Hello everyone! I have my exam for getting in to a college this year so chapters will be randomly uploaded . Please write your thoughts about this project and suggestions for me to improve my writing in comments they mean a lot to me as I just began writing only 2 weeks ago.This story will not be one of the happy and warm ones remember that I warned you. Enjoy!
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The castle walls shook with another fireball explosion. A man shouted disregarding the ground beneath him that was shaking.
“Mages return fire!” 50 fireballs shot from the walls to the incoming army of 60 thousand. Screams of agony could be heard from the other side of the wall. Stink of burning flesh was everywhere.
The man that shouted looked like the commander of the defending forces as everyone obeyed the orders he gave with haste. His pale blue eyes filled with regret looked at his soldiers around him willing to sacrifice their lives for him to pay the price of the dangerous game he played. He regained his concentration with the rain of arrows clouding the sun above them.
“MAGES PROTECT THE ARCHERS, EVERYONE RAISE YOUR SHIELDS!” he shouted with his very essence to make sure everyone was able to hear him in the midst of the battle.5000 shields rose up with harmony inside the castle walls as the arrows came flying. Some of the arrows went past the openings in the shield formation and killed or wounded soldiers but a lot of them was blocked by the formation. Mages had cast protection barriers around their selves and the archers and none of them seemed hurt.
The commander’s relief was broken in to pieces when a loud bang came from the south gate of the castle that was in front of him. It was a battering ram, an enormous one built by the king’s army just for this siege.
“ Archers lit up your arrows and blaze that ram and mages cast fireballs upon enemy mages protecting the ram!” Commander shouted in a hurry.
“Sir we are outnumbered by the enemy mages ! They are able to put barriers both around themselves and the ram!” Captain of the mage unit spoke to him
The situation didn’t seem bright at the moment. The commander grabbed his most trusted guard from his arm.
“Arthan get my wife and kid out of this place using the secret tunnels that open in to the forest of Uzuna. That will be my last command to you. Take care of them. That is an order and also a request from an old friend”
Arthan looked at his lord in front of him making his last request. He couldn’t stop himself from saying
“My lord please you should be the one to live not me escape this place with your wife and kid while we make time for you!”
“Shut it Arthan this is what my decisions brought upon us . I cannot leave my men to suffer alone for my inadequate decision making. Now go as I ordered there’s not much time left”
As Arthan made haste to the inner castle he heard his beloved lord shout.
“We are The house of Turhan and we will stop those vile men from ravaging our homes at all costs even if the price to pay for becomes our lives!”
5600 shouts answered the man accepting his offer as the ground beneath them shook with the vibrations of their voice.
The ground shook once more as the ram broke the gates with a loud voice and enemy soldiers came pouring from the gate.
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Battle was in its climax when Arthan made it to his lord’s chambers. He saw a beautiful woman with blonde hair glimmering under the dim light of the chamber sitting on the bed with her 8 year old on her lap. He was surprised to see the kid not crying as the battle sounds were impossible to be not heard from here. The woman turned her head to face him and shot an inquiring gaze in his way with her heart-warming brown eyes.
“Lady Aela please come with me. Lord Easar ordered me to escort you to the tunnels.”
“Things must have been in a dire situation for him to order us to run away” She said with a solemn tone unbecoming of her beautiful appearance while looking at her child.
“There’s just too many of them my lady. Please take Lord Ceshur and follow me”
She nodded and put Ceshur down her lap. Grabbing her child’s hand she said with a solemn tone once more
“Let’s go Arthan “
As they rushed into the dark storage room lit by the torches on the walls and filled with boxes full of ingredients and everyday needs Arthan pressed a certain brick in the wall and a secret passage appeared before them. As the cold wind flew through the passage in to the storage room Aela couldn’t help herself from shuddering a little.
“It’s scary mom I don’t want to go in here” the young boy said in a frightened tone.
“It’ll be alright my dear mommy will protect you and we have our protector Arthan here don’t we?”
“Let’s go young master I’ll protect you and your mother with my life please trust me” Arthan added in a confident way.
“Okay” Ceshur said trusting his guard who was protecting him since his birth.
“We have to hurry my lady” Arthan said to Lady Aela
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She nodded and picked Ceshur up as Arthan was already in his heavy full-plate armor. They started running in to the dark passage only illuminated by what it could get from the light of the torches in the storage room. After a good 15 minutes run in the dark and moisty tunnels.They were able to see the light at it's end.As they came out panting heavily Lady Aela was about to collapse with her body shaking from the fatigue.
“Arthan I can’t continue anymore” she said while putting her child down. Arthan could see that she was tired out. But seeing the black smokes rising from the direction of the Castle of Turnia –His homeland- he wiped his mind clean from thoughts of resting or even stopping for a little while.
“I am sorry my lady but we have to keep moving it won’t take them long to find out about the tunnels”
“The ambitions of that husband of mine! Look at what his little game of thrones brought upon us yet I still can’t keep myself from loving him” She said with finally losing her solemn face and tone. As tears which she had tried with all her will to stop came down from her brown eyes Arthan interrupted while Ceshur was pleading her beloved mother to stop crying.
“My lady please, I too am sorry but we don’t have a moment to spare”
“I understand Arthan let’s keep moving” She said finally putting herself together while wiping her tears of with the sleeves of her elegant blue dress filled with embroidery befitting of a lady. She grabbed the little hand of his son and started running once more.
After a ten or so minutes Lady Aela was throughly exhausted as she was not able to take another step she fell down tripping on a small stone. Being able to let go of her son in the last moment. The young Ceshur didnt fall together with his mother.
“Arthan please I can’t go on anymore and Ceshur is panting heavily I don’t think he would be able to take it anymore .” She said as Arthan rushed to her trying to lift her up without hurting her.
Arthan’s hands were tied up as he knew they were not safe yet but the fatigue was unbearable for his lady and the young master. He thought that they could make do without a fire for the night and turned to lady Aela to tell her that they would make camp for the night.
“I understand my lady we could ma-“
An arrow that shot through his neck interrupted him. As the loyal guard came down limping Aela started shouting out of fear not wanting to believe the scene infront of her. Men in leather armor came out from the surrounding bushes with numbers reaching 15 or so. Ceshur had started crying for the first time since the beginning of the siege of Turnia. Both of them couldn’t help themselves as they saw the lifeblood of their trusted guard leaking out in enormous amounts and the spark of the man’s black eyes fading away slowly.
“Looks like we got ourselves a fine lady to entertain ourselves a little and some expensive gear to sell lads.”
A bandit larger than the rest with a more sturdy look said. He seemed like the leader of the bunch as he was the one closing in on them while the men surrounding them laughed at his disgusting words. His next words made this assumption true.
“You can all get a turn after I am done with this beauty. Only after I make sure she enjoys it throughly get it?”
Sounds of acknowledgement came around him even if they were unwilling they had to do as he said.
There was only fear in the little Ceshur’s mind at the moment unable to speak unable to move he was just standing there crying and cursing the 9 gods with every swear word he knew.
‘Weren’t you our protectors? ’
‘Where are you? ’
‘Help us ’
He knew every each one of the 9 gods as his father made him get lectures from a scholar. Yet none of them answered to this young boy who was broken and in dire need of some help. His belief in his gods started to fade away with every step of the large bandit coming their way.
This was nothing more than a bad stroke of luck as the bandits had seen the clouds of smoke and were moving this way with hopes of plundering what’s left of a battle or a burnt down village while killing the heavily wounded bunch who were left behind yet they had came across with their group.
Aela was yelling at the man with everything she got when he came near them. The man swung the back of his right hand filled with calluses made from practicing the sword at the woman
“Shut up you bitch” he said while slapping the woman sending her to the ground stopping her from yelling anymore.
As he saw the man attacking his beloved mother anger took over the young boy making him forget his fear and dart forward trying to attack the man.
Yet his futile efforts were cut short by the man punching him with the same hand he used for hitting his mother.
He was sent flying to the ground. The pain made him lose his consciousness as he heard the screams of her mother pleading for the man to stop what he was about to do to her. Yet he didn’t stop and the cries of his mother going silent by the hand covering her mouth was the last thing he heard before blacking out.