Max Ryder flied through the forest with ease he was all too familiar with the terrain so for him it was a piece of cake to run without getting out of breath. It had been two years since he murdered the masters of the house. One of the guards was having an affair with one of the servant girls. He was leaving her Chambers to sneak back home to his wife when he came face to face with Max, who went to find the guard who tried to rape his mother. He had successfully injured the guard severely and he had him by his hair when his eyes met with the guard exiting the kitchen maids' chambers. Max was a sight to see, his ripped clothes covered in blood his eyes devoid of emotion. They both stood still sizing each other up. The guard towered over Max he was muscular, max concluded that if the guard managed to grab him, he would be done for. The guard figured he would try to sympathize with the kid and then knock him unconscious.
He smiled and cautiously stepped towards Max, " Hey Kid...what's wrong- " with unimaginable strength Max lifted the guard who was moaning in agony and threw him over the railing. The guard crashed into the glass table a bloody mess forming on the mansion floor. Distracted by what just took place the bewildered guard was too slow to draw his sword. Max was on top of him before he could do anything. Alerted by the noise the guards that were outside came to investigate. Max managed to gouge out the guard's eyeball before bursting into his mistresses' room and escaping through the window. The guard screamed out in pain vowing to kill the young boy if it was the last thing he did.
Max survived the ordeal with the help of Jack his father's mysterious friend. After escaping through the window, he had to jump into some nearby bushes risking the trouble of breaking his neck from the high fall. He then ran into the trees at the far side of the estate where he happened to run into Jack. Jack took one look at him all messy, bloody, and crazy eyed and motioned for him to follow him. He brought Max to an abandoned house and filled a bucket with water to bathe him with. The shower of blood seemed to be endless. He gave max clean clothes a pair of fitted boots which max had never owned in his life and a long green hooded cloak. Max's small frame was swallowed by the cloak but for the first time since his parents' death Max felt safe.
"Stay here and don't get out no matter what." Jack warned. He hid Max in the closet and set out to see the commotion that was taking place. After finding the master and his wife dead and their room engulfed in flames, the master's son who had been murdered in his sleep, the injured guard and the dead guard, the entire estate was on lockdown. The guards searched the slaves' quarters thoroughly. Any slave not accounted for would be deemed suspicious and a suspect. After checking the slave quarters, they went on to check the slave homes. When Harry and miss Sue were questioned about the whereabouts of the young man, they had taken in they could only plead the fifth. They were killed on the spot for aiding and abetting a murderer, the search for Max continuing until dawn.
Max spent a week hiding in the abandoned cottage until Jack decided it was time for him to leave the estate.
He took refuge in a small hidden village by the name of Drudha on the east side of the Fidan province. Max stayed with an old black Smith and his wife. In the day he would help the blacksmith in his shop and at night he would help the blacksmith's wife make dinner. The children of the village adored him. As the months went by Max learnt a little of everything from everyone in the village. He learnt how to cook, how to forge weapons out of wood, stone, and metal, he learnt how to hunt and how to sail, he even learnt how to wield a sword and use a bow and arrow. Max felt at home in the village, but he didn't lose sight of his goal which was to make the weak slaves into strong followers. Max was determined to get stronger and smarter before he continued on his journey. Never taught chance how to read Max started to get secret lessons from a former scholar who was living a quiet life in the village. Max's teacher taught him to read, to count and use deductive reasoning sometimes they would go into the forest where Max would learn about nature.
"Guards!! There are guards and soldiers approaching!" the village watchman ran through the village shouting warnings to the people. The sound of over a hundred horses could be heard getting closer and closer. "What are we going to do? We need to protect Max" the blacksmiths wife looked around for somewhere to hide Max but there was no where he could hide. "Max come with me." Max followed the blacksmith to the back of the house and into the forest. The blacksmith pulled away some thatch leaves to revel a hidden well. "Climb down and don't come back up until nightfall."
Max tried to rebut, "I won't hide like a coward if its me they want I'll fight! I'll-"
"No, you're not ready. You may be our only hope of tasting freedom Max, save yourself and destroy them, don't get trapped here with us" The old man pushed Max down the well and covered the entrance hurriedly making his way back to the village.
"This must be the hidden village that we heard about. Well. Well. Well. I see you've done quite well for yourselves. Who's in charge here?" a tall well built soldier dismounted from his horse and faced the villagers. He looked around in disgust. Who did these people think they were? Did they think they could hide away here forever? He searched their faces and found not one ounce of fear in fact they looked angry.
"We don't want any trouble we just wish to live our lives in peace." The captain looked down at the frail old man who he concluded must be the chief of the village.
Smirking he replied "and we want no trouble either. We came here only looking for a boy who committed heinous crimes a year ago he needs to pay for his sins. We heard he might have been hiding here. Now I know you probably don't trust us but believe me I seldom lie, we are not here to enslave your people or raid your village. We just want the boy."
The villagers looked around at each other nervously, what were they to do?
"We know not of who you speak we are peaceful people…" just then the captain loudly interjected,
"Finch come forward!"
A giant of a man stepped forward with a scowl on his face. The most notable thing about him other from his height being the eyepatch over his eye.
"This here is finch one our best Guards back at the estate. A man of war and honor…but Finch had an encounter with the young slave in hiding which has left him greatly wounded. The young man singlehandedly took down Finch and took his eye out. It was his favorite eye can you understand that? This young man is a murderer he's dangerous, a menace to society. I'm saying this for your safety, won't you help us?"
The village was silent. Mothers held their children close, and fathers stood closer to their wives.
The captain sighed woefully, "this was indeed a nice little village. I'm sorry we couldn't reach an understanding. Burn the village to the ground, Finch round up the women and children slaughter all the men."
Max could here the shrieks of the villagers from his hiding place beneath the well, at that moment Max felt like he was losing his family all over again and vowed to put his plan into action a little earlier.
At nightfall he left the well and made his way through the forest, he needed some allies if he was going to be successful in defeating the enemy.
***
"Max hurry up we need to get moving!" a voice boomed from ahead. Max jumped unto the boat just in time. Max watched in pleasure as Finch screamed curse words at him. No matter how close Finch came to catching Max Ryder he would slip out of his reach in a second. He had almost managed to get him this time but Max had outwitted him once again. After they raided the hidden village and found no sign of him he started showing himself robbing estates, murdering guards and freeing slaves, he was a menace that needed to put down. So much so that the new masters of Atticus estate put out a huge reward for his head but Finch wasn't in it for the money. Max had hurt his pride and he would only regain his honor if he crushed him with his own hands.