Hope that you like this story, its something a little different and not something i have ever seen before, so enjoy!


Caleb aimed his bow as he took a breath to steady his aim. He drew back the string and released, firing the arrow at deadly speed towards the wooded target. A direct hit.

He repeated this nine more times. Eight times he hit the target directly. One of the arrows went wide of the target. After Caleb fired his last arrow, the man who had been watching him with a firm look on his face approached him.

"Hold out your hand." He said, his voice emotionless.

Caleb knew what was about to happen, after all this is what had been happening to him for 11 years, since he was only 6 years old, but that didn't make it any easier. Caleb paused.

"Hold out you hand." Said the man, this time more aggressively.

Reluctantly Caleb raised his hand, which was covered in scars, showing no emotion on his face as always.

The man suddenly lashed out at Caleb's hand with a leather belt, studded with sharp pieces of metal on the end, it was designed to cause severe pain quickly, it served its job well. Caleb clenched his fist and winced at the pain, but still he didn't make a sound and continued to show no emotion. The man struck his hand only once, and withdrew immediately. Blood poured from Caleb's hand, and he looked up to meet the man's eyes. They were as cold as his own eyes. Master Bastien was his name, and Caleb loathed him, even more than he loathed life itself.

"If you cannot hit the target, how do you expect to fair in battle, when that target is a man set on killing you?" Asked Bastien. Caleb continued to stare into those dark eyes, not at all afraid of the threatening tone of voice Bastien was using. Caleb said nothing and waited for Bastien to continue.

"Tell me Caleb, why did you miss that target?" Bastien asked him.

"I missed the target, because the wind blew, causing the arrow to blow of course, Master Bastien." Replied Caleb, his voice was again, void of any emotion.

"Excuses are the refuge of the weak! You missed the target because you are big headed and you think you are better than you are, you think that it is an easy task for you to hit Ten targets without fail, so you loose your focus causing you to miss the target!" Bastien shouted, towering over Caleb.

"Your cockiness will be the end of you if it is not beaten out of you!"

Bastien raised his arm and delivered a heavy blow to the side of Caleb's head, he continued to strike him until Caleb fell to the ground, feeling queasy, Bastien ceased to hit him, until he got to his feet again, and then continued to strike him again. Years of enduring beatings like this taught Caleb to stand there and take it, or risk even more severe punishment. With every hit the hatred within Caleb boiled within him. Bastien stopped. Caleb's hand poured with blood and his head throbbed, he was sure that in a few minutes he would throw up.

"Leave." Said Bastien simply.

Without hesitation, Caleb turned on his heal and headed in the opposite direction, in a fast walk that was almost a run. He quickly made his way through the vast halls of The Sanctuary. The Sanctuary was home to thousands of boys(the exact number was unknown) from the early age of 6 to the age 18. Here they were trained to become killing machines, the most skilled and feared soldiers in all of the land. Life was tough and none of the boys had any recollection of what their lives used to be like before they came to The Sanctuary. The boys knew no other life other than the grim life at The Sanctuary. Caleb made his way up the Halls of The Sanctuary, and on his way he was lucky to come across a discarded cloth covered in dirt lying in the corner, he picked it up and wrapped it tightly around his pulsating hand to stop the immense bleeding. After this Caleb picked up his pace to reach the Great Hall where the rest of the boys would be eating. He reached the hall just in time, for being late resulted in a severe punishment even worse than the one just handed out to Caleb. He took his seat, next to a boy named Blake and opposite another boy named Sheldon, neither of them were what you would call Caleb's friends, for having friends was frowned upon by the Masters at The Sanctuary, and seeing one boy fraternize with another boy too much too often would result in severe punishment. These were the only two boys who Caleb could tolerate at The Sanctuary, and the only one's he would talk too, all the other boys saw Caleb as a tough character who didn't like to be disturbed. Caleb looked down at the food below him, it was a bowl of food that was a greyish brown colour, not something a normal person would see fit to feed to their dog, however this was the food that faced the boys everyday of their lives and it was either eat this, or starve. After the murmuring and clanging of spoons on bowls caused enough noise to stop anyone listening in the, boys began to talk.

"Tell him what we found Blake." Said Sheldon, attempting to mask his excitement.

"No, not here, there are too many people around to over here, we can't risk it, this is too big an opportunity." Said Blake. Caleb said nothing.

"Meet us after evening prayers." Instructed Blake, before he and Sheldon stood up to head for the prayer room, where the boys were instructed to go every evening after supper, to pray to God and forgive the boys of all there sins. After Caleb had consumed all the stodgy food that sat in front of him, he too made himself to the prayer room. Any boy who failed to attend evening prayers would be killed instantly by a Master once they were found. Once role call was taken by Master Rigg, The Master of religion and all the boys were kneeling on the cold stone floor in deadly silence before a statue of The Sanctuary's founder, they all recited in unison the words they said everyday of their lives:

Father forgive us for our sins

For our greed

For our desires

Cleanse our souls and our minds

Help us lead a holy life

And if we are lead astray by the devil

Send us to hell, where the devil dwells

And punish us for an eternity and more.

The boys were so used to reciting this, it had little to no meaning to any of them any more. Caleb especially didn't believe any of these words. He didn't believe in God, and even if there was a God Caleb was not afraid of being lead astray by the devil and condemning himself to an eternity of hell, because he was already in hell, The Sanctuary.

Like he had agreed Caleb met with Blake and Sheldon after evening prayer,

"What is it you had to tell me." Said Caleb, straight to the point as usual.

"We've found something that could aid us." Blake replied.

"Aid us with what?" Asked Caleb.

"Aid us with our escape." Whispered Sheldon.

"Impossible." Said Caleb simply. The Sanctuary was built for one purpose and one purpose only, keeping the boys in, and any invading armies out. Many boys had attempted an escape and none of them had made it past the outer walls, and all of the boys caught attempting an escape were hung, drawn and quartered to show what would happen to anyone else who thought of making a run for it.

"Trust me, you won't be saying its impossible when you see what we've found, follow us."

More than Twenty miles away from the horrors of The Sanctuary, there was a grand city, the grandest in the whole world. It was the city of Mersham. Mersham was home to the royal family, Harold and Elizabeth were the King and Queen of Mersham. The King and Queen were loved and valued by all the people of Mersham but there was one member of the royal family who was loved above all other and this was the King and Queen's daughter: Cornelia. At 17 years old she was almost grown into a fully grown woman, her beauty was staggering, her skin was so pale it glowed, her long silky hair shone in the sunlight and her eyes where the bluest if blue. Since her birth she had lived a life of luxury, a warm bed with a roaring fire in her room, grand feasts with even the rarest and most expensive foods. She had everything she could ever wish for. However, there was fear in her heart, in little over a month she would turn 18 and that meant she must find a man to wed and become her husband. Cornelia knew there was nothing she could do to get out of it as it was tradition that Royals were married in there 18th year of life. But Cornelia knew she was not ready to marry, nor was she in love with anyone. It seemed she was condemned to marry someone she did not love. That was something she did not think she could face.

A few rooms away from Cornelia, her father Harold held his head in his hands in shock and fear. On the table in front of him was a letter and on the letter read these words:

Give up your daughter, or we come for her ourselves, and if it comes to that we will not spare anyone who gets in our way.


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