Chapter 3: The Silly Notions Of Chivalry

The Stables, The Town Of Wheldrake, The Kingdom of Agregipis...

The sound of horses and the smell of them along with hay had gotten young Sceledrus' attention as he opened his gray eyes to the sight of a large black stallion chewing on a bit of hay and staring at him rather curiously. At first, Sceledrus had been caught off guard by being so close to the large feeding animal. He recalled his mother telling him how the menfolk had hunted magic users on horseback and how they were dreadful animals. The lean pale lad shook his head after the recollection of her having also killed his dog just to hurt him had replayed in his mind. She was always wrong and much too pathetic to venture outside her precious Black Forest to know much of anything. He made up his young mind there and then to be as knowledgeable about any and everything as he could so as not to live his life in relative ignorance as his vile mother had.

He got to his feet just as the door to the stable opened and a rather gruff man with narrowed brown eyes made his way inside.

"Stupid stable boy...leaves in the middle of the damn night to become a squire now I have to tend to the blasted horses myself." grumbled the average-sized and embittered older man with dark brown hair and a thick beard covering the lower part of his face. "Haven't gotten this blasted mare to eat in days."

Sceledrus had been quite nervous knowing how easily an encounter with non-magic users could turn deadly. His mother had been vile but she wasn't in the least lying about that, even the nice yellow-haired girl, Falare, had been shocked to see that he was a magic user and curious that he wasn't inherently evil because of it.

Despite his strained relationship with his mother, she had managed to teach him quite a bit of her ways as she was determined to shape him into her spitting image even with him being born male. For this, he'd been rather fortunate as the gruff man had taken notice of someone being inside his tables when he ventured toward the large stallion and noted his odd behavior. Unsure whether it was a thief or animal out to endanger his prized possessions, the man grabbed a pitchfork and attempted to put an end to the possible threat before it became one only to find himself face to face with a terrified pale lanky nine-year-old lad in tattered dirty clothes.

"W-Wait!" shouted young Sceledrus holding up his hands in terror.

The gruff old man had glared at him from his end of the pitchfork.

"What in the hell are you doing in my stables, Boy?" he asked narrowing his eyes at the nine-year-old. "You trying to steal my horses?"

"N-No I..." began the now trembling lad Sceledrus.

He had not been well versed in conversation of any sort let alone with an angry brute of a man holding the pointed end of a pitchfork at him with clear intent to cause him harm.

"I got lost in the dark and ended up here sir, but I can help you if you're having a problem with your mare," said young Sceledrus evenly. "You were grumbling before about something being wrong with her."

"Like you know anything about horses, I'd wager you never even seen one before coming in here." said the older man with his pitchfork still aimed at young Sceledrus.

"Fine," replied the cautious lad. "If I can find what's wrong with your mare, you'll give me a job, food, and a place to sleep."

The old man arched a brow unsure why but he was willing to try anything to see to his mare getting the assistance she required even if it had been a long shot, he had been minus a stable boy after all.

"Alright," he said in a gruff tone. "You see what's wrong with my Mare and you got a job, food, and a place to sleep."

Young Sceledrus nodded at the implication.

"Do I have your word on that sir?" asked the pale lad meeting the eyes of the older man with his makeshift weapon trained on him.

"You have my word." replied the angry older man although he had not truly believed the boy could pull it off.

Young Sceledrus had slowly gotten to his feet and ventured toward the spot where the man indicated that his ailing Mare had been. She had been a beautiful horse, gold in color with white patterns along her legs and head. She had deep brown eyes and seemed to be in a good deal of trouble due to having an issue with her intestinal tract. The lad recognized the signs immediately and quickly gathered some hay before the very eyes of the older angry man.

The pale lad slowly approached the ailing mare and she didn't seem bothered by the fact that he had looked odd and was a relative stranger to her.

Of course, he had not been foolish enough to let the angry older man see that he'd infused the hay with a light healing spell upon grabbing it once the man's eyes had been on his back, and as she ate it began to heal her internal problems and then some.

The formerly angry older man had merely been awestruck as he watched his prized mare respond to the strange pale lad as if he'd always been the stable boy.

"Well, I'll be damned," he said shocked as he watched his mare eat like never before. "You did it kid."

Young Sceledrus simply patted the feeding mare and smiled at her.

"A deal's a deal, you got the job and you can sleep here in the barn like the old stable boy use to as for meals the Mrs. will bring you one every time she cooks." said The formerly angry older man. "The name's Emmet, by the way, Emmet Karslog."

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Karslog." said the young pale lad finally turning his attention to his new employer who had most generously put away his pitchfork. "I'm called Sceledrus, Sceledrus Trevils."

The two of them shook on the agreement and Young Sceledrus turned his attention to seeing after the other animals that were watching in a bit of awe of their own after he had healed the sickly beautiful Mare.

The former half-orphan had finally found a place where his extraordinary magic skills and infectiously kind heart had been beneficial to him it seemed.