Chosen

Chapter Two

   "Stop!" I screamed as I ran towards the girl, grabbing the whip out of the guard's hand.

   "What did she do?" Ruth murmured in the crowd since she couldn't be seen with me.

   I helped the girl up, who was now crying. Her arms were covered in blood from the slashes.

   "Well, she tried to read," my father eyed her.

   "So?" I said louder than I meant it to be. "Why can't she?"

   "She's a woman," said my father. "Surely you understand. The foul rats can't take our place as men, the powerful. Even the Lord is a man." 

   "That doesn't mean they don't have rights," I argued. I held the girl by her hand and pushed through the crowd so I could get to the castle.

   "Don't take the being inside!" my father yelled.

   "Women are humans too, you're a human aren't you?"

   My father started yelling more foul things about women but I wasn't listening. The child was crying more. The blood was stopping but she still had to be healed. "Markus!" I yelled for my brother.

   As soon as I called his name he came to the throne room and dropped the apple he was eating. His eyes widened and he immediately rushed to me. "What happened?"

   "What do you think happened? Father!"

   We carried the girl to my room. We wrapped her in some old sheets and Markus ran to get bandages. The girl had stopped crying a lot by now but that didn't stop me.

   "Hey," I told her, pushing her hair out of her eye. "You'll be fine, alright? We're going to wrap your arm up and I'll make sure that it never happens again."

   The girl sniffed and nodded.

   "What's your name?" I asked her.

   She muttered something I didn't understand. I think she knew that because she said it louder, "Mama said I shouldn't tell my name to strangers!"

   I laughed, "I understand. It's okay."

   And then Markus ran in with the bandages like there was no tomorrow. He ordered me to hold the girl up and I wet a parchment piece and wiped the blood off. It stung her and she began to cry once more. Markus shushed her and wrapped her arm in the bandage.

   "There," he said. "It should be healed in a few weeks."

   I picked the girl up and brought her back outside. By then my father was gone. I placed the girl down and she started looking around, and I guessed she was looking for her parents. And then she ran towards a woman who hugged her. She looked at the bandage and then looked at me and smiled.

   "Thank you," she mouthed.

   I just smiled and nodded. Since my father was gone I went back to Ruth's house. She was anxiously waiting for me. "Well?"

   "She's fine," I told her. "Markus wrapped her arm in a bandage, she should be fine in a few months."

   Ruth let out a sigh of relief. "Want to go to the treehouse?"

   I was so glad she brought it up, and I nodded. We had built the treehouse together when I was ten. I had gotten hold of my father's axes and chopped trees. The first time Ruth and I met was probably when we were really young, but the latest I could remember was after I healed. My mother was taking me out for a walk and Ruth had accidentally pushed me over. I was a little angry at first because I had fallen into the mud, and I was waiting for my mother to do something about it. But then I remembered that she wanted me to remember who I was and try to act myself. Ruth was very scared and looked like she was going to start crying because when she had tried to back away she fell into the mud as well. I had gotten up and started walking towards her and as soon as I was there she began crying and screaming, "I'm sorry! Please, I'm sorry, please don't! Please!"