Family of Outcasts by Aaron McLeod (best fantasy books to read TXT) 📕

“Gregory…” He said blankly. Gregory stayed where he was. “I want you to go to Cathvas immediately and Donan back with you.” Arthur turned to look at Gregory.

“I will Arthur.” Gregory said as calmly as he could. He started to walk to the door.

“And once she is properly healed and well, I want you to leave. I don’t want to ever see you around here again.” Arthur picked Hannah up carefully.

Gregory took a moment to reply. “Very well Arthur.” He finally walked out the door. Arthur walked towards the stairs, doing his best to not drop Hannah. She weighed more than she looked. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he saw Brygon standing at the top of them. He stopped, suppressing his anger as best as he could. Brygon began to walk down the steps. Each step he took felt like an echo went through the whole building. Upon closer inspection, Arthur saw that there were tears in Brygon’s eyes. They weren’t falling, but they were building up. Brygon wiped them away from his eyes as he grew closer. Eventually, he was standing right in front of Arthur. Arthur was roughly five and a half feet tall and Brygon stood a full head above him.

“I know there is no way you can forgive me. I did not wish to do that.” Brygon finally broke the silence. “I do not have the same feelings about women like that bastard does. But he is my better, so I had no choice.”

“Is that what you told yourself when you decided to burn down half of a forest, taking the lives of thousands? That you had no choice?” Arthur snapped. He had Ragosh take Hannah from his arms as he was starting to lose his grip.

“That was different. My soldiers were tired of fighting and I wanted to end the war for them. It was the only option I had to get them home.”

“I don’t care what you want to say. You still did this, so that makes you accountable for her pain.”

“You’re still inexperienced with the world, boy.” Brygon began to walk towards the main doors. He stopped just as he started to push them open. “If you’re going to leave, whisk the girls away from here.”

“And why should I care what you say I should do?”

Brygon remained silent for a moment, but then turned his head. “Because I know Hammond better than most. I have never seen with my own eyes what he does, but I have seen the aftermath. If you leave her,” He pointed at Hannah. “The half elf or even the young one here, you will be leaving them to a fate worse than death.” With that, he pushed the door open and walked outside into the dark of the night. Arthur looked back at everyone. They stood there in silence. Arthur took Hannah back into his arms and began to walk up the stairs. She had awoken now and was weeping softly as she buried her face into Arthur’s chest. Arthur held her closing, slowing his pace so that she didn’t shake as much. He noticed now that his shirt was soaked in her blood.

“Go and get as many towels as you can, and prepare hot water for the apothecary.” Arthur said without turning his head. He heard everyone start to scatter throughout the orphanage. Entering the girls’ bedroom, Arthur placed Hannah onto her bed. He removed the bloodied shirt from her chest. Blood started to flow down his hand from grasping it. He dropped it to the floor and started to rip the sheets apart, and placing them in layers across the cut. Hannah was lying almost completely still, except for her head. She kept on turning it from side to side with bated breath. Arthur removed the layered sheet strips and applied fresh layers and applied some pressure to them. Hannah winced from the pain, but soon relaxed again. Arthur continued to remove and replace the cloth layers until finally the twins arrived with a large towel each. Arthur took one of the towels and placed it on the cut. The twins stayed with him.

Soon everyone but Ragosh and Athos had come up with towels. Ragosh and Athos were preparing the boiling water for the apothecary. Every once in a while, Arthur would lift up the towels to see how much blood they had soaked up. They all sat without saying a word to each other. Hanalos was holding Jade who had fallen asleep in her arms. Jordan was crying into Ariana’s shoulder. Brendwin stood at the window with Aldus and Oldus. Rain had begun to fall heavily. That would delay Gregory and the apothecary in coming back. They had already been waiting for half an hour. The lighting and thunder were continuous throughout the rain, neither seeming to have an end in sight. Hanalos soon took all of the boys except for Arthur, Ragosh and Athos to bed. Arthur refused to leave Hannah’s side and Ragosh and Athos were keeping an eye on the boiling water. The bleeding had finally stopped, but he kept the towels on top of the cut. Arthur looked over to the right. Ariana and Jade were sleeping in the same bed with Ariana holding Jade tight in her arms. He smiled a little and turned his attention back to Hannah. Her hand was hanging over the edge of the bed. Arthur took hold of it. He laid his head down onto the bed, holding Hannah’s hand close to his face. Slowly he found his eyelids becoming heavier. Soon enough, he had fallen asleep despite all the thunder.

Donan had arrived late in the evening. He and Gregory had been delayed when a tree had fallen onto the road after being knocked over by the wind. They had to take one of the back roads which was extremely muddy which caused Gregory’s wagon to get stuck in the mud. They took the horse off of the wagon and left it there while they walked the rest of the way in the rain. When Donan finally arrived, he inspected Hannah’s wound and quickly opened a small leather pouch with yarrow flowers inside. He took the leaves off of the flowers and started to crush them up with a mortar and pestle. Donan took some of the hot water that Ragosh and Athos had prepared and mixed it with the crushed leaves, creating a smooth paste. He gently spread the paste gently across Hannah’s wound. She said it stung a lot as she squirmed while Donan applied the poultice. They finally managed to cover up her chest and get her into her night clothes. After the poultice was applied, Donan placed a clean rag across it.

            “I’ll leave a mortar and pestle here with the yarrow flowers.” Donan had said to Hanalos and Gregory. “Be sure to clean the wound every day and to apply more herbs in the mornings and evenings afterwards. If the wound begins to fester, send for me.” Donan left shortly after the sun rose. Gregory left with him. His wagon was still stuck in the mud and he couldn’t just leave it there.

            Hannah was sleeping again. Arthur had spent the entire night by his side. He hadn’t slept since Donan had arrived. Now that they had tended to her wound, Arthur could barely stay awake.

            Days went by and Hannah’s wound was healing rather slowly. The yarrow leaves did speed up the process, but there was still a lot of progress to be made. Someone would bring Hannah’s meals to her every day and help her sit up. The wound still hurt a great deal and also left a foul stench every time they would clean it. Hanalos continued to apply the yarrow paste after cleaning the wound as Donan instructed. It was torture for Hannah. Even just slightly moving caused her to cringe in pain. She kept on pushing through the healing process though and soon enough, the pain soon began to lessen.

            Days turned into weeks and the tension between Hanalos, Gregory and Hammond was still high. Hammond had spent most of his time inside the Greymoor chapel. When he was in the chapel he would not allow anyone to join him, not even his novices. “I prefer to pray in silence.” He said when asked. Aldus and Oldus at first thought he was doing something foul in there, so they tried to sneak a glimpse of the inside of the chapel. They were wrong. Hammond was just on his knees in front of the altar, praying. It brought them some comfort that he was telling the truth, but also disappointment that they didn’t catch him in some sort of foul act.

            The children barely played together anymore. Hammond always kept a sharp eye on them when they were outside in the courtyard. Most of their time outside, they just spent sitting or speaking quietly while Hammond observed. Their study hours had become much longer and now focused mainly on the Book of Veid. The Book of Veid was the collection of sacred texts and records of all the knowledge of the Guardian and everything that was done in his name. This included the battle of the plains of Dumar and the rise of Roseiron’s/Ostllyn’s first king, King Astor. King Astor I had come during a time of great strife in Roseiron’s/Ostlyyn’s history. The Holy Church had been losing the influence of the people. The rich shared their homes with the poor in order to survive during the cold winter. There was hardly any food left for even a man living on his own. The Holy Church continued with their words of comfort, telling the people that the Guardian would provide. As the days became shorter and the nights grew longer, the people soon found themselves doubting the Holy Church’s word. After the pass of the year, a man stood up to the church’s words. He claimed that even though he did believe in the Guardian, he did not think that praying would bring an end to their misery. This man, named Astor, rallied the people to work together. They stockpiled all the remaining food in one place that was safely secured from the cold and evenly rationed it as best they could. While countless people did die, it would have been much worse than if nothing had been done. By the end of winter, the Holy Church attempted to have Astor removed from Roseiron/Ostllyn. They believed that he was using his claims to control the people. Astor chose to prove that he indeed had the Guardian on his side. He began to move south on his own. No one knew where he was going and no one followed him for fear of being punished by the Holy Church. A month after he left, Astor returned. The left side of his face had been badly burned, but he had come back with a prize. It was the head of a