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

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