The Serf

Chapter 4

What is happening! Why is he doing this! Screams boomed from the streets. No! This can't happen! I kicked the horse and started down the hill. Alston why are you doing this? What changed inside if you?

I took the reins and slowly went down the hill. I stopped when I saw Mavis look up. I could see him shake his head. He nodded back up to the top of the hill. He mouthed something, but I couldn't tell what he was saying. I rode farther down the hill. I kept going till I was right behind the house Cy was in. I tied the reins to a tree behind the house.

There was a back door that went into the house. I tried to open it. Locked. I knocked on the door hoping that he would open it.

"Hello?" I asked through the door. Nothing no reply. "Cy? Are you in there?" Where is he? I know t his is the house. I walked to the side of the house. I w alked into the alley between the houses. I recognized the alley. it was the same alley where I sat on Easter.

I peeked around the corner of the house and looked up at the hill where Alston stood. He stared down on them. On everyone. All this was because of him.

"Lila!" I heard a mother scream above anything else. I saw a mother run to a girl on the ground. There was red on the girl's dress. I turned away I couldn't bare to watch anymore. Tears in my eyes I sunk to the ground. I cried as if nothing could make me stop.

"Ellie?" I heard a thick accent in front of me. I looked up. "Cy." There he was standing right in front of me.

"Please tell me you didnt see what happened out there." he said sending down. I nodded.

"I... I... Why?"

This has happened every year after the Easter celebration. A different day every year. No one knows when it comes."

"Why would someone do that? I never knew about this. I wish I had I would try to stop it."

"There would be nothing you could do. It helps the lord and lady. I wish it never happened. I have to stand back and watch and I can't do a thing about it."

"What?"

"Those girls become servants in the castle. Who knows what happens to them. Then the boys are trained as knights." He took my hands. "My best friend was taken our first year here. I saw him today. Out there taking kids the way he was taken. He was ripped from my grip. I want him out. That's not him. He has a wife back on my father's manor. They married young. She's my age now. She was pregnant when he went off to battle. He was a knight." Tears were slowly coming. I pulled him in and wrapped my arms around his neck.

He was crying into my shoulder. I was crying into his.

"What is his name?" I asked him.

"Keelan."

"I'll see if I can find him back at the castle."

There were boot steps coming towards us. Cy grabbed my hand and pulled me up. The pulled me toward the back of his house.

"The door is locked." I told him. He held up his finger telling me to be quiet. He bent down and russled around some of the grass. He stood up and opened the door.

"How did you?"

"Key hidden in the grass." I nodded.

"Now come on." He pulled me inside the little house. He closed the door and pulled a curtain over the door. I looked around the little place. It wasn't exactly a house it was more of a room. There was a small bed in the far left corner. A fire place on the right wall. Pots and pans filled the area. There were bags for wheat all c.f. er the floor.