-20-
Oliver Blackthorn

We left the forest around noon and soon we were walking down a lonely dirt road. With a little luck we managed to find a stream that provided us with a chance to stop and refill our canteens, at this point I'd run totally out of water. As I'd been handing the boy the last remaining full canteen that was filled with water. And the boy was not doing good. I mean I'm going to say this, he was not giving up. But he was limping and his forehead was beaming with sweat. His breathing troubled me, it was hard and every few minutes he would fall into a frighting coughing fit that seemed to last for several long minutes.

But the boy soldiered on. He had somehow managed to pick up a solid piece of oak, and he was using that piece of oak as a makeshift crutch. My heart ached as I watched him struggle behind me, of course I kept giving him small sips of the last remaining healing potion I had on me, the magic of the potion seemed to restore his health a little, but just a little. As night started to fall, I decided the best course of action would be to spend the night here on the open road. I guessed we'd logged at best two leagues, so maybe six miles at best. With another dismal six more to go before we reached the safety of home and I could claim the six hundred crown reward.

“Hey kid.” I paused to look over my shoulder. “You're going to make it right?” I said, sighing a little as I heard his coughing filling the hot, humid air, his coughing soon gave way to hacking, it was like he was trying to hack up half his lungs. It was a horrible sound. For a moment I wondered if I should have maybe brought some cough syrup with me or something. I made a small mental note to add cough syrup to my first aid kid. Anyway I turned around and saw a sight that broke my heart into two pieces, the kid was standing there, leaning heavily upon his makeshift walking stick. His eyes were sunken in and his hair seemed to hang around him, his chest rose and in a steady motion.

“I think so.” He answered as he looked up, “Let's keep going.” He said as he moved the stick forward. He then took a few steps forward. This process repeated itself and slowly he started to close the gap that had opened up between me and him.

“No kid.” I said, shaking my head. “I think we are going to rest here tonight.” I said, sighing again. “And please sit down before you fall and hurt yourself.” I said in a commanding tone of voice. A moment later I scolded myself because I saw hurt in his eyes. Collecting myself I walked up and placed my hand upon his weary shoulders. “Kid, I can't keep calling you kid, so what is your name kid?” I asked.

“Oliver Blackthorn ma'am.” He said easing his bottom down a nearby moss covered rock.

“Okay” I said, nodding my head. “My name is Jeanette Katherine Hod.” I said offering him my hand. “But you can call me Jenny, so how old are you Oliver?” I asked.

“Fourteen ma'am, but I'll be fifteen next month. If I live, that is.” He said as he reached out and my hand into his hand. A moment later I could feel him giving it a tight squeeze.

I nodded my head. I then sat down on another rock that was close by. Once I was seated I pulled my sack around. Soon I fished out another bottle of antidote. I handed the bottle to the boy who frowned as he reached out and took the bottle into his hands. A moment later he had swallowed the whole bottle. A few moments later, he started to cough again, then he started to hack and his eyes seemed to roll back into his head. It passed and I just blinked.

See here the thing about using the cheap antidotes they sell down at the local medicine shop, it takes a few dosages to fully remove some really powerful poisons from the body. And the body really can't take a lot of them at once, so you have to spread them out over a period of several hours. But it seemed the potions magic was still fighting the poison, as long as the boy kept sweating buckets like he was, the potion was still waging war with the poison flowing through his body. The moment he stopped sweating buckets meant one of two things had happened, the first one the battle had been won and the poison had been worked out of the body. Or the battle had been lost and the boy would have died within an hour. It was a waiting game now.

“Okay.” I said watching him chug down the antidote. “So, I have a few more questions to ask you. First let's start with the easy question. Why did you run off?” I asked as I peered into his eyes. “There must have been a reason for you to leave your uncle alone in the forest. And you know you caused quite an uproar back in town.” I said as I handed him a fresh canteen that was filled with cold drinking water.

Oliver took the canteen from my hand greedily drank the water, a trickle ran down the side of his mouth. I was glad to see him drinking something. Once he was finished drinking he lowered the canteen and looked dead in the eyes.

“To escape my uncle.” He said with a long drawn out sigh. “My Uncle said he wanted to make a man out of me, and so this whole camping trip was his dump idea to touch me up. My uncle thinks I spend too much time reading and writing plays.” He said looking down at the ground. “My uncle thinks I'm a weakling and that my dad and mom baby me too much.”

I nodded my head and handed him another healing potion, the one I had somewhat forgotten about. Once more the problem with the cheap potions you buy in town is you need to drink a lot of them to fully recover. The only time I get the really good potions is when a peddler is from Lake Caste, a considerably larger city comes to town when the town's bazaar opens and that happens about once every two weeks. Lake Castle is around twenty leagues by road from Sea Breeze or a day by ship.

“I see.” I said leaning over, I was still holding the potion out to him.

“I just got tired of my uncle insulting me.” Oliver said. “He started drinking the moment we put the town behind us. And as soon as he reached the forest he was two sheets to the wind. So I stood up to him, and he slapped me right across the face for being disrespectful and back talking to him.” He said with another long, drawn out sigh. “And instead of being a man and fighting back, I started crying and ran off into the woods.” He paused then and at long last and finally he reached out and took the potion. He swallowed the potion and once more he shuttered as the magic started to heal his bruised, broken and battered body.

“Is that how you got that nasty cut across your face? I asked as I watched him wallow the whole potion in just one go. I was starting to get a cleaner picture. I also made a mental note to go talk to his uncle when I got a chance. At this point I was starting to have second thoughts about accepting the six hundred crowns. Maybe I should split the prize money and take on Oliver as my apprentice. I pushed that thought of my head though, it was a silly thought. I'll still collect the reward, but instead of taking it from the mayor and his sweet as sugar wife, I'll take it from his deadbeat uncle.

“Yes, when he slapped me with this big golden ring he always wears, h e cut my cheek.” He said, sighing. “I guess I'm really weak.” He said, hanging his head down.

“No, your uncle was just being a bastard.” I said without thinking. “If I was in your shoes, I would have left him too.” I said, peering toward the sun. The sun was starting to set behind the snow capped mountains of the Peppercorns that seemed miles away. And the wind was starting to rise. Reading the position of the Sun I decided at best I might have at least two or maybe three hours worth of daylight left. Enough time to maybe put another mile or two behind us. Or enough time to settle in for the night.

“Hey Oliver.” I said smiling a little, “I'm going to be honest with you. I'm beat, and you look like you have one foot in the grave.” I added.

Oliver nodded his head.

“So. Here is the plan. We are going to camp here for the night. A good night's rest will go a long way in helping you get better. I have more than enough field rations for us both to make a meal of. So, here is what I want you to do, I want you to start gathering up some kindling. You know small branches, twigs and stuff.”

Oliver nodded his head again and started to rise from his rock.

“Stick to the tree line.” I shouted as I watched Oliver starting to limp toward the trees. Was it wise to let a wounded boy limp alone and collect fallen sticks and branches for a campfire? Maybe not. But at that moment I felt my back was pushed up against a wall. And the events of the day were starting to weigh hard upon my shoulders.

-21-
Roadside Camp

Our campsite for the night I'd decided would be clearing a few yards from the road. Thankfully a small stream of fresh, clean, flowing water ran beside the road. No doubt it was one of those unnamed streams that flowed from some hidden spring deep within the Forest of Mist and in time joined up with the swift, deep Mystic River which in turn dumped itself into Storm Bay.

The stream was also full of fish, and I was thankful I had the foresight to bring with me some twine, hooks and a little bit of bait. In Short order I had fashioned a makeshift fishing pole from a branch and while Oliver busied himself collecting kindling I decided to do a little fishing. The first must have been spawning because as soon as my hook hit the water, I was hauling a monster out. I quickly tossed the fish out on the grassy bank and sunk my hook into the water again.

And so the cycle repeated itself. Fifteen minute later, I noticed Oliver had finished collecting some kindling and was taking a break. He was hitting the wooden canteen I lent him pretty hard. Again I was thankful to see him drinking that much water.

“Hey Oliver!” I shouted. “When you finished with your break, set some rocks, like some pretty good size rocks, ones that are about the size of your. Gather them up and form a circle around them. Once you've done that, put all the gathered twigs and branches inside the circle and then I want you to get some dried leaves and some moss. If you can't find those, get some really dry grass.”

Oliver looked at me for a moment, the color was starting to return to his face, and his eyes were starting to give a little life to them. He was starting to look more human now. Now instead of having one foot in the grave, he might have only a few toes in the grave.
“Yes ma'am!” Oliver shouted as he limped toward the forest again.

“I'm going to make an adventure out of you yet kid!” I shouted with a big smile. And with that I hauled in another fish, and then another. Thirty minutes later I had about four big fish to clean and cook and Oliver had a fire that was about to go to coals. The boy looked like a drowned rat once more and was sitting down, drinking water. Okay he was chugging away at his canteen. Which was a good sign.

“Wow.” I said as I noticed the fire. “Who taught you how to do that?” I asked as I pointed toward the fire.

“May dad was a member of the woodcutters guild before he was appointed by the guild to suit on the guild council and from there the board of selectmen and from there he was elected mayor.” Oliver said blushing. “I'm lucky he took the time he did to teach me what little woodcraft he remembered.” He added. “It came in handy.”

“So, you know woodcraft, you've been taking lessons from a old retired knight who's living out his golden years giving out lessons in swordsmanship to aspiring knights and hammering farm boys into soldiers,and with that money alone with his pension from a far away king, is living a pretty good life.” I said stating to muse a little. “Anything else?”

“I've been attending lessons on and off four around four years by various masters. I have two more years of lessons ahead of me before I can prepare for the annual Civil Exam in Lake Castle. If I pass that I be appointed master of any of the surrounding villages.” He said “Knowing my luck I'll get Hommlet or some other rural village in the borderlands.”

I blinked and blinked again. I had so many questions to ask, it was clear that the boy had some education about him. I had so many questions to ask him about the surrounding regions and the other often nameless villages for this region. But I decided now was not the time to ask those questions. The boy looked beat and was starting to nod off.

“Hey Oliver.” I said, taking a deep breath. “Why don't you go and refill our canteens while I start on dinner.” I said as I handed him four empty canteens. “Refill yours too, you've been hitting it mighty hard.” I added as I started off to a nearby bush to clean the fish I had caught about half an hour ago.

Oliver nodded his head and started off to collect the water. And I started to clean the fish, when he returned I had the fish roasting over a bed of coals. Oliver at this point was just worn totally out, I could see it in his eyes and slowly he eased his bottom down upon a nearby rock. I decided to let the boy rest for a spell while I went about getting everything ready for the night.

Then it dawned on me. I had only one bedroom. Sighing, I rolled out the bedroll, Oliver was half asleep at this point and the fish was ready, so I placed his two fish on a tin plate, broke off a piece of bread from the loaf I had in my backpack. I then pulled out a small bottle of olive oil, I then drizzled the bread with a little olive oil, and sprinkled some salt and pepper on it. This was a common way to garnish hard as a stone bread here. Once that was done I handed him the plate.

“Here” I said, handing him the tin plate. “Eat, and don't forget to take the last of that potion.” I said as I settled down with my own plate of hot, grilled fish. We ate in silence and after finishing our meal, we decided to both turn in for the night. It was a bit awkward, with two people sharing a bedroll and all but Oliver stayed on his side and I stayed on my side and soon found us both.
-22-
Bandit Ambush

A few hours later I woke up and decided I had to make water. It seemed Oliver too had decided he too had to make water as well for his side of the bedroll was empty. The night though was peaceful and silent, and I was sure we could make it to Sea Breeze by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. I also made a mental note to take some time and talk with the Mayor and Oliver's uncle. I just finished peeing when I heard something, it sounded like a branch, a branch that had been snapped by careless foot.

I looked over my shoulder and saw standing behind me a man, one with glowing red eyes and crooked yellow teeth. In his hands he held a savage looking knife. I did not have time to scream, or to yell so I did the first thing that came to mind. I drew my fist back, and I punched him dead on the nose, and as he fell back, I reached over and started to wrestle the knife from his hands, once the knife was safety in my hands, I drove the knife into his heart.

“Oliver!” I yelled. As I pulled the knife out of his chest. “OLIVER!” I shouted as dozens more men started to come rushing out from the woods.

A moment of panic overtook me. Taking a deep breath I started to rush toward the campsite. I reached it in a matter of seconds. There around the dying embers of our campfire I saw Oliver, sword in hand, clashing with another bandit. My eyes went wide as saucer plates as I watched how skillfully the boy handled the blade I had lent him. It was like watching a dance, a deadly dance. The boy was not as I expected, wildly waving his sword around hoping to hit something, instead he was blocking each and every thrust that was hurled at him. Till at last he saw a chance and then a moment later I saw him skewer the bandit he was fighting.

A moment later I noticed somebody was going up behind. Oliver seemed to notice and quickly pulled his sword out, and once more started to battle. But at that very moment I noticed somebody sneaking up behind Oliver. Knife in hand I knew I had to act and act fast. So muttering a prayer I brought the knife in front me and I charged toward the guy sneaking up behind Oliver. A second later I was driving the blade of the knife into his neck.

“Shit!” I said as the guy fell dead. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” I muttered as I stepped back.

“Shit!” I yelled as I pulled out the knife and blood spurted out, red blood. Oliver seemed to understand what was going on. And in a fit of rage skewered the other thief. Oh good Goddess, I just saw a fourteen skewer another guy with a sword sword and he was drenched in blood. That is going to give me nightmares.

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE GODDESS IS GOING ON HERE?!” Oliver yelled as he pulled his blood soaked sword free. He backed up, more guys seemed to start tumbling out of the woods. It seemed no end to them and then to add to our worries a hidden archer, hidden in the thick undergrowth, started shooting arrows at us, the arrows thumped into the ground at our feet.

“We've been ambushed it seems.” I muttered. “And Oliver, I'm going to tell you this now, you're a pretty boy and with that long, brown hair you'll make a cute girl. These kinds of people are the kind of people that want ass and they don't care what that ass is attached to. So unless you want to have your cherry popped by a rough highwayman tonight, you'll keep doing what you're doing.”

“SHIT THAT SICK!” Oliver yelled as he leveled his sword in front of him. At that very moment an arrow flew pass his shoulder and thumped into a nearby tree.

“Its a fact of life Oliver.” I shouted. “And watch your mouth, I have half the mind to wash your mouth out with soap when this is all said and done.” I shouted as I fumbled for my sling shot and pouch. “Can you cover me?” I said finally as I fished it out and drew from the leather drawstring pouch an iron ball.

“Sure!” Oliver said looking around, so far the bandits had formed a semi circle around us. “What is your plan!”

“Kill as many as these fuckers as I can before they take my ass.” I said in an honest tone of voice. “But first were going to kill that fucker with the bow and arrow. Once he's gone, I want you to go ahead and get it. Then I want you to start snipping them. Aim for the neck.” I yelled as I caught sight of the metal tip of the arrow. I took a deep breath, drew back my slingshot and let the iron ball fly, a moment later I heard the sickening sound of metal crushing bone.

“I forgot to ask? You can shoot and bow and arrow right?” I yelled as I reached down and pulled another iron ball from my leather pouch. It seemed like for a moment our attackers were having second thoughts about pressing their attack.

“My dad's taken me hunting before.” Oliver yelled as he started to rush toward the bushes were the archer had laid hidden. “I've brought down a few deer before.” He yelled again as he dove into the thicket.

“Its just like hunting kid!” I yelled as I reached down and pulled out another iron ingot. “Only this time your not hunting for sport or to put dinner on the table. Your hunting to save your ass and to keep from getting raped.” I shouted.

A split second later I dropped another one, at this point the shock of the bandits seemed to give ways and they started to attack, okay some of them started to attack, others dropped their weapons and started to run away. Those that had started to run away dropped dead a second later, an arrow to the back had been their ticket to the next life.

“Nice shooting!” I yelled as I watched two more bandits drop to the ground. “Keep it up!” I yelled as I finally got to my sword. At that moment I felt something sharp hitting me in the shoulder blade, I turned around and I quickly noticed a bandit grinning at me as he drove the tip of his blade into my leather armor. “Nice try, but it takes more than a simple knife thrust to turn the chain mail I'm wearing under my leather blouse.” I said as I spun around and skewered him.

“Jenny!” Oliver yelled as he came rushing out from the bushes, longbow  in in his hand and the quiver that was half full of arrows still attached to his hip. Good the boy was learning to loot I thought, or at least I hoped he was, it was a skill he'll need to develop in time if he had any hope of making this a career. “I'm fine!” I yelled as I turned around. The remaining four bandits just froze in their tracks and soon started to rush away, as they turned away, Oliver raised his bow, he quickly knocked an arrow, drew back the bowstring and loosed it. Another bandit dropped dead in his tracks, he managed to bring down another three before the final one escaped beyond the range of his bow.

“Damn” I said, “That was too close for comfort. You know if luck had been against us they could have had a jolly good time with us before slitting our throats right?”
“What do we do now?” Oliver asked as he took a deep breath and peered around our campsite, our campsite had been transformed into a mine battlefield, it was littered with the ruins of battle, broken blades, pools of red blood, discharged weapons, and of course dead bodies that lay scattered from one end to the other. One of those poor bastards had fallen into the dying remains of our campfire as he tried to flee to safety. The smell of his burning flesh and hair filled the air and made me sick, Oliver just looked on in horror.

“Its not like the stories.” Oliver said choking back tears.

“It never is kid.” I said, wrapping my arms around his shaking shoulder. “It never is, but this will make one hell of a story. You'll be a hero when you get back from Sea Breeze. You've done something most of those fools that form the town's militia have never done. You've prove yourself in combat.”

“What do we do now?” Oliver asked.

“Simple. We loot the dead.” I answered. “Then we pack up our treasure and we start toward home.”

-23-
Looting the Dead

Looting the slain was a common practice for adventures, and so once the battle had been finished, I laid down my sword and started to strip the dead bandits that littered the campsite. Oliver though just sat there and looked on, I think he was coming to terms with the fact that had just killed a living breathing person. I shrugged my shoulders, that was for him to deal with and nobody else.

As I rambled through the pockets of the dead bandits, I found a few heavy purses, one leather purse was filled with golden crowns, I judged it must be at least twenty of them going on how heavy the purse felt. Smiling, I reached down and united the purse from the belt of the dead bandit. Once the purse was in my hands I smiled and peered toward Oliver.

“Hey!” I said tossing the purse toward him. “This is yours.” I said smiling. “You brought this man down, you get the money.” After seeing how well Oliver had handled a blade and a bow and arrow I decided that I would indeed take him on. Plus, in the short time I've known him, I'd come to think of him as a little brother. I'd had a little sister in my last life, and Oliver could very well be that replacement for that sibling I'd lost when that fucking truck slammed into me and sent me here.

'Oliver caught the purse in midair and blinked several times as he opened it.

“There must be at least twenty golden crowns here!” He exclaimed as he started to count the heavy golden coins out in the palm of his hand.

“Come on Oliver!” I called out to him with a small smile, “Stop sitting there like a toad on a log and start searching.” I said as I rolled the body of another dead bandit over. The the trick to looting the dead was not to look them square in the eyes, sometimes the eyes were still open, and trust me when I say this, nothing messes you up more than looking in the eyes of somebody you just killed, whose blood was still splattered on your breastplate or dress.

A quarter of an hour passed in this fashion, by the end of it, I'd found at most a hundred golden crowns. But the real wealth did not come in cold hard cash it came in jewels. Hidden within the bloody folds of the clothes I found an uncut sapphire that was the size of a hen's egg, three golden rings, four silver rings and a string of deep water pearls. The treasure I guessed was well worth twelve hundred golden crowns. It seems I'll not starve this winter as I expected.

“Hey Oliver!” I called out, “Did you find anything good?” I called out.

“I found something.” He said blushing as he placed a collection of golden rings, necklaces down upon the grass in front of me. I also noticed he found a large uncut ruby that was red as fire and an uncut sapphire that was blue as the sky, both were the size of chicken eggs. All in all I decided that his treasure could well be worth two thousand golden crowns. Plus the four hundred crowns he found in coins. It was enough to get him started I figured.

“Pretty good haul for your first battle. I figure we can get around two hundred crowns for their weapons, we'll split that down the middle so that a hundred crowns for you and a hundred crowns for me. The armor is shit.” I added, “So where is going to leave it here on the field.” I smiled. And then out of the corner of my eye I noticed two small glass bottles laying in the dirt.

Putting my treasure to the side. I walked up to the two bottles, bent down and picked them both up and to my amazement I noticed that they were both really good healing potions. The kind that cures everything. The kind that cost at least fifty or maybe a hundred crowns at the high end potion shops. And that was on bargain days.

“Hey Oliver!” I said smiling as I walked over and handed him the two potions. “Here drink.” I commanded. Oliver at this point seemed to be used to drinking anything I handed him, which worried me, but still he only shrugged his shoulders as he downed both of the potions. A moment later, he was dancing around the ruined field.

“See!” I said smiling. “You're not going to die after all! At least not today!” I said smiling and then I started to laugh.

“Come on kid!” I called out. “Let's get our treasure together, we still need to burn the dead. Breakfast I'm afraid will have to wait. We have a lot of open ground to cover between sunrise and sunset. And I don't feel like spending another night out on the open road.

To be continued.