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

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