Chapter 52
One of the boys had broken a branch over his head, at which point they all began to kick and stomp at him with savage abandon, the large, bloodied boy having found his feet and joined the others with zeal. Alistar curled up into a ball and endured the beating, which was quite mild in comparison to those that the guard captains at Crystellum had forced upon him.
"Ow," uttered one of the boys, rubbing at his toes after kicking Alistar in the abdomen. "Why is he so hard? I feel like I just kicked a wooden—"
The boy fell to the ground beside Alistar, his forehead leaking blood down the right side of his face where a fist-sized rock had just smacked into his head.
"Get away from him, you losers!"
The beating stopped as another boy was tackled to the ground by none other than Zech, who had been one of the few people attending today’s lesson atop the hill. As Anice’s friend was busy pummelling the fallen boy, the main aggressor of the small group jumped on top of him and began to punch him in turn. To stop the remaining two from ganging up on Zech, Alistar reached for the nearest ankle and pulled one of them to the ground, putting him to sleep with a few unstable punches.
As Zech struggled to break free from the other two, another rock flew forth from the grasses that fringed the pathway on one side and connected with the larger boy’s right eye. This caused him to let go of Zech and roll onto his side while clutching at his face, blood leaking through his fingers as he let out a terrified scream. Seeing this, the last standing member of the group ran away from his unconscious friends, which left the scene quiet and still.
The back of Alistar’s head felt wet, and he noticed small droplets of blood pattering onto the dirt as he crawled over to Zech’s stirring form.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Better off than you are, I think." The boy touched a finger to a fat lip and then pulled back to see it covered in a light film of blood. Raising his voice, he said, "And I’d be a lot better if Corrie wasn’t such a coward!"
There was no response. Whoever had thrown the rocks had left.
"Why did you help me?"