Family of Outcasts, Aaron McLeod [best book club books for discussion txt] 📗

            “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.

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