Son of Soron

by Robyn Wideman

  …

  Later that night while Nathan slept, Velaina shared with Soron the news of Nathan’s encounter with the wolf. She relayed the event as Nathan had described to her, along with her sense that Nathan had held back explaining the full story. “It is likely that the wolf sensed magic and was attracted to him. It will probably happen again with other animals.”

  Soron absorbed this information. They had talked about the possibility that this might happen one day. Velaina was a’kil, an Ingla word for magic blood. She had gifts the villagers knew nothing of, such as the ability to sense people’s emotions. This ability was how she always knew when Nathan was lying. Soron’s family also had a history of having a’kil among them. The chances of their son being born with magic blood had always been a concern. Being a’kil was not bad, most born with the gift were happy to have it. However, it also came with great risk.

  The problem was that most Solotinians feared magic and over the years most a’kil were killed or driven off. Most a’kil hid their talents or moved to safer, more magic-tolerant lands. Velaina and Soron had chosen to live in a small village outside of any of the kingdoms partly for that reason. If Nathan was a’kil, it was better to live in a small village where hopefully no one would fear him if he started to show signs of magic. Even in a small village, there were many who shunned magic as evil. Nathan’s life would be changing drastically soon.

  As Soron pondered the repercussions of this information, Velaina continued to think about Nathan’s encounter with the wolf. Animals being attracted to and forming bonds with a’kil did happen, so the wolf was a very good indicator that Nathan was in fact an a’kil. Soron had already known that Nathan might be magic blood, like her and others of his own family. Lately, Soron had been thinking that Nathan’s ability to make black steel and how easily he shaped it were much too good for someone his age and size. Being a’kil would explain this.

  “Your bracelet that Nathan made is far better than any fourteen-year-old should be able to make. Truth is, it is better than even I can make. I have suspected for a little while now there was some magic involved. The wolf only confirms it. Nathan is a’kil,” said Soron.

  Velaina looked down at her bracelet. It truly was a beautiful piece and magic or not she was proud Nathan could make something so wonderful. But this was still a troubling revelation. Being a’kil in Solotine was dangerous. “Do we raise him here or take him to Mithbea?”

  They both pondered this question. They were all happy living in Elderwood and, for now, were safe. A few of its residents, such as the previous blacksmith, resented them. But for the most part, the villagers were their friends now. If Nathan developed other magical powers, or people started noticing the ones he had, they would probably need to go to Mithbea and the kingdom of Balta. Mithbea was a land where magic was more common and better accepted than Solotine.

  Finally, her husband answered the question. “For now, we stay. I shall start training the boy in weapons. If his magic continues to grow, then you can start teaching him about it. But for now, we will leave it. If things change, we shall go to Balta.”

  Chapter four

  “WHEN YOU ARE DONE with your breakfast don’t bother putting your shoes on. We are working inside today,” said Velaina.

  Nathan was surprised by this. The weather was nice outside and rarely did they stay in on such a nice day unless she had a particular lesson in mind. More often than not, those lessons would wait for a wet or cold day. Done eating, Nathan joined his mother.

  “Yesterday I made up several potions. Today you will identify them,” said Velaina to Nathan as they entered into the small workroom. It looked like a small storage room filled with shelves full of herb, barks, bags of different ground plants ground into powders, bottles of fluids and medicine-filled jars. On the main workbench were four large vials.

  Knowing that this was his project for the day, Nathan took his time and examined the vials one at a time.

  The first two vials took Nathan very little time to identify. Within minutes he recognized the ingredients. The first two vials were common concoctions that Velaina made to sell. “Lavender, honey and white birch bark in spring water, used to ail a sore stomach or headache. Used for cleaning wounds, but best to boil it down to a salve for that. The second one is black current, pine needle, and swamp pod mixed in cedar sap.”

  Nathan smiled. he knew by his mother’s silence that the next two vials would be much trickier. With this in mind Nathan took his time with the third vial. Looking closely at the vial he studied the dark red, almost purple, fluid. He gave the vial a small swirl and watched the fluid swish around in the vial.

  The fluid moved quick and easily but was a slight bit thicker than the contents of the first vial. Again, he went through the practiced motions of holding the vial away from himself while he uncorked it then wafted its scent up towards his nose. The familiar fruity and pungent aroma filled his nose. Nathan frowned; this one seemed too easy. Was she trying to trick him? He decided to go through all the identifying steps before making a judgment on its contents. Nathan took a mint leaf and dropped some of the mystery fluid onto it. Carefully he folded the leaf and rubbed the drops between the leaf halves paying particular attention to keep the potion off his skin. He took a close look at the mint leaf. Against the dark green leaf, the stain appeared almost black. The leaf veins a dark red.

  Next, Nathan went back to the shelf behind the table and selected an empty vial. He took a jug of spring water and filled the vial half-full of water and added two drops of the fluid to the water. He let the drops sit for a minute and watched the fluid slowly start to disperse into the water. He vigorously stirred the mixture until the water turned a light purple.

  A deep frown set into his face. Nathan walked to a smaller cabinet in the corner of the room and took out a small bottle. Returning to the workbench, he added a small drop from the bottle into the vial. In an instant, the water turned from a light purple to a hazy orange. Nathan looked up at his mother in surprise. “It is poison and a really strong one!”

  Finally Velaina moved from the wall where she had been quietly observing Nathan as he worked on the vials. “Yes, it’s elderberry wine with velmadine leaf extract. It looks, smells and tastes like ordinary elderberry wine yet the smallest sip is strong enough to kill a man.”

  Nathan was surprised to hear this. He knew his mother had a vast knowledge of poisons and the remedies for them but never had she given him a poison to identify.

  “What’s in the fourth vial?" asked Velaina.

  Nathan looked again at the vial of poison then looked into his mother’s piercing blue eyes. ”The fourth vial is crushed ramble cactus and juniper needle in apple cider.”

  Velaina smiled and nodded. “That is correct, but how did you know without looking? “

  Nathan finally relaxed a bit and returned her smile. “It’s the antidote for velmadine poison. It had to be in apple or plum cider for the acidity to be right. And since there was a chance I might have drunk it, you would have used the apple cider. If I had drank the poison you would have felt bad about me spending the next couple hour retching and vomiting. You would have used the apple cider so I wouldn’t spend rest of day complaining about throwing up nasty plum juice, not to mention the after-effects on my bowels.”

  Velaina smiled softly at her son. She hated to give the types of lessons where the results could be so unpleasant. Sometimes the only way to learn about how different remedies and poisons worked was to feel them. A few years prior, during Nathan's unguarded curiosity period, Nathan had a bad time with a remedy that required plum cider to choke it down. Worse than choking it down was the hour spent bringing the concoction back up. He never looked at plums the same way after that, nor did he trust sweet smelling concoctions in glass vials.

  “If we don't learn from our mistakes,” Velaina prompted...

  “There is no use in making them," finished Nathan. “Why do you make poisons, mother?” he asked. “Do you get request
s for them?”

  Velaina studied his face. The look was earnest. “I do not sell poisons. My art is intended for healing. Healing sometimes requires potions to negate the effects of poisons for those evil ones who would poison their foes or friends for power or money. If ever in a hostile land, or an unknown place, dip your finger in any offered wine or drink. Touch it only to your lip and wait. If your tongue detects an off taste, if your senses tingle or your tongue feels numb, pretend to spill your drink.” Velaina thought back to that incident long ago where that very habit had saved all three of their lives.

  Nathan heeded her words. “’Tis a good thing I'm not rich or powerful. No one needs to kill me to gain a kingdom. It is quite safe to drink the wine in these parts!” he teased, naively unaware of the discomfort his teasing caused his mother.

  Velaina took a deep breathe. Life had not always been quiet and peaceful, nor were there any promises it would remain that way. One could hope, but considering their secrets, preparing for unwanted eventualities was wise, if not a necessity. Nathan had a sheltered existence thus far. She could only hope it stayed that way.

  Chapter five

  IS THERE ANYTHING BETTER in the world than warm apple pie? Nathan thought to himself as he took another bite of the delicious dish. Earlier that afternoon, Ms. Noggins had let Ava know that today she was making good on her promise of pie in exchange for the apples they had picked for her and that she and Nathan could come by in an hour or so to get them right out of the oven.

  Sitting at one of the few tables in Ms. Noggin’s Inn, the Burning Candle, Nathan and Ava had a whole pie sitting in front of them. Well, a whole pie, minus the two rather large pieces the pair were devouring.

  “One piece each, right?” Ava mumbled between bites.

  “Yes. We will save the rest for after we get back from the games.” Today was Sunday, and every Sunday the children of the village would gather in the forest and play bartoh. Bartoh involved a lot of running, so being stuffed full of pie would be a very bad idea.

  Ava finished her piece of pie, licked the last few flakes of pastry off her finger, and gave Nathan a big smile. “Okay maybe just two pieces,” she conceded before cutting herself another large piece of the warm, delicious desert.

  Nathan took the last bite of his first piece and was reaching for a second piece before he even finished the first. “Right, but this is it. No more pie before bartoh…”

  “I can’t believe we ate the whole pie,” said Ava. She then let out a loud burp and rubbed her belly in satisfaction.

  Nathan chuckled, “Nice one! You are such a lady.”

  Ava almost looked offended by this statement as she reached across the table and gave Nathan a push. With a thump, he hit the ground, falling off his bench.

  “Oof. Hey, why did you do that?"

  Ava sat up straight and in her most prim and proper voice, spoke. “A lady never appreciates her manners being questioned by a servant.” She then let out another even louder burp.

  Nathan groaned. “Hmmph, servant my eye. Give me a hand up I’m too stuffed with pie to get up on my own.” They both laugh as she got up from her bench, grabbed Nathan’s hand and yanked him to his feet.

  “Come on let’s get down to the forest,” said Ava.

  Bartoh was a simple game. Two teams each had a scarf, which would be hung around a tree on their side of the creek. The first team to get the scarf across the creek won. Each team comprised of a troll, a witch (or warlock as some of the boys insisted on being called) and knights. If a troll touched you, then you were dead, unless someone saved you.

  Only a witch or warlock was able to save dead players. Touching a dead player revived them. The player was now able to walk back to their side of the creek. Once they got back across the creek, they were alive and able to go back to hunting for the scarf. Each team had one witch and one troll, everyone else was a knight.

  This particular Sunday, Nathan, Ava and Rose joined a team with Jordan, a small quick boy Rose’s age. They were playing against Tomas, Regan, Sharon and Edward. Tomas and Sharon were both sixteen, while Regan and Edward were younger, like Rose and Jordan. Nathan, stuffed with pie, volunteered to be his team’s troll; he figured hanging back and guarding the scarf would be much easier on his poor rumbling belly. Rose wanted to be the witch, leaving Ava and Jordan to be knights.

  Once the scarves were in hanging on any tree within a hundred feet of the creek, the game would start.

  As the game began, Nathan picked a old fat cedar tree to hide behind. It was only a couple paces away from the birch tree where they had placed their scarf. Nathan was confident from this position he would be able to see any knights racing up to grab the scarf. The bonus of this position was being able to rest his pie-filled belly while he waited for the enemy knights.

  It took a quiet ten minutes before Nathan noted the first person start to come close enough to see the scarf. With a quick peak around the cedar, he saw Regan. Regan was almost to the scarf before Nathan jumped out and attacked. Despite the heavy lump of delicious apple pie sitting in his stomach, Nathan would have been more than quick enough to catch Regan if the younger boy had made one more step towards the scarf.

  This was not the case though, because as soon as Regan noticed Nathan, he turned and bolted back towards the creek screaming “TROLL....” Nathan smirked; Regan was overly dramatic and loved to run off in terror at the first sign of a troll.

  The next one to make an attempt was Tomas. The older boy had heard the screeching of Regan and quickly honed in on the scarf. Nathan had already returned to his hiding spot and was in position when Tomas came running up to the scarf. Just as he had when Regan appeared, Nathan sprung out to attack the knight before he could grab the scarf. While Regan had bolted off in the other direction, Tomas kept running towards the scarf. Nathan quickly positioned himself between the scarf and Tomas. Tomas made no move to change his direction. In fact, he ran harder once he saw Nathan get in front of the scarf.

  Nathan readied himself. As soon as Tomas changed directions to try get around him, he would reach out and tag him. Any second now, any second now thought Nathan but the second never came. Instead of trying to get around Nathan, Tomas simply lowered his shoulder and ran right through him, knocking him hard into the ground. It was the second time this week Nathan found himself on his back looking up into the sky.

  “What the heck, Tomas. You didn’t even try to turn,” said Nathan in frustration as he rose to his feet.

  Tomas simply smirked at the younger boy. “Oops, I am sorry about that. But since you tagged me and I’m going to be here until a witch can rescue me, we should talk.”

  Nathan wanted to accept this apology but the smirk and tone of Tomas’s voice were leading him to think it was not a very sincere apology. Warily, Nathan replied “Alright, sure. I tagged your shoulder with my face. Now what do you want to talk about?”

  “I’ve been trying to get Ava to come spend time with me. She keeps saying no, that she has plans with you. I want you to stop bothering her so she has some free time.”

  Nathan did not believe it; this horse’s ass had run him over on purpose and now was telling him to not hang out with Ava? As if he thought to himself. “Look, Tomas, who Ava spends time with is up to her. If she wants to spend time with you, I have no issues with that. But I’m not going to stop spending time with her on your say-so.”

  Tomas’s smirk quickly turned to a sneer. “You’re not getting it, Nathan. I am not asking you, I am telling you.” With that, Tomas threw a punch right squarely onto the Nathan’s already wounded jaw.

  Nathan, caught unprepared, once again ended up on the ground. Tomas quickly took advantage and jumped onto Nathan’s chest, pinning him to the ground. Tomas landed a couple more stiff jabs to the face while he held the younger boy down. “Are you going to leave her alone?”

  Nathan, despite being in an indefensible position, did not intend to cower before his new rival. “Hell no!” Tomas rained down several more punch
es to Nathan’s face.

  As Sharon came running up to revive Tomas from the dead, she found him not lying on the ground pretending to be dead but on top of Nathan striking him. Sharon quickly made her presence know. “Cut that out you two. Tomas get off of him right now.”

  Tomas leaned down and whispered into Nathan’s battered ear, “Better keep your mouth shut about this. Stay away from Ava or I’ll thrash you again.” Tomas got up, looked over at Sharon and gave her his best I’m innocent shrug. “Sorry about that, Nathan. You tagged me hard and I got angry. Here, get up,” said Tomas as he reached towards Nathan.

  Nathan, too groggy and hurt to bother arguing with Tomas’s version of events, took Tomas’s pro-offered hand and with a nod started to walk towards the village. “Okay, no problem Tomas stuff happens.”

  And, with that, so ended Nathan’s least favorite game of bartoh ever. Nathan avoided the other kids and headed home.

  As Nathan purposely set his path along a route that would avoid the other children, he pondered what had happened. Tomas had always been a horse’s ass, that was nothing new, but usually he reserved his aggressive behavior for the older boys. When had Nathan become a threat to him? Nathan pondered. And when had Ava suddenly become such a lightning rod for comments? Lately both his parents had made comments about his relationship with her! Now, so was Tomas. What was he missing? Tomas always flirted with the older girls, pretty girls like Sharon. Did Tomas think Ava was pretty? Nathan reflected on this for a moment. Sure, she was the smartest kid around and pretty funny. She wasn’t as curvy as Sharon but she certainly had an athletic and distinctly female body. I suppose if you like freckles and a button nose, flaming red hair and smoldering dark eyes… Oh damn! Nathan thought as realization hit him. His best friend was beautiful. No wonder life was getting complicated. Beautiful girls were trouble. Life would be easier if his best friend weren’t a girl.