The Boys of Lionshire (Part Five)

A Story by B.J. Mills

Ian suffered an bad beating by Bastion in response to his disobedience. A new hero emerges just when Ian thinks things can't get any worse.

When I came to, Bastion had drug me to the center of the camp and placed me next to the welcoming throne I tried to sit up, but the throbbing in my eye was overwhelming and I immediately regretted my decision to fight the boys. Well, boy anyway. If it weren’t for Bastion, I would have been the unanimous victor of the Lionshire bout.

I heard excited voices all around me and smelled the ash and burned logs from the fire pyramid. I reach up to feel my eye and was surprised at the size it had grown to. Apple or grapefruit sized, maybe. The eye was completely swollen shut and I strained to see what was going on around me

My cheek and the bone around my eye were on fire and my head pounded with an intensity I hadn’t known before. I’d had headaches, but never like this. I felt the flesh around my battered eye and it was incredibly tender to the touch. The bones made a sickening grinding noise when I pushed on them. I winced in pain as I finally found the strength to grab the welcoming throne and pull myself in to a seated position.

“You broke my orbital bone”, I grunted, “I can’t see anything.” I placed my back against the welcoming throne and cradled my head in my hands, trying desperately to wish away the pain. “Where is Sara?”

The boys laughed nervously around me, fully aware of the assault I had just unleashed on Freddy and Alexander. They were no doubt surprised by the rage I displayed while beating the two boys to a pulp. The loaner of Lionshire had finally spoken, and when I did, everyone listened.

I was finally able to open my uninjured eye far enough to see my immediate surroundings. Freddy sat to my left nursing his freshly broken nose with a wet t-shirt and Alexander sat beside him with a look of anger and discontent on his beaten face. Even though I had ultimately lost the fight, I was proud of my handiwork.

“Where’s Sara?” I repeated.

“Tell him”, one of other boys said, “He deserves to know after that beating.”

More laughter from the crowd invaded my ears and echoed around the drumbeat in my skull.

“Don’t tell him, Bastion”, another voice from the crowd yelled. “Let him wonder.”

I grabbed the side of the welcoming throne and pulled myself up from the ground. The blood rushed to my feet and I immediately felt woozy. I caught myself with my hands on the rough, wooden seat of the throne and eased myself down in to it. I wanted to scream out loud and frantically jump up and down until they told me where she was, but I just wasn’t physically capable of executing the tantrum.

“I need to know”, I finally pleaded, “Just tell me where she is and we’ll both go back to the outskirts and stay to ourselves.”

A voice I hadn’t heard in a long time finally spoke up. “This is nonsense, Bastion”, he said in my defense, “We’ve all lived peacefully until now. Why should the new arrival ruin everything?”

Several of the other boys nodded in agreement at the boy’s proclamation.

“And what did Ian ever do to deserve that beating you gave him?” Look at his face”, he continued, “It’s pulverized.”

I could feel a tangible tension forming between the boy and Bastion, but Bastion continued to listen to him, although halfheartedly.

“Look at our faces!” Freddy shot back. “He deserved what he got.”

“Oh come on”, the boy exclaimed, “We all saw what happened. You two started the whole thing. If you weren’t so busy riding Bastion’s coattails, maybe you’d have the ability to think for yourselves for once.”

I was surprised that anyone was standing up for me. Especially him. Shane had arrived at Lionshire about a year after I did and I befriended him early on before the other boys could get to him. It wasn’t long afterwards that news of me got to him. I don’t know if he was just trying to fit in or if he was embarrassed that he had taken a liking to me in the first place, but he took to hazing me worse than the others ever did.

Shane never hit me, but his words and actions sliced me to the bones. He continually harassed me and was the one who suggested I move to the outskirt of Lionshire in the first place. He also championed the idea of my meager food rations after the wild boar incident that almost took my life. It was a never ending onslaught of cruel pranks, hurtful words, and hunger pains. Even long after he grew and matured out of his painful antics, the loneliness on the outskirts of Lionshire and lack of food endured.

Bastion had finally had enough and spoke. “Enough, Shane! I’m through with your rebelliousness!”

Bastion puffed his chest out and flexed his biceps in effort to make himself appear bigger than he already was. I wasn’t sure of it, but it seemed as if Shane’s bold defiance of the leader unnerved him.

Shane and Bastion were nearly identical in their physical statures with Shane only slightly short than him. He had a strong, angular jaw, much different than that of my own. His head was topped with blond hair and his grey eyes pierced straight through you when he made eye contact, almost as if he knew all of your deepest, darkest secrets. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that if Bastion had never arrived at Lionshire, Shane would have been the de facto leader of our motley bunch of boys.

Shane scowled at Bastion with his fists balled tightly. I sensed another fight was imminent, but I could only focus on my pain and wondering where my newfound friend had gone. Without warning, my mouth began to water and nausea took hold of me. I tried to hold in, but it was no use. I leaned over the side of the chair and wretched deeply, spewing vomit all over the ground and Bastion’s bare feet.

Bastion looked down at his feet and the vomit covering them in disgust. The other boys began to laugh hysterically at the event as they stepped away from the sticky mess and pointed.

Bastion stepped towards me and raised his hand to strike me again. This time, Shane was there to stop him.

As Bastion’s swing soared through the air, Shane stepped forward and caught it. The crowd gasped audibly and moved back, fully prepared for another brawl. The two boys stared at each other for what seemed like hours but was only minutes. Bastion’s face began to turn bright red and I knew for sure this time that Shane had unnerved him.

“What do you think you’re doing”, Bastion growled. “Get out of my way, Shane.”

“I’m doing what’s right by Ian”, Shane responded. “Don’t hit him or anyone else again. Got it?”

Bastion looked flabbergasted at the way Shane was talking to him and ripped his hand from Shane’s grip. “You’d better fall in line”, he said threateningly, “Or you’ll find yourself on the outskirts with Ian and the girl. Got it?”

By now, Freddy and Alexander were by Bastion’s side. Shane was smart enough to know when he was outmatched and angrily walked off towards his hooch. The crowd breathed an audible sigh of relief as disaster was averted.

“This isn’t over”, Shane said as he walked off, “We’ll continue this later.”

“Yes it is”, Bastion shot back.

Bastion straightened his clothes out and moved to the tree trunk pedestal.

“Let the Lionshire counsel begin”, he announced. “The votes will be uneven without Shane, but we’ll commence without him.”