The Last Day

It was a warm and sunny day in the trading town of Altein, Children ran in the streets, playing and laughing while the adults all stopped working for the day, to enjoy the last hours of sunlight.
"Come back soon boys," Bashel's mother said. She was smiling, but anyone who knew her well would know that the crinkles by her eyes were out of worry, not out of joy. "We eat in an hour."
Bashel nodded as he grabbed his younger brother by the hand. His blonde hair stood out to all sides and his smile had noticeable gaps. He had just lost a couple of his teeth, and he always made sure to smile wide so that everyone could see it. Bashel ran down the street with Carlin trailing behind him. Right when they were about to turn down another street, he looked back over his shoulder at his mother and stepfather. They were both waving them goodbye.
Jol was such a nice man and though Bashel knew he wasn't his real dad, it sure felt like it. Their bond was just as strong as the bond between Jol and Carlin. His brother didn't know anything about it. If anyone asked, their physcial differences were nothing but random. But Bashel knew that there was a reason they weren't as similar as many other siblings.
Their mom had banned Bashel from telling Carlin that they were only half-brothers. He was so young - they both were, to be fair - and the truth was never allowed to be revealed to the towns-people. They all thought Jol got her pregnant before they were married. It was better to let them keep that rumour alive.
To Jol's knowledge, Bashel was the result of bad luck on a dark night out. He never mentioned it, because he knew the memory was painful. However, there was one very important detail he had never been told, and probably wouldn't be told ever.
However, Bashel knew. When he'd turned 10 years of age, she'd sat him down and told him the truth. She told him about the attack. How she woke up in the middle of the night with an intruder in her house. An intruder with green ski. She'd sleft out all details, they were not for the ears of children, but she told him that he was only on this earth, because of what happened that night. Bashel hadn't understood at first, but when he suddenly realised, he felt bad. When his mother found out, she told him that while much was stolen from her that night, she had received something precious which she would forever cherish.
They lived on the outskirts of the town, so their closest neighbour was a small distance away, only around 2 minutes of their slow running. Their neighbours were a nice couple, they had a daughter who was Carlin’s age and a boy who was a year older than Bashel. They usually didn’t go to the bustling centrum of the town unless his mother had to buy something special, so their neighbours house was as far as they got into town when it was a regular day.
The kids were nice enough, they’d usually play with some wooden toys their father had made them. It was often about a princess and a dragon or some other stories involving the king and the queen of Edrea. On this day Tanna had insisted that she would get to play the dragon, she was a very particular kid in the sense that she’d cry if they didn’t play her way. Carlin had grabbed the knight doll and Uld had taken the wise wizard doll. That had left Bashel with the dragon doll, which was what he played with the most. Tanna insisted that his dragon roars were the best and so he always got the dragon doll.
They’d played through the same scenario as they always did, it was only really Tanna and Carlin who enjoyed it, but Uld and Bashel enjoyed seeing their younger siblings happy, so they always just smiled and played along. They’d often make eye contact when they came to the parts of the story that was especially cheesy or stupid, but they’d never spoil the fun.
That day, three silhouettes had approached the house. Not many people came to this part of the town unless they lived there. There wasn’t much purpose to it as nothing really happened there. It had been three boys who lived in the inner parts of the city, Bashel had seen them when he’d gone with his mother to the trading posts.
They were bigger than both Bashel and Uld, at least 14 years of age. Bashel hadn’t thought anything of them, he had expected them to just pass by the garden and just go about whatever business they had out there. But as they came to the house, the three boys stopped, Bashel couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they were clearly laughing and pointing in their direction. Tanna and Carlin had stopped the scene they were doing, Uld was looking at Bashel. He had the feeling something was off, and time proved him right.
The three boys stopped their pointing when the middle one started talking, but this time he looked more serious, more devious in a way. The others nodded in agreement with something he had said, and they turned from him, letting him walk in front of them down to the small path that led to the house. Carlin and Tanna had seen it, and Carlin grabbed his brothers arm.
“Bash, what’s happening?” he asked, his voice was small, and his big green eyes teared up slightly. Bashel shushed him and pushed him behind his back, forming some sort of human barrier between Carlin and the threat. Uld looked at him and promptly did the same with Tanna. The tallest boy chuckled a bit as stepped inside the gates.
“What do we have here huh?” he said, he dragged out the words, drawling them out in the most ridiculous manner. Bashel didn’t know what he was supposed to do, so he just kept quiet. Maybe they’d go away?
“What are you stupid kids doing, playing with dolls like little girls?” the tall one continued, patronizing them as he sneered the word dolls. Bashel’s cheeks burned slightly, but not out of embarrassment but out of anger. Who did this boy think he was, he was nothing but a bully.
“And look at the cry-baby” he said, he pointed at Carlin who had started sniffing behind Bashel’s back. He was scared and Bashel felt his blood sizzle.
“Look at him, such a little weak and pathetic boy, playing like he’s a girl.”
At that Tanna looked a bit offended and confused, there was nothing wrong with girls! She wanted to scream, but she didn’t. She stayed behind her brothers back, the safest place for her at the moment. The bully came closer, moving forward as if he was an animal on the hunt. Bashel felt himself tensing up, ready to jump up at the first sign of real danger.
“What do you want?” Uld said, he squared his shoulders and stood to his full height. Even as he stood up like that, the bully was at least a head taller than him. He was in no way a threat to the three boys. The tallest boy walked past Uld, bumping his shoulder into him with such force that Uld stumbled a few steps back. The boy continued on his warpath, heading for Bashel. Bashel’s hands started sweating as the boy neared him. His friends had stayed behind, standing as if they were making sure they couldn’t escape. Bashel stood up too now, he was taller than Uld but the boy was still way taller than him too.
“Look at you, so stupid and weak” he continued. Bashel didn’t react to the taunting, knowing that it usually only made it worse, he just stood as a wall in front of his brother.
“You play with the small kids as if you were babies” he laughed, he was big and ugly, his eyes dark and thundering. He pushed Bashel to the ground, he landed in a flower bush, smashing the beautiful red flowers beneath him.
“And you, the most pathetic of you all” he spat, he had grabbed Carlin’s shirt in the front, lifting him off the ground. Carlin had tears streaming down his face as he kicked with his legs in the air, though he didn’t hit anything.
Bashel felt his blood boil as he saw how his little brother was treated by that brute, he got to his feet abnormally fast and barrelled straight into the boy’s side. He let out a whelp of confusion as he hit the ground with Bashel on top of him. He seemed to be confused as to how a smaller boy than him could topple him over like that, and with that much force too.
Bashel had acted without really thinking, his mother always said to not let his emotions control him, because that usually meant his other side was showing. Bashel could feel the weird tingly feeling, he was changing out here in the open. He knew how he would look, green skin and obvious pointy ears, but it usually took him at least 10 minutes to force it back down, time he didn’t have right there.
He heard the others gasp from behind him as he got up, he dusted off his shirt and looked up at his little brother. He looked scared out of his mind. Bashel had seen it coming, but he had hoped it wouldn’t end out like that.
“Y-you’re a monster!” the boy cried out, his hands held out to protect him as he laid on the ground, shivering. He got up hastily and scurried to his friends who were frozen on the spot.
“Come on, let’s get out of here before it kills us!” he screeched, pulling his friends with him. They ran down the trail, leaving small dust clouds in their wake. A thundering silence replaced the sound of their shoes scuffling and their taunting voices. Bashel’s shoulders dropped as he looked to Tanna and Uld. Uld still stood in front of his sister, but this time to protect her from him and not the bullies.
“Ge-get away” he stammered out, he pointed towards the road. He didn’t even want to hear what Bashel had to say. “But people will see me!” Bashel cried out, tears were streaming from his eyes. He’d never been in this position before, he was only 10 years of age and was already seen as one of the most disgusting things to exist in Morlea.
“People have already seen you, now go, we don’t want them to think that we’re your helpers” Uld continued, looking at him with distrustful eyes, but also a bit of pity.
Bashel looked back Carlin, he was still crying. His eyes were puffy and red, snot running from his nose. Bashel stretched his arm so that Carlin could grab his hand, at first nothing happened, but then the little warm hand grabbed his, and he knew it would be okay. Bashel walked with Carlin behind him, not looking back at the house or his friends, not once. He cried silently, he had to be stronger, control his feelings and make sure no one else would see.
“Carlin, we need to get home to mom,” he said, his brother didn’t answer but just started running, still clinging to his hand. Now Bashel was the one being dragged behind, but he just let Carlin run in front, he knew the way home. They didn’t exchange any words on the way, and luckily, they didn’t run into anyone either. For now, only the boys and their neighbour’s kids knew about him. For now.
They turned down their street, it was silent out. No one walked this stretch of road either, to their luck. Their mom wasn’t out in the garden anymore and neither was Jol. Bashel’s hands were still green with claws, and he could still feel his fangs when he chewed his lip out of anxiousness.
“Mom!” Bashel cried out, both him and Carlin were out of breath. No reaction at first, but then he heard his mother approach the door.
“Mom someone knows about me, they saw” he cried, louder this time. His mother hurried out of the house, and stopped as she saw the state her sons were in. Bashel was in his Iwachi form, his green face streaked with tears. His younger brother clung to his hand, he was crying even more. His hair was slightly tousled, and his shirt had been ruined.
“Bashel, get inside right now!” she whispered as she ushered him inside the house. It was darker inside and quiet. Bashel couldn’t hear Jol in the anywhere.
“You only have very little time, get control over yourself, can you do that?” she asked, he nodded as she hurried out of the room. She rustled around with something for a while.
Bashel just stood there, still holding Carlin’s hand. His brother hadn’t let go yet either, they were both quiet. The only communication the two had was squeezing each other’s hands, as some kind of reassurance. Carlin knew what a half breed was, he’d seen one beheaded in the town square only months ago. But he didn’t understand why people hated them. The only thing he thought about them was that they looked scary, but that was nothing more than a childish observation.
The door opened as Jol came in, he carried a stack of wood in his arms. It was so big that he couldn’t see over it. Bashel spun around to look at him, he was shaking. His mother had told him that not even his stepdad knew about it, and he feared the reaction he might get.
He grunted as he leant down, letting the wood tumble on to the floor. He spent a couple of seconds picking up some of the pieces that had rolled away from the rest of the pile. He straightened up as he placed a hand on his back, he’d had backaches for months now. He turned around to walk but as his eyes landed on the two boys, he froze mid-movement. “Hetila?!” Jol called after Bashel’s mother, panic clear in his voice. Something crashed in the other room and she came running out, her eyes flickering back and forth between her husband and her half breed son.
“I was raped by an Iwach” she exclaimed, silence followed. Jol needed time to process the information. She was raped by an Iwach, which meant that the son of hers who stood before him now, was a half breed. And that meant the half breed currently holding his son’s hand was Bashel.
How had he never known? He looked back up at Hetila, searching her face for an answer, was this really Bashel? She just nodded.
“Someone saw him,” Hatila said, “it will only be a matter of time before the entire town is gathered at our door with their weapons and torches.”
Jol nodded, he understood. He had a bit of a fright, seeing a half breed in his own house, but he knew Bashel and had known him for 8 years of his life. He knew he wasn’t evil.
“They’re going to assume you or I are a half breed as well, and that Carlin is too.” She said, she walked into the other room again, returning with two bags.
“We have to go now if we want to make sure we make it out of the town.”
Jol went to the other side of the room, he shuffled through some box he’d fished up from an old wooden trunk. He pulled out a wad of notes.
“This is what we’ve saved up in case of an emergency,” Jol said, he chuckled a bitterly, “I guess the emergency is upon us now”
He took the notes and stuffed in one of the bags, he gave it to Bashel and took the other bag himself. His mother stuffed a third back with clothes, the second bag had been stuffed with food and given to Carlin. Hetila took the bag with clothes herself and Jol brought an axe and a small tent in a fourth bag.
“We have what we need now,” He said, they all looked around the house for anything they’d missed when Bashel heard commotion outside the house.
“They’re here already!” he said, tugging at his mom’s hair. She spun around to look out of the window where she saw a big mob of people. Their angry voices could be heard as they moved towards them, almost looking and sounding like and angry group of buzzing bees. She ran to a window on the other side and saw that they were surrounded. She realized they couldn’t all slip out of the house, someone had to make sure they couldn’t get to the children.
“Jol, distract the people while I get them out of the small window in the toilet,” Hatila said, as soon as she did, he knew what she meant. They weren’t going but rather they were helping the boys escape, whatever it might cost in the end.
“Here boys, come with me,” she said, ushering her sons to the bathroom. It was in the back of the house out of sight of the angry mob. They could run into the forest without being seen. It wouldn’t be discovered until it was too late to figure out where they had run.
“Where are we going, mom?” Carlin muttered, he held his hands to his mouth as he chewed on the fingernail on his thumb, a habit he had developed due to stress over the last few years.
“Your brother is different, not in a bad way, but not everyone agrees with that,” she said as she opened the window, checking for people outside, “I want you two to run to the woods and wait for me and your dad there, okay?” “If we’re not there within 10 minutes, you must leave without us, do you understand?”
The two boys nodded, she waved them to her and one by one she lifted them out of the window and they jumped down on the box that was right below it. When they were both out they waved to their mother, she waved back but was already on her way out of the room. She had to go help Jol. She had a feeling that they wouldn’t have the time to catch up to their sons, but it was more important to her that they got away safely. She couldn’t afford to be selfish in this situation, she had to think of her children, the most important thing in her life.
Bashel took his brother by the hand and ran for the woods, the forest was not that far away, but the path there was out in the open where they could be spotted easily. Carlin ran behind him trying his hardest to keep up, but his legs were just shorter than Bashel’s. He had to slow down so that he wouldn’t just be dragging his brother behind him, but he felt his heartbeat faster as they slowed their pace. The slower they went and the longer they took to get to the forest, the higher chance was there of being discovered.
Bashel had been trained for this day by his mother. If he was ever discovered he had to go to a city of some sort and find somewhere he could be an apprentice so that he would be supplied with job and food. He had to get to a large city too, so that he wasn’t in a small community where it was easy to find him again. He knew that they could get out on the other side of the small forest they would come to a river. If they followed it to the right they would make it to a road and a bridge. From there they could get to Bechlea easily, though it would take some days of travel but they had food and money. Bashel knew it was the best way to go.
They got to the forest not long after, though it had felt like centuries to Bashel. He relaxed a bit as he hid with Carlin behind a tree. They hadn’t been seen, and their parents would probably be there in only a few minutes. Bashel could still hear a low murmur of the group and he could see his house from where he was standing.
But something was wrong, the sky above the house was painted with grey clouds. No that wasn’t clouds, he realized, it was smoke. The house was ablaze. He didn’t know what to feel, but only seconds after his mom and dad were dragged behind the house. He never forgot the sight of their heads hitting the ground and rolling away from their collapsing bodies.