Ethyn had met his match. Looking at the swaying whip, he crumpled under Silver's threat. "No, no thank you. I choose option number one. Please!"
Silver nodded slightly. "That is what I thought." Coiling the weapon, the man made it vanish as quickly as it came. Without another word, the Guardian hauled up the boy under one arm and they were off.
Ethyn dragged his feet the entire morning, pointing out each house he had robbed. The grateful owners thanked Ethyn for being such an honest boy. They were reluctant to say anything rude as he had, in the end, done the right thing. In fact, all were kind to him except one man who commented, "This is what the young generation has come to…" and slammed the door.
"What he doesn't realize," Silver said quietly, "is that he was just like you at his age."
"Perhaps I should remind him…" Ethyn smirked.
The cloaked man shook his head sadly. "I wouldn't; he prefers to forget."
"Were you like me, Silver?"
"Much worse." Silver responded quietly. He pushed back the memories that flooded his mind. This child had suffered hardship, but he still seemed very innocent.
Ethyn cocked his head to one side at the Guardian's words. "Did someone make you return what you stole?"
"I wish someone had. Then maybe things would have turned out differently." Silver's voice was without emotion, but his heart was heavy. 'If only…'
"But then you might not have met me!" Ethyn said with a small amount of sadness.
"And that's bad?" Silver was joking, but the crestfallen look on the boy made him immediately regret his teasing.
"I thought you liked me." Ethyn's eyes filled with tiny tears.
Silver laid a firm hand on the boy's shoulder. "I do like you, my young friend. You will have to get past my prickly personality, I'm afraid. I am too set in my ways to change."
Ethyn's face was instantly animated. "Friend? I don't know if I have had a friend before."
"You do now. Get used to it." He shoved the boy gently to show his care.
--------------------
Back at the house that evening, Silver learned of Ethyn's unfortunate childhood. They sat at the table, something Silver noticed that Ethyn really enjoyed, and the boy spilled his heart to the man's sympathetic ears.
"Everything was good when I was small. Mother and Father were wonderful and kind. Mother would tell me the most glorious bedtime stories about Guardians and Fates, and Father would sit there just as interested as I was. Things were perfect." The boy paused, reluctant to continue. Maybe if he stopped here, the rest would not be true.
Silver retrieved the neatly folded blanket from near the fireplace and handed it to the child. He was not sure what else to do, but the action seemed to settle the boy's nerves. Ethyn wrapped the blanket across his shoulders and continued.
"When I was five or so, my mother got sick. She came down with a fever, and then she got worse and worse." Ethyn's voice lowered to a whisper. "She started seeing things. I mean things that were not there…First she saw a black unicorn in her bedroom. She asked me to get it out before it ate all of our food. Then she stopped recognizing me completely. That was when I knew she was dying. Father told me I was worrying too much, but I could see the sadness in his eyes. We both stayed by her side day and night, but she only got worse. One night, mother died in a fit of screaming…" Ethyn sniffed back a sob. "After that, Father was not the same. He did not act like I or anything else existed. Nothing I did could please him. For over a year, he did everything he could just to forget. One day Father went out, claiming to go cut wood, which he never did. I got excited because I thought that maybe he was finally starting to heal. I was wrong. He never came back…" A tear rolled down Ethan's rosy cheek.
"I am sorry," Silver said. He truly empathized.
The boy struggled to finish his story quickly. "The manor quickly fell apart. The servants kept me around long enough for a sham funeral and then kicked me out and fought over my possessions…"
Silver could not help but interrupt, "Your father was a landowner?"
Ethyn's face hardened. "Yes, I am an heir to his manor, but there is nothing left of it. I am Ethyn of Samberg."
Silver tucked away the information into the back of his mind. "So you left the manor and took to a life of stealing…"
Ethyn slouched dejectedly. "What else could I do? No one wants to take in a half-grown child…"
'I wouldn't say no one…' Silver changed the subject. "Have you ever thought of becoming a knight?"
Ethyn's face suddenly brightened like a sun after a cloud has passed. "I think that would be the most wonderful thing in the world, but no one will train me. I have no land and more importantly no money to pay for an apprenticeship…"
"If I could get someone to train you, would you do it?" the man's eyes flashed silver as he thought.
"Oh Silver, I would work so hard to complete my training. Is there any way you could do it?" The boy pressed his hands together to beg.
"I will not make any promises, but I will see what I can do…that is, if you decide to stick around and stay with a terrifying creature of the night like me…"
Ethyn was more concerned about other things than his roommate. "Will I have to sleep on the dirt by the fire again?"
Silver thought for a moment. He knew the boy would likely stay either way, but he was right: a more permanent arrangement was necessary. The Guardian went into his room and removed his things. "You can have my room. I will sleep in the spare bedroom."
"The one that belongs to her?" Ethyn asked softly.
"Yes." Silver refused to expand on the thought. He threw his belongings into the spare bedroom and shut the door.
"I will do everything I can to earn my keep," Ethyn said enthusiastically.
"You bet you will!" the Guardian joked. Then in a more serious tone he added, "Just don't get in my way when I do my work, and we will get along just fine."
Ethyn nodded and with a small salute said, "Yes sir!"
Someone knocked at the door. Nervously, Silver pulled at his hood and cleared his throat. "She's early."
"Are you expecting someone?" Ethyn noted Silver's change in demeanor.
"Hush." Silver motioned him to be silent. He took a deep breath, stood straight and opened the door wide.
Leaning against the frame of the door, Sage stood holding a pot. Silver stared for a moment. "May I come in?" she asked sweetly.
Silver cleared his throat. "Of course! Come in."
Ethyn stared at the beautiful woman as she placed the pot on the table. She looked at him with confusion and then at Silver. "Who's the boy?"
Silver nodded and placed a hand on the child's shoulder. "His name is Ethyn. He will be staying with me for a while…"
"How long?" Sage eyed Ethyn suspiciously. Her arched brows denoted her dissatisfaction, but only the boy seemed to notice.
"As long as he needs me." Silver responded with conviction.
"Well isn't that charming," Sage's voice sounded choked. She lifted the pot in her hands. "I brought you some food from the tavern while I am on break. It is roast beef. I guess there is enough for two if you both only eat a little."
"Thank you Sage. It is very kind of you," Silver said graciously.
"Think nothing of it." Sage flashed a toothy smile and touched Silver's arm. "I had a wonderful time last night. Perhaps we can do it again sometime when your young friend finds a new home." The gorgeous woman nodded curtly to Ethyn and walked to the door. "I better be going. Lily will miss me."
"Goodbye." The boys echoed to her.
Silver watched Sage walk down the street and then slowly closed the door. Ethyn could see that he was under Sage's spell, but he did not care.
"I don't like her," he declared. His face puckered like he had eaten a lemon.
Silver laughed, "You are not at that age yet, my boy."
"What? Ew, no…not like that..." Ethyn seemed genuinely disgusted. "I mean I do not like her as a person."
"Sage is very nice," Silver argued. "She even brought us food!"
"She does not like me. Did you see the way she looked at me?" Ethyn could swear that the woman had been throwing invisible daggers at him with her eyes.
Silver waved off his concern. "She will grow to like you. Sage was just surprised to see you."
"If you say so…" Ethyn replied, eyeing the food. It looked delicious. "I will give her credit for bringing dinner."
"There! See? Already finding a positive. Let's eat."
After dinner and far too much conversation, Silver settled Ethyn in his room and made sure the boy was comfortable. Moving into the main room, he waited until the boy's breathing was soft and even before banking the fire for the night.
The Guardian hesitated as he faced the door to the spare bedroom. He shook his head in resignation. There was no way he could sleep in there and he knew it. With his arm outstretched through the half-opened door, he groped on the floor for his pack. He fished it out and searched for a blanket inside the bag. Along with some bedding from his cloak , he laid out his blanket by the fire.
'I am more comfortable sleeping on the ground anyway,' he lied.