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

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