His eyes flicked open. First thought that registered his mind was that he was in a room, a manmade room. He had not

thought that he would be taken to the man’s house when he lost the battle. When his eyes started to become

comfortable with the brightness around he noticed the vivid details. His hand was bandaged up to stop the bleed while

he was lying on the bed unattended.

*Why did they bandage me? Are they trying to tame me?*

He had seen animals tamed before. The only reason he could think of healing a prey was to use them as a bait or for

labour. He wasn’t going to do any of that. He sat on the bed rolling down the sheet covering him. That’s when his sight

registered the girl. She was standing there maybe as a guard. He needed to get past her and run. He couldn’t stay here

this wasn’t the place he belonged. The human houses were cramped. He needed nature and freedom. The human house

devoid him of both things. His instincts told him that he wasn’t safe around humans. They were illogical and irrational.

He needed to get out and get out fast.

Sylvie was standing next to the door. Her father had ordered her to look over the boy since she was responsible for the

whole mess. She was annoyed. Just looking at his face she can feel the anger boil her inside. This guy had been

responsible for her utter disgrace. Not only had he robbed her of her first kill but also made her almost piss herself in

fear. She had almost lost her calm and control. He had disgraced her in front of her father. She was never going to

forgive him. This was supposed to be her day, but now it was all about him. He was responsible for everything. She had

moved towards the door to check when her father would come and relieve her of this torturing duty. Then she heard

movement behind. And turned. The boy was now sitting in the bed staring at her. She couldn’t control herself and

shouted

“What the hell is wrong with you? You tried to kill me!! You even stole my deer!! You are an uncivilised beast!! Don’t you

know…”

He had seen her. He needed to take care of her and clear the way. The door was the only way out. He heard her shouting,

not that he understood any word of the human speech. The tone of the voice suggested she was angry, he didn’t care.

Humans get angry at various things. He didn’t understand them. He threw the bed sheet towards the girl blocking her

vision. She stopped midway through her rantings. He jumped from his sitting position and kicked her in the stomach. She

brought her hands to her stomach in a reflex. Her body curled bringing the head down in same motion. He knew this was

supposed to happen he brought his fists up connecting it to the jaws while head was in its down motion making her

incapable of speech for few moments and possible unconscious if he was lucky. He ran for the door. This was all over in

a matter of seconds and he was almost out when he crashed into the guy from earlier. This he didn’t expect but

instinctively he aimed at his nether regions. That was the only possible location he could probably hurt the man. With

the momentum of his running blocked he couldn’t summon much of his power but the blow still hurt the man enough

that he was down clutching his hurt parts. He ran for the side trying to get through the door, but a hand caught him. The

man was still not down. The pain wasn’t enough to create a diversion for him to run, and before he could take any

further steps, the man had taken control of his weakness. The wound from the arrow was still fresh. A slight pressure

from the man was all that was needed for him to cry out in pain. The bleeding that had stopped renewed with vigour.

He couldn’t do anything as the man bound his arms and legs to avoid further confrontation. For the time being he was a

prisoner of this man. He needed to show that he wasn’t going to run while hatching a plan in his mind to do the same.

While he was sitting thinking about how to make an escape the man started talking. He didn’t understand a word of

what man was saying. He didn’t know human language.

*Why was this man talking to him?*

This man probably thought of him as human. He noted that fact. This could help him in his escape he thought

Riggs was still uncomfortable in front of this boy. He was still hurting from the sudden action the boy had taken. He

didn’t want to scare him anymore than he already was. Fear was a great motivator to perform nasty deeds.

“You don’t need to be afraid” Griggs said trying to calm the boy down.

The boy now had a serene face with eyes closed as if dreaming a soft beautiful dream. He knew the boy was thinking a way out.

“My name is Rigg” he said while trying to help his daughter up and bring her back to her feet. The punched had knocked

the living daylights out of her. She kicked the boy in the stomach screaming “What were you thinking? You could have

broken my jaw!!!”

“Now Now Sylvie, I told you to be alert. This was partially your fault.”

“How was it my fault?? He was the one who punched me.”

Rigg came back to the boy.

“This here is my daughter Sylvie who almost killed you and I apologise for that. She is slightly hot headed and gets it

from me. What is your name boy?”

“What are you apologizing for father he was the one who tried to kill me. He should be apologizing to me, even though I

won’t forgive him especially since he tried to break my jaw”

“Boy can you understand me? What is your name? What were you trying to do in the forest?”

The boy didn’t reply. For him it was just a bunch of gibberish. He was rather concentrating on things around the room

that he can use as a weapon. That was when he felt it. It was the feeling that he never expected to get in a human

settlement. The feeling of warmth and purity. The moment she stepped in from the door he knew she was the very

embodiment of nature itself. He was almost kneeling down to greet her. Then she saw her with the milky eyes that

seemed to know everything about the world and more. She saw the boy bound and lying down and the immediate

response was

“Thakk”

“What in the gods name is he doing down on the ground?? Can’t you see he is injured??”

She inquired from her husband who was now trying to soothe the pain in his head from the blow.

“Darling he attacked me, so I had to take measures” he tried to explain

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Anybody would attack you if you greet them with a vicious look, and he is only an 8 year old how much do you think he

could have hurt you?”

“Well he is surprisingly good at finding weak spots. If I hadn’t bound him, the possibility was we could never had a child

again.”

This made her blush and angry

“Thakk” another blow

“Have some shame in front of your daughter”

Then she went to the boy and removed the bandages. He just gazed at her as if the mothernature herself had come to

greet him. He had never felt this much blissful in his life ever. He was interested in who she was. He knew if she walked

in the forest someday all animals would gather around just to have a look at the person giving off this feeling.

She gave a look at the wound and the boy’s face then with a smile she said in Old Language

“Don’t be scared young’un I am going to heal the wound”

“OK” was the only thing his mind could come up with

She placed her hands over the wounds and with a strange incantation she tried to ask the wound to close and it did.

Then she went for the face and did the same thing with the scar over the eyes. He could feel the strange warmth from

her when the incantation was uttered and he knew it was a healing magic.

“Ohh.. So he can speak Old Language.. That is quite strange for a boy this old. Darling how did you know that he could

speak that?”

“Ohh.. I felt it. The spirit of the forest which resides in our people was present in him. Almost all creatures of the forest

are born with the knowledge of Old Language. Those that aren’t are usually taught by their parents.”

“Well I was trying to find out few things about him. I am guessing he can’t speak or understand our language so maybe

you could ask him instead, about his circumstances.”

“Boy what’s your name? I am Estaiya.”

“I don’t have a name!!”

“What do you mean? Your parents must have given it to you!!”

“I don’t remember. The first thing I remember when I woke up was the wilderness around me. I was cuddled in warm rug

made of animal skin and was in a dying tree trunk. I don’t remember how I got there or who put me there but that is

where my existence began. I had general knowledge about everything like how to survive, where to move, what to do

and how to do it. I had general sense of everything what I lacked was knowledge.”

“How long has it been since then?” Estaiya asked with a little tears in her eyes

“538 suns and moons have passed since then. You don’t need to pity me I have lived well and couldn’t have asked for

much more. I like the forest. It’s my home just as yours. Sometimes it is unforgiving but most of the time it provides you

with what you need without anything in return unlike humans.”

His general sense dictated that humans were an abomination. He knew right from the birth that they were no good and

were followers of their wild emotions rather than logic and reasoning.

Estaiya translated everything for her husband and also displayed her concern for the boy.

He agreed.

The boy got up.

“Thank you for taking care of me but I must return to my home. This place is nasty” he exclaimed

Rigg said “Ask him to stay here. This year’s winter is going to be harsh. He might not survive. Even if he does it would be

more comfortable for him here.”

Until now Sylvie had remained quiet and seen her parents talking about the boy. She didn’t get why this boy was living in

the forest for so long but she didn’t care enough for the stranger to fell any sort of remorse or anything. But seeing the

talk moving towards him staying in her home she couldn’t keep quiet. “What are you talking about father? He is a beast!!

He attacked me and you and if he stays here he is certainly going to be a danger to everyone around. And what are you

going to tell the village people that you brought a boy home from the forest?”

“He won’t listen. He has a wild spirit.” She replied ignoring her daughter. She didn’t get why she was that upset about

somebody staying here for the winter??

“Try to convince him anyway”

The boy was still on the ground trying to re-feel the body after a long rest. He was almost up and about when she said

“Maybe you should stay here.”

That took the boy by surprise. Why would they want him here? There was no logic behind it!! Maybe they wanted him to

work for them because they had healed him. But he had just explained he didn’t have any knowledge of anything

remotely related to humans. Also it was Estaiya that was asking him. He can’t believe she would want him to do any sort

of work as repayment for healing.

“Why?” was the simple question he put forward.

“The winter is going to be real tough you might not be able to handle it”

“I have handled it so far I think I can bear it”

“You might be more comfortable here”

“No I know I will be comfortable at my home”

“You could learn a lot if you stayed here. You said you didn’t have any knowledge”

That got his interest. He needed the knowledge. The knowledge was his only friend in the wild. It was his armour and his

weapon. Having knowledge was the difference between killing and getting killed. Also his instincts dictated him to get as

much information about the world as possible, he was going to need it in future. Also the prospect of living with an elf

intrigued him. He only had few tid- bits of knowledge about them, from which he knew they weren’t an enemy. Also he

knew that in Old Language anything she says would only be truth hence she can’t really deceive him (not that he ever

thought she would but still being alert was the reason he was alive). Living with a human on the other hand was rather

irritating to him because of his knowledge about them. Well, maybe that would change after this winter, he thought.

“Okay, if you promise in Old Language that you people wouldn’t try to hurt me or make me do something against my

wish.”

She did so.

“Make him say the same words” he said pointing at Rigg

She made him repeat the same. After few tries he got it correct and the contract was formed.

Thus began his first step into the human society.