The Foundling

was walking through the yellow paved streets of Trinsic late in the evening, as suddenly a strange young man addressed me with polite, but colloquial words. I greeted him and looked at him suspiciously. He could have been just one of those thieves again, so I was careful. With a weak and trembling voice he asked me for help. He didn't seem to have eaten for days. I stepped closer and reached him a loaf of bread. Greedily he devoured my gift and thanked me.

There was a strange look in his eyes I just cannot describe. Somehow I had the feeling I had met this poor man before. There was something like confidence, although my brain told me that this was not possible. However, I decided to sit down near the river beside him and talk with him for a while.

He told me a lot about himself. He had neither parents nor a name, and everybody just called him the River Child. His parents were said to be killed during an orc attack while he was just a little boy. People had found him at the river bank of Trinsic. An inkeeper's pity was aroused, so he took the child with him. He had lived a long time in the Rusty Anchor, where the innkeeper had been giving him meal and dwelling in the stable, while the boy was doing all the hard work for him. He was witty and clever, full of ideas and fantasy, but he had never had a chance to live his life.
I really could feel with this guy, and he was a good lad. So I made him an offer:

"River Child," I said "I am getting older and I'm not as strong as I was in my younger days. I really could need somebody to help me also accompany me. I don't know why, but I trust thee, and I want to give thee a chance to change thy life. Thou'rt clever and I could give thou all thou wouldst need to live. Travelling with me can be dangerous, so thou shouldst think about it carefully."

He stared at me wordlessly, his eyes wide open. He just couldn't believe it.
"Noble Lord," he shouted "you would really do this for me, gag me with a spoon? Of course I would follow you and assist ya whenever I can. Totally fer shure! How can I ever thank ya?"

"First of all I will give thou a real name. I will call you from now on McBykar, the Man from the River. Follow me, and I will first equip thou with some cheap armor."

03/98

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