slowed to let the ponies cool down before coming to a complete stop. Brandon jumped from the back of the chariot and uneasily found his footing on the solid ground. He swayed back and forth holding onto his stomach. Thomas was worried he would vomit, but slowly he opened his eyes and began walking around.
The crowd of people gathered around cheering for all the kids. The winner was hoisted above the crowd and carried away to collect his prize. Thomas stood by his chariot and smiled proudly. He didn’t win, but he didn’t care. He took the challenge on head first and came out a winner in his own mind.
He turned to go look for Brandon when Clayton came running up to him. “Didn’t win, did ya?” he laughingly poked at Thomas.
“Nah, but it was still fun though,” he scanned the crowd for their little friend.
“Heck yeah, it was fun!” the other agreed.
“Yeah, sure looks like you had fun,” he said glancing at the other boy’s hands. They were scraped and bleeding and caked with dirt from the wreck.
“Oh well, it was worth it. I’ve waited a long time to wreck one of them things,” he grinned. “Where’s Brandon run off to?”
“Not sure, but we should probably find him. He looked like he was goin’ to get sick.” The two boys laughed and made their way through the crowd in search of their friend.
They found Brandon cleaning himself off near a trash can. He tried to straighten himself but the other boys could tell he’d been vomiting. “What’s goin’ on?” he asked wiping at his teary red eyes.
“Just lookin’ for you,” Thomas smiled. “You ok?
“Yeah, I’m fine. Must’ve been something I ate,” he stood up straight but then doubled back over as he hurriedly shoved his head back into the trash can.
“You ready to head back?” Thomas asked after another bout of vomiting.
“Yeah,” Brandon muttered just above a whisper.
“You want Thomas to give you a ride back in one of those chariots?” Clayton asked trying to hold back his laughter.
“Come on, Clay. Leave’m be,” Thomas said trying not to laugh as well as Brandon was once again vomiting violently. “You gonna be ok?” he asked as Brandon’s body shook and convulsed whilst hanging half in and half out of the trash can.
“I’ll be just fine,” he said as he tried to compose himself and wiping traces of vomit from his mouth onto his shirt sleeve. “But I ain’t ever ridin’ with you again…on anything!”
Brandon and Thomas laughed as they gathered their friend and headed off through the thick of the crowd. They would have to hurry if they were going to make it back to the compound by nightfall.
The crowd in the main street showed no signs letting up anytime soon. The three boys slowly pushed their way through large bearded men waving tankards of ale and singing crude songs of women and fighting. The women grouped together in large, tight-knit huddles. The sounds coming from the groups of women reminded the boys of chickens. They laughed and gossiped and paid the boys no mind as they passed by heading towards the outskirts of town.
“Let’s go down this alley,” Brandon turned towards a seedy looking back alley. Thomas could see trash littering the edges of the alley, the smell of urine, and the silence. The silence frightened him most of all. He thought back to the long dark hallway of his home. Sometimes the silence scared him worse than the actual darkness. It was like the monsters were holding their breath so they could listen to what Thomas was doing.
“I’m not too sure about that, Brandon,” Clayton said warily eyeing the alley. “That doesn’t seem like such a good idea. There could be all manner of cutthroats down there waiting for us.”
“Cutthroats? What would petty thieves want with three young boys?” Brandon laughed.
“Yeah,” Thomas added. “Who knows what’s down there. Besides…”
“Besides what?” Brandon cut him off. “What have we been training for? I’m ready for anything that might be down there waiting to jump us.” Brandon turned and started jogging down the alley. “Come on! The last one through the alley is a smelly troll!” His stride turned to a sprint.
“Well, it is probably a short cut,” Thomas said to Clayton as he too started to run down the alley.
“Ah, snot! I guess it couldn’t be nearly as bad as that chariot ride you took me on earlier. Hey! Wait up!” Clayton yelled as he reluctantly began to run down the alley. He had lost most of his fat during the first few months of the training but he still tired easier than the other boys.
Thomas ran as fast as he could trying to catch up to Brandon. He thought of the smelly troll as he ran. He’d seen no mystical creatures other than a few elves walking through the marketplace. The city was mostly human from what he’d heard and seen. Even though, the thought of a huge troll with huge claws and frothing at the mouth sent shivers down his back. He pushed the sickening sight from his mind as he closed in on Brandon.
“Come on you old ninnies,” Brandon goaded them as he glanced back at the other boys. Thomas was almost upon him but Clayton still lagged far behind. He spun his head around just in time to see an outstretched leg in front of him. He could hear Thomas yelling for him to lookout from behind him but it was too late. He tried to jump to miss it but tip of his foot caught squarely on the leg. His forward momentum carried him forward as he soared through the air. His arms flailed wildly as time seem to slow tremendously. He fought to no avail to get his legs back under him in time, but it was no use.
Time sped back up the second he hit the ground. The cold brick pushed up from the earth to meet every exposed boy part that is could find. Cinders tore into flesh as if it were on some vengeful mission into the center of Brandon’s body. His skin caught on the rough bricks and peeled back to expose smooth patches of rosy red skin which immediately began to bead up with blood. The world disappeared as his eyes filled with tears. He began to cry out in pain but his chest tightened trying to refill itself with air. He could only manage a weakened whimper.
As he laid there trying to catch his breath and recompose his contorted body, he could hear the sounds of laughter. He took as deep a breath as he could muster and turned his head back down the alley. Through tear filled eyes he could make out three boys pointing and laughing loudly. Beyond them he could hear Thomas still running.
“You ok?” Thomas gasped for air as he knelt beside Brandon.
Brandon didn’t say anything. He just moaned as he tried to hold back from crying.
“Sissy boy! Sissy boy!” the boys chanted as they continued to point and laugh.
“What’s your problem?” Thomas shouted at the boys. Then he recognized them. The boy that had tripped him was the one they called Bug. He was the boy that was ostracized by their master and the one that was taunting them before the chariot race.
“Beat’em Bug!” one of the boys on the back yelled as Bug walked toward them laughing.
“Kick’em while he’s down!” another boy encouraged.
Brandon rolled back on his side so the other boys couldn’t see his face. He moaned to hide the sounds of him crying. Thomas stood to face Bug and realized the boy was at least another head taller than he was. Back home he would have ran from a bully this size. Any bully for that matter. He looked the bigger boy up and down and thought twice about it.
“What’cha gonna do about it, runt?” Bug snarled in Thomas’ face. He stared intensely at Thomas then turned quickly back to his friends and started to laugh.
“Yeah,” one of the other boys antagonized, “he, ain’t gonna do nothin’.” The other boys joined in and laughed heartily.
Bug turned his attention back to Thomas and moved even closer. “So, what have ya learned so far?” he mocked Thomas shoving his finger in his chest. “That loser Braddock teach you anything yet? What’s wrong, you just gonna stand there and get your butt kicked?”
Clayton ran up behind Thomas and tried to pull him further away from Bug. “Come on Thomas,” he said. “Just leave the village idiots alone. We need to get back to the barracks befo
re nightfall anyway. We ain’t got time to mess around with this scum.”
“Scum?” one of the other boys yelled. “We ain’t no scum or, or…What did he say before that?”
“Village idiot…you idiot,” the rest of the boys laughed.
“Well, we ain’t neither,” and he bent down and threw a rock at Clayton.
The rock grazed off the side of his head but hit hard enough to leave a gash that instantly started to bleed. Clayton stepped back and caught himself on Thomas’ shoulder. The blood ran from above his left eye and now he barely stood and was half-blind. Thomas tried to help his friend steady himself but Bug was at him again shoving him backward. “Alright! That’s enough!” Thomas shouted. “We ain’t done nothin’ to you guys, so just leave us alone!”
“Haha,” Bug continued to laugh and taunt while pushing Thomas backwards down the alley. “Leave us alone, leave us alone,” he taunted in a high pitched voice.
Thomas kept stumbling back even though he tried to hold his ground to protect Brandon who still lay on the ground. Then his foot caught on a loose cobblestone and he stumbled and fell flat on his back which knocked the wind out of him. He tried to quickly regain his footing but Bug was instantly on top of him and started to slap him in the face.
“Whatcha ya gonna do? Whatcha ya gonna do?” he slapped and punched him in the face. The harder Thomas struggled, the harder Bug would hit him.
“Stop it