“Who’s the kid?” Nigel went straight to the point.
“I found him in the woods. A giant eagle wanted to eat him and I somehow saved him.” Ben sighed. Then he noticed Nick’s questioning look and explained, “Nigel is like my brother, not only there is no need to lie to him, he will catch me lying immediately.”
“Why didn’t you bring the eagle? We would’ve had chicken soup for lunch.” Nigel asked.
“That thing was too big. I don’t understand it yet, but I didn’t even manage to take out my bow at the time. I blinked and it disappeared above the treetops.”
“Why brown skin and the bold head?” Nigel shot out another question.
Nick found the Nigel’s manner of speaking hilarious, therefore answered before Ben could, “Poisoned and accident.”
“How long do you still have?”
“Five years.”
“Any chance to cleanse?”
“I’ll know in few days.”
Ben speechlessly looked at this pair talking in the same weird style.
“Do you guys want something to eat?” Nigel turned towards his friend.
“Sure, if there is something.” Ben said.
“I would like to have a porridge or a vegetable stew if it is possible. I can’t eat anything heavy because I was fed poisonous stuff for a long time.” Nick said with a smile although it did look weird on his goblin-like face.
“We still have a fish soup. In fact, all we have here is fish soup. Want some?”
Suddenly Nick realized he was actually starving. He had not eaten real food at all, but his body currently was that of a six or seven year old child. Nigel mentioning the soup probably triggered some old rusted foodie switches in his head.
Few minutes later Nigel brought them two bowls, one with soup and one with meat and vegetables. He was a smart man – the soup contained mostly only water. Despite that tears formed in Nick’s eyes as he began to slowly drink it. He drank a bit and then chewed like it was a solid food and then drank again.
‘Don’t rush, only small mouthfuls. I need to eat a little bit now and later I will think of my diet for the next few days.’
Nigel was looking from the side, “Good kid. What’s your name?”
“Nicky.” Ben answered first, “And remember – he’s my sister’s child.”
“Of course.”
They ate slowly, taking their time. Suddenly a sound of fast footsteps resounded further down the corridor.
Someone was shouting, “Miss, please wait! Don’t go there!”
Nigel looked at Ben with pity, “I warned you – this is your own fault for being late. The ‘nightmare’ is here.”
A girl around the age of seven or so ran in, her eyes darting around the kitchen like she was looking for something. She had black hair, dark eyes and a white dress. Nick glanced at her over his bowl, but then continued to slowly eat the soup.
‘Weird, is she Asian? This is the first different race that I see in this world. Up until now all the elders and apprentices were similar to me, only with a healthy skin color. Maybe she is from another continent?’ Nick thought while eating. Then decided to ask Ben later, since it was much easier than pulling an answer out of a thin air.
When the ‘Nightmare’ noticed Ben, she furiously stomped her little foot, pointed at him and shouted, “Hunter Ben! Where are my bunnies?”
‘It should look cute in the eyes of the grownups, why both men are scared of her?’ Nick curiosity was triggered.
“Your highness, you already know his majesty doesn’t allow to bring live rabbits to the palace. Why are you making things hard for me?” Ben complained.
“I don’t care! I want bunnies!” The little girl put hands on her hips and shouted back.
At this point Nick was finished with his soup, passed the bowl back to Nigel, “Thank you, it was very good. I look forward to have more of your dishes.” When food is tasty, one must praise the cook, it’s the basic courtesy.
Only now the ‘nightmare’ noticed there was a third person in the kitchen.
“Ahhh! Goblin!” She screamed and tripped while speedily stepping backwards, then got back up and quickly ran away while still shouting, “Goblin! Goblin!”
Her servant, an older lady, that had just caught up to her and was standing at the side, grudgingly looked at Nick, then sighed and ran after the girl again, “Miss wait, there are no goblins, that’s a person!”
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Nick turned his questioning gaze towards Nigel. The latter shrugged and explained, “The youngest princess, Zia, the ‘nightmare’ of the palace.”
“Why the ‘nightmare’? Does she have some special powers?” Nick laughed. It was just a little girl, why the two men got so emotional?
“You don’t understand.” Ben complained, “She gets these weird ideas all the time, wants different things and pesters everyone trying to command them in following her. And she is small and cute, so the king obviously dotes on her much more than his other children. But he has been away from the capital for a while, so there is no one who can rein her in.”
“What’s the big deal? She’s just a kid.” Nick shrugged.
Both men exchanged stupefied glances: aren’t you just a kid as well?
They were already bidding farewells, when the quick footsteps resounded again.
“Stop right there, you, goblin!” a crispy voice commanded.
“Your highness, that’s not a goblin, it’s Nicky, just helping me today …” Ben tried to explain, but Zia already was in front of Nick.
She poked his bald head couple of times – it happened so fast even Nick was too surprised to dodge.
“What happened to your head?” Zia looked at the weird ‘goblin’ in front of her.
“I asked too many questions and someone shaved it.” Nick laughed back.
Except for the hospital he spend that summer in, he never interacted with children after going to college, but he was never scared of them nor disliked them. This little princess was only curious, why make a big drama out of it?
“Why would you need rabbits?” Nick tried to divert attention from his looks.
“Of course, I want to catch them!” Zia looked at him like he was a fool, since the answer was obvious.
“Then just go out in the Royal woods and catch yourself! Why are you bothering others? Can’t you see we are busy?” Nick didn’t really care about the princess status. Children are still children, who cares in what kind of family they were born – he would probably never change this kind of American mindset.
“I am not allowed to go into woods. Mom will get angry.” Zia pouted and obviously was upset that someone was restricting her freedom.
Nick scratched his bald head and thought a bit, “You have a shoemaker somewhere around here, right? Why don’t you ask him to make you a pair boots out of rabbit fur – it is white now during the winter and will look good with your dress. If he attaches rabbit ears at the sides, it will look like you are stepping on rabbits while running – won’t that be fun?”
“Fun!” Princess eyes lit up as she was already running down the corridor, “Shoemaker, get me a shoemaker!”
Nick saw the incredulous looks on the faces of both men, “Neither of you have children, right?”
“How did you do that?” Ben asked while still stupefied.
“It’s the basics of handling any child’s whims. If they are pestering you with unreasonable requests, just present another option that might excite them. It’s not a big deal.” Nick shrugged.
“But tomorrow she will have another, a new idea! The boots won’t work for the second time.” Ben shook his head.
“Do you think she will remain a small child for the rest of her life? Just keep her busy until she looses interest in an old boring man like you. She likes to run – just give her some reason for running. I don’t understand why you would call a small girl a ‘nightmare’.” Nick was the best expert in regards to running around, especially as a child. Before he began to ‘train’, he was running because he enjoyed it and found reasons to run somewhere all the time. It’s just how children are.
“Sigh, you are young and so naive. You don’t know what she is capable of!” Ben shook his head, “Thanks for the breakfast, Nigel, till tomorrow.”
But Nigel simply turned his back and didn’t answer. Nick couldn’t figure out if he was pretending to act cool or trying to preserve the energy by talking less.
While leaving, Nick was finally able to observe the palace’s interior more. It was nothing fancy – no golden doors or gems and pearls on the walls. The architect planned a simple and tasteful interior, everything looked clean and tidy.
‘Maybe the luxurious parts are only the king’s quarters and we were where the servants hang around?’ Nick thought to himself.
“What do you plan to do?” Ben looked at Nick when they left the palace through the side gate.
“I need to get some clothing and find a place to stay. Then I’ll look for some medicinal information – the regular doctors can’t help me.” Nick plainly reported his plans.
He had money in the wristband and there were definitely many valuables he could sell, so living expenses should not be a problem. Therefore the main objective was to focus on detoxing. He also planned to go through the grand elder’s books to see if there was anything that could help him. Although he basically had a large library with him, he needed a lot of luck to find clues for the cure immediately. It might be easier to directly get a book on detoxing or cleansing somewhere.
“I have a spare room, but I don’t want to have a liar at home.” Ben stopped and seriously said.
Nick understood what he meant. Ben might be simple, but he was not dumb. As a hunter he probably noticed that Nick’s tracks suddenly appeared at the small lake and didn’t come from anywhere, and the eagle was definitely not an illusion. As a supervisor of the Royal woods, he had to know what was going on. Probably that was also the reason he brought Nick along besides the human compassion.
Nick liked this honest hunter. He pondered a bit, “Alright, I’ll tell you everything, but not here. Let’s go buy me some clothes.”
At first Ben thought that little trickster wanted to use him as a wallet, therefore got really surprised when Nick passed him few silvers and said, “It would be better if you pay. It would look more natural.”
Ben was surprised, but then laughed, “This is not the day when I won’t be able to afford to buy clothing for a child.”
The streets were already full of people, businesses and smaller stalls open on both sides. Common and less common beasts were pulling carriages. The atmosphere was busy and it was quite loud. Ben walked hand in hand with Nick who was looking around all the time, admiring the sights.
Up until now he basically lived in a cave carved within a mountain and when traveling towards Aurora, Nick was expectant and looked forward to see if the medieval architecture of this world would be like in the eastern countries, Europe or something entirely new and different. What he saw reminded him of the medieval towns he visited with his parents during the trip to France. Two and three storey buildings of similar designs built with red and yellowish brick stones were on the both sides of the streets. The businesses were on the first floor and the upper floors appeared to have living quarters. The streets were covered in cobblestone and the fresh white snow made everything look cleaner than it actually was.
“You can think of this part of the city as the center of Aurora. We are close to the palace and there are many markets around. I don’t live far from here, but it’s a bit quieter there. You’ll see.” Ben explained as he guided Nick into a small tailor shop at the side of the street.