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

“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