The Unwilling Adventurer (The Unwilling #1) Read Free

help another less fortunate soul than I," the old man replied. "However, if you would like to see my credentials-"
    The old man held out one wizened hand and a bright blue flame shot forth from his palm. Damskov skittered back and Fred's eyes grew wide with wonder. The lord now looked at the old man not with hatred but with fear. "Castor!" he exclaimed. Fred was confused; he'd never before heard such a word used.
    The old man closed his fingers into his palm and the light was extinguished. "Perhaps another time I may give you a better demonstration, but right now we are in a hurry." He toddled past Damskov, who jumped out of the way, and held out his hand to Fred. It was the same had that held the light, and the boy cringed back for fear of being burned. The old man chuckled. "Are you planning on crawling out of the manor, or would you prefer to walk?" Fred preferred to walk, but he scrambled up on his feet without assistance from the old man. His new master wasn't insulted by the refused hand; those old eyes merely looked on the boy with interest and admiration. Then he turned back to Damskov and bowed his head. "Good day, my lord."
    The old man walked out of the room, followed closely by the girl. Fred hesitated until he saw the fury return to Damskov's eyes. Such an insult had put him in a worse mood than before, so Fred scrambled out of the room and followed the pair out of the manor. The old man led them all toward the fields and Fred's house; the boy himself followed glumly behind the other two.
    The moment they were out of earshot of the manor the girl let loose her opinion. "What a stupid oaf!" the girl complained. She turned her furious eyes on her older companion who walked by her side. "And why did you give him so much money? Have we any left?"
    "Perhaps that is better left for another time when we are at a greater distance from this estate," the man replied.
    She stiffened and looked around; a few chickens and a pig wandered along the road but no one else. "Do you believe he has knights?"
    The old man glanced over his shoulder at their follower. "If we want the answer to that question we should ask our young friend here."
    The girl looked back and curled her lips up in a sneer of disgust. "I would rather take my chances with the unknown than this farm boy. I doubt he even knows what a knight is, much less if he's seen one around here."
    Fred scowled back at the girl. "I know what a knight is, and I know Lord Damskov has six who answer to him," he replied.
    "Then that is six problems I would rather avoid if you two would hold your arguing until later," the old man spoke up. The group arrived at Fred's home and stopped at the door; the old man turned to Fred and gestured to the entrance. "We haven't much time. Take what you can comfortably carry and we shall be off."
    Fred paled at the thought of leaving his home, but Damskov had made it quite clear he was no longer welcomed. He reluctantly stepped inside and looked around his simple hovel. The bare earthen floor was well-packed by his feet, the table on his left filled with all the interesting rocks he'd found in the fields he tended. There was the shelf of food and the small hole in the floor where he kept his store of vegetables for the winter. All of it welcomed him home to a place he would no longer call home.
    Before him was the small fireplace, and Fred wandered over to it. He ran his hand over the hearth, blackened with countless fires. He made many by himself, but others had been with his parents. With his separation from that house he felt a separation from their memories, and from them.
    His new lord came up behind him and set a gentle hand on his shoulders. "We must hurry on our way."
    Fred didn't know where the way would lead, but he understood he had to follow his new lord. He packed his spare clothes, food and the smallest of his trinkets, and wrapped them all in the blanket that covered his straw bed. The others waited for him outside, and the old man