THE WISHING WELL

Nye made his way slowly through the town square, it was a pleasant place, merchants and customers smiling welcomingly. He examined a merchants wares and bought a small bobble that the mans mother had made, and that he had been trying to sell for years. The man did not tell him this, but Nye knew.
Next, he tossed a silver coin into the hat of a man whose small daughter was twirling and dancing on a reed mat. This man had no food for tonight, and Nye knew he only had one good leg, and could not find a job in town to support his fair-haired children.
Now Nye found himself standing on the doorstep of a temple. As a priest came down the stairs, Nye caught his eye and instantly he knew that this was the temple of a false god. The priest had never seen a miracle, nor had he even felt the presence of his god. Nye pitied him, and so he laid a gold coin in the offering plate.
Aneurin spent most of his days like this, no matter which town he happened to be in that night. He had been searching for nearly two years. Searching for an old man with grey hair that was said to be a wizard. That is all he knew about his quarry, that and that he cursed Nye the day he was born. Perhaps 'cursed' is a strong word, and truthfully, Nye did not always see it that way. Sometimes he would even say he was blessed. Sometimes.
Strolling deeper into the town looking for an Inn, Nye turned down an alleyway. Out of the shadows stepped, a burly man dressed in a bedraggled brown tunic with a long knife strapped to his side. The man planted himself in the middle of the alley and crossed his great sinewy arms. Nye tried to step around him but the man shifted to intercept him again.
Confused, nervous, Nye whispered, "Friend, let me pass." not looking into the eyes of the man before him. He did not wish to know more about this man if he must fight him.
"Your friend I am not and you shall not pass." The mans voice was deep and cracked, meant to be frightening. Just then, another man of slightly lesser stature came out from behind Nye and stood to block his escape route. His opponent drew his knife and demanded the money purse that was tied to Aneurins belt. It would have been much easier to pickpocket him, but these men apparently had no skill in that delicate area.
"I cannot give you my money," Nye spoke slightly bolder than before. "and I do not wish to fight you." The large man laughed as though Nye had said something humorous, this caused the muscles in his chest to ripple beneath his slightly exposed skin. This alone was threatening. Nye drew his blade, the hilt of which had been covered by his traveling cloak. It was a full length double sided broad sword, dangerous even in the hands of an amateur, and Aneurin was anything but that. Nye half expected his opponents to cower at the sight of his fathers blade, many had in the past, but there were two of them and one of him, and the big man did not cower. In fact, he moved forward with his blade ready to strike out.
But then Nye made the mistake of looking into the other mans eyes, and there he saw that the mans name was Frayne, and that he had three children waiting for him at home, and that he mobbed people only because he had no job, and his wife was ill, and he must feed his little ones. His eldest son was named Joeb, and that was the other man attacking him. He was an athlete, and was in love with a pretty girl named Elysia. They were to be married as soon as Joeb earned enough money. Nye lowered his sword. He couldn't do it, damn it, he never could!
However, Frayne, and his son, were already caught up in the task that lay before them. This was just another traveler foolish enough to take the back roads. They did not want to kill him, and they would have avoided it, but the man had drawn a sword, and he looked experienced with it, and so instead of loosing their own lives they would take his. Frayne plunged his knife into Aneurins chest.

(

Kaylee left her fathers Inn around noon to run an important errand. The Inn had run out of fresh linen and her mother had sent her out to buy some in the market, and to stop and pick up some more milk along the way. The market was fairly busy and by the time she arrived at the seamstress booth she had run out of the purple linen her mother proffered. Kaylee picked up a jug of the milk she needed and then hurried off to the shop on the other end of town where they were certain to have some linen that the tailor had not taken into market.
Kaylee smiled and nodded to the people in the streets. She passed a booth where a very happy man was selling bobbles of all kinds and as she passed, he exclaimed loudly to an old woman, "I finally sold it!" Next, she noticed a middle-aged man with a cane smiling as he polished a silver coin and watched his small daughter twirling and dancing for money, "We'll eat tonight Mia!" he exclaimed. Then she came to the Temple of the God Medwin. She hated that place; it always smelled of burnt offerings and salty tears.

She debated taking the alley to the tailors, her parents always cautioned her against that but nothing had ever happened to her before. Besides, she had a power her parents could not comprehend. She knew she was safe no matter where she went. Taking a step into the dark alleyway, she heard a noise up ahead. Yelling? She began to walk quickly, confident and yet nervous at the same time.
Then she saw just ahead of her what appeared to be a mobbing. There was a fair-haired man in a traveling cloak who looked no older then her, and he held a sword out before him that glinted in the sunlight filtering down through the buildings. There were two men flanking him and obviously threatening him. Suddenly they moved forward intent on killing him and Kaylee clapped her hand to her mouth as she watched the man being attacked lowering his blade and one of the attackers driving his knife clean through the smaller man. The two assailants had grabbed the traveler's money purse and run off even before he had fully hit the ground.
Kaylee stood there for a moment in shock and fear before running forward. She knelt before the injured man and franticly tried to staunch the blood flowing from his wound. He gasped and chocked, for a moment his eyes met hers and hope flashed across his face. It was almost as though he knew . . . what she was capable of. Then he lay still, and she knew he was dead.
In that moment she had to make a dreadful choice, she knew she could help him, but what if she did what would that be doing? What if he was a notorious criminal who had instigated the fight, and was planning to later murder young innocent girls who walk through allies alone? She searched franticly for something that would prove he was a good person, worth saving. He had a small bobble of no apparent worth or . . . taste in his cloak and also a small pendant that is given to those that give an offering to the temple of Medwin. However, other than that his pockets were empty . . . except wait! She found a tiny frame carved lovingly out of oak. In it was the portraits of an old man with long grey hair and an equally long grey beard holding a small baby boy and another young boy standing at the mans side holding his wizened hand. That was all she needed. Proof that somewhere someone loved him, and that meant it was worth it. Closing her eyes, she simply wished.
Please, she prayed to someone somewhere, let him live. I wish that he would live.
She opened her eyes, and almost synchronized he gasped and opened his. She helped him sit as he gasped and coughed. As soon as he stopped he ripped open the front of his tunic and gasped again. His wound was gone. All that remained of it was a bloodstain. He looked up at her, (not quite in the eye, but as close as he dared) but he did not speak.
"Arnt you going to ask me if I'm a witch?" she mused quietly. She was going to add that she could just as easy wish him back to the way he was but she didn't, there was something in his eyes surprisingly not fear, more like recognition. He shook his head vigorously.
"You're, you're just like me!" he very nearly squealed with excitement.
"I'm afraid I don't understand sir." She was almost as shaken as he was now, leaning back from him she was about to wish away their uncomfortable meeting when he stopped her.
"My name is Aneurin, Nye, I was cursed, at my birth. And I know that you are just like me."
Cursed? She had never seen it like that, perhaps, just perhaps she was cursed? What of it?
"You can wish things into being, just now, you wished . . . me . . . into being!" He was excited, he had been searching for nearly two years and he had never encountered anything like this before!
"What makes you think that . . ." she hesitated, a lie already on her lips. However, she stopped. For a reason unknown to her presently, she believed this . . . Aneurin, she trusted him.
"A wizard, my nurse tells me, was in the birthing chamber when I was born. He cast a spell, and from that day, I could see things no other man could. Looking into your eyes, I don't see blue or green or brown, that's just about the only thing I don't know about you, I don't know what color your eyes are. But I see everything that motivates you, your soul, as it were." He smiled at her, because he knew that when she was six she had realized she could have a pony if she wanted one. Now she was looking strangely confused at him, cursed. She still could not get over that. Am I cursed? She had never really thought about where her unusual power had come from, sure she had contemplated it but she had attributed it to a divine being of some sort, but a wizard? Bestowing a cruel curse? Nevertheless, there was something in the way this man looked to her that made her think he might be telling her the truth.
"These last two years I have been searching for the wizard who cursed me, so that I may know his reasoning. There must be a reason that I was chosen for this life! I must have a purpose! So must you!"
What had just happened here? Kaylee had done a good deed, raised a man from the dead, suddenly her whole world had been thrown into darkness and doubt, and she was still on her knees! She stood and he staggered to his feet, still shaken for obvious reasons.
"I ... I'm sorry." He clapped a hand to his forehead, his head was pounding and he felt unsteady on his feet. "I'm afraid I've scared you to pieces and gotten too far ahead of myself." He stumbled and hesitating a moment, Kaylee stooped and wrapped an arm around his waist to help support him.
"We can talk . . . later. For now, I should take you to my families Inn. My mother would be pleased to have you as a guest." He agreed and she helped him along.

Kaylee what happened!" Kaylees' mother was a tall slim woman with dark hair and a warm smile, she wore a purple apron around her waist and she wiped her hands distractedly on it as she helped Kaylee and Aneurin into her kitchen. Nye sat in a whicker chair placed near the fire and Aileen, Kaylees mother, brought him some warm soup.
"This is Aneurin mother; I helped him after he was mugged."
"Are you wounded boy?" the kindly woman asked and Nye glanced at Kaylee before shaking his head in the negative.
"Shaken though I suppose, and with good reason! Don't worry boy, your safe in my Inn." She patted him reassuringly on the shoulder and then bustled off to help the cook finish the afternoon meal. Kaylee skipped out the kitchen door and returned a minute later dangling a key in front of Nye's face.
"The best suite we have, it'll suet you well for tonight. I'll show you where it is."
Nye reached out and took hold of her arm, gently, "I have no way of paying for all this." He admitted, "a few silver coins but little else of value. I'm accustomed to doing odd jobs to earn my stay and perhaps some extra money for traveling, if you have anything you need done . . ." he trailed off and smiled wanly.
"I wouldn't dream of putting you to work yet Aneurin, so for now, just rest."
He nodded his thanks and she led him out of the kitchen and through the common room to the stairs that would lead them to his room. It was on the third floor of the Inn, (there were only four floors) a large corner suite with a bed on one end of it close to a wash stand and a window, and on the other end a hearth and two small chairs. There was a woolen rug spread out over the wood of the floor and matching red curtains draped over the window. It was by far the most splendid room he had ever stayed in. and the most expensive.
"Are you sure there are no paying customers who could use this room?" Nye wondered.
"Remember, money isn't a problem for me. I have all I need." Kaylee smiled, it was nice to speak freely with someone about her abilities. Maybe he was like her, after all. He nodded his thanks once more and she could tell that he was nearly to the point of collapsing with exhaustion, though the sun was not yet below the distant mountain range. Who can say how tiring it might be to be raised from the dead? She would have thought that she would be the exhausted one, since it had been she who did most of the raising. She shrugged and smiling left him staring longingly at the comfortable bed.
She all but ran back down the stairs to confer with her mother about their new guest. She could not talk to her father about such things as men but her mother would surely love to hear about her adventure in the alley. She had told her mother about her unusual gift a long time ago, her parents were the only ones besides Nye who knew the truth. She would have been happy to live her entire life like that if Nye had not come to stir her up and make her wonder. What was her purpose? She doubted even her well- meaning mother knew.

(

Nye had wasted no time after Kaylee left him; in getting his much need rest and relaxation. He stopped only a moment to shed his cloak, rucksack and tunic, dropping the blood stained clothing into the washbasin he poured some water into it from a bucket nearby. He closed the curtains and slid, exhausted, between the sheets of his comfortable bed. He rested his head on the feather pillow and let himself sink into the downy mass that, when he closed his eyes, felt simply cloud like. He had never been able to afford such indulgences in his life and now, it felt like he had died and gone to heaven. He almost laughed at the irony in that thought, and for a moment, he tried to remember what it felt like to be dead. Nothing like this he admitted, more cold and . . . he shuddered . . . empty. Putting the thoughts out of his mind, he allowed himself to drift into a trancelike slumber. He was in fact dead to the world.

When Nye awoke, it was light in his room. Kaylee sat beside the bed in one of the small chairs (formerly positioned near the hearth). She sat with her face very near his and when he opened his eyes, she filled him with her presence.
"Green." She told him. Aneurin blinked uncomprehending, "My eyes, they're green." She finished and he slumped back into his pillow again. "I was thinking about it non-stop last night and I just wanted you to know that." She said and then she stood and began collecting things she had brought in with her. Obviously, she had been sitting there for a long time. Nye sat up in his bed, more alert now, and followed her with his gaze.
"I gave your tunic to a maid and she promised she could get the blood out. For now you can wear one of my fathers." She handed him a well-worn russet colored tunic and smiled. "You've missed breakfast, but I'll tell my mother you're awake and she'll make you something special. I'll wait in the kitchen for you."
Nye tried to form the words of thank you in his mouth but he must have slept with his mouth open for part of the night for his tongue and throat were dry and soar, by the time he had the words out she had bustled away out the door. Shrugging wryly Nye got out of bed and pulled the tunic over his head. He fastened his belt around his waist and swung his rucksack over his shoulder, taking only a moment to pause at the washstand and splash some water on his face and slick back his hair. Ready to face the world now, he made his way down to the Inns common room.
Nye guessed that it was early afternoon by the lack of traffic in the common room. He peered inside the kitchen but couldn't see Kaylee, her mother was there, cooking something, the smell of it made Nye's stomach rumble greedily. Aileen looked up and smiled at him.
"Find yourself a seat boy, its almost ready." Aneurin nodded his thanks and walked back into the near empty common room. Choosing a table near the grand hearth, he took a seat and waited. Soon Kaylee herself brought him a plate of spiced potatoes and duck eggs. Sitting herself across from him at his table she watched expectantly while he ate, sparing only a moment for a thank you. All through his meal she sat silent and staring, as if she was trying to read his soul through his eyes. Ironically enough. Nevertheless, apparently, she did not see anything special, when he was finished his meal she sat back, disgruntled, and folded her arms across her chest.
"Good food." Nye said quietly, feeling more than a little uncomfortable.
"I wished last night that I could see your soul, since you've seen mine, but there seems to be limitations I didn't know about attached to this 'curse'." Nye frowned, Kaylee was obviously used to getting her way in matters where her abilities were concerned, Nye himself had never noticed limitations on his gift, though he was sure there must be.
"What do we do now Nye," Kaylees voice sounded strained when only moments ago she had been perfectly happy, or at least content. Aneurin shrugged and placed his hand on top of Kaylees slender one.
"We can figure this out. somehow, I've been searching for so long, but now that I met you there's renewed hope." he swallowed, this was probably as good a time as ever to ask her. "We need to stick together, maybe, if you came with me . . ." he didn't finish. She pulled her hand back and stood up; taking his dishes from him she hurried off to the kitchen, leaving him alone in the empty common room. He threw his hands up in confusion and leaving his seat spinning, he left.

Aneurin found himself walking aimlessly through the market, careful to avoid any alleyways. He didn't look up as he went, so he didn't notice the needy people all around him, nor did he perceive any troubled souls in the market this morning, if he had only looked up he would have noticed them. However, Kaylee was weighing ever so heavily on his mind, pushing away all other thoughts and taking up his entire being.
He stopped at a merchant's booth and glanced at his wares. He noticed a small flowery brooch and absently wondered what he could bring Kaylee as both a peace offering and a thank you for saving his life, but what can you give to someone who could have anything? He sighed sadly. Perhaps it would be best if I simply left. He thought to himself as he picked up the brooch and felt the carefully hammered silver and inlaid stones.
Suddenly he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and gooseflesh rose on his arms. He forgot about the brooch he held, and forgot about Kaylee, he knew that feeling! Whipping around Nye searched the faces of the people around him. He was careful to look each person in the eye and he was filled with memories, deep and rich in history.
He knew that the woman to his left had two sons and a husband in the Royal guard, he had sent her and the children here to keep them safe from those who held a grudge against the King, he was supposed to meet her in this small city three weeks ago. She feared he was dead.
He knew that the man standing behind her was named Foerlan, he was an angler by trade and his plump little wife and sturdy young son waited for him in his riverboat not an hour away from the market. The family was on a trip to visit Foerlans mother-in-law. They had only stopped to freshen their supplies. Foerlan hated his mother-in -law and was staling as much as he could.
He even knew that the merchant whose booth he stood near was suspicious of him, of everyone near his merchandise, because of a certain incident a few days ago when a street urchin stole a necklace with a ruby in it.
And then Nye saw him, an old man with long grey hair and an equally long grey beard. He wore a richly embroidered travelers cloak and when Nye looked into his eyes, he saw great pools of blue and grey. He could tell nothing else about this man that he had seen often in his search, in fact, this was the man he was searching for. Nye was sure of it.
"Wait!" Aneurin screamed at the top of his lungs when the old man began to turn away from him and walk in the opposite direction. Moving as fast as he could Nye pushed his way towards his retreating quarry, "Please wait!" Nye could feel himself coming closer to the old wizard, he could feel his stomach churning and his lungs screaming, but then a burly man to his right reached out and caught Nye's arm, holding him back as his quarry disappeared into the throngs of people. "No!" not again!
"I've got him, where do you think you're going lad?" the man held Nye still until Aneurin stopped struggling. The merchant from the booth Nye had just been standing by pushed his way over to them, his face was beat red and he clenched and unclenched his hands at his sides furiously.
"You stole my brooch you cretin!" Nye looked up and he had tears in his eyes, I lost him again, I lost him! How long will I search before I find him again? The merchant huffed angrily and slapped Nye across the face. "Where is it you filthy urchin!" Nye snapped out of his revere, coming back to the world he was in. Brooch? Suddenly remembering the small brooch he had been looking at Nye looked down at his hand. He opened it and passed the merchant the small flowery piece of jewelry. There was a red impression on his palm from gripping the small silver thing too hard.
"I . . .I'm sorry, I forgot I was holding it." The angry merchant snatched his brooch out of Nye's hand and glared angrily at him. He nodded his thanks to the burly man who had caught the "thief".
"I should have you arrested boy. Be gone, and I hope for your sake I don't see you here again." Nye rubbed his arm where the man had held him gingerly, and made his way back to the Inn.