Radis had gone to sleep and then felt like someone was shaking him, his father’s voice cut into a dream he was having, "Radis time to get up it's morning.”

It felt like mere minutes had passed since he had put his head down and closed his eyes. He got up and went outside to take care of business, came back in and his mother was cooking breakfast for them. His father had a cup of coffee, not something he had every day only on special occasions. There was a cup for him as well. He liked coffee, but his father loved it. On one of the chairs was his pack. His father was dressed and ready to go out and get whatever kind of work he could find that day.

He looked at the pack and at the cup of coffee that was waiting for him, the pack was small, he did not have a whole lot of things he would be taking with him. His mother brought two plates then a third for herself and sat. It felt as if this would be the last time he would be eating breakfast with his parents. It was hard, there was this strange lump in his throat that made it hard to eat and drink the coffee, his parents while sad had a smile on their faces.

“Well, my boy today you start a new life. Don't forget we love you, are proud of you and wish you the best of luck. And be careful you never know what might happen.” As usual his father got to the point.

He looked up, looked into his father’s eyes, and nodded, there was not much else to say until it was time to go. His mother brought a small meal and put it down on the table. She went to the room and came back with a wrapped package. The package she handed to her husband, she nodded to her husband, and he handed it to Radis. It was a heavy package, what was in it? He put it down in his pack and continued eating.

After a few bites his mother looked over at him, "Radis, as your father said we love you, are proud of you and want you to come back to us safe and sound.” They finished the rest of the meal in silence.

His father got up after they finished and with that it was time to go, he got up, gave his mother a hug and went outside with his father. The first rays of sun were just starting to peek over the horizon, both walked in the direction of the inn for a time, they would separate a block from the inn. Both father and son walked slowly enjoying each other's company for the last time it seemed. Finally, it was time to go their separate ways, his father turned to face his son, "Well I guess this is it.” His father extended his hand, Radis his own, before the handshake was done his father pulled him in and gave him a hug, "I love you son.”

Radis could barely speak, this was truly happening, he was leaving his family, his home, his town, "I....” It was so hard to talk, his heart felt heavy, his throat felt like it had a lump in it the size of an apple, "love you too Father.” Finally saying the words, he relaxed.

Both men let go and stepped back. His father turned to go on his way, Radis stood there for a time. His father turned before he was out of sight and waved goodbye one last time. Radis waved back and continued to the inn. He stopped before going in and breathed deeply, he was ready.

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Lord Artimis was up and ready to go, he went downstairs to see that the innkeeper was up, the innkeeper's wife was cooking in the kitchen with the few staff that helped around the inn. He nodded to the innkeeper as he came down the stairs, went to one of the tables and took a seat; he would wait for his new charge. The innkeeper walked up to the table, “Lord Artimis, would you care for some breakfast?” Indeed, he would, there was a long day ahead today.

“Please if you could set a second plate, young Radis will be here shortly.” The innkeeper walked into the kitchen to get the two plates of food. Lord Artimis was excited, the young lad, well young man to be more precise he had come to pick up was one he had observed the previous year while stopping in town to do some local business. He had seen him the previous year as he had come into town, the boy coming into manhood was being followed by others of the local youth. Something just jumped out at Lord Artimis about the boy, he seemed to exude a sort of natural leadership.

He had looked in and asked around about Radis while he had been in town, while some of what he heard was good, not all of it was. What he had been able to find out about the boy had been somewhat worrisome. He had been seen around town with some of the local pick pockets. Lord Radis had to do something about it, he would recruit him soon. But soon did not come about, a whole year had passed, and he thought he might have lost the chance.

It was luck that no apprenticeship was given to the boy or that he had not gotten into trouble with the authorities. It would have been a bit harder to get the young man out of jail or to agree to go with Lord Artimis if he had been accepted as an apprentice. It was their loss, none of the local master’s knew what they had lost in Radis. Lord Artimis was sure that the boy would have done just fine at anything if he put his mind to it.

While still reminiscing about the past the door opened allowing Radis into the inn. He made eye contact with the boy and waved with his hand at the chair. He could see Radis was carrying a small pack, probably most of what the boy owned was in that pack as well as something wrapped. If he was not mistaken it was a sword, interesting as his parents could have sold it long ago for good money. The good news was that the boy showed he was punctual and ready to go. Radis bowed to his senior before sitting down. The innkeeper brought out two plates, setting them in front of the guest.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The plate in front of Radis smelled great, Even though he had already eaten, it had not been a big meal. Radis dug in, it was not every day that he was able to eat until he was full, the innkeeper also brought out some juice for them to drink. He finished before Lord Artimis was halfway done. So, he sat there quietly waiting until he was told what he needed to do.

When Lord Artimis finished he got up, followed the Innkeeper to where he kept his ledger and paid the man for his stay. He turned and looked at Radis, "Time for us to go, we have a long day ahead of us.” Radis picked up his pack as well as the larger pack that belonged to Lord Artimis and followed him outside where a stout horse waited for him, the horse was nothing special but responded to Lord Artimis touch as if they had long been friends. He now had a better idea why his new master had picked the horse he had picked the day prior. If one spent a long time in the saddle, then both animal and man had to be comfortable with each other.

His master for that is what he was, grabbed the reins and led the horse, "We need to pick up your riding gear and your horse.” Hearing those words again lifted his spirit, his own gear and horse. Radis took the lead to pick up the riding clothes, they arrived at Quilis Riding Gear, Master Quilis was already up and around his store open for business.

The man saw them reach behind his counter and handed Radis his new gear, "Take care of that gear boy. Your Master paid good money for it, and you should thank him.”

Lord Artimis handed the man a small pouch. Radis did not know how much Master Quilis had charged but he knew it was probably a substantial amount, a good set of riding gear and a one-day fitting and adjusting was probably worth quite a lot.

“On to the stables you can change there.” And on they went, since they had a direction in mind it did not take long, they arrived at the stable within minutes. There was a boy waiting on them, “Lad, is there a place where my young companion can change?”

The young boy nodded and waved to be followed. After leading him to a place where he could change, he said the mount would be outside waiting on him. Radis put on his new gear, he noticed that it was a bit loose but with the way he ate that morning if things continued, he was sure he would fill in those loose parts. The leather was still stiff, and it would take some time before it was well worn in. There was just enough room for his other clothes to go into. The shoes he wore he would not take, they may serve someone else, he had his boots on and while they were stiff, they were brand new.

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Radis came out to find his new horse saddled and ready to go, the horse gave a neigh of recognition, and a nod of the head. It seemed that both boy and horse would become fast friends. It took him a few tries to get on the horse, it was rather embarrassing, his new master only smiled, "Don't worry about it too much, I was the same way when I learned to ride the first time.” While it did not make him feel better, it lessened the embarrassment. Soon they were outside town heading North. He looked one last time back towards his old home, when would he see it again?

"Up. Down. Up. Down. You have twenty to go before you get a break.”

The first few days of their travels had not been easy as Radis was learning to ride. Radis hurt everywhere, he was sore in places he had no name for, the trotting of the horse the uneven ground every single little jostle would hurt more. They traveled like this for a number of days, every day it was easier since his body was getting used to riding horseback. They would travel for the day on the north road, days that they could make it to another town meant they would sleep indoors but if they did not they would sleep outside. Once his master had seen that he was ok with the riding he had told him about his training.

“Radis I will need you to learn many things, you will train with words, numbers and weapons. Our job requires that we know how to write like a scribe or fight like a soldier. Your training will be far from easy but I believe you can handle it. We will start with simple exercises of mind and body.” He allowed Radis to let it all sink in, "Shall we get started?”

“Um... yes, sir.” With that his training started. Every morning before they rode on he was running, doing various exercises. Anything that Lord Artemis asked him to do he gave all he had and when he could barely move, he would try and give more. At the end of the day before they called it a night there would be other things he would be taught, true to his word Lord Artemis started to teach him numbers and letters. Radis found that he enjoyed the training, he did not know what Lord Artemis was going to have him do but the exercise, the words, the numbers it was magical to him, not at all as it had been with the town scholar. The town scholar was in one word, boring so he paid little to no attention during the lessons he gave. The way that Lord Artemis thought was much more exciting and he paid attention and learned rapidly, though it was still hard. He was eager to get beyond the simple lessons and into weapons training, specially sword training, and what other weapons would he learn to use?

As the days progressed he could run just a little bit faster and a little bit farther, his words were getting more elaborate, though the numbers he found a little bit harder, but those too he enjoyed. It was like a dream and a great one at that, he had left his home and he missed it terribly as well as his friends and family, especially his family. Boy would his friends be jealous if they knew that he Radis, the boy who had not been able to find an apprenticeship was learning all these new things.

He had gotten lucky, at least that was what he told himself, he did not know that his new master had actually seen him and wanted to recruit him. Lord Artemis had not told him as he did not need his new recruit to get too big of a head. Yes, lucky indeed a lot of other kids ended up being thieves or worse since it was rough if you were poor, the lucky ones were those with money or so he had always thought.