Revelations {This Isn't Real Sequel}

Chapter 4

"What could you possibly have to show me?!" I pushed him away, standing on my own with my arms around myself.

"We're not as bad as you think." He said softly,

"You want to kill all of the monarchy! I don't think there's anything you could do to persuade me to not kill you and tell the guards where your people live." I walked past him to leave, but the door slammed shut in my face before I could go very far.

"Fine. I promise I'll leave you alone if you just trust me for 5 minutes." He pleaded, walking up behind me cautiously.

"5 minutes." I growled, "Then you're gone."

"Thank you." He breathed, walking past me to open the door whilst being careful not to brush me too much.

He opened the wooden door slowly, making me cover my eyes to protect them from the bright light that came in. It must have been the next morning, since the sun was high in the sky, and life in the little village I had found myself in ran as normal.

Men looked at me as they walked past, and no one travelled anywhere alone. Some women were washing clothes in the river that ran past, others talked amongst themselves, and others rather shadily skulked into huts, seemingly wanting to remain unseen by anyone else.

"Come." He summoned, looking back at me and holding his hand out for me to take.

I nodded, but didn't take his hand, crossing my arms over my chest instead. He sighed, but carried on walking regardless. We walked through streets of huts that appeared to have been built quickly, which I gathered from the bits of material sticking out and the numerous buckets and other building utensils laying around.

"I'm Ashton, by the way." He murmured, leading me in between some houses until we got to the only brick house standing in the area.

Next to it, there were a few more huts, one of which he took me into. He closed the door after me, and gestured towards a chair in one of the back corners for me to sit on. The interior was surprising to me, considering that the outside was run-down. It was complete with wooden floors and furniture, with a fire pit burning in the middle of the room.

"My family was killed during The War of the Realms, and for no reason." He told me, picking up a small framed painting that was set on the table next to the bed, running his finger along the edge as his eyes scanned the image intensely.

"There must have been a reason." I said, still slightly surprised by his sudden change of topic.

"They were killed for not fighting for the king. My sister, my mother and my father. All killed for not having an opinion. My three year old sister was killed, for not being born into the right family. If that's justice..." He took a shaky breath, placing the picture back on the table.

"I had been conscripted, so I had no choice whether or not I helped them. I had gotten myself a high ranking position in the army, so the general of my regiment consulted me before he did anything. But one day, I had been instructed to go into Herthios, our neighbouring city at the time, and take out the guards so that our forces could get in and extract some of our men. Simple as that. But it was only after I had done my job, I knew they had lied to me."

I listened intently to his story, frowning slightly at the distressed expression that had formed itself on his face.

"They thought that it was a place that housed all the rebels. That by destroying it from the inside would stop the rebellion all together. By taking out the guard force that night, I helped to murder everyone within those walls. Including my family. I had to stand and watch as the rest of my regiment dragged citizens out and lined them up outside the city walls. Mothers were separated from their children, husband from their wives, brothers from their sisters. I watched as they were stripped of their belongings and killed, one by one."