King of Days: The Veiled Guardians

4. The Black Robed Man

In the fortress the family lay huddled together, not knowing what was going to happen to them, nor did they understand why they were attacked in the first place. They felt like wild animals being held in a cage, wanting and longing for freedom. The men were particularly mean, they made fun of the kids and reminded them constantly how they had no power. They fed them, but only the bare essentials; Old crusty bread, some moldy veggies and some weird soup, which none enjoyed. Meanwhile outside of the cage they were taunted with others scrumptious looking food and nice clean water. Oh how they longed for their quaint cottage and warm delicious bread dipped in fresh soup.

One of the guards on duty was not as mean as the rest; he would typically give some decent bread he had to Crees and a nice chunk of meat to Hidía. He even spoke nice words, how it would all be over soon, and how he wished that this did not have to happen. But when other guards came he acted just as mean as all the rest.

In the corner of the cell Hûstin sat in a disgruntled little ball. He had been beaten trying to defend his family. He swore that if he got out he would become a knight of the king and defend all innocent people from bad men such as these. He had a bandage over his head that covered the wound which had knocked him unconscious. The man that hit him was none other than the leader. He was a whiny and disgusting man, he did whatever he wanted and made the most unbearable guttural sounds. However he would not touch or come near the family. Actually all of the brigands avoided the family like an elephant does with a mouse. It almost seemed as if they were afraid of the family, or of what would happen if something bad happened to them.

The leader's name was Frud, it was not much of a name, and the kids giggled whenever they heard it. Karíto sat in the middle of the cage twiddling his thumbs, thinking of ideas of how to escape, but he did not have the tools needed to escape. If only he had his sword, then he could do something, 'where did that sword go after all He thought.

The sword, however, was still outside. It had been days since they had been captured, and none dared to pick up the sword. It was a great pastime for the men to play with the light on the sword. They would put a plank over it to cast a shadow and watch it grow dark, then quickly pull it away for it to shine in the sun. Some said it was a magical sword, others said it had a curse on it. They thought that if anyone touched it, they would be doomed to bad luck. One even pointed out that the boy who wielded it, was not burned, but it must have cursed him.

The reason none touched it was because of the man who had tried to pick it up earlier. His hand had immediately become useless and fouly discolored. The sight of his hand was enough evidence for all to not touch the sword.

The Vírlas family could not tell night from day, for their dungeon was mostly laid in darkness and mostly illuminated by torches. They had just eaten and were imagining what was going to happen to them, when they overheard the bandits talking a lot about some Ochi group, and how they were going to come and take them. The family wondered what this meant, and what kind of people would order to capture an innocent family. There were a lot of unanswered questions, but there was one that was their biggest concern, and that was of their father. Where was he, was he alright, did he ever make it home, and if he did get home, then what did he do upon finding the home in disarray and no one there? What would he do?

As they sat there, their only consolation was each other, they were glad that they were not separated, and that all were okay. Hours or days later, they heard a loud noise. The men then started to run around the cave shouting, visibly panicked they grabbed their weapons. Pruä, speaking sweetly, tried to ask the nice guard when he went by. He looked at her, grabbed her hand and whispered,"Be safe"

The two had developed some kind of relationship in those days. The guard whose name was Ares was not as old as they thought. He was around eighteen and he had taken a liking to her. She was around fourteen and was hoping she could somehow make him help them.