SWNOVELS Chapter 2: Birthday Boy
Chapter 2: Birthday Boy
Tegus had just woken up on his tenth birthday. The air outside was cold and the snow which had fallen for six days previously, had made the grounds beautiful. His nanny set out a lovely blue linen robe for him to wear. It was finished with a green trim and hood. His birthday was the same as any other normal day, until his nanny walked in on him putting the robe on.
“Those were your fathers at your age. Maid told me to give them to you,” she told him as he looked into the mirror and pulled the hood up, which smothered him a little. A chill of happiness came over him.
The day had nothing major happening until later when he was allowed to have a few of the children from the town come to the mansion. He spent most of the day in the kitchen watching the chef and one of the maids cooking for the party. There were cakes and jam sandwiches, chicken and fruits of all shapes and sizes, and all kinds of colourful treats. When chef made the big cake, he was allowed to eat the left-over icing on the spoon, which made him happy for around five minutes until he felt sick because it was so rich.
Once the party was underway, they played some games and ran around laughing and making noise as 10 year olds do. They also played a game which involved beating something blindfolded with a great big wooden sword. This day was the happiest the town had seen for 10 years.
The children had also brought gifts carved of wood and stone, some of which even had functioning parts. One was shaped like a dog, another like a castle, and one actually fired little wooden balls from it that nanny wasn’t too pleased about.
The one present that particularly intrigued him the most was an acorn, just an acorn that sat among the other presents. It gave off a metallic green shine that intrigued Tegus more than anything else ever had. He climbed onto the table and picked it up. The maid called for silence as she thought he was making a speech.
He turned toward the dozen boy and girls a little caught off guard and simply said, “Errrm, thank you for all the kind gifts. They are all lovely, but who gave me this?” he held the glowing acorn up to them all.
“It’s just an acorn,” spat a slightly older fat kid near the corner eating a sweet roll.
Tegus had had his fair share of dead arms from that kid and shrugged off the comment. He realised no one must be able to see the glow besides himself. The room was silent until Nanny clapped and everyone joined in, but the sound of clapping was drowned out by the acorn as it began to let out an ongoing chime. He then saw a small boy no older than 6 that he didn’t recognize behind the crowd who smiled and darted toward the door laughing.
“MOVE!” commanded Tegus as his instincts took over, and he gave chase.
All the other boys and girls looked at each other as if the young master had lost his mind. He reached the door and stepped out. He felt the snow shift under foot as the bitter wind grabbed his body. It felt like thousands of needles stabbing his skin. He looked down then felt his body tingling as if he had just walked through a roaring fire. He realised his clothes, although blue, now glowed red! These robes weren’t normal but had been put out for a reason. For a second, he thought maybe the maid knew of this but shrugged it off as he looked up and saw the small boy run into the woods at the end of the gardens. The woods he wasn’t allowed in after dark and the dusk was settling in.
He jumped the bush which lined the lawn, raced across the snow filled grass to the edge of the tree line. The light among the trees had become a haze of shadows and snow, and being able to see started to become quite difficult. He knew his nanny would question him, he knew he should turn back, and he knew his guests would wonder where he had gone. However, he had to find the little boy; the acorn puzzled him. He knew this boy had the answer to why this acorn was the way it was. Even though he didn’t know why, he wanted to know so badly. He lifted the acorn, its green glow brightened as he raised it up. He knew he had to go on. Not from some unknown force, but simply from his own curiosity.
“Ignore the eyes that stare,” he said out loud trying to be self-reassuring, “they aren’t really there.”
He heard a chuckle come from ahead that caught his attention and made him go on. He moved swiftly with strides to put any grown adult to shame, determined to find out who the boy was and what the acorn meant. Each step cleared the snow around him as the heat from his robe left a wide trail in the snow. He was on the move for about twenty minutes, his movements almost becoming a run as he saw the trees open to darkness. The entrance of the wood was now long behind him. He got near the edge of the tree line and looked down a steep decline that angled off sharply as it disappeared into the shadows. If only he had been born a mountain Gowt, a type of ruddy Goat with three horns, he could climb down with ease. He put the acorn in his pocket, held onto a branch and started his descent. He grabbed an outgrowing root to get further down. A thought crossed his mind. This steep bank had never been here during the day, and he always played in the woods.
“BOO!” yelled the small boy, as he appeared as if from nowhere next to Tegus.
Tegus, shocked, lost grip of the root and went tumbling down. Rolling and tumbling, he forced dirt and snow to follow him into the darkness. Striking the floor with a thud, a rock pummelled him on the side of his head with a ringing blow, and he felt his weight shift into slow motion. The area around him went black.
He sat up with headache and looked for the small boy. He thought he must have been out for hours, but it was, in fact, only a few minutes. He stood up brushing the dirt from himself all the way down to his knees, and as he looked up, he saw the boy standing in front of him.
“You!” Tegus said jumping back, “you made me fall!”
The boy smiled and gestured for Tegus to follow, who after checking his balance, followed.
“Who are you, and where are you taking me?” Tegus quizzed the boy. The boy stayed quiet, looked back over his shoulder and just smiled.
Suddenly, the boy stopped, turned and looked at Tegus. The boy smiled wider. His eyes gave off a white mist, and he became like a rag doll as he lifted off the floor and floated through the air.
Suddenly, his head fell forward all the time smiling and turned to mist completely. Tegus just stared in amazement, and although his better judgment said to run, the curious side of him told him to stay. He listened to the curious side of himself. The mist changed shape again, this time larger, becoming a shape like a man.
The man shape mist floated over the ground, “Son,” it spoke.
Tegus in amazement couldn’t speak.
“Son,” the mist started again, “I am your father boy, and how proud I am of you. I am here to apologise for my mistake when you were born. I should never have blamed you for your mother’s death, and under no circumstances should have taken my own life. Since that day, I have been trapped as this mist, unable to move on. I approach you now for your forgiveness.”
Tegus was shocked but simply said, “I hated you for not being there, but Nanny never told me why.”
He paused in thought for a minute letting the realization of what had happened to his parent’s sink in. His father had blamed him; his mother must have died during birth, and as it became clear, he understood why Nanny had never told him.
“I don’t blame you for anything though,” he replied, “I just wish I could have known you. Also I have to know what this acorn is?”
“Ha-ha that acorn and the image of a very young me, was simply a way to bring you to me. Keep the acorn, it’s a gift and will remind you of me. Nevertheless, I wished I’d done things differently, but I cannot change the past. Tegus your Nanny loves you and was protecting you by not telling you. I saw you save her life and your own as I died. In that second, I knew you had a great power, and I know that one day you will use it. In that moment, I was proud of you and knew you would be fine,” the mist shaped father reassured Tegus.
“I forgive you, and I will see you again father,” Tegus replied.
The mist turned into the real image of his father, and Lord Bulock had a tear running down his ghostly face. “Never has a father been more proud of a son. I don’t see a 10-year-old boy. I see a great and powerful, and merciful man before me as I did that day 10 years ago. Good bye my son, until we meet again.” He smiled and began to fade!
“Father!” Tegus cried after him as he leapt forward to hold his dad, but all he got was the remainder of a ghostly essence seeping through his fingers.
“You have set me free son,” came an echo.
“Father! You will see a man of power and mercy and so will the world. I will put away childish things and embrace the world around me,” Tegus declared looking at the acorn.
A while later, Tegus appeared along the tree line covered in snow and dirt, with a look of satisfaction. He had seen his father. One thing he had always wanted to do was understand, and now he did. His nanny and maid came running out along with the ground keeper.
“You bloody scoundrel you had us all worried!” yelled the groundskeeper as his pipe somehow stayed in his mouth. “I remember your dad going missing on his tenth birthday, and we were all worried to hell. Going on about something in the woods he saw, blah-blah. Nonsense if you ask me.”
“Oh shush!” demanded the nanny, “He’s alright now.”
She brushed him off and hugged him, “don’t scare us like that though you hear, Sir.”
He looked at the old maid stood behind; she looked at him and smiled. She knew what had happened. She knew, because something similar had happened when she was the nanny to Lord Bulock. Tegus smiled at her. In that moment he knew he was more like his father than he had ever considered. He was already a match in power; he felt it inside of him. He felt the power surge, but he just didn’t know how to set it free.