The Young One

January was worn to the bone. Staring straight ahead, not really seeing anything, something in front of him moved. He blinked and looked again. No, there was nothing there, but he could have sworn an orange blur had passed before his eyes. Sunder’s jaw dropped open in shock. He gathered his wits and started jumping up and down. Could this boy be the one? No human had seen a Mythit in over nine hundred seasons. Still, the prophecy of the Seer of the North had spoken of a boy. Sunder frowned. This boy standing in front of him was at least six feet tall. The yellow spiked crown of his own head barely reached this young man’s waist. Boy indeed! A bumbling colt was more like it! January sighed and continued up the path. He needed water and he had no idea as to the how’s of finding it. He could picture himself reaching the mountains and looking back down. From that vantage point, he hoped he could see a stream. With that thought in mind, he looked up and cursed. A low hanging tree limb smacked him right across the forehead. Sunder burst into outrageous laughter as the young human landed flat on his back. He jumped up on the boy’s chest and laughed down into his face. Laughter died in an instant. Ice blue eyes gazed up at him and this time Sunder knew that the boy had seen something. January lay perfectly still. For a brief moment a pair of slanted, glowing, purple eyes had been staring straight down at him. He could have sworn the eyes were laughing. Sunder took a deep breath and calmed his racing heart. ‘You are the one. You really are the one!’ “I’m the what?” Jan blurted out. He thought he heard something. Maybe he was losing his mind. He shook his head and sat up. “Yea, that’s all I need. I’ll go back to Window and walk around talking to myself. Then people will throw coins and food and I won’t have to steal!” Laughter welled up inside of him as he thought about the old beggars and crazy people from Window. He sobered as he thought. They had been beggars and thieves all of their lives. He wasn’t going to be like that! He would not end up old and useless wandering around cities at night! Sunder gasped as the boy sat up. Long blond hair flew right through his face. Sunder rolled his eyes at the ethereal sensation. Only in the presence of humans. Mythits were corporeal just like any other creature on the face of Lyre. Only when humans were present did they fade. It was part of the spell that surrounded Mirshol. No matter where in Lyre any Mythit was, they would fade in the presence of a human. Only The Young One, spoken of in the prophecy, could change that. Sunder knew that human was sitting right here before him. Sunder turned and frowned. The boy was digging one finger in his ear trying to extricate wax. January sighed and climbed to his feet. No, he wasn’t going to die old and poor in a city. He was probably going to die of thirst in a forest full of fruit trees! ‘Head off to your left and walk two hundred steps.’ January turned his head, “What?” He gazed around as he turned in a circle. “Is someone here?” Sunder frowned as he wondered what it would take to knock the boy into the proper frame of mind to perceive him. He grinned. That tree branch was a good start! January shrugged and headed off of the trail. It couldn’t hurt, could it? The trail was getting thinner and less worn with every passing hour. He might as well make his own trail, right? As he passed through the trees, he snatched an apple out of his pack. Three days and nothing but apples. Oh well, he had lived on apples before. He had even tried to sell apples. Window was the source of fresh and bottled fruit for the entire northern region of Lyre. Every spring Traders from both Schools would come to Window and buy wagon loads of fresh and bottled fruit. With the help of the other street urchins, January had tried to pick and sell apples. They quickly learned that the market was closed to them. The city vendors had paid the Market Guard to protect their interests. Two weeks of hard work had ended up in the lake. January scowled through the trees as he remembered the way the guards laughed as they destroyed their little booth on the edge of town. The apple core January held whizzed through the trees as he sighed in frustration. Water. He stopped all motion and listened. He heard a stream! Suddenly parched to the point of misery, he started running through the trees. Ducking and dodging branches, he listened as the splashing of water drew closer. Sunder faded in and out behind the boy as he followed. They were almost to the water. He watched the lad toss his pack to the ground as they reached a small waterfall. Sunder grinned as the boy simply fell face first into the pool. January gulped water as he floated face down beneath the fall. Slowly gaining his feet, he dug his toes into the pebble bed and luxuriated in the cold mountain stream. As his mind and body calmed, he rolled his head trying to ease the muscles in the back of his neck. Eyes closed, he listened to sounds of the forest. Then he went completely still. How many times had he been in the market and knew that a guard was watching? He was gifted with the ability to know when someone was studying him. He knew it right now. Very slowly he turned and nonchalantly passed his gaze through the trees. From the corner of his eye, he saw movement. Something small and orange blurred before his eyes as he turned to look. Heart racing, he wondered what it could be. Sunder felt himself fade as the eye path of the boy touched him. What was it going to take? January watched a fish jump and forgot all about seeing things. He climbed the bank and rummaged through his pack. With a hook and line, he rolled a rock and found a grub. Tying the line to a tree, he slung the hook into the water and went back to the clearing to start a fire. The thought of fish would usually make his stomach turn. He was absolutely sure that he had eaten more fish than any other person alive. Right now, a fish would taste wonderful. Anything but apples! Sunder sat down and watched. Maybe it would just take time. The boy was piling sticks for his fire. Even as the boy began the task of striking flint and steel, Sunder felt himself materialize. The Mythit realized that starting a fire must be second nature to the boy. The mind behind those bright blue eyes must be lost in thought. January glanced up and shouted in surprise. An orange, furry creature that couldn’t have been more than three feet tall was sitting on a rock. A shock of bright yellow hair that spiked to all angles grew from the crown of the little round head. Glowing purple eyes blinked back in surprise. Almost as quickly as he saw it, the creature vanished. “Wait! What are you?” He didn’t need to ask. He knew now what it was that he had seen. A Mythit! There was a Mythit right here in this clearing! He thought about all of the funny stories that he had heard about Mythits. Tricksters, pranksters, they were said to live for the fun of playing practical jokes. But they were a myth! Surely no one had ever seen a Mythit before! If his stomach wasn’t rumbling, and if he didn’t feel so dead tired, he would have wondered if he were dreaming. Mythits, dragons, werewolves, wizards. Myths! They couldn’t be real, could they? He had heard fantastic stories of dragons and gold and wizards and magic. He had heard many stories about wizards fighting demons. It was said that Blood Plain used to be the greatest forest in Lyre until it was destroyed by the magical battles between the wizards of Lyre and the demons of Kringe. Mythits were supposed to be able to show wizards how to be more powerful. He wondered if there really were Mythit trained wizards. ‘That, young human, is impossible. A wizard hasn’t seen a Mythit in over nine hundred seasons.’