Chapter 1: The Foster Child
Gareth Tanner idly kicked at stones as he walked beside the river that flowed into West Harbor from a small lake further north into the Mere of Dead Men. It was his tenth birthday and he wondered if perhaps this year it would be any different from all his other ones. His parents had come to this small village, so that his mother could have her best friend Shayla there for his birth. Being a blacksmith by trade, his father had been most welcome. His mother was a fair seemstress and she too had no trouble finding work. Two months after their arrival he was born and it was on that day that his parents had extracted a promise from Shayla and her husband Daeghun that they would take care of him if anything should ever happen to them. They little suspected how prophetic those words had been, for six months later the village had been caught up in the middle of a horrible battle. Not only had the entire village been reduced to rubble, but his mother Esmerelle, his father Jordan, and Daeghun's wife Shayla had all perished, along with several other villagers. Daeghun had honored his oath and taken the child in but did little more for Gareth than provide the basic necessities. In fact, Daeghun spent as much time away from him and the village as was possible. Each year on his birthday though, the elf made sure to acknowledge it with some kind of handmade gift. Last year it had been a new pair of boots, the year before a fur throw for his bed, and so on. Each present had been given without fanfare or well wishes and the elf had only hung around long enough to give it. It was Amy who actually made his birthday special, for she had held a small party every year for him since she was old enough to understand the importance of such things. Of course, being an orphan herself, she understood how difficult these types of occasions were for him. At least she had someone who cared enough about her to actually celebrate birthdays with her. Tarmas, the village's resident wizard, was a grumpy older man, but he had a warmth to him that Daeghun lacked. Tarmas always managed to come up with some kind of entertaining magic to amuse him during his birthday parties. Although what Gareth liked most was when at the end of the day the wizard would sit them down in front of the fire and tell them stories of his travels to other places.
He and Amy had often talked about what it would be like to go on adventures like that when they grew up. It sure as the hells sounded a lot better than spending the rest of their lives in this little backwoods place. He was not cut out to be a farmer, had no interest in becoming a tradesman, and had absolutely no talent for magic or healing of any kind. He supposed he could eke out a living by trapping and hunting local game for food and furs. It was one of the few activities that Daeghun actually shared with him, so he had made the most of each such event. He paid attention, practiced hard, and quickly developed the skills needed to be successful at it. The only bad thing was that he couldn't tell if Daeghun was pleased with him or not, the man never said so much as a word of praise to him. He just didn't understand why Daeghun had kept him instead of sending him to an orphanage. He hated to think that he was no more than an obligation to the elf, wanted to think that Daeghun did care for him in some small way even if he never showed it. In his struggles to understand the elf, Gareth had asked several in the village about Daeghun's attitude. The only thing they could come up with was that Daeghun had been deeply in love with Shayla and that her loss had caused him to close himself off emotionally from others due to grief. Well Gareth thought that was a pretty lame excuse for it had happened years ago. Surely the elf couldn't still be grieving!
Sighing again as he entered the clearing in front of his house, he paused a moment trying to tell if Daeghun was home yet or not. No smoke from the chimney and no hint of movement through the windows told him that the elf was still out trapping or hunting. Oh well, it wasn't the first time he had come home on his birthday to an empty house. Two years ago Daeghun hadn't shown up till after he had gone to bed. The elf had apologized the following morning for being so late and Gareth had nodded that it was okay even though it really wasn't. Entering the front door he glanced towards the living area just in case, but nope Daeghun wasn't there and the house was silent. Well, he certainly wasn't going to hang around here waiting for the man. Amy had told him to come to Tarmas' mid-afternoon and that left him with just enough time to wash up and change into a clean pair of trousers and shirt. Daeghun would know where to find him if he cared to do so. It was his day to eat, drink and be merry, even if only for a little while.
Once he was presentable, he left the house and hurried down the hill and through the middle of the village all the way to the opposite end of town. He kind of thought it ironic that the two homes were both situated on the outskirts of the village. Daeghun and Tarmas had both often given the impression that they had little use for the rest of the villagers. Not only that, he and Amy were the only two orphans there. He figured that part of the seperation was the fault of the villagers and the other part was the fault of their respective guardians. In fact, the only one of the villagers that ever spent any time with them was Georg, the head of the village militia. Now, it would make sense that the man in charge of protecting the village would have a closer relationship to the two residents that had the ability and power to single handedly fend of an attack by any but a large army. However, Gareth was under the impression that the three men actually liked and respected each other and were good friends as well.
Reaching Tarmas' home, he had barely knocked on the door when it opened and Amy was pulling him inside. "About time you got here, I was beginning to think you were gonna stand me up Gareth," Amy teased as she led him into the small living room.
"Stand you up?" Gareth laughed. "I wouldn't dare, you'd probably hurt me." He kept his tone light so that Amy would know he was merely teasing, although Amy had shown a high aptitude for magic and was quite capable of hurting him.
Amy giggled and swatted him playfully on the arm. "You know me better than that. I'd never use my magic in that way, and if I suddenly lost my head and did do that, Tarmas would skin me alive."
"Or scour your skin with his sharp tongue," Gareth chuckled. He had been on the receiving end of the wizard's caustic wit on more than one occasion. Tarmas was an expert at paring someone down to size with mere words. "Actually, I find his sharp wit amusing when it's not directed at me."
"I think that's why alot of people aren't comfortable around him," Amy said more quietly. "I think they are afraid that he'll blow up or something. That, of course, is ridiculous. Tarmas would be a formidable opponent if attacked or in danger, but would hardly raise an eyebrow otherwise."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, he's just a big old teddy bear," Gareth rolled his eyes and then laughed when Amy did. It was at that moment that Tarmas showed up at the house.
"I assure you young Gareth, I am not a teddy bear," Tarmas huffed, his piercing eyes fixed unblinking on the boy and his face showing annoyance. He saw the boy gulp and start to stammer something and held up a hand to forestall him. "Nevermind, I know you mean nothing by it boy. However, I think now would be a good time for you and Amy to start setting out the food she prepared for your party." He watched as the two headed off towards the kitchen and then let out a small sigh. He knew Gareth received little or no guidance at home and he found it hard to fathom. The boy was bright, articulate, polite, a child any parent would be proud to call their son. It was really too bad that the boy had no magical aptitude whatsoever. If he had, then maybe the wizard could justify taking him in. However, as he already was fostering Amy, he could not find a reason that Daeghun would accept to allow the boy to live here. A shame really, for the boy had the mind to become a scholar if he only received some encouragement.
"I know that look wizard," Georg said as he stood in the open doorway. Closing the door behind him, he walked further in to stand beside Tarmas, studying the wizard closely. "You are trying to come up with some way to remove Gareth from Daeghun's influence that would not upset the elf or anyone else in the village."
"You know my feelings on the way your friend treats his foster child," Tarmas grumbled. "He made a promise to the boy's parents to raise him. That means doing more than just seeing that the boy has clothes on his back, food in his belly, and is able to read and sign his own name. Gareth has a brain Georg, which is more than I can say for half the boys in this village."
"I was giving the situation some thought myself and figured I could convince Daeghun to allow me to start early on training the boy for the militia," Georg said quietly. "Not anything too difficult, just enough to get the boy into something more productive than wandering around the woods all day long."
"That would be almost pointless Georg," Tarmas said impatiently. They'd had this discussion before but apparently the man hadn't been paying attention. "Judging from his build and current height and weight, it is obvious to me that Gareth will never be big enough or strong enough to handle the kind of weapons you train your men with. He is lithe and agile, quick on his feet and has a sharp mind. He is much more suited to other methods of fighting."
"I know that, but at least it would give me a good reason to oversee the boy's upbringing a little more," Georg snorted. "Daeghun needs a reason for everything and would not take kindly to the notion that we think he is not doing a very good job with Gareth. He doesn't give his word lightly and will bend over backwards to keep it when he does. I wouldn't want to insult his honor."
"I know, and for that reason only am I unwilling to do or say anything," Tarmas replied and then heard the children's voices coming back towards them. "We'll have to think on this some more and discuss it another time," he said softly and then moved aside to allow Amy and Gareth access to the table so they could set the food down.
When the first knock came at the door, Amy went to get it and let in Retta Starling and her son Bevil. Bevil was her age and she liked him alot. Even though he wasn't the brightest boy in the village, he was fun to hang around with and never insulted her or teased her about having no parents like some of the other kids. His father had run out on the familly some time ago and not long afterwards his brother Lorne had left. He understood how hard it was for her and Gareth. Not long after, another knock at the door had Gareth going to open it. When he saw who was standing there he couldn't keep from gaping in surprise.
"Webb?" Gareth gasped in puzzlement.
"Hey Gareth, uhm, Amy invited me," the youngest of the Mossfeld brothers stood uncertainly on the doorstep. His older brothers often teased Gareth and Amy and even though he never liked that they did it, he wasn't about to say anything against them. Wyl had a mean streak to him and wasn't above hitting his own brothers if they spoke against him in anything. He figured that Amy and Gareth would just assume he agreed with his brothers, even though he didn't. So it had been with surprise that he had received Amy's invite to Gareth's birthday party.
"Uh sure, yeah, come in," Gareth stepped back to allow the other boy to enter. Webb was only a few months older than him and had seemed like a nice kid. However, his brothers were real pieces of work and Gareth had always given all the Mossfelds a wide birth when he could.
"Listen, I know my brothers can be real jerks, but I'm not like them honest," Webb said quietly, looking down at his feet. "I just don't dare stand up to them and, well, I'm sorry."
Gareth's eyes widened as he caught the meaning behind what Webb said. Webb was scared of his brothers and he had to wonder why. He had always thought that family stuck up for each other, looked after each other, but apparently that wasn't the case in the Mossfeld home. "Hey, don't worry about it, let's just have fun today, 'kay?"
Webb looked up and smiled and nodded before going into the sitting area to join the rest of the partiers. Sitting down, he thanked Retta for the food she handed him and then sat and listened to the banter going back and forth amongst the rest of them. Before long, he found himself joining in and having a real good time. He also realized just how wrong his brothers were about Amy and Gareth. Just 'cause they were orphaned didn't make them freaks. In fact, he began to realize that they were pretty nice and hoped that they could all remain friends from that day forth. His brothers pretty much scared the other kids and it was hard for Webb to make any friends. He realized that he would have to step outside his brothers' shadows and start thinking and doing for himself. He found that he liked Amy, Gareth, and even Bevil and he wanted to spend more time with them playing and getting to know each other.
After they finished the food, Retta went and got the cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday to Gareth. Taking the knife, Gareth cut the first slice and handed it to Webb, hoping that in this way he could show him that he didn't blame Webb for what his older brothers did. He then cut up pieces for everyone else and served himself last. Once they finished the cake, the presents were brought out and he set about opening them.
Webb saw the nice things Gareth was getting and was suddenly unsure about the present he had, so he waited till the end and then crossed his fingers hoping it would be okay. "Uh, I reallly wasn't sure what to get you and uhm, anyway," he hesitantly held out the package.
Gareth smiled and opened the package, his face lighting up as he saw what was inside. "Wow, this is a nice leather pouch Webb, thanks," he said.
Webb smiled in relief, "I know it's not as good as what you could by from a tanner, but I don't have any money so I had to make do."
"You made this yourself?" Gareth asked in surprise and saw Webb nod shyly. "Well, I'd say that you have a knack for this sort of thing." He saw Webb's smile grow wider and found himself returning it. In that moment, a bond was formed between the two boys. A friendship that both hoped would last forever. Such are the dreams of young boys.
