Series: The Mountain: Book 1: The Awakening

The Beginning of The End

"Hey come on you guys!" she whined, dragging her two friends, "you're gonna make us miss it!"

"I know" they said simultaneously, giggling as they both said, "Jinx!"

Impatiently she tugged on both their hands again, pulling them forward at a much faster pace.

"Ok! Ok!" said the little boy on the left irately, "we're going as fast as we can Tess. We're almost there anyways so can we take a break for a sec--"

Before he could finish, the sound of trumpets began to play within the castle walls. As it played, everyone, both old and young alike stopped to listen.

"You hear that?" Tess screamed excitedly, "they're almost here you guys!"

Letting go of their hands, Tess ran in the direction of the castle gate, dashing through the now amassing groups of people.

"TESS WAIT UP!" shouted the little boy, though his small dried voice was lost in the cacophony of the crowd.

Suddenly they heard their friend shout, "Liam, Lily, I'm going on ahead. I'll be at the special spot ok!"

And with that all trace of her vanished. Both Lily and Liam faced each other with concerned looks on their faces but said nothing. Instead they themselves began to hurry through the crowd as best as they could manage. As they passed by Liam heard many people's remarks of his and his sister's appearances. This was nothing new though, after being forced to move from the last city both he and his sister were left orphaned and homeless. Luckily, they met up with Tess and somehow they managed to stay alive. Whilst lost in thought Liam ran straight into a seemingly wealthy woman. Turning around sharply she let out a small scream as though the very plague had touched her.

The commotion attracted the attention of a burly man just coming out of a low doorway. To Liam's dismay he instantly recognized him as the Butcher he'd stolen from 3 days ago.

"You damn mutts!" He shouted brandishing a stout cleaver, "I told you I'd cut off your hands if I ever saw you again."

"Brother who's that scary man?" Lily asked, her voice trembling in terror.

"He's a bad man, a very bad man sis," he responded.

This was bad. The crowd was only getting larger and they couldn't count on any help to come their way. In this city, the rich were respected and the poor were neglected. No one would care if a man were to kill two orphans dressed in rags. Moving through the crowd he spotted an inconspicuous alley, partially blocked by discarded planks and stonework.

"In here, quickly and find a place to hide," he said urging his sister through the narrow gap.

She climbed through the gap with ease and just as her brother had warned she ran off to hide. He barely squeezed through when the butcher came upon them. He scraped his knee against the gravelly path as he scrambled to his feet. As he did so a slight surge of air flung past his face followed my a resounding clink. The butcher had flung his cleaver and by some miracle it missed him though not by much. Liam could still hear the man swearing at the back though it didn't seem like he was still chasing him. Eyeing the cleaver, he plucked it out of the ground with surprising ease and hurried down the broken alley to find his sister.

After a bit of a jog, a voice called out his name. Turning around he saw his little sister hiding behind a rotting barrel.

Tears streaming down her face, she ran from her hiding place toward her brother, "Oh Li-Li," she sobbed, "I thought you were gone forever."

'Li-Li', well that was a name he hadn't heard in a while. Originally, it started out as a joke between him and Tess but the name eventually stuck.