Some Legends Are Told

Chapter 1

"Come on Patricius, I have to buy something here." A tall man said to a little boy as he waved his hand in the direction of a shop. The man and the little boy stop in front of that shop. "Wait here, I'll be back soon." The man said as he entered the little store.

The little boy stayed calmly in front of the store, kicking the dust on the ground when three other little kids ran past him in the alley. The little boy, curious, ran after them.

He followed the sounds of the giggles of the kids into a smaller alley between two buildings. He hid behind a wall and watched the other kids.

"And another apple for me. You guys should be more discret, you always get caught." One of the kid said as he threw the fruit in the air and grabbed it. The boy had blonde hair and his skin was darker than the other two boys.
"You shoved me into that woman, of course I got caught." The tallest of the three boys said, he had brown curly hair and blue eyes.
"Yeah, it's always because of you." The last boy said.
The blonde kid bit the apple and said with a mouthful of the fruit "yeah yeah, whatever. I still got an apple and not you."
The two other kids sighed.

The tallest of the three turned back and saw Patricius hiding behind the wall.
He tapped the shoulder of his friend next to him and whispered "Andreas, I think there's someone behind the wall."
Andreas walked slowly toward the wall then jump on the side and screamed "BAAAH".
Patricius jumped and fell to the ground. Still on the ground, he said "Why did you do that?"
"Because you were spying us." The tallest kid said.
"Who are you?" Andreas asked.
The little boy stood up, dusted off his tunic "I'm Patricius Truncus. Son of David Truncus, war hero!" he exclaimed "And you, who are you?"
"Us? We're just normal kids." The blonde boy said, he was leaning against the wall behind his friends "I'm Petrus, this is Loseph," he said motioning toward the tallest of the three boys "and this is Andreas." He said, this time motioning toward the boy with brown hair.
"You don't have parents?" Patricius asked.
"No...well, Loseph still has his mom. Andreas' parents died when he was younger and I'm an orphan, I never met my parents." Petrus said then looked at the apple in his hand.

When the man came out of the store, the little boy was gone and he ran to see if he could find him.

"Patricius!" The man yelled as he was getting closer to the little boy "Get back here!"
The little boy turned back and saw the man. "Oh no, my dad." He murmured.
The man ran toward Patricius and grabbed him by the arm before he could run away. "I told you to wait for me. What are you doing with this..." He looked at the three boys, disgust in his eyes and finished "this kids?"
"I-I..."
"I don't want you to get close to them ever again. You could get sick and I don't want my son to die so young." The man said.
The three boys looked at the scene without saying a word.
"But dad, they're..."
"They're nothing. We're going back home." The man said before walking away, still holding the arm of his son.
Patricius looked behind his shoulder and waved at the boys.

12 years later...

In the center of Rome, a group of soldiers were standing to attention on top of the steps in front of a big building. Down the steps was the market.
One of the soldier was standing straight, looking right in front of him when he caught sight of three men walking in front of the steps. The men stopped and looked up to the soldiers, there was a blonde man, another with brown curly hair and the last one had brown hair and a red beard.
The men walked away and the soldier kept his gaze at them, watching them leave the market and go into the alleys of Rome.

"Patricius?...Patricius?" A voice shouted.
The soldier turned his head in the direction of the voice.
"Stop being in a daze and come back in the group. We're leaving." The man ordered.
"Yes sir." Patricius said as he entered the formation again.