(_______'s POV)
"What is yer name, lad?" I whispered as gently as possible while carrying the boy up the trail home.
The little boy rubbed his eyes with his tiny fists,"Ar-thur," the little boy whimpered.
"Do you know where your Mommy is, Arthur?"
"N-No," Arthur struggled to say, beginning to cry.
"Shh, it's okay, don't cry." I cooed.
The little boy clenched onto my shirt and rubbed his face against my chest to wipe away the unspilled tears.
"You can go to sleep now," I whispered.
Allistor stood by my side and sighed. "Will he live with yae or me?"
"You mean?" I questioned with excitement.
"Yea, I'll take care of him," Allistor said taking him from my arms. "That's gonna be another mouth to feed yae know."
"Oh, thank you so much, Allistor!" I said and hugged the Scott with my free hand.
"Yea, yea, let's just get outta 'ere, this is no place for a child." Al said sincerely, "you'll never know what could happen." Allistor said in a low tone looking at the ground.
(Flashback-10 Years Ago)
Ten years ago, I found Allistor all alone in the forest. It had only been a bit over a week since his father died of sickness.
Needless to say, being the man of the house at seven wasn't the easiest thing to do.
As he was hunting for some rabbits, he ran into a bear.
I was only six at the time so I didn't know much about hunting, but I would just go in the forest to play with the small animals.
As I was picking some berries to eat, I heard a great roar and then a scream. I
ran to the screams and cries to see what happened.
To my horror I found him on the forest floor. I quickly called for help but no one answered.
I quickly grabbed the unconscious boy and took him to the river. His shirt stained with thick, crimson blood.
I gently took his shirt off cautious not to put him in even more pain and then ripped a portion of my thick, (f/c) dress and put it in the cool water.
The boy, going in and out of consciousness screamed at the sudden pain on his scratched back.
I rushed to the river again and made sure the cloth was extremely wet and wringed the water onto his face.
"Hey! Hey, wake up." I said cringing to my dress. Afraid that he wouldn't wake up, I cupped my hands and placed them in the rushing water and then threw the water onto the boy's face.
The boy stood at me in awe for a few seconds and then muttered, "What happened? Who are you?"
"I'm ________, I found you in the fores', it looks like a bear scratched you pre'y bad, so I took you to the river to clean your wound. Quick, follow me." I said in attempts to save the boy, "I'll take care of you." I took the boy's hand and walked back to the village.
By the time I made it back to my house, mom was already working on lunch.
"Mom! Mom!" I said running inside.
"What has gone into you, ______? We never run in the house." My mother said in irritation.
Once she made it to the door she saw the boy's scars.
She quickly ran into her bedroom to dress his wound with old linen we had in a drawer and a bottle of ale from the kitchen.
"Here, place him on the table," mother said while clearing the table.
I tried my best and used all of my strength to lift the boy, I could tell that he was trying to make it easier on me by carrying his own weight. Once I was able to get him on the table, I tried to get him as comfortable as possible for the next part.
"Don' le' go o' my hand," I said while grasping his hand.
Mother gingerly poured the ale on the boy's scratches, immediately after came a sharp shrill of pain from Allistor.
After being forced out of the room by Mother dressed his wounds and carried him to my bedroom so he could sleep.
