The Orphan of Acre

[Jenkins0311 388]

Scurrying around the room, Torrie was frantically shutting the windows, baring the door with a stool and flipping the dining table. As she went about fortifying the small abode as best she could, her children Jacob and Percilla Ronsworth hid behind the table as the armies began encircling around their home. "It will all be alright my babies. Mama promises everything will be alright," Torrie spoke her words of hope feeling void as the tears streaming down her face began to wet her gown.

 

"Mama, I want daddy!" Percilla cried out. "Mama, I'm scared! I want Daddy, Mama!"

 

"Daddies not here Precilla!" Torrie snapped seemingly out of frantic turmoil. "I.... I'm going..... you need to trust me Percilla," she stated, stumbling over her words as she spun in circles, her breathing growing heavier with the increased sound of the war drums.

 

"I'll keep you safe Percilla," Jacob tried to consul his sister. "I'll protec..."

 

The shattering glass of the window across from the overturned table stopped him mid sentence as an arrow anchored itself into the wall only feet above them. Percilla wailed as she held her brother's arm, Jacob fearing she might break it. Torrie shrieked as a volley of stray arrows began bombarding her small house, running to try and take cover near her children. The interior of the small home began to erupt around them as the cries of dying men and iron clashing filled the air; arrows implanting themselves into the walls and table they hid behind.

 

"I WANT DADDY!!!!" Percilla screamed with an unnatural voice, sounding as if death were tightening his cold fingers round her throat. "I WANT DADDY!"

 

Jacob held his sister as best he could as she shook and squirmed, her body flailing about as the raging battle began outside in the town of Acre. Though he tried his best to hold her, Percilla broke free of his grasp, running toward the door. "PERCILLA," Torrie screamed rising to her feet chasing after her child. But, no sooner did Torrie grab her daughter by the hand did her neck become impaled with an arrow.

 

Crashing to the floor, blood gurgling from her mouth she desperately attempted to call to her children "ru...nn...... run!" Just as Percilla and Jacob realized their mothers words, the body of a soldier hurtled through their door, cracking the make shift stool barring it. No sooner did the soldier fall through the door, another entered running his blade through his torso before looking inward to see the ungodly sight before him.

 

Percilla, screaming, ran past the soldier and into the fray outside. Jacob soon attempted to give chase, but while running past the soldier standing in the door way, he was knocked to the ground, pinned under him as a blade pierced both the soldier and Jacob. The blade released, and the soldier slumped off of Jacob as he managed to pick himself up realizing he had been stabbed in the shoulder.

 

Jacob gave chase after where he saw his sister run last, and found himself surrounded on all sides by unknown men, dressed in chain mail and iron, their screams and wailing filling his ears like an overflowing cup of wine. He ran to the left, then to the right, weaving in and out of fallen men and women whose corpses were beginning to riddles the ground around him. He finally began to run north toward the hills.

 

He ran for what felt like ages, reaching the outskirts of town. "PERCILLA!" he screamed, hoping she would call back, but nothing seemed to be heard over the war cries of the armies below. "PERCILLA!" he attempted again, his voice cracking as he began to sob in place.

 

Suddenly, horses and their riders charged past Jacob nearly trampling him in their wake. He rose to his feet to see a Horsemen notice him and yell, "Run Boy" as he pointed north. Fear filled Jacob's heart as he began to run.

 

He ran until he reached the mountains of the north, and it wasn't until he reached the gates of an unknown kingdom did he slow his stride. He quivered in the chilling cold, his bloodstained clothing beginning to chill his skin from the mountains blistering winds. Walking aimlessly for a while, he stumbled upon the city gates.

 

"Eh lad, Can I... help.... oh lord!" the gate-man gasped, noticing the young Jacob covered in blood and with an arrow lodged in his right thigh. "Oh lad, we need to get you looked at," tears began to fester in the guards eyes.

 

"I'm waiting on my sister Percilla," Jacob stated, seeming not to take notice of his own condition. "I promised I'd take care of her...." his breath beginning to speed as his skin began to turn pail. "I promised mister!"

 

The Guard yelled back "CLERGY! I NEED A CLERGY!" Turning back toward Jacob he sat him down. "We are going to take care of you lad. CLERGY HERE NOW." As Jacob's eyes began fading he looked upon the guard holding him. The guard looked down at Jacob, attempting to shake him awake, "You're going to be alright lad, you're in Haense now....."

Edited July 9, 2022 by Jenkins0311

[GMRO 5251]

Karl III watched a young man enter past the city gate covered in a mix of blood, the smell of war oozed off of him from even a great distance. He signed the Lorraine, for there was surely more to follow.