The Disdained

Ch. 2 - Not Strong Enough

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Reader's Discretion: Blood and violence will appear.

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Killian lost his mind. He was utterly blind with rage, swinging seemingly aimlessly. Murderous thoughts corrupted him. The burns on his hands were starting to bleed, but his raw, violent anger numbed the pain.

Then his back hit the ground with a hard thud. A massive boot stepped on the hand weilding the claymore. The axe blade flashed in the sunlight. This is it. Eleanor's face was burned on the back of his eyelids. I'm going to die.

The blade dropped. A sudden weight crushed his lungs and burdened his ribs. Yet he wasn't dead. The huge axe head was pressing on his chest. The Orc was grinning to himself, as if gloating over his victory.

Killian hissed with strain, "I hate you." But he was barely audible. He grit his teeth and hardened his face in hopes of hiding his fear. As his desperation for oxygen rose, the panic thrashing in his mind threatened to break his mask.

He couldn't read the Orc's face because the man stood with the sun directly behind his head. Ribbons of light pierced his eyes every time the enemy moved.

The raider sighed as he watched his son struggle to free his hand. He pressed his boot harder, saying, "You wish you weren't weak, don't you?" Killian glared at him. The Orc snorted out of disgust. "I do to." Killian looked away incase tears formed. He was beginning to see spots, and he was feeling dizzy.

Then the pressure suddenly lessened. It wasn't much of a change. He could still barely breath. But suddenly a douse of relief cooled his burning lungs. He could breathe just well enough that he couldn't give up just yet. He could fight just a little longer.

Killian tugged at his wrist under the man's boot more earnestly while the Orc above him said, "To think that you're mine, that you came from my bloodline. And you haven't escaped yet." Killian growled, "I was never your son." The Orc laughed. "I never said son, I said mine."

The axe was lifted. Killian gasped sharply, then he gripped his sword to attack. But before he could lift the blade, a leather mass hit his skull and his world went black.

Just a moment later, he heard a little girl's voice as puny, sweaty hands were softly slapping his face. "Kill, wake up!" Daylght burned his eyes. He blinked away the blurriness and saw Eleanor's dirty, worried face. There were streaks in the smudges that flowed from her eyes and ran over her round cheeks.

He said reassuringly, "I'm here, Ellie." When he sat up, he felt the ghost of the Orc's axe weighing down on his chest. His hands stung from the burns.

He had a moment of panic when he couldn't see his sword. "Wait, where-" Eleanor waved her hand and pointed to his sword. "It's right there."

His heart rate slowed. Then he saw the blood on her hand. He said, "Who hurt you!? Where!?" Her lip trembled when she said, "You're bleeding. Right there." She pointed, and he touched his cheek. "Here?"

She was beginning to cry again when she said, "No, there. It didn't work, Kill. I tried to heal you, but I couldn't." The left side of his head and his ear were sticky with blood. He mumbled, "Stupid Orc." He wasn't sure who he was calling stupid.

He said to her, "It's ok. I'm alright. I'm still here, ok?" She said, "But it didn't work. I can't do it." He glanced at the vague, sandy brown runes on her hands. Her face was twisted with frustration, and her eyes shined.

Killian pressed his lips. He smiled for her, saying, "It's alright. You don't have to heal me." She wasn't satisfied with that answer, so he said, "You're young, anyway. You won't learn for quite some time. Don't worry about it." Eleanor was almost shouting when she said, "But I wanna fix it! I wanna make it better now!"