Fated to rule

Dendrick

It was late evening now. Exhausted from his trip to Guenill, ranger gathered all remaining energy and strength he had left. He tried to cover the broken doors with a wardrobe, but he was too weak.  Fortunately, there was one more pair of hands that helped him moving the furniture. It almost surprised Norrick how strong the boy was, although being so exhaustipated, he wasn´t able to think about it any longer than was the of moving the wardrobe. 

Now that they were a little bit safer, guys could rest. There was just a tiny problem. Only one bed was in the building, Norrick´s. Even though he was dead tired, he let Gellerion sleep in a more comfortable place.  There was also an armchair by the fireside. He quickly lifted it as it was knocked down by the intruders.  

Comforting himself in the chair, he was staring in the direction, where Gellerion lied. The child was staring right back on him, then softly said. "Goodnight." Hearing that put a little smile on the adult, lonely man´s face. He hadn´t heard it for a long time. "Goodnight boy." Ranger´s eyes closed in a minute and after a few moments felt asleep. The boy turned on the other side and got off too. 

The next day morning. 

Gellerion was already up and with a lot of effort trying to wake Norrick. Suddenly he opened one eye and muttered. "What do you want..." it seemed like he got to sleep again. It took several attempts to bring him fully functioning, but, when the boy told him the sun is already high in the skies, he quickly got off the armchair. 

"You should have woken me up earlier." "I tried to, but it was almost impossible to do so." the boy chuckled. As he was smiling ranger look at his face. The child looked again older than in the moment he was looking at him before felt asleep. If this is going to continue, he will have a really short life.

"I am glad you are having fun, but we have got a lot of work to do. We must get on the way." with that saying, he went towards the wardrobe and waited for Gellerion to help him. He could easily do it by himself now, but little help has never harmed anyone. 

Their trip began. Luckily for both of them, there was a small, narrow path, just for two travellers going shoulder to shoulder. The track wasn´t long. Norrick usually visited Dendrick when he needed something, supplies, new cattle, materials and so on. The time during the travel was a great opportunity for conversation, but one of them wasn´t in the mood for it. 

Walking on the road, Gellerion was annoyingly asking Norrick questions, and the ranger was retorting. "How old are you?" "37." "Why are so small?" "I grow up like that." "Why do you wear the green cloak? ... 

Similar questions followed until he stopped the boy´s talking. "You know what? Let´s play a game." Gellerion was excited about playing some game, he has never ever played any before. "Alright, and what is it about?" "It´s very simple. We will be both quiet. Who will break the silence, loses."

Reaching now Dendrick´s homestead without any word leaving Gellerion´s mouth, any questions, Norrick was finally happy, but not for long. "I am sorry, I lose." the boy suddenly said, and his inquiry once again started. With a sigh, Norrick was answering all of his questions. 

After some time, the adult man silenced the boy again, this time with gesture. Something was moving between trees. He moved his hand down to the sword, preparing for possible danger and with the second one covered the child. Although the tree branches were moving, they couldn´t see anything or anybody. Norrick decided to slowly continue in their way and so he did. Slowly pushed the boy behind his back, but after several steps, the unknown motion stopped. 

Suddenly something flew around their heads. Norrick quickly unsheathed his sword and hewed at it. Nothing happened. No wound. No blood. It was a shadow of some powerful being. The shadow formed into a woman with purple eyes, no other details could be seen, and quickly disappeared in the bushes. 

"What was it?" Gellerion asked with fear in his voice. "I don´t know. The better question would be who was it? ... but don't worry, it's gone" saying that ranger took boy´s hand and quickened their march. 

Soon after the incident with the strange creature, they reached the end of the forest. Not far away from the forest, maybe 1 mile, was the large homestead.   "Do you see it?" asked Norrick "There is our destination. There is Dendrick´s house." 

It was situated in sufficiently distant from the forest so the creatures wouldn´t hunt owner´s animals and also close to the river, so there was enough source of drinking water for everyone there. As they were approaching the complex of buildings, several tall oaks appeared from behind. All of the barns and dwellings were built from the nearby forest´s dark wood. 

Getting in front of the large main gate, they spotted a huge man, three times higher than Norrick, ploughing a field. With a lot of effort, both of them pushed on the entrance so they could go through. After they made it, Norrick headed right towards the man while Gellerion just stayed, being scared of him. 

The ranger greeted an old friend. "Hello, Dendrick. How are you?  

Compared to Norrick, Dendrick was a giant. Nearly 2.3 metres tall man raised his head and smiled, seeing an old friend. It was almost impossible to see the expression in his face, as he was very hairy and not only the face was covered with hairs, even his arms and legs were enormously hirsute. 

"Good afternoon, friend," he responded heartily. "Afternoon?" Norrick quickly looked at, where the sun was. "Yes, you are right. I guess the journey took us longer, then I expected." 

"Us?" now it was Dendrick who was in confusion. Looking in the direction, where was the young boy standing, he understood now. "Who is he?" 

"This question is on my mind for some time too, my friend. He doesn´t know, but I found him in a devastated village as a baby two days ago."