The false bastard

2

Looking back on that kick it was a mercy.  If I'd stayed awake I likely would have been beaten more and i'd have to be awake for when they put my jaw back in.  I'd also likely have fought more.  And maybe, maybe if I hadn't been knocked unconscious and locked outside I wouldn't have been able to escape that place.  Because that's exactly what I did.  Upon awakening my head hurt and I could still taste blood in my mouth.  I tried to open my jaw but found it to be excruciatingly painful.  A new wave of tears filled them but I could only wipe them away way with my dirty hands.  That made me realize that my potato is gone and I remembered the moment that I dropped it.  Groaning in pain I sit up all the way.  My stomach hurt and my world spun but there was one other problem.  The freezing cold wind coming thru the wood sheds loose walls.  I knew it was the woodshed immediately because I'd been locked in here more than once.  What few of the other kids knew was that at one end if you removed a few pieces you could  escape.  I was hungry and injured but I knew that if I stayed here i'd be punished a lot more.  I'd likely be beaten beyond an inch of my life and be starved for a week maybe longer.  I groggily move in the cramped space to the end of  the row of wood.  It took me a lot longer than usual to pick up each piece of wood and move it out of the way for me to escape threw.  Once it is my size I slipped thru.  Landing face first in knee high snow.  The finer details of what happened over the next few days elude me.  Maybe because of the head injury or maybe because I spent most of my time huddling under bushes to escape the freezing snow and cold.  I don't even recall how I managed to eat.

I think it had been about four days since I had escape didn't the nearby forests when I came across the boy.  I didn't know it but this encounter would change my life forever.  I can look back upon this and never once have I ever regretted helping him out.  I have regretted a lot of things but never this.  The boy was striking, though he was still a child and I was uneducated and knew nothing of the finer things in life even I could recognize the perfection in his face. He wore fine clothes that accentuate his good looks and his golden hair that was pulled back into a bun on the back of his head hung raggedly around his face.  But what drew me out of the bush in which I hid was not his hair or fine skin or even his rich clothes but his vibrant amber eyes.  He had the look of a frightened deer but even so his amber eyes blazed with a fire of determination.  I think id stood and that what alerted him to my location because the next moment he held a pathetic pointy stick in front of him and shouted,"Come out!"  I stepped out from my place behind a bush and a tree.  Upon seeing me his eyes widened and he let out a small scream and fell on his but.  "Demon!"  I flinched and tried to say,"No...de-mn." I couldn't quite form the words right because of my swollen jaw and face.  He blinked and said,"But you are!  You've got purple eyes and your ears are pointed and..."  At that very moment an arrow wizard by the kids head and buried itself in the tree directly infront of him.  He let out a yell and said,"No!"  I don't know why but for some reason I grabbed his hand and dragged him out of harm's way.  His eyes were wide and I could see him debating if it is better to go with a demon or to get killed by those men.  Thankfully he chose me.  We ran through the deep snow and I heard shouts of men behind us.  There was more than one and They were gaining on us.  We needed to escape.  Looking at the kid before me I decided to say,"Food...hide...you..." His eyes lit up and he said,"Yes, I'll give you food and give you whatever you want.  Just keep me alive."  I nodded and pulled him behind a tree and say,"Jacket." He blinks at my struggled word and nod and then quickly pulls it off.  I have nerve touched something so warm and finely woven.  I would have liked to appreciate it but I was forced to pull it onto my body.  Luckily I was just about his high and size.  Once this was done I grabbed his hand and pulled him deeper.  Leading him towards a very dangerous place.  I could hear horses and men as we ran.  I was glad that the forest was dense and filled with snow.  But even with the small advantage we had they were grown ups and had longer legs.  They were catching up.  Just then we reached the place I wanted to reach.  Looking At the kid I could only say,"Guard...head."  and then I pushed him off the steep embankment and he stumbled down the bank of the empty stream.  His cry as loud enough to draw the attention but luckily he had slid under the snow.  I just hoped he stayed there.  I began to run then.  They didn't seem to realize that our hair color was different.  They chased me.  I reached a tree and tucked around it to go up and embankment just as an arrow whizzed by my head and struck the trunk right behind me.  My heart was in my throat and the only thing I could hear was the blood in my ears.  Life was way to short.  Why am I doing this?  The next moment I wasn't so lucky because a crossbow bolt from one of the riders stuck me in the back.  I fell hard in the snow.  Almost immediately someone was standing over me and then I could hear a shutout.  But I didn't care.  My vision is going dark from the pain.  Why was I passing out again.  Fainting this much so close together must be unhealthy.  If I survive this I want to eat meat. Just before I passed out I heard screams and the ground trembled, even with all the snow.  I wonder what is happening but I didn't have time to wonder because I was out.