The Storm (Samuel)

Samuel

Just as the beams holding the ceiling up were about to give way, Samuel got the panel loose and called for everyone to get out. He pushed Chris and his sister through and called for his mother and the others. 

"Chris, if we get separated out there, meet me at the fifth watchtower. You know where that is, right? The younger girl nodded in acknowledgment. She seemed to have lost the will to speak.

Samuel ran back and helped the counter to his feet. The old man objected, but Samuel wasn't listening. The granary was coming down around them. He helped the kindly counter through the tiny hole. Samuel looked back to see the ceiling collapse, burning or crushing more than a dozen still trapped inside. 

Outside, it was pouring rain. The granary survivors were quickly surrounded by a group of armed farmers who called for them to stop. They weren't from this village. They were Undien. That was when the Beast burst out of the flaming wreck of the granary. The Beast, a mass of dark fur that glowed orange in the burning barnlight, as big as a bear, charged at the soldiers. The Beast ravaged and mauled them mercilessly, tearing limb from body. Samuel's mother screamed at the beast to stop. More Beasts would soon close on their location.

Samuel looked back. His cousin and sister were already gone. They must have fled when the beast attacked the soldiers. Samuel supported the counter and screamed for his mother, and all the other surviving children and mothers to run. They did. 

Samuel made for the dark watchtower. He knew the way by heart. He would go and play up there all the time before he started having to work. It wasn't too far from the granary. The whole town was fairly compact. But the Sea was full of strangers. Undien, who might hurt or capture them. Samuel decided to take the long way through the harvested paths to avoid any enemies.

When Samuel looked back, most of the mothers and children were missing. It was just his mother, the counter, and three little girls. He told them to keep up. They reached the tower not long later. Samuel told the girls all to climb up the tower and report what they found. One of the girls called down that they were on one there. Where were his cousin and sister? Samuel prepared to set out and find them when they emerged out from the Sea. Samuel was furious that his cousin had taken the risk of traveling the Sea with his sister, but he was just happy to see they were safe. 

The counter said he couldn't climb up the ladder, what with his bent-back. Samuel's mom was a friend of the counter. She decided to stay down with him. He didn't have the time to argue. Samuel left his mother her sickle and carried his baby sister up with him.

"You are getting heavy, Rebecca Sawyer," Samuel complained. 

Samuel had suggested the name after they met the Hero's friend. Both his father and mother loved the name. She was old enough that it was no longer bad luck to name. He wondered if the girl would ever know. Or if he was alright. She was probably safe behind the high walls of Castle Hill. 

They got to the top of the watchtower and looked down on chaos. It was chaos. Complete chaos. The Sea was burning brilliantly ablaze, and Chaffield was burning. The shadows walked through the Sea and out of it as the soldier on the high walls and tower sent flurries of arrows and fire raining down on them. The Undien had breached through the town walls. Thousands of them were pouring onto the streets. The Castle was going to fall. Rebe was in danger. Then again, so were they. 

Samuel heard them coming. Both the Beasts and the Undien. He screamed down for his mother to come up, but no one was there to call back up. Not even the counter. They had vanished. Then they closed in on the guard tower. 

Samuel did the only thing he could think to do. He lit the signal bonfire.