Bastard of Fate

A New Beginning

CHAPTER 6

***CHANDLER***

He stuffed at many clothes as would fit into his leather pack. He only had three canvas shirts, two of which with the sleeves ripped off, and two leather pairs of pants. He had one pair of thick leather boots that were ready to fall apart but he hoped he could make enough money to buy some new clothes. He opened his chest and looked down at the horde of candles within. He didn't quite know why but he had always loved candles, especially colored ones, and had collected them since he came to live with Aaron.

Digging down farther into the simple wooden chest, he found his most prized posession. A small sliding wood box. Within there was a piece of flint, a strip of steel and a square of parchment. A note was quickly scribbled onto it,

Chandler Michason,

I love you very much. If you ever look for your father, I don't want you to be scared. He loves you too, though he doesn't act it. Goodbye.

~Terese

He knew the note to be written by his mother. It was the only thing on him when Aaron found him but he couldn't understand why his mother had left him to fend for himself if she loved him so much. From what she had said he could guess that his father was alive at the time the note was written but he had no idea how to find him. All he had was a first name, Micha.

Chandler placed the note back into the box, pocketed it and closed the chest. Now he just had to find a way to get it down the ladder.

***TIME SKIP***

"Aaron, I'm going away for a while. I'm going to get Frank, the carpenter next door to check on you daily, okay? His son said he'll run the shop 'till we're out of things to sell. Thank you for all you've done for me. I'll write you letters"

"Ah, stop bein' so sentimental, boy. Go be a good young squire to that knight. And don't catch any diseases, what with Martha, Nick and Alex," the old man cackled as Chandler's face flared in embarassment. He regretted telling all of his woes to Aaron but at the same time, knowing that he was clearly all right was a relief.

"Yeah, whatever. I'll be fine," Chandler rolled his eyes, still blushing, and headed back downstairs. He figured he'd need some sort of weapon.

He looked at the wall of axes, swords, daggers, maces and clubs. Finding nothing quite like what he was looking for, he looked around his shop. His eyes landed on his trusty hammer. It was large, but years of practice swinging it made it easy enough for him to carry. It was made for two hands and the metal was dark and solid. He looked around for some sort of harnass to carry it with. Finding a sword loop sheath, Chandler tested it out. The handle slid easily into the loop so he adjusted it around his waist untill it seemed right. Satisfied, he headed to grab his chest and pack.

***TIME SKIP***

Seeing as he couldn't convince any of the farmers in the area to loan him a cart, he was carrying his chest, pack and hammer to Aston. It was the second day of his three days to get there and he was only about halfway there. The road was well maintained, thankfully, and he could see over the top of the chest when carrying it but his arms felt about to give out. Chandler let the chest fall to the ground with a thump before he sat down heavily on it, exausted. After no more than ten minutes he got up again and headed south still.

***TIEM SKIP***

He arrived to Aston early in the morning, tired and dehydrated. He hadn't thought to bring food or water for the trip and he kicked himself now for it. He skirted along the edge of the city, looking for the manor Sir Jason had mentioned. He found it eventually.

It was a large house with a small stable a ways off to the side of it. A dirt road lead to it from the outskirts of the city and there was a well on the lawn. Sir Jason opened the large, wooden, intricatly carved door to greet him,

"Chandler! Good to see you, lad. Just in time I see. Come now, inside, I can tell you're tired and need a good meal in you. Xymon's bells, when's the last time you slept?"

"Uhm. When I left. Didn't want to dissapoint you by being late"

"Really? Well, I can respect that! Inside, we'll get you a bath, a hot meal and a bed"

"Oh thank the gods," Chandler muttered.

They went inside and Chandler took in the grand home. There was a staircase leading upstairs off to the right and a long sitting room right in front of him. A doorway leading to the dining room was to the left and Chandler assumed the kitchen was at the back of the house. Sir Jason lead him up the stairs to a short hallway.

"This here is my room. You are never to enter it," Chandler nodded. The room was directly in front of the stairs.

"To the right is the library. This is where you and Nick will be taught history, language and science. And over here to the left will be your room"

They walked down the hall to see one door wide open. Nick sat on the bed inside the small room, a book in hand. He looked up and smiled at Chandler, waving slightly. Chandler nodded back, arms still full of his chest.

They went into the room across the hall from Nick's. It was just as small as his, with a bed with a csmall table next to it in the corner and a small desk with a chair in the other corner. The walls were blank, the only thing on them was a window in the middle of the wall with his bed beside it. He could see country fields for miles.

"Thank you, sir! I love it, it's more than I had at the blacksmith's shop"

"Really? You act like you didn't have four walls to call your room!"

"Well, I had two"

"I'm glad you like it then. You can do whatever you wish with the room, decorate it with whatever you have in that chest of yours. What's in it, anyways? It must be important for you to have carried it all the way from Glavnay"

"Oh, um-"

"Well, come on boy, open it up!"

Chandler set down the chest heavily at the end of the bed. He opened it up after taking a moment to let his exausted arms rest. Sir Jason looked down with surprise, "Candles? What... why?"

"I love them," Chandler admitted, "They calm me. The flames and smell of burning wax. I just neve had a place to put them before. Didn't have much space in my old room"

"Well now you can put them all over your room. Have fun, when you're done come get Nick and he'll show you to the toilet and bath house. Lessons start tomorrow"

"Okay. Thank you again, sir"

When Sir Jason left he started to take candles out of his chest. He placed them around the room, doing his best to make it look nice. When he was done placing them on the floor he put a thick, red candle on his nightstand and a few white ones on his desk. He slipped his sliding wood box out of his pocket and placed it on his desk. Just then he heard a knock at the doorframe,

"Looks nice, Chandler," Nick said. Chandler turned to face him,

"Thanks. I'm just about done, just need to get this pack and hammer off"

He did so and followed Nick out of the room, "Come on, the toilet and bath house is this way"

They went outside and around the house to see a small one person shack a ways away from he house. Beside it was a larger building. Nick pointed to the smaller structure, "Toilet," he pointed to the larger one, "Bath house"

Chandler nodded as they entered the bath house. It had wooden floors and three rectangular holes in the floor, surrounded by stones. There was a stone furnace in the center of the bath house with a cauldron sitting beside it,

"There's a well in front of the house. If you want a hot bath you have to draw the water and heat it. Sir Jason always has guests over and they only take hot baths. If you just want to get clean you can go to the lake over that way," he exited the bath house and gestured off in the distance, "It's inside that cluster of hills over there. Plenty of privacy if you don't mind showing your glory to nature"

Chandler chuckled a little with Nick and set off towards it, "I think I'll just go wash up quickly. See you in a few"