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attempted to sound apologetic but Meuric could not help but notice that there was a guarded tone in his voice. “It is the core of what the Oak Seer is.”
    Meuric looked on, watching with fascination how the fresh blood seemed to be sucked back into their wounds. The injuries then healed over to finally vanish as if they were never there leaving only dried blood behind. Colton groaned loudly as his missing teeth grew back. The whole scene took only several heartbeats. Colton tenderly touched his face while the memory of his facial pain was still prevalent. On the ground, Fabien stirred.
    â€œI feel as strong as a boar,” announced Colton flexing his small biceps. Meuric could not help but let out a chuckle. “The pain is totally gone.” He touched his mouth. “Even my teeth are healed. It is absolutely amazing!” He bowed respectfully. “Thank you, my Lord Oak Seer.”
    â€œI have a long way to go before I am made Lord Oak Seer,” he chuckled. Paden turned to the boys and girls that had followed Fabien. “Take your friend back to the fort. He is healed but he will be sore for a short time. Take him somewhere quiet to rest.” A few of the boys moved forward and gently lifted Fabien, now semiconscious.Siorus offered Colton and Meuric a cursory glance as if to reevaluate the two boys, before slipping one of Fabien’s arms over his shoulder. He bowed his head to the Oak Seer and moved off.
    â€œCan you find your own way home?” asked Paden of Colton. The boy nodded. “Take a different route from the others.” He smiled knowing that there were not too many paths that he could choose. “Be sure that you do not antagonise them any further. I may not be on hand next time, Colton.” Paden turned to Meuric. His face was stern and his voice tight. “Walk with me.” He saw that the young villager was about to protest. “Now!” he commanded

III
    Meuric led the way across open ground towards a lazy stream he knew well, for two reasons. The first was because he was confident of where they were heading. The second, and the real truth, was that he could not bear to look at the Oak Seer Paden right now. Without realising it, he had increased his stride in an attempt to outrun the shame he felt at what he had done to Fabien and the questions he knew that would be forthcoming. His sense of embarrassment, for allowing Paden to see a side of him he thought hidden, was strong within him.
    Meuric was also angry that he had shown the other children of Gla’es what he was capable of. It had only ever been Colton with whom he had discussed the darkness he felt inside of him and how it had first risen that night, when his father had died. Now he had found something else within the darkness, something disturbing. It had seemed to him, when he had taken a moment to analyse the incident, that his soul had been dragged out of his body, only to be replaced by something else, something much darker. How could he look at the Oak Seer and friend now? No, he was more than that, he realised. Paden was someone he aspired to become, now that his father was no longer with him.
    For reasons unknown to the boy, Paden had cared for and protected him even when he had no legal obligation to do so. He was not even of the same tribe and yet he had been there the day after his father had been murdered and had been there for him ever since, whenever his duties allowed for it. He had even dared to hope that the Oak Seer would one day begin to call in with his mother formally. That had yet to happen. Meuric’s pace quickened again, a further attempt to outrun his discomfort. Behind him he could hear Paden chuckle.
    â€œThere is no point in running away, little one,” he explained. “There is nowhere for you to go.”
    Meuric purposely slowed and attempted to curb his racing heart. There was a dip in the ground where the river ran and it was here that he stopped and