Note: There is no real name Daine in our world. There is, however, the name Vera. Therefore, the closest name to Daine is Diana which means Goddess of the moon. I shall make Daine mean goddess, then.
451- 452 H.E. Wolf Boy
Later, Tait was woken by a sound outside the cave. He got up to go investigate. It was almost dawn. The sun was about an hour away from peeking up over the horizon. "Who's out there?" he half-whispered, half-shouted.
"Tait," the person whispered back. "You gotta come! A skunk has gotten into my house and I can't get it out! I don't want to leave it there till morning, I'm afraid it's gonna stink up the place!"
"All right, all right. But wait a minute. I'll be right out to help you." Tait went into the cave and pulled out a piece of parchment from the box. He wrote a brief note to the boy telling him he'd be right back. He wasn't sure if the boy could read, but maybe the presence of a note would reassure the boy that he'd return.
Tait and the man left the caverns to walk to the nearby village. How the man knew where Tait was, he didn't know. So, he asked. The man replied that he was hunting earlier when he spotted him in the cave. They soon arrived at the village and Tait went to take a look at the skunk. Afterwards, he was invited to share breakfast with the man and his family. Tait willingly obliged.
Later that morning, the boy awoke to an empty cave, save for Tait's horse who stood in the far corner of the cave. It heard him get up and turned to look at him. He sat up, hungry. He got up to look for food. He found some next to a piece of paper with writing on it. Lord Aaron had never taught him to read or write, saying that it would only encourage him to become disobedient. He looked at the paper again. He figured it could only be from one person: Tait, but what it said, he had no idea. Did it say that he would return? Or did it say he had left for home? Now it was only him and the horse.
By just after midday, Tait still had not returned. He had been persuaded to stay and join the man for hunting. The boy, meanwhile, sat in the cave, by himself, in a corner. He was sad. He had liked Tait. Now he was gone, never to return. He was all alone with only the horse and the wolves (Where were they? They had been gone all day) for friends. Some friends they were; they couldn't talk to him like a human could.
After a few hours of sitting by himself, a bird flew into the cave. Almost instantly, it became a human girl. "Hello," she said, cheerfully. "I'm Daine. Someone called me here. Was it you?" she asked, addressing the boy.
He shook his head. "No, ma'am. It was the man, Tait."
"Well, where is he?" she inquired. The boy only shrugged. "Are you here alone? Did he leave you here by yourself?" This time, the boy nodded, holding up the piece of paper with writing on it in his small hand. Daine took it and read it. Laughing, she said, "He only went to the village! He ought to be back by sundown. Did you think he left you for good?" Another nod from the boy. "Come here," Daine ordered in a friendly way. He obeyed, only to be swept into a hug. "Do you have a name?"
"No ma'am," the boy replied, meekly. "No one bothered to ever give me one."
"Well then, I suppose I shall give you one. Is that all right?" Daine asked. The boy nodded, smiling. She thought for a moment then said, "For now and for always, you shall be known as Lowell. Do you know what Lowell means?" The boy, Lowell, shook his head. He liked that name. "It means 'little wolf.' My friend Numair told me. He knows the meaning of many names. He told me once that the first part of my name, Vera, means faith. The last part, Daine, means goddess. Have you been here long?"
"No, only two days." Lowell was beginning to warm up to this girl. She was nice. No one had ever treated him so nice before. She was almost like a big sister.
"What do you say we go find that village and get someplace warm to sleep in for once, eh?" Daine, who had been sitting, stood, dusting her pants off. Lowell smiled, nodding. Daine pulled him to his feet and they left the cave together in search of the village and Tait.
Note: Sorry it's so short. I thought that ending the chapter where he gets named was a good ending point. The next chapter will be longer. I promise. It will be more about Lowell and the adventures he will have. The story will continue to be told in his point of view unless otherwise noted. I know there are people out there who read my story who may not review it. Please do review. I promise I won't bite! I promise! Any constructive criticism is welcome, but nothing mean and nasty and hurtful. It will hurt my feelings and I don't want to feel like no one likes me or my stories. So, please, review with your comments and I might email you back with a special thank you! I know people like emails, right? From now on, I'm going to do what so many others do. If I get at least five new reviews for this story, I will post as soon as I can. Otherwise, you may just have to wait until I feel like posting again. So, five more reviews or you'll have to wait. Come on, I know you're out there! Until next chapter,
Robinwyn