In search of(Ben Ten, 2.0) 2/3
When Erik said he'd be taking me to the orphanage. I imagined a big building, like a church, filled with nuns, taking care of the poor children. What do I get instead? Well... not exactly that per se.
In front of me stands a medium size, windowless, rundown cabin, made of wood, with a roof full of hay and a crooked door.
"You are kidding, right? Please tell me this isn't the place where you keep the orphans!"
Erik looks at me with a bitter, sad smile and says. "I wish I could."
(Dude! I live in a cave, and it's a hundred times better than this shithole.)
I take a deep breath and prepare myself for the worst.
"Shall we". He makes a jester with his hand. I nod.
We open the door, and honestly, inside isn't as bad as I expected.
The first thing I see is an open area with chairs on both sides of a giant table, like in HP. There's also a basement with 10 rooms with 2 beds each. Finally, there is a kitchen and 3 rooms on the upper level. I'm guessing the rooms are for the caretakers.
"Good morning. I say when I enter and see an old lady, with brown hair and blue eyes, wearing an old puffy skirt, with a white apron covering most of its front.
She is sitting on a stool by the entrance facing the open area.
When she sees us come inside, The nice lady smiles and says. "Good morning to you both. Erik, what brings you here, don't you have guard duty at the gate today?"
"Good morning mama Sigrid. I do indeed have work today, on that matter I came here to introduce you to this fine man, you see, he is here to 'adopt a son.
The lady called Sigrid made the same shocked face as Erik did when I informed him of my intentions earlier. (Is adoption such a foreign concept, to these people?)
"I see. What is your name young man?"
"My name is Gideon. I say smiling politely."
"Very well, you can call me mama Sigrid, everyone does."
Yeah as if, there is no way I'm calling you that, ever!)
"The children are playing outside at the moment, but you are welcome to stay and wait."
(Well at least she accepted the news faster than Erik did. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that it was Erik himself, who brought me.
If I had come alone I'm certain she would have chased me away with boiling water.)
(She seems to trust him, maybe they're close.)
"That will be perfect thanks."
Erik turns to me with that annoyingly bright smile, that makes him look like a freaking 'Prince Charming, which makes me secretly hate him, and says.
"Well, Gideon it's been a pleasure. I have to go back to work now. I'll be seeing you around." "Remember to come to me, if you ever need anything in the future.
"Like when you're ready to get a place here, for yourself and boy, you end up 'adopting."
(Geez, Why the in the heck is he still struggling with the term. ADOPTION IS A NORMAL THING DAMMIT!)
Before I blow a fuse, he stands his head to me, in a gesture as I chowed him earlier.
(Cool, he remembers, I guess the dude is not too bad. Maybe will even become friends in the future, who knows)
I shook his hand, and respond with a smile.
"You're not half bad, a bit rough around the edges though. By the Way Stop scaring strangers, learn to smile more."
He nods with his cool guy persona, I roll my eyes and continue.
" Anyway, thanks for all this, I won't forget it.
I'll come see you, when I'm ready to move."
once again he nods then, finally, he turns to Sigrid and gives her a look I can't decipher, she smiles back and on that note, he's gone.
For the next half an hour, I get to know Sigrid very well. In my opinion, the old woman is the definition of a saint. She alone provided for the children of the orphanage.
Ten years back, the lady decided to take all the orphan kids off the street, and give them food and shelter.
(This place is not exactly what I would call, a home but it's better than the ulterior.)
As I listen to her talk my ears off with stories of the kids, A young girl, no older than ten, with curly blond hair, burst through the door screaming her name.
"MAMA SIGRID, MAMA SIGRID. THEY'VE CAUGHT ANOTHER ONE."
I didn't know what the hell the girl was yabbering about. However, by the look on Sigrid's face when she heard those words, I could tell it couldn't be anything good.
The girl came to a sudden stop when she saw me. But she still kept her overly excited behavior.
Sigrid gave me a sad smile, took the young girl by the hand, and said.
"Follow me, young Gideon they'll probably be expecting everyone."
Confused as I was, I still complied, no question asked, and followed her over to the town square--which was now, abnormally overpopulated.
The faces of the people, in the huge crowd around us, were beaming with absolute joy. Poor and wealthy alike.
(Ok, what gives? What the hell is happening? An hour and a half ago these people seemed hopeless, sad, and pretty much dead inside.)
(What could have possibly changed in such little amount of time?)
I start to look around, all the way across from me, I see Erik with a frown on his face. He looked unhappy, depressed even.
(That's odd, even for someone's uptight as him.)
I lift my right hand to signal him to come over, and maybe explain his sudden change in attitude. But he can't see me, with all the people pushing around me.
I look to my left in search of Sigrid and the young girl, but they've disappeared. Probably swallowed,
by the overly excited crowd.
Finally, the people stop the pushing and the screaming and gather calmly in a circular faction, surrounding the Plaza. I was now able to fully see the middle of the town square again.
I look into the middle of the plaza and see a monk standing there, with a creepy smile, surrounded by the circle of people. My stomach turns and my curiosity picks.
(This one looks different from the one I saw before. On one hand, he's taller, fatter, and overall creepier. The one from before seemed completely harmless incompetence.)
(What exactly are you plodding, you fucking sadist?)
As if responding to my question, he screams.
"BRING THE WITCH!"
My heart sank, the second I heard his words.
(This can't possibly be what I'm thinking! Please let it be anything but THAT!!)
My hands start to sweat as I look for an escape.
Then, I remember what the little girl said before. ( "They've cough another one")
Realizing the monk couldn't possibly be referring to me, my heart calms down.
A minute later, another monk pushes forward into the Plaza, a barefoot, dark-headed, young girl, wearing bloodied rags, with her hands and feet, bound in chains. The poor thing didn't a year over 20.
Absolute fury overtakes me.
(if that fucking bastard is going to do to the girl, what I think he is. Then I'm going to Bombared him, from here to the Moon.)
To control my rage and not expose myself, I pierce my palms with my fingernails. I then bite the inside of my cheeks and continue watching this unholy charade.
When the girl is finally visible to all gather here, the commotion begins once more.
"BURN THE WITCH!!"
"BURN THE WITCH!"
"BURN THE WITCH!"
"BURN THE WITCH!"
The crowd was relentless. They raveled for the poor girls, untimely demise.
(What is wrong with these fucked up people?)
Can't they see this is just a sadistic show, fabricated by the church to scare and suppress them?)
I look around to try and find others like myself who aren't amused by this horrific act, but I only find one, Erik.
We lock eyes, for a moment, but then he turns back to the Priest. As the man was finally ready to commence.
"PEOPLE OF ODENSE, IT BRINGS ME MUCH JOY, TO HELP YOU RID YOURSELVES OF THIS SPAWN OF THE DEVIL'S. (He points angrily at the girl. )SHE HAS CONCOCTED ALL SORTS OF EVIL SORCERY. TO DESTROY THE PEACE OUR LORD BRINGS US.
"AND FOR THAT, SHE MUST BURN! AS THE LORD WILLS IT." He finishes with both hands in the air looking at the sky.
Once again the crowd goes wild screaming 'burn the witch'. The smile on the priest grows. He feels proud.
The girl, on the other hand, looks broken, with little will to live. The torture she received beforehand, was painfully evident.
(Fuck being safe! I have to do something. I can't let them kill her, especially not in such a horrific way.)
I move my hands ready to use as much force as needed, but then I stop as the monk from earlier, the one I saw before I met Erik, finds his way to the girl.
(What is he going to do?) I try to read his mind, but just like with Erik it comes back blank.
"Are you kidding me!?"
Because I can't read his mind, I ready my spell, just in case he tries anything funny. But he stops a foot in from her, gives her a hand up, which she takes, lost and confused.
Finally, the monk faces the crowd and takes off this hood for everyone to see.
At this point, I'm very confused by his behavior. (That was way too weird. What is he playing at?)
When I see his face, I'm shocked by what I find.
(He's young, very young he must be no older than 15, Man, I didn't see that coming.)
I take a better look now that I know he's but a kid. The boy has long red hair, braided only halfway, to the bottom. His eyes are as blue as the sky above. And If you look closer, under his lower lip, you can find a tiny little black dot, I'm guessing is a beauty mark.
(He is quite handsome, his hair is a different shade of red than Erik's thought. His is lighter, and more eye-catching.)
(I'm intrigued now. Ok, whatever I'll let him make his little show while I figured out a way to save the girl, without exposure.)
(I almost screwed everything up by letting my anger get the better of me. That can't happen again!)
The priest stares daggers at the young boy, while the people wait patiently for him to speak.
I look towards Erik, and I'm surprised to find his expression to be, one, of solute anger. However, not at the priest, nor the people but at the red-hair boy instead.
(What could this boy have done, for Erik to be so infuriated?)
Taking me out of my thoughts the boy begins.
"PEOPLE OF ODENSE, PRIEST KAMAR LIES!! THIS GIRL IS NO EVIL SPAWN, NOR IS SHE A WITCH!! DO NOT BE FULLED BY THIS MAN WHO CALLS HIMSELF A PRIEST. OUR LORD JESUS HAS LONG FORSAKEN HIM!
Every person was shocked by the young monk's bold statement, me especially.
(Hahaha, this boy has quite the balls)
(He is definitely braver than me, dumber too.)
Silence, complete silence, takes over the entire Plaza. Erik's face morphed from anger into despair.
The priest recovers fast though.
"IT SEEMS THE WITCH HAS BEWITCH THIS POOR FOLLOWER OUR LORD." WITH HER WICKEDNESS" The priest looks at the boy with fake sadness, and says "HE TOO SHALL BURN"
The boy only smiles but doesn't respond.
A man comes and detained the boy. However, he does not fight.
(This is getting out of hand, I have to do something, but what. I can't use magic in front of so many people.)
Finally, someone cried. "BURN THE WITCH, then another person said. "BURN THEM BOTH!!"
The boy's smile fades, he had hope for his statement to move the people and change their minds. But he miscalculated, and ultimately the whole thing backfield.
(Stupid boy, can't he see they meant for her to die, guilty or otherwise. You are brave but way too rash)
A man throws a big rock, right at the boy's face. Deciding to save the stupid kid, I position my hand and say the spell slowly under my breath.
"arRResTO moMEnTUm"
The object starts to slow down then right before it's stopped, I think. (WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA) and shift its trajectory.
(You owe me, one kid)
Erik sees this and before anyone tries again, he acts fast. Pushing his way through the crowd, he gets in front of the kid, in a matter of seconds.
The boy tried to say something, but before he can. Erik punches the air out of him, knocking him out, on the spot.
I can tell, he did it, to save the boy. So I just watch, as he carries him on his shoulders, back to the guard station.
Knowing Erik is the city guard, no one tries to stop him, not even priest kamar.
Ultimately the priest informed everyone when the girl is to be burned. Tomorrow at sunrise.
The crowd shears and chants, 'burn the witch. Until they all leave the square, to prepare for the assassination.
(This is by far, the worst thing I've ever seen.) "But don't worry I'm going to save you, I say to the girl who can't hear me.
Let me go check on Eric and the stupid kid first. I'm sure there is a story there.)
On that note, I walk myself to the guard station.