The King of Saminu

Chapter 5

 My chest ached. Breathing was difficult, and my family was starting to take notice.
"Hang in there, it'll be okay," My mother tried to whisper to me, but was interrupted by my bout of coughing.
"What part of this makes you think it'll be okay, Gaeni? We're tied up! Spenn is literally going to kick our asses, not to mention Gamm could be dead for all we know!" My father cried out, taking his fear out on my mother. I frowned, looking away. Ellsk remained quiet.

Where we had been piled up, I had a good view of the battlefield. Well, to be correct, it wasn't a good view. At least three bodies were in my line of sight, all of them dead, and it didn't take a healer's eye to know. Thankfully, Ellsk couldn't see. We were separated, with our legs tied to force us to kneel on the ground in uncomfortable positions, but Ellsk was facing towards me, staring blankly at the stone wall behind me.
"At least we are away from the fires," Ellsk tried to console us, but our parents didn't want to hear his calming words.
"Yeah Ellsk. At least we're away from the fire," I repeated, smiling at the little boy who didn't know there were people dying behind him.

The guards from earlier brought a writhing boy to the pile, tying him carefully and shoving him to the ground. He let out an audible gasp of pain, and my chest ached again, now for the pain the boy had to feel.
"You have to be rough with him? He can't be older than ten," I surprised myself at the fierceness of my snarl. The higher ranked guard scoffed at me.
"You can't be older than ten. Zip it, puppy, or you'll get a babysitter," And he walked away. I scooted over to the boy, getting closer to Ellsk as well. He lay on the ground, facing the battlefield.

"Hey. You gotta turn around," I whispered, but his eyes showed no recognition. Instead, they focused out, where there were now four bodies in our line of sight. Ellsk went to turn his head, and I was glad I caught it.
"Ellsk Maikör Sjor, don't you dare turn around," He listened, staring back at me and the boy next to me.
"Flip over, buddy. You know you can't look," I whispered, using the voice I tended to reserve for Ellsk when he was younger. Finally, the little boy looked at me, his eyes showing no emotion.
"I don't think I can," He muttered, barely audible. I tried to adjust my feet, but they were tied in an awkward way, and I couldn't do so. I sighed.
"Ellsk, scoot over to block his view please?" I questioned, and Ellsk complied.

"What's your name?" I asked, and the little boy grew startled at my question.
"Haldauko. I was named after my father. He's out fighting right now, I'm sure of it! He wouldn't surrender," The little boy grew happier at the distraction and I smiled at him.
"How old are you Haldauko?" I questioned, and he frowned, his eyebrows furrowing.
"I'm nine. Ten in a couple of days, I think. Mams always keeps track of that kinda stuff. My birthday is on the eighteenth " I nodded.
"This is Ellsk, in front of you. He's ten, just a little bit older than you," The little boy nodded.
"What's gonna happen to us?" He asked, his voice turning somber once more. I sighed.

"We don't know quite yet, buddy. But Ellsk says it's gonna be okay, so we don't have to worry," I tried convincing both of us. Haldauko took the bait. He continued to jabber away to Ellsk, who tried to keep the boy entertained. However, I moved away from the children when I saw the guards from earlier dragging Gamm over to us once more. I rushed over to him on my knees as fast as I could, given the circumstances. My parents saw my line of vision and moved in with us, waiting until Gamm, unconscious, was dropped down. His face was badly bruised already, swollen beyond recognition, and there were bandages peeking through the rips and tears in his shirt.

"Did you even heal him at all?" I asked, almost surprisingly myself at the violence in my own voice.
"We don't have enough healers to waste on idiots who try to be rebellious," The younger guard spat, and walked away with his higher up. I grunted, giving up on fighting against the authority.
"Don't do it," Pappy spoke up, and I looked at him. His face was serious, while my mother and I grew confused.
"What do you mean?" Mams asked, and Pappy looked to me once more.