The Castle on the Hill

Chapter #4 To Choose One's Fate

                The next morning Thomas was back at work in the shop before his dad showed up. He was trying not the let the lingering, excruciating pain from the day before slow him down or hinder him but his movements were slow and stiff.

                 "I can't believe you screwed up all of that yesterday." His dad grunted as she shuffled into the shop, bumping into tables and knocking over a bucket of nails.

                  "How was I to know it was against the law to invent something? Nobody I know has ever invented anything!" He really wasn't in the mood to deal with all of this today.

                  "You're just a disappointment. I am ashamed that you're my son." Even though his father was well past drunk and his words slurred they cut deep into Thomas.

                 "Well what kind of Father leaves their son out all day after he had been beaten half to death." Thomas's voice rose above his usual level tone.

                 "Don't you dare raise your voice at me! I didn't raise no disrespectful pansy!" Thomas winced in pain as a fire-stoker came against the side of his face. "The next time you dare to raise your voice at me, I'll have dipped it in the fire first."

                Thomas decided he would spend the morning working on the two swords and pair of daggers he had taken from Zavier and Celyn last night. He pulled the sword out of its sheath and did a quick examination of the weapon. It was light, made out of sturdy-enough grade of steel, with a  white oak handle. The pommel was a simple round button made of a blackened iron with a symbol made of vines engraved in it. The hilt was just a think metal crossbar. It wasn't fancy by any means but it would definitely cut and easily kill an opponent. Celyn had told him that it was the sword that she used when necessary but that swords where hardly every her choice  of weapon. It was obvious by the condition of the blade compared to her brother's sword. It didn't take him too long before he had it sharpened back to the proper sharpness.

               When he pulled Zavier's out of its sheath he almost dropped it because he was so shocked that it was even still being used. It was clear he had used it to chop through some things which had put some slight boughs in the blade. The edges were so dull that they were almost rolled to a blunt edge. He stared at it in disbelief. Zavier must have just been breaking bones with this thing, there was no way it was cutting through anything. He sighed and began hammering out the boughs and making the edge more like the edges for a sword and less like the edges for a hammer.

                "Good Morning, Mr. Eldenson." Lilith. He groaned and looked over his shoulder at the girl standing next to the counter.

              "Well, Well, Well, you are looking mighty lovely this morning Miss Lilith." He resisted the urge to barf as his dad shuffled over to the girl. He had to physically hold back a gag when she giggled, batted her eyes, and gently patted his dad on the arm.

             "You are to kind, honestly." She looked up from under her devilish eyelashes batting them 1,000 times a minute. Thomas swore that girl would flirt with any male if she thought she had a chance of getting a compliment. "I was wondering if I could talk to Thomas?"

                "Still not interested and you are wasting your time." Thomas turned towards the counter to look at this ever-persistent girl.

                 "Thomas, honestly you are lucky you didn't get demoted down to level 10 after what happened yesterday. I had to beg my dad to even still allow me to talk to you. No other girl left in level 8 is going to be available for you after that and you can kiss your dreams of moving up ever goodbye. Once your openly punished you never get a chance." She said all of this with her voice dripping with honey. She swayed her hips under her dress. She looked up at him and pouted a little.

                   "Lilith, If you were the last woman left on earth, I still would not pursue a relationship with you." He never broke eye contact with the girl as her expression went from sweet and innocent to violent and evil.

                   "What? Do you honestly want some dead man's leftovers? Do you want to be a Dad to the little orphan boy? Because let me tell you something. The moment you touch Claudia she will lose everything. Her precious little Justice will be treated in the most unjust ways. They will be stripped of everything that their level 6 status stands for and will be thrown into your pathetic level 8 trash!" She was clearly ferious, but she was also wrong.

                   "No, I am not interested in Claudia either. I'm sorry but neither of you are what I am looking for in a woman. I have met the type of woman I would like to marry once and I will not settle for anything else." Thomas turned back towards his work.

                 "Are you kidding me? That little thief who injured that soldier when we were kids? Why you choose some level 10 skanky thief? I can't believe you would be so disgusting!" Lilith turned to leave but her yelling "A SKANKY THIEF OVER ME?!?!" Was heard long after she disappeared from his sight.

                 "I swear you are the biggest disappointment of a son I could have ever been cursed with. Two of the most beautiful women in this town and you won't pick either?" His father mumbled as he walked away.

                "Yeah, that's me. The Disappointment." Thomas went back to work on the sword and it took him until well after lunch to get it back in working condition. When he finally finished it he pulled out the daggers and immediately knew who they belonged to. Celyn.

                 They were so worn that he could see where her hands had gripped them. Judging by the blood smudges within the handle there was a time where she had been wielding these weapons so long at once that it had caused her hands to start bleeding. He knew they didn't have excess to newer and better weapons but did they also not have gloves to protect their hands? The blades were actually in remarkable shape despite the worn handles but he could tell they had seen their fair share of bloodshed. In no time he had them sharp enough to cut through any major artery necessary.

                  Over his dinner of stew and stale bread he didn't speak to his father. Instead his mind wondered to the brother and sister he had stumbled across the night before. He had agreed to sharpen these weapons for them and tell them tonight when he returned whether he would continue with them on their journey. He only had a little while left to think. He was due to meet them two hours after nightfall with an answer.

              As soon as his dad finished his dinner he began drinking. Thomas knew that three glasses in his father would be to drunk to know or care what he was doing. As soon as the third glass was down and the fourth was poured Thomas gathered his few belongings into a sack. He took the locket his mother had worn all her life and placed in inside the sack. He quietly opened the shop. He had promised himself that he would only take the tools necessary to repair weapons and to make the most basic ones. Lastly he grabbed the bucket of arrowheads he had been beaten over.

           He made his way quietly and quickly across the town towards Claudia's land. He looked back on the town that had caused him so much misery in his life, then he turned and walked towards the small shack at the edge of the property. Today he was going to start the journey to becoming his own man. Today he would begin to stand up for what he believed was right.