A Tale of Flynnigan Rider

Chapter 9

"What are you all doing just standing there?" Darren demanded the moment that he entered the barn. They were indeed all just standing in place, not a straw was being lifted. "Hey! Did you hear me? What-" He stopped short as he met Ryden's eyes. He stood as still as the other boys for a moment, swallowing hard. "What…did you find?" He asked, attempting to make his voice come out evenly. It didn't work. Had he not already known where Eugene was, that would have been his first thought.

"Blood." One of the younger boys blurted out.

"What?" Darren wondered, though he was not shocked. "I see nothing."

"That's because he tried to clean it all up, but he missed half of it, and the burning pile…he put most of it there. I took some of it and hid it."

"Good, though they may think that it was just from some animal, but we have to hope." Darren approved. "Now, why isn't anything being done? What were you all staring at?"

"Umm, what we were all staring at…" Ryden's voice trailed off and Darren followed his eyes to a strip hanging from the pitchfork that looked almost like a flabby piece of parchment.

"That's skin." Darren said with certainty, looking like he was about to be sick, but quickly and suddenly he snapped back to his senses. "We can't just stand around in here. The Master is bound to come back soon, and if nothing is done then he'll figure out what we're doing here. You three, start getting the straw by the doors. You two, take the back of the stables and get to work. This place has to be cleaned up or all of this is for nothing."

"Darren?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that he's done this before?" Ryden asked him. Darren was silent, his stomach was still churning from the sight of that strip of skin that was missing from one of his younger friend's backs.

"Maybe not here." He answered slowly. "But I don't doubt that he has."

"Do-do you think that they knew? Why would they put him in charge of a bunch of kids?" Ryden asked in disbelief.

"They can't have known." Darren answered with strange certainty. "Ryden, until today we didn't realize how cruel he could be. Yeah, he hit us, but that's a far cry from tearing someone's back off. No, I'm certain that they didn't know." Darren had no idea where this strange conviction came from, but the longer he expounded his beliefs, the more he believed them. Antoine had pent up and hidden all of this for years, and it had finally emerged from the shadows. "We have to get working on this, Ryden. He could come back any minute, and we want this to be clean when he does." Ryden grumbled something and nodded, turning around with his pitchfork. "Wait." Darren almost yelled at him, making Ryden turn around with the most annoyed and confused look that he was capable of.

"Yeah?" He griped. Darren pointed to the skin that was still dangling from the tines, and though his face turned green at the thought, and he made a few passes at it and finally grabbed it. Shuddering the whole time, he said,

"We need to keep this as evidence." He was almost sick, but his breakfast was long gone by now, so there was nothing for him to throw up.

"I'm not holding onto it!" Ryden replied, horror etched into his face.

"N-no, I'll do it." Darren answered softly because he couldn't make his voice any louder. Shivers kept running up and down his spine, and he couldn't help but be thankful that Antoine had not gone so far as to chop off a hand or something, because he simply could not have dealt with that. Instead he opened the leather purse on his belt and slipped it inside, shaking the whole time.

"Are there anymore pitchforks?" He asked Ryden more loudly than he had intended to. His nerves had blurted out of him in that whole sentence, and suddenly he was beginning to worry about when the Master would return.

"None." He replied. "Strange, you know, for a barn this big to have only one fork? I suppose that the rest have just rotted away." He shrugged. Darren had to agree that that made sense, and his eye roved the barn sadly for a moment, wishing that there were animals kept here to help take their minds from their troubles. But they were orphans anyway, and from what their lives were like, it seemed like all orphans were just born with bad luck. He shrugged heavily and started grabbing arm loads of straw, walking all the way back to the pile every time rather than trying to fill the small cart that the young boys were filling. It would take quite a while this way too. He was probably on his twentieth armload when he saw, from the corner of his eye, Antoine approaching him with a candle in hand. He had come out of nowhere, and that look on his face… his smile was sickening. He grabbed a fist full of straw from Darren's arms to light the pile. It wouldn't take long, straw burned quickly, sometimes too quickly.

"Sir, wait!" Darren called out but he was too late, and the pile of straw, far too close to the barn itself, started first to smolder and then to crawl with fire. Ryden heard the shout as he was headed out of the barn door and quickened his pace, almost toppling the small cart that was once again over full.

"Darren, what is it?"

"Get everyone out of the barn, now." He shouted back to Ryden, ignoring the mad light in the Master's eyes. The fire was only licking the corner of the old barn here and again, but the wood was quite dry, and Darren saw no reason to be a fool with more than a dozen children in that barn. Ryden gaped, dropping his load immediately and running back the way that he had come. He took a deep breath, carefuly composing himself, knowing what kind of havoc a panic brings.

"Come on, everybody. Let's get out of here." He said, loud but calm. The boys looked up from their work, every one of them confused, but Ryden was firm. "Come on, come on, all of you, out. Let's go!"

Outside of the barn, Darren heard no yelling, but the boys slowly and curiously filtered out of the barn door, much to Antoine's sudden acknowledgment and frustration. Darren, for his part, could not have been more proud of how Ryden had kept his head on getting those boys out of a barn that could burn down any second. Ryden's family had died in a fire, him being the only one to escape, and that only because he had been sleeping in the window. He had somehow forgotten that Antoine was right there.

"What do you think you're doing, boy?" Antoine shouted, dropping his candle and boxing Darren's ears so hard that the boy was completely stunned and fell to the ground, holding his head.

"Hey! What did you do that for?" Ryden screamed at him. Darren's head was reeling, but internally he was trying to tell all of the boys to just stand off and not get involved.

"Are you next, master Ryden?" Antoine sneered. Ryden did not come closer, instead he stood before the rest of the boys, pushing them behind him.

"Master, don't you realize that burning the straw so close to the barn may set it on fire?" Antoine's sneer dropped from his face and his mouth hung open. "We're going to fill the buckets with water and bring them over." He said with an air of authority, but with just enough complaisance that Antoine could eventually convince himself that he had given them the order. The Master nodded. His tone had worked. Ryden hastened to herd the boys to the river, sending a few into the house to get the buckets from the girls. The rest of them he kept ushering toward the water, away from the barn, away from Antoine and Darren who was still stunned on the ground. If any of the boys went to his aid they would be hit as well and then there would be a pile of boys rolling on the ground next to a barn that could catch fire at any moment.

Darren couldn't hear anything at the moment, and he could barely see, his head was spinning so badly. Antoine, once Ryden had convinced him that they needed water in case the barn caught fire, had only stared at it. Maybe they shouldn't have said anything. That look on his face suddenly took on a deeper sly, like that was precisely what he wanted to do now. The house, being more than a hundred yards away would be safe enough if the barn burned down. Darren watched as Antoine walked forward slowly, calmly, to where he had dropped the candle. The flame was still sputtering at the wick and scorching the grass around it. He lifted it gingerly from the ground, gazing at the flame, letting the wax drip on the grass before him and stood for a moment as if gauging a distance. No. The Master's arm lifted in the air and tossed the candle onto the already flame-licked roof. Darren forced himself to his feet with a grunt that he couldn't hear. His right hand slipped off of his face on something wet and he looked at his hand to see that it was covered with blood, but he ignored the fear that shot through his gut in favor of rushing to the wide open door and looking in. He was certain that Ryden would have gotten all of the boys out, but he needed to make sure.

"Out! Is everyone out?" He screamed into the barn at the very top of his lungs though he didn't hear a single sound of it. Far to the back he saw the orange flicker of flame in the dark corner. "If anyone is still there, come out!" He screamed again, almost crying as the strangest fear gripped his gut, like someone was in there and was too scared to come out. "If you're calling, I can't hear!" He screamed again. "You can't call, you have to come!" He couldn't hear Antoine come behind him and didn't notice him until he was grabbed roughly from behind and struck hard on the face before being thrown to the ground. Antoine screamed angry words at him, but Darren still couldn't hear a word of them. He tried to stand up, but he was thrown off balance and his head was reeling. He saw Ryden racing toward them. "Ryden, don't." He whispered through the soundless void. The other boy ignored Darren. Ryden's eyes were open wide as he pleaded with Antoine, pointing into the barn frantically as the Master watched him with cold, bored eyes. Darren grit his teeth and tried unsuccessfully to rise. Ryden finally nodded and ran into the barn as Darren watched him climb up into the loft. That was what he was afraid of. Antoine might not know it, but a few of the young boys had been watching a litter of kittens in the loft for the last two weeks. Eugene had found them and sneaked the youngest kids out there when they wouldn't be noticed as missing and showed them the tiny little black and white splotched fuzz balls. He prayed that Ryden was going up for one of the boys, though, and not for the kittens. The fire was starting to take the barn now, he needed to get away from it before the whole thing went up, but he also needed to wait until Ryden had come down. He needed to make it out, and he had to hurry, the smoke was getting thicker, and in the loft it would be unbearable sooner. Finally, though he couldn't physically hear the creaking of the loft ladder, he as good as heard it as he saw Ryden climb down, three kittens clinging to his trousers and what looked like Christopher's head of hair bent tightly on his shoulder. Ryden fairly leapt out of the barn the moment his feet touched the ground. Christopher looked like he was crying, and the kittens were yowling, and Antoine was shouting at the top of his voice though Darren could still hear none of it. He saw Ryden counting. Now all of the boys were finally safe - no, not all of them. There was still Eugene. There was Kay. Were they alright? He looked up to see Ryden carrying Christopher back into the house. What was there left for them to do? The boys' mending, that had to be done, and the boy's rooms needed to be washed. That had to be it. Would Antoine put Eugene into the boy's room and try to pass him off as ill? Several of the boys had made their way back to the barn now and stood there agape, water bucket's in hand. Darren stayed where he was, hoping that soon he could hear something. Anything.

Ryden crossed the distance quickly from the barn to the house. Christopher was only four, and he was frightened and distraught.

"What's happened?" One of the kitchen girls dared to ask him as he stepped through the door. "Why is the barn burning, master Ryden?" The boy sighed, meaning to sound disgusted, but the tremor betrayed everything of the terror and rage that had come to fill in the last twenty minutes or so.

"The Master set it alight. God knows why he did it. Christopher was very nearly caught inside." He said, handing the young boy to the girl who held her arms out to him. "I think that he was trying to hide something. Clara, do you know what had become of Eugene?" The addressed maid shook her head, as did her companion. Ryden grunted in dissatisfaction and kicked the ground. "He's gone mad, I tell you. He boxed Darren's ears so hard that - I…I don't think that Darren can hear anything right now. One of his ears was bleeding…" Both scullery maids just looked at the floor and shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Christopher still hung over Clara's shoulder. "Look, I have to get back before something else happens. Here, Christopher, come with me." He coaxed the little boy down and this time only held out his hand to hold. Christopher slowly obeyed and followed Ryden down the hall and to the boy's room that the girls were in the midst of cleaning.

"Candi?" He called in softly through the door. He heard fumbling from the other side, and whispering, and finally Candi came to the door.

"Oh. Ryden." She breathed her relief when she saw that it was him at the door. "What is it? We heard shouting and we can smell smoke. Lucas and Chaddy came in and took the cleaning buckets."

"The barn. The master set the barn on fire."

"The master?" She gasped.

"Yes, Christopher was inside." Candi's mouth hung open even further.

"But the fire is out now?"

"No. I'm afraid that he's trying to hide something, like the barn could have proved what he did to Eugene. I don't know. We only have the buckets of water in case the fire spreads, but there's nothing near the barn, so I don't think that it will. Candi, can Christopher stay here with you?"

"Of course he can." Candi smiled and she held out her hand with a flourish of enthusiasm. Christopher accepted her hand and came into the room with her. Candi turned back up to Ryden, the smile instantly gone from her face. "Have you heard anything of Eugene or of Kay? We're worried sick about them." Ryden cursed under his breath before he replied.

"I was hopeing that you might have heard something when he came back in here. Kay bound up his back, the master had beat him bloody." Ryden informed her in hurried, hushed tones. "They had been in the master's quarters, but, well, that was several hours ago now. Candi, has the master let any of you eat?"

"No. We think that he forgot."

"That is what I thought as well. I'm starving."

"Ryden … the barn?"

"We found - evidence in the barn, something that we will show the king tomorrow. I don't think he'll believe us without actually seeing it, though, and now he can't." He sighed dismally. "Anyway, I have to leave if I want to keep the other boy's safe. Christopher, listen to Candi, alright?" Christopher nodded and Ryden smiled back. "Be back with news." He told Candi, "I hope." She nodded silently and closed the door. Ryden turned around and leaned against the door, taking a deep breath. He knew that it was a risk to leave Darren alone with Antoine near a burning barn for so long, but he had to do some searching. Would they still be in the Master's room? If they were not, he had to find some trace of them. He looked both ways down the hall and headed his way down the hall to the Master's quarters and opened the door, hoping against hope that the master was still standing there gazing in rapt attention at the burning barn before him. His heart leapt to this throat at the sight. Of course, he had never seen any place that looked so inviting and warm, no in this place, but he had to tear his eyes from the wide fireplace and the curtained bed to scan the floor, looking for his friends who were nowhere in the immediate line of sight. He knew that Eugene had been on the floor not so far from the window, but there was nothing to be seen anywhere in the room, and a cold dance of fear ran along his spine. What had Antoine done with them? He stood still in the center of the room or a solid minute, listening, though the only sound was the crackling of a dying fire. He took a turn around the room, working up the courage to start looking through things. He started by looking under the bed, which, in itself, was not a brave feat, but he had to start somewhere. There was nothing under the bed. Ryden pushed himself back up to his feet, deciding where to looks next.

"Come on, Eugene. Where are you?" He muttered. Maybe the door to the left of the bed was hiding something. He eased it open and gasped in a moment of terror as something leapt out at him. A second later he was pushing the sleeve of a jacket back in where it had come from. The closet itself looked too small to be hiding anyone. You could stand in it, or sit with your legs uncomfortably crowded, but even at that to try and hide in it would be useless. He closed the door quietly and stood still for several seconds, thinking that there had been a sound behind him. Had he heard something, or had it been his imagination? He scanned the room again, looking for a likely place to hide a lanky teenaged boy. "Eugene!" He hissed. There was a quiet sound this time, and Ryden almost thought that he heard his name called, but whatever it was, he had certainly heard something coming from the foot of the bed. He hadn't noticed the chest before because there was quilt draped over it, making it blend in with the rest of the bed. He noted how the quilt was hanging so that he could return it to its original position before he tore it off and opened the lid. "Eugene." He gasped when he saw his younger friend half folded into the narrow chest that was not at all long enough to accommodate him. Eugene was very pale, and when Ryden reached forward to touch his forehead he was not in the least surprised to find him feverish as well. The boy's eyes opened wearily and focused on Ryden after a moment.

"Antoine?" He asked in a harsh whisper.

"Outside, burning the barn down." Ryden answered angrily without explainations. "Come on, let's get you out of there." He said, leaning into the box, but Eugene held him back.

"No, he'll know that I'm missing." He groaned, pushing his friend's hand aside. "Where is Kay?"

"I don't know. I only just found you, Eugene." The boy whispered. "When did you see her last? Did you see where the Master put her?"

"No." Eugene moaned. "And I haven't seen her since I fell asleep. I didn't know that he had put me in here until just a few minutes ago when I heard you come in. What do you think that he could have done with her?"

"He wouldn't dare do to much of anything until after the king has gone." Ryden shrugged hopefully even though he had a hard time believing his own words.

"Please. You have to find her, Ryden. She's dying." Eugene gasped and tears slid down his cheeks. Ryden felt a cold dread at those words. Eugene could be wrong, but Kay was closer to him than she was to any of the others, so he was hard not to believe. They were the only four who knew that Kay was dying; himself, Eugene, Darren, and of course Kay. Well, the Master knew it too, of course, but he was not to be thought of in this situation. Just avoided.

"Think he'll keep you here until the king has come?" Ryden asked him. Eugene nodded weakly. He had hear Antoine muttering something like that as he had been shoved into this box. The older boy nodded and looked around the room, looking for something, anything that might give away a clue, but he had already exhausted the possibilities. "Alright. I'll be back, Eugene, okay?"

"Be careful." The boy murmured, closing his eyes as Ryden closed the lid over him. He replaced the quilt exactly as it had been and slipped out of the room, closing the door firmly behind him. Eugene was safe. Or, well, at least he kind of was, for now anyway. He all but ran down the hall to the head of the dining room, for fear that Antoine could return at any moment. Now, where was Kay? Where should he even start to look?

His wonderings were halted, however, by sounds from outside. A scream that made his heart leap into his throat before he took to his heels and ran toward them as quickly as his legs would cary him.

Sorry that these updates have taken me so darn long. I'm finally more on board with this story again, though, and hope to have it finished within the year! Keep bugging me if I don't!