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

“Why not?”

“All I want is a hot bath after a long journey. If I wanted a whore, I’d go looking for one.”

“Look at Calina,” The man grabbed Calina’s arm and pulled her forward. “There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s a virgin, her skin is soft, her breasts are supple and she has a face that any man would go wild for. Why wouldn’t you accept her?”

“Didn’t I just explain why? I’m sore and tired from my journey. Now leave me to my bath.”

“Then you won’t mind if I just take this little flower for myself.” The man said as he pulled Calina back to him. She slapped him across the face, but the big man just pulled her away.

“Alright!” Azoth exclaimed. “Alright, I’ll take her. But none of my companions in the other room will have one. And I choose when to fuck her, not you. That’s the deal.” The big man looked disappointed.

“Business is business. Have fun with her.” He pushed Calina towards the tub. She fell into it while still in her dress, causing water to splash everywhere. The man closed the door laughing.

Azoth helped Calina out of the water. She coughed out water that she had swallowed, but quickly was breathing normally again.

“I’m sorry. He grabbed me and pulled me back up here.” She said quietly.

“It’s alright. At least it’s gotten rid of that buffoon.” Azoth said as he splashed water in his face.

“I’d best get out of this dress.”

“Yeah, that would be best. I mean what’s the point of bathing if you’re not naked.” He laughed a little. Calina didn’t.

She quickly took off the soaking wet dress, threw it to the floor and kneeled down into the hot water. Azoth cupped water in his hands and poured it onto her brown hair. The man wasn’t kidding; Calina’s did look smooth as silk.

They stayed in the bath together for quite some time. Calina kept on washing her hair while Azoth scraped the dirt off of his body as best he could. They tried their best to avoid contact with each other’s skin. Azoth ducked under the water every once in a while to clean out twigs and dirt out of his hair. When he came back up for the third time however, Calina had moved her face closer towards him. Azoth stayed perfectly still as their noses barely scraped against each other.

“Forgive me.” Calina said as she pulled her face back.

“No.” Azoth said. He put his hand up to her cheek. She blushed as she took hold of his hand. Azoth moved in closer as he held Calina’s face in both of his hands gently. Her heart was racing as his face moved in closer to hers. It went soaring as he leaned and kissed her on the lips. He pulled away slowly and she was at a loss for words.

“I will not ask why you chose the life of a whore. All I will say is that while you may not have another man such as me again, I promise you I will make this something you will never forget and will never regret.” He said to Calina with her face still in his hands. She smiled and took hold of him and kissed him again.

“Thank you.” She said teary-eyed. Azoth nodded and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her naked body up against his own. He leaned up and kissed her again as he clasped both of her breasts in his hands. Calina let out a soft moan as Azoth squeezed them gently.

Azoth moved his hands from her breasts and moved one arm down under her legs. The other went under her arm and onto her back. He lifted her up from the water and carried her to the bed. Azoth gently laid her down on her back, moving his hand up her belly to the middle of her chest. He kissed her again and lied over top of her.

“Please,” Calina whispered. “Be gentle.” Azoth nodded. He positioned himself properly in between her legs and gently pushed his hips forward. Calina let out a loud cry of pain and wrapped her arms around Azoth, shaking violently.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Ariana, Hannah and Jade had gone into the other room when their baths were drawn. Ariana was in the tub closest to the door, while Hannah and Jade shared a tub together next to the window. All the stuff stuck in their hair quickly came out as they ran water through their hair. Jades blonde hair quickly began to shine again as the dirty was washed away from it. Suddenly, they began to hear loud moans from the room across from theirs. Ariana and Hannah quickly realized what the noises were and didn’t speak a word.

“Is that girl who went into Azoth’s room in pain?” Jade asked.

“No…not at all.” Hannah said awkwardly.

“Then why does she sound like she’s hurting?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

“But I want to know now.”

“Jade. Enough. Or else I’ll tickle your feet all day.”

“No!” Jade laughed as she grabbed her feet to protect them.

“Now, let me wash behind your ears.”

Ariana closed her eyes, took a deep breath and dunked her head underwater. She ran her fingers through her hair, breaking up a big clump of dirt that had gathered near her scalp. After getting stuff out of her hair, she began to rub her face again to clean off any dirt that may have remained. Her lungs began to feel like they were beginning to burst, as she came up for air. The moans from Azoth’s room were now louder. She covered her ears to block out the noise and closed her eyes. However, the images of how she imagined Azoth making love to a woman filled her mind. She opened her eyes to banish the images from her sight.

A few minutes later, the moaning stopped and all was quiet. Ariana let out a sigh of relief as she leaned back in the tub. Just as she was about to go under water again, there was a knock on the door.

“Sorry to disturb you ladies, but the tailor has arrived with more clothes. May she enter to show you your choice of clothes?” A man said.

“You may.” Hannah replied.

The door opened and in entered a short elderly woman with three sets of clothes in both of her arms. She had one blind eye and a small crooked nose that was pointed downwards. She placed the clothes down on the floor and in front of them.

“Now, I tried my best based on what Eric said your bodies were shaped like. Some of these might not completely fit, but I can make adjustments to them later on. Understand?” The old woman said. Everyone nodded. “Good. Now you little girl, get in this towel and we’ll see what I have for you.”

She wrapped Jade up in the towel and helped her out of the tub. Jade laughed as the old woman messed up her hair as she dried her off.

“You have two choices. With this set, the dark red one here, you’ll be kept warm at night and won’t feel too hot during the day. You’ll look like you’re dressed as a boy sometimes though, so you might not like that. But we have this dress that I’ve designed specifically for travel. The bright blue is pretty on the eyes and its ideal for travel, but won’t keep you that warm. So what’s your choice?”

“The blue one. I like blue.” Jade said excitedly.

“Right love. Let’s get you into it then.”

The tailor quickly got Jade changed into the blue dress. It was a near perfect fit for her. Only the sleeves were a little long for her arms. She didn’t mind though. Jade was happily jumping around in the dress. The bottom of the dress was just above her ankles so she wouldn’t trip on it while walking. Hannah and Ariana quickly changed into clothing of their own. Hannah had similar choices to that of Jade’s. They were the only dresses in her size that were made for travel, with one of them being slightly bigger than the other. Hannah chose the slightly bigger one, which was dark blue in colour. Ariana, like Jade, had the choice between warmer clothes or clothes more suited for a woman. She picked the clothes that were warmer. This set consisted of a dark red velvet shirt with sheep wool laced on the inside. There was also a pair of hemp trousers. All of their sets came with small leather boots and wool socks for each of them. The socks helped make the boots more comfortable for them.

As soon as they got dressed in their new clothes, the elderly tailor left their room to attend to all the boys. The girls felt that maybe now would be a good time to get some more sleep. Ariana sat down on her bed and pulled the thin blanket over her. Despite how thin the blanket was, her new clothes made her feel warm. She laid her head down onto the feather pillow and closed her eyes.

Maybe I’ll be able to sleep this time. She thought to herself. A few moments later however, she began to hear Calina’s moaning coming from Azoth’s room again. Ariana groaned and put her head under the pillow to drown out the noise.

Their sleep was short lived when another knock came from the door.

“I’m sorry to disturb you. It’s just that Eric has had food prepared for all of you.” Someone called. The girls suddenly realized how hungry they were and nearly bolted out the door.

Outside the room, the boys were already heading downstairs. They all looked very nice in their new clothes. The only one they couldn’t see was Azoth. He was still in his room they thought.

There was a large table cleared for them in the middle of the inn. Most of the patrons from before had left and the entire inn was very quiet. They all sat down at the table side by side and waited. Eric quickly came out with large plates of food. Each of the plates were the same, with fresh bread, large pieces of cheddar cheese, potatoes, onions and beef mixed a thick, brown gravy and fresh raw vegetables on the side. Eric later brought in big mugs of milk in for each of them. Without a second thought, everyone dug into the food. Their faces were soon completely covered in gravy and their lips soaked with milk. The food quickly disappeared from their plates with none of it going to waste. They all leaned back in their chairs and relaxed, their bellies filled to the brim.

Arthur reached for the bag of gold and asked Eric how much it would cost.

“It’s on the house. No need to pay the tailor later either. I already did for you.” He said. Arthur quickly put the gold back into the bag.

“Well, now what are we going to do?” Athos asked.

Arthur pursed his lips and leaned forwards. “I feel like we should stay here for the time being. We should rest and gather our strength again before we head on the road.”

“Why can’t we stay here for good?” Jordan asked.

“Because of that bad man who caught us in the forest. He sent a message to more bad men to try and find us. They’ve probably found him by now and are tracking us. And this place doesn’t have any walls. We wouldn’t be safe here.” Arthur explained.

Laughter came from upstairs and Azoth came downstairs in new clothes. He was dressed in a black linen shirt much like the other boys and black linen pants. His boots were made of black leather as well. Azoth pulled his hair back and tied it into a pony tail, revealing another scar down the side of his face that none of them had seen before.

“Arthur, how much gold is in that bag?” He asked. He was struggling to keep his balance.

“One hundred coins. Why?” Arthur replied.

“I need twenty.”

“Why?”

“You honestly don’t know what I