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

go in there without me, you’ll all get killed.”

            “You don’t know that.”

            “It’s okay.” Alicia said. The two stopped arguing. “I’ll give you whatever you ask for. Even if you wish something of a carnal nature from me.”

            Azoth swallowed as his face suddenly felt hot.

            “You mistake me young girl. I have no interest in such a thing with a woman who is not willing. I am not like your father. Besides, even if you were willing, you’re too young for my tastes.”

            “I’m not that young. I’m fourteen.” Alicia’s face went cherry red.

            “One hundred gold coins and any weapons and provisions you can provide that will last at least two weeks. Do we have an agreement?”

            “Why weapons?”

            “That is for my own reasons. Do we have an agreement?”

            Alicia sighed in relief and held out her hand. “We do.” Azoth shook it.

            “Good. Now, how soon can you take use there?”

            “I was thinking tonight.”

            “Then you’d best hurry back before they notice that you’re missing.”

            Alicia nodded and headed for the door. “I will meet you tonight behind the inn.”

            Once she left, Azoth rubbed his temples and took a deep breath.

            “So who’s going with you?” Arthur asked.

            “What?”

            “Are any of us going with you?”

            “You’d only get in my way.”

            “You were overwhelmed by seven of the guards last night.”

            “Because of the mud.”

            “Either way, you need help. You can’t do everything yourself. We’re involved in this too.”

            Azoth got up and took his sword out of its cloth. He placed it on the table, the tip of the blade pointing at Arthur.

            “What are you doing?”

            “Look at my sword and tell me what you see.”

            “I see a sword.”

            “Yes. A sword is a weapon. A weapon is used to kill people. Anyone who has killed someone knows this. What many fail to realize is that once you kill someone, there’s no escape from what you see. Battle is made to seem heroic in the tales and songs that are woven together from the tongues of bards. They never tell you about the smell, or the blood, or the sound of metal tearing flesh or the splatter of blood. Worst of all, they never tell you about how when you first kill someone, sometimes they’re alive just long enough to look at you. When that happens, you see the life slowly crawl away from their eyes. It’s a harrowing experience that not all come out of sane. Never in a thousand years would I wish that on any of you.”

            Arthur and everyone else remained completely silent. Azoth kept standing, waiting for an answer. Arthur looked at everyone one at a time. They nodded each time he looked at them. He took a deep breath, leaned forward and took hold of Azoth’s falchion by the hilt, turned it around and lifted it.

             “We’re certain of what we want to do Azoth. We have nothing left but each other, and we realize that we can’t survive with you doing all the fighting. So not only are we going to help you free those children, but I ask you to train us. Train us and be reassured in the fact that we’ll be able to watch out for ourselves when you aren’t there.”

            Azoth took the dull end of his sword and took it from Arthur’s hands. He placed it back on the table and held out his hand.

            “Then let’s go free those children.” Everyone smiled and Arthur took Azoth’s hand and shook it.

___________________________________________________________________________________

The day had passed by faster than they had thought. They spent all of their time inside the inn, formulating a plan of action while they waited for night. Once the sun had set, Azoth, Arthur, Athos and Ragosh left the inn and waited for Alicia behind it. Brendwin stayed behind because of his broken arm.

            “So does everyone remember the plan?” Azoth asked.

            “Alicia takes us to the children; we take them out three at a time until all of them have been released. After that, we go after Andreas.” Arthur replied.

            “And if we run into trouble?”

            “You hold off the guards as best as you can while we get all the children out at once.”

            “Good.”

            “You know that if we get caught we’ll have little chance of getting out.”

            “I’ve dealt with worse.”

            “I imagine you have.”

            “Hush. Someone’s coming.” Ragosh said. They all tensed up.

            “Are you there?” They heard Alicia say.

            “Aye.” Azoth replied.

            “Good.” Alicia stepped forward and pulled the hood down from her head. “We don’t have much time. My father has doubled the guard since this morning.”

            “So long as you can get us inside, we should be fine. Now let us go before someone takes notice of us.”

            “Follow me.”

            They moved silently in between the buildings, gradually making their way towards the hill that the manor stood upon. Guards were seen all over the place, patrolling in groups of five and three. Often times they had to stop to let a group pass by so they wouldn’t be spotted. It slowed them down, which made Azoth anxious.

            “Not far now.” Alicia said.

            “You didn’t tell us there were this many guards.” Azoth said.

            “There weren’t this many when I came this way.”

            “Well maybe you should take note of…”

            “Of what?”

            “Get back!” Azoth exclaimed as he pulled Alicia back away and behind some barrels. Arthur and Ragosh kneeled behind him as low as they could go. A guard came around the left corner with a lantern lighting his way. He held the lantern forward and called out “Who goes there?”

            “It’s me Robert.” Another guard called as he came out of the darkness.

            “Where’s your lantern man?”

            “Dropped it.”

            “Why’d you drop it?”

            “So you can laugh at me about it? Not a chance.”

            “I promise I won’t laugh.”

            “Fine. I thought I heard something near the inn so I went to investigate. Suddenly a rat came out of nowhere and scared the piss out of me.”

            Robert began to laugh loudly as he almost dropped his own lantern.

            “Shut it! You said you wouldn’t laugh.”

            “I’m sorry. But you getting scared by a rat is hilarious in my mind.”

            “Will you two just shut up and go away!” Azoth was screaming in his mind.

            “Come on let’s go. We need to check on the main square. Maybe we’ll find another rat again.”

            The two of them went back to the left of the barrels. Azoth relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Arthur sneezed loudly. Azoth scrambled for his sword when he heard the guards coming back.

            “Who’s there?” Robert said, drawing his sword. His companion drew his own. “I’m warning you. Come out!”

            Azoth gripped his sword tightly as he prepared to strike if needed.

            “Last warning. Come out!” Robert said again just before a loud scream came from nearby.

            Both guards turned their attention to the screams, quickly leaving the barrels alone. Azoth kept his grip tight on his sword though. An alarm bell began to ring from the south part of town and the guards ran towards it. Azoth eased up and they all let out breaths of relief.

            “Sorry.” Alicia said.

            “Try and keep quiet next time. Let’s go.” Azoth snapped. They got up from the mud and continued back towards the house.

            A few minutes passed and they found themselves next to stone wall. Moss filled most of the cracks in each of the stones. Tangled vines were strewn across the top, tickling the back of their necks as they strafed along the wall with their backs to it. Above them were dragon statues, each with a piece missing be it a horn, a part of a wing or the entire head. Vegetation had entangled them completely, acting as chains to the old creatures.

            Alicia was in front of Azoth. She kept her hands to the wall so that she wouldn’t lose her way. The moon had taken on its crescent shape and offered very little light, and most of the stars were hidden by clouds that were beginning to form.

            “Here it is.” She said. She kneeled down and walked through a hole that was at the bottom of the wall. Azoth, Athos and Ragosh did the same.

            They found themselves inside the main courtyard of the house. There were only a few guards around, each of them carrying a lantern. Their weapons were drawn however. Azoth removed the cloth from his sword and let it drop to the ground. He pulled the bolo knife from its sheath and handed it to Arthur.

            “Just in case.” He whispered. Arthur took the knife hesitantly. His hands began to shake as he grew more nervous. Azoth put his hand on Arthur’s to get them to stop shaking.

            “You can do it if you have to.” He said bluntly before turning to face the guards.

            “They weren’t here when I left.” Alicia said.

            “Apparently. We need to do something else. I’ll deal with them. You two stay back and keep her safe.” Azoth replied as he stood up, holding the messer with both hands. He kept low and stayed close to the bushes. One guard approached him with a lantern and he stopped moving, lying down on the ground underneath a bush. The guard moved the lantern in front of him, lighting up the garden and the interior part of the wall. Not finding anything, he turned around and continued walking. Azoth stood up and ran towards the guard. He put his hand over the guard’s mouth and stabbed his sword through his throat. The guard tried to cough and struggled to get Azoth off of him, but Azoth kept him from uttering a sound. Azoth slowly brought the guards body down as his struggling grew weaker with each passing moment. He looked around to make sure no one had noticed him. When the guard finally stopped struggling, he pulled the sword out of his throat and quickly dragged the body away to hide it. For two more guards he did this, hiding each of their bodies behind a bush or against the wall in the dark. There was only one more patrolling the courtyard. He stopped to check how the oil in his lantern was doing.

            Azoth snuck up behind him and prepared to stab him again. Suddenly, the door to the house swung open and two guards came out. Azoth realized that they were the relief watch.

            “Alright lads, you can get some…sleep…” The first guard said as he spotted Azoth. He quickly drew his sword and yelled out “Intruder!”

            Azoth quickly stabbed the last guard in the neck and withdrew the weapon, setting his attention to the new ones that were running towards him. One of them swung a mace at him, which he back stepped out of the way of and slashed at his arm. The blade cut through the gambeson and halfway through the man’s arm. The guard screamed loudly as he grasped his bleeding arm. Azoth stabbed at the middle guard, who deflected his attack and countered by sliding his blade along the edge. He quickly backed away again to avoid the counter and quickly slashed at the guard to his right. The guard deflected with his axe, but the messer cut through the wood like knife through meat and collided with the man’s face. Azoth attacked the middle guard again and this time managed to get past his defense and stab the sword into his side. With the guard wounded, Azoth pressed his advantage and took his sword away and stabbed him in the throat. Without wasting any time, he quickly sliced the throats of the other two guards and let them fall down to the ground.

            He stopped to listen once the gurgling from the dying men stopped. It was completely silent for a moment, until he heard more bell