Guardian

Chapter 27 - Family

Ciro

"Wake up!" I felt a sharp pain in my stomach as my eyes jolted open. The dark room was only lit up with a little of sunlight that was able to get in through the window. I tried my best to sit up, but the chains didn't allow me.

I looked up at the one who kicked me, his annoying eyes looking down on me with that sick smile. "Luciano..." I muttered glaring up at my older brother. Before I could set my self a little better, he grabbed my collar.

His smile quickly changed into a glare as he looked angry. "Listen you sad excuse of a Fiore, where is Lynn?!" His breath smelled like alcohol and his behavior was pretty drunk as well.

It took me a lot of strength to push him away from me and to get up, but I succeeded. "Far away from you and happy." I knew my words would only angry him more and that was visible through his actions.

He came back at me and raised his fist slamming it against my face. I didn't try to dodge it, there was no point anyway. If I were to move away he would just pull me by the chain and start to beat me up completely. "She will learn to be happy with me! I will show her what a man can do to her."

Luciano was a sick bastard for a while now, always taking a girl her freedom. The amount of girls whose lives have been ruined by him was over the top. "You'll never get your hands on her." I said spitting the blood out of my mouth from the punch. "I will make sure of that along with the creed."

This time he didn't even look at me, he just kicked me in the stomach. I let out a small groan of pain, but I wasn't going to show my pain. "My man are already going through the sewers, your friends won't even see us coming." The heavy door slammed closed, leaving me in the dark on the floor.

~ A few hours later ~

I heard a small whistle as I laughed and pushed myself back up leaning against the wall. My brother was stupid. "Via libera." I said looking up at the small window that let the moonlight in. It only took a minute before the window broke open, pieces of the wall flying into the cell. The hole wasn't too big, but it was big enough for a man to get through.

A tall figure climbed down as he landed right in front of me, his shadow towering over me. "The ambush is ready." With that he broke the chains using his battleaxe.

With my hands finally free, I pushed myself off the ground rubbing my wrists. "Thank you Hagan, also for not telling Dawn or Lynn about this mission." I said looking up at the man, his face didn't hold much emotions, but that was just who Hagan was. A man of few words, with a big heart.

Hagan simply nodded before gesturing to the hole in the wall. I decided not to question the plan and climbed up the wall and through the hole. My cell wasn't too high from the ground so I could just drop myself down. Hagan followed right behind me and walked off towards a hay cart reaching in it.

It looked a bit weird, but he was obviously looking for something. When he reached back out he was holding a sword and my uniform from when I served as a guard. "Nothing escapes you." I said with a small laugh before taking my uniform and putting it on.

When I was done I took my sword and placed it in it's sheath. Now it was time to interfere with my brother his plan to find Lynn. I nodded at Hagan as he nodded back before looking up at the roofs whistling. It didn't take long before multiple dark figures stood into the moonlight on top of the roof, ready to take order.

"Get ready to dig deep because we are going into the sewers, make sure you are never alone. Try to stay in the dark and take every last man out, except for Luciano. He will be mine." I directed them towards the entrance of the sewers and everyone split up going in group of two. There were a lot of tunnels to explore and our only guide through was the wind.

Hagan and I went as a team, going into the direction of our home. It didn't take us long before we saw men walk around with torches, trying to find a way out. Hagan walked up to them from behind, even though he was tall, he was very silent. Before the guards acknowledged his presence their heads were banged against each other.

"Watch the helmets." I said walking over there seeing them unconscious. One of the helmets bad a dent in it, which left me with no choice. I picked up the unharmed helmet and placed it on my own head, completing the guard uniform. Now I should be able to walk up to them without them questioning me and I would be able to get more information.

I turned to look at Hagan who had picked up the men's torch. "You can go home, I will take care of the rest." He nodded before whistling on his fingers, calling back the others. The tunnels went very quiet after they were all out, but the wind that came from the west guided me.

It was hard to believe it came this far with my brother and I. When we were kids everything went fine and we always had fun. It was until father was called up to the Acerbi mansion that we started parenting from each other. Mom and dad would learn him more about girls, he learned how to fight and to hunt. Everything in order to charm mister Acerbi's daughter Lynn.

Meanwhile I had to stay at my grandparents their place as they simply raised me on a farm. They were good people, they took good care of me as well. But I never could enjoy playing outside again, as if my other half was missing.

Ever since then I have asked myself the same question. "If I were the oldest one, would I have become that man brother is now?" I didn't realize I asked myself that out loud, but there was no one around who heard me anyway. After I took a couple glances around to make sure I was still safe and walking in the right direction, my mind wondered back.

The day I stept into the mansion and saw my brother was the opposite of what I thought it would be. I was expecting it to be a happy reuniting moment, but instead I got a nasty look and a shove to the ground. "You're nothing more than a servant." Those words stung so hard and they even became true for a while.

Serving as a guard was the worst time of my life especially since I had no idea how to handel a sword. When I was finally getting taught and had fully learned how to fight, Lynn walked up to me. She told me how my brother had become and asked for my help to keep him away from her. At first I thought he wasn't that bad, but soon I found out his obsession with women. He literally forced himself on any girl and especially on Lynn, but dad didn't do anything about it.

I decided I had to step in and do something about it. With Dawn her help we have been able to keep Lynn away from that crazy man so far. I was not going to let that go to waste.

Suddenly my eyes spotted a light source and it seemed like it was going up. "A ladder..." I quickly started running towards the light , expecting my brother to be there with his last men. When I neared them, I saw there was three of them. The one at the front was wearing a higher rank of uniform.

Without thinking I drew my sword and stabbed right through one of the guard's backs. He let out a small groan while coughing up blood, as I quickly retrieved my sword. "Traitor!" The other man yelled while swinging his sword towards me. I quickly parried my sword with his slamming my fist into his face, causing him to tumble backwards. I didn't hesitate to sash my sword across his neck.

The last one, who had to be my brother had made a climb for it. I quickly started climbing up the ladder after him keeping my sword in hand. When I reached the top a sword hit the ground right next to my hand. "You...Aren't my brother." I said in a low tone before he swung again. I let go of the ladder with one hand and blocked his next swing.

The man was jus a regular commander, but a very bad fighter. I grabbed his leg with my free hand and pulled, causing him too fall backwards. That was my chance to climb up and stand, pointing my sword at his throat. "Where is Luciano?" I asked digging the sharp point a little bit into his neck.

He was trembling at my voice and sword. I could tell he wanted to answer, but was too scared to form words. "H-he didn't come! We ha-had order to blow the place up!"

"Blow the place up?" I asked confused what he meant. That's when I realized what I was surrounded with. Barrels were laying everywhere inside this one small room and if I was correct my home was right above us. "Why?! Didn't he want Lynn?!" I asked both confused and furious.

"I don't know! He was planning on going there by horse!" My eyes grew wide with realization.

They knew I was coming, it was just to distract us. Which means Lynn is in real danger. I have to go and quickly inform everyone!