At some point or another, Thomas had drifted off to sleep. When he woke, he smelled weird stuff, and felt really stiff. He tried to sit up but fell back down when he felt the pain in his chest.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Said a male voice.

Thomas opened his eyes to see a boy of about 13 peering down at him. “They never told me how you got hurt, but it looks painful. My ma told me to watch after you while she attended to other people. So, what’d you do? Trip and fall on a knife? A bunch of soldiers came with you from away. They looked like they had been in a fight. Were you with them when they fought?”

“Yeah.” He croaked.

“How old are you anyway? What is a like 12-year-old doing with them?”

“I’m 10.”

“10! Geez kid. What was you doing to get hurt like this?”

“Fightin’ bandits.” He said.

“Don’t lie to me. Tell me the truth, it can’t be that embarrassing.” He smiled.

“Stop bothering the poor kid. Now that he’s awake you can go do your chores.”

“Aw. Ma.” He complained, leaving. “See you later kid.”

The woman who had spoken a minute ago came over. “That was James. How are you feeling?”

“Not bad. Can I get up?”

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

“But can I?”

“I suppose, if you have to. I’ll help you get up.” Carefully, she helped him up, and he swung his legs over the bed. “Careful now.”

Thomas gently eased himself to his feet. For a minute he leaned himself against the woman, she was much taller than him. At the age of 10, he was only 4 feet, 3 inches.

After about a minute, he had himself standing on his own. He went to walk out the door, but then stopped. “Do you know where I can find Commander Liam?”

“He’s at the mess hall with Commander Jin. If you go next door, you can ask my son to take you there.”

“Alright. Thank you!” He said walking out the door.

He went to the house beside which he just came out of and knocked. The boy named James opened the door. “Already walking, are you? Guess you must’ve not been hurt that bad.”

“Your mother said that you’d be able to show me to the mess hall.”

He grinned. “Whatever will get me out of chores, I’ll take.”

He started walking in a direction but slowed down when he noticed that Thomas couldn’t keep up. “What’s your name kid?”

“Thomas.”

“Well Thomas, welcome to Anray. The best town south of Windum. Why do you need to go to the mess hall anyway? My ma woulda given you some food.”

“I need to meet someone there.”

“Alright. Here you are. The grand mess hall. Would you like me to go with you?”

“If you feel like you need to.”

“Well I’d rather not have you pass out.”

With that, they both entered the mess hall, Thomas kind of limping. The whole hall went quiet when they noticed him. Then they broke in to whispers.

Out of nowhere came Commander Liam. “Thomas! It’s great to see you walking about. You’ve been out all night.”

“Have I?” James was looking at him, surprised that the commander knew who Thomas was.

“Why don’t you and your friend come and sit with me and the soldiers.” Thomas nodded, and James followed with his mouth hanging wide open.

They sat down at the table that had many soldiers and even Commander Jin, but the group made room for the two boys and the commander. Halef turned to Thomas. “We thought you were a goner for sure Thomas. You should’ve seen yourself.”

Thomas grinned. “Bet I’ll have a mad scar for the girls now.”

Everyone broke out in grins, but James was confused. How did all these people know Thomas? And why did they seem friendly?

“Are you ever going tell us how you made all those horses trip up?” Asked a soldier.

“Yeah. I’m sure we’d all like to know.” Said someone sitting at a different table.

Everyone went quiet because they wanted to know what Thomas was about to say. “Thread.” Everyone looked confused. “While all of you were too busy hitting the bandits, I jumped off my horse and tied up their feet, so when they went to split up, they all just got entangled.”

“You got that close to horses’ hooves?” Asked James wonderingly.

“That’s what you were doing?” Asked Liam laughing. “Genius! I can’t believe that you didn’t get trampled.”

Afterwards, Thomas ate some soup, while he heard everyone else trade stories. “You weren’t lying… were you?” Asked James quietly. Thomas shook his head.

After several hours it was time for the long-waited party, and Liam drug Thomas to the bar. “I’m not old enough.” Thomas said.

“I know, but if you want to become a knight, you probably won’t have a chance to try some until you’re an actual knight, and we know your father wouldn’t give you any if his life depended on it. So, you might as well try it while you can.” Liam handed Thomas a mug of ale.

He took a sip of it and decided he didn’t like it. “I didn’t figure you would. That’s alright though. I’m not a big fan of it either.”

The night passed rather quickly, and before he knew it, it was time to turn in. All night, he had been surrounded by girls’ way over his age, boys who looked up to him, and men who asked him all kinds of questions. Even some woman came to him, offering their daughter’s hand in marriage. He rejected them all though: he wasn’t ready to get married!

It was a nice thing when he finally got the chance to be alone and just think things over.