The assassin's apprentice (Private)

[Pseudosym]

"Perfect," said Leoden. He mixed a second potion, this time from the red and the black, and handed Moira the vial. "Left side pocket," he said. Then a third potion, black and purple, and, "Right side pocket."

He carried on, mixing the poisons and directing Moira to the appropriate pouches. He was glad he'd found something to occupy the boy. Truth be told, he didn't need help with this, in particular, but it seemed as good a task as any for keeping a child out of trouble.

After a few minutes, a knock came at the door. Leoden put down his tools and got up. "Wait just a minute," he said. As an afterthought, he added, "Don't touch anything." He went to answer the door, leaving Moira alone at the table.

The child smiled and he helped put the vials in the pouches. However he did have trouble telling right from left like most young children. He continued the mundane task however he soon heard a knock at the door. He turned his head but heard Leoden instruct him to stay. However he grew bored of sitting at the table so he slowly walked over to the forbidden room. He turned the knob on the unlocked room and he looked around. The room was neat and he started to touch some old books which one fell down!

[Pseudosym]

Leoden opened the door. It was Gavin, a lanky squire of about sixteen. He greeted Leoden with a grin and a nod. "Message for you, sir," said Gavin. He held out a scroll of paper.

Leoden broke the seal on the scroll and read the contents of the message. He nodded curtly.

Gavin's grin broadened. "Is it a target?"

Leoden gave him a look. "None of your business, Gav."

Gavin looked about to say something else, but he was interrupted by a loud thump from within the chamber.

Leoden spun around. The boy was gone—and the door to his room was open.

"Oh, for—" He shut the door, leaving a confused Gavin in the stairwell. Within seconds, he was in his room, where a certain guilty-looking child stood in front of the desk. A book had fallen at his feet.

Leoden grabbed the child by the arm and propelled him toward the door. "Out!" he barked. He tossed Moira out the door, slamming it behind him.

He realized his heart was racing as he picked up the fallen book. Lucky. If the kid had spent much more time in here, he might have found the stash of darts and daggers hidden beneath the floorboards, or worse, the secret room behind the bookcase where Leoden hid the really dangerous poisons...

Fuming, Leoden flung the door open again and cast about for the boy.

The child looked down at the book on a guilty manner. He then saw Leoden storm in the room and he looked up at him with a smile. However he felt his arm be grabbed and he stood outside the door. He saw another boy who was still standing there and he hugged the squire. However he had the door be opened and he glanced up at Leaoden. “Leo!” The child smiled sweetly not knowing the man was furious with him. He didn’t know why he couldn’t go to his room at all!

[Pseudosym]

Gavin watched with some surprise as a small boy bolted toward him, wrapping his knees in an embrace.

"Well, hi there!" said Gavin. "Who might you be?"

Before the child could answer, the bedroom door opened, and a stormy looking Leoden stepped out. Gavin lounged in the entrance, curious.

Leoden cursed the lack of a lock on his door. He'd remedy that situation as soon as possible. For now, though...

He spotted Moira, who looked blissfully unaware that anything was wrong. "Hey!" said Leoden. He caught the boy by the shoulders and knelt down so they were at eye level, meeting Moira's happy-go-lucky expression with his own smoldering one.

"What did I say, huh?" asked Leoden sharply. "I said stay out. You and I, we need to have some rules. Well, one of them is do as I say. In fact, that's the only rule. Do. As I. Say." He pointed a finger at his bedroom door. "You go in there again, and—well, don't go in there again. It's not for kids. You could get hurt." Still gripping the boy's thin shoulders, Leoden looked him in the eye. "Do you understand me?"

The child smiled at the kind looking Gavin however he was interrupted by Leoden storming in. He turned around and he felt his shoulders he grabbed onto. His bright blue innocent eyes stared into his face and he heard his sharp voice. After a few of the scolding harsh words, tears began to roll down his eyes. “I-I understand!” He cried and he wiped his little salty tears. “I won’t go in there!” The child promised, however, it was a fake promise. He did see a cool looking statue in the room and he wanted to check it out when Leoden wasn’t looking.

[Pseudosym]

Leoden relaxed his grip. "All right then," he said. The sudden onslaught of tears unnerved him. What had he gotten himself into?

From the doorway, Gavin chirped, "You gonna do something about his clothes?"

"Hm? What's wrong with his..." Leoden looked the boy up and down. For the first time, he noticed the oversized, tattered garments. "Oh. Well, yes, I..."

Gavin waved a hand. "Leave it to me," he said. "You two keep getting to know each other."

Leoden glared at him. The kid knew he didn't like to be teased. But Gavin only grinned broadly, then quickly left the room.

After he'd gone, Leoden fixed Moira with an appraising look. "I can finish the potions," he said. "Why don't you find something to play with?"

...Well, that's a terrible idea.

"That is, why don't I find you something to play with."

He rummaged through the various drawers and shelves stacked in the large tower room. On the windowsill, he found a wooden bird one of the maids had left for him. It was about the size of his fist and had been whittled from a single block of soft wood. Probably the most harmless thing he was going to find in here. He should have asked Gavin to bring back some toys.

"Here." He handed Moira the bird. "You can play with this."

He sat at the table to resume his poisons.

The child wiped his cascading fall of tears. He heard something about his oversized dirty clothes and he nodded his head. He was glad he would be able to have new clothes now! “Okay? Really?” The child asked happily and then heard his correction which he giggled softly. He saw him hand him a wooden bird toy which he smiled. He took it and began to run around the area playing with the bird toy happily. When he was behind Leoden he started to play however he felt the need to sneak into his room one again! He stealthily sneaked towards the door and turned the doorknob slowly. Once he entered in he left the door open and walked over to a display of swords! He took one sword and lifted it up but it clattered on the floor from being too heavy. He widened his eyes and he quickly crawled under the bed holding the cute bird toy.

[Pseudosym]

Leoden set about his work, painstakingly adding drops of different colored liquids to his vials. As he organized them, it occurred to him that he should check his young apprentice's work. He sifted through the pouch, holding each vial up to the light and scrutinizing it with a trained eye.

Not bad, he thought. The kid had confused his right and left, so the purple-black poisons were in the left pouch instead of the right—but at least he'd been consistent.

Satisfied, Leoden continued until he'd filled his pouch. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard, after all. He put the half-full potion flasks back in their box and got up from the table. He'd actually had peace and quiet long enough to finish his work. That was a good sign, surely?

The thought had no sooner passed through his mind than he heard the CLANG of something heavy hitting the floor. He hesitated in disbelief. Then disbelief gave way to dread, and he bolted for his room.

"Boy!"

He looked around, but Moira was nowhere in sight. Panicking, he surveyed the damage. A longsword on the floor was what must have made the noise. It had fallen just beside the bed. Leoden stooped to pick it up. "Boy, I know you're in here. Come out at once."

The boy sniffled and he crawled out of the bed. He smiled and he showed the cute bird toy smiling. “Leoden I wasn’t playing nicely! I just knocked over the sword.” He lied. “I threw my toy trying to make it fly and it hit the sword and it fell over.” He fibbed. He thought this was the greatest lie in the world while in reality it was a very flawed lie. “So that’s how it happened! And the door it was already open when I threw the bird!”