The Boy

A merchant and his son find a half-dead boy in the middle of the forest.

“Dag!” Kenit shouted as he walked through the thick underbrush of the forest. “Dag! C’mere boy!” Kenit whistled a few times, but still he didn’t hear any trace of the dog. “Blasted mutt,” he mumbled under his breath as a small shiver ran down his back from the coldness of the late fall air. Kenit was an average Astian citizen in his early thirties. He was average height, and had short trimmed black hair and a clean shaven face. He wore a nicely made brown shirt made from a comfortable fabric whose name he couldn’t pronounce from a country far to the south, and black pants made from the same material, and black leather shoes. . Kenit was a merchant by trade. Kenit even had his own shop in one of the upper districts of Lamur, the capital of Astoph, but right now he and his son, Milat, were scouring the woods far from the city for their dog, Dag. He had just concluded a fairly profitable deal in a border town and was coming back with some valuable goods when his dog suddenly leapt from the wagon.

“Do you see him, father?” a young boy, Milat, called from Kenit’s right.

“No,” Kenit answered. He took another step and felt something sharp cut his leg and a tearing sound filled the air. “Blast it!” Kenit took a deep breath. “Your mother’s going to kill me when we get home.”

“What happened?” Milat asked.

“I just tore my good pants on a thorn bush,” Kenit replied. He heard his son inhale sharply, like he was wincing from a mighty blow. Milat was a boy of thirteen with short blonde hair and bright green eyes. He was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and pants made from the same foreign material as Kenit’s, and brown leather shoes. Milat had the innocent look like that of a young babe, saving him from more than a few run meetings with the city guard, though his cherubic face offered little protection from his mother’s wrath when the guards brought him home, the same wrath Kenit was likely to be on the receiving end of when they got home. Marith was a kind, beautiful woman, but she had a temper that would make the Astian army quake in fear. Suddenly Kenit heard a familiar sound. Then he heard it again, it sounded like a bark. “Dag!”

“Did you find him?” Milat asked.

“I think so!” Kenit answered. “Dag, C’mere boy!” Kenit whistled a few times and he heard the barks again. It was coming somewhere from his left and he started jogging towards the sound of the barks, Milat catching up to him. After a minute of searching and running up a tall hill, Kenit and his son found the year old mutt standing in a clearing. Dag, even though he was only a year old, came up to Kenit’s waist, and had medium length light brown fur, a long snout, and energetic blue eyes.

“Dag!” Milat cried with enthusiasm as he ran towards the dog. Suddenly Kenit saw something lying beside Dag in the clearing.

“Milat, stay back!” Kenit yelled as he ran forward.

“What’s wrong father?” Milat asked as he stopped and looked back at his father. Kenit -raced past him and towards Dag. Dag barked excitedly then rubbed his nuzzle against the body that lay beside him.

“Get away, boy!” Kenit said and pushed the dog aside. The body seemed to be that of a very young boy, nine or ten, with medium length, dirty silver hair. He wore filthy, torn, clothes that looked like they were made out of a sack. Kenit didn’t even need to remove his ‘clothes’ to tell that he was covered in injuries. Kenit fell to his knees by the boy and carefully turned him over. The boy had an innocent face, even with a scar that went from his left temple down to his chin, barely missing his eye. Kenit quickly checked the boy, and found a slash to his stomach that was pouring a lot of blood. “By the light,” Kenit mumbled as he out his hands on the deep gash.

“What’s wrong with him father?” Milat asked, sounding a little scared.

“Come here, quickly!” Kenit shouted. Milat did as his father commanded and ran to his father’s side. “I’m going to need you to put your hands on his wounds to help slow the bleeding.” Milat looked scared, but nodded his head. “On three: One. Two. Three!” Kenit removed his hands and his son quickly put his hands on them. Kenit quickly took his shirt off and prepared to cover the wound.

“Father,” Milat said.

“What is it?” Kenit asked.

“H-He stopped bleeding,” Milat said. Kenit first didn’t register what he son had said, then froze.

“What?” Kenit asked.

“He’s not bleeding,” Milat repeated. Kenit turned back to the boy and examined his stomach again, but there wasn’t any sign of the slash anywhere.

“B-But he was bleeding just a moment ago!” Kenit exclaimed.

“Get away from him!” a voice cried from behind Kenit. Kenit spun around and saw a brown haired man wearing a large tan cloak that was tore and stained with blood. Dag got into a low stance and began growling at the stranger.

“Sir, are you alright?” Kenit asked as he tried to soothe his dog.

“Get away from that monster, that thing!” the man yelled as he pulled out a long steel sword. Kenit jumped at the sight of the weapon, but quickly put himself between the man and the two boys as Dag resumed his vicious growling, baring his sharp teeth.

“Put that down,” Kenit told the man.

“Get away from that thing!” the man repeated. Suddenly the man charged. Kenit wasn’t sure what to do, but he knew he wasn’t going to let this man murder an innocent child. Kenit prepared to do…something as the man approached, but just as the soldier got close to Kenit and the two boys, a large shadow leapt out of the darkness and tackled the man. Kenit froze with shock as he saw the two figures rolling down the other side of the hill Kenit and his son had just come up. Dag ran over to the edge of the hill and started barking loudly.

What was that? Kenit wondered in disbelief. “Dag, get back here you dumb mutt!” Dag quickly came back to his master, his tail wagging happily like he had just done something amazing.

“Father, he’s waking up!” Milat exclaimed. Kenit quickly turned his attention from the showboating mutt back to the boys, and found the silver haired child slowly opening his eyelids to reveal eyes that were such a light shade of blue that they were almost white, and they were empty, like there was nothing in the boy. Kenit quickly went back over to the boy.

“Are you alright?” Kenit asked. The boy just moved his eyes and looked at Kenit, with a pitiful look in his eyes before his eyelids fell shut again. Kenit quickly put his shirt over the boy to help keep him warm and put his arms under the boy and lifted him up. To Kenit’s horror, the boy was disturbingly light. “Milat, get Dag back to the wagon, I’ll be right behind you.”

“Come on boy!” Milat said to Dag as he began running back to the wagon. Kenit looked down at the boy in his arms and disgust washed over him.

What kind of human can do this to a child? he asked himself as he followed his son back to the wagon. It took several minutes to get back to the wagon, a simple wooden wagon with a light brown cover drawn by two dark brown horses. Kenit quickly walked to the back and was thankful to see that his son had arranged the goods they had purchased earlier in the day to make room for the boy. Kenit quickly laid the boy on a blanket Milat set on the floor of the wagon and quickly climbed out, but on his way out, he found a cloth sack hanging from one of the beams. Kenit reached up and grabbed the sack and found it had two notes on it. Kenit stuffed the notes and the sack into his pockets and ran to the front of the wagon and jumped up to the driver’s seat beside his son. “Milat, stay in the back and keep the boy still.”

“Yes, father,” Milat said and jumped in the back. Kenit flicked the reins and the horses neighed in response and started moving at a fast trot. Kenit flicked the reins again and got them going at a faster pace until they were almost running. They were at least a five hour trip from the capital even at this speed, but Kenit was going to do everything he could to get them there as fast as possible. Kenit suddenly remembered the papers and the sack he had found. Kenit first took out the sack and carefully opened it. His jaw dropped as he beheld the treasures he had found within. He closed the sack and looked back at the boy.

Just who is that child? Kenit wondered as he closed the sack and took out the pieces of paper. The first was written in a language Kenit couldn’t identify, but the second was written in his language and seemed to be an assurance that the boy would be alright, as well as a list of instructions. After reading the note Kenit’s amazement and shock only increased, among the details of the note was one word the stuck out: “Larow.” The boy’s name is Larow? The note also detailed that the treasures in the sack were to be kept safe for a time when someone came for Larow. Kenit took a deep breath and looked back at the boy. Just who are you, Larow? Kenit sighed again and brushed that question off and began wondering about another, more important question: How am I going to explain this to Marith?

 

Author's Note

Feedback is highly encouraged, I rushed the end a little bit, so I will probably come back and fix it later on, but I want to know how I'm doing so far.

Reviews

[Parham Doustdar]

Excellent writing and story-weaving. At the end, I found my hand pressed against my chin in suspense. Keep up the great work, and yes, rushed the ending a bit, but that's fine, you can re-write it!

[Nyomi McKay]

The descriptions are excellent, they paint the world you have created very efficiently. Even though Kenit is only briefly introduced, the way you portray him makes the reader feel as if they already know him. I enjoyed this immensely, hope you continue it :)