Blue Valley Underground - Part 14 - Bully
Fuck yo authority!
Blue Valley Underground - Part 14 - Bully
"...The second bowl of porridge was too cold, but the third bowl was just right..."
The children sat before Lukas, captivated as he turned the book around and showed them an illustration of a blonde girl eating porridge. Sitting among them was Isaac, cross-legged with a small boy sitting on his shoulders and two toddlers in his lap. He hadn't set foot in the orphanage in three years and it turned his stomach at first. But he remembered being in these childrens' shoes (or lack thereof), growing up in this dismal, parasite-infested place, and the thing he looked forward to the most was visits from the soldiers.
When the soldiers came to visit, they were always kind. They were big, strong men that the boys wanted to be and the girls became enamored with. Isaac knew better now--realizing the program was a propaganda tool to encourage these aimless orphans to serve the queen. It worked on him, obviously. That didn't matter, however, as it was always a welcome treat.
Isaac admitted his illiteracy to Lukas last night, and instead of laughing in his face, the older man simply suggested that he join the orphans for story time and offered to tutor him afterwards. Isaac felt terrible for misjudging Lukas. He always assumed he was a boisterous jerk by the way he acted in the tournament arena, but that was obviously not the case.
"...The three bears ate the girl, and lived happily ever after. The end." Lukas closed the book, "What's the moral of the story, kids?"
The girl in Isaac's lap raised her hand and Lukas pointed to her,
"Yes?"
"You shouldn't talk to bears." She said matter-of-factly. Isaac laughed.
"That's right," chuckled Lukas, "Also, never take things that don't belong to you, and never enter someone's house without permission. That's serious stuff, understand?"
The children agreed in unison.
After story time, the children insisted that Lukas and Isaac play with them outside. The yard was large and flat, the grass worn down to dirt from decades of play. Isaac chased a herd of toddlers across the yard, until they turned feral and tackled him to the ground. The teenagers pretended they didn't want to play until he challenged them to a race. All was fun and games until Mrs. Barbary stepped out for a cigarette and called,
"Come back inside, you little monsters! Say goodbye to the soldiers, they gotta go."
The children sluggishly made their way indoors, some outright refusing. One gangly little boy had climbed onto Isaac's torso and wouldn't let go.
"Don't leave!" the boy sobbed, "Take me home with you!"
Isaac's heart shattered. He remembered begging the soldiers to take him too.
One day, they finally did.
Lukas pulled the child off his comrade and rustled his brown hair,
"We'll be back tomorrow, okay?"
"Get inside, Joshua!" Mrs. Barbary waddled over and gave the child a quick slap across the face. Joshua wailed as he hurried into the building.
"Hey!" Isaac seized the woman's hand, surprising even himself, "Don't hit him. Don't hit any of these kids again, you hear me?"
Mrs. Barbary's icy blue eyes rounded in shock. She jerked her wrist out of the soldier's grip and sneered,
"Don't think you're too old to be punished, little Isaac."
"I'm bigger now," Isaac bent to her eye-level, "Bigger than you, Old Lady."
"Woah, woah," Lukas took Isaac by the shoulder and pulled him back, "That's enough of that. My apologies on his behalf, Ma'am."
The woman took a drag off her cigarette and blew smoke in Isaac's face. She told Lukas flatly,
"I think that boy needs another year of boot camp. Whip him into shape for me, will you?"
Lukas nodded and headed back to the barracks, pulling a furious Isaac along with him.
The days passed. At the end of each, Isaac was able to read a little more from Evan's book. He hadn't touched a sword in two weeks and he was sure he'd learn more from swinging it than reading about it. Tomorrow at noon, he would report to Evan that he read only twenty-two pages of his three-hundred-page book and embarrass himself yet again.
"Mastery of the Blade" was the title. He could decipher that now.
Lukas and Isaac showed up at the orphanage early like usual. There were just five books in the bookshelf; the same five stories Isaac remembered hearing as a child. Over and over. He could recite them all from memory, word for word. Lukas had the charisma to read them energetically, give each character a voice, and sometimes make up a new ending on a whim. Isaac got to know these children during his time here, many he watched grow from toddlers to teenagers, and they deserved a new tale. Today, he had one to give.
"The Sunset Guardians, huh?" Lukas turned the book over in his hands, eyeing it doubtfully as he and Isaac stood outside the front door. Pages were torn, stained, and falling out of the binding, "You know, the books in there are in rough shape, but this is just--"
"Please," Isaac urged him, "I read some of it last night. It's pretty good and it's something new. They'll appreciate it, trust me."
"Isaac, this thing's a mess..." The older soldier scoffed and fumbled with the loose pages. Isaac snatched it from him and tucked them back into place.
"It's still good," Said Isaac, "Clara wrote it."
"Who...? Oh, that girl!" Lukas raised his eyebrows, then cracked a smile, "So this is what happens when women try to write books. Heh."
Isaac gave him a shove,
"It's not bad. She even drew the pictures, look..." he flipped the pages under his thumb. Two fell out and he quickly stuffed them back in.
"I'm not reading that thing, Isaac."
The younger soldier furrowed his brow,
"Why not?"
"Well, one: Look at it. Two: I've never read it before so I don't know what to expect. Three: A lady can't possibly write anything worthwhile tha--"
Suddenly, the large green door creaked open. Ms. Vivian saw the soldiers and smiled, gesturing down the main hall,
"You boys always show up so early," she smiled, "The children jump right out of bed these days, it's really something!" Her voice was high and gentle like chiming bells, but Isaac knew better. A demon slumbered in this frail old woman. A demon that liked to beat children with her awful wooden shoes.
Lukas and Isaac followed her down the hall, those shoes clacking loudly on the stone floor. The sound always sent chills down Isaac's spine.
"I'm reading this if you don't." Isaac nudged Lukas with The Sunset Guardians. Lukas shrugged,
"Fine. If you think you can, but I'm not helping you."
They arrived in the play room, where all fifty-something children were already sitting in a semi-circle. They greeted the soldiers and waved enthusiastically. Joshua raced towards them and clung to Isaac's leg, as he'd done every day they visited.
Isaac tucked the book under his arm and held the boy, wincing as he noticed his shiny new split lip. He assumed it was a Barbary-inflicted wound, as she was fond of marring little faces. He took Lukas' place on the rickety stool while the older soldier playfully wedged his way between the kids. They laughed and shrieked and piled on top of him, perfectly content to use him as furniture. Joshua sat in Isaac's lap, looking up at him inquisitively,
"Are you gonna read this time?"
"I am," Isaac held up The Sunset Guardians and announced, "This is a new book. There's only one copy, and we get to read it."
"What's it about?" asked a curly-headed girl. Isaac opened the book and tucked the loose pages in,
"I don't know. Let's find out."
He cleared his throat, his stomach turning as fifty pairs of eyes stared expectantly.
"It's called The Sunset Guardians, by Clara Clark." His voice quivered a bit. He took a deep breath and began,
"'A long, long time ago there was a place called Dragon Valley. It was sro--uh--sur...Surrounded by a mountain, and inside this mountain lived a hid...hideous dragon." Isaac glanced up anxiously. Lukas was stifling a snicker, but the children were still captivated. He continued,
"The dragon was so un...sight...unsightly, he only left his cave after sunset so no one would see him. He terrorized the people of Dragon Valley each night by eating their livestock, so three brave knights were ap...Uh, appointed to protect the town. The next night, the dragon flew into town and the first knight cut out his eye. The dragon ret...Retre...Uh..."
"Retreated," Joshua said, "It means 'run away'."
Isaac's face felt like it was on fire. Corrected by a nine-year-old...Not a pleasant feeling. Swallowing his pride, the soldier nodded and patted the boy's shoulder,
"That's right. Good job." He paused, then a idea struck, "Hey, you're pretty smart. Do you wanna read this next page?"
The boy's face lit up,
"Really?"
"Yeah! Read it loud, so everyone can hear."
Joshua was beaming as he read the next page, loud and clear, smoothly and charismatically, making Isaac feel pride and shame all at once. Shameful that he was outdone by a child, proud that an intelligent, capable young person could come out of a place like the Rivermere orphanage.
When Joshua finished his page, another boy asked to read the next. After his turn, he passed it off to a young girl, who passed it to an older boy. The book passed through the hands of eighteen children until a small black-haired girl read off the last page and returned it to Isaac. The illustrations fell out easily, and instead of turning the book to their audience, the kids passed each drawing around for viewing. Isaac gathered up all the pages as the children were already pretending to be knights and dragons. He only wished Clara was in the room.
"Pretty smooth, making the kids do all the work for you." Lukas grinned as he and Isaac walked back to the barracks. The younger soldier clutched the book to his chest,
"They really liked it, didn't they? Maybe I can fix this thing up and donate it," he traced his finger over the cracked binding, "Clara wrote it for them, after all, and those kids can read a lot better than I can..."
The duo flashed their ID tags to the doormen and stepped inside the common room. A crowd of soldiers were gathered here, gawking at something.
"...How you got in here, but I want you out. Now."
Isaac heard Evan's voice echo off the stone walls. Curiously, he wriggled through the crowd. His eyes bugged when he saw none other than Clara standing before his marshal. He dropped the book in surprise.
Pages scattered all over the floor. Isaac quickly scooped them up as both Evan and Clara looked his way.
"Oh look, I found him!" Clara told Evan indignantly and pointed at Isaac, "Now that you don't have to get off your ass and find him yourself, you should let me talk to him."
"I told you, no civilians in the barracks without an appointment!" Evan gestured to a stairwell, "Now I'll kindly escort you to my office and we'll make one for tomorrow. But right now, you need to leave."
Clara placed her hands on her hips,
"Or you can just let me walk over there real quick and talk to him. Sounds more reasonable, right?"
Evan turned to Isaac and curled his finger in an aloof 'come here' gesture. Tucking the disheveled book under his arm, Isaac approached him while the surrounding soldiers looked on, silent and wide-eyed.
"Isaac," Evan said, "Tell your little girlfriend she needs to leave."
Clara crossed her arms,
"Isaac, tell this guy to stop swinging his dick around and be reasonable! I just need to talk to you for a minute."
Restrained chuckles floated out from the crowd. Isaac looked back at the two irritated people glaring him down. One was over a foot taller and two hundred pounds heavier than the other, but he found that somehow, both were equally intimidating.
"Uh..." Isaac cleared his throat and turned to his marshal, "I'm sorry, Sir." Then he hissed to Clara, "Clara, you really gotta go. You're gonna get me in trouble!"
"It's important!" she replied through gnashed teeth, "Your Chaplain's being an asshole and I need you to talk some sense into him!"
"What?" Isaac recoiled, then shook his head, "Clara, just...Tomorrow, okay?"
The girl rolled her eyes and jerked her hands to her sides,
"Well, I guess I'm sleeping outside tonight then. Hope I don't get raped or murdered or kidnapped." She stressed the last word, and for just a brief moment terror crossed her face.
Isaac's eyes widened,
"Wait," he said quickly, "Please don't. I can--"
"She has to go, Isaac! Now!" Evan bellowed. He glared down at the boy, his pale eyes growing more intense by the second. Isaac was about to apologize when Clara stepped forward and gave the marshal an ineffective shove,
"Will you just hold your horses? And who are you--you think you're his fuckin' dad or something?"
"I'm his marshal," the man replied sternly, then pointed to the door, "And if you're not out that door in the next five seconds, I'm going to throw you out!"
The girl scoffed,
"Ooh, big man! Pickin' on little girls get you off or something? I bet all these men," she gestured to the crowd around her, "Are so impressed with how tough you are."
Isaac couldn't cringe harder if he tried. He clawed at his scalp helplessly while Evan glowered down at the girl, his lips pressed into a very thin line. His fist quivered ever so slightly. Isaac braced himself for the most one-sided fistfight this barracks had ever seen.
"You," Evan began gravely, pointing a finger in the girl's face, "Will never see Isaac again. Now get the hell out of this barracks right now."
Isaac's stomach dropped with his jaw.
"I have nowhere to go!" Clara growled, "If you just let me speak with him for a fuckin' minute, I'd be out of here by now! But no, you had to be a giant prick about it!" She gave him another shove. This time, Evan seized her wrists.
"Would you like to be charged with assault, Missy?" The marshal queried as she squirmed ferociously in his iron grip, "Or is trespassing enough?"
"Get your hands off me! Let go!" Clara shrieked and kicked at his legs. Her soft boots bounced harmlessly off his steel greaves. A collective snicker spread through the crowd and only grew louder the more Clara struggled.
"I want an apology from you," Evan told her, "For disrupting my soldiers, disrespecting me, and wasting my time."
"Fuck off, you ape!" The girl tried stomping at his crotch, but her attack was foiled by a steel plate. Isaac stood by, having a silent panic attack and more than willing to crawl in a hole and die.
"Alright. You had your chance." Evan dragged Clara towards the door. The soldiers around them laughed at her while she hollered and twisted and kicked until somehow, one of her wrists slipped free.
Crack!
The room fell silent. Not a soldier was blinking or dared make a sound as Evan pressed a hand to his nose. Clara stood furiously before him, breath gusting from her mouth with a red-stained fist still clenched. Evan drew his hand away and inspected the blood on his fingers. It oozed from his nostrils, over his lips and into his blonde beard. Isaac was failing to breathe.
Two light coughs. A quirk of the eyebrows. Then Evan glanced back at his men and grinned,
"Not bad. If she weren't a woman, I'd sign her up!"
The silence was broken as the soldiers roared with laughter. Clara's shoulders fell and in an instant, her ferocity was gone. She quaked with what may have been sadness, frustration or a miserable blend of both, then stormed out the door. Evan followed her to the doorway and called,
"Learn to act like a lady!"
Clara turned back to him. With quivering fists she roared,
"You fucking pig! Jizz-lobbing piece of shit!"
With that, she kicked over a barrel of trash and disappeared around a corner.
Evan's eyebrows jumped. He turned to the nervous door-guard and asked,
"How did she get in?"
The bespectacled guard replied,
"She knew the password, Sir."
Evan walked back towards Isaac and shook his head, wearing an unexpectedly genuine smile,
"Good gracious..." he sighed and patted Isaac on the back, "You have bad taste in women, Soldier."
Isaac fidgeted anxiously, swallowing the bile creeping up his throat,
"S-She's not my girlfriend, Sir. I just helped her find a place to stay."
"Hm. She wasn't worth your efforts."
An archer approached Evan with a white rag. The marshal thanked him and pressed it to his nose, then began walking back to his office.
Isaac followed and queried,
"You'll let her come back again, right? Tomorrow?"
"Hell no," Evan grunted. He stopped and looked at Isaac, "That one's a goddamn volcano of trouble. That's the last thing we need around here..."
"Sir, she needs help!" the young soldier's voice creaked with alarm, "Please, she has nowhere to go! She's going to get kidnapped!"
"And whose fault is that?" Evan growled, "The girl's a lunatic! She's homeless for a reason. There's nothing you can do for her."
"Sir, she--"
"Isaac!" The marshal shouted. He took a deep breath and briefly rubbed his temple. With forced composure he continued,
"Drop it. If you talk to her again, I will expel you. No questions, no argument. Instant expulsion. Understand?"
Isaac didn't answer right away. He and Evan locked eyes for a long moment. Evan had that look on his face again; the intense, expectant look that dared an objection. That look always frightened Isaac into instant submission. Something was fighting back this time, a screaming rebellion from deep down inside him. Isaac took a deep breath,
"It's my job to protect her, Sir." He said. His stomach was twisting furiously and his mouth was bone-dry. Evan sighed and wiped a palm over his eyes. He stared at the floor for a long moment, then replied,
"You have one hour. After that, I better never see you near her again."
Isaac blinked, stunned at his agreeable reaction. Without another word, he was dashing out of the barracks.