Branch Of An Elder Brindlewood Tree, The Black Forrest...
Bright gray eyes greeted the afternoon as a young lean built lad with pale skin and lanky limbs made his way down a large Brindlewood tree that he'd been napping in. It was the middle of the day and he'd been particularly good at making himself scarce as far as his mother had been concerned. Being nine years of age and the son of a notoriously hated and feared Black Witch had not been much fun for the rather lonely lad. She had named him, Sceledrus Latimer Ugorio Trevils, and as far as he knew she'd birth him from her aged womb but he had not been privy as to whom had been brave or foolish enough to impregnate her with him despite his many questions about the identity and whereabouts of his father. The lad had a feeling his surname had been a clue but never mentioned it nor had he asked her of her own surname if women born of unnatural means even had one of those without marriage.
Despite being her son, young Sceledrus, known as "Boy" to his aged and embittered mother depending on her mood had been of the mind to introduce himself as "Rus" when in the company of guests or rather, to the people she had managed to get into her many traps along the black forest in a bid to do vile things to them.
He had not been much fond of his name but as many could attest, one could not simply name themselves at birth.
Young Sceledrus had found himself taking note of a lone carriage that had the unfortunate luck of being lost amid the numerous rows of black trees amid the forest and vastly close to his mother's lands, which she would not in the least take too kindly to. Normally, he'd ignore it and head back to his own business for the day before venturing back to the Black Witch's Hut, but for some reason, he had been emboldened by curiosity and found himself unable to look away as the disaster of a carriage and run away horse had tumbled into a ravine and a wheel shattered to pieces.
Hearing the commotion and the screams, young Sceledrus had gone down to see just whom the unfortunate folk had been that entered his vile mother's end of the forest not at all knowing that she'd be enraged at the sight of strangers on her lands.
Not far from the accident, Sceledrus had noticed a man, a woman, a young boy smaller than him, and a beautiful yellow-haired girl about his age climbing out of the carriage. The boy had gotten a sense they were a family, and despite not knowing what a real one looked like, he was quite fascinated by them and their apparent bond. All of them were dressed in elegant attire giving the impression that they had some cultural breeding and wealth behind them and they seemed to be quite a ways out of their natural element amid the forest.
His gray eyes were inexplicably drawn to a yellow-haired girl among the group who seemed to be having a tough time of it with her formerly elegant dress in tatters, her knees scraped and bleeding. She'd been thrown from the carriage just before it hit the riverine and she was a ways away from her family with something of a twisted ankle as she sat with rivers of tears cascading down her round pale cheeks.
Moving quickly amid the shadows of the looming trees, young Sceledrus made his way toward the crying girl with yellow hair's side. She'd been about his age give or take a year and very frightened about being alone in the woods. The young raven-haired boy had been cautious when dealing with outsiders in the past, they had mostly been well-armed angry adult men, and the stories of what they often did to magic users and those suspected of it had been told by his mother and kept him awake at night.
He'd been a magic user, much to his dismay as a result of inheriting his actively nurtured talents for it due to his mother who was a Black Witch after all. The rather short-sighted people of Liaquros had outlawed the use of magic and put to death any and all who wielded it for the good of the twelve kingdoms. Of course, when it came to magic use in the wilds, they had no jurisdiction and simply only sought those that dared cross into their various kingdom's borders.
While the people believed it was outlawed for their best interest, the truth had been due to fear of the numerous twelve kings being usurped by way of a magic user and didn't wish to do battle with peasants who could pose a threat to their long-standing rule in the same manner.
Young Sceledrus had been moved swiftly, so as not to be caught by the brooding man who no doubt carried a heavy sword as he approached the crying yellow-haired girl huddled on the ground amid the dirt and rocks as the tall trees loomed above her intensifying her fear of the place.
"A-are you alright?" asked the rather shaky voice of young Sceledrus who had not been much for spoken word with non-magic users before.
The small girl with yellow hair and an elegant dress looked up at the thin lanky pale raven haired boy dressed in tattered dirty rags and at first wrinkled her nose at him before realizing that she'd been behaving rather poorly and she straightened her face.
"I...I can't say that I am alright," she said honestly. "I've skinned both my knees and I don't know where to find my family in this dark scary forest after our carriage crashed."
"Well if it makes you feel any better, the forest isn't so bad, I live here after all," he said with a boyish smile as if trying to lighten the mood. He had not known where he'd gotten his sense of humor as his witch mother loathed jesting unless it was at another's expense. "As for your skinned knees, I know how that feels and I can help if you want me to."
The girl with the yellow hair had been skeptical about his ability to offer any sort of assistance, as he had not been an adult and possibly knew less than she did about how to render aid to the ailing.
Still, he seemed to be well aware of what he was doing and at the very least he knew his way around the forest.
"A-Alright," she said rather nervously. "I-I could use your help."
Young Sceledrus nodded and dropped down to his knees. The yellow-haired girl had been shocked at his being so close as he let his hand hover over her aching right knee and whispered something under his breath before she felt a sudden cooling sensation followed by a faint green glow that seemed to radiate from the palm of his pale hand.
"Remedium," came the simple odd-sounding word from the lank raven-haired boy's pale lips just before the glow escaped from his palm and slowly the wound had disappeared and the blood had dried as if she'd never hurt herself at all.
"T-Thank you," she said stunned as she noticed he had healed both knees and the blood and pain were no longer an issue. "W-Was that magic?"
Young Sceledrus nodded slowly unsure if he should have been so forthcoming about his minor abilities given the natural consensus to detest the use of magic in the land as a whole.
The yellow-haired girl sighed and wiped away her lingering tears as she got a good look at the mysterious boy who had come from the woods to help her.
" I don't suppose you could fix a carriage?" she asked with a smile.
"I don't even know what a carriage is," admitted Sceledrus unsure of why she'd even ask him for such a thing.
"Well, thank you for healing my knees the pain was really bad before you came along," she said sweetly.
"Y-You're welcome," he replied rather nervously recalling that elegant people such as her valued good manners, or at least that's what he'd heard when spying on the nearby towns at the edge of the woods.
He made it a point to shapeshift to avoid detection and most of the people thought he'd been a stray dog or a cat running about while they chatted and went on their merry way with their collective usual business.
The yellowed haired girl smiled sweetly and kissed him on the cheek.
"You're a strange boy," she said happily. "But a nice one, it was good to meet you, my name is Falare by the way, Falare Tenbris."
"Well Falare Tenbris, I am called Sceledrus," replied the raven-haired pale boy. "Sceledrus Latimer Ugorio Trevils."
"Trevils?" asked the girl with an unsure expression. "You mean like the brave knight?"
"Brave knight?" asked Sceledrus with an arched brow. "Y-You know of my father?"
The lovely young lass Falare had been shocked to hear that her rescuer had been the son of a brave knight by the name of Trevils.
"If the brave knight Trevils is indeed your father then I have heard of him, nearly everyone in the kingdom of Agregipis has heard of him," replied Falare shocked that the mysterious boy had not known of his own father's exploits.
"Well as I've said, I live here in The Black Forest, and it's a long way from the kingdom of Agregipis," said Sceledrus in his own defense. "Besides, Mother doesn't let me venture to the towns or the city, she says it's not safe for magic users like us."
Falare had agreed, even at her young age she had known the awful things done to magic users once their aptitude had been known to everyone. Once they had established their mutual identities, both Sceledrus and Falare had gone toward the last place he noticed her family had crashed. When they got there, her father and another man, who had been the newly recovered carriage driver, had fixed the carriage wheel and they were set to take off again until they noticed that she'd been missing.
"FALARE!" shouted the voice of the angry man who had been her father as he came rushing toward her with his sword drawn.
He noted the pale thin boy in tatters and lowered his sword.
"Daddy it's okay, Rus just helped me when I got lost." she said pleasantly, "He's my friend."
Sceledrus froze where he stood not taking his eyes off the pointed heavy metal sword that the older man had been holding in his firm grasp. He was a big strong sort of man, not so unlike the apparent stories Falare had heard about the pale lad's brave knight father.
"I was a little scared but Rus helped me and brought me to you," explained Falare smiling at the pale boy in tattered dirty clothes.
The older man looked him over not thinking much of him aside from the kindness he showed to his missing daughter and in bringing her back to them.
"You did good kid," he said in a begrudging and gruff tone before tossing two golden coins in the lad's direction.
"Catch them silly," said Falare with a smile. "You've earned them after all."
Startled by her words he had done just that and smiled rather sheepishly for earning honest coin for his first real good deed.
Falare and her family had filed into the carriage but not before the yellow-haired girl blew him a kiss and promised to see him again if she ever came back to The Black Forest.
Sceledrus knew she wouldn't if she could help it but he had liked her just the same, she was very sweet and nice to him. In fact, she'd been the only one that had ever been nice to him for that matter.
Even above his own mother.
He shoved the two coins into his pockets and climbed the tallest tree he knew of within The Black Forest, as he watched them disappear from the horizon of the forest and into civilization as if they had never stopped at all. He sighed as he turned his attention back to the gold coins he'd gotten for his good deed and the memory of the stories the girl with yellow hair had heard told of his brave knight father, Sir Karrogan Trevils.
His father was the bravest of Knights in all the land and it made him feel a sense of pride knowing that he had helped the lost girl Falare like his father would have, even if he didn't think he'd ever see her again.