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

            “Before the snow fell, the King’s army came across a fortress that acted as the best crossing for the river they had come across. They decided to place it under siege, bombarding the walls with their siege engines and cannons. Then the snow came. Winter had come early for that year and the cold made most of the men incapable of fighting and had frozen most of their food and water. They continued with the siege though. They kept on charging at the walls, trying to climb them with ladders or make them fall by digging tunnels underneath. But the elves pushed them back each time and let the cold do most of the work. Once winter was over, King Astor retreated back home with less than ten thousand soldiers remaining of the one hundred and fifty thousand he had when attacking the fortress. Can you please bring me some water Jade?”

Jade got up from her seat and left the chapel, then came back with a small mug of water for Hanalos, who quickly drank the water down.

            “Thank you.” She continued. “After King Astor returned home with his army broken and his men disheartened, he went to the Pope to ask for help. He feared the elves would counterattack soon and did not have the soldiers to defend everywhere against attack. The Pope granted his wish and also gave him his blessing. King Astor did not have full command over the Inquisitorial army though. Instead, the head of the Inquisitorial Church, Grand Inquisitor Brygon, commanded the army. Grand Inquisitor Brygon kept the army solely for defense and didn’t risk any of his men scouting for any elves. At least, that was until King Astor was assassinated by an elf.”

Everyone sat in silence as Hanalos explained what was going on. Hanalos looked down at her hands, which were both shaking. She gripped onto her mug tightly, which stopped the shaking. She looked up and continued speaking.

            “When King Astor was found dead by his son, our current King Reynald, Reynald demanded of the Pope to allow the Inquisitorial army to march into elven lands. The Pope, having been a lifelong friend of King Astor, granted this request also. After Reynald was crowned, he hired as many mercenaries as he could get his hands on. With a large daily payment and a massive initial reward just for fighting, many mercenaries leaped at the chance. Villagers, nobles, farmers, fishermen, blacksmiths and stable boys across ______ joined the royal army as well. By the end of the second year since the war began, there were three armies ready for war. There was King Reynald’s royal army that was much larger than his fathers, numbering one hundred and eighty thousand. Then there was an army of mercenaries, numbering ten thousand. Finally, there was the Inquisitorial Church’s army, numbering three hundred thousand. Another drink please.” She handed the cup to Jade, who fetched her some more water. “Do you want me to keep going on?”

Everyone nodded.

            “Very well. From then on, the war dragged on slowly for five years. King Reynald’s royal army participated in numerous battles until having to retreat to the border to resupply and recover their losses. However, the army of mercenaries soon grew out of control. They pressed forward, meeting little resistance as they left each elf village in smoke and flames. However, the bulk of their army was stopped at a small narrow creek. They came across a warrior on one side of the creek. He was garbed in elf armor and his face was completely covered. Five mercenaries went against him and he cut each of them down. The warrior then called out and hundreds of elven soldiers charged into the mercenaries’ camp. With the element of surprise on the elves side, many of the mercenaries were killed and eventually they fled. Eventually, all the mercenaries left the war. Those that came back described the warrior and his small army of elves and orc mercenaries as having a type of ferocity in their fighting they had never seen before. With one of their armies routed, Grand Inquisitor Brygon took action. He marched his army to the fortress where King Astor was defeated and burned it to the ground. It was after this that the war escalated. Over the course of the last three years, there was talk of the mysterious warrior and his small army attacking supply caravans, raiding camps and being at the vanguard of major battles. By this time, mages became part of the war. The Grandmaster mages were convinced to join the Inquisitorial army for the war to help even the odds. There had been talk of the elves using magic and summoning nature to fight for them. Eventually, Brygon had had enough. He turned his army around and started to come back home. As he came back, he ordered fire mages to stay behind and set the forest ablaze completely. By the time the fire was put out, almost an entire third of the forest was destroyed.”

Hanalos stopped and put her hand over her face, trying to hide her tears from everyone. All the orphans held their heads low. Arthur felt horrible for asking Hanalos about the war now. He didn’t think she’d have started to cry.

            “Shortly after that, the elves called for peace. At first King Reynald and Brygon refused to accept, as he believed that they should be taught an even greater lesson for killing their king and for massacring their soldiers. However, the Pope convinced him otherwise. The Pope was tired of all the bloodshed and forced the two of them to accept the peace treaty. The terms were that humans and elves could still travel around in each other’s lands if they wanted, but at serious risk to themselves if they did. The other part of the treaty was that any surviving fire mages involved with the burning of the forest should be turned over to the elves for justice. The one rumored survivor was never found. It’s been eight months since the war ended, but there is still a lot of hate amongst our fellow humans. Not only do our countrymen hate elves, but also orcs. Even the orcs who fought on our side...”

She finally stopped talking, sitting in silence as everyone was staring at her. Arthur got up from his seat, walked over to Hanalos and hugged her.

            “I’m sorry.” He said. “I should not have asked.” Hanalos embraced him gently.

            “It’s alright Arthur. You’re old enough to understand. And they should come to realize that the world isn’t a completely beautiful place just because our books and fables say that it is. War can drive even the greatest of men mad, but it also brings ruin to the lives of the simplest people.” She said as she stood up and looked out at the other orphans, who were all focusing their attention onto her. Ariana thought back to the man outside of Cathvas.

Had she been affected by the war? She thought to herself. Hanalos walked back up to the altar.

            “Now, let us pray to the Holy Guardian, and then you may go.” She said, slowly placing her palms against each other and closing her eyes. All of the orphans’ did the same. In union, they all began to speak the words of their prayer.

            “Oh Holy Guardian, our God over men. Show us the path to light and protect us from the dangers of hatred. Keep us upon the path of peace, and of love. Do not let us stray into the realms of darkness. And should we someday perish, buy age, or disease or by the sword, know that we will embrace death with open arms and join you in your kingdom up in the Heavens.” They finished by bowing their heads down in respect to the altar. The orphans’ quickly gathered their paper, feather pens, inkwells and books and left the chapel. Arthur stayed behind with Hanalos though, to help her with cleaning up the desks.

She handed him a small scrubbing brush made of birch wood and boar hairs for the bristles, along with water. They both began to furiously scrub the top, bottom and sides of the desks, taking out of lot of dust that had built up over the months. Arthur finished most of them very quickly while Hanalos was beginning to struggle by the end of the third desk. She was breathing heavily again, but quickly tried to hide it from Arthur. He managed to notice this time.

            “Are you alright Sister Hanalos?” He asked her as he knelt down to help her up on her feet.

            “Yes I am Arthur. Just a little tired is all.” She lied.

Suddenly, there was a searing pain in her knees and her thighs. She fell down to a sitting position, leaning her back against one of the desks. Gripping her legs, Hanalos grimaced and tried her best not to let out a cry of pain.

            “Sister Hanalos!” Arthur exclaimed as she fell down.

            “Go and find Gregory!” She said in-between breaths. “Now!” Arthur quickly ran out the door and called out Gregory’s name. Hanalos took in deep breaths as the pain slowly subsided, but was still very strong. Gregory came into the chapel and immediately lifted up Hanalos and carried her out to the courtyard. He made his way across the small square courtyard to door that lead to all the bedrooms. Up the stairs he went until he finally laid her down on her bed in her own room.

            “Just rest, okay? I’ll bring you something for the pain.” He said very quickly as he left her. Gregory quickly ran downstairs into the kitchens, calling for Arthur.

            “What has happened, Gregory?” He asked with a concerned tone.

            “I’ll explain later. Where does Sister Hanalos keep the ginger?”

            “We haven’t harvested ginger yet, but I can grab some fresh from the garden.”

            “Go and get me a ginger root. I need to get the fire going.” Arthur left and Gregory reached for a large pot. He headed scooped water into the pot and hung it over the spit on the fire. Gregory grabbed some pieces of very stringy tree bark and little pieces of kindling. He placed the bark down into the cooking fire, then took a flint rock and some steel and started to strike them against each other. Some sparks flew, but they did not ignite the bark. Eventually, he managed to get ignite the bark a little and started to blow on the bark gently to get the fire bigger, gradually adding small pieces of kindling. Arthur finally came back into the kitchen with a root of ginger.

            “I’ve brought them Gregory. Why do you need these?” He asked, eyeing the pot of water.

            “Just cut them up and soften them up. Give them to me when you’re done and then go.” He snapped at Arthur. Arthur cut the ginger roots into slices and then started to soften them up in a mortar and pestle. He handed them to Gregory and then left.

 The fire was growing swiftly and Gregory kept adding small pieces of firewood. He grabbed a fire poker and stabbed at the fire once, letting the wood spread out a little, then started to add some larger pieces. The fire kept on going, with Gregory checking the pot every few minutes. Eventually, the pot was finally boiling and the smell of boiling ginger filled the kitchen. The pot continued to boil for a few minutes until finally Gregory took a wooden ladle and filled it with the water. He poured the water into a small mug and then took another two scoops of water, then placed the mug down, wrapped his sleeves around his hands and carried the pot