I woke up on top of my piano. Did I fall asleep playing? I heard screams outside. What was going on? I went out to the balcony and saw it. The Union was attacking us! Oh no! I saw men in uniforms and women running for their lives with children on their back. Screams, this was a symphony of screams. I ran to my mother’s room. She wasn’t in there. I ran to Beth’s room, he was there so I woke him up and carried him on my back. I ran downstairs and looked for mother. She was nowhere to be found. I saw the two swords grand master gave me and I took them. I ran outside and found chaos.
There were buildings on fire, there were soldiers firing at will at normal citizens. What where they doing here? I saw mother running to the house and I went to her.
“What on earth is going on?” She asked in despair.
“Soldiers, they’re here.” I took her hand and went to an alley. There was a forest right after, I was scared. I never participated in wars like these, scratch that, I never participated in wars. I managed to get them both into a well-hidden shelter deep in the forest. Far enough you can’t see the smoke of fire, close enough you can hear the screams of war.
“I need to get people out of there, I promise I’ll bring back food.” I said to them.
“No! You can’t if they find you…” Mother said.
“I’ll just say I’m a Union supporter trapped in this Confederate town. Don’t worry I’ll be fine.” I said leaving before she could argue anymore. “I love you.” I yelled loud enough for only them to hear. Going back to the death trap was easy, right now I was looking for grand master. He was in his dojo as I suspected.
“Lets go!” I yelled at him.
“I don’t wish to leave this place.” He looked sad.
“We’ll come back once they’re gone.” I felt his sorrow. At least he could come back, couldn’t he?
“My garden… so much work, I can’t leave it.” He said.
“Then you’ll die. Is that what you want?” I asked him. He shook his head. “Then follow me. And grab a sword.” I told him. I lead him to another alleyway that also lead to the hiding place. I gave him instructions to get there, and I told him not to come back.
“What about you?” He asked.
“I still have business to take care of.” I told him leaving. Now it was aunt Eli’s turn. It took me some while to find her amongst the crowds of people. I somehow managed to get both her and her new husband to a different hiding place, somewhere just as secretive and well hid as the one grand master, mother and Beth were at. I went back to the town.
Who else? Most of the people managed to hide or to die. I noticed the soldiers were trying to spare us, they didn’t like killing but they had to. I had best get some food for everyone and then get out. I ran back home and straight into the kitchen.
Before I continue on in this story, I must explain the terrain of my small village. We border the sea, so we constantly get cargo from other places. The ground isn’t rocky at all, and we have only one hill. We have less than 100 people living on this town. We have enough horses to give to each citizen. The mayor of this town is one of my neighbors. We all know each other. We are almost like a separate country, until the Civil War broke out. They dragged all men able to fight out of here and into the war. We aren’t even part of this war and now they are going to take our men and kill us.
There isn’t much to explain, I took as much food as I could possibly carry. I ran back out of the house.
“Stop right there!” I heard someone call out to me. I turned around, a soldier.
