Dark Redemption (On Hold)

Chapter 2

          Once again walking through the village I look around for a respectable inn to stay overnight. I listen intently to the hurried footsteps behind me and act like I don't hear them. I turn down a few less occupied streets to see if my hunch was correct or if it was simply my instincts from war kicking in. Turning sharply around a corner I wait until the footsteps speed up, my suspicions correct. The slave boy from before turned the corner and ran into my chest.

          I sigh and watch as he shrieked and fell back attempting to escape. I reach out and grab the back of his torn shirt and force him to stand on trembling legs. He looks at me with fear in his eyes and I drop him. "Why are you following me?" I growl out lowly waiting for his reply. He stands and looks down at his feet. "I-I didn't get to th-thank you when you s-saved me earlier." He said in a quiet subdued voice. I sigh and nod before turning away. "You've no reason to thank me boy. Go home." He scurried to catch up to me and grabbed my sleeve. I look down to see him glancing all over worriedly and decide to leave him be for now.

          Thirty-seven minutes have passed and I've finally found a suitable inn for the night. The young boy is still with me although he seems more at ease now than he did before. I glance down when he shivers and see his torn, tattered clothing and set my cloak over his shoulders. He looks up at me with wide eyes and smiles brightly before wrapping the warm cloth around his body. Getting a room I allow him to stay for the night.

          Sitting on the chair in the corner I watch the boy fidget nervously in the middle of the room. Sighing I gesture towards the bed and speak softly to him. "Take the bed. I'll be fine in the chair." Once again he seems shocked by my actions, in all honesty I was a bit shocked myself. He carefully moves to the bed as if seeing whether or not I'd change my mind. Soon he's sitting on the edge of it and finally starts to relax once again. "What do those braids mean?" He asks just above a whisper. I look at him and absentmindedly touch them. Of course someone from Babylon wouldn't understand a Macedonian custom.

          I explain to him that I had once been a highly revered general in the army and he looks at me differently from before. He tilts his head to the side and speaks up, "You're not Macedonian though." I smirk at his observation and rake a hand through my hair that more than likely gave away my true heritage. "You're right, I'm Celtic. I come from across the oceans." He smiles brightly and begins to ask me all sorts of questions about what my homeland was like, how I got across the ocean, and why I had joined the Macedonian army.

          Exactly five hours and fifty-one minutes later the boy is finally sound asleep on the bed curled up in my cloak. I had not only shared most of my life with him but I had also learned a great deal about him. He was nineteen and had been taken from his family when he was twelve. He was very bright and strong willed even though he hid himself under a veil of submissiveness and fear. I stand and pull the blankets over his small form and think to myself about what my daughter would be like at this age.

I sat in the chair counting the seconds as they passed until the sun had started to peak above the horizon. I watch the sunrise as I wait for the boy to wake up, when he stirs I watch him carefully. He looks around and smiles once he spots me and stifles a yawn. "How did you sleep boy?" I ask him not sure why exactly. "I haven't slept that good in years." He chirped before getting up and giving me back my cloak.

After eating at the inn, we walked down the streets as I sifted through various vendors and merchants to see if they had any supplies that I needed. I had bought the boy, whose name I had learned was Ezekiel, new clothing and a cloak similar to mine. I had decided to take him in since he didn't have a family nor did I. I could teach him how to take care of himself and he could decide where to go from there.

A/N - Thanks for your patience I know I'm not very good at updating my stories.