Heim- A Prequel to "The Lazarus Saga"

Ch. 5- A Faulty Father

The next day Lazarus and Alias could be found in the church's courtyard, tending to the garden.

"Let me play with the ring Lazarus. I promise I won't use it! I just want to put it on for a moment." Alias cried to Lazarus.

Lazarus eased the bucket of water he was carrying to the ground. "Hush Alias, If any of Father Orwell's apprentices or the city guards hear you, they will take it from me."

Normally, Lazarus wouldn't let his temper get the best of him. But, Lazarus had spent the entire night making Alias promise to keep it a secret, and this was the third time he'd asked.
Alias scampered back, replying to his friend in a low whisper.

"Well, I never said it was magic or anything Lazarus. Calm down." His whisper got even lower. "Let me see it." Lazarus shoved him back, and Alias nearly tripped trying to spare the crops below.

"No Alias. And even if you didn't call it magic why would an orphan have a ring? You will call them to me if you don't keep it down!"

Lazarus's voice rose to the heights of a whisper. Alias wore a face of embarrassment formed from envy and persistent greed.

"Sorry, Lazarus. It just sounds so cool! I want one of my own. Maybe if I was as brave as you." Alias trailed off, fidgeting with his fingers, and placing eyes on everything except Lazarus.

"Lazarus. I think something bad is happening to the other orphans." His gaze finally met Lazarus's, unaffected by his unusually gray eyes.

"Some of the other boys keep going missing. I thought you were one of them."

Lazarus could see the truth in that statement. He watched as Alias squeezed the handle of the shovel harder than needed.

"Some of the other boys here have even heard rumors from the south wing about some of the girls going missing too."

Alias poked at the dirt below with his shovel, trying to mask the fear pulsing through his body.

"I've thought about running away and some of us do, but these kids are just disappearing."

The look on Alias's face reminded Lazarus of what Kenton told him. Father Orwell is not what he seems.

The two spent the rest of the day enjoying what little water they didn't use on the garden. There was a large tree in the courtyard. It produced a tasty nut and provided plenty of shade for the two orphans. Lazarus washed one of the fruity-tasting nuts down with water from the steel pale. Clearing his throat, he spoke to Alias in a comforting tone.

"Whatever is happening here. If something is happening here. I won't leave you behind Alias. We've been side by side since the beginning, and that will never change."

Alias almost shed tears at the notion, and it was all he could do to just nod along. He drowned the upcoming cry in the last of the steel pale's water.

The two sat in silence for a while. Lazarus thumbed the aura ring in his robe pocket while Alias stared holes into the wall of the church. It was a silent moment, but a good one. One where the two were reflecting on good times. Separately and simultaneously within the creative traps that were their young minds. Until it was all interrupted by Mark and Tim. Mark was the first to speak up.