The Outcasts

Chapter 2 Outcasts

"What do you mean, escaped?!" Lord Nerida was in another one of

his rages again, Nok thought to himself. This happened frequently and

everyone always wondered when the next one would take place. One

time he'd started yelling that his food was not cooked. But when he

found out that it was supposed to be served cold, he started raging about

nothing. The angry episode would eventually increase as he would usually

start hitting his servants who did the littlest thing wrong.

Sileena would often receive most of the yelling. Whenever Nok

was there he would make sure she was escorted away to her chambers

before she was actually hit herself. But those were the times when he

was there to put a stop to it. What about the times when Nok was

not there? The thought made him uncomfortable. However, he usually

didn't care when his father was in one of his rages. He stopped caring

a long time ago. But this one did bother him. Not because food was

stolen, not because a guard was dead but because his younger sister

was missing. This had him feeling agitated. How did this happen?

More guards should have been stationed to guard her. His little sister

had been taken by a bandit and dragged to some unknown place

where she could be going through hell. That didn't seem to bother

Lord Nerida, though. He was in a rage because the thief had escaped,

not because of what he had escaped with.

"I'm sorry my lord, I tried to stop him but he caught my arrow

in mid-fligh—"

"I don't care!" yelled Lord Nerida, his face glowing several shades

of red. Nok was standing in the hall where meetings with the lord took

place within the keep. The hall was large, with pillars dotted down the

left and right sides and was constructed entirely from highly detailed

marble. At one side of the great room was a massive wooden door. The

wood was probably oak, but Nok had never bothered to find out. It just

didn't seem that important, and he was usually too busy. However, the

door was highly furnished. Two of Lord Nerida's personal bodyguards

were standing at either side of it. They were heavily armoured and

very big men. To Nerida, the bigger the better. They could be used for

intimidation as well as brutality when circumstances required.

At the other side of the hall was a set of stairs that led up to the

most highly detailed chair in all of Sarden. It was where Nerida was

sitting before he stood up and started bellowing at the two men kneeling

and scared out of their minds at the bottom of the stairs. Two guards,

just as big as the two at the door, were standing behind the lord's chair.