort and support to those who needed it. On the other hand, she would be very strict with keeping the more rowdy children from wreaking havoc. That day of the loud bang was such a day.

Quickly storming from her bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen, she grabbed an oversized wooden pot scraper from the kitchen, then headed back upstairs to the boys room. She opened the door and called out three names.

“Aldus! Oldus! Jordan!” She yelled loudly. Three boys quickly sprung from their beds. Two of them looked almost identical to each other and were very young. These were the twins, Aldus and Oldus. The other one was taller and a little older, but still fairly young. This one was Jordan.

“Get upstairs now!” Hanalos yelled again, pointing upwards with the pot scraper. The boys quickly bolted out the door and hurried to the right, up another set of stairs into the attic. The four other boys just sat in their beds, trying their best to stay quiet while listening in on what might be said. There was a loud thud and soon after, very hard coughing. The three boys quickly returned to their room and ran to their beds, all of them covered with dust. Sister Hanalos came in right after, wiping dust off of her face and her nose.

“I thought we agreed no more cherry bombs?” She asked them with a very restrained tone. Jordan got up from his bed and stood in front of Hanalos, his head held low and his long hair handing over his eyes.

“I told them not to do it!” Jordan said very quickly. “I warned them not to, that we’d get in trouble if we did. But they wouldn’t listen. They said it would be okay and that you’d go easy on us. But I knew they would be wrong, but they said they were right, but-“

“That’s enough Jordan. You’re always defending these boys for the things they’ve done. You don’t always have to. Now go downstairs with everyone else and help prepare breakfast. I’ll deal with Aldus and Oldus.” Hanalos said to him, her tone now much more calm and relaxed. Jordan and the rest of the boys quickly scurried out of the bedroom, with Aldus and Oldus still in the room, smiling nervously. Hanalos put down her pot scraper and sat down on the bed across from the twins.

“Sometimes I wonder what I’m going to do with you two. You both run around this place, wreaking havoc, disobeying me and the others, letting off cherry bombs at random throughout different parts of this place and even breaking some valuable objects.”

Aldus and Oldus both just sat there, with their heads held low, doing their best to try and hide their smiles.

“But at the same time, you’re both great in your own ways. You provide comfort for anyone who gets hurt or is ill. When you do listen to someone who tells you to do something, you do it straight to the letter and sometimes even do a little extra. And you are both very protective of everyone, especially Jade.”

They both just sat there, their heads held up now, both of them surprised at what Hanalos had just said.

“You two are so much like your mother.” Hanalos said as she stood up and hugged the both of them. “Now both of you get downstairs and help with breakfast before I make you clean up the mess upstairs without food.”

The twins both quickly bolted out the door as Hanalos picked up her pot scraper and headed downstairs with them. To the right of the stairs was the kitchen, which was now bustling with activity of all the orphans. There was a total of ten orphans still living at Greymoor. The oldest of them all was Arthur, nineteen years of age. He had short brown hair and dark brown eyes. He could have left the Orphanage when he was eighteen if he wanted to, but Arthur chose to stay with Hanalos to help look after all the others, just as he had his entire life. Arthur had been born at Greymoor, when his mother had shown up at Greymoor’s doorstop a day before she went into labor. She died shortly after his birth. After Arthur, there was Athos, the second oldest of the boys. His hair was a very dark red which many people confused for black, with the redness only really noticeable if light shines on it. Athos was a traditional orphan, his mother dying from a disease and his father from suicide. Athos sees himself as someone who tries to impress any woman, but in the end fails miserably.

Below Athos, there is Ragosh, who was part of the controversy and reason why no one adopts children from the orphanage. Ragosh was sixteen years old, with bright blue eyes and pure white hair. He was also half human and half orc. His father was the orc, who once raided the nearby town of Cathvas and raped Ragosh’s human mother. Raghosh’s mother had decided to keep him, regardless of his half-blood. However, after he was born, his mother’s husband was angry with rage and strangled her. He tried to kill Ragosh too, but could not bring himself to kill a baby, even if it was part orc. Instead, he brought Ragosh to Greymoor to be raised there with the occasional visit from the husband. Ragosh was violent and liked to get into fights, but only if he has a reason to, which was usually when someone insulted him or someone else for their mixed blood.

Next there was Brendwin, the mute, fifteen year old, pureblood elf. He had long blonde hair and green eyes and a leave shaped birthmark on his side. No one knew where he came from or why he was alone with no family, but that didn’t matter to Sister Hanalos, so she decided to take him in. Then there was Jordan, thirteen years old and always the one taking the blame for the antics and pranks of the twins. Jordan used to live alone with his father, who was an abusive drunk that would constantly beat him. This was the cause of him always taking the blame, even if he didn’t do anything. He lived there until he was six, when he ran away after his father passed out from drinking. His hair was red and long, often tied back into a ponytail.

Then there were the twins, Aldus and Oldus. They were both eight years old with Aldus being the older twin. Their mother was once a sister at Greymoor orphanage, who decided to help Hanalos after she found out she was pregnant. She cared deeply for the both of them and would keep them from getting hurt. However, one day that is what caused her death. The two of them had run off into the nearby forest for fun and their mother followed them. Their mother caught up to the two of them, but a rabid bear chased after them. To save her children, she helped them climb up a tree where the bear couldn’t reach them, but the bear grabbed her and mauled her to death as Aldus and Oldus watched. Ever since then, they always looked out for each other and the other orphans. However, that didn’t stop them from being troublemakers, as they would often let off cherry bombs when guests were over, get into fights and pull little pranks to get attention.

Finally, there were the three girls at Greymoor. The oldest of the girls was Hannah at the age of seventeen. Her mother was a prostitute who was unable to keep her daughter in the brothel. She left Hannah on Greymoor’s steps and was never seen or heard from again. Hannah had long black hair and her eyes were the most unique of everyone at Greymoor. Her eyes were heterochromic, which is when one eye is a completely different color from the other. One of her eyes was a very light brown, while her other eye was a very deep ocean blue. She was also very clumsy. As a child, she would trip over her own feet and everyone else’s feet. When dancing, it would be her dress or her own feet yet again that she’d trip over. It was worse when she carried objects, especially food, around the orphanage. She would sometimes lose her grip and then drop it, or she would trip or hit something and then drop down along with it, sometimes hitting someone with the food.

The youngest of the girls was Jade, age three. She was the sweetest, kindest and the most enthusiastic of the entire group. Her hair was bright red and her eyes were a dark green. She was found by Sister Hanalos when she went out to visit Jade’s family. Jade’s home had burned down in a fire and her entire family with it. Fortunately, through a miracle of some sort, Jade survived with only a few scratches. Hanalos began to care for her as if she was her own grandchild, helping to teach her how to walk and to speak. Jade was also always protected or comforted by Aldus and Oldus. Whenever she cried, Aldus and Oldus would be there to wipe her tears away and whenever she was scared, they were there to comfort her. She was also very smart for her age, being able to read and write better than any of the others could at her age. However, she was still full of questions and wanted to learn more about the world as much as she could.

Finally, out of all of them, there was Ariana. She was sixteen years old and was half human, half elf. She has no memory beyond when she was three years old, when she was found alone in the forest by a human hunter. For a year, Ariana stayed with that hunter until he began to die of an illness. The hunter told her to go to Greymoor, which is where he had been raised himself. After he died, Ariana buried him, took some supplies and marched to Greymoor orphanage all by herself, avoiding predators, bandits and harsh weather as best as she could. Eventually she arrived at Greymoor and has lived there ever since. The strangest thing about her that no one seemed to be able to understand was that her eyes were the color silver. Not a single human scholar or magic user could seem to explain it and every elf who was asked to look at her refused without a second thought. It didn’t seem to worry any of the others, so they didn’t bother trying to figure it out afterwards.

All of these orphans, along with Sister Hanalos, lived together as family. They worked, played, and learned from over the years and all they needed was each other. All of them were confident that they would remain together for as long as they would live, no matter who or what would try and separate them. They were a family of outcasts, keeping each other safe and protected from the harsh world they were born into.

 

 

Chapter 1

The sound of ringing pots filled the kitchen as everyone placed food into bowls and put the cooking pots into a giant tub. One by one, the orphans left the kitchen, some of them carrying a bowl or a plate of food to a massive table in the room opposite the kitchen. The table itself was over twenty feet long with multiple scratches and chips etched across the polished mahogany wood and there were some burn marks around the middle when a prank from the twins got out of control. Everyone started to place the bowls and plates of food onto the table. In the middle was a plate of bacon, some of it burnt, some of it not. Beside that was a massive bowl full of stew, made of onions, carrots, small squares of beef, some potatoes and a diced turnip. Finally, there was a giant plate with a mountain of small bread loaves.

            Once everything was placed down onto the table, everyone took their seats and waited for Sister Hanalos to enter the dining room. The girls sat side by side on the left side of the table while all the boys were on the right side of the table as Hanalos took her seat. She scanned the entire table, observing all of the children as they waited patiently for her to say something. She smiled, stood up from her seat and reached for the ladle in the pot of stew, pouring some stew into her bowl.

            “Go ahead all of you.” She said when she noticed everyone had looks of surprise across their faces. “You don’t have to say any prayers or thanks for the food today. You all look hungry.”

Without a second, everyone started reaching out and grabbing bacon and bread for themselves, taking turns with the ladle to pour themselves some stew. Sister Hanalos kept on looking at them all as they ate, their smiles warming her heart as she took small bites of her stew over time. She noticed Aldus and Oldus fighting over a loaf of bread, but ignored them to let Arthur deal with it. She then glanced over at the girls and saw how Jade was attempting to braid Ariana’s hair, but instead tangling it together and splashing a little stew as she pulled her arms back.

Jade just being Jade again. She thought to herself. Always worrying about other people’s hair even when she should be eating.

            Hanalos finished her stew and stood up from her seat, picking up her bowl and taking it back to the kitchen. Arthur followed her after finally stopping the twins from fighting. Hanalos placed her bowl onto the counter, then quickly sat down again, grasping both of her knees. Arthur put his bowl down and went over to Hanalos.

            “Are you alright? You look like you’re in pain.” He asked her, putting his hand on her shoulder.  

            “I’m fine Arthur. You needn’t worry about me.” She replied, smiling gently. Arthur stared at her in silence. “I really am Arthur.”

            “Alright.” He got back up and returned to the dining room. Hanalos let out a big breath of air and cringed as pain wracked her knees. She kept silent though, as she didn’t want any of the children to hear her. Slowly, she rose up from the chair and walked over to the counter, looking out the window. Reaching out, she opened the window and took a big breath of the fresh summer air, listening for the chirps of chirps of thrushes and sparrows.

            Eventually, all of the orphans placed their bowls and spoons onto the counter, quickly running back upstairs to change out of their night clothes. Hanalos slowly walked out of the kitchen, past the dining hall, over to the front door, opened it and walked outside. The sun was now fairly high in the sky, shining directly at the door of Greymoor, causing Hanalos to shield her eyes from the sun’s rays. Slowly her eyes adjusted to the light as she walked down the path leading to the nearby road. Removing her hand from her brow, she looked out at the lake as the sun lit up the world like a thousand candles lit in a small room. The world had come alive from its slumber.

            As she began to walk back inside, she heard the sound of hoofs approaching very quickly. A giant, slightly obese man on a horse pulled wagon turned from the road towards Hanalos. He was dressed in dark brown robes and wore very thin sandals on his feet. He had a short, tangled beard across his face that was turning gray. As the man got down from his horse, Hanalos noticed a medallion made of pure silver, in the shape of a circle with a sword pointing downwards in the center.

            “Good morrow Sister.” The man said, pulling his hood down and smiling. “You are looking well.”

            “As are you Friar Gregory.” Sister Hanalos replied. “You are early. I had not expected you until later this evening.”

Gregory sniffed and walked up to Hanalos, limping on his left leg as he approached.

            “I left early to surprise everyone.” He embraced Hanalos quickly, and then walked up to the doors. Pushing the doors wide open and entering with loud footsteps, he called out to everyone. “Get your little asses down here! Someone wants to see you!”

            “Friar Gregory!” Aldus and Oldus called out as they poked their heads around the corner, and then ran out quickly with smiles on their faces. They jumped up into the big man’s arms as he lifted them up from the ground by their waists. Jade and Jordan quickly come down the stairs and jump on Gregory, almost knocking him down. He starts to carry Aldus and Oldus in his arms while Jordan and Jade are being dragged by his legs.

            “Ha ha ha! No one can stop the mighty Gregory!” Gregory said in a deep, evil voice. By now, everyone had shown up and was gathering around Gregory. He put the twins down and pulled Jade and Jordan off of his legs. After finally regaining his balance, he looked around at everyone. “Alright, go ahead.”

            Suddenly, everyone ran over to him and they all started to wrestle with Gregory. He pushed the twins off of him and then pulled Jade of his leg while she was biting it. Hannah and Ariana jumped on his back and tried to shake him around. Ragosh, Athos and Jordan pushed him from the front and the sides, but he knocked them down to the ground. One by one, Gregory kept pushing everyone off of him while they wrestled around, but was also trying not to hurt any of them. In the ensuring chaos, Brendwin snuck in underfoot of all the fighting. He crept behind Gregory and started observing his leg. Eventually he saw an opportunity where Gregory wasn’t moving his leg around, and he hit Gregory in the back of the knee. Gregory lost his balance and fell down flat on his face. Everyone was now laughing, including Sister Hanalos.

            Slowly, Gregory rose up from the floor, breathing slowly while trying to catch his breath. He turned and scowled at Brendwin, who was smiling nervously. Gregory smiled.

            “Good job little twig.” He said while patting Brendwin’s shoulder. “Now, all of you get into your best clothes and wait outside. I have a surprise planned for today.”

            Everyone bolted upstairs into their rooms, while Gregory and Hanalos went into the kitchen. He sat down and ran his fingers through his grey hair and wiping sweat off of his brow.

            “A surprise for everyone?” Sister Hanalos asked as she scooped a mug of water for Gregory.

            “Aye. The carnival has arrived in Cathvas and I wanted to bring them there. The wagon’s all set for everyone already.” Gregory said as he took a sip of the water. “Should be good for them all. They haven’t had enough time of freedom from this place.”

            Hanalos paused as she took a mug of water for herself and sat down. She took a small sip of her water, looking down at the mug in her hands.

            “You know what Cathvas is like now. You know what they’ll say and possibly do to Ragosh, Ariana and Brendwin. And yet you want to take them there?” Hanalos asked, the sound of frustrated restraint in her voice.

            “I know it’s sudden. But it might be a good experience for them overall. Besides, when was the last time you took them anywhere fun? Hmm?”

            “I’ve been trying to keep them safe.”

            “Aye you’re doing that. But you can’t keep them safe forever. And even if any of them decide to leave without knowing the cruel realities of the world, what do you think’s gonna happen? They need to learn that the world is a cruel place, even little Jade.” Gregory took another sip of his water and let out a loud belch.

            “Jade is only three! She is not ready for that sort of thing. None of them are. Not even Arthur.”

            “Listen to me Hanalos,” Gregory put down his mug and got up from his chair, walked over to Hanalos and kneeled in front of her. “I can tell something’s wrong. The pain in your knees has gotten worse hasn’t it?

            “Yes…” she said silently. Gregory got back up and began to walk out back to the front door.

            “Just think about what I said. Please? For them at least. Neither of us will be around much longer to look after them.” He said as Aldus and Oldus chased Jade out the door. “Will you be coming with us?”

Hanalos stayed silent, turning around and looking around the Orphanage. “They would be heartbroken if you didn’t.” Gregory said as he made a sad puppy dog face. Hanalos looked at him and cracked a smile that she tried to hide.

“Very well Gregory. We’ll go.” She finally gave in, walking out the door with Gregory in tow.

“Alright everyone, get your little asses in the wagon, or I’m leaving you behind!” Gregory called out jokingly as he got onto the front seat of the wagon. Hanalos quickly sat next to him while all the orphans got into the back. Gregory turned the horse around slowly until they were facing the road. Once they got to the road, he took a left and pressed the horse to pull the cart a little faster. Eventually, they were moving at a steady pace down the long dirt road, dust being kicked up by the horse’s hoofs and the wagon wheels. There was a lot of chatter between the orphans in the back of the wagon as they went down the road. Ariana was the only one who wasn’t involved with any of the talking, as she was sitting at the end of the wagon with her legs hanging over the edge. She kept looking at the lake while stroking a small piece of her hair and let out a small sigh. The wagon hit a bump and she braced herself to avoid falling off, as the bump was very large. Again she looked at the lake, twisting her hair around her left index finger.

Softly and quietly, she began to hum a soft, slow tune. The tune was one that she remembered often from the hunter who found her. Often times, when he was carving wood or preparing food, he would whistle the tune. Sometimes when she had trouble sleeping, he would hum the tune to her and she would fall asleep. Even when he died, he hummed it to her to give her comfort. That tune was all she had left of him and it would be something she would never forget. They hit another bump and she braced herself from falling. Moving her hair out of her face, slowly shuffled backwards to the others to listen to their conversations.

For almost a half-hour, the wagon carried them down the dirt road, hitting bump after bump as the dust was kicked up. Gregory and Hanalos had been almost completely silent up front the entire time while the orphans just chatted away the entire trip. Hanalos would often look back at them all, letting out a little smile, then turn her attention back to in front of the wagon. Gregory would often shift in his seat, his weight causing the wagon to bounce slightly each time he did. The sun was up high, scorching the ground with its blazing heat. This sapped away everyone’s enthusiastic energy as they sat directly in the light. They were all struggling to stay awake as sweat trickled slowly down their faces. The cart then suddenly came to a stop, throwing everyone off balance and restoring their senses to them. Gregory stood up from his seat and looked back at the orphans.

“There it is,” he proclaimed as he pointed to the left of the cart. “Cathvas! And the Valerious Brother’s Carnival!” Everyone stood up from their seats, their energy restored and smiles across their faces. Time seemed to roll by much faster as the village of Cathvas grew larger with each passing moment. Eventually, they finally reached the borders of the town, passing some people walking down the road. Ariana looked over to the side and saw an elderly man sitting almost next to the car, holding a small bundle in his arms. His face was caked with dirt and mud and his thinning hairline was barely noticeable as a result. The man’s legs were gone and he was missing three fingers from his right hand. He stretched out his arms and reached the bundle out to her. Inside the bundle, there was a small baby with a multiple cuts and bruises across its face. The old man slowly lifted his head, small droplets of tears dripping down his eyes.

Ariana turned her face away from the man. The site of him and the babe churned her stomach. She was not accustomed to the image or the smell. The wagon came to a sudden stop, as it had reached the gate. Gregory stood up from his seat and stepped down, causing the whole wagon to shift from the removal of his weight. At the gate there was a guard speaking with Gregory. The guard was dressed in a blue fabric, with chainmail visible around his arms. In the man’s hand was a pike, around six meters in length. On his head was a large kettle helmet, which was tilted slightly and had a large chip on the side. He smiled as he spoke with Gregory, wiping sweat off of his brow and removing his helmet. The guard started to laugh along with Gregory, and then called out and Gregory returned to the wagon and it began to move forward once again. They passed through the open gate and the town came out at them with bright colors and striking noises.

All over the place, people were running, hollering and laughing all over the place. The wagon followed a large pathway that led to the center of Cathvas. From left to right there were stalls selling food, trinkets, clothing, and jewelry to anyone who would pay. There were groups of performers separated from the stalls, showing off great feats of strength, other’s great flexibility, with the occasional fire eater, juggler or sword swallower. The wagon stopped in front of an inn. It was the Painted Duck Inn, known for its finely cooked duck and apple cider. Gregory pulled the wagon up in front of the inn and urged everyone to get off. He jumped down and offered his hand to Hanalos, assisting her down from her seat. The orphans had gathered at the back of the wagon, Arthur trying his best to keep the younger children from running off.

“Arthur,” Hanalos said as she walked up to him. “Don’t stay all together in a group or you’ll attract too much attention. Meet us back here near sunset. Okay?”

“Yes Sister Hanalos.” Arthur replied.

“Good. I’ll leave the decisions of who goes together for you.” She then turned and walked with Gregory into the Painted Duck. Arthur returned his attention to everyone else and let out a big sigh as he thought of how to split them up.

“Alright,” He finally spoke. “Aldus, Oldus and Hannah will come with me. Athos, you can take Ragosh and Jordan with you. Brendwin and Jade can go with Ariana.” Everyone nodded in agreement. Ragosh then punched Athos gently in the arm and started to run away, while Athos and Jordan chased after him quickly. Ariana took Jade gently by the hand as Brendwin followed them closely. Arthur then started to chase after the twins who were starting to wander off while Hannah tried to keep pace. At the door of the Painted Duck, Sister Hanalos was staring at them as they all went their separate ways.

“Be safe, young ones.” She whispered under her breath just before going past the door.

Chapter 2

It had been a long time since Arthur had seen so much activity within Cathvas. He had only been to the carnival twice and they were both many years apart. All around him, he saw people smiling and laughing to their hearts content. It was indeed a heartwarming sight to behold. However, he would have to avert his attention to keep Aldus and Oldus from either wandering off too far or from getting into some sort of trouble. Close to his side, Hannah was just as enthralled with all the amazing sights, sounds and smells. Sometimes she would be too distracted however, as Hannah would occasionally bump into another person or stumble over a rock along her path.

           “So, what shall we do first?” Arthur asked her. “Is there anything in particular you want to start out with?”

            “Oh! Uh, maybe try out some different foods?” She fumbled slightly over her response.

            “No! I want to see some of the animals!” Aldus blurted out loudly.

            “No! I want to go and eat!” Oldus also blurted out. He and Aldus started to argue again over which to go to first.

            “Alright that’s enough!” Arthur exclaimed as he gave them both small taps on their heads. “We’ll get some food and then we’ll eat our food while we look at the animals, alright?”

            “Yes Arthur.” The boys said in union. Hannah quietly giggled as they both quieted down.

            “They always know to shut up when you get that tone in your voice.” Hannah said.

            “What tone?” Arthur asked, confused.

            “The tone you get when they start to argue. You always sound so frustrated, but they immediately quiet down when they hear it.”

            “I don’t get a tone. I’d know if I had one.”

            Hannah giggled slightly. “It’s cute when you try to deny things that are true.” Arthur looked at her, his brow low and his mood unimpressed.

            “You think everything is cute.” He said coldly. “Hey you two, this stall looks like it has good food.”

Hannah hung her head low for a moment and stayed where she stood before finally catching back up with Arthur. She tried her best to hide her tears that had started to build up while choosing the food she wanted.

            They finished buying the food from the vendor. The vendor was a baker who had travelled around a great deal and had run into a variety of recipes. Aldus and Oldus had bought some of the man’s potato bread, quickly scarfing down the delicious delicacies. Arthur and Hannah had taken some small loaves of bread which had been baked with ginger into the dough. They ate theirs slowly while they proceeded to the animal display area nearby. There weren’t many people around the area this year. Most of the townsfolk had seen them many times before. The twins had not, however, so Arthur indulged them.

            Arthur paid for the four of them at the gate and they began to walk around the cages. Many of the animals were fairly standard and native to the local area. There were three wolves, five rabbits, two goats, a large variety of birds of prey in cages on display, and one giant brown bear. Aldus and Oldus avoided the bear as much as they could. The bear was sleeping, but the two of them were still scared to go near it, even with the cage securely sealed. There were a few other animals that were separated from the regular ones. They had never seen the likes of any of them.

            “Excuse us sir, but can you tell us what these animals are?” Aldus asked, tugging at the sleeve of one of the men watching over the cages.

            “Aye lad. That I can.” The man said smiling. His teeth were all a rotten yellow color and there was a foul stench of a pigsty about him. The man walked up to one cage, which had a small, dog like creature with a hunched back, which was lying down on its side. “This ‘ere is called a Svukek. It’s basically like a dog, but with a few difference. Their legs are only about half the length of a bloodhound and their teeth are much sharper. They have trouble seeing but that’s made up for, I think it’s extremely powerful nose. Finally,” The man poked the Svukek in the back and the creature jumped to its legs and out came a series of very thin quills on its back. “It has these spiky things on its back to hurt things from jumping on it. They come from the more eastern parts of the kingdom, scavenging on whatever meat they come across.” Aldus and Oldus could barely take their eyes off of the Svukek, which was now staring directly at the both of them, growling fiercely.       

            “What about the rest?” They both asked.

            “Well over here we have something called an ostrich or something like that. We found this one even further east…” The man continued at length about the different animals for a long while. They saw the ostrich, a flightless bird with a long neck that could carry a man on its back. There was the giant lizard, which was apparently used by the riders in the eastern deserts to carry supplies and people across the sand dunes. Finally, there was a special surprise behind a curtain that everyone could see. Arthur, Hannah and the twins had sat down in front of it, away from the other animals while people gathered around.

            “You two better be thankful. I paid extra for this you know.” Arthur stated as he fidgeted where he sat.

            “Ladies and gentleman!” The man with the yellow teeth called out finally. “Thank you for waiting patiently for this special surprise. First of all, I must tell you it is not a live animal, for-” Some of the crowd cut the man off by booing at him. Others stood up and started to leave.

            “For if you had seen it alive, you would most likely be dead just seconds later.” The man continued, hushing the crowd and winning back those who were leaving. “I present to you…” The man pulled the cloth off of a giant cage. There were multiple gasps as people could not believe what they were seeing in front of their eyes. “A dragon skull!”

            The skull was about as high as horse and as long as a small river boat. The two spikes on the back of the head were seven feet long. Most of the teeth had been broken. However those that remained were at least twelve inches long, gradually getting smaller down to the front until they were only the size of a man’s index finger. The eye holes, only slightly bigger than a grown man’s head.

            Arthur was completely speechless. All his life he had heard about dragons and never once had he imagined seeing the skull of one. The skull was even larger than he had imagined. Finally, the crowd stood up and began to clap their hands together. Aldus and Oldus were jumping up and down, yelling excitedly while holding onto each other arms. Hannah went over to them and tried her best to calm them both down. Pushing something gently to his left, Arthur walked forward to help Hannah with them both.

            “I see the little lads are excited.” The man said, pulling his cap off and scratching his forehead, revealing his balding head and messy, tangled black hair. “Pay ten extra silvers for each of them and they get to touch the skull.” The twins grabbed Arthur by the arms and started to tug on them.

            “Please Arthur? Please? We really want to!” They kept saying while Arthur was trying his best to respond between their begging.

            “Quiet!” He yelled out. The twins calmed down. “Yes, you may.” Arthur reached for the pouch on his side and pulled out twenty silvers. He walked over to the man and handed them to him.

            “Much obliged young man. Come on lads. Everyone else who wants to touch it, step right up!”

            Aldus and Oldus ran circles around the skull. Compared to their size, it was gigantic to them. Aldus stuck his head into a hole in the teeth while Oldus looked into it from the back.

            “Echo!” He called out. There wasn’t much of an echo from the inside.

            “Alright little lads, get going. Other people want to see.” The twins groaned with frustration.

            When the twins got back to them, Arthur and Hannah led them away from the crowd back to the merchants. They let Aldus and Oldus run ahead of them a little. Arthur kept staring at the ground as he walked beside Hannah. He folded his arms and let out a small sigh. Hannah looked at him, putting her hand on his shoulder. Arthur looked back at her and smiled slightly.

            “Why didn’t you go up with them? You’ve talked about dragons for as long as I’ve known you. That was a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Hannah said as she took her hand off Arthur’s shoulder.

            “I outgrew them.” He replied hesitantly. “I can’t always keep on liking something from my younger years.”

            Hannah frowned slightly, but turned her attention back to the twins. She ran ahead to catch up to them as Arthur kept walking slowly in between the people around him. He decided to stop where he stood and looked up at the sky. Scratching his head, he started to imagine flying dragons in the sky. In his mind, he felt the wind blowing through his face as he soared high above everyone below him, the gigantic wings on his back flapping a few times to lift himself up higher. Gliding on the wind currents, he looked down at the ground and saw a large cow in a field. Pulling the wings in closer, he began to swan dive down to the ground. His speed picking up, he closed his eyes for a brief moment.

            “Arthur!” He heard a girl’s voice call out. Arthur returned from his daydream and saw Hannah glaring at him. She was out of breath and had some dirt on her nose, breathing heavily whilst the twins were laughing at her.

            “Sorry.” Arthur said humbly, wiping the dirt off of Hannah’s nose. “Come on, let’s keep looking around.”  

 *****

“That hurt you know.” Athos said, rubbing his arm.

“Get over it. I didn’t hit you that hard.” Ragosh replied.

“If you call that hit not hard, then I’d hate to see what a hard hit from you is like.” They both laughed together. Jordan was behind him, looking down at his feet and walking just in pace with the others.

“I heard there was a magic show this year. Let’s see if we can find it.” Athos said cheerfully. Jordan lifted his head and smiled.

“Might as well. The things I want to see and try are apparently close to the magic show.” Ragosh responded. “What about you Jordan? What do you want to see?”

Jordan’s smile turned to an expression of shock and confusion. He hadn’t expected them to care or ask him anything related to the carnival, so he was rather dumbstruck.

“Um, I think there was a fortune teller around. Maybe we could go see that?” He answered shyly and quietly.

“Sounds good to me.” Athos said.

They continued to walk through the crowd. The part of the town they were in was busy and overloaded with people who had come to see all the magical spectacles. This made it difficult to find where they were going. Ragosh kept Jordan close by as he followed Athos, who was leading them towards the magic display that was ahead. He gripped onto Jordan’s hand tight to keep him from letting go and losing the boy in the crowd. Jordan tried his best to keep pace with Ragosh, often stumbling slightly or bumping into someone else. Finally, they broke through the crowd and reached the area that had been cleared for the magic display. It was a large circular area that the crowd surrounded and there ten people in the circle, most dressed in fine silk robes of many different colors. They were dressed in bright red, violet, blue, and green colors, but also darker colors like black and deep blue. The robes had gold laced into the stitching the buttons along the wrists were made of pure silver. However, not all of the mages were dressed in such fine clothing. Some were dressed in regular every day peasant’s clothes, most of which had been tattered and were falling apart. In the middle of all of them was the one drawing the most attention. It was a young beautiful woman, clothed in a simple blue dress which had a simple, flowing pattern sown into the side of her dress. She wore a hood over her head, which hid most of her face.

One of the mages stepped forward. His head was bald, but he had a giant red beard that hung down to the middle of his stomach. His robe was white and black with hints of silver color around the collar. In his hand was a staff that stood up to his shoulder height. He cleared his throat, shushing the crowd around him.

“Citizens of Cathvas! The magic display will now begin. I bring you talented magic users from the different lands around. First! Merd, the master of fire magic and his apprentices!” The man spoke out.

Merd stepped forward, folding up the sleeves of his robes. He had no hair anywhere on his face, his hands or his arms. His hands, arms, and face were covered with burn scars, both minor and severe. Merd looked at the crowd, smiled widely and lifted up his right arm. He spoke a word in a language unknown to everyone around him and a small fire sprouted from his hand. Two men and one woman dressed in peasant clothes from the group moved forward, spoke the same word and began to walk around Merd with the fire in their hands. Merd nodded at them and they spoke a series of words in synchronization, fire now in both of their hands and beginning form into a shape around them. Merd spoke more words, making the fire in his hands bigger as he moved his arms and hands around swiftly, taking control of the fire his apprentices created. Merd continued to speak, closing his eyes and his movements slowing down. The fire flowed around him in circles, moving slowly just inches away from his skin. Finally, he stopped speaking and took hold of the flames in his hands. Without a second thought, he began to move the fire around like a wipe, dancing along with its movements. For a short time, Merd continued to dance with the flame, until he finally let it go, spoke one final word and extinguished the fire. The crowd cheered wildly as the spectacle, while Merd and his apprentices bowed to the crowd. Merd returned to the other mages and the man in white and black walked up again.

“Next Michael and Mary, the brother and sister illusion magic duo!”

The magic show went on for what felt like an eternity. Michael and Mary showed off multiple magical illusions, some of soldiers in a long forgotten war, others were simple animals living in the forest. After the sibling duo, there was Werneck, the ice mage who turned boiling hot water into freezing ice and created giant ice statues out of nothing. Finally, there was only the woman in the middle left. The man in white stepped forward yet again, but this time there was sweat on his brow and he seemed to be stuttering over his words.

“Final one,” He said normally. “Talya, Nature Walker of the elven forest kingdoms.”

Talya pulled her hood down, revealing her long, silken blonde hair, brown eyes and pointed ears. Booing sounded from the crowd, along with curses, threats, and insults. Athos, Ragosh and Jordan were completely dumbfounded. Not once had they expected to see another elf in Cathvas, especially not after recent events. Tayla was unfazed from all the negativity surrounding her. She lifted her arms and hands up at her sides, most of the crowd quieting down as she did. She began to dance slowly, stepping gracefully with each step she took and holding her arms up, her eyes closed and her expression unemotional. Suddenly she stopped, looked at the crowd and spoke a single word in the elven language. She lifted her hands up and slowly but surely, the grass from the ground began to rise up into the air, completely undamaged. She spun around suddenly and the grass spun with her. Talya lifted her arms up and clapped her hands together. The grass blades collided with each other above her. She turned her hands slightly and began to speak sentences in the elven language, forming the grass into the shape of feminine hands. When the grass completed turning into hands, Talya moved her hands around, making the grass hands move at the same time in the same way.

Throughout her display, Talya turned the grass into many different shapes. She formed it into doppelgangers of some of the people in the crowd who mimicked every move those people did, into small and large animals that she interacted with. Finally, she formed the grass into a house, which she entered and sat down in a chair in the middle, without it collapsing. Talya stepped out of the house and split the grass apart back into the way it was when she began. Slowly she lowered the grass back onto the ground, exactly where each individual blade had been.

Most of the crowd stood in silence. Only some children who were watching clapped at the spectacle of magic they had seen from the elf. Athos stepped forward and began to clap along with the children, followed by Ragosh and Jordan. They were given disapproving looks from the rest of the crowd, but they did not care. They had just seen something they didn’t think possible, even with magic. Talya looked at Athos and bowed her head at him. Athos stopped clapping and smiled wildy. Suddenly, a man with a messy black beard, long hair and a dirty face ran out from the crowd, a massive dagger in his hand. Many people began to run away and a few women screamed.

“Elf bitch!” The man yelled out, pointing his knife at Talya. “You took my son from me!” The man began to run towards Talya, who was starting to mutter a spell while everyone began to flee. Ragosh ran out from the rest of the fleeing crowd and tackled the man to the ground. He took hold of the man’s arm and began to smash it against the ground, trying to make him drop the knife. The man punched Ragosh on the right side of his face twice, causing him to fall back a little. Athos punched the man across the face, as he had followed after Ragosh when he saw him run at crazy man. Both Ragosh and Athos started to punch him all across the body and face. Blood began to fly around from the cuts on the man’s face. Ragosh pushed the man down onto the ground. The man finally dropped his knife and struggled to stand up. He spat out multiple yellow teeth and looked at Athos and Ragosh in disgust and hatred.

Suddenly, the man began to scream and cry as he fell down onto his back. Tears started to fall down his cheeks as he cried out in pain and sadness. He curled up into the fetal position, still crying when the guards showed up and dragged him away. One guard thanks Athos and Ragosh, looking at Ragosh with disapproval just before he left. Talya then began to approach them.

“Thank you.” She said bluntly. “That was very brave of you two. But I could have taken care of it myself.”

“Well, it was better that we helped just in case you didn’t take care of it yourself fast enough.” Athos replied.

“Either way, I thank you. Now I must go. Your young companion over there looks like he’s alone.” She pointed at Jordan. Ragosh ran back to Jordan.

“You’re welcome, my lady.” Athos complimented her. Tayla had already started to leave when he said that. Athos walked back to the other two, holding his head high.

“I’m fine Jordan. You needn’t worry.” Ragosh said as Athos approached.

 “Come on. Let’s go see if we can find the fortune teller.” Athos said to Jordan, putting his hand over the young boys shoulder.  

*****

            Ariana was walking slowly past each of the food vendors, holding onto Jade’s hand while eating a small blueberry tart. Brendwin was behind them, quickly stuffing his face with as many tarts as he could chew. This was his first time at carnival and never had he seen or heard so many different things in one place. Despite not being able to speak, he had been able to express so many things throughout their time in Cathvas. It was also the most Ariana had ever seen him smile. Jade was equally as excited. Ariana had bought her a doll made of a very flexible straw from the local toymaker and even got to play with a little beagle dog while they were waiting for food to be made.

            Suddenly, they heard a series of banging noises come from the other side of one of the stalls. Ariana, Brendwin and Jade were all startled by the noise, but the people around them seemed to ignore it. Jade was holding onto Ariana’s leg tightly, frightened by the noise.

            “What was that?” She asked while holding her hands up to her ears.

            “I don’t know.” Ariana responded. Brendwin ran off to the direction of the sound. Ariana chased after him, holding Jade close by. They ran past the stall, bumping into people along the way, slowly working their way through the crowd. Finally they broke through the edge of the crowd and came across a cleared out area that had the looks of a shooting range. There were targets lined up on the other side of the clearing, leaning up against a wooden wall. On the other side of the clearing, there was a line of people, each of them armed with matchlock rifles and with fresh smoke floating through the air. A man from behind them ran out towards the targets and began to inspect each of them. Quickly he moved from one target to the next, inspecting them thoroughly for a hole from the shots. Finally, he stood up.

            “Donnic is the winner!” He spoke, pointing at a man in the middle. Donnic held up his gun as the crowd cheered for him, while the other men put their guns down and walked back with their heads held low. Another man stepped forward, took Donnic’s hand and lifted it up in the air.

            “Who here has the stomach to go up against our champion shooter? Only ten gold for the chance!” He called out, pointing and turning his at the crowd. Ariana held Jade close. She could not see Brendwin anywhere. He had disappeared in the crowd when Ariana chased after him.

            “Ten gold coins! Take a chance!” The announcer called out again. Donnic leaned his gun on his shoulder and started to walk along the edge of the crowd, studying them carefully. He stopped, lifted his hand and pointed.

            “You!” He said. “The one in the hood.” The crowd started to part as they looked where Donnic was pointing. A person walked forward, a hood covering his face. He lifted his head and looked at Donnic. Ariana had gotten closer by then and was trying to get a better look at the stranger. Adjusting her head to the left slightly, she put her hand over her mouth to help hide her shock. Brendwin had stolen a hooded tunic o hide his pointed ears.

            “Do you know how to use one of these, boy?” Donnic asked, handing him a musket. Brendwin shook his head. “Alright then, I’ll show you.” He put down the second musket and held his up.

            “Watch and learn.” Donnic began to explain how to load the musket. First, he took one of the containers attached to a leather strap that went diagonally down his chest and poured the black powder down the musket. He then took a little ball from a pouch, put it down the barrel, pulled out a ram rod, or scouring stick as he called it, from the bottom of the musket and rammed the ball down the barrel. After placing the scouring stick back in its proper place, Donnic reached for a little rope called a match cord that was burnt slightly at one tip. He blew on the match cord, making sure he saw it glow with head, and put it into the jaws cock on the gun. He pulled the trigger to make sure that the match cord would be able to make it to a little pan on the side. Finally, he took a larger powder keg, poured just a little bit of powder in the pan, covered up the pan with a little cover, blew off any loose powder and took the cover off the pan.

            “Now you’re ready to fire.” Donnic said, passing the gun to Brendwin. Brendwin aimed down at one of the targets. Donnic started to load his own gun. “Do not fire until I’m ready.”

Brendwin started to get nervous. He could feel his hands shaking slightly as he was worried about worrying too long and that something could go wrong. Luckily, he noticed that Donnic was loading much faster than before. That put him at ease. He looked down the sight of the gun again, taking in slow breaths and easing his muscles.

“Now be ready for the kick back of the gun. It can be painful.” Donnic said, aiming down the gun. The announcer walked in between the two of them and raised his hand.

“This final match shall determine the winner! Donnic, the master marksman, versus…what’s your name lad?” Brendwin kept his eyes focused down the gun when the announcer asked him. “Very well then. Donnic, the master marksman, versus our mysterious challenger!” The crowd remained silent, anticipating the coming gunshots.

Brendwin closed his eyes for a brief moment, taking a deep breath through his nose. He then opened his eyes just as the announcer lowered his hand to signal that they could fire. Brendwin pulled on the trigger of the gun. He held on tightly to the gun as it moved upwards after firing, keeping it from getting out of his hands. Donnic shot just before Brendwin. Brendwin dropped the gun and clapsed his hands over his ears. The musket had made a noise that was much louder than he had imagined and his ears were ringing with pain as a result. He covered his eyes to keep the smoke from interfering with his vision. The ringing was starting to disappear and as a result, he could hear the crowd laughing. The announcer ran out to the targets and began to inspect them. It wasn’t long before he called out again.

“Donnic is the winner!” The crowd started to applaud for Donnic, who was raising his arms in acceptance of the praise. Ariana was speechless and Jade was still covering her ears from the gunfire. Brendwin stormed passed them, completely ignoring them as he started to pull the tunic off. Ariana followed close by. She said nothing to Brendwin. He was barely holding back tears from that humiliating ordeal. The rest of the day was spent with keeping Jade happy and without Brendwin smiling. Ariana felt bad from what happened. She wanted to comfort Brendwin over what had happened, but instead remained quiet. Throughout most of the day, they continued on across the town, trying to keep Jade happy and having fun while the Brendwin and Ariana kept to themselves.

 *****

            Gregory was lifting two large sacks of potatoes into the wagon when he noticed Hanalos leaning against the side of the wagon. She was grasping at her knee and breathing heavily. Gregory placed the sacks down and went over to Hanalos, pulling her arm over his neck and holding her up on his shoulder. He lifted her up and placed her down onto the seat opposite his and went back to packing goods into the wagon. Hanalos wiped sweat from her forehead, still breathing hard. The pain in her knee began to subside and she managed to relax finally. She looked at her hands. There were a total of five calluses on them, two on her left and three on her right. A smile broke out across her face as she recalled the many years she had spent looking after all the children. She recalled back to when Ragosh was ten months old and he was scared of the thunder when a massive storm had been passing by. He kept on screaming from all the noise and would not quiet down. So Hanalos stayed awake with him for the entire night as the thunder roared on. Eventually, Arthur fell asleep at the crack of dawn and Hanalos could finally breathe a sigh of relief as she slumped herself into her bed. Unfortunately, barely five minutes later, Ragosh began to cry again because a bird had crashed into the window and scared him. As she thought about it, Ragosh, Athos and Jordan started to come back. Hanalos wiped away the tears that had started to develop and sat up straighter in her seat.

            Athos had finished explaining what had happened when they were walking around when Arthur, Hannah and the twins came back. The streets around them were finally beginning to clear as people started to enter the taverns and return to their homes. Shortly after, Ariana, Brendwin and Jade returned. They stayed silent about what had transpired with the firing range. As they all got into the wagon, Gregory handed Ariana a large bundle.

            “Something for you all when we get back.” He said, a big smile draped across his face. Gregory took his seat and started to lead the wagon away back to the main gate of Cathvas. Most of the stalls around them were closed and there were hardly any people left roaming around the streets. Laughter could be heard from some of the houses they passed, though most of it came from the occasional inn. Ariana looked back at everyone behind her. The twins, Jade, Jordan and Athos were asleep while everyone was just sitting quietly. They eventually went through the gate, which closed behind them as they left. Ariana looked to the side of the wagon again. She saw the same man from when they had arrived. He was no longer holding the bundle. Ariana let out a small sigh of relief, believing that someone had finally taken the baby from him to look after. Then she noticed the small mound in the ground with a wooden cross stuck into the mound. She put her hand over her mouth to keep herself from letting out too much noise. The man was sitting next to the mound, speaking incoherent words and holding his hands together as one would while praying. He then turned his head and saw Ariana staring at him. The man then broke down crying, burying his face into his hands. Ariana felt tears slowly drip down her face as the man slowly faded away into the darkness.

 

Chapter 3

It was the middle of the afternoon. Two days had passed since they had gone to the carnival and now they were all working hard around the orphanage again. While Gregory had been in Cathvas, he used the money he had to buy materials and tools to help try and fix as much damage as they could. He had already fixed most of the roof shingles and some of the benches around the courtyard with the help of the boys. With Gregory dealing with the repairs, Hanalos could finally attend to the garden with the girls. Most of it involved pulling out weeds and harvesting vegetables.

            When they had gotten back, Ariana had opened the bundle for everyone and inside were specially baked buns that Gregory had made for them. They were made with a different kind of herb baked into each bun like sage, basil, rosemary and thyme. As a result, eating them left everyone a very cheery mindset.

            With all the other pressing jobs completed around Greymoor, Hanalos finally had time to continue the orphans’ lessons. Three times a week, she would take them to the chapel at Greymoor and they would learn to read and write, along with learning the history of their country, as well as the world around them. Most of the orphans’ enjoyed it, though the twins and Ragosh often times complained that the history part was boring and pointless. Hanalos quickly got them to shut up about it though when she explained how they would have to spend a lot of extra time depending on how much they complained.

            Sister Hanalos was standing beside Jordan’s desk, who was copying down notes on the history of the Church in its early days. She would correct him every once in a while on a spelling mistake he made, but overall he was doing well. She left him and continued on to Jade, who was writing down simple words. Her hand was shaky and her lines were very crooked, but she was spelling the words out correctly. Hanalos went up to the altar and looked up at the stained glass. It was of the founder of their church, a middle aged man who gathered followers, claiming that he had had visions of a great being who called itself the Holy Guardian. As the man grew in popularity, they began to form a religion around this vision and people saw the Holy Guardian as their true God. Eventually the man died, but the religion went on as the Holy Church. With new religion however, came many enemies. People opposed to the Holy Church tried to subjugate all people who recognized the Holy Guardian as their God. So a decision had to be made. The Holy Church decided to fight back and thus started the War of Religion. It was a very brief war and was decided in one climatic battle at the plains of Dumar, with the Holy Church as victor. After that day, the second branch of the church was created.

            “Sister Hanalos. What does the Inquisitorial Church do when compared to the Holy Church?” Jordan asked. Hanalos turned her attention back to Jordan and put her hands together.

            “Well,” She began, taking in a little breath. “As you remember after the Holy Church one the battle against the people who would see it destroyed at the plains of Dumar, the Holy Church decided that they needed something to help defend themselves personally should a regular army that belonged to the kingdom fall. It was decided that even though the ruler of the people would have his own army to defend them, the church would have its own army to defend itself and the people should the regular armies fall. Thus was the start of the Inquisitorial Church. It has two purposes. To hunt down and bring whomever defies the Holy Guardian to justice, and to protect us and the Holy Church. The Inquisitorial army is the best trained army in _________ and by far the largest, adding up to almost three hundred thousand soldiers. However, it did not fight in wars unless ordered to by the Pope or if the king’s army is defeated in battle. Does it make more sense now Jordan?”

            “Yes Sister Hanalos.” Jordan went back to writing his notes down. Arthur lifted his head from his book and looked at Hanalos.

            “Was the Inquisitorial Church’s army the one that burned down a large portion of the elves’ forest kingdom?” He asked. He immediately regretted asking when he saw the foul look he got from Brendwin. Sister Hanalos’s hands had tensed up and she didn’t answer immediately.

            “Yes Arthur.” She finally said hesitantly. “They were.”

            “What started the war? I don’t recall you ever telling us why.”

Hanalos leaned against the altar. She was at a loss for words. She had hoped that they wouldn’t ever ask what happened. Slowly, Hanalos stood up straight and looked back at Arthur, but saw that everyone was staring at her. She sat down in the chair beside her and took in a deep breath.

            “The war began ten years ago. There had been a dispute at the border between our borders and the elves borders. That dispute quickly turned to a brawl and that brawl led to bloodshed. I’m not sure what caused the dispute, but it sparked an immediate wave of anger across ______. Our current king’s father, King Astor, called the army to action and marched it to ________, the name of the forest. The first battle took place in a large clearing in the forest. I’m not sure what the name was. King Astor led the army into battle himself and defeated the elf forces. Afterwards, the King mainly had many small skirmishes and a few major battles over the course of a year. Fresh troops eventually arrived for them and at first it seemed like the war would be over very soon. But then winter came.” Hanalos explained to them all. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath and to hold back the tears that were building up in her eyes.

            “Before the snow fell, the King’s army came across a fortress that acted as the best crossing for the river they had come across. They decided to place it under siege, bombarding the walls with their siege engines and cannons. Then the snow came. Winter had come early for that year and the cold made most of the men incapable of fighting and had frozen most of their food and water. They continued with the siege though. They kept on charging at the walls, trying to climb them with ladders or make them fall by digging tunnels underneath. But the elves pushed them back each time and let the cold do most of the work. Once winter was over, King Astor retreated back home with less than ten thousand soldiers remaining of the one hundred and fifty thousand he had when attacking the fortress. Can you please bring me some water Jade?”

Jade got up from her seat and left the chapel, then came back with a small mug of water for Hanalos, who quickly drank the water down.

            “Thank you.” She continued. “After King Astor returned home with his army broken and his men disheartened, he went to the Pope to ask for help. He feared the elves would counterattack soon and did not have the soldiers to defend everywhere against attack. The Pope granted his wish and also gave him his blessing. King Astor did not have full command over the Inquisitorial army though. Instead, the head of the Inquisitorial Church, Grand Inquisitor Brygon, commanded the army. Grand Inquisitor Brygon kept the army solely for defense and didn’t risk any of his men scouting for any elves. At least, that was until King Astor was assassinated by an elf.”

Everyone sat in silence as Hanalos explained what was going on. Hanalos looked down at her hands, which were both shaking. She gripped onto her mug tightly, which stopped the shaking. She looked up and continued speaking.

            “When King Astor was found dead by his son, our current King Reynald, Reynald demanded of the Pope to allow the Inquisitorial army to march into elven lands. The Pope, having been a lifelong friend of King Astor, granted this request also. After Reynald was crowned, he hired as many mercenaries as he could get his hands on. With a large daily payment and a massive initial reward just for fighting, many mercenaries leaped at the chance. Villagers, nobles, farmers, fishermen, blacksmiths and stable boys across ______ joined the royal army as well. By the end of the second year since the war began, there were three armies ready for war. There was King Reynald’s royal army that was much larger than his fathers, numbering one hundred and eighty thousand. Then there was an army of mercenaries, numbering ten thousand. Finally, there was the Inquisitorial Church’s army, numbering three hundred thousand. Another drink please.” She handed the cup to Jade, who fetched her some more water. “Do you want me to keep going on?”

Everyone nodded.

            “Very well. From then on, the war dragged on slowly for five years. King Reynald’s royal army participated in numerous battles until having to retreat to the border to resupply and recover their losses. However, the army of mercenaries soon grew out of control. They pressed forward, meeting little resistance as they left each elf village in smoke and flames. However, the bulk of their army was stopped at a small narrow creek. They came across a warrior on one side of the creek. He was garbed in elf armor and his face was completely covered. Five mercenaries went against him and he cut each of them down. The warrior then called out and hundreds of elven soldiers charged into the mercenaries’ camp. With the element of surprise on the elves side, many of the mercenaries were killed and eventually they fled. Eventually, all the mercenaries left the war. Those that came back described the warrior and his small army of elves and orc mercenaries as having a type of ferocity in their fighting they had never seen before. With one of their armies routed, Grand Inquisitor Brygon took action. He marched his army to the fortress where King Astor was defeated and burned it to the ground. It was after this that the war escalated. Over the course of the last three years, there was talk of the mysterious warrior and his small army attacking supply caravans, raiding camps and being at the vanguard of major battles. By this time, mages became part of the war. The Grandmaster mages were convinced to join the Inquisitorial army for the war to help even the odds. There had been talk of the elves using magic and summoning nature to fight for them. Eventually, Brygon had had enough. He turned his army around and started to come back home. As he came back, he ordered fire mages to stay behind and set the forest ablaze completely. By the time the fire was put out, almost an entire third of the forest was destroyed.”

Hanalos stopped and put her hand over her face, trying to hide her tears from everyone. All the orphans held their heads low. Arthur felt horrible for asking Hanalos about the war now. He didn’t think she’d have started to cry.

            “Shortly after that, the elves called for peace. At first King Reynald and Brygon refused to accept, as he believed that they should be taught an even greater lesson for killing their king and for massacring their soldiers. However, the Pope convinced him otherwise. The Pope was tired of all the bloodshed and forced the two of them to accept the peace treaty. The terms were that humans and elves could still travel around in each other’s lands if they wanted, but at serious risk to themselves if they did. The other part of the treaty was that any surviving fire mages involved with the burning of the forest should be turned over to the elves for justice. The one rumored survivor was never found. It’s been eight months since the war ended, but there is still a lot of hate amongst our fellow humans. Not only do our countrymen hate elves, but also orcs. Even the orcs who fought on our side...”

She finally stopped talking, sitting in silence as everyone was staring at her. Arthur got up from his seat, walked over to Hanalos and hugged her.

            “I’m sorry.” He said. “I should not have asked.” Hanalos embraced him gently.

            “It’s alright Arthur. You’re old enough to understand. And they should come to realize that the world isn’t a completely beautiful place just because our books and fables say that it is. War can drive even the greatest of men mad, but it also brings ruin to the lives of the simplest people.” She said as she stood up and looked out at the other orphans, who were all focusing their attention onto her. Ariana thought back to the man outside of Cathvas.

Had she been affected by the war? She thought to herself. Hanalos walked back up to the altar.

            “Now, let us pray to the Holy Guardian, and then you may go.” She said, slowly placing her palms against each other and closing her eyes. All of the orphans’ did the same. In union, they all began to speak the words of their prayer.

            “Oh Holy Guardian, our God over men. Show us the path to light and protect us from the dangers of hatred. Keep us upon the path of peace, and of love. Do not let us stray into the realms of darkness. And should we someday perish, buy age, or disease or by the sword, know that we will embrace death with open arms and join you in your kingdom up in the Heavens.” They finished by bowing their heads down in respect to the altar. The orphans’ quickly gathered their paper, feather pens, inkwells and books and left the chapel. Arthur stayed behind with Hanalos though, to help her with cleaning up the desks.

She handed him a small scrubbing brush made of birch wood and boar hairs for the bristles, along with water. They both began to furiously scrub the top, bottom and sides of the desks, taking out of lot of dust that had built up over the months. Arthur finished most of them very quickly while Hanalos was beginning to struggle by the end of the third desk. She was breathing heavily again, but quickly tried to hide it from Arthur. He managed to notice this time.

            “Are you alright Sister Hanalos?” He asked her as he knelt down to help her up on her feet.

            “Yes I am Arthur. Just a little tired is all.” She lied.

Suddenly, there was a searing pain in her knees and her thighs. She fell down to a sitting position, leaning her back against one of the desks. Gripping her legs, Hanalos grimaced and tried her best not to let out a cry of pain.

            “Sister Hanalos!” Arthur exclaimed as she fell down.

            “Go and find Gregory!” She said in-between breaths. “Now!” Arthur quickly ran out the door and called out Gregory’s name. Hanalos took in deep breaths as the pain slowly subsided, but was still very strong. Gregory came into the chapel and immediately lifted up Hanalos and carried her out to the courtyard. He made his way across the small square courtyard to door that lead to all the bedrooms. Up the stairs he went until he finally laid her down on her bed in her own room.

            “Just rest, okay? I’ll bring you something for the pain.” He said very quickly as he left her. Gregory quickly ran downstairs into the kitchens, calling for Arthur.

            “What has happened, Gregory?” He asked with a concerned tone.

            “I’ll explain later. Where does Sister Hanalos keep the ginger?”

            “We haven’t harvested ginger yet, but I can grab some fresh from the garden.”

            “Go and get me a ginger root. I need to get the fire going.” Arthur left and Gregory reached for a large pot. He headed scooped water into the pot and hung it over the spit on the fire. Gregory grabbed some pieces of very stringy tree bark and little pieces of kindling. He placed the bark down into the cooking fire, then took a flint rock and some steel and started to strike them against each other. Some sparks flew, but they did not ignite the bark. Eventually, he managed to get ignite the bark a little and started to blow on the bark gently to get the fire bigger, gradually adding small pieces of kindling. Arthur finally came back into the kitchen with a root of ginger.

            “I’ve brought them Gregory. Why do you need these?” He asked, eyeing the pot of water.

            “Just cut them up and soften them up. Give them to me when you’re done and then go.” He snapped at Arthur. Arthur cut the ginger roots into slices and then started to soften them up in a mortar and pestle. He handed them to Gregory and then left.

 The fire was growing swiftly and Gregory kept adding small pieces of firewood. He grabbed a fire poker and stabbed at the fire once, letting the wood spread out a little, then started to add some larger pieces. The fire kept on going, with Gregory checking the pot every few minutes. Eventually, the pot was finally boiling and the smell of boiling ginger filled the kitchen. The pot continued to boil for a few minutes until finally Gregory took a wooden ladle and filled it with the water. He poured the water into a small mug and then took another two scoops of water, then placed the mug down, wrapped his sleeves around his hands and carried the pot onto at table, leaving it there. Gregory then took a little bit of water and poured it onto the fire, letting it die down a little before adding some more wood to keep it going.

He was heading up the stairs with the mug in his hands when he almost bumped into Jade. Jade’s face was caked with mud and she was staring at Gregory with an expressionless face. She hugged his leg tight and wouldn’t let go. Gregory placed the mug down on one of the steps and sat down to hug Jade back.

“Gregory, is Sister Hanalos going to die?” She asked calmly. Gregory pulled his head back to look at Jade.

“No little daisy,” He replied. “She’s just hurting a lot, that’s all. A little bit of rest and medicine and she’ll be all better.”

“Are you sure? I thought that all old people die and Sister Hanalos is very old.”

“I’m very sure. She may be old, but she still has many years left in her. I promise you.”

“You swear?”

“I swear.”

Jade’s face lightened up with a big smile and she hugged Gregory again. Gregory picked up the mug of ginger tea and continued up the stairs as Jade ran down. He turned to the right and entered Hanalos’s room. She was staring at a little straw doll in her hand. It was the same doll that Ariana had bought Jade at the carnival. Gregory walked over to Hanalos’s bed, pulled up a stool and sat down.

“Here you go. This should help. Just be careful, it’s hot.” He said, passing the mug to Hanalos. She placed the doll down and took the mug. Taking a small sip of the hot liquid, she leaned her head back and let out a small sigh.

“Thank you Gregory.” She said.

“It was my mother’s idea when I was a wee lad. It would get rid of all the aches and pains in a person’s bones.”

            Hanalos smiled a little. She took another sip of the tea.

            “Hanalos, you can’t keep on straining yourself so much. You need to rest. Let Arthur take care of everyone himself for a few days.”

            “And become like those old hags who rely on the young to take care of them? I’d rather cut off my own legs than that.” Hanalos scoffed. Gregory shook his head and started to walk out.

            “Just try and get some rest. I’ll take care of them.” Gregory left the bedroom. Hanalos continued to sip the tea as she looked at the window. It was wide open, letting in a lot of light into the room. She could hear the children laughing outside. It made her smile a little. The pain was beginning to subside in her legs and she shifted her position a little. Hanalos placed the mug onto her bedside table and laid herself down on her back. Gradually she could feel her eyelids become heavier until finally she had fallen asleep.

Chapter 4

For the next two weeks, Hanalos continued to rest while Gregory took care of the children. Twice, every day, he would come up to Hanalos’s bedchamber and give her a mug of the ginger tea. It would always ease the pain in her bones and would help her sleep through most evenings. However it wasn’t enough to stop the pain all together. Sometimes she’d wake in the night and call for him because the pain had returned, though that was only occasionally. Each night before she went to sleep, she’d ask Jade to come up and try and read to her. Jade had wanted to start reading and they had decided that they would practice every night before bed. Hanalos would leave her to try and figure out how to pronounce each word, offering assistance whenever Jade struggled a lot with a word. Jade was very bright for a three year old and she had learned how to read and write much faster than all the others when they were at her age. It always brought a smile on Hanalos’s face whenever Jade walked in with a giant story book that was half her height. Often times the stories would be about the beautiful fairies that lived in the elven forests or the classic story of a brave knight saving a fair maiden from an evil king or dragon.

            Gradually, Hanalos managed to walk around a little with only a slight bit of pain. However, she’d always have to return to bed or sit down afterwards. If she had to use the steps, Gregory would carry her up and down, but soon she could go up them herself. The days passed on slowly and each time they went by she could walk a little farther on her own. It brought a lot of joy back to all of the other orphans and to Gregory. Soon, Hanalos was back to most of her duties, leaving the more strenuous work to everyone else.

            It was midday when she found Ariana in the courtyard sitting in the sunlight. She often found her like that, just sitting quietly when all her work was done and she was alone. Hanalos often times wondered if Ariana was thinking about her life before the hunter found her alone. She never spoke of the hunter that much.

            Maybe she cannot remember. She was very young when he died. Hanalos thought to herself. Hanalos sat beside Ariana, who was leaning back and had her eyes closed from the sun’s rays.

            Ariana turned her head and smiled. “Good day Sister Hanalos.”

            “Good day Ariana” Hanalos replied, observance Ariana’s choice of attire. Ariana was wearing a simple set of clothing, most of it made out of woolen cloth. The color around her neck was pale green, while the rest of the dress was a dull blue color. The arms were white and slightly stained from dirt. Then she noticed Ariana’s right hand. There was a bandage wrapped round the palm of her hand. “What happened to your hand?”

            “Oh this?” Ariana lifted her hand up. “I cut it with one of the kitchen knives by accident. It’s nothing serious.”

            “Are you sure? Even a little cut can turn nasty with an infection. Let me look.”

Ariana removed the bandage from her hand. The cut was on the top of her hand and wasn’t very deep, but did go across from the left to the right almost completely. From all the blood on the other side of the bandage, she figured it had bled a lot, but not enough to seep through the bandage. That was good.

            “It doesn’t seem that bad, like you said. But I suggest that you keep an eye on it just in case. Keep it clean and change your bandage every-“

            “Morning and night. Yes.” Ariana interrupted. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Hanalos tied the bandage around Ariana’s hand again. “It’s quite alright little blossom.” She said smiling. “I seems like only yesterday that I found you wandering around on the road, sick with fever, covered with scrapes and bruises and unbelievably hungry. And now look at you. You’re almost a grown woman.”

            Ariana hugged her tightly as tears started to form in Hanalos’s eyes. “And I am grateful for everything you have done for us. We always will be.”

            They continued to sit there in silence. They did not say a word. The only noises were from the birds flying around and the wind brushing against their hair. It was completely peaceful.

            “But sir, I told you, she is not well. She is resting and cannot speak to anyone.” They suddenly heard Gregory speaking.

            “That remains to be seen Friar Gregory.” An unfamiliar voice replied to him. There was the sound of multiple footsteps approaching the courtyard. Hanalos and Ariana stood up and saw the people approaching.

            The unknown man was a priest of the Church. He was dressed in brown robes. A rope belt was wrapped around his waist and the hood was pulled down from his head. His head and face were completely shaven. This helped show off the stern demeanor he carried with him. Behind him were soldiers garbed in striped, red and black fabric, with leather gloves, plate boots, plate chest guards and comb morion helmets atop their heads. At their sides were sheathed broadswords, holding onto their sheaths to prevent them from hitting anyone.

            The priest stopped and looked at Hanalos. He then looked at Gregory, said something inaudible and then approached Hanalos.

            “How may I help you, Father?” She asked him.

            “Good day Sister Hanalos. I trust everything is well?” He asked. His honeyed voice bothered Hanalos slightly.

            “I have been having some pain, but nothing serious.”

            “I see.” He looked back at Gregory with a slightly surprised expression. “That is good then. I take it this is one of the orphans?”

            “Yes of course.” Hanalos turned to Ariana. “Ariana, don’t be rude. Greet the good man.” Ariana turned to face the priest, who was now smiling at her and slightly bowing his head.

            “Greetings to you, Father…” She just realized that he hadn’t said his name.

            “Forgive me. I am Father Hammond. Me and these fin men are here to seek respite from the long road to the capital, and to inspect the current state of Greymoor. I trust everything has been prepared?”

            “I beg your pardon, Father Hammond. I was not aware that you would be arriving at all.” Hanalos said, now confused.

            “You weren’t? But I was told that Father Gregory had informed you.”

            “No. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

            “Tis a shame. But I will have to make due I suppose.” Father Hammond motioned to Friar Gregory to approach. Gregory approached slowly with his head hung low. “Is it true that you did not inform Sister Hanalos of my arrival?”

            “Aye.” He replied softly, keeping his head down.

            “And why didn’t you?”

            Gregory hesitated. He lifted his head a little to look at Hanalos. Letting out a big sigh, he finally said “Based on the research of a local healer, I have come to the conclusion that Sister Hanalos is suffering from a disease of the bones and has been working herself far too much. I felt that not telling her would help avoid further strain on herself and any prevent further interference with her duties.”

Hanalos stood there glaring at Gregory. She didn’t speak a single word, or make a single gesture. Her face was blank and expressionless the entire time. She felt like slapping Gregory across the face, yelling and screaming at him to get out and never come back. But she didn’t. Instead she stayed calm and expressionless. Hammond put his hand on Gregory’s shoulder and patted it, then motioned for him to go back to the soldiers.

            “I do apologize for that,” He said, pulling his gloves off. “Friars can be very difficult to trust. I hope this hasn’t caused any inconveniences for you.”

            Hanalos faced Hammond, finally smiling. “It is no trouble. Ariana, can you see Father Hammond to one of the spare bedrooms? I must have a word with Gregory.”

            “Of course, Sister Hanalos. It’s right this way Father Hammond.” Ariana responded, walking towards the doors that lead to the main hall. Hammond followed suit, telling his soldiers that they could go. Hanalos and Gregory stayed in the courtyard.

            Ariana brought Hammond through the main hall and up the stairs to the bedrooms. There were five bedrooms in total. It was usually two rooms for the girls, two rooms for the boys, one room for the sisters and then one room for whoever was in charge. However, with so few orphans, one of the three spare rooms was used for storage and the other two for guests. Gregory had the guest room that was the second farthest to the right side, next to Hanalos’s room. The last of the spare rooms was on the far end of the hall. She opened the door and let Hammond it. It was large and had a lot of space like the other room, but the window was smaller than the others. There were eight beds in total, with four of them lined up against the walls on both the left and right sides. In the corner stood some old wardrobes that were falling apart and covered with dust. Hammond entered the room and stood in the center. He observed the beds, applying pressure with his hand against each one until he stopped at the left bed nearest to the window. He sat down on the bed and let out a relaxed sigh.

            “Thank you, young Ariana. This will do just nicely.” He said.

            “I am glad you like it. Now I must return to Sister Hanalos.” Ariana replied quickly.

            “Wait a moment. Come here. I wish to speak with you.”

Ariana halted halfway through the door. Turning back, she walked slowly towards Hammond, who was now walking towards her. She kept her head down to try and conceal her silver eyes from him.

            “What do you wish to talk of?” Ariana asked.

            “I simply wish to ask some questions. Is that alright?” Hammond replied.

            “Yes. It is.”

            “Thank you. First, are you and the other orphans treated well?”

            “Yes.”

            “How long have you yourself been staying here?”

            “Twelve years.”

            “And how old are you now?”

            “Sixteen.”

            “Where are your parents?”

            “I don’t know. All I remember was being found by a hunter when I was three and being looked after by him until he died.”

            “Just one more. Please look at me while you answer.”

Ariana froze in place, her heart racing as she contemplated not looking at him and instead ask him why he wanted her too. She could feel him staring at her though, his piercing her soul as he awaited her to obey. Finally she made up her mind and lifted her head.

            He seems like a nice man. Maybe he is not like the other priests we’ve had. She thought to herself.

            Hammond looked directly into her eyes. Ariana knew what he was doing. He was observing her. His eyes turned downwards, observing her body. They ended up stopping at her chest, where they were fixed for quite some time. Ariana could feel the blood rushing up to her cheeks, but she kept her composure. Hammond continued to stare at her chest. He seemed to be trying to say something, but words were failing him.

            “Father Hammond?” Ariana finally asked him. Hammond suddenly regained his senses and returned his eyes to focusing on Ariana’s eyes.

            “Forgive me. I should not have been staring. Anyways, back to my question.” Hammond stumbled over his words slightly. Ariana nodded as the blood left her cheeks. “Are you the child of a bonding between a human and an elf?”

            “Yes.” Ariana didn’t hesitate in answering. She knew that he be able to tell if she was lying.

            “I see. So the rumors about her showing sympathy towards our former enemies are true.” Hammond let out a small sigh of relief. “That is all I wished to ask. You may go now.”

Ariana quickly turned to the door and was moving at an almost skipping pace. Her heart felt like it was rising up to her throat. She breathed slowly and eventually managed to slow her pace. Looking down at her feet, she held her hands together to keep them from shaking. Suddenly, she bumped into someone and hit her head against the person’s chest.

            “Forgive me, young lady.” The person said in a gentle voice.

            “Pardon me, sir. I did not see you.” Ariana responded.

She looked up at him and was surprised at how the man looked. He was rather old, having a full, but short beard across his face that was a mix of black and grey hair. There was a giant scar that went horizontally across his nose. His hair was slicked back, the same colors as his beard. The man’s face was covered with dust and his skin was slightly tanned from the sun. It was hard to notice, but his jawline was rectangular in shape underneath the man’s beard. Finally, there were his eyebrows and eyes. The eye brows were slightly untrimmed, thick and rather unkempt. His eyes however were much more pleasant. The eyes were deep blue and stood out like a sore thumb when compared to the rest of his face. The man stepped his left foot back, and gave Ariana a polite bow.

            “There is no need to apologize. I have been on the road long and was not paying attention.” The man spoke. His gentle voice was out of place when matched with his rough exterior. He was dressed in plate armour with chainmail underneath. The armor was covered with scratches, scrapes and dents from the shoulders all the way down to the legs. On his left side was a basket hilt sword. The hilt was gold coloured and had dragons engraved into the hilt. The scabbard was made of brown, cowhide leather that had silver embedded on the sides down to the tip.

            “You’re too kind, sir knight.” Ariana replied with a curtsey. The man’s eyes widened and he smiled.

            “Thank you for the compliment, but I am no knight. I am High Inquisitor Brygon, head of the Inquisitorial Church and leader of the church’s army.”

            Ariana froze in place and looked at the man. She was at a loss for words. Standing before her was the man who had caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, yet he did not look like a monster. Instead, he looked like a kind hearted man who wouldn’t hurt a fly.

            “Do not worry. It is a common mistake many people make.” He said. “But now I must go. Father Hammond most likely wishes to speak with me. It is not wise to keep the man waiting. Farewell my lady.”

Brygon walked down the hall and into the room where Hammond was. Ariana immediately hurried down the stairs once he was out of view. She turned to the left at the bottom of the stairs and headed for the chapel. She needed to collect her thoughts. So much had happened in such a short span of time, she felt overwhelmed. Finally, she reached the side door of the chapel, but just as she was about to open the door, she heard someone inside. Placing her hear against the door, she listened to the person inside. She could hear Hanalos yelling at Gregory inside. Hanalos was yelling at him for how he hadn’t told her about how Hammond was supposed to be inspecting the place. Gregory said something, but Ariana couldn’t quite make it out. The room went completely silent. Ariana listened as carefully as she could, but not a sound came from the chapel. Then she heard tiny footsteps behind her. Startled, she turned around and saw Jade looking at her. She was holding a giant story book in her arms and was smiling at Ariana.

            “Can you help me read a story?” She asked gleefully. “Sister Hanalos said she was busy and that I should find someone else to help me.”

            “Of course Jade. Where do you want to sit?” Ariana couldn’t refuse little Jade. She had a smile that could melt even the coldest of hearts and was always happy. It hurt everyone to see Jade sad.

            “Right here is fine.” Jade sat down against the wall and opened the book.

Ariana hesitated for a moment, but then sat down with her. “Alright. Which story do you want to read?”

            “The story about the little girl and the faerie.”

            Ariana turned the book to the page with the story. It was a very simple children’s story about a little homeless girl who was protected by a faerie.

“The girl was six years old and had no home of her own.” Jade started reading. “Her parents had died when the house they lived in had burned down. Eventually she found herself being bullied by other local street orphans who were older than her, taking anything they found from her. The little girl wanted to kill herself. One night, when she was just about to jump off a bridge into the river, she saw a glowing light flying towards her from the water. The light grew brighter as it came closer until it was right in front of the little girl. It was a faerie.” Ariana corrected Jade on her pronunciation of glowing. Jade had pronounced it with an “ow” sound. “The little girl changed her mind about jumping off the bridge and the faerie began to stay with her. The girl would find food and shelter for them both while the faerie would protect her from the shop owners and street bullies. For many years, they stayed together, keeping each other safe, telling each other stories and becoming the best of friends. But then, one day, the faerie was gone. She just left the little girl without telling her anything. The girl searched for the faerie for many days, but could find no sign of her. The faerie had abandoned her. So the little girl grew up into a woman, who became a tailor in the city. Soon she married and had many children of her own. One night, while watching over her own little girl, she saw a glowing light come from her window. She smiled as she realized the faerie had been watching over her all along. And so, the little girl turned tailor grew old and forever knew that her children and grandchildren would be safe so long as the faerie watched over them. The End.”

“Very good Jade! You’ve gotten a lot better.” Ariana exclaimed happily. Jade smiled and hugged Ariana tightly.

Suddenly the door burst open and Gregory marched out of the door. He ignored Ariana and Jade and went towards the kitchens. There was nothing but silence coming from the chapel. Jade stood up from the floor and walked to the door to peek around the corner. She saw Hanalos kneeling and praying before the altar. Ariana entered the chapel and sat down on one of the stalls. Jade sat beside her. They sat there for only a short while though, as Hanalos stood up with some difficulty and proceeded to leave the chapel. She only noticed them just as she was about to go through the open door. Hanalos looked at them both smiled.

“Come along now. We must begin preparing supper.” She said softly. Ariana and Jade followed her into the kitchens where every one of the orphans were gathered. They all worked together to prepare supper for them and their guests. Ariana and Jade worked with Jordan and Brendwin to cut up the vegetables, Arthur and Athos helped Gregory slice up the lamb, Aldus, Oldus and Hannah kneaded the dough for seed cakes with Hanalos and Ragosh kept stirring the water in the cauldron for stew. They worked tirelessly for roughly an hour, putting the lamb and vegetables into the cauldron and pulling the seed cakes out of the oven. Ragosh and Gregory took turns with stirring the stew, adding small slices of garlic cloves into the mix. As the stew cooked, Hanalos turned her attention Soon enough, they were all ready and they carried out their bowls of stew along with a seed cake to go with it. At the table, Brother Hammond and High Inquisitor Brygon were sitting at the table, along with a few Inquisitorial soldiers and novice priests. Hammond was sitting at the head of the table, with the novices to his right and Brygon and his soldiers to his left. They all sat in silence as all the orphans placed their food bowls down at their seats and then returned to the kitchens.

Hanalos sat down on the opposite side of Hammond. She stared at him for a brief moment then looked down at her food. She took a sniff of the stew, taking in the warm, soothing aroma of beef, vegetables and garlic. The orphans returned and with more bowls. They took them to the soldiers and novices, who waited eagerly to be able to eat. Ariana sat down and managed to sneak a little glimpse at Brygon. He looked much different from before. He was clean shaven, and his face was free of dirt and dust. He was no longer in armour. Instead, Brygon was wearing a red and yellow striped jerkin. It was made of a fine silk and had not a single tarnish or tear that Ariana could see. Before anyone could notice her staring, she turned her attention back to her stew.

Hammond placed his hands together and slightly bowed his head. The novices and soldiers did the same. Hanalos, Gregory and the children followed suit, though with some hesitation. Hammond closed his eyes and began to say a prayer.

“Oh Holy Guardian, our God over man. We thank You for this bounty You have granted us. Brings good fortune in the days ahead, so that we are able to serve You and only You. Amen.”

“Amen.” Everyone said in reply.

Immediately after the end of the prayer, the soldiers and novices began to devour the food ferociously. Everyone could not help but stare at them as they scarfed down the remnants of the stew, even going as far as to lick the bottom of the bowls to get the last bit of gravy. Soon they noticed how much they had acted like pigs and hung their heads low in shame, their faces absolutely covered in gravy. Hammond was about to speak to them when Brygon stood up from his seat.

“Forgive them.” He said. “We did not have enough food for our journey and no gold to buy enough food for all of us. It’s understandable that they are a little excessive in their eating.” He sat back down. Hammond was looking at him with a look of disapproval. The soldiers and novices were sitting quietly, waiting for someone to say something. Brygon looked at them all again and rolled his eyes.

“Well go on. Go clean yourselves up and get some more food. You deserve it.”

Their faces lit up like candles as they all scrambled to the kitchens with their bowls. Everyone else finally began to eat their food. They continued to eat in silence. None of the orphans spoke and even the twins were unusually quiet. The novices and soldiers returned, the gravy cleaned from their faces. Silence filled the room as they all ate. The only noises were the bumping of wooden spoons against the bowls. The entire time, Hanalos kept moving her eyes between Hammond and the orphans. She noticed Hammond looking at Ariana. She recognized that look. It was the same look many men gave her when she was Ariana’s age. Hanalos could just barely hold her anger back. Finally, the silence was broken when one of the novice’s sneezed. Hammond turns his attention back to his bowl once again.

Soon, they were all finished with their supper and they took the bowls out to the kitchen, returning to the table afterwards.

“Arthur, could you go get the dessert please?” Hanalos asked. Arthur nodded and stood up from his seat.

“I must say Sister Hanalos, that that was a very good meal. It was something we truly needed after such a long journey.” Hammond said with a smile.

“I am humbled by your satisfaction.”

“But now I am afraid that we must get down to business. The sooner it is addressed, the better.”

Hanalos froze in place, all her joints stiffening up. Gregory noticed her stiffness”

“Perhaps it would be better if we waited until the children were all in bed.” Gregory said nervously.

Hammond shook his head. “No. This is something they need to hear too. It is for the greater good.”

Arthur returned with the dessert. It was a large bowl of mixed berries, ranging from raspberries to gooseberries, along with blackberries and strawberries. He placed the bowl back onto the table and returned to his seat.

“Good, you are all here. I can begin now.” Hammond said.

“As Friar Gregory has told me, you are suffering from a physical ailment in your legs. If I am to understand correctly, this has greatly hindered your work here. Because of this, I have been selected to be your permanent replacement.”

There was a massive gasp from all the orphans. Their mouths hung open in shock. Hanalos and Gregory sat quietly, not making a single sound.

“You are to leave within the next few days and never return, along with the oldest of the boys, Arthur. If you do no leave by then or if you do leave and you return, you will be forced away from the area.” Hammond finished with a smile.

Arthur and Ragosh stood up from their seats angrily.

            “How dare you, you pompous little scoundrel!” Hannah yelled out suddenly. Everyone turned their heads to her in surprise. Hannah stood up from her chair in the mid-left side of the table. She grabbed a handful of berries and threw them at Hammonds face. Some of them broke, leaving berry juice on his face. “You think you can just come here, say what you like and think you’ll get away with it?” She grabbed another handful of berries to throw at him, but Ragosh restrained her. Arthur looked back at Hammond. He clenched his hands into fists.

            “And why would you want me to go? I have been here all my life and have helped raise children here for as long as I can remember!” He raised his voice gradually as he spoke.

            “That’s exactly why you need to go. You were supposed to leave once you were eighteen. But instead you chose to stay. If you want to stay, you can. But you must be a man of the cloth to do so.” Hammond replied. Arthur relaxed his hands and returned to his seat, keeping his eyes on Hammond. Jade left her seat and ran towards Hanalos.

            “I don’t want her to go.” She said with tears in her eyes.

            “I realize that, but you have to understand little one, that-”

            “No!” Aldus yelled out as he jumped out of his chair. Oldus and Jordan soon followed. Brygon nodded to his soldiers who then got up and chased after them. The sound of pots being knocked over came from the kitchen. Hanalos tried to get up, but one of the soldiers held her down. Arthur got up from his chair and started to wrestle with another soldier. Arthur stomped on the soldier’s foot and punched him on the left cheek, knocking out a rotten tooth. Ragosh grabbed one of the soldiers who chased after Jordan and threw him into the wall. The soldier tried to reach for his dagger, but Ragosh already began to punch him in the face over and over again.

            Brygon stood up from his seat and called out “Enough!” Everyone except Ragosh stopped what they were doing. He continued to keep on punching the soldiers face bloody. Two other soldiers grabbed his arms and pulled him away while another lifted the beaten soldier to his feet. The bloodied soldier was having trouble breathing and blood was dripping down his cheeks. His fellow soldiers walked him out of the dining hall as the soldiers who chased after Jordan and the twins came back with them. The children were resisting by trying to hit the soldiers or pulling themselves away, but the soldiers had a good grip on them. Jordan has a large bruise across his cheek and Aldus’s nose was bleeding. The soldiers forced them down into their chairs again and held them there to keep them from running off again. Brygon glared at these soldiers with disapproval. He walked over to Aldus and handed him a clean rag for his nose.

            “If you cannot keep these children under control, then you are no longer needed there.” Hammond said, raising his voice slightly. He stood up from his seat and walked over to Hannah. He put his hand on her shoulder and gripped it tightly. Hannah cringed at the pain and tried to push Hammond’s hand off her shoulder. “And any who cause such outbreaks are the ones who shall be punished.” He turned his attention back to Hanalos. Hanalos knew what he was thinking. She kept silent though. If she said anything in protest or did anything to stop him, it would only make things worse for the children.

            “High Inquisitor Brygon,” Hammond said, motioning his head to Hannah. “I want you to show Sister Hanalos and these lovely children what happens if they show any sign of disobedience.” Brygon’s expression was bleak. He stood next to Aldus’s chair quietly.

            “Are you sure of this brother Hammond?” He finally asked.

            “My word is the word of our Pope and his word is the word of the Guardian. Would you defy any of us?” Hammond said coldly.

            “No, Brother Hammond. I would not.” Brygon said with an upset sound in his voice. He nodded to two of his soldiers. They went over to Hannah and pulled her out of her chair.

            “No! Let go of me!” She screamed. Hannah struggled and tried to bite the cheek of one of the soldiers. The one she tried to bite struck her across right cheek before she should though. They pushed her against the wall and punched her in the stomach. She almost keeled over from the strike. Arthur tried to stand up but he was held down by a soldier. Brygon approached Hannah who was now struggling to breathe. Brygon looked at her with a gloomy expression on his face.

            “I’m sorry.” He whispered to her.

            “Now Brygon.” Hammond pressed him on. Brygon closed his eyes tightly, but then opened them immediately. Hannah noticed a tear going down his cheek. He frowned and motioned to the two soldiers. They ripped off the front of Hannah’s dress, exposing her breasts. Hannah screamed, trying to free her arms to cover them up. Everyone was pleading for Hammond to stop Brygon, but he paid them no heed. Brygon drew an eight inch knife from his side and placed it up to the top of her right shoulder. Brygon closed his eyes tightly again, and started to apply pressure on his knife, drawing it down Hannah’s chest. Her screams filled the whole room as blood quickly began to flow from the cut. Brygon continued to bring the cut down across her chest from the right shoulder to just under her left breast. He finally pulled the knife away and opened his eyes. Brygon had left a massive cut across Hannah’s chest that was freely bleeding and fast. He had come close to cutting Hannah’s left breast, but luckily just barely missed it. Slowly backing away, Brygon took out another rag and began to wipe away the blood from his knife.

Hammond looked back at Hanalos, Gregory and the orphans. Tears were all building up in their eyes as they looked at Hannah, who had now passed out from the pain.

“Now you see what will happen if anyone shows any sign of disobedience. I suggest getting that cut looked after before it becomes infected and begins to fester.” Hammond said with a smile. “May the Guardian watch over you all. Come along Brygon.” Brygon followed Hammond quickly as the soldiers and novices left with them. Everyone else ran over to Hannah. Arthur kneeled next to Hannah, took his shirt off and placed it on the cut.

“Gregory…” He said blankly. Gregory stayed where he was. “I want you to go to Cathvas immediately and Donan back with you.” Arthur turned to look at Gregory.

“I will Arthur.” Gregory said as calmly as he could. He started to walk to the door.

“And once she is properly healed and well, I want you to leave. I don’t want to ever see you around here again.” Arthur picked Hannah up carefully.

Gregory took a moment to reply. “Very well Arthur.” He finally walked out the door. Arthur walked towards the stairs, doing his best to not drop Hannah. She weighed more than she looked. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he saw Brygon standing at the top of them. He stopped, suppressing his anger as best as he could. Brygon began to walk down the steps. Each step he took felt like an echo went through the whole building. Upon closer inspection, Arthur saw that there were tears in Brygon’s eyes. They weren’t falling, but they were building up. Brygon wiped them away from his eyes as he grew closer. Eventually, he was standing right in front of Arthur. Arthur was roughly five and a half feet tall and Brygon stood a full head above him.

“I know there is no way you can forgive me. I did not wish to do that.” Brygon finally broke the silence. “I do not have the same feelings about women like that bastard does. But he is my better, so I had no choice.”

“Is that what you told yourself when you decided to burn down half of a forest, taking the lives of thousands? That you had no choice?” Arthur snapped. He had Ragosh take Hannah from his arms as he was starting to lose his grip.

“That was different. My soldiers were tired of fighting and I wanted to end the war for them. It was the only option I had to get them home.”

“I don’t care what you want to say. You still did this, so that makes you accountable for her pain.”

“You’re still inexperienced with the world, boy.” Brygon began to walk towards the main doors. He stopped just as he started to push them open. “If you’re going to leave, whisk the girls away from here.”

“And why should I care what you say I should do?”

Brygon remained silent for a moment, but then turned his head. “Because I know Hammond better than most. I have never seen with my own eyes what he does, but I have seen the aftermath. If you leave her,” He pointed at Hannah. “The half elf or even the young one here, you will be leaving them to a fate worse than death.” With that, he pushed the door open and walked outside into the dark of the night. Arthur looked back at everyone. They stood there in silence. Arthur took Hannah back into his arms and began to walk up the stairs. She had awoken now and was weeping softly as she buried her face into Arthur’s chest. Arthur held her closing, slowing his pace so that she didn’t shake as much. He noticed now that his shirt was soaked in her blood.

“Go and get as many towels as you can, and prepare hot water for the apothecary.” Arthur said without turning his head. He heard everyone start to scatter throughout the orphanage. Entering the girls’ bedroom, Arthur placed Hannah onto her bed. He removed the bloodied shirt from her chest. Blood started to flow down his hand from grasping it. He dropped it to the floor and started to rip the sheets apart, and placing them in layers across the cut. Hannah was lying almost completely still, except for her head. She kept on turning it from side to side with bated breath. Arthur removed the layered sheet strips and applied fresh layers and applied some pressure to them. Hannah winced from the pain, but soon relaxed again. Arthur continued to remove and replace the cloth layers until finally the twins arrived with a large towel each. Arthur took one of the towels and placed it on the cut. The twins stayed with him.

Soon everyone but Ragosh and Athos had come up with towels. Ragosh and Athos were preparing the boiling water for the apothecary. Every once in a while, Arthur would lift up the towels to see how much blood they had soaked up. They all sat without saying a word to each other. Hanalos was holding Jade who had fallen asleep in her arms. Jordan was crying into Ariana’s shoulder. Brendwin stood at the window with Aldus and Oldus. Rain had begun to fall heavily. That would delay Gregory and the apothecary in coming back. They had already been waiting for half an hour. The lighting and thunder were continuous throughout the rain, neither seeming to have an end in sight. Hanalos soon took all of the boys except for Arthur, Ragosh and Athos to bed. Arthur refused to leave Hannah’s side and Ragosh and Athos were keeping an eye on the boiling water. The bleeding had finally stopped, but he kept the towels on top of the cut. Arthur looked over to the right. Ariana and Jade were sleeping in the same bed with Ariana holding Jade tight in her arms. He smiled a little and turned his attention back to Hannah. Her hand was hanging over the edge of the bed. Arthur took hold of it. He laid his head down onto the bed, holding Hannah’s hand close to his face. Slowly he found his eyelids becoming heavier. Soon enough, he had fallen asleep despite all the thunder.

Chapter 5

Donan had arrived late in the evening. He and Gregory had been delayed when a tree had fallen onto the road after being knocked over by the wind. They had to take one of the back roads which was extremely muddy which caused Gregory’s wagon to get stuck in the mud. They took the horse off of the wagon and left it there while they walked the rest of the way in the rain. When Donan finally arrived, he inspected Hannah’s wound and quickly opened a small leather pouch with yarrow flowers inside. He took the leaves off of the flowers and started to crush them up with a mortar and pestle. Donan took some of the hot water that Ragosh and Athos had prepared and mixed it with the crushed leaves, creating a smooth paste. He gently spread the paste gently across Hannah’s wound. She said it stung a lot as she squirmed while Donan applied the poultice. They finally managed to cover up her chest and get her into her night clothes. After the poultice was applied, Donan placed a clean rag across it.

            “I’ll leave a mortar and pestle here with the yarrow flowers.” Donan had said to Hanalos and Gregory. “Be sure to clean the wound every day and to apply more herbs in the mornings and evenings afterwards. If the wound begins to fester, send for me.” Donan left shortly after the sun rose. Gregory left with him. His wagon was still stuck in the mud and he couldn’t just leave it there.

            Hannah was sleeping again. Arthur had spent the entire night by his side. He hadn’t slept since Donan had arrived. Now that they had tended to her wound, Arthur could barely stay awake.

            Days went by and Hannah’s wound was healing rather slowly. The yarrow leaves did speed up the process, but there was still a lot of progress to be made. Someone would bring Hannah’s meals to her every day and help her sit up. The wound still hurt a great deal and also left a foul stench every time they would clean it. Hanalos continued to apply the yarrow paste after cleaning the wound as Donan instructed. It was torture for Hannah. Even just slightly moving caused her to cringe in pain. She kept on pushing through the healing process though and soon enough, the pain soon began to lessen.

            Days turned into weeks and the tension between Hanalos, Gregory and Hammond was still high. Hammond had spent most of his time inside the Greymoor chapel. When he was in the chapel he would not allow anyone to join him, not even his novices. “I prefer to pray in silence.” He said when asked. Aldus and Oldus at first thought he was doing something foul in there, so they tried to sneak a glimpse of the inside of the chapel. They were wrong. Hammond was just on his knees in front of the altar, praying. It brought them some comfort that he was telling the truth, but also disappointment that they didn’t catch him in some sort of foul act.

            The children barely played together anymore. Hammond always kept a sharp eye on them when they were outside in the courtyard. Most of their time outside, they just spent sitting or speaking quietly while Hammond observed. Their study hours had become much longer and now focused mainly on the Book of Veid. The Book of Veid was the collection of sacred texts and records of all the knowledge of the Guardian and everything that was done in his name. This included the battle of the plains of Dumar and the rise of Roseiron’s/Ostllyn’s first king, King Astor. King Astor I had come during a time of great strife in Roseiron’s/Ostlyyn’s history. The Holy Church had been losing the influence of the people. The rich shared their homes with the poor in order to survive during the cold winter. There was hardly any food left for even a man living on his own. The Holy Church continued with their words of comfort, telling the people that the Guardian would provide. As the days became shorter and the nights grew longer, the people soon found themselves doubting the Holy Church’s word. After the pass of the year, a man stood up to the church’s words. He claimed that even though he did believe in the Guardian, he did not think that praying would bring an end to their misery. This man, named Astor, rallied the people to work together. They stockpiled all the remaining food in one place that was safely secured from the cold and evenly rationed it as best they could. While countless people did die, it would have been much worse than if nothing had been done. By the end of winter, the Holy Church attempted to have Astor removed from Roseiron/Ostllyn. They believed that he was using his claims to control the people. Astor chose to prove that he indeed had the Guardian on his side. He began to move south on his own. No one knew where he was going and no one followed him for fear of being punished by the Holy Church. A month after he left, Astor returned. The left side of his face had been badly burned, but he had come back with a prize. It was the head of a dead dragon. The dragon had spent years terrorizing the countryside and anyone who attempted to slay it was killed. Astor claimed to have killed the beast on his own. This was enough to prove to both the church and the people that the Guardian was truly on his side. So an agreement between Astor and the Holy Church was made. Astor became the first king of Roseiron/Ostllyn and would attend to the concerns and needs of the people. However, he would have to answer to the Holy Church. The king would have no power over any high ranking member or any Inquisitorial soldier unless directly given the power to do so by the Pope. So began the monarchy that had ruled over Roseiron/Ostllyn for centuries.

            These studies were constantly repeated every day. It eventually became boring and repetitive for the children. When Aldus spoke up about his boredom, Hammond had one of the soldiers strike his hand repetitively, breaking it. Hanalos soon found herself in a heated argument with Hammond. She wanted to grab Hammond around the neck and strangle him every time she saw him. But she knew she couldn’t. Her hands were too frail to hold tightly enough and Hammond was much younger than her, so he could overpower her easily. All she could do was argue with him. Everyone could hear them when they did. It would make Jade cry, so Ariana would have to comfort her. Jade felt that she was the only one who could comfort her.

            There was not much Arthur could do to help ease the situation. All he really could do was to try and keep the younger children under control around Hammond and the soldiers, though his attempts were in vain most of the time. He just barely kept a soldier from striking Jade for accidentally bumping into him.

            The soldiers had also been patrolling Greymoor every night. They walked through the hallways and checked every single room thoroughly before everyone went to sleep. Once they were done inside, they checked outside in the courtyard, the walls and the main door. Eventually, Arthur managed to convince Brygon and Hammond to let him help with the patrols. He told them he just wanted to help. In actuality, he was observing the patrol patterns so that he could find a way to sneak the girls away. Arthur took each night accompanying each soldier. There were ten of them in total. Most of them didn’t take kindly to having Arthur join them, but they kept silent about it. Soon Arthur memorized the main pattern and began to form a plan. At night before he went to sleep, he thought out what he would have to do. He knew that he would initiate the plan once the soldiers were done patrolling the interior of the orphanage. It was just a question of timing. Another week passed and Arthur has a basic idea of what he was going to do. He finally decided to tell one of the girls about his plan. He couldn’t tell Hannah at this time. She was still recovering and Jade might accidentally reveal the plans. Ariana was his only option.

            Arthur found her in the girls’ room later that evening. She was sitting next to Hannah’s bed reading a book. Hannah was asleep. Ariana was dressed in her white night gown. Her hair hung over her left shoulder. Arthur couldn’t tell what book she was reading, but that didn’t matter to him. He took a deep silent breath and approached her. Ariana heard him approach and quickly stood up. She closed the book.

            “Arthur!” She exclaimed quietly. “How long have you been standing there?”

            “Not long.” Arthur replied. “How is she doing?”

            “She is recovering, but slowly.”

            “Good.” Arthur checked behind him to make sure no one was looking. “I need to speak to you for a moment. It’s important.”

            “What about?”

            Arthur took another breath. “I’m going to leave this place once Hannah is better. And I’m taking you, her and Jade with me.” Ariana’s mouth opened but she quickly put her hand over her mouth before she could say anything loudly.

            “Don’t be foolish! What if we’re discovered? What if they chase us?” She whispered.

            “We’ll be careful. You three can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous. I don’t trust Hammond, not after what he had done to Hannah.”

            “And yet you trust Brygon? The man who did the deed?”

            Arthur was at a loss for words for a moment, but spoke again shortly after “I never said I did. But I feel that it would be better for you three to be away from them.”

            “And what about Aldus and Oldus? Or Jordan? Or everyone else? What about them?” Ariana was raising her voice now.

            “Lower your voice.” Arthur checked the door again. He was at a loss for words again.

            “Everyone here is a family to you. You can’t just leave everyone just to keep me, Hannah and Jade safe. I’m staying. And so is Jade. Now get out.” She pushed Arthur away. His expression was blank. He didn’t say a word. Arthur just walked out the door, leaving Ariana in silence. Ariana returned to her seat. She looked at Hannah. Her hair had gone over her face, so Ariana moved it out of the way. She decided to check on the wound. Ariana slowly slipped the top of the night gown down to Hannah’s left. She lifted the cloth gently, trying not to pull it off completely. An appalling smell came from the wound and the bandage. There was a massive scab across Hannah’s chest. Some of it had broken off with the cloth, so blood was now flowing slowly. Ariana quickly placed the cloth back onto her chest and brought the top of the night gown to its proper position. Ariana placed her book down and lied down on her bed. She had moved it closer to Hannah’s bed in case Hannah needed her for anything. Soon she was sound asleep as the candle slowly burned on throughout the night.

 

            “Wake up!” Arthur heard a voice calling out. “Wake up, Arthur!” He awoke quickly from his sleep, flinging hid arms out. He struck Ragosh in the nose.

            “I didn’t say hit me.” Ragosh said, clutching his nose.

            “Sorry. What’s going on?”

            Ragosh felt around his nose to check for blood. There was none. “Someone’s come inside. He’s badly hurt.” Ragosh said, running out of the bedroom. Arthur got up from his bed, slipped out of his night clothes and put his pants and shirt back on quickly, following Ragosh as he struggled to get the shirt on. Finally getting the shirt on, Arthur went down the stairs quickly. Everyone was gathering around the person, murmuring words that Arthur couldn’t make out. He got to the edge and managed to get a look at the person. It was a boy, younger than Arthur. His hair was long, just reaching his nexk, was light brown in colour and terribly messy. His clothes were torn, his boots were falling apart and were soaking wet. Blood was on the floor, leaking from a broken arrow in the boy’s side. He was breathing, but wasn’t responding to anyone. Hanalos and Gregory finally arrived. Hanalos knelt down next to him and placed her hand on his forehead, pushing away the hair from his face. There were some small scars across his face and a few bruises here and there.

            “This boy has a fever. Let’s get him upstairs. Gregory, take him upstairs. Arthur, bring me some cold water and fresh cloths.” Hanalos said very quickly. Gregory picked the boy up. Something fell from the boys back that made a short but loud clanking sound. Arthur quickly picked it up. It was a large, thin bundle that was tied together through a small leather rope. Curious, Arthur tried to untie the rope.

            “Leave it boy!” Gregory snapped. Arthur stopped trying to untie the bundle and left it leaning against the wall. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a pot, then quickly ran out to the well outside of Greymoor’s entrance. It was pouring rain outside, but he kept heading towards the well. He got to the well and lowered the bucket down the well, then pulled the chain to lift the bucket. He dumped the water into the pot, and then repeated the process a second time.

            Back inside, Gregory laid the boy down onto one of the spare beds. He ripped off the boy’s shirt so that he could if there were any more injuries. There was a variety of large and small scars all across the boy’s chest, stomach, shoulders and arms. His breathing was raspy and he was beginning to speak inaudible words. Gregory took a closer look at the arrow. The wood shaft was made of yew wood and half of it had been broken off. The arrowhead was lodged into the boy’s abdomen, just to the left of the bellybutton. There was no way Gregory could pull it out the other end to ease the boys pain. He knew what he had to do.

            “Ragosh, Athos, Brendwin, when Arthur gets back, I’m going to need your help. I’ll need to you each hold down this boy’s arms and legs. I need to pull the arrow out the opposite end. It’s going to be very painful for it and based on the muscles on this lad, he’d going to hurt us if he isn’t restrained. Ah, Arthur.” Gregory said to them. Arthur finally came back with the pot of well water and fresh cloths. Gregory explained what was needed. Arthur nodded and got into position. He had to hold down the boy’s right arm, while Ragosh took the left arm, Athos the right leg and Brendwin the left leg. Gregory placed his right hand on the boy’s chest and took hold of the arrow.

            “Girls, leave us. You don’t want to see this.” The girls left. Hanalos stayed behind. “Ready? Three…two…one!” Gregory began to pull hard on the arrow. It was stuck in the boys flesh tight. The sound of tearing flesh emanated from the wound. The boy was awake now, and screaming. He was pulling at his arms and legs, trying to free himself. The screams deafened everyone in the room. Arthur almost wanted to knock him out just to stop the screaming. Eventually Gregory was able to remove the arrow, which he tossed to the side quickly while placing one of the cloths over the open wound. The boy passed out again and everyone let go of his limbs. Hanalos pulled a chair to the side of the bed and began to wipe the sweat away from the boy’s forehead. Arthur placed the pot of water on the night table.

            “Thank you. Now all of you leave Gregory and I. We mustn’t be disturbed.” Hanalos said, dipping a cloth into the water, twisting the water out and wiping the boy’s forehead with it. Arthur and the others left the room and closed the door. Ariana and Jade were sitting on the floor. Jade was crying into Ariana’s shoulder.

            “She didn’t like the screaming.” Ariana explained. Arthur kneeled down to Jade and took her into his arms, lifting her up from the floor.

            “He’ll be okay. Sister Hanalos and Gregory know what they’re doing.” Arthur comforted Jade. Jade’s crying settled down. She pulled her face away from Arthur’s shoulder and looked at him.

            “Are you sure?” She asked, sniffing. Arthur wiped the tears on her cheeks away.

            “Of course I’m sure. You’ll see.” Jade smiled and wrapped her arms around Arthur’s neck. Arthur hugged back, but then noticed Hammond and Brygon approaching. He placed her down with Ariana and stood at the door. Brygon stood behind Hammond.

            “I take it our guest is still alive?” Arthur nodded. “May we see him?”

            “Sister Hanalos and Gregory are tending to the arrow wound. The boy is asleep as well.” Arthur explained, shaking his head.

            “I see.” Hammond rubbed his hands against his face. “A bandit attack most likely. The boy is lucky to be alive.”

            “With your permission Father Hammond, I wish to take my men and hunt these bandits down.” Brygon said suddenly. Hammond looked up at him with surprise. He stayed silent for a moment, then nodded.

            “Very well. If there are bandits nearby, it would do us good to be rid of them sooner rather than later. But before you go, might I speak with you alone?” Hammond said. Brygon nodded and they went down the stairs together. Arthur eased up and leaned his back onto the door. There was no noise coming from the room. Arthur had questions for the boy when he woke up. Of all the things he was curious of however, he wondered what was in the bundle that had been attached to the boy’s back. He could tell that everyone else was just as curious. Their faces gave it away. He suddenly realized something.

            “Is anyone keeping an eye on Hannah?” He asked everyone. Everyone realized that they had left her alone. Ragosh and Brendwin quickly bolted for her bedroom with the twins. Hammond returned to them just as they entered the girls’ room. He approached Arthur again.

            “Brygon and his men have left. I will be in the chapel. Inform me of any changes.” He said quickly, leaving just as fast as he had arrived. The door opened and Gregory stepped out. He was cleaning blood from his hands.

            “How is it?” Arthur asked.

            “We’ve managed to stop the bleeding for now. He’s still unconscious though. I doubt he’ll awaken any time soon. Where are Brygon and Hammond?” Gregory responded.

            “Brygon has taken the soldiers to track down whoever did this to him and Hammond is in the chapel, praying.”

            “Good. I’d rather the degenerates who did this to that boy were caught sooner rather than later. Now come on all of you, grab pillows and blankets and move into the girls’ room. It would be better if the boy remains undisturbed through the night.” The boys quickly gathered what they needed. Arthur managed to get a look at the boy. The dirt had been cleaned from his face and a bandage was wrapped around his belly, covering the arrow wound. Hanalos placed a wet cloth on the boy’s forehead.

            They all moved into the girls’ room, laying their blankets down on the floor. Hannah was awake now. She said that Ragosh explained what was going on.

            “What does he look like?” She asked curiously.

            “His hair goes down to around his neck. It’s light blonde in colour. His face has some small scars, but his upper body is covered with larger ones.” Arthur explained. Hannah didn’t ask anything else.

            Arthur rested his body down onto the blanket. He stared at the ceiling. There we hundreds of questions he wanted to ask the boy, but he knew he had to wait. It frustrated him. That boy could be asleep for days. He didn’t have the patience for it. Arthur turned to ask Athos what he thought but Athos was already asleep. Everyone else was a sleep for that matter.

            “I guess they’re much more tired than I thought.” He whispered to himself.

An hour passed and Arthur was still wide awake. He kept on tossing and turning, trying to strike the questions he had from his mind. Eventually, Arthur got up and quietly walked over to the window. It was a large square window that let a little light in when the wooden doors for it were closed. He opened them slightly to let some fresh air in. Leaning his chin against the bottom of the window, he took a deep breath of the wet air. The rain was much heavier than it had been before. Arthur let out a quiet groan of irritation. The surrounding area would be so muddy it would be almost like a sink hole. He closed his eyes for a moment and took another breath. Just then, he thought he heard a noise outside. Opening his eyes, he stuck his head out the window more. His hair quickly became wet with the rain. He could barely make anything out because of the limited moonlight. He heard the noise again. It sounded like footsteps in the mud.

            “Brygon and his men must be coming back.” He thought to himself. Suddenly, an arrow collided with the left door. Arthur fell backwards and landed on top of Athos, who quickly woke up. Another arrow went through the opening in the window doors, landing just between Athos’s legs. It was yew, much like the arrow that was in the boy’s side. Soon, more arrows were colliding with the window doors and the outside walls.

            “Wake up! Everyone! Wake up!” Arthur yelled out. Everyone almost jumped up from their beds from his voice. Brendwin quickly ran and acted as a shield for Ariana. Athos picked up Jade from her bed while Ragosh and Arthur helped Hannah from her bed. Jordan was hiding his face under his pillow. An arrow landed just in front of his pillow. He pulled his head out and jumped back in fear.

            “Get up Jordan!” Arthur yelled. “Hanalos! Gregory!” They all finally left the room. Gregory and Hanalos were already out in the hallway. Gregory had the boy in his arms.

            “Gregory! There are-”

            “I know boy! All of you, downstairs. Hurry!” Gregory barked. They moved downstairs to the main hall. Gregory laid the boy down onto the floor and called for Ragosh and Arthur to help him. They sat Hannah down on a bench and helped Gregory push heavy objects in front of the main door. The front doors were being pushed from the outside, but the heavy objects kept them from opening. The three of them pushed against the door to hold it back.

            “Brendwin.” Hanalos called out. “Behind the bedroom closet is a chest. Take everything from the chest and bring them back to me” Brendwin went back upstairs.

            “Athos. I need you to go out to the courtyard and bring me the woodcutting axe. Hurry!” Athos left.

            Hanalos knelt down, ignoring the pain in her knees. She pulled Jade into her arms. Jade was crying loudly. The sound of hollering from outside the door echoed throughout the hall. Arthur pulled a table forward and pushed it against the door. Ragosh was pushing the door back with all his strength, causing his veins to pop up. Gregory’s feet were slipping on the floor, he was pushing so hard.

            Brendwin finally returned with the contents of the chest. Hanalos gave Jade to Ariana and took the contents from him. She stood up and picked up the matchlock rifle. She filled it with gunpowder, placed the ball in, rammed it in with the scouring stick, primed the guy, lit the match cord, leaned the gun on top of the door barricade and pulled the trigger. There was a scream outside and smoke filled the room. Everyone held their hands up to their ears. The gunshot in such an enclosed space had made it much louder than it normally is. The door opened more with this moment of vulnerability and a crude short sword managed to get through. It was slightly chipped around the tip and was covered with scratches. The man who held the sword managed to get his head into the door. His face was ugly. There was a massive wart on his nose and his face was badly scarred. There were multiple gaps in his teeth and he seemed to be rather fat around the face. He swung the sword around madly, trying to hit anyone who got in the way. He managed to cut Ragosh’s arm slightly. Ragosh took the rifle from Hanalos’s hands, turned it over and hit the bandit multiple times in the face with the butt of the gun. The bandit quickly retreated back, his face and nose bloodied. They managed to push the door closed again.

            Athos finally came back with the axe. His face and the axe blade were covered with blood. He was breathing heavily and his hands were shaking. Hanalos went over to him and took the axe from him.

            “Athos?” She asked. He didn’t respond. “Athos!” He finally regained his sense and looked at her.

            “They’re trying to break through the courtyard doors. The entire place is surrounded.” He said with some difficulty.

            “Then there’s no escape?” Arthur asked. There was the sudden noise of cracking wood. It caused Gregory, Arthur and Ragosh to fall backwards from the barricade. They quickly got up and pushed again. Gregory looked out the door and saw that the bandits had brought a makeshift battering ram and were trying to break the door down with it. It struck the door again, causing a chunk of the door to break in the middle.

            “There is an escape.” Hanalos said. “There’s an old tunnel in the cellar that was built as a way for the monks who lived here to flee if need be. Everyone, to the cellar!” Gregory took the axe from Hanalos and Ragosh gave her back the rifle. They all left the barricade and ran for the cellar, which was underneath the kitchen. Ragosh carried the boy while Arthur and Brendwin helped keep Hannah from collapsing. Ariana was carrying Jade when she realized they had left the boys bundle behind. She put Jade down and ran back to retrieve it. Just as she grabbed the bundle, another bandit broke through the door. He was much skinnier than the other one. He had a wooden club in his hand and a dagger in the other. His nose was crooked and he practically had no teeth. He ran at Ariana and hit her in the side with his club. As she fell down, the bandit got down on his knees and grabbed her dress. He tried to rip the front of it off, but she scratched at his face and drew blood. He slapped her across the face, cursed at her and lifted his dagger to stab her. Ariana closed her eyes and anticipated the worst. She suddenly felt something warm land on her face. Opening her eyes, she saw Gregory smashing the bandits head with the axe. She quickly got up, wiping blood from her face. The bandit fell down dead as Gregory pulled out the axe. Ariana took the bundle and ran for the kitchen with Gregory close behind. There was another loud smash and a part of the barricade collapsed. Gregory closed the kitchen door and locked it.

            “That won’t hold them for long. Go quickly.” He said to everyone. They managed to get into the cellar and lock that door. It stored all the food they had left and was illuminated by around a dozen candles.

 Hanalos was running her hands against the stone walls. She came across a stone that was sticking out farther than the others and pushed against it. Nothing happened. They heard the sound of the kitchen door break open. Hanalos kept searching. She found another and pushed it, but still nothing. Gregory took Jade and tried to muffle her cries so that the bandits wouldn’t find them soon. Hanalos finally found a third one stone and pressed against it. Nothing happened again.

            “Dammit!” She cursed quietly. Brendwin was on the opposite end of the cellar, running his hands against the walls. He stopped next to a basket of potatoes. He pressed against that part of the wall and a sound came from the wall. The stone began to shift and shake, creating a loud noise. The wall then slid down into the ground, revealing a long tunnel that led into darkness. Hanalos and Gregory took some candles and handed them to Arthur, Ariana and Athos. Suddenly, the sound of metal meeting wood came from the cellar door. The bandits had heard the wall.

            “Let’s go. Hurry!” Gregory said quietly. He took a candle for himself and walked into the passageway first. Everyone followed suit with Hanalos going through last. She pressed the switch the close the door. She took a few steps when she realized something. The door wasn’t closing. Hanalos stopped and stared at the open entrance. She looked back at the orphans and Gregory who were still moving. She put the candle down and started to walk back to the cellar. She lifted the rifle up and began to load it again.

            Arthur looked back. “No!” He yelled out. He started to run back. Hanalos looked back at them.

            “The passage won’t close. You won’t make it in time. I’ll hold them off. Give you time.” She said calmly with a smile. Arthur was just about to reach her when Gregory grabbed him and pulled him back.

            “What are you doing?” He asked her angrily.

            “My duty, Gregory.. I’m protecting these children. It’s the least I can do as my last act.” She said. A tear slowly went down her cheek. Gregory’s anger subsided. He looked back at Arthur and handed him the axe.

            “You’re a grown man Arthur.” He said smiling. Arthur looked at him with confusion and disbelief. “Keep them safe. For us.” Gregory then pushed him back and started to head for the cellar.

            “No!” Arthur yelled, realizing what they were doing. “You can’t! We need you!” Everyone else was protesting, trying to think of excuses.

            “Enough!” Hanalos barked. “I instruct you all to go. We’ll give you enough time to escape. Once you leave the tunnel, find a place to hide until the sun rises. Head for Cathvas and seek out Donan. He will help you.” The cellar door shattered open and one bandit jumped down.

            “Go!” Gregory yelled, grabbing a larges sack of potatoes and hitting the bandit with it.

            Arthur hesitated. He wanted to run back and help him. He turned to ask the others what they think he should do. They were already going down the tunnel however. Arthur looked down at the ground. Everything seemed to slow down for him. He zoned out for a moment. The sound of the rifle going off snapped him out of it. Shaking his head, Arthur slowly walked backwards. Each step he took increased in speed until finally he turned around and began to run. The candle light from the others was still nearby. He heard the screaming diminish as darkness enshrouded him. Finally he caught up to the others. They only had one candle left. The others had been dropped or were blown out from the running.

            They all turned left in the tunnel. Arthur took the candle from Ariana and walked ahead of them all. None of them could hear the screaming anymore. They slowed their pace a little, trying not to make too much noise. Suddenly, Arthur noticed something illuminated in the candle light. Holding the candle closer revealed a set of stairs. He held the candle up higher and saw a trap door. He handed the candle back to Ariana and started to push against the door. There was some resistance at first, but soon he managed to push it open. Immediately, fresh, cold air rushed into the tunnel and into their faces. They all ran out of the tunnel, being soaked with rain water almost instantly. It wasn’t as heavy as it was before, but they were still drenched rather quickly. Arthur realized that they were in the forest about five minutes behind Greymoor. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts about what to do next. They had very little light from the half-moon up in the sky and everyone kept slipping in the mud.

            “Everyone, follow me.” He called out to them all. He started to run deeper into the trees with everyone following him. They kept on running, tripping and slipping on the wet earth and brush. Ragosh struggled to keep the boy from slipping into the mud. Hannah’s wound was bleeding slightly again from moving so much.

            “Arthur.” Jade said. “I’m tired. Can we stop?”

            “We need to find shelter from this rain Jade. Soon.” He responded, not even looking at her. Arthur suddenly slipped in the mud and smashed his face into a tree. He held his nose with both hands, trying his best not to yell out loud. He couldn’t feel any blood because of the cold rain, but the pain was excruciating for him. Everyone stopped with him. Arthur tried to stand up, but he soon became dizzy from such a blow to the head.

            “We need…need to find shelter.” He said while shaking his head, trying to recover.

            Ariana gave Hannah to Athos to help up and leaned down to inspect Arthur’s nose. She felt around it and found a big cut across the bridge of his nose.

            “I think it’s bleeding. It’s too dark to tell.” She said.

            “Well great. Now what do we do?” Ragosh asked loudly. Everyone shushed him.

            “We can’t just stand here.” Athos said, putting Hannah’s arm over the back of his neck. “I saw we head to Cathvas now.”

            “Well we can’t bloody well see in this light. And we’d probably break out necks walking in the mud anyways.”

            “Do you have any better ideas?”

            “Arthur had one, until his decided to trip and fall.”

            “It’s not as if I intended to fall.” Arthur snapped at him, cringing as the pain in his nose got worse from moving it.

            “Well what do you suggest?” Ragosh said.

            “Maybe we should find a place to hide for now?” Jordan finally spoke up, raising his hand.

            “We can’t see anything Jordan. We’d be lucky to find anything.

            “Where’s Brendwin?” Ariana asked. Everyone went silent and started to look around, concerned. Ariana stood up and looked further into the forest. She managed to spot him walking forward.

            “There he is,” She pointed. “Brendwin, where are you going?” Ariana began to chase after him. Everyone followed suit. Brendwin kept on walking forward, ignoring everyone’s called. He wanted to call out of them, but he knew he couldn’t. He finally turned and waved his arms up to get their attention. Soon they caught up to him, out of breath and covered in mud.

            “What were you thinking wandering off like that?” Ariana asked him. Brendwin pointed forward and everyone looked.

            “I suppose that answers that.” Ragosh said with a sigh of relief. Brendwin had led them to a cave.

Chapter 6

The interior of the cave was much larger than they had thought it was. The entrance was just big enough for them all it fit in one at a time. There was some difficulty when they tried to get the boy into the cave as they didn´t want to lose their grip and cause him to hit his head against a rock. Eventually they all got inside however and could finally have sweet relief from the cold rain. It was very dark however and they could barely see each other. Arthur had to hold his hands out in order to feel the walls. The cave was still small in comparison to what he had imagined some caves could be. Luckily for them, there was no animal sleeping at the back.

            Only a little rain was leaking into the cave, but everyone shuffled further to the back of the cave regardless. There was no way they could make a fire, so they had to huddle close to each other to stay warm.

            The night seemed to drag on for what felt like forever. Arthur couldn’t sleep at all. He just leaned his back against the wall of the cave and looked out the entrance.

            “I’m not going to let anyone hurt them.” He told himself. “I will not fail Sister Hanalos and Gregory.”

            He looked at the boy, who was still unconscious. They had tied the bundle back onto him. It was oddly heavy for most of them to wear. Arthur had a nagging curiosity about what was inside. He always had to stop himself from opening it.

            It’s none of my business what’s in that bundle. He thought to himself.

            Finally he managed to fall asleep, though it was only for a short while. Sunlight shone into the cave directly onto his face. He lifted his hand from Jade’s shoulder and shielded his eyes. After adjusting his eyes to the light, Arthur gently lifted Jade from his lap and walked to the entrance. He climbed out and observed the area. It had finally stopped raining, but droplets from the tree leaves kept falling from above. The ground was extremely slippery with mud. The tree’s continuously cut through the sun’s rays, creating shadow patterns all across the ground. It brought out the fresh, radiant colour of the forest. Arthur relaxed for a moment and took in the suns beams. It made him forget about what happened the previous night and how cold he was, even if only for a moment.

            Loud screaming came from the cave. Arthur turned suddenly and ran back for it. He slipped and landed face first into the mud. He struggled to lift himself up from the ground, as his hands kept slipping in the mud.

            “Arthur!” He heard Athos call out.

            Arthur spat out some mud. “I’m coming.” He tried to say. Suddenly, someone stepped on him from the direction of the cave and his face was pushed farther into the mud.

            “Arthur!” Athos said again, lifting him out from the mud. He wiped most of the mud from Arthur’s face and got him up to his feet. Arthur finally opened his eyes again. He saw the boy standing in front of them, holding the bundle tight in his right arm while clutching the bandaged area on his abdomen with his left hand. Ragosh and Brendwin came out of the cave. Ragosh’s nose was bleeding.

            “Stay back!” The boy yelled.

            “We’re not going to hurt you. You came to us.” The boy looked confused. “You knocked on the door of our orphanage last night with a broken arrow in your stomach. We took out the arrow and cleaned your wound.”

            The boy seemed to ease up and looked back, as if thinking. He looked back at Arthur and stood up straighter.

            “So it wasn’t a dream.” He said, lowering his gaze. Ariana and Jordan came out of the cave. The boy lifted his head and turned his attention to Arthur. “Then what are we doing here?”

            “Shortly after you arrived, bandits attacked our orphanage. The soldiers who were there had gone out to search them. The sister, friar and priest who remained are dead.” Arthur explained, barely holding back tears.

            The boy’s face was expressionless. “I see. Forgive me. I had thought I evaded them. It was not my intention to lead them to you.”

            “You were wounded. It’s possible you had only thought you’d gotten away.”

            “Aye. There is that.” The boy looked down at his wound. “Well, seeing as you’ve saved my life, I suppose I owe you a debt. Ask what you wish of me and I will do what I can.”

            “Can you lead us to the town of Cathvas? We lost our way in the night.”

            “I can try. My father would often bring me here during the summer months. How many of you are there?”

            “Ten.”

            “Then let us go, and quickly. We cannot remain in one place for too long.” The boy had already begun walking down the hill.

            Arthur tried to hurry everyone out of the cave. He called out to the boy to wait for a moment. Luckily, he did. Arthur stayed close to Hannah. Her wound wasn’t as bad as before, but it still caused her a lot of pain and she would often need support. As they walked through the forest, he asked the boy for his name.

            “Azoth.” He replied.

            They weren’t in the forest for long. Azoth brought them down an easy pathway in the forest that led to one of the main roads. They stayed off the road however, as it was incredibly muddy from the heavy rain. Instead, they kept to the edge of the forest.

            After at least an hour of trudging through bushes, over old logs and slipping in the mud, they finally reached the road that split off towards Cathvas. By now the sun was higher up and warmth began to return to everyone’s bodies. The boy continued to lead them towards Cathvas. He let Arthur go ahead.

            “I’ve done what you asked. Now I must attend to business in the town. I wish you safe travels.” Azoth said quickly before falling behind everyone. Arthur didn’t have time to respond or even thank him.

            No matter. He thought to himself. We’re safe. Donan can help us.

            Arthur approached the guard and explained what had happened the previous night.

            “I see.” The guard said. “You’d best get inside then. Don’t want anything to happen to you lot. Donan lives in a large house next to the town square. It’s the one that has the mushrooms growing outside.”

            “Thank you.” Arthur replied, hurrying everyone past the gate. The town had quieted down since the carnival. While there were still a lot of people going about their business, it wasn’t as crowed as before. It was just a normal town in their eyes.

            They continued to the main square. This was where most of the townsfolk were concentrated. There were market stalls around the large fountain. The fountain statue was of how the church described the Holy Guardian. It was a clean shaven man dressed in a single piece robe, looking up at the sky with his hands outstretched to his sides. Water was spewing from the palms of its hands, which fell into the pool. The water itself came from Lake Greymoor through an underground well that ran directly beneath Cathvas. It was how everyone was able to receive fresh water daily.

            Arthur and company kept an eye out for Donan’s house. They didn’t have to look for long as Brendwin managed to spot it, pointing at the house. Arthur was about to thank him when he noticed something. His heart began to race.

            “Brendwin. Your ears…” He said quietly. Brendwin looked at him with confusion. “You haven’t hidden them. Everyone can see them.”

            Brendwin understood quickly and covered his pointed ears.

            “An elf!” An elderly woman cried out, pointing at Brendwin. Everyone surrounding the group stopped where they were and stared at Brendwin. There was murmuring throughout the crowd that was rapidly gathering.

            “You’re not welcome here!” The old woman cried out again. “Go back to your forests where you belong, murderer!” The crowd was quick to join her, spouting curses and insults out at him. Arthur stood in front of Brendwin, holding his arms out to his sides. Ragosh and Athos joined him.

            “Get out of the way boy.” A merchant said. He was holding a wooden club in both hands.

            “And why should I? He’s done nothing to you.” Arthur responded defiantly. His hands were shaking a little.

            “He’s one of them pointed eared bastards. That makes him just like the rest.” The merchant lifted his club to strike. Arthur closed his eyes tight and swung his fist forward. He punched the merchant straight in the jaw, knocking the man back. Arthur clenched his fist with his other hand. He hadn’t thought that punching someone would hurt so much. He opened his eyes when he felt someone pulling him back. Ragosh had grabbed his shirt and started to pull him back. Some more townsfolk, all of them men, began to run from the crowd at them. One crashed into Athos, who was immediately knocked down onto the hard stone ground. Ragosh wrestled with the club wielding merchant for a moment before he managed to pull it from his grasp. He hit the merchant in the gut with the club as hard as he could which causing the merchant to keel over. Ragosh turned his attention to thinner man running at him with a broom. Ragosh swung the club and hit the man across the face with it. The man fell over, but another grabbed Ragosh from behind and restrained his arms.

            The pain subsided for the most part in Arthur’s hand finally and he kicked off the man who was choking Athos. Athos coughed and held his throat as he struggled to stand back up. Arthur turned his attention to the rest of the group. The twins were both kicking a man on the ground when a guard grabbed them and threw them to the ground, holding his spear up to them. Jordan was trying to hit a guard, but to no effect and the girls had already been cornered by another. Arthur turned and he felt a fist strike his jaw. Dazed, he fell to the ground, tasting blood in his mouth. He tried to stand up and spat out the blood, seeing something white come out with the blood. Using his tongue, he felt around his teeth until he found a gap at the back. One of his bottom molars had been punched out. Looking up, Arthur saw that guards had appeared and were restraining all of them, along with the townsfolk who had rushed forward.

            The guards dragged them away from the aggressive townsfolk, who were struggling to free themselves. It took three guards to lift up the fat merchant from his knees. Arthur didn’t struggle because he was too dazed from being struck across the face. He looked up and saw the crowd jeering at him. The blurriness in his vision soon dissipated and he was able to focus. He noticed there were two people walking forward from the crowd. One was dressed in armor, much like the guards. However, unlike the guards, he wore a helmet that covered his entire face and had steel plate guards covering his shoulders and chest. Next to him was a priest. He was dressed in simple brown robes with a small wooden cross hanging from his neck. The priest was also much shorter than the guard. His face was thin and scrawny, with cheekbones that hung low. They both approached quickly as the priest struggled to keep up.

            The tall guard stood in front of the other guards and looked from left to right, almost as if he were inspecting them. He pulled his helmet off, revealing a handsome face that was clean shaven and a bald head. There was a scar on the middle of his chin that went down vertically from his bottom lip to just below the bottom of his chin.

            “Alright,” He said with a tired tone. “What’s going on here?”

            “There was a fight, Captain. Doran called for us when it started. The people here didn’t take too kindly to seeing this here elf in their town.” The guard restraining Brendwin responded immediately.

            “Thank you. Now let’s get a look at this elf.” The captain said. He approached Brendwin and bent down to look at his face. “What’s your name lad?” Brendwin looked at him directly in the eye.

            “He’s mute.” Arthur answered. The captain turned his attention to Arthur.

            “Mute is he? Why can’t he speak?”

            “I don’t know. He was like that when he came to Greymoor during the war.”

            The captain rubbed his index finger and thumb along his chin. “So an elf, during the war, shows up near Cathvas and it just so happens that he can’t speak?” The captain stood up straight. “Bind their hands. We’ll not tolerate spies.” The crowd cheered in excitement. Arthur realized what the captain meant and tried to struggle from the guards grip. He couldn’t escape though as he was being dragged away.

            “Prepare for a stoning!” The captain called out. Some guards returned with rope and immediately began to tie all the orphans’ hands. They pushed them all down to the ground, kicking Brendwin in the stomach. Arthur looked to his left. Jade was sitting next to her. She was crying loudly. Arthur shifted over to her and let her cry into his side.

            “It will all be fine.” Arthur whispered to her. He was lying of course. They would be lucky if any one of them lived after the stoning was done. Everyone was huddling closer to each other. He saw Hannah staring at him. Tears were going down her cheeks, but she wasn’t making a sound. Arthur didn’t understand why. Suddenly, there was the sound of stone hitting stone. He saw a stone ricocheted off of the ground. Looking up, Arthur realized that it was a young boy with blonde hair, not much older than Jade, who had thrown the first stone. The child was pulled back by who Arthur assumed was his mother. Another stone was thrown, this time, hitting Brendwin in the shoulder. Another at Jordan, who was hit in the knee. Jordan screamed loudly as yet another stone hit Aldus in the chest. Soon, more stones were being thrown and more frequently. Arthur was hit multiple times, the worst one being the one that hit his lip, causing it to bleed. Everyone but Jade had been hit. The stoning stopped for a moment when the captain called for it to halt. He approached Brendwin again.

            “You ready to speak now boy?” He said to Brendwin as he kneeled down. Brendwin stared at him with hatred. In a fit of anger, he spat blood in the captains face. The captain stood agape for a moment, but then punched Brendwin in the side. Brendwin was winded from the punch and opened his mouth as if screaming, but without a sound. The captain started to kick Brendwin, hitting him mainly in the stomach and once in the arm. Brendwin held onto his arm tightly, curling up into the fetal position. The captain began to walk back. Arthur tried to stand up, but the captain pushed him down again.

            “Don’t try anything. I could gut you right now if I wanted to.” The captain barked.

            “Burn in hell.” Arthur said weakly as he spit some blood at the captains feet. The captain kicked him in the side twice. Arthur felt some of his ribs break. He was winded by the kick and struggled to regain his breath. The captain drew his sword from its leather sheath. It was an old knight’s longsword. They hadn’t been used by regular soldiers or guards for twenty years. Only the oldest of knights still used them.

            “You see this sword? This was my grandfather’s sword. He gave it to my father when he became a knight. My grandfather was a knight himself. My father took it with him while going to war in those elven forests. This was all that came back. So now it’s mine. And I will kill any elf I come across and anyone who tries to help them, even if that person was my own flesh and blood.” The captain expounded. He pushed the pointed end against Arthurs shoulder. Arthur tried to push the sword away, but he only made it push into his shoulder. The captain pulled the sword from Arthur’s shoulder. He looked at Jade and smiled cruelly, then grabbed her by the turf of her hair and dragged her away. She began to scream loudly as Arthur and the other orphans tried to stand up to stop him. The other guards just pushed them down. The captain lifted Jade up to her feet. He looked straight at Arthur.

            “This is what happens when someone consorts with those pointy eared bastards!” He yelled. There were some people in the crowd who were calling out for mercy.

            “Don’t you touch her!” Arthur cried out. “Let her go!”

            The captain lifted his sword up to strike. His expression was maniacal. The scrawny priest suddenly ran towards him and grabbed his sword arm and tried to make him drop it.

            “She’s just a child!” He exclaimed. The captain just pushed him down and kicked him away, then lifted his sword again. Arthur closed his eyes for a moment. He didn’t want to watch this.

            There was another scream. It was slightly muffled and didn’t sound like anyone Arthur recognized. There was also the sound of a liquid spilling on stone. He opening his eyes slightly, then suddenly opened them wide.

            The captain had dropped Jade and was looking back at the crowd. Jade got to her feet and ran to Arthur, who was still focusing on the captain. That’s when he saw who the captain was looking at. Walking out of the crowd was the boy from earlier. He was dressed in fresh clothes that were a bright white colour. In one hand was one of the guards kettle helmets, which had some blood dripping from the side. Behind him was a guard whose head was bleeding profusely. In the boys other hand was the bundle that he had been carrying before. He dropped the helmet at the captain’s feet. The captain raised his sword and pointed it at the boy.

            “You dare assault one of my guards?” The captain said.

            “I’ve done worse. Don’t worry, he won’t last long.” The boy said almost jokingly. He lifted the bundle and began to undo it. The cloth fell to the ground, revealing a sword. It was slightly shorter than the captain’s broadsword, but looked roughly around the same. The boy took hold of the swords hilt and drew it from its scabbard. It was curved at what was usually the pointed end. The boy held it in two hands and pointed it at the captain.

            “Let’s see what the sword of yours can do, Captain.” The boy said. “Come on. Are you going to let someone barely half your age intimidate you?”

            The captain yelled out and swung his sword at the boy left side. The boy parried and pushed the sword away, then moved his sword down behind the captain’s left leg and cut it. The back of his legs hadn’t been covered with plate. The captain stumbled and began lean on his right leg. The captain swung again. The boy ducked down and cut at the captain’s sword arm. He then kicked the captain down to the ground. He kneeled down and pulled the helmet off.

            “I’ll see you pay for this! Guards, help me!” The captain screamed. Two guards ran forward, both of them with spears. The boy turned and parried a thrust from one spear, then grabbed the top of the shaft and pulled it away, cutting off the spear head. He moved out of the way of the second spear thrust and stabbed the broken spear head into the guard’s side, then swung at the second guard before he could draw his own sword. The curved sword left a wide open gash that blood quickly spilled from. The guard fell down dead instantly. The captain tried to stand up but fell back down again when he stepped on his left leg. The boy walked back towards him and put his right foot on the captain’s chest.

            “Please…spare me.” The captain squeaked.

            “They begged you for mercy. Don’t expect any from me. Remember my name in whatever afterlife you believe in. I am Azoth Stormwind, son of Elshield Stormwind. And I have come to leave a message.” He lifted his sword and stabbed it down into the captain’s eye. Blood began to gush from the captain’s mouth and throat. Azoth pulled his sword out and walked away from the dying man. Soon the captain’s body grew still and quiet.

            The crowd was dumbfounded. Not a noise came from them, or the guards. This gave Azoth time to run towards the orphans and free them. He took his sword and cut the ropes that bound their hands, taking care not to cut their hands or wrists. As Azoth helped Brendwin back onto his feet, some more townspeople ran from the crowd. The guards in the square began to run at him as well, brandishing their swords, spears and axes. Azoth gave Brendwin to Ragosh to carry and began to run at his opponents. Without a second thought he killed each of the men from the crowd, pushing one into the spear of a guard and slashing the neck of another. Some women ran out from the crowd in tears, who kneeled over the dead men. One guard came at Azoth with a one handed bearded axe. Azoth quickly sidestepped to the right, out of the way of the guards swing. He then struck the guards hand and cut it off, grabbing the axe and burying it into the middle of the man’s face. Blood splattered from the impact and some fell into the fountain water. The water quickly went from pure and clear to tainted and red.

            Azoth continued to kill more guards. He suddenly realized though that none of the orphans had begun to run. After stabbing another guard through the throat with his sword, he ran up to them.

            “Why are you just standing here? Run!” He exclaimed. They finally did start running, though it was very slow. Ragosh struggled to hold Brendwin up as he himself had been badly hurt by the stones. The crowd began to chase after them. Azoth stayed at the back, looking behind him to see how close the mob was. They had just passed the fountain when he first checked.

            He ran up to catch up to Arthur. Arthur was carrying Jade on his back, who herself had fallen silent. Another guard appeared from an alleyway. He seemed smaller from the others though. His helmet was lopsided and he appeared to be struggling with wielding his sword. The guard lifted his head and revealed his face. It was Donan. He took the helmet off quickly and waved to the group.     

            “Through here!” He called out as he ran back into the alley. Arthur didn’t have much time to think, so he had the group move down the valley. Azoth checked behind him again. The mob was getting dangerously close. The fat merchant from earlier came at him with a guards short sword. Azoth deflected the attack and ran the edge of his sword down to the guard of the merchant’s sword. He grabbed the sword and pulled it from the merchant’s hand and stabbed it into the side of his throat, letting go and running down the alley as the merchant fell to the ground.

            Donan led them down the alley passed six different houses. At the end of the alley was the western wall of the town. There was a small muddy stream running through a rusty old culvert beneath the wall. Donan kneeled down and kicked at the culvert. It didn’t budge, so he kicked again. Azoth caught up to them and turned to see more townspeople coming through the alley. They were rushing into the alley, but there was only so much room for a certain number of people at a time, so many tumbled down as they struggled to get through.

            Donan struck the culvert one more time and it finally gave way. He helped everyone kneel down as they went underneath the wall. One man managed to break from the tumbling crowd and ran at Azoth with a club. He struck, but the club got caught on the wall of a house. Azoth stabbed the man in the gut. The man spat up blood and grabbed Azoth by the neck. Azoth tried to push him away, but the man’s grip was cutting off his breathing. His vision quickly started to blur and he soon stopped struggling. Donan took out a dagger and stabbed the man in the neck with it. Blood gushed out and covered Azoth’s face, but he managed to keep any blood from getting into his eyes. Wiping the blood from his face, he pushed the man away as he pulled his sword out. They both ran for the culvert as the townspeople were finally starting to reorganize themselves. Donan went first with Azoth quickly behind. A guard’s axe just barely missed Azoth’s foot as he bent down. The guard quickly grabbed Azoth’s ankle and tried to pull him back. Azoth switched his sword from his right hand to his left, held it in a reverse grip and stabbed just behind the guard’s collar bone. He quickly withdrew the blade and continued through the culvert, leaving the guard to die.

            Outside the culvert, they were all running towards the forest again. Arthur was carrying Jade on his back while Ragosh held Brendwin up from falling. Aldus, Oldus and Jordan were staying next to Hannah, while Ariana was limping along with Athos. Donan was urging them on to keep on moving when Azoth finally caught up. The blood on Azoth’s face was starting to get sticky as he tried to wipe it off.

            They breached the edge of the forest where Donan finally told them to stop. Everyone fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Arthur placed Jade down and examined her face. It was covered with cuts and bruises from the stones, but nothing that would cause any lasting damage that he could see. Brendwin faired much worse. Donan was already examining him, feeling around his chest and abdomen. The cuts on Brendwin’s face were much deeper and his raspy breathing made everyone feel uneasy. Azoth was looking back at the town. It wasn’t far and he knew they couldn’t stop forever.

            “He has a few broken ribs, his nose is broken and so is his right forearm.” Donan said as he took out a white cloth and a small circular container. He placed the cloth against Brendwin’s nose and it quickly turned red with blood. As Brendwin held the cloth to his nose, Donan opened the container which held a green ointment that stank of rotten fruit. Taking a little of the ointment onto his finger, he had Brendwin lift the cloth off and rubbed it against his nose. Brendwin cringed as it was applied.

            “We can’t stay here.” Azoth said. He had taken out a blood stained rag and was wiping the blood from his sword. There wasn’t much he could do about the blood that had dried on his face at that point. “If we don’t hurry, they’ll start to search the forest for us.” Donan looked up at Azoth.

            “If we can reach my cabin, I can treat everyone’s injuries.” Donan said.

            “How far is it?”

            “Not far, only about half a league from here into the forest if we stay off the trail. Help me carry Brendwin.”

            Azoth and Donan lifted Brendwin up to his feet. They encouraged everyone else to stand up and to keep moving. Eventually they were all moving, albeit slowly, deeper into the forest once again. Azoth took great care not to pull on Brendwin’s right arm. He looked back multiple times as they trudged through over logs and bushes to see how far they had gotten from the edge of the forest. Each time they were just a little farther, though he could still barely see the town.

            Finally they reached Donan’s cabin. It was small and made of large spruce logs. The ceiling was made of thick thatch that was made of thousands of hay straws. There was a small garden that was full of a variety of different plants that came in all sorts of colours. A chimney stood tall at the opposite end that already has smoke fuming from inside. Donan ran towards the door and knocked on it three times. The door was quickly opened by a young girl, who jumped up and hugged Donan quickly.

            “Daddy!” She squealed loudly. Donan hugged her quickly and then put her down.

            “Rosie, go fetch your mother. I need her help. Quickly!” He said rapidly. Rosie seemed confused at first but then noticed Azoth carrying Brendwin and how bloodied all the others were. She ran back into the cabin, calling for her mother. Donan took Brendwin again and they carried him inside.

            Azoth pushed everything that was on the dining table onto the floor and they placed Brendwin onto it. Donan went into the other room as the orphans took some seats. Azoth stayed next to Brendwin, holding onto his arm carefully. A woman came out of the room Donan entered dressed in white clothes and a brown apron. Azoth assumed that she was Donan’s wife.

            “Alright, where’s he hurt?” She asked. Her voice was cheery, but serious. She placed her hand on top of Brendwin’s forehead, then went to the other end of the table and felt around his broken arm gently. Azoth noticed that the palms of her hands were thick with dirt. She moved her hands down to Brendwin’s ribs to try and find which ribs were broken. Donan came back with bandages in one hand and some small planks of wood. He placed the wood down and took Brendwin’s arm and started to wrap some bandage around it. After he hand wrapped it around the hand and the entire forearm, Donan cut the bandage with some sheep shears and tied it together. Afterwards, he took the planks of wood and placed them on the top and bottom of his forearm respectively. His wife held the planks in place while he wrapped more bandages around them.

            With Brendwin’s arm now in a splint, Donan slowly got him to sit up and wrapped a long bandage around his sides. The bandage covered the entirety of his torso and was held in place with a very tight knot on the opposite side of his broken ribs. With Brendwin’s bandages in place, Donan had his wife take Brendwin away from the table and sat down Arthur. He took off Arthur’s shirt and began to feel around his ribs. After Donan’s wife sad Brendwin down in a chair and told him to stay there, she went over to Jade. She began to clean the cuts on her face with a wet rag.

            “What’s your name little one?” She asked.

            “Jade. What’s your name?” Jade replied.

            “My name is Emilia. Once I’m done cleaning these, you can go into the other room with Rose. I’m sure the two of you would make great friends.”

            Jade didn’t budge. She just stood there as Emilia withdrew her hands. Ariana kneeled down beside Jade.

            “It’s okay. We’ll be right here. Go play.” She said with a smile. Jade still didn’t move. Instead she hugged Ariana tightly and began to weep quietly. Ariana held onto her. She let Jade cry into her shoulder.

            “Alright, let me see the rest of you.” Donan said while he handed Arthur his shirt back.

            “Give me that.” Azoth said suddenly as he grabbed a clean rag from Emilia. Emilia grasped and tried to take it back, but Azoth simply slapped her hand away. He held his sword inside the rag and began to wipe the blood off it with, taking care not to accidentally cut him hand. Once most of the blood was wiped away, he handed the now bloody rag back to Emilia.

            “Instead of just standing about, you could help me.” Donan said.

            “I’m not a physician like you.” Azoth retorted as he picked up a pitcher of water and poured it into a bowl. He cupped his hands together and splashed some water in his face and hair. He did this three more times and the water quickly turned pink as the blood washed off. “Besides, it’s the elf and the tall one who are the worst off as far as I can tell and you didn’t ask of my help with them.” Azoth took the bowl and dumped the water out the open window, then poured fresh water back into it.

            Eventually, Donan and Emilia had attended to all the injuries the orphans had endured from the stoning. Most of them had fallen asleep from exhaustion, but Arthur and Azoth were still awake. Azoth was standing guard at one of the windows, keeping his eyes and ears open for anyone who might approach. Donan walked over to Arthur and handed him a bowl of soup.

            “It’s nothing fancy, but it will keep you from going hungry.” Donan said as he sat down. Emilia had started a fire to keep everyone warm and was back outside in the garden with Rose. Arthur took a sniff of the soup and cringed. It reminded him of the smell of waste bucket or a chamber pot. He took a small spoonful and it wasn’t as bad as he had thought it would be. It nearly had no flavour, despite the mix of some kind of meat that Arthur could not identify, onions and some potatoes, but it still didn’t taste horrible. They continued to eat in silence for a few minutes until Azoth came over with a bowl of his own. He was about to take a bite of the soup when Arthur grabbed the bowl and took it out of Azoth’s hands. Azoth stood still for a moment before he looked up at Arthur.

            “Start talking." Arthur snapped. "Now."

Chapter 7

It was late at night and Arthur was still wide awake. He was staring at the remnants of the fire, which were just a few dwindling flames and red coals. Everyone was asleep, including Azoth. Arthur couldn’t sleep though. He didn’t understand how any of them could sleep after what had happened that day. The sound of the crowd still echoed in his mind whenever he closed his eyes. That and what Azoth had said earlier.

            Azoth explained to Arthur and everyone else why he had come to the orphanage. He said that he had left his home after a falling out with his father. Azoth’s father, Elshield Stormwind, was once the most renowned and respected scholar in Adradien. Elshield had two children. His eldest was Gabriella, a daughter who studies magic, and Azoth. He wanted his children to continue on with his legacy. Gabriella wanted to become a healer like her grandmother, and push the boundaries of what could be down with healing magic. Healing magic is the most difficult of magic’s and takes the most time to master. It made her father proud. Azoth however, would not conform to what his father wanted. Azoth wanted to be like the heroes of old, as he put it. He wanted to be a soldier. When his father would not allow it, Azoth ran away from his home when he was six years old.

            “I spent roughly around four years on the streets with only a few other homeless boys as my friends. Most of them ended up dying though” Azoth had explained. “When I was around ten or eleven, I tried to steal a travelling mercenary’s sword. Almost got away with it too, until the big oaf caught me. He was like a giant compared to me back then. The man sported long, messy, black hair with a large black beard that was braided down to the middle of his chest. His skin was dark and looked as rough as leather. I think he was from the deserts to the east. After he caught me, he dragged me to a mercenary camp that was about a mile outside of the town. The man threw me into a makeshift arena and gave me a small knife. He told me a single word. ‘Fight’, he said.”

            “He left me alone in that dirt arena for a few minutes as more mercenaries gathered around in the seating stalls. When a crowd had gathered, the mercenary called out a word I didn’t understand and a cage on the other end was opened. Out came one of those spike dogs. I dropped the knife and ran for the entrance to the arena. The crowd laughed at me and many were cheering for that fucking dog. I couldn’t believe it. Those men wanted to dog to rip a ten or eleven year old boy to shreds. The spike dog ran at me and bit into my arm. My first scar, you could say.” Azoth showed them the scar. “I screamed out and they continued to cheer. I knew I was going to die as I tried to push that dog off. It was in that moment that I realized I didn’t want to die. This was something a soldier would have to endure. So I punched the dog. I punched that dog over and over again until it finally let go. Instead of grasping my bleeding arm, I kicked the dog. It hunched back and revealed the quill-like spikes on its back. The dog lunged at me and I tripped over my own feet when I backed up. It got on top of me and tried to tear my face off. I could barely hold it back while I punched it again. It’s back legs had no claws so my stomach wasn’t damaged. Eventually I gave up punching and tried to find a rock. Thankfully I did and I hit it across the head with the rock and knocked it off me. While the dog was stunned I ran for the knife I had dropped and picked it up. I could hear the crowd cheering for me now. The dog regained its senses and ran at me. I backed away again when it missed its lunge. With an opening, I stabbed the knife into the back of its head over and over and over again until the knife and my hand were completely stained with blood. Half the crowd was cheering the other half was silent. I remember looking up at the dark skinned man and how he was looking at me with approval. Then I fainted by blood loss. When I finally came to, my arm has been bandaged and the dark skinned man stood over me. He asked what my name was. I told him. He told me his name was Ashrik and that I was one of them now. One of the Black Hawk mercenaries.”

            Azoth continued to explain that he spent the next three to four years training as one of the Black Hawks, which is how he learned how to fight the way he did back in Cathvas. He learned how to survive on his own if he ever got separated from the Black Hawks and how to live out in the wilderness alone. Ashrik, the leader of the Black Hawks, taught him how to read and write as well as how to fight. Ashrik never spoke of where he came from. Any time Azoth asked him, Ashrik would give him one of the filthy jobs that involved lots of cleaning. Azoth also made a lot of friends as he grew older. There was Grolag, one of the green skinned orcs from the Endless Mountains, home of his clan, Clan Shivervane. Galwyn and his little brother Filverel, the deadly elf duo who’s skill with two blades were unmatched on the battlefield. Finally, there was Agatha, the woman who claimed to be from the north, beyond the Endless Mountains. No one ever believed her of course. To them, there was nothing beyond the Endless Mountains. She was one of the prostitutes who accompanied the Black Hawks. Not only did she watch over Azoth when he was sick, once he was old enough, she taught him how to be a good lover for a woman should there ever be a time. Azoth refrained from going into the details of that.

            When the Black Hawks moved to Halvalen, the elves capital city within their massive forest kingdom, Azoth was given two options; to leave the Black Hawks and continue his current life, or to train as a warrior under the tutelage of the elves. Azoth still believed in his dream to become a great warrior, so he chose to stay with the elves. He hadn’t seen Ashrik or the Black Hawks since then.

            Azoth stayed as the apprentice of General Osron, the head of the elves warrior class and the leader of the elven armies. At this point, the war between the elves and humans had been going on for eight years. The Black Hawks were friends of the elves because of previous dealings they’ve had and because they refused to answer the kings summons for mercenaries. Half-way into his first year with the elves, Azoth abandoned his training and became a soldier on the elves side. He had fought with the Black Hawks before, but was never involved in an open battle or a siege. This was his first actual war. Azoth killed his own countrymen to defend the elves.

            When the war ended, he left Halvalen and the elven forests so he could return to Adradien and make amends with his family. After months of travelling on his own, he finally reached his father’s estate, only to find that it had new owners. Apparently, shortly after Azoth ran away, his father’s estate was attacked by bandits. His mother and father were both killed, but his sister could not be found. So Azoth went out in search of these bandits and hopefully, find his sister. He had finally found them the previous night and tried to sneak inside their camp. Azoth was spotted however and while defending himself, was shot with an arrow. That is when he decided to run. When he thought he had gotten away from them, he started to search for shelter, which later brought him to Greymoor Orphanage.

            “And now we’re here.” He finished. “I am deeply sorry for the pain I have caused all of you. It was not my intention. However, I cannot take any of you with me. You would all slow me down and I can’t keep an eye on ten people at once. There, I’ve told you what you wanted to know. Now let me eat in peace.”

            Arthur kept trying to push those words at the back of his head so he could sleep, but they kept coming back no matter how hard he tried. It had been a lot for him to take in one sitting. It would be even more difficult to accept Azoth’s story. All he wanted to do was sleep.

            Eventually he was able to sleep, but only for a short time. Before the sun had pierced the darkness, he was already awoken by Donan.

            “I’m sorry Arthur, I know you need sleep, but you may not have much time.” Donan said hastily. “Come. Hurry.” Arthur’s weariness quickly dissipated as Donan hurried him to get up. They hurried to the kitchen where Donan was gathering up small bundles of food, mainly of a few small bread loafs and some cheese. He wrapped them up quickly, then grabbed a large bucket and headed for the door.

            “Go and wake the others, Arthur.” He said as he went out the door. Arthur went back to the fireplace and quietly woke everyone else. As he went to each of them, he whispered what Donan had said to him. Soon they were all awake except for Emilia and Rosie. Donan came back to the house with the bucket full of water. He placed it on the table quickly and pulled out a large water skin.

            “What’s going on?” Arthur asked.

            “I fear that the townspeople are searching for you all. If they find you here, they’ll burn my house down and have us all executed. Even my little girl.” Donan said as he undid the water skin and started to fill it with water. “You should all be on your way, deep into the forest. There are enough supplies here to last you at least a week, maybe longer if you’re careful.”

            “Donan you can’t just force us out. Come with us, you’ll be safe.” Arthur began to protest.

            “Enough boy!” Donan yelled. Emilia quickly came out of her bedroom to see what all the commotion was about. “You’ll do as I say and go. I cannot keep you here anymore.” He finished filling up the water skin and sealed it tight. Donan started to tie up all the bundles together as tight as he could so no food would slip out. Arthur was hesitant as he reached for one of the bundles.

            Azoth went up and grabbed one of the bundles and the water skin and headed to the door.

            “He’s right. We can’t stay here. Most likely he’ll have a mob here shortly after sunrise.” He said. “If you want to live, you’ll follow me.”

            “Whatever happened to not taking us with you?” Arthur asked.

            “I’ll take you deep into the forest. That’s it. Now grab your bundles and hurry.”

            Before Arthur could argue further, everyone grabbed a bundle for each of them and headed to the door. Donan passed the last bundle to him and a pouch that jingled as it moved.

            “You’ll probably need to buy some proper clothes and provisions whenever you get the chance. Emilia and I discussed it last night and we want you to have what we’ve saved up. It’s enough to buy you what you need if you don’t waste it. Come on lad, take it.” He put the pouch into Arthur’s hands and started to push him out the door.

            Just as Donan and Arthur walked through the door, the sun was beginning to break upon the horizon. There was still much groaning from the other orphans. They were not used to being awoken at such an early hour. Azoth was already headed deeper into the forest, leaving the others behind.

            “Azoth, wait!” Arthur called out.

            Azoth continued walking. “I didn’t say I’d wait for you. If you want a guide, hurry up!”

            “Donan, are you sure you’ll be okay?” Arthur turned back to Donan as he gripped the pouch of gold tighter.

            “I’m sure. I’m just sorry I couldn’t do more to help you.” Donan replied. The others were beginning to follow Azoth without Arthur.           

            “Why did you help us?”

            Donan sighed heavily and looked down at his feet. He tapped both of them one at a time before looking back at Arthur. “I helped you because Hanalos was my friend and even though none of you were of her blood, you were like family to her. And I look out for my friends family.”

            Arthur could feel tears forming in his eyes, but quickly wiped them away. He grabbed hold of Donan and hugged him tightly. The shorter man hugged back awkwardly.

            “Many thanks.” Arthur said.

            “You’re welcome. Now go boy. You’ve dawdled here enough.” Donan pushed Arthur away. Arthur turned to face the group, who were already becoming difficult to see in the trees. He started to run forward to catch up to them and didn’t look back.

___________________________________________________________________________________            

They had been travelling for only a short time, though it already felt like they had been travelling for an entire day. In three hours, they had gone over two leagues. If they had been taking the road, they’d have been able to go farther. However, because of the brush, the slippery hills, rocks and forest debris, they were slowed down. It was also incredibly difficult for Brendwin because of his injuries. Often times they would stop for a few short moments so someone could replace the person carrying him. It was easier with Hannah than before. Her wound still caused her great pain, but so long as they kept it bandaged and cleaned, it didn’t slow her down as much.

            Azoth looked back at all of them and sighed. He placed his pack down and waited for everyone to catch up.

            Once all of them had caught up, he spoke. “Have a little food and rest. Share the water evenly or else we’ll run out too quickly.” Azoth opened the water skin and took a quick swig of the water, then passed it to Ragosh. He then sat down on a rock and started to undo his food bundle. Arthur sat underneath a one of the giant beech trees. The ground was moist from the morning mist, as were all the leaves. Arthur undid his bundle and broke off a small piece of bread. It was very dry and stale and tough to chew. He took a sip of water to help swallow it. After taking another piece of bread, he leaned back against the beech tree and looked up. They had never been this deep into the forest before. Arthur had always seen the forest as dangerous and ugly, based on the tales he was told as a young boy. Now that he was actually sitting inside of the forest itself, the best way he could describe it was pretty.

            Ariana was sitting on a log with Jade. Jordan passed her the water skin. She took a small sip of the water and held it for Jade, who took three large gulps of water.

            “Not so much Jade. We need to save some for everyone.” Ariana said, pulling the water skin back.

            “But I’m thirsty.” Jade whined. “And I’m tired. I don’t want to keep walking.”

            “We have to keep going. If we don’t, the bad men will catch us. Do you want the bad men to catch us, Jade?”

            “No.”

            “Neither do I. We’ll keep going and then we’ll find a place to stay and we’ll be safe.”

            “Are you sure?” Jade looked up at Ariana.

            “I’m very sure.” Ariana hugged Jade gently. Jade hugged back.

            Ariana noticed Azoth was wrapping his curved sword up in a cloth. She let go of Jade and walked over to him. Azoth stopped wrapping up the cloth and looked up at her. He observed her for a moment, and then went back to wrapping the blade.

            “If I may ask, what kind of sword is that?” Ariana asked hesitantly.

            Azoth finished wrapping. “What’s it to you?” He answered rudely.

            Ariana was taken aback for a moment at how Azoth responded but quickly got her thoughts back together. “I’ve only ever seen straight swords, never one with a curved edge such as that.”

            Azoth remained silent.

            “Well are you going to tell me or not?”

            “No.”

            “And why is that?”

            “Because I don’t see why it’s any business of yours.”

            “You don’t have to be rude about it.”

            Azoth’s expression went from blank to frustrated and angry as he stood up suddenly. “Listen here girl. I’m not here to make friends. I’m only here to help you along your way until the next town. After that I’m leaving.”

            Ariana stopped herself from retorting or slapping him.

            “Let’s get moving. We have a lot more ground to cover.” Azoth called to the others. He wrapped up his food bundle really quickly and took the water skin from Athos. The others were not so fast to get moving.

            “Hurry up!” Azoth yelled. Everyone picked up their pace after that.

            They continued to travel on through most of the day. Much to their surprise, they didn’t encounter any animal along their way. Not a single wolf, deer, rabbit, squirrel, or bear, much to the twins’ relief. There were plenty of birds to be seen and heard though. Because of the constant complaining from the twins and Jade, they decided to make a game out of the birds. They would guess which birds were which.

            “Up there in that tree branch.” Jade said to Ragosh, who was carrying her on his back. “Those two birds are blackcap birds.”

            “That’s a black bird Jade.” Aldus called to her. “Black caps have a black head and the rest is white.”

            “No, that’s the thrush. Black cap birds are those tiny brown ones that have little black spots around its chest.” Oldus corrected his brother as he pushed him aside. They were both wrong of course and Jade knew they were. She couldn’t help but smile as they argued about who was right. It took all she could not to start laughing out loud. Jade ran her fingers through Ragosh’s white hair. He shook his head to try and get her to stop, but she kept doing it.

            “Why is your hair white Ragosh?” She asked him.

            “I told you before, Jade. My father was an orc and a lot of orcs have white hair. He must have been one of them.”

            “Why didn’t he stay to look after your mother and you?”

            Ragosh paused for a moment.

            “Ragosh?”

            “I don’t know why he didn’t stay.” Ragosh lied. “Why do you always ask me that Jade?”

            Jade shrugged.

            “You’re a lot of help.” Ragosh rolled his eyes.

            As they trudged on over fallen logs, rocks, tree roots, and under branches, Jade was walking again and kept a look out for different types of birds. She had already seen jays, a few sparrows and one very brightly coloured kingfisher. There was one bird that she kept on seeing that she couldn’t place, yet she was seeing it all over the place. Finally she gave in and pulled on Ragosh’s hand.

            “Ragosh, do you know what kind of birds those are?” She asked him, pointing up at a branch that had three of the birds.

            “Those three blue ones on that branch? Those are bluebirds.”

            “But I thought bluebirds where completely blue. Those have yellow chests.”

            Ragosh stopped and squinted at the three birds on the branch. One of them flew away when the other two appeared to be fighting. “So they do. I don’t know then. Arthur, what kind of birds are those?”

            Arthur turned around and looked at where Ragosh were pointing. “Aren’t they bluebirds?”

            “No.”

            “Then I haven’t the faintest idea.” Arthur shrugged. When he turned around Azoth was walking back towards them.

            “It’ll be dark soon. This is a decent spot to spend the night, if it doesn’t rain.” He said.

            “Azoth, I have a question.” Jade looked up at him.

            Azoth stopped in his tracks. “What would you like to know?”

            “What kind of birds are those?”

            Azoth looked up at the branch. He stared at two birds for a moment, and then immediately started to smirk. Azoth put both his wrapped sword and bundle of food down. He took a sip of water from the skin and kneeled down onto his knees so he was looking her in the eyes.

            “Those birds are called blue tits.” He said, still smirking. Jade looked confused, Arthur was angry and Ragosh and Athos burst out laughing.

            “I don’t know what the man who named those birds was drinking, but I want some of it.” Azoth said as he started to laugh as well. Everyone else was really confused.

            “What’s so funny?” Jade asked. Ragosh was now leaning against a tree, still laughing.

            “It’s the last name. You see there is another thing in the world, well technically two things, that a woman has, called tits. And the point of them is -” Azoth started to explain before Arthur grabbed his arm.

            “You think this is funny? She’s only five!” Arthur snapped. He was infuriated.

            “She asked. Besides she’s going to have to learn some day.” Azoth said, still smiling. Everyone else had stopped laughing.

            “I’ll not have you talking that way around her or anyone else.”

            “Remember who has the sword here pup.” Azoth’s tone turned threatening.

            “Who are you calling a pup?” Arthur’s voice started to rise. “I’m older than you.”

            “Have you ever stuck as sword in someone’s gut? Or even bashed a man across the side of his head with a rock? Have you even shot a bow and arrow?”

Arthur remained silent.

“No surprise. That’s what happens when you grow up in an orphanage. You grow up green, not knowing a single thing of the world.” Azoth turned around to put the water skin down. Arthur grabbed his shoulder and punched him in the face. Everyone backed away as Azoth staggered. He regained his footing and turned to face Arthur, who had his fists up. Arthur pulled his fist back and tried to punch Azoth. His move was predictable though and Azoth moved to the side and punched at Arthur’s broken ribs. Grimacing, Arthur fell to his knees. He tried to punch again, this time hitting Azoth’s leg. It caused Azoth to stumble in place a little, but he quickly recovered and punched Arthur in the face.

“Don’t try to hit me again, stupid pup.” Azoth said. Arthur was grasping his cheek and his ribs, trying his best to keep tears from falling. Azoth picked up his sword and started to head out into the forest on his own.

“Where are you going?” Hannah asked.

“I’m going to try and find something other than stale bread and cheese to eat. Try and see if any of you can get a fire started next to that log.” Azoth pointed to a large hollow log. The log was at least fifteen feet long in width and appeared to be long enough on the inside for everyone to fit if they needed to.

“I hope you can make at least a half decent fire.” Azoth said as he disappeared into the forest. Everyone just stood silent and still for a minute as Arthur lay in the fetal position on the ground.

            Arthur wanted to cry. The pain in his side and his face were unbearable for him. He couldn’t tell if his ribs were worse than before from being struck again. Of all things, he was humiliated. To the others, he was seen as the leader of the group because he was the oldest. Now the oldest of them all had been beaten by someone three years younger than him. He didn’t want to look at anyone because of that. Arthur was scared of anything they might say or how they might be looking at him. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eye slightly and saw Ariana kneeling down beside him. She took his hand and tried to help him get on his feet. At first Arthur was resistant, as he pulled his face up from the ground and dirt fell from his cheek, he saw that everyone was still where they were standing. They were all looking at him, but not with contempt or embarrassment as he had initially feared. Instead they were looking at him with approval. Most of them were even smiling.

            “It’s okay Arthur.” Ariana said. “We’re still here for you.” She hugged him gently. He hugged her back and started to silently cry. Their world had crumbled down upon them, yet they still stayed together.

            I won’t let anything break us apart. Arthur thought to himself. Nothing will break us apart.

Chapter 8

It wasn’t long until the setting sun became noticeable. The bright colours of the forest were soon beginning to disappear and the giant trees became silhouettes against what was left of the radiant sun. After Arthur had gotten back on his feet, everyone except him and Brendwin went out to gather wood and stones for a fire. Arthur and Brendwin were sitting just inside of the giant log. It was surprisingly dry and didn’t seem to be overrun with insects that they could see or feel. Arthur was sitting with his legs over the edge while Brendwin was leaning against the wall of the log to his left.

            Arthur looked out to the west, in the direction of the sun. The sun was just about to pass under the hill and disappear into the night. He thought back to when he was very young and Hanalos would take him outside to watch the sun set and watch the moon rise. He wondered if he’d be able to see the moon through the top of the trees.

            Suddenly, there was a loud crack of a branch. He jumped up and grabbed a large stick that was at his feet. Brendwin tried to get up, but Arthur motioned his hand to keep him down. Arthur grasped the stick in both hands, closed his eyes and lifted it up over his head. He turned the corner and swung the stick. A girl screamed and there was the sound of the stick hitting something. When Arthur tried to pull it back however, he couldn’t. He opened his eyes and saw that Azoth was standing in front of him, holding onto the stick. Ariana and Jade were behind him with their arms full of sticks. Azoth pulled the stick away from Arthur’s grasp and threw it away.

            “Sorry,” Arthur said. “I thought you were an intruder.”

            “You’re too jumpy. I found these two gathering twigs for a fire. I’m shocked it’s taken them this long.”

            “We’ve never had to gather firewood on our own before.” Ariana said.

            “I can see that. Well no matter, they’re back and I saw the others heading this way. Now someone help me skin, gut and cook these.” Azoth lifted up three dead rabbits that he was holding by their back legs.

            Shortly after, the rest of the group returned with more firewood and more stones to make a fire. Azoth instructed them on how to prepare and get the fire started. They kept on trying the technique he showed them. They had gathered up a small nest of tinder made of dried grass and small twigs and placed it within a circle of rocks. Thankfully despite the recent rain, they were able to find a lot of dry wood around. After the nest was made, Azoth took a log that had been split in half and cut a v-shaped notch into the center of it. With the notch made, Azoth put small pieces of bark into the notch and took a two foot long straight stick and placed one end of it into the notch. He held it between the palms of his hands and rolled the stick back and forth between them, pushing down onto it hard so it stayed in the notch.

            “Just keep doing this until you get some embers from the bark. Then pour the embers onto the tinder and blow on it gently to spread it around. As the fire gets bigger, add more wood. Have fun.” He explained to them, leaving Ragosh, Athos, Jordan and the twins to try and start the fire.

            They had been trying for ten minutes and still hadn’t been able to start a fire. Azoth suggested that they add more pieces of bark into the notch and then try again.

            “Arthur, come here. I need you to help skin and gut these rabbits.” He called. Arthur came and sat down in front of him. Azoth gave him the smallest rabbit. Arthur just sat there with the rabbit in his hands.

            “I don’t know how to skin and gut a rabbit.” Arthur said quietly. Azoth stopped in place and then let out an irritated sigh.

            “Here I’ll show you. Since we don’t have a knife and I don’t want to accidentally cut off their legs with my sword, we’ll have to break its back legs at the knee until the bone pierces through the hide. You push the bone one way and pull the skin the other way Think you can do that?” Azoth explained.

            “I can try.” Arthur said, unsure of himself.

            “Okay. Try it now.”

Arthur pushed the back knee bone out and pulled on the skin, and heard a little crack. He closed his eyes at the sound, but opened them quickly. He had managed to break the bone through the skin.

“Now,” Azoth said as he started to pull the skin away on the legs. “You work your fingers around to skin to separate the rest of it at the original puncture and try to pull it away from the skin until you’ve separated it from the knee joint and the rest of the leg. Then you do the same with the other leg. With that done, you move your hand beneath the rabbits balls and work your way under the belly, where you loosen the skin from there. After you’ve loosened that, move your hand around the rabbit’s backside and loosen the skin there, pulling onto it so you take the skin off the tail and its belly. This next part is easy. You just pull the skin down until you get to the arms. Once you get to the arms, break the hide with your thumb, which shouldn’t be too hard. With your thumb through the hide, pull the skin off the arms and keep going until you get the head. When that’s done, you break the spine and I’ll cut off its head. Finally we make a cut in its belly and pull the rabbits guts out. That part stinks a lot so I’ll do it for you if you prefer.”

Arthur had tried to pay attention from there, but was sure he wouldn’t be able to remember it all.

“You’ll have to walk me through it as I do it myself.” He said.

“Fair enough.”

He retold all of the instructions again as Arthur pulled the skin of the rabbit himself. There were a few hiccups along the way, as he accidentally ripped off the entire tail instead of the skin. Eventually he was able to complete skinning his own rabbit. He even decided to gut it himself, using a sharp rock to cut the belly open. When he did gut the rabbit, the stench as he pulled out the stomach, lungs, heart, intestines and liver nearly caused him to throw up. Arthur also almost hit Jade with them when he threw them away.

Just as Azoth finished gutting the last rabbit, Jordan let out a cheer. “I did it!” They had finally managed to get some embers started, which they quickly placed into the nest of tinder. The tinder caught fire very fast and they slowly added smaller sticks as it grew. Azoth started to build a makeshift spit for the rabbits to sit on while they cooked. Arthur ripped off his sleeve and made it into a little cloth for the skinned rabbits so they wouldn’t get dirty after he had cleaned them. He took great measures to use as little water as possible. After he cleaned the rabbits, he shook the water skin to see how much was left. There was still enough for another day or two if they were careful.

The fire was now much bigger, so Azoth took two of the rabbits and forced a stick through where their heads used to be until it stuck out of both of their backsides. He placed the stick with the two rabbits on between the little posts he had made to form a spit and left them to cook over the fire. The last one he stuck another stick through, but held it over the fire with the stick in his hand, turning it on its sides every once in a while.

The sun had almost completely set by then and there were only snippets of light were left in the blackening sky. Their fire was the only light source they had now and all of them gathered near the fire to stay warm. The smell of the cooking rabbits kept them from falling asleep.

Soon all three rabbits were cooked and Azoth took the rabbits off the fire and placed them on the cloth Arthur has set up. He ripped off a leg for himself and started to eat.

“Help yourselves.” He said with a mouth full of rabbit meat. Everyone quickly gathered as much meat as they could from the rabbits and returned to where they were sitting. They all started to devour the rabbit meat ferociously. No one said a word; there was only the sound of chewing, their delightful moans at eating something that wasn’t old, the cracks of the fire and crickets.  

“So, you all know about me. What about all of you? I don’t know anything about any of you.” Azoth said out of the blue. Everyone stopped what they were doing and sat in silence. “What? It’s only fair you tell me that sort of thing seeing as I told you.”

“Why so sociable all of a sudden?” Ariana asked.

“I realize that I was rude earlier this morning and I apologize. Being rude in the eyes of others is a particular quirk I’ve seem to have acquired. How about this? I’ll answer the question you’ve all be wondering,” Azoth pulled up his sword and held it in front of him. “I’ll tell you about this sword. But only if you tell me about yourselves. Sound like a fair trade?”

They all thought about it and one by one they nodded.

“Good. You first.” Azoth pointed at Hannah, whose mouth was stuffed with food. She quickly chewed and swallowed her food before clearing her throat.

“I’m not sure what to say.” She said nervously.

“Tell me your name. Some things about you, where you come from, who your parents were if you know about them.”

“Okay then. Let’s see. My name is Hannah. I am seventeen and my mother was a whore. She had many…well let’s just say clients, so she’s not sure which one was the father. She wasn’t allowed to keep me, as much as she apparently wanted to. But it is Church law that any whore woman who bears a child must give that child up to either the nearest church or an orphanage. If she didn’t, I would have been taken away by force and my mother would have been flogged in public. So she gave me to Sister Hanalos at Greymoor, left Cathvas and hasn’t been seen or heard from since.” She explained, taking the occasional small bit of meat in between words.

“And you?” Azoth nodded towards Jade. Jade didn’t respond. Instead she continued to eat.

“She doesn’t know. Arthur and I found her abandoned in a field of purple flowers when we heard crying. We don’t know where her parents are.” Hannah said as he put her arm around Jade.

Azoth asked each and every one of them their story. They all told them it as best as they could. Jordan spoke about how his farm was taken by his uncle, Ariana about the hunter who found her alone in the woods, Aldus and Oldus about how their mother was disowned and how she was killed by a black bear. Azoth listened to all of them intently, letting a little pause go by as each one finished. Ragosh’s and Jordan’s stories kept him silent the longest though. He took the last leg of rabbit, ate it quickly as everyone sat in silence. Once he was finished, he cleared he throat and then pulled his sword up for all to see.

“You’ve all told me that you’ve never seen a sword like this. Well this is a weapon that not a lot of people use anymore. It’s not that useful against a man in full plate armor unless you’re very creative and fast. This type of sword is called a falchion. While originally designed to have the versatility of a sword and the power of an axe, this one in particular is inspired by the sabers that the desert people of the east use. It’s meant more for slashing that for stabbing, but it does a good job at stabbing someone.” He explained to everyone as he passed it around. It was still wrapped in its cloth to no one would cut themselves. Eventually Ariana was holding it.

“It’s much lighter than I thought it would be.” She said.

“That’s because it’s not made of regular steel.” Azoth said, smiling. The falchion finished passing through everyone’s hands until it returned to him. He undid the bindings of the cloth and held the blade close to the fire so they could see easier.

“When I was with the elves, I was given a task to find something called star steel. Star steel is a metal that comes from the shooting stars you see in the sky. Sometimes they come down and crash into the ground. I managed to find one when I was searching. Normally there is enough star steel to make a sword and in this case, there was. However, not only was there enough to make this falchion, there was enough to make a full suit of armor.”

“Because I had found it, I was allowed to have the armor made for my size and to be suitable for the type of weapon I wanted. I can’t remember how long it took to make, but I do remember waiting for a very long time. Forging star steel is a long and difficult process. If you’re not careful, it can shatter. But once it was finished, combined with the training I had received, I was near unstoppable. Star steel is much lighter and stronger than regular steel when forged by a smith who knows how to work it. I think the only things that would have been able to kill me in battle would be being trampled by large animals, a cannon shot, or a dragon.”

Everyone remained silent.

“Why didn’t you wear the armor when you came back?” Aldus asked.

“I went into battle with that armor a lot. I would have been too easily recognized in it. So I left it with the elves. So there you have it, that’s what my sword is.”

“Thank you.” Ariana said.

“We should get some sleep. We have a long way to go.” Azoth said as he kicked a little dirt into the fire. It dimmed down to a few flames and some bright coals.

Thankfully there was enough room for all of them inside the log. They all huddled up to keep warm as it had gotten very cold with the fire dimming down. Azoth laid down just at the edge of the log, looking out into the darkness of the forest. He didn’t fall asleep for a while, as he was keeping an eye out for the darkness in the forest. The others had fallen asleep very quickly though, as indicated by a lot of the snoring. Soon however, Azoth was able to relax and he quickly slipped into the darkness that is the realm of dreams.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Azoth had risen the group up early. The sun was just starting to break apart the night as he roused everyone from their sleep. It took them a while to get moving though. Hannah’s stomach was not feeling well after eating so much rabbit meat and the twins kept falling back asleep. Azoth also noticed that they were all barefooted and was shocked that none of them had cut their feet open yes. He went over to Arthur and ripped off the other sleeve of his shirt and told him to try and wrap it around one of his feet. The others did the same quickly. Once all their feet were wrapped up as best as they could be, they were one their way.

It was cloudy for most of the day. There was a moist feeling in the air that kept hinting at the chance it was going to rain again. None of them has seen this much rain during the summer. In Adradien, the majority of the rain came during the spring and then it would rain only once or twice during the summer. This summer, it had rains five times and it felt like it was going to rain again. The consistency of the trees also increased as they travelled on. They were surrounded by giant pine trees that had their branches high at the top. Many times their cones would fall down and hit one of them in the head. Aldus and Oldus soon began to entertain themselves by grabbing the freshly fallen cones and throwing them at each other. Most of the time they would everyone else rather than each other. They soon had to stop sooner than the previous night, as Brendwin was beginning to struggle from fatigue. Azoth left again to go hunting while the others tried to gather firewood.

Darkness encroached upon them again and they could hear many more forest creatures than before. Crickets were singing in every direction and the hoot of an owl could be heard nearby, though it could not be seen. However, the howling of wolves in the distance was always consistent. Shortly after they had gotten the fire started, a wolf howl could be heard in the distance. After that single howl, more were returned in reply. It continued on for what felt like hours.

“They sound like they’re getting closer.” Jade said as held onto her knees in Ragosh’s arms.

“Wolves can smell fear you know.” Aldus said jokingly. “Don’t be scared, or they’ll find you and eat you.” He jumped forward at Jade to scare her and started laughing with his brother when she let out a startled scream and buried her face into Ragosh’s chest.

“Aldus, Oldus, that’s enough.” Arthur said sternly. “Those wolves are far away, Jade. They don’t even know we’re here.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate a wolf if I were you.” Azoth suddenly said as he came out from behind a tree.

“Where have you been?” Arthur asked.

“Trying to get us food.” Azoth said. He held up a stick that was impaling two small perch fish. “I couldn’t find any rabbits and I don’t have a bow to shoot deer, so I had to settle with catching fish with my bare hands. As you can see, I’m not great at it. I did get more water for the water skin though.”

Azoth sat down and pulled the stick out of the perch, then cut off each of their heads and pulled their organs out. He then stuck both of them with their own respective stick and handed one to Aldus.

“Now hold that over the fire until I tell you to take it down. Okay?” He said. Aldus smiled as he nodded. Azoth smiled back and held his fish up over the fire.

“How did you catch those rabbits last night anyways?” Athos asked.

“I used a trapping pit. I dug a few holes and covered them up, left them and came back later to check on them. I then broke the rabbit’s necks.” Azoth said as he turned his fish adjusted the location of his fish.

“Azoth.” Arthur snapped quietly, motioning his eyes towards Jade who was looking horrified.

“Sorry. I’m not used to the company of someone so young.”

“It’s okay.” Jade said quietly. She played with her hair as she looked down at the fire.

Azoth kept changing the position of his fish every once in a while as the entire group stayed silent. Aldus and Oldus kept taking turns over who held the fish.

“Okay I think these are done. Oldus, give me the fish please.”

With both fish in his hands cooked, Azoth looked at the group and began to examine their motions. Most of them were nibbling on their bread. Most of the cheese was gone except for Azoth’s. Azoth then saw how Jade was grasping her stomach. He recognized it as a sign that she was very hungry.

“Jade, come here for a moment.” He said. Everyone looked up at him in worry.

“Why?” She asked.

“I want to give you something.” Jade got up from Ragosh’s arms and walked over to Azoth. She stood as tall as Azoth was when he was sitting. Her face was covered in dirt and her hair was all tangled from not being brush.

“Here you go.” Azoth passed her the one of the sticks. “You look hungry. You can have the whole fish.” Jades eyes widened with surprise, as did everyone else’s.

“But, the others…” She began to protest.

“I insist. They can all share the last fish, along with what’s left of my cheese.”

Everyone’s expressions turned to happiness and the mood instantly improved. Azoth passed the other fish to Arthur, who began to distribute pieces of fish with everyone else. He then took out his cheese, which he had barely touched and cut it as best he could into ten equal pieces. A smile came across his face. Jade was smiling more than she had since the orphanage was attacked. It was as if they had completely forgotten about what had happened.

Soon they finished the fish and the cheese and everyone got their share of water. They all laid back and relaxed as best they could on the dry ground. The fire was beginning to die down on its own. Azoth when he heard Jade say something.

“Hannah, can you sing me a song to help me sleep?” She said.

“I don’t know any songs, little dove. I’m sorry.” Hannah replied.

“I know a poem I could recite to you.” Azoth said. “It could help you just as well as a song.”

“Yes please.” Jade smiled and nodded intently.

“Okay. Let’s see if I can remember it. This poem is called Johnny Crowne.”

 

There once was a lad named Johnny Crowne

Who went on a quest in search of gold

On his quest, he found a maid in an evening gown

A maid of golden hair and golden eyes

 

“Step forward Johnny Crowne and take me from here”

The maid did say as she turned to face him

But Johnny did not answer, as he could not hear

And so he passed the golden maid

 

The golden maid laid a curse upon fair Johnny

A curse to become beast

A best of…

Azoth paused as he noticed how Jade had fallen asleep already. He smiled and laid back with the fire to his left.

I couldn’t remember the rest anyways. It was a terrible poem anyways. He thought to himself.

He looked up at the sky. The clouds had cleared away and he was able to see the stars from the spot he was laying in. Azoth loved looking at the stars at night. He always thought to himself how they got there. According to the book of the Guardian, they are the millions of souls that have died since the Guardian created the world and that somewhere beyond all the stars, there is a single massive star where the Guardian resides. Then there were the elves who say that the stars are banished spirits and gods that had done terrible things when they ruled. There was even some speculation that the stars may be where the great dragons of the south came from thousands of years before. With so many different versions of the same thing, it was mind numbing for him to think about. It was also keeping him from sleeping. Azoth quickly cleared those thoughts from his mind and closed his eyes, slowly drifting away into sleeping.

Suddenly, there was a loud snap and he jumped up with his falchion clutched in his hand. He stared into the darkness, listening intently for any other indication of noise. For a solid five minutes, he stayed in the same position, constantly moving his eyes across what he could see of the trees and listening. There was no noise to speak of. Not a sound of an owl, not a single cricket, even the wolves had stopped howling. Azoth looked straight ahead and as his eyes adjusted to the rest of the darkness, he was certain he could make out a large, humanoid shape behind some trees. He slowly kneeled down and picked up a rock. Azoth put his sword down as he stood back up and prepared to throw the rock. Certain of his target, Azoth threw the rock and listened for its sound. It hit something that wasn’t bark or the ground. It hit something that sounded fleshy. He picked up another rock and threw it again. This time there was a reaction from the rock. Azoth almost fell backwards into the fire as he was certain he saw the humanoid figure stand up and run away from its hiding place. As it ran, the ground shook and he could feel the rocks shake. None of group woke because they were fast asleep. Azoth was still in shock over what he had seen. The creature looked very human, but stood around ten feet tall if not more. He fell flat on his behind in shock and sat there in awe for a moment.

“It can’t be.” He finally said quietly. “They're just legends.” Azoth quickly laid back down and tried to fall asleep avoiding the thought of what he had seen.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Ariana woke to find herself underneath the same pine tree from before. She tried to move, but quickly found that her hands and feet her bound by rope and a rag was in her mouth. She turned her head to see if anyone was around, only to see Brendwin sitting unconscious next to her. At least she thought he was only unconscious. Ariana began to scream despite the rag in her mouth and struggled to free herself from the ropes. It was then that she saw everyone else bound and gagged nearby. Arthur’s head was at her feet and Ragosh was laid flat across the ground next to her.

            “Good, you’re finally awake.” She heard a familiar voice. As her vision began to focus, she saw the hunter standing next to a small fire, holding onto a stick with a small cooked bird on it. It was the size of the kestrel. “I was hoping you weren’t dead.”

            “My name is Kristoff. And according to your friend, your name is Ariana.” Kristoff pointed at Arthur.

            “I came out here searching for game for me and my friends, but instead I found a young little half-elf and her friends. I wasn’t aware that today was my birthday.” Kristoff took a small bite of the kestrel. “I was hoping to make my claim on you before you awoke, but you seem to have a bit of a problem.” He pointed again at Ariana. She looked down and saw blood staining her night gown in between her legs. She also began to notice the cramps she was feeling.

            “You’re lucky. I don’t touch any woman who bleeds on her own. Why does that happen anyways?” Ariana looked back up at Kristoff and growled at him through her gag. “Oh, right. You can’t talk. How stupid of me.” Kristoff began to laugh as he continued to eat the kestrel meat.

            “It’s not just my lucky day. It’s a lucky day for my friends. You see, my friends and I haven’t had a proper woman, or a boy for some of them, in a long time. Most of the ones we have don’t even fight back anymore. You all will be a nice addition.” Kristoff finished heating the kestrel and kicked dirt into the fire he had made. He then walked over all the unconscious bodies and kneeled beside Ariana. He rubbed his finger across her cheek. She pulled her head away from his hand, but Kristoff took hold of her hair and pulled her back and continued to rub his finger on her cheek.

            “So soft.” He said. Ariana could have sworn he was drooling. “And those dark silver eyes. I can’t imagine anything else more tempting.” Ariana closed her eyes tight so he couldn’t see her eyes. He let go of her hair roughly and walked back to gather up his things. Sitting down, he pulled out a small piece of parchment along with a piece of coal and began to write on it. Once he was finished, he rolled the parchment up and then stood up. Holding his right arm out, he whistled loudly and waited. He stood there for a few moments until suddenly a large black hawk perched onto his arm. Its talons went into the thick leather glove that he was wearing but he did not seem to mind. Kristoff opened a little cylinder that was attached to the hawk’s leg and placed the parchment inside, then sealed up the cylinder.

            “Go back.” He said and pushed his arm forwards as the hawk took flight and flew to the west. “They’ll be here soon. I think you’re going to like it with us. Sure most of us are rough around the edges, but eventually you learn to love us, usually in more than one way.” Kristoff burst out laughing. Arthur and the others were beginning to regain consciousness. “Oh, seems like your little friends are starting to wake up. I guess the only thing to do is the pass the time. And show them some of what’s in store.” Kristoff stood up and walked over to Hannah, who was lying down on her belly. Kristoff grabbed her by the hair and began to drag her in front of the others. She woke up completely and began to scream in pain. Her screams woke everyone else, who all quickly began to struggle with their bonds trying to get free. Ariana herself tried again, but to no avail. The bonds were just too tight.

            Kristoff let go of Hannah’s and let her fall down onto her side. He kneeled down and took hold of her face and forced a kiss on her cheek.

            “I hope you like it rough,” Kristoff said as he gripped Hannah’s breast roughly. She cringed and screamed as he pulled on it. “Because I’m going to be merciless with your little cunt.” He pushed turned her over onto her belly and started to lift her night gown off her legs. He stood on his knees and started to undo his belt.

            Suddenly, a small rock hit him across the temple of his head and Kristoff fell down to the ground. Hannah tried to get up from her belly, but kept slipping. She then felt a hand caress her head. Panicked, she flailed herself and turned around, only to see Azoth standing above her.

            “It’s okay Hannah. I won’t hurt you.” He said softly as he rubbed her forehead. She quickly slowed her breathing and calmed down. Azoth turned his attention to Kristoff. Kristoff was redoing his belt and trying to regain his senses. Azoth ran towards him and punched him square in the jaw, causing Kristoff to fall to the ground. Kristoff let out a yell of pain, but quickly got back to his feet. He drew his bolo knife out from its scabbard and pointed it at Azoth, who was just inches away from the tip of the blade.

            “Stay…Where…you are.” He said in between breaths. Azoth stood very still, never breaking eye contact with Kristoff. “Do you know who I am boy? Do you know who my friends are?”

            “No. I don’t. But I don’t need to know. All I know is that I’m going to kill you, no matter how much you beg for mercy. I don’t offer any for a fucking animal like you!” Azoth declared. Kristoff began to laugh. He spat out blood from his bleeding mouth and suddenly lifted his bolo knife to strike Azoth. Azoth stepped back and lifted his falchion up, still in its cloth cover, to deflect the attack. He held it in the reverse grip, which nearly caused the bolo knife to slide off the edge and strike him if he hadn’t held it there with two hands. Taking his chance, Azoth kicked Kristoff in the belly, which caused him to stumble backwards. Azoth took the cloth off the blade of his sword and held it properly in one hand. Just as Kristoff regained his footing, Azoth made an overhead attack which Kristoff was just barely able to deflect. Kristoff tried to punch Azoth with his free hand, but Azoth ducked down, pulled his sword down and slashed Kristoff’s leg. Kristoff began to scream and fell to his knees. He made another wild swing at Azoth, which Azoth easily deflected. Azoth took hold of Kristoff’s sword arm and quickly cut off Kristoff’s hand. Just as Kristoff was about to put his other hand up to beg for mercy, Azoth slashed Kristoff’s throat open.

Blood sprayed from Kristoff’s throat and splattered all over Azoth’s face and clothes. He fell to the ground, choking on his blood and trying to mutter some words. Azoth threw lifted his blade over his head and struck Kristoff across the face. He pulled his blade out and struck again.

“No! Mercy! For! A! Worthless! Fucking! Animal!” Azoth yelled was he hit Kristoff. With each strike, blood continued to paint his entire face red. Soon he stopped, breathing heavily and looked up at the sky, opening and closing his eyes slowly. Suddenly, he looked back and saw the entire group staring at him in horror. Azoth dropped his sword and fell to his knees, running his bloodied hands across his bloodied face. He let out a loud scream in anger. His scream could be heard from great distance, as he could hear all kinds of beards fly away from tree’s that were a few meters away from where he knelt.

Azoth let his hands fall from his face and he down at Kristoff’s mutilated corpse without emotion or expression. He formed his hands into clenched fists and looked out into the forest.

I can’t leave them. Not after this… He thought to himself, trying to repress the tears forming in his eyes. Not after this…

Chapter 9

It was the following evening, and Azoth was wide awake as he watched over the sleeping group. With no fire, they were all huddling together for warmth, but Azoth had stayed away from them so that they would know if someone approached in the night. After Azoth had cut everyone from their bonds the previous day, he took what he felt would be useful from Kristoff. He took a small, half empty water skin, his bolo knife, his hunting bow and arrows and his boots, which Azoth gave to Arthur to wear. The rest he left to rot along with Kristoff’s corpse. They left the camp in haste, as Ariana told Azoth how Kristoff had sent a message via bird and that more were probably on their way.

            And so they pushed forward as quickly as possible throughout the day, trying to get as far away from their camp as they possibly could. They only stopped once and that was for when Azoth went into a nearby stream and cleaned off the blood that had caked his face and his sword. Afterwards, there was no stopping for any of them. Azoth stayed at the back this time and directed them on which direction they should go. He always looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was following them. So far, there were none.

            Azoth was still angry over what Kristoff had tried to do to Hannah. He was angry that he had to stay with all these children. They couldn’t look after themselves in the world and he didn’t want to be their constant babysitter. He wanted to leave them to their fate and just go on his merry way. But then he’d slap himself for thinking that way.

            I can’t abandon them. He kept telling himself. I won’t let such a thing happen to them.

            Azoth wrapped his arms around his legs and shuffled closer to the tree at his back. He felt around his neck to try and find the leather string necklace he was wearing. He’d managed to keep it hidden from the rest of the group. Taking the end of the necklace, Azoth lifted it off his neck and held it in his hand. With little light given from the moon, he couldn’t see its markings. To make up for the lack of vision, he felt around the end of it so he could have a visual of it. It was a small piece of steel that was molded into a wing shape. It was an eagle’s wing in just before flight with a tiny amethyst gemstone on the edge of the topside. Azoth gripped the necklace tightly, taking care not to do anything to damage it. He suddenly heard a loud snap. Acting quickly, he put the necklace back on, tucked it into his shirt and took hold of his sword. He leaned back and pretended to be asleep, listening carefully for any approaching footsteps.

            There was another snap. Azoth gripped his sword tighter.

            “Is anyone out there?” A man yelled out. Azoth loosened his grip, but kept one eye open. The moonlight provided the outline for the person approaching. Azoth couldn’t make out any colors or outstanding features, but he could see that the approaching man was very short. Just as the man passed the tree, Azoth stood up and grabbed him, placing his place up to the man’s throat.

            “Speak. Or see the life drained from your body.” He said quickly. The man let out a started yelp, but quickly quieted himself.

            “I am just a humble innkeeper, lost in the forest on his way back to town.” The man said.

            “And your name?”

            “Eric.”

            “And how do I know I speak the truth? That you do not have a group of bandits with you to ambush us in our sleep?”

            “There are more people here?” Azoth pressed the blade closer to Eric’s neck. “Okay! Okay! You will have to trust me I suppose. I have no intention of hurting anybody.”

            Azoth thought for a moment, then lowered the blade. Eric put both hands up to his neck and rubbed the area where the sword was pressed against.

            “Many thanks. You know my name, but I do not know yours.” He said.

            “Azoth.”

            “Well, good evening Azoth. Can I join you and your fine company for the night?”

            “If you’re quiet. I’d stop backing up if I was you, or you’ll trip over them.”

            Eric stopped backing up just before he was about to trip over Ragosh.

            “Thank you. So, where are you headed?” Eric sat down just across from where Azoth had been sitting.

            “Why should I tell you?”

            “I’m an innkeeper. I ask a lot of people that kind of question.”

            “We’re heading in no particular direction. We could use some fresh food and clothes though.” Azoth took a sip of water then passed the water skin to Eric. “Water?”

            “Oh yes please.” Eric took the skin and took five large gulps of water before stopping to catch his breath.

            “Why are you out here alone?” Azoth asked.

            “My daughter’s dog ran away and I decided to try and get him back. Then I fell asleep under a tree after searching since dawn and woke up when the moon in the middle of the sky.”

            “And you still haven’t found your daughter’s dog?”

            “No. She’s going to be heartbroken.”

            “What kind of dog is it?”

            “No idea. It’s a small white dog. Excitable little fella. We found him abandoned in the forest when my daughter and I were picking blueberries six years ago. No idea why he would run off. We’re good to him, we keep him happy, and we feed him and clean him as best as we can.”

            “I see.” Azoth was becoming uninterested in what Eric was saying.

“Sorry. I tend to get carried away. If you want, I can take you to my town in the morning.”

“Why?”

“Like you said, you need food and clothes. I can offer the food, warm beds and then I could call for the tailor and have him make some clothes for you.”

Azoth leaned his head back and thought about the idea for a moment. He was still skeptical of the man and his story, but he knew that they didn’t have much food left. And they all desperately needed proper clothes.

“Alright Eric. You can take us to your village in the morning. But keep in mind that if you’re leading us into a trap, I won’t hesitate to make an attempt to chop your head off.” He was certain he heard a loud gulp come from Eric.

“Trust me, young Azoth,” Eric stretched his arms out and laid himself down on the ground. “I wouldn’t think of betraying someone with a sword. I’m not stupid.”

Azoth smiled a little and laid back against the tree again, slipping quickly into slumber.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Morning came faster than they had expected. When everyone arose from their slumber, they were surprised to see a small bald man lying in the fetal position on the ground. Eric’s face was wrinkled and he looked as if he was over fifty, even though he sounded younger and claimed to only be thirty three.

Azoth quickly explained what had happened during the night. Almost everyone’s moods brightened up once they heard the words food, clothes, and baths. Eric quickly promised them baths after Azoth explained what had happened.

They were on their way very quickly with Eric leading the way. Now that it was no longer dark, he knew which way he was going. He was a very cheerful fellow, always humming and whistling a merry tune to help keep spirits high. Jade kept up with him, always asking him a question about the village which he would happily answer.

“What’s the name of your town?” She asked once.

“It’s had many names according to a lot of old stories. But currently, it is called Crestpoint.” Eric replied eagerly.

The forest soon began to thin out and soon the end of it came into sight. Eric hurried them towards the tree line, which everyone eagerly awaited. Finally, they passed the edge of the forest and were greeted with a large field of fresh, green grass, and the warm radiant sun. They all stopped to feel the warmth of the sun after a cold night. Azoth stopped and closed his eyes, taking a big sniff of the air and letting out a massive breath. He took off his boots and wiggled his toes in the grass. His feet being ticklish, he quietly giggled as he ran them across the grass. He quickly put his boots back on before anyone noticed him.

“And there,” Eric called out. “Is Crestpoint.” He pointed out towards the rest of the field. They all looked up as saw an un-walled town. It looked similar to Cathvas, only smaller and it wasn’t next to a lake.

“Well, let’s hurry up.” Eric said. “You all need a bath and some food in your bellies.”

Eric led them all down to the edge of Crestpoint. They entered by the western road. There were no guards, so people were just coming and going as they saw fit without any inspection. It put Azoth at ease. As they entered the town, Azoth noticed something odd. There were no guards around. None were patrolling the streets and none were standing guard at any post that he could see. It left him feeling uneasy.

The inn wasn’t very far. It was the building at the end of the street to the right. The sign was of a rooster with three words painted below it. Azoth couldn’t help but snicker at the name.

The Roaring Cock.

“It means the rooster you gutter head!” Eric snapped when he saw Azoth snicker.

They entered the inn and were surprised at how many people were inside. Every table that they could see was taken, all by men as well. Eric quickly went behind the counter.

“Rosie! I’m home love!” He called out. There was no response. “Rosie?”

“She’s gone out for a bit to get some herbs from the forest.” One of the patrons said. “She said she’d be back soon enough.”

“Guess I’ll have to deal with the rooms. There are currently three rooms to spare. You can have any of them free of charge.”

Arthur walked up and held up the bag of gold that Donan had given him. “We’ll all take a single room together is at all possible. If beds need to be moved, we can manage. We’ll also gladly pay for food, drink and baths.”

“No, I’ll take a room on my own while all of you get a room to yourselves.” Azoth stepped up.

“I won’t argue with that.” Arthur said coldly.

“Alrighty then.” Eric said. “They’re upstairs at the end of the hall. See whichever ones you prefer and make your choice there. I’ll have the workers at the bathhouse come over to prepare tubs for all of you.”

“Thank you.” Azoth said, quickly heading for the stairs at the far right of the inn. He caught glimpse of a woman who entered the in just as he started walking up the stairs, but did not turn to see her. With the others close behind him, he headed for the room at the very end of the hallway to the left. Everyone else took the room right next to his.

Azoth opened the door to his room. It was dark with three beds, an empty chamber pot, window that was covered by a single blind. He went across the room and opened the blind, which let in a lot of light. With more light, he saw that there was a worn out oak desk just beside the window. The beds were also made of worn out oak as well, with mattresses filled with straw. Some pieces of the straw were sticking out at the edges. When he sat down on the bed closest to the window, it creaked loudly and he could of sword he heard something crack.

            “Well, it’s better than sleeping in the dirt.” Azoth said to himself. He got up from the bed and walked over to the desk. He took off the cloth that was wrapped around his place and placed the falchion onto the desk. He then started to take off his bloodstained shirt and proceeded to throw it out the window. Azoth was surprised that Eric hadn’t noticed how blood stained it was. He then lied down on the bed closest to the window and closed his eyes.

            Later on, Azoth was awoken by Ragosh and Athos, who wanted to take the two other beds that were in the room. Once they had been taken out, he fell asleep again.

            After a few hours of much needed sleep for him and the others, Eric knocked on their doors to say that the workers from the bathhouse has arrived. Azoth groaned as he forced himself up from the bed. A man dragged a large wooden tub with a linen cloth draped across his shoulders.

            “Hot water will be brought up to you soon.” He said as place the linen cloth across the edges of the bath before leaving. Azoth went over to examine the bath itself. The wood was also made of oak, much like everything else. The linen was fresh and a very bright white. It was so white it almost seemed like it was glowing. Shortly after, a girl, probably around Azoth’s age if not slightly younger, came in with a bucket of steaming water. She poured it into the tub and then left. Azoth felt the water, then immediately pulled his hand back. It was really hot, to the point where Azoth thought it might be hot enough for a piece of meat to be cooked in it as if on a fire. That of course was an exaggeration, but he was sure anyone would think that.

            The girl returned multiple times with more buckets of water. She continued to do this until the tub was completely filled. Azoth turned and started to undo his trousers, but then noticed that the girl hadn’t left the room. Azoth turned to face her after redoing the strings of his trousers.

            “Why are you still here?” He asked her. She didn’t respond. “Answer me.”

            “It is my duty as a worker at the bathhouse to bathe you.” She replied. She placed the bucket down and began to undo her dress. Azoth put his hand up and she stopped.

            “So the bathhouse’s here deal in whores as well?” He asked her.

The girl blushed bright red and nodded. “I am not considered a true whore however, as I have not…Have not.” She blushed even more.

“You haven’t been with a man before.”

“Aye.”

“What’s your name girl?”

“Calina.”

“Well Calina. Go over to the other room and talk to Arthur your situation. Tell him that Azoth said to give you and any other whores who were sent over five gold pieces and for all of you to leave.”

“I cannot leave. If I do without being with a man, I’ll be beaten again and left out into the street.” Calina walked over to Azoth and put her hand up to his bare chest.

“I’m sorry. I won’t take a girl’s virtue if she is forced to give it up just to survive.” Azoth pushed her away. Calina’s eyes filled with tears and she quickly left the room crying. Azoth finally stripped down naked and got into the tub. The water had cooled down enough that it wasn’t burning hot. Just as Azoth was beginning to relax however, the door to his room burst open again. This time it was a large man with Calina close behind. Azoth groaned in frustration as he dunked his head under the water for a moment, then resurfaced.

“I heard you won’t fuck one of our whores.” The man said.

“You heard right.” Azoth replied.

“Why not?”

“All I want is a hot bath after a long journey. If I wanted a whore, I’d go looking for one.”

“Look at Calina,” The man grabbed Calina’s arm and pulled her forward. “There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s a virgin, her skin is soft, her breasts are supple and she has a face that any man would go wild for. Why wouldn’t you accept her?”

“Didn’t I just explain why? I’m sore and tired from my journey. Now leave me to my bath.”

“Then you won’t mind if I just take this little flower for myself.” The man said as he pulled Calina back to him. She slapped him across the face, but the big man just pulled her away.

“Alright!” Azoth exclaimed. “Alright, I’ll take her. But none of my companions in the other room will have one. And I choose when to fuck her, not you. That’s the deal.” The big man looked disappointed.

“Business is business. Have fun with her.” He pushed Calina towards the tub. She fell into it while still in her dress, causing water to splash everywhere. The man closed the door laughing.

Azoth helped Calina out of the water. She coughed out water that she had swallowed, but quickly was breathing normally again.

“I’m sorry. He grabbed me and pulled me back up here.” She said quietly.

“It’s alright. At least it’s gotten rid of that buffoon.” Azoth said as he splashed water in his face.

“I’d best get out of this dress.”

“Yeah, that would be best. I mean what’s the point of bathing if you’re not naked.” He laughed a little. Calina didn’t.

She quickly took off the soaking wet dress, threw it to the floor and kneeled down into the hot water. Azoth cupped water in his hands and poured it onto her brown hair. The man wasn’t kidding; Calina’s did look smooth as silk.

They stayed in the bath together for quite some time. Calina kept on washing her hair while Azoth scraped the dirt off of his body as best he could. They tried their best to avoid contact with each other’s skin. Azoth ducked under the water every once in a while to clean out twigs and dirt out of his hair. When he came back up for the third time however, Calina had moved her face closer towards him. Azoth stayed perfectly still as their noses barely scraped against each other.

“Forgive me.” Calina said as she pulled her face back.

“No.” Azoth said. He put his hand up to her cheek. She blushed as she took hold of his hand. Azoth moved in closer as he held Calina’s face in both of his hands gently. Her heart was racing as his face moved in closer to hers. It went soaring as he leaned and kissed her on the lips. He pulled away slowly and she was at a loss for words.

“I will not ask why you chose the life of a whore. All I will say is that while you may not have another man such as me again, I promise you I will make this something you will never forget and will never regret.” He said to Calina with her face still in his hands. She smiled and took hold of him and kissed him again.

“Thank you.” She said teary-eyed. Azoth nodded and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her naked body up against his own. He leaned up and kissed her again as he clasped both of her breasts in his hands. Calina let out a soft moan as Azoth squeezed them gently.

Azoth moved his hands from her breasts and moved one arm down under her legs. The other went under her arm and onto her back. He lifted her up from the water and carried her to the bed. Azoth gently laid her down on her back, moving his hand up her belly to the middle of her chest. He kissed her again and lied over top of her.

“Please,” Calina whispered. “Be gentle.” Azoth nodded. He positioned himself properly in between her legs and gently pushed his hips forward. Calina let out a loud cry of pain and wrapped her arms around Azoth, shaking violently.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Ariana, Hannah and Jade had gone into the other room when their baths were drawn. Ariana was in the tub closest to the door, while Hannah and Jade shared a tub together next to the window. All the stuff stuck in their hair quickly came out as they ran water through their hair. Jades blonde hair quickly began to shine again as the dirty was washed away from it. Suddenly, they began to hear loud moans from the room across from theirs. Ariana and Hannah quickly realized what the noises were and didn’t speak a word.

“Is that girl who went into Azoth’s room in pain?” Jade asked.

“No…not at all.” Hannah said awkwardly.

“Then why does she sound like she’s hurting?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

“But I want to know now.”

“Jade. Enough. Or else I’ll tickle your feet all day.”

“No!” Jade laughed as she grabbed her feet to protect them.

“Now, let me wash behind your ears.”

Ariana closed her eyes, took a deep breath and dunked her head underwater. She ran her fingers through her hair, breaking up a big clump of dirt that had gathered near her scalp. After getting stuff out of her hair, she began to rub her face again to clean off any dirt that may have remained. Her lungs began to feel like they were beginning to burst, as she came up for air. The moans from Azoth’s room were now louder. She covered her ears to block out the noise and closed her eyes. However, the images of how she imagined Azoth making love to a woman filled her mind. She opened her eyes to banish the images from her sight.

A few minutes later, the moaning stopped and all was quiet. Ariana let out a sigh of relief as she leaned back in the tub. Just as she was about to go under water again, there was a knock on the door.

“Sorry to disturb you ladies, but the tailor has arrived with more clothes. May she enter to show you your choice of clothes?” A man said.

“You may.” Hannah replied.

The door opened and in entered a short elderly woman with three sets of clothes in both of her arms. She had one blind eye and a small crooked nose that was pointed downwards. She placed the clothes down on the floor and in front of them.

“Now, I tried my best based on what Eric said your bodies were shaped like. Some of these might not completely fit, but I can make adjustments to them later on. Understand?” The old woman said. Everyone nodded. “Good. Now you little girl, get in this towel and we’ll see what I have for you.”

She wrapped Jade up in the towel and helped her out of the tub. Jade laughed as the old woman messed up her hair as she dried her off.

“You have two choices. With this set, the dark red one here, you’ll be kept warm at night and won’t feel too hot during the day. You’ll look like you’re dressed as a boy sometimes though, so you might not like that. But we have this dress that I’ve designed specifically for travel. The bright blue is pretty on the eyes and its ideal for travel, but won’t keep you that warm. So what’s your choice?”

“The blue one. I like blue.” Jade said excitedly.

“Right love. Let’s get you into it then.”

The tailor quickly got Jade changed into the blue dress. It was a near perfect fit for her. Only the sleeves were a little long for her arms. She didn’t mind though. Jade was happily jumping around in the dress. The bottom of the dress was just above her ankles so she wouldn’t trip on it while walking. Hannah and Ariana quickly changed into clothing of their own. Hannah had similar choices to that of Jade’s. They were the only dresses in her size that were made for travel, with one of them being slightly bigger than the other. Hannah chose the slightly bigger one, which was dark blue in colour. Ariana, like Jade, had the choice between warmer clothes or clothes more suited for a woman. She picked the clothes that were warmer. This set consisted of a dark red velvet shirt with sheep wool laced on the inside. There was also a pair of hemp trousers. All of their sets came with small leather boots and wool socks for each of them. The socks helped make the boots more comfortable for them.

As soon as they got dressed in their new clothes, the elderly tailor left their room to attend to all the boys. The girls felt that maybe now would be a good time to get some more sleep. Ariana sat down on her bed and pulled the thin blanket over her. Despite how thin the blanket was, her new clothes made her feel warm. She laid her head down onto the feather pillow and closed her eyes.

Maybe I’ll be able to sleep this time. She thought to herself. A few moments later however, she began to hear Calina’s moaning coming from Azoth’s room again. Ariana groaned and put her head under the pillow to drown out the noise.

Their sleep was short lived when another knock came from the door.

“I’m sorry to disturb you. It’s just that Eric has had food prepared for all of you.” Someone called. The girls suddenly realized how hungry they were and nearly bolted out the door.

Outside the room, the boys were already heading downstairs. They all looked very nice in their new clothes. The only one they couldn’t see was Azoth. He was still in his room they thought.

There was a large table cleared for them in the middle of the inn. Most of the patrons from before had left and the entire inn was very quiet. They all sat down at the table side by side and waited. Eric quickly came out with large plates of food. Each of the plates were the same, with fresh bread, large pieces of cheddar cheese, potatoes, onions and beef mixed a thick, brown gravy and fresh raw vegetables on the side. Eric later brought in big mugs of milk in for each of them. Without a second thought, everyone dug into the food. Their faces were soon completely covered in gravy and their lips soaked with milk. The food quickly disappeared from their plates with none of it going to waste. They all leaned back in their chairs and relaxed, their bellies filled to the brim.

Arthur reached for the bag of gold and asked Eric how much it would cost.

“It’s on the house. No need to pay the tailor later either. I already did for you.” He said. Arthur quickly put the gold back into the bag.

“Well, now what are we going to do?” Athos asked.

Arthur pursed his lips and leaned forwards. “I feel like we should stay here for the time being. We should rest and gather our strength again before we head on the road.”

“Why can’t we stay here for good?” Jordan asked.

“Because of that bad man who caught us in the forest. He sent a message to more bad men to try and find us. They’ve probably found him by now and are tracking us. And this place doesn’t have any walls. We wouldn’t be safe here.” Arthur explained.

Laughter came from upstairs and Azoth came downstairs in new clothes. He was dressed in a black linen shirt much like the other boys and black linen pants. His boots were made of black leather as well. Azoth pulled his hair back and tied it into a pony tail, revealing another scar down the side of his face that none of them had seen before.

“Arthur, how much gold is in that bag?” He asked. He was struggling to keep his balance.

“One hundred coins. Why?” Arthur replied.

“I need twenty.”

“Why?”

“You honestly don’t know what I was doing in my room?”

“I know what you were doing. Are you saying you’re paying for a prostitute?”

“It’s not like I want to pay her. She even insisted that I don’t. But I’m worried that her mistress will beat her if she goes back without some gold. Now give me twenty, please.”

Arthur sighed with an irritated tone and took out twenty coins out of the bag and gave them to Azoth. Azoth turned with the gold in his hands just as Calina was coming downstairs. Her face was flushed and she was smiling uncontrollably. Her dress was also for the most part, dry. She took the gold and put them into a little pouch of her own, kissed Azoth on the cheek, whispered something in his ear, then went down the steps and out the door. Azoth pulled a chair up to their table and Eric brought him his own food.

“I’ll have ale instead of milk. I need something strong after that.” Azoth said. Aldus quickly took the milk that Eric has brought for Azoth. Eric came back shortly with a pint of ale. Azoth quickly gulped the ale down, belched loudly and began to devour his food.

“Anyways, as I was saying, we can’t stay here for very long. We should gather supplies, regain our strength and move on.” Arthur said.

“A good idea.” Arthur said with a piece of gravy covered beef in his mouth. “I have two questions though. Where are you going to go and what are you going to do if you run into trouble?”

“I don’t know where we’ll go. Somewhere that’s walled and safe. And we’ll have you to protect us.”

“I hate to tell you this, but this is the last town I know of that’s this far east. If you keep going east, you’ll reach the elven border and I doubt they’ll let you in. And what if what happened the other night happens again, when I’m not there to protect you? You’ll be alone and most likely dead before I could get back.”

“He never asked your opinion, did he?” Ragosh said rudely. He stood up and pointed at Azoth. “It’s all because of you that this happened to us. You came to our home while being chased by bandits. If you’d just gone a different direction or let them kill you, we’d still be at Greymoor. Sister Hanalos and Friar Gregory would still be alive. We wouldn’t have to sleep in the dirt every night, we’d have a complete meal and we wouldn’t be completely covered in dirt from head to toe.”

“And eventually, Sister Hanalos would have been forced to leave us and we’d be left with Brother Hammond.” Hannah spoke up. She was looking up at Ragosh in disgust. Ragosh stopped himself from speaking. “Would you want me, Ariana and Jade to be subjected to the sick desires of that man? Would you rather have soldiers always watching over us? Do you think it would be better if Arthur, the only person who knows how to take care of us, would be forced to leave as well? I’d rather wake up with a mouthful of dirt and being cold every morning than live with that.”

Ragosh sat down in silence. He placed his hands on his face and hid his eyes.

“There is something I could do to help.” Azoth said. “It would require a lot of patience and a lot of wea-“

“Hush.” Eric interrupted. “Guards are coming.” Azoth shut up.

Seven guards entered the tavern. Each of them carried a dagger, with four of them wearing a schianova sword on their sides. The other three carried flanged maces. They were all dressed in brightly coloured red and blue fabric with a plate chest over top of it. Their hands were covered with white gloves which bore a crest in the shape of a ferret. None of them wore helmets

As the guards entered the inn, a large man, much taller than any of the others, walked through the door. He was more than six feet tall and was dressed in full plate armor that was stained black. The helmet was a barbute, which covered most of the man’s face save for his eyes and his mouth. Hanging from his back was a massive two handed flamberge, also known as a flame-bladed sword because of its kris shaped blade. The man removed his helmet, revealing a bald head that had a large scar along the side. There was no hair anywhere to be seen on his head, save for his large, thick black eyebrows. Everything on this man was big. His brown eyes, his nose, even his mouth were large compared to a normal human. One would think he wasn’t even a real person.

“Innkeeper Eric, I have come to deliver a message.” The man spoke. His voice was deep and gravelly.

“Yes, guard captain Theodric?” Eric said nervously. Azoth noticed that he was sweating profusely.

“Your daughter, Roseanne, has been taken by mayor Andreas.” Theodric said. “That is all.” He put the helmet back on and left the inn with the guards following close behind. Eric began to shake uncontrollably. His breathing gained speed and his face was drenched in sweat. Tears began to form in his eyes as he struggled to stay on his feet. Eventually, Eric clasped his face in his hands, fell to his knees and began to cry uncontrollably. He curled up and held his knees close to his chest as he fell into the fetal position on the hard wood floor. His cries soon turned to agonizing screams that could be heard across most of the town. Azoth stood up from his chair and went over to Eric. He kneeled down and helped the man up to his feet.

“Come Eric, you should rest.” He said softly. He led Eric back to the kitchen and stayed there for a short while. Soon after, he came back without Eric and sat back down.

No one spoke a single word. They just sat there in silence. The only noise was Azoth’s chewing and the occasional creak from the wooden walls.

“Did he say anything?” Arthur finally asked. Azoth was in the middle of biting into some bread. He finished the bite, chewed and swallowed before he cleared his throat.

“No. And I didn’t ask him anything either.” He said.

“Why?”

“Why would I ask a man such a thing when he’s just learned that his daughter has been taken as some fat bastards play thing?” Azoth’s tone had quickly turned to anger. Arthur didn’t pursue the conversation.

Azoth remained at the table when all the others went up to their rooms. His plate had nothing more than a few crumbs and the remnants of some gravy. He was leaning back in his chair, staring at the wing necklace again. This time he could see it with the candle light. Azoth let out an agitated sigh and put the necklace back around his neck. He picked up the candle and started to head back up to his room, humming a slow and quiet tune. His humming was interrupted by the crack of thunder that came from outside. Shortly after the thunder, he could hear rain hitting the roof of the inn. Another crack of thunder sounded, this time louder.

Just as Azoth reached the top of the stairs, he stopped to listen. He could have sworn he’d heard something other than the thunder. Staying perfectly still, he focused his hearing as best as he could. Another noise came. Azoth went back down the stairs slowly, still listening carefully. The noise came again and he was certain of what he was hearing. Azoth dropped the candle and ran for his room. He opened the door, grabbed his sword and went back down the stairs. He pushed the door open and ran out into the pouring rain. Outside there were four men, all dressed in the town guard armor with a spear in one hand and a large round shield in the other. They lowered their spears and stayed behind their shields as they slowly approached Azoth. Azoth backed away slowly, holding his sword up in both hands. He didn’t know that there were guards outside waiting for him.

“You and your company are under arrest.” The guard on the far right said.

“For what crime?” Azoth asked. He looked behind him. There were three other guards with their swords drawn.

“Murder, thievery. Anything we or the mayor says really.”

“Is this how the law works here? You do what you want to whomever you want?”

“The mayor hired to keep the peace at any cost. And that’s what we’re doing. Take him!”

All seven of the guards charged at Azoth. Azoth sidestepped towards the guard on the right. The guard thrust his spear forward at Azoth’s chest. He barely missed Azoth, who had sidestepped again immediately. Taking his chance, Azoth ran past the spear and struck low at the guard’s legs. His sword met with the guard’s shield. The three with swords tried to strike at Azoth, who quickly moved around the shield and stabbed the guard holding it in the back of the head. He pulled the sword out as quickly as possible and parried an attack that was directed at his head. Another was at his leg, which he also parried. The third he wasn’t able to avoid completely, and left a cut on his right arm. Azoth ignored the pain as best he could and struck at the guard who cut him. The guard held his sword in both hands to deflect the blow and staggered back. Azoth struck another guard with the pommel of his sword.

One of the guards with a spear grabbed him suddenly from behind and flung Azoth down into the mud. Azoth tried to get up, but they kicked him down. One of them tried to take Azoth’s sword away. Azoth struggled to keep it in his grip, but the rain and mud made it slippery and the guar managed to take it. He pushed Azoth over and held the blade down at his throat. A flash of lightning brightened up the sky and Azoth caught a glimpse of the man’s face. Azoth’s emotions quickly turned to anger and rage. He thought about reaching up and grabbing the guard, but with the blade still at his throat, he cast the idea from his mind.

“Wait a moment…” The man said as he took a closer look at the sword. His expression turned to shock, then to maniacal delight. “I recognize this sword. Where did you get this? Did you take this from an elf warrior dressed in a great suit of armor?”

Azoth spat in the man’s face. The guard staggered back and he inadvertently lifted the blade from Azoth’s throat. Azoth got back to his feet and lunged himself into the guard. He began to punch the man’s face over and over again. The other guards pulled him off and restrained him. He tried to free himself, but they punched his face and stomach to try and stop him.

“Doesn’t matter.” The guard said. He held the falchion in two hands and lifted it up to strike. Azoth looked up at the blade and smiled. He closed his eyes and held his head back.

Suddenly, out of the darkness, something stopped the guard’s strike mid-swing. Azoth opened his eyes when he heard a scream. The guard was nowhere to be seen. Only Azoth’s falchion was left, sticking hilt first in the mud. He suddenly fell to the ground as the other guards let him go and had their backs to him. There was a loud scream and the sound of splattering blood. The guards drew their weapons.

“Where are you? Show yourself!” One of them yelled just before another sound emitted from where he was looking. Azoth felt blood spray across his face just before a flash of lightning revealed that the guard’s head was missing.

One by one, each of the guard’s bodies reappeared mangled and broken with a strike of lightning. Each time just before Azoth heard them die there was a loud swooshing noise that caused an unnatural wind to blow past him. Now there was only one guard left and he quickly began to run. Azoth looked back behind him to watch the guard and just as another lightning bolt flashed, he saw a glimpse of what had been killing the guards. It looked as if it stood eight feet tall. Its limbs were human, but seemed unnaturally massive, even for someone who dedicated himself to becoming that strong. Whatever the creature was, its arm had punched straight through the guard’s armor and chest right out of his back. Another flash of lightning stuck and Azoth saw the creature throw the guard’s body away. One more flash, and the creature was gone.

Azoth quickly grabbed his sword and stood up from the mud. He held it in both hands and slowly backed up to the inn. Just as he reached the door and turned around, he heard footsteps approaching. They sounded heavy and were slowly getting closer. He opened the door to the inn, when suddenly a large scaly hand went over his mouth. Azoth struggled and tried to stab his sword backwards, but the creature’s other hand grabbed the blade and gripped his face tighter. That’s when Azoth noticed that the fingernails on the hand were more like claws.

“Quiet.” The creature said. Its voice was deep, but sounded slightly human. “I have been watching you since you arrived. I do not wish to harm you, your friends or anyone else here. I’m going to take my hand off your face and you’re not going to do anything stupid.”

Azoth nodded his head twice and the creature released his face and sword. Azoth turned and was speechless at what he was staring at. He dropped his sword in the mud.

            “I need your help” The creature said. Azoth didn’t respond. He was right about how tall the creature was. But now that he could see everything right in front of him near the inn’s outside lantern, he couldn’t bring himself to form words.

            He shook his head to regain his senses and finally managed to speak. “Help with what?”

            “You’re going to help me kill Andreas.”

 

Chapter 10

The dawn had come slowly for Azoth. When he had returned to his room the following evening, he did not sleep for hours. There was barely an hour left before dawn when he finally brought himself to sleep. Even asleep, he could not keep the voice of the creature that had stood before him out of his head. It echoed at the back of his mind, a constant thorn in his side, keeping him from the precious sleep that he needed for the task ahead.

            When the sun had risen, the rest of his company awoke with a cheerful attitude that did little to settle him. Eric’s mood had vastly improved from the previous night. He acted as if nothing had happened. Azoth knew it was all a show. Deep down, he saw how Eric was barely keeping his composure. Often times he would spot him just sitting quietly before someone called for another drink and in his eyes, Azoth could see his pain. When someone came up to Eric, he put up his curtain of content again. If someone asked where Roseanne was, he’d make an excuse that everyone ended up buying, and then go back to sitting. Azoth could barely stand to look at him. In his eyes, Eric was a pathetic man who didn’t have the guts to tell anyone about what happened. Granted, Azoth was equally as guilty. He hadn’t told anyone about his encounter.

            Before anyone else arrived at the inn, screams could be heard outside. Someone found the remains of the guards and what was left of them was taken away. Some more guards came in shortly after to question everyone. When they found that Azoth had two weapons, they initially threatened to take him in for questioning. Azoth simply got up and explained to them how he wouldn’t have been able to do that. “To get the bodies into the state they were in, I’d have to have used something other than two blades. Maybe with a hammer or something of the sort. But not with a simple falchion and a bolo knife.” The guards left him alone after thinking about it.

            An hour passed and Azoth had finished a small meal and a mug of milk to help wake him up. Everyone else was sitting at a different table from his. Azoth gripped onto his necklace tightly as he got up from his seat and went upstairs to his room. Inside, he took his falchion and wrapped the blade up in the cloth he’d been carrying it in. He loosened the leather strings and pulled the sword out as if the cloth was a sheath. When it came out smoothly, he put it back in and opened the window and listened. The only noise he could hear was the noise of the town. A merchant had arrived selling all sorts of cheap knockoffs that he claimed were authentic dwarf crafted toys. The people were buying what they could with what little they had left, swarming the merchant’s wagon like flies attracted to rotten meat. Azoth saw one little boy sneak in between everyone and grab one of the toys without paying anything. The merchant spotted and boy and grabbed his arm and dragged him back. He took a leather blackjack and struck the boy across the face with it three consecutive times, then took the toy away as the boy ran away crying.

            Azoth smiled as he saw some of the merchant’s customers throw their toys at his face for hitting the boy. The merchant quickly ran away and they pushed his wagon over into the mud. That’s when he noticed some men walking through the street on horses. One of them was Theodric, the big man from the previous night, and the other was a much shorter and plump man on a white horse. Azoth recognized that that one must have been Andreas. He placed his sword down, ripped his right shirt sleeve off and tired it over his nose and mouth, creating a mask. Taking a deep breath, he took hold of his sword and left the room. He moved quickly out the door of the inn, hoping that none of his companions would notice him. He went out the door to find that a crowd was gathering. Andreas and Theodric were surrounded by at least fifty guards, with at least another twenty that Azoth could see walking through the crowd. Azoth slouched and moved into the crowd, taking great care not to draw too much attention. He got closer to the edge of the crowd and managed to see Andreas more clearly.

            Andreas bore an unshaven face and short greasy hair that looked as if it hadn’t been combed or brushed in months. He had a large, stubby nose with nostrils the size of a large almond. What struck Azoth as the most surprising however was how fine Andreas’s clothes were. His jerkin was golden coloured silk with swirling patterns all across the chest laced in. The sleeves of the doublet beneath the jerkin were violet, also made of silk and with frills at the wrists. Something that Azoth noticed was that there was a large cage next to Andreas and that there was something in it that was making a snarling noise. He couldn’t see what was inside it though.

            Azoth approached the edge of the crowd, observing the guards surrounding Andreas. He’d expected only ten men guarding him, not fifty of them. Something wasn’t right and he knew it. Azoth slowly looked behind him and saw another guard approaching. He quickly hid his weapon in front of him as the guard walked right by. Sighing in relief, Azoth looked back at Andreas, who was saying something to Theodric that Azoth couldn’t make out. Theodric nodded and motioned for one of the guards to approach. Theodric spoke to that guard, who also nodded.

            “Take them!” Theodric called out.

            Suddenly, all of the guards ran out into the crowd and pushed everyone down, grabbing every child they could get their hands on. One woman was carrying a baby and when she refused to give her child up the guard punched her across the face and ripped the babe from her arms. As the guards pulled every child away from their parents, the ones that were in the crowd had run out to all the houses and took the children from their homes. Each child was dragged away in the direction of Andreas’s house, which stood high on a hill in the center of the town. Most of the men in the crowd tried to fight against the guards to take their children back. They were all pushed back by the guards, who restrained themselves from killing anyone. The mothers were screaming their child’s names as their husbands tried to keep them back. Soon all the children were taken away and all that was left were the screaming parents. Andreas pulled a wheel-lock pistol out of a holster on his saddle and pulled the trigger. The shot echoed across the town and the crowd quieted down. He put the gun back into its holster and cleared his throat.

            “I am very disappointed with all of you. I offer you protection from the foul things beyond our town’s borders. I hire men to watch over you when they have nowhere else to go. I keep you safe from the blaspheming elves to the east. All I ask for return is that you pay your taxes. And this is how you repay me?” Andreas said loud enough for the crowd to hear. “You murder the very men who have been tasked with protecting you? And in such a foul way too? They were torn to pieces. We could barely recognize any of them. One of them was my friend!”

            Andreas was beginning to spit with each word he yelled out. Theodric placed his hand on Andreas’s soldier and he managed to calm down. Andreas reorganized his hair as best he could.

            “Why do you do this? Why do you repay us in such a fashion?”

            One man walked up. His clothes were covered with old blood stains and he stank of meat. Azoth assumed he was the local butcher.

            “Whoever killed your men,” He said as he lifted his head up and pointed a meat cleaver at Andreas. “Is doing the right thing! You tax us to the point where we can barely afford to feed our families! Your men steal everything of value to us, claiming that they are illegal objects that are considered sinful! You speak of protecting us, but then you go ahead and take our young girls away from us and rape them! You took my daughter away when she was thirteen, and she came home, dead! You’ve done it to Eric’s wife! To Tomas’s two girls! Even one of the nun’s in the church after paying off the priest! Whoever killed his men, if you can hear me, I want you to kill every single one of these fucking bastards! Kill them all! Kill them all!” The butcher yelled at the top of his lungs. He slashed at a guard’s head, but the helmet deflected the blade. The guard drew his sword and cut at the butchers arm, then slashed his throat. Blood soaked into the mud as the butcher fell to the ground dead. His wife kneeled down to him, screaming and crying yet again. Andreas’s nodded to the guard and the guard hacked his sword at the woman’s neck repeatedly until her head came off.

            “Listen here. I was proclaimed in the eyes of the Guardian as the lord of this town. I take whatever I want when I want it. You are nothing but bugs beneath my feet. And to show you your place, I will demonstrate what is going to happen. Bring them to them.” Andreas motioned to some guards to carry the dead bodies to the cage that was next to him. As a path was made for them, the cage was revealed to contain two spike dogs that were fighting over a human femur bone. They were chained to the sides of the cage so that they couldn’t get close enough to kill each other. The guards opened the cage and threw the dead bodies into the cage, along with the woman’s head, and the spike dogs began to devour their flesh. Some people in the crowd began to throw up as the sound of tearing flesh and crunching bone resounded from the cage.

            “The person who killed my men must come forward, confess his sins and offer himself to justice. If he does not, then I will feed all of the children, one by one and alive, to my dogs. Everyone is required to see this. The murderer has until dawn tomorrow.” Andreas turned his horse around and began to march his men back to his house. Theodric followed closely as the cage was pushed with the soldiers through the mud. The crowd dispersed in silence. Azoth could make out some weeping coming from some of the women. He quickly turned to return to the inn, only to find his companions and Eric staring at him. He froze in place for a moment, but then continued to walk towards the inn. They let him walk right past them as he quickly placed his sword on a table and sat down, placing his hands over his eyes. Everyone pulled up chairs and sat around the table with him. He looked up and they were all staring at him. Brendwin patted him on the shoulder and stared right into his eyes. Azoth stared back and he felt as if Brendwin was speaking to him. Not in the way he does with his hands or how he grunts. He was communicating with his eyes. That’s when it hit Azoth. Brendwin knew that Azoth knew something. Brendwin nodded slightly and Azoth broke eye contact with him, looking down at his hands.

“There’s something I have to tell all of you.” He said. They all seemed to stiffen up.

“I know what killed those guards. Last night, I heard a strange flapping noise and went outside to investigate. Those seven guards were standing outside, waiting to arrest me. I did kill one of them.” Azoth explained quietly enough so no one would overhear him. Arthur rubbed his face in annoyance. “But they managed to subdue and before they could kill me, something grabbed one of them and pulled it back into the darkness. Before I knew it, they were all dragged away, with only their screams remaining until everything went silent. I think the only reason no one heard them was because of the constant thunder. There was one left and he tried to run away. But just when lightning flash, I saw something grab him. It looked human, but bigger.”

“What do you mean by bigger?” Jordan asked.

“Everything. It was taller, its arms, legs and torso were bigger. It had punched straight through the armor the guard was wearing. When I ran for the inn door, it grabbed me and spoke to me. That’s when I saw it up close and realized it wasn’t completely human…” Azoth stopped for a moment to allow everything to sink in for them.

“It said he needed my help to kill Andreas. I was going to after he had told me what Andreas does to everyone here. But then all that just happened.”

“Well what did it look like?” Arthur asked. He was obviously angry with Azoth.

“It was taller than any man I’d ever seen, like I said. Taller even than that man, Theodric. Its skin was covered with what I’m assuming were darkly coloured scales. The face itself slightly resembled something like a human, but at the same time, it looks more like something else. Something that lives in the great Mountains of Fire of the south. Something that the dwarves spend hundreds of years eradicating in the Endless Mountains.”

They all knew what he was talking about, but they were far too scared to utter the words. Finally, Athos leaned forward.

“Are you saying it looked like a dragon?” He asked.

“Yes. Though this is not a dragon I have ever heard of. I know they have powerful magic that can allow them to take on a human form, but there are never even physical signs of them being a dragon. This you could clearly see its features. I could even see small horns around its head.”

“Quiet. Eric’s coming.” Arthur snapped. Eric came and sat down at the table with them. Tears were in his eyes.

“So you know what’s going to happen to my daughter, if it hasn’t happened already.” He said as he barely kept himself from weeping. “That murderer has brought doom upon us all. He should just come out to Andreas now and get it over with. Then everyone can get their children back.”

“You know that’s not going to happen.” Azoth said suddenly. Everyone let out a little gasp.

“What?”

“If Andreas is anything like I think he is then he’s not going to give up any of the girls. He may let the boys go after a while, but the girls he’s most likely going to keep for himself for as long as he likes.”

“But he gave his word!”

“Did he also give his word that he would protect the people here and help this town grow?”

Eric stopped himself from responding. He could barely contain the tears that were streaming down his face.

“What’s the matter with you?” Arthur yelled as he stood up suddenly from his seat. “Why can’t you be positive about something at least once?”

“Because I know what kind of man Andreas is, if he can even be called that. He’s like that man in the forest who tried to rape Hannah. He’ll do whatever he likes to people because he feels powerful when he does.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to bring a man’s hopes down.”

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” Jade screamed. She was burying her face into Ariana’s side. Arthur sat back down, glaring at Azoth. They remained silent for a few minutes. Eric had left them alone.

“Maybe we should leave?” Ragosh asked, finally breaking the silence.

“They’ll be making sure no one leaves. We can’t risk it.” Athos answered.

“Well what are we going to do?”

“Stop him.” A woman in the corner said. Everyone turned to look at her. She was sitting in the corner of the inn, dressed in a thick cloak with the hood up. The hood hid her face as she stood up and walked over to them.             “How long have you been listening to us?” Azoth asked.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have to stop him.”

“We’d need an army, or at least a group of really good fighters who were willing to help. Even then, he has all those children. If anyone tries anything, they’ll be fed to the spike dogs.”

“What if I helped you free them?”

“And how would you do that?” Azoth stood up to face the woman. She stood as tall as him. He could smell some sort of perfume emanating from her.

“I’ve lived in my father’s home my entire life. I know every secret passage in and out.” The young woman pulled her hood down. Her hair was short and dark brown. It was braided down the right side of her hairline. One of her eyes was dark green, while the other one was pale and blind. “I am Alicia, daughter of Andreas.”

The room grew silent. Everyone sat awkwardly as they waited for someone to say something.

“Very well then.” Alicia said as she pulled another chair forward.

“Wait.” Azoth said. “Do you have proof that you are his daughter?”

“Yes. “Alicia took out the necklace she was wearing, which was in the shape of a ferret. “This is the family crest. It used to belong to the old mayor’s family, but it’s my father’s now.”

“Fair enough. Wait. The old mayor’s family?”

“Yes,” Alicia sat down. “My father used to be a servant of theirs. He only wanted the best for me. He didn’t want to do anything bad, but he said he had to keep me safe.”

            “What did he do?” Arthur asked.

            “Like I said, my father was a servant for the old family. Not a high ranking one, but he was well respected by the old master. My mother died when I was very young and the old mayor took us in out of sympathy. We never had much, but it was enough for my father. But then he said he heard the son of the old mayor say something bad. That he was going to force us to leave once his father died. My father didn’t want us to have to live out in the cold. So he convinced the old mayor to change the will so that my father and I would get everything. When he finally died, the will was read and my father had the son taken away. I was the happiest girl. I had everything I ever wanted, we had lots of money and we’d never be cold…”

            Azoth coughed to remind Alicia to stay on the subject.

            “Sorry. Anyways, everything was fine. But then my father began to change. He seemed to be more mean spirited and as time went on, he grew fatter, uglier and then those different girls began to arrive at the house. The first time it happened, I was awoken by the woman’s screams and I went to investigate. Theodric kept me from opening the door, so I didn’t see anything. It always sounds like the woman is in great pain.”

            “I’m sorry, but can you get on with your point?” Azoth was beginning to grow impatient.

            “Sorry,” Alicia sounded hurt. “I’ve barely talked to my father recently, mostly because he doesn’t want to see me. I was afraid that maybe the money and power had affected his mind. Today my fears were realized when I snuck out. I ask you to help my father see reason.”

            “And how would I do that?” Azoth said.

            “By keeping me safe, and if necessary…” Alicia’s eyes moved to look at Azoth’s falchion. Azoth looked at the blade, then back at her.

            “Only if you pay us.” Azoth said.

            “What do you think you’re doing?” Ariana suddenly snapped. Everyone stared at her in surprise. “This girl is asking for your help and you expect her to pay you?”

            “I spent a good chunk of my life as a mercenary. Getting paid was part of my living. Besides, the gold Donan gave us isn’t going to last long.” Azoth snapped back. “Pay us one hundred gold coins or I’m not doing anything.”

            “The hell you aren’t. Alicia, Ragosh, Athos and I will help you. You don’t need his help. All he cares about is money, drink, and apparently, women.” Arthur said as he stood up.

            “Says the boy who doesn’t know how to fight guards.” Azoth said. “You go in there without me, you’ll all get killed.”

            “You don’t know that.”

            “It’s okay.” Alicia said. The two stopped arguing. “I’ll give you whatever you ask for. Even if you wish something of a carnal nature from me.”

            Azoth swallowed as his face suddenly felt hot.

            “You mistake me young girl. I have no interest in such a thing with a woman who is not willing. I am not like your father. Besides, even if you were willing, you’re too young for my tastes.”

            “I’m not that young. I’m fourteen.” Alicia’s face went cherry red.

            “One hundred gold coins and any weapons and provisions you can provide that will last at least two weeks. Do we have an agreement?”

            “Why weapons?”

            “That is for my own reasons. Do we have an agreement?”

            Alicia sighed in relief and held out her hand. “We do.” Azoth shook it.

            “Good. Now, how soon can you take use there?”

            “I was thinking tonight.”

            “Then you’d best hurry back before they notice that you’re missing.”

            Alicia nodded and headed for the door. “I will meet you tonight behind the inn.”

            Once she left, Azoth rubbed his temples and took a deep breath.

            “So who’s going with you?” Arthur asked.

            “What?”

            “Are any of us going with you?”

            “You’d only get in my way.”

            “You were overwhelmed by seven of the guards last night.”

            “Because of the mud.”

            “Either way, you need help. You can’t do everything yourself. We’re involved in this too.”

            Azoth got up and took his sword out of its cloth. He placed it on the table, the tip of the blade pointing at Arthur.

            “What are you doing?”

            “Look at my sword and tell me what you see.”

            “I see a sword.”

            “Yes. A sword is a weapon. A weapon is used to kill people. Anyone who has killed someone knows this. What many fail to realize is that once you kill someone, there’s no escape from what you see. Battle is made to seem heroic in the tales and songs that are woven together from the tongues of bards. They never tell you about the smell, or the blood, or the sound of metal tearing flesh or the splatter of blood. Worst of all, they never tell you about how when you first kill someone, sometimes they’re alive just long enough to look at you. When that happens, you see the life slowly crawl away from their eyes. It’s a harrowing experience that not all come out of sane. Never in a thousand years would I wish that on any of you.”

            Arthur and everyone else remained completely silent. Azoth kept standing, waiting for an answer. Arthur looked at everyone one at a time. They nodded each time he looked at them. He took a deep breath, leaned forward and took hold of Azoth’s falchion by the hilt, turned it around and lifted it.

             “We’re certain of what we want to do Azoth. We have nothing left but each other, and we realize that we can’t survive with you doing all the fighting. So not only are we going to help you free those children, but I ask you to train us. Train us and be reassured in the fact that we’ll be able to watch out for ourselves when you aren’t there.”

            Azoth took the dull end of his sword and took it from Arthur’s hands. He placed it back on the table and held out his hand.

            “Then let’s go free those children.” Everyone smiled and Arthur took Azoth’s hand and shook it.

___________________________________________________________________________________

The day had passed by faster than they had thought. They spent all of their time inside the inn, formulating a plan of action while they waited for night. Once the sun had set, Azoth, Arthur, Athos and Ragosh left the inn and waited for Alicia behind it. Brendwin stayed behind because of his broken arm.

            “So does everyone remember the plan?” Azoth asked.

            “Alicia takes us to the children; we take them out three at a time until all of them have been released. After that, we go after Andreas.” Arthur replied.

            “And if we run into trouble?”

            “You hold off the guards as best as you can while we get all the children out at once.”

            “Good.”

            “You know that if we get caught we’ll have little chance of getting out.”

            “I’ve dealt with worse.”

            “I imagine you have.”

            “Hush. Someone’s coming.” Ragosh said. They all tensed up.

            “Are you there?” They heard Alicia say.

            “Aye.” Azoth replied.

            “Good.” Alicia stepped forward and pulled the hood down from her head. “We don’t have much time. My father has doubled the guard since this morning.”

            “So long as you can get us inside, we should be fine. Now let us go before someone takes notice of us.”

            “Follow me.”

            They moved silently in between the buildings, gradually making their way towards the hill that the manor stood upon. Guards were seen all over the place, patrolling in groups of five and three. Often times they had to stop to let a group pass by so they wouldn’t be spotted. It slowed them down, which made Azoth anxious.

            “Not far now.” Alicia said.

            “You didn’t tell us there were this many guards.” Azoth said.

            “There weren’t this many when I came this way.”

            “Well maybe you should take note of…”

            “Of what?”

            “Get back!” Azoth exclaimed as he pulled Alicia back away and behind some barrels. Arthur and Ragosh kneeled behind him as low as they could go. A guard came around the left corner with a lantern lighting his way. He held the lantern forward and called out “Who goes there?”

            “It’s me Robert.” Another guard called as he came out of the darkness.

            “Where’s your lantern man?”

            “Dropped it.”

            “Why’d you drop it?”

            “So you can laugh at me about it? Not a chance.”

            “I promise I won’t laugh.”

            “Fine. I thought I heard something near the inn so I went to investigate. Suddenly a rat came out of nowhere and scared the piss out of me.”

            Robert began to laugh loudly as he almost dropped his own lantern.

            “Shut it! You said you wouldn’t laugh.”

            “I’m sorry. But you getting scared by a rat is hilarious in my mind.”

            “Will you two just shut up and go away!” Azoth was screaming in his mind.

            “Come on let’s go. We need to check on the main square. Maybe we’ll find another rat again.”

            The two of them went back to the left of the barrels. Azoth relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Arthur sneezed loudly. Azoth scrambled for his sword when he heard the guards coming back.

            “Who’s there?” Robert said, drawing his sword. His companion drew his own. “I’m warning you. Come out!”

            Azoth gripped his sword tightly as he prepared to strike if needed.

            “Last warning. Come out!” Robert said again just before a loud scream came from nearby.

            Both guards turned their attention to the screams, quickly leaving the barrels alone. Azoth kept his grip tight on his sword though. An alarm bell began to ring from the south part of town and the guards ran towards it. Azoth eased up and they all let out breaths of relief.

            “Sorry.” Alicia said.

            “Try and keep quiet next time. Let’s go.” Azoth snapped. They got up from the mud and continued back towards the house.

            A few minutes passed and they found themselves next to stone wall. Moss filled most of the cracks in each of the stones. Tangled vines were strewn across the top, tickling the back of their necks as they strafed along the wall with their backs to it. Above them were dragon statues, each with a piece missing be it a horn, a part of a wing or the entire head. Vegetation had entangled them completely, acting as chains to the old creatures.

            Alicia was in front of Azoth. She kept her hands to the wall so that she wouldn’t lose her way. The moon had taken on its crescent shape and offered very little light, and most of the stars were hidden by clouds that were beginning to form.

            “Here it is.” She said. She kneeled down and walked through a hole that was at the bottom of the wall. Azoth, Athos and Ragosh did the same.

            They found themselves inside the main courtyard of the house. There were only a few guards around, each of them carrying a lantern. Their weapons were drawn however. Azoth removed the cloth from his sword and let it drop to the ground. He pulled the bolo knife from its sheath and handed it to Arthur.

            “Just in case.” He whispered. Arthur took the knife hesitantly. His hands began to shake as he grew more nervous. Azoth put his hand on Arthur’s to get them to stop shaking.

            “You can do it if you have to.” He said bluntly before turning to face the guards.

            “They weren’t here when I left.” Alicia said.

            “Apparently. We need to do something else. I’ll deal with them. You two stay back and keep her safe.” Azoth replied as he stood up, holding the messer with both hands. He kept low and stayed close to the bushes. One guard approached him with a lantern and he stopped moving, lying down on the ground underneath a bush. The guard moved the lantern in front of him, lighting up the garden and the interior part of the wall. Not finding anything, he turned around and continued walking. Azoth stood up and ran towards the guard. He put his hand over the guard’s mouth and stabbed his sword through his throat. The guard tried to cough and struggled to get Azoth off of him, but Azoth kept him from uttering a sound. Azoth slowly brought the guards body down as his struggling grew weaker with each passing moment. He looked around to make sure no one had noticed him. When the guard finally stopped struggling, he pulled the sword out of his throat and quickly dragged the body away to hide it. For two more guards he did this, hiding each of their bodies behind a bush or against the wall in the dark. There was only one more patrolling the courtyard. He stopped to check how the oil in his lantern was doing.

            Azoth snuck up behind him and prepared to stab him again. Suddenly, the door to the house swung open and two guards came out. Azoth realized that they were the relief watch.

            “Alright lads, you can get some…sleep…” The first guard said as he spotted Azoth. He quickly drew his sword and yelled out “Intruder!”

            Azoth quickly stabbed the last guard in the neck and withdrew the weapon, setting his attention to the new ones that were running towards him. One of them swung a mace at him, which he back stepped out of the way of and slashed at his arm. The blade cut through the gambeson and halfway through the man’s arm. The guard screamed loudly as he grasped his bleeding arm. Azoth stabbed at the middle guard, who deflected his attack and countered by sliding his blade along the edge. He quickly backed away again to avoid the counter and quickly slashed at the guard to his right. The guard deflected with his axe, but the messer cut through the wood like knife through meat and collided with the man’s face. Azoth attacked the middle guard again and this time managed to get past his defense and stab the sword into his side. With the guard wounded, Azoth pressed his advantage and took his sword away and stabbed him in the throat. Without wasting any time, he quickly sliced the throats of the other two guards and let them fall down to the ground.

            He stopped to listen once the gurgling from the dying men stopped. It was completely silent for a moment, until he heard more bell alarms going off nearby.

            “Hurry!” He called out to the others. They came out of their hiding place and ran into the house with him. The inside of the house was highly decorated with purple silk curtains and banners bearing the sigil of Alicia’s family, a ferret. The floor was brightly polished marble with a large circle pattern right in the center. The room was lit up by a large crystal chandelier that was shaped into stars.

            “Where do we go?” Azoth asked Alicia.

            “The children should be in the cellar. This way.” Alicia took them across the room to a closed wooden door. She opened it, revealing the kitchen. There was some light left over from the great fire, which was merely a pile of glowing embers. Azoth stayed at the door as more guards were entering the main hall.

            “Go! I’ll hold them off!” He called as he buried his sword into one guard’s chest. Most of them weren’t wearing armor.

            Arthur and Ragosh followed Alicia to the cellar door. She took the key that was hanging from a wall and used it to unlock the door. Ragosh pushed it open and Arthur went down first with the bolo knife with Ragosh and Alicia close behind.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 28.05.2013

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