Chapter 2 - Words & Knighthood
The man squinted at the little pictures all stuck one against the other… It was always hard to differentiate them, especially in the evening, when the light went soft and appeasing. His lips slowly formed the syllables as he decrypted them: "aut delectare potest servum tuum cibus et potus". His eyes then went back to the other page, where he could read. "Or can meat and drink delight thy servant?" Darian scratched his arm where a mosquito had bit him the previous night, frowning at the verse he was reading.
A cold sensation suddenly soothed the itching, and his eyes met Leo's. The boy had wandered around camp and came back with ointment. Darian was often amazed by the youth ability to use the vegetation around him. However, he could not skin a deer to save his own hide. The man did not thank him with words but with a slight nod, it was enough for his little companion to feel proud.
The Holy Bible & the Vulgate, he read on the cover. A dark leathered book which he had been born with.
Leo picked up the cloth Darian usually wore around his biceps from a basin where he had cleaned it. "What is this?" he asked.
"It's something my mother gave me before I could talk."
The boy shook his head and extended the tissue to let a blue and white symbol appear. "What is this?"
"That is an eagle."
"Have you ever seen one?"
"No, it's my crest," Darian answered with a grin. At least, that's what he had thought when he was a child, listening to stories of knights and princesses from one of his aunts, who read from a book. He had really little understanding of heraldry, and had a lot of false ideas about it.
"Crest," the adolescent repeated. He had never heard the word spoken, before.
"It's a way to represent me and my family," the man explained.
Leo paused for an instant, contemplating the concept, and uttered: "Then, I want it to be my crest too!"
Darian's eyes widened. He had never thought of his crest as something he could share with anyone new, but now that he thought about it, it made sense. Ah! It was time anyway that he parted with this piece of memento. He was not a child anymore. He had no need for false ideas of grander. Theatrically, he took his knife out and held it up.
The boy cringed.
"Don't worry," Darian said with a tone that was closer to that of an order rather than an apology. He put the blade on each of the boy shoulder, then took the piece of cloth and tied it around Leo's arm. "You are now a knight of the eagle crest."
When he took a step back, Darian was surprised by the look in Leo's eyes. He felt this might have been the first time he ever saw him truly happy.