man in particular. The man he was watching walked slowly through the crowd, examining every boy diligently. He was old, that was apparent by the long flowing white hair. Everything else was obscured by his dark blue robes.
“I wonder who he’s going to pick?” Grady whispered.
“Who is it?”
“That there’s Chadner. He’s the most powerful magician in all the whole land,” Grady said excitedly. “He rarely ever picks an apprentice.”
“Hmm,” Thomas mumbled. He continued to watch the old man. He came to each boy, stood there a few seconds, mumbled something incoherent, and then moved on.
He came to stand in front of Thomas. The smell of spices and such almost made Thomas sneeze and made him light headed. The mage pulled his hood back and peered at Thomas. “You’re not supposed to be here young man,” the Mage stated callously. “What is your business here?”
“I, I’m not sure, Sir,” he stammered. “I’m here to find a master, I guess.”
“Well, well,” he turned towards Grady and looked him up and down. He studied him for a long minute and reached into a pouch and withdrew a pinch of powder that he sprinkled over the young boys head. All the boys turned toward Grady and gasped. His skin began to glow with an eerie pink light. “You’ll do just fine, young man. Come with me.”
“But, but, Sir,” Grady started to protest. The boy had his heart on becoming a strong and valiant knight in service to the King. He wanted to be out adventuring, slaying dragons, rescuing fair maidens in distress, not stuck inside a dark library reading boring books.
“Young man, is there a problem? You have a gift not many men are born with. I will not let that gift dwindle away and be wasted on some fanciful childhood fantasy,” the mage snapped at the boy. “Now come, we have much to learn in the way of manners, don’t we?” He turned and started walking down the cobblestone street.
Grady turned towards Thomas, “I guess I’ll see you around, huh?” There were tears in his eyes as he turned to run after Chadner the mage.
Thomas looked back at the other boys who were staring at him and whispering to each other. He had only known Grady for a few minutes, but he felt very alone and scared now that he was gone. He looked nervously at the remaining the masters and started hoping he would get picked for something. If he wasn’t picked, he had no idea of where to go or what to do.
The next man to come around was the muscle bound stinky guy again. He looked the remaining boys up and down and walked up to Thomas. “I’ll take this one, too,” he shouted.
“What! That puny thing? I’m twice his size,” complained a boy who was very big to be only twelve years old.
The man quickly got into the large boys face, “You are a big one.” The young boy stuck out his chest and raised his chin. The man tapped him hard right in the middle of his chest and the boy nearly doubled over in pain. “You are big, but you’ve lived too sheltered a life. Been catered to too much. And now, you’re nothing but a spoiled, overgrown, pansy!” the man shouted as the boy, still doubled over, whimpered like a dog that had just had his tail stepped on. “Come back next year with some scars.”
The man turned back towards Thomas. “Come boy! We ain’t got all day!” He rounded up the three other boys he had chosen and said his farewells to the other men standing nearby.
Thomas looked around nervously as he reluctantly followed the man. He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for, but the idea that he had been pretty much bought by this man as a slave was finally sinking in. He looked at the other boys. Two of them were either orphans or a class not much above. The biggest boy was wearing nice clothes and even had a pair of shoes.
He resigned the thoughts of running away into the crowd. Even if he could manage to get away, he still had no idea where he was or where he might go one free. He had wished to be someplace else after all, and this seemed as good as any. He set aside the thought of finding his mother for the time being and continued marching along with the others. Then reminded himself that this was just a dream and he began to relax.
Thomas awoke the next morning to the sound of a horn blaring in his bunker. All the boys jumped from their beds and stood at attention. There was a chill in the air and the morning dew covered the floor. He stood at the end of his bed just like soldiers did in all the military movies he’d seen. Shivering, he stared at the others three boys who were obviously cold as well. They stared at Thomas and made their way to the end of their bunks too. The muscled man gave an approving nod in Thomas` direction. Thomas tried to stand a little straighter with pride but he couldn’t help but to slouch and shiver.
“Good morning, boys!” the man shouted. “I see you all shivering from the cold, but believe me, that won’t last long. Soon you will be sweating from hard work. Your muscles will be burning.”
The man paced up and down between the bunks turning his attention from one boy to another. As the man passed, Thomas’ breath caught from the stench of the man’s body odor again.
“You will work and build your bodies before we start training with weapons. You will turn your body into your most formidable weapon first. You will not always have your sword at your side. You will not always have your knife in your boot. You will not always have your armor strapped on. You will not always be ready, so you must build your body and train it to endure punishment,” he stopped and got in one kids face, “and that’s where I come in.” A broad smile broke across his face and quickly back to a strong, stern mask. “Now, get dressed and meet me in the main yard in two minutes.”
The main yard was empty except for the muscled man and another young boy about the age of sixteen. Thomas and the other three boys quickly made their way into the middle of the yard. They glanced at each other through sleepy eyes and then turned their full attention back to the man.
Thomas stood with his arms crossed while still shivering from the brisk morning air. He thought back to the day before when he first awoke in this strange land. He thought he was dreaming and therefore he thought when he went to sleep last night he would wake up in his own bed back home. Now he wasn’t so sure. This land was definitely different and his situation another matter altogether. He had been practically taken in as a slave by this man to apparently learn to fight or something. The only thing Thomas was sure of was that he didn’t go to sleep crying last night or wake up with bruises from his father’s beatings. He was worried about his mother. He prayed that wherever she was, she would be safe without him to protect her.
His attention was snapped back to reality when the teenage boy threw a pair of well worn shoes and a heavy wool tunic at his feet. “Put these on before you catch your death,” the boy said sternly.
The boy was very strongly built for a boy his age and carried himself with a manner that made him seem twice his age. Thomas watched him as he handed out clothing to the other boys with curiosity and envy.
“My name is Braddock,” the man shouted. “I will turn each of you into men. When I’m through with you, you will have toned muscles. You will know how to defend yourself. But most of all, you will be men, self sufficient men.” Braddock paced back and forth in front of the four young boys and eyed them with a fierce gaze sizing them up. “This is Chris,” he pointed to the teenage boy, “He’s one of three of my older apprentices. They will help in your training. Your first training exercise, the older boys take a hot bath every Monday morning.” He turned and pointed to the well and then to the top of the tower that stood beside the bunkhouse. “Grab some buckets and fill their baths.”
The four boys looked from the well to the top of the tower. It was almost four stories tall, Thomas thought to himself. The boys stood and stared back and forth muttering amongst themselves.
“Move it!!” Chris shouted. “Those tubs ain’t gonna fill themselves,” he said as he threw some buckets at the boys’ feet trying to hide his smile.
The four boys scrambled for the buckets and raced toward the well. They quickly filled the buckets and began clumsily run
ning up the steps of the tower. At the top of the tower was a wide open room brightly lit by large open windows. The room was bare except for six metal tubs and a crude fireplace. The boys poured what was left of the water into one of the tubs and then headed back downstairs to refill their buckets.
Thomas stopped the boys after three trips to the top of the tower and organized an assembly line. One boy would fill a bucket while another took it to the bottom of the steps of the tower. The next boy would carry the water halfway up the steps, and the last boy would take it the rest of the way. Then they would alternate positions so they weren’t all running up the steps, tiring themselves and getting in each other’s way.
When the boys returned to their bunks after sundown, they were exhausted. They all collapsed onto their beds and started to drift off to sleep. “Grub time!” Chris shouted from the doorway. “Come on! Gotta eat after a long, hard days work,” he turned and walked away. The boys painfully climbed out of bed and followed after him.
They followed across the main yard into the dining hall. It was dimly lit and had six crude tabled scattered around the room. The boys looked at each other and smiled. The smell of fresh bread and juicy meat filled the room. “Smells good. I could probably eat a whole ox by myself,” a