The Unknown child.
By John Robert Sermon


Chapter One: The Boy.



Covered in mud from the waist down and looking like he‘d had his brain removed, the boy was wandering the dark forest. He could have only been sixteen or seventeen years of age and was very dirty. He wore loose pants which seemed to be made of wool that hung off him and a shirt that fitted only a little better. The shirt however was made of the smoothest leather and had a pattern painstakingly sown into it. The boy was clinging to the shirt for dear life.
‘Why are you wandering the dark with no foot wear at this late time?’ Asked the knight. The boy looked up at him with a curiosity.
‘The Dark?’ He replied. The knight noticed that the boy spoke very clearly and had authority behind his voice beyond his years.
‘The Dark is the forest you currently occupy.’ Said the knight. ‘It is said the Dark possesses a great dragon who guards a sacred tomb. No one enters the dark without at least a ten strong garrison behind them.’
‘I don’t think garrison is the correct word to use. Army would have been sufficient. And where’s your “garrison”?’ Replied the boy. His tone was very matter of fact and didn’t wash well with the knight. The knight recovered.
‘Be that as it may, I’ll take you to the castle and get you cleaned up,’ He said trying to conceal his anger. He picked the boy up and carried him cradled in his arms out of the forest.
Once out of the forest the boy noticed the ground was covered with the clearest grass as if nobody had ever walked on it before. The boy noticed something eerie about the seemingly clear grass. It seemed to move on its own. There was no wind that night and the moon was extremely bright in the clear winter sky. Were the knight had walked the boy looked behind to notice that the ground rippled. The grass moved around and swirled until the footprints were gone.
‘Self preserving grass?’ Exclaimed the boy looking astonished.
‘It’s known as the “Scary Green” to most souls across this great land. The given name for it is “Gramineae’s thoughts” because its agreed that the grass is thinking all the time of how to better itself. The grass changes every year. As in it reinvents itself as not to bore the people.’
‘Hmm….’ Replied the boy.
‘Hmm? That’s all you can say? You’ve not seen this before then?’ Asked the knight.
‘No. Self preserving grass.’ The boy said as he gave the grass a nod out of what the knight could only describe as respect. ‘Its agreed by who?’ asked the boy, who the knight noticed was becoming slow with the continued affects of fatigue.
‘You’ll see.’ The knight said as he adjusted the boy who promptly made himself comfortable in the knight’s strong arms and closed his eyes.
The boy awoke with a start and the sound of loud bang. He found himself in a huge four poster bed with what felt like silk for sheets and the cover also. The silk or whatever it was also draped over the whole bed as if to hide him away. He jumped out of his bed on top of his covers to discover he was wearing a white t-shirt and pants that he‘d never worn before.
‘MY CLOTHES!’ He shouted at the top of his voice and pulled the silk drape away and threw it on the floor. This, he found, relieved some tension and he calmed himself down to help solve the problem of his missing garments. He could hear somebody walking outside his door. The room he was in was only big enough for the bed and a table. He grabbed the door, which he found to be unlocked, and threw it open to find a worried looking women standing there. She was wearing the boy’s leather t-shirt and a long skirt almost down to the floor.
‘My humble esquire.’ She said as she bowed low.
‘I’m sorry I had to wear your t-shirt esquire. I was carrying all these plates it only seemed efficient to put the t-shirt on to free up me hands.’ He was now leaning against the frame of the door looking at the women with a slight grin on his face.
‘Can I have it back then?’ The boy asked. She looked at him for short second
‘Yes sir. Sorry. Sorry. Immediately.’ Said the women very quickly. She put the plaits down and pulled the t-shirt off to reveal that she was wearing just a bra underneath.
‘Oh sorry. Sorry.’ She gasped as she ran off down the long corridor and disappeared down what looked like stairs to the right.
The boy put his t-shirt on over the t-shirt he currently had on. He looked up to find several keen eyes looking at him from four rooms along the corridor.
‘BOOM!’ He replied which sent the onlookers back to their rooms. The boy decided to follow the path taken by the women and also the stairs. At these stairs he found the women looking at the wall as she sat on the bottom step. She had her back to him but had now found a top to cover her bra up with. The boy walked down the stairs quietly and tapped the women on the shoulder.
‘Oh. Esquire. Sorry.’ She quickly yelped as she ran off.
‘Please be my guide.’ The boy said after her.
She stopped dead and turned around with a calmed expression and what looked like relief.
‘I’d be happy to’. She said as she put out her hand.
‘I don’t like holding foreign people’s hands.’ said the boy. ‘I’m looking for a knight. About 6ft tall and very well sculpted. He brought me here.’
‘I know the one. Go and get some footwear and follow me.’
The boy quickly found his shoes and caught up with her. She started to walk at a leisurely pace which allowed him to take in the surroundings without losing sight of her. The only thing he knew about this women is that she had a tendency to run a lot.
‘I’m Agatha by the way. Agatha Trimly.’ She said whilst giving a small bow as well as continuing down the corridor which was getting more deserted by the second.
‘You’ve done that a lot haven’t you?’ He asked.
‘Right. Here we are.’ She said as she stood to the right of an eight foot high door which was just wide enough for somebody to walk through and nothing else. He noticed that he had not actually taken in any of the surroundings in because he was thinking about Agatha and what he knew about her. He concluded that she has worked in this building for a short time and was still shy around company. She also seems to think running may solve the problem. The door had a complicated carving upon its face. The boy studied this for sometime until being given a nudge by Agatha.
‘Come along esquire. The people of the land await.’ She said with a giddiness to her voice. The boy gave her a quizzical look before pushing the door open. He noted how easy it was for him to push a door open of this size.
He turned to his right to see a vast room in front of him and scanned across it this time not failing to take it all in. Six long tables, around 60 feet long and 6 feet wide, were lined up in the middle of the room from one end almost to the other. Extremely hard looking tables each with bouquets of flowers on them. Beautifully arranged flowers each about 3 feet long and 1 foot wide with a single rose sticking out of the top. The actual arrangement resembled one big daffodil with the rose through the middle. Each table had scores of people at them. Laughing, talking, arguing and eating from silver plates. Every so often as the boy moved through the room he spotted men and women dressed similar to Agatha picking up and dropping off food or drink. The drink seemed to be always water. The scores of people included men in knight’s clothes except the armour. Suits of chain mail which were very shiny and caused the boy to shield his eyes every so often. The other people at the tables were women in long skirts and tight shirts with chain mail over them who chatted openly with the men. The rest of the people seemed to be either wearing chain mail on the top half or on the bottom but all of them had weapons at there ankles. This was an army the boy thought. An army which seemed to be close to the 50,000 or 100,000 strong. Though he may have exaggerated the total.
At the far end of the room there was a huge table which span the length of all the other six tables. The boy had walked absent minded into the middle of the six tables at this point. He saw knights in full armour which looked very stream lined. The chain mail could not be seen but the armour over it seemed to cling to each knight very comfortably. There were again equal numbers of women and men at this bigger table with a very regal yet sour faced looking women to the left of centre, a serene looking girl who looked around his age sat to the right and a man sat in the middle. The man was wearing armour like the rest of knights but which glimmered gold and he bore a crown on his head which almost disappeared into his long brown hair. The crown had a jewel at its centre with smaller jewels going away from it. It stood around 10 centimetres off his head and had gold behind the jewels. His face was strong and certain. Square jaw and high cheeks bones with big blue eyes.
The boy then noticed a familiar face striding up to him. The sculpted knight that found him the forest.
‘Knight’ The boy said before looking back at the man. He seemed oddly drawn to the him.
‘Hello Zarath.’ Said Agatha warmly.
‘Boy. Awake I see’ Said Zarath looking down.
At this the boy started to stride forwards towards the man. Zarath and Agatha followed behind. Agatha attempted to call after the boy but Zarath stopped her. The boy soon reached the man at the centre of the table.
‘OI!’ Shouted the boy. ‘I’M ZACHARIAH AND I WANT TO KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON!!!’
The whole room turned in shock at this and the man was looking down on the boy with a strange curiosity behind his eyes.
‘You were found in the forest by Zarath I see.’ Said the man still with his curiosity but with a sense of authority as well.
‘Yes I was. Who are you then?’ Answered Zachariah in a confident tone which made the sour faced women gasp and the young girl giggle.
‘I am Arthur Greenslade. King of the land of Par Vicis and husband to the Queen Dolores Greenslade (at this he looked to his right) and father to the Princess Meredith Greenslade (who waved very enthusiastically towards Zachariah). I welcome you to the Chamber of the King.’
‘Ok. That sounds great. So, am I a prisoner?’ Asked Zachariah. He was beginning to think that his outburst at the king was not a very good idea. He started to sweat and hoped the King answered his question kindly.
‘No esquire. But I do say that curiosity grip’s me. Why did my chief knight Zarath find you wondering the dark? With the dragon possibly close by?’ Replied the King. Zachariah noticed that at the word ’Dragon’ a ripple of conversation broke the silence behind him. None of the knights at the table in front of him said a word but the people were very quick with chatter. Zachariah could not make out full sentences but words like “Dragon”, “Lair”, “Tomb” and “Secret” kept being repeated. The King cleared his throat to stop the chatter. He looked down at Zachariah.
‘I don’t know.’ Zachariah said now with no confidence and sense of worry. He truly had no idea how he came to be in the forest.. He started to shake now after hearing a dragon may have been near him at some point.
‘All I remember is waking up curled in a ball at the foot of a great tree. Not 3 feet from where I was found by your chief.’ The King was looking at Zachariah with a confused look. Then Zachariah noticed he was looking at his leather t-shirt and trying to follow the engraving.
‘King?’ He said anxiously.
‘Well. You are found and are safe in my castle. Please, take a seat.’ The King pointed to the end of the long table in front of him. People at the table began to slide across to make room.
‘You must be hungry after your long rest. Please my good Agatha. Tend to the esquire Zachariah.’ At this command the King sat down and the rest of the room followed suit and carried on eating there food and talking as if nothing had happened.
‘I’ve got just the thing.’ Whispered Agatha as she ran off through a small door in the corner of the room which Zachariah had seen countless men and women running in and out of with plates of food and without. As he followed Agatha through the door he looked back to see the Princess wink at him before eating from her plate. Zachariah blushed as he looked down at the place where his silver plate will soon be. Not long after thinking this, Agatha placed the plate in front of him with carrots around the outside of it, peas placed in a neat circle moving into the middle of the plate and a large piece of meat cooked to very black.
‘Hope this is to your liking, esquire.’ Said Agatha as she walked off.
‘Very much so.’ Replied Zachariah. Not actually knowing what the meat was he gingerly cut into it with his shining knife helped by the shining fork. It tasted very juicy and tender he thought. Zachariah had found something else he could eat he thought as he began to devour the food and washed it down with the cold water that had appeared next to his plate. He didn’t notice anybody put it there. He frowned for a while before a gruff sounding man in front of him explained.
‘Dam good staff this castle’s got.’ He said as he continued to eat his food. The man’s plate seemed twice as full as Zachariah’s. As Zachariah began to eat he noticed a lot of whispering was going on between the King and Zarath behind the King’s chair. Zachariah caught the King’s eye.
‘Food doing you well esquire?’ Asked Zarath.
‘Yes. Very much so.’ He said. Then Zarath gave a low bow to the King and went to sit back in his chair next to the Princess. Zachariah was full of thought and frowning as Agatha walked him back to his room. He was feeling very full from the feast but still confused. It had accord to him that he had never eaten that much food in one sitting. He felt much warmer and better for it.
‘Now.’ Said Agatha as they got to his room.
‘There will be some items in your room which you’re required to use to there proper capability. Take the next hour use these items and get familiar with them. You can also walk throughout the castle and get to know your new home. But be warned.’ Agatha bent down to say this to Zachariah. ‘Tomorrow will be a hard day for mind and body.’ She opened the door to Zachariah’s room as she said this and walked off. Zachariah looked down at the floor confused and then back to Agatha but she had disappeared. He slowly walked into his room.
He was welcomed with a newly made bed with the same drapes as he woke up with but a lot cleaner. He looked to his right to see a chest of draws with a mirror on top of it. The mirror reached from the table to the roof but was no wider than the table itself. The size of mirror confused Zachariah but he soon got used to it.
He had now made the decision to stay at the castle for while until he could go and look around the dark forest he was found in. Every second he had free from thinking about the castle and its inhabitants or from talking to people would be used up thinking about the forest. He must find out its secret and discover why he was found wondering it and why his memory of being there escapes him. This began to perplex Zachariah so he decided to turn away from the mirror as not to keep looking at the frown on his face and be scared by his own reflection. He quickly spun on the spot until he was looking out of a window. The window was plain and had no markings whatsoever on its surface. It was six foot high but just wide enough for him to comfortably look through but no one else. Less he was prepared to be squashed into it. He could not reach the handles in the middle of the window so he used a stool which had been placed below it. The stool had a note on it which read:

‘For your viewing pleasure, esquire.’

He assumed it was written by Agatha and gave a wry smile and put the note in his pocket before opening the window. He was hit by a sudden gust of wind as the window flew open. He must use caution when opening this window in future he thought. He recovered from this to see a familiar sight.
‘Self preserving grass.’ He said and nodded at the grass. The grass seemed to move straight after he did this as Zachariah knelt on the stool and puts his folded arms on the window ledge. Viewing pleasure indeed, the view was spectacular. For miles on end all he could see was the beautiful grass moving and ruffling itself as birds landed on it and were quickly moved along. The grass seemed to dance as Zachariah tried in vain to take it all in. Miles and miles of grass which seemed to be moving just for him. It reminded him of the surface of water as a light breeze went across it. Gently rippling along. He watched one particular ripple until it came to halt at a dark line. He looked up to see the edge of the dark forest. It seemed like a great black spot on the horizon and he could just make out the outline of the tree’s but nothing much else. It was such a stark contrast to the almost sparkling green grass and the birds that seemed to bounce of it that he decided to take a closer look at the forest at night. He recalled a vague memory of the forest being somewhat brighter in the dark.
He closed the window as he stood down from the stool and turned to his bed. The bed had been laid with new bed sheets and covers with pillows but also one armoured suit. The suit consisted of a big piece of chain mail which would cover him down to his knees. A cotton type garment was laid underneath the piece of chain mail. This cotton garment was quite thin and felt very smooth. The colour was a light brown with a hint of white. The light brown would have resembled the colour of something rather more nasty without the white. Along with these were a set of brown gloves and a hood which could be put over the cotton garment. There were also a pair of boots on the floor. He picked up the suit to press against him to see if it might fit. The suit seemed an exact fit for him if not a little loose around the chest and waist. He carefully put the suit back on the bed and began to untie his pants. Then he tied up the lace on his t-shirt from the neck in line with his chin down in a thin line to his belly button. The lace was fastened inside the shirt and could not be seen. Carefully intertwining the laces in the given holes he eventually reached the top. Zachariah had discovered that fastened to the top the special shirt he was found in fitted a lot better. He shuffled around in the shirt till it fitted a bit easier on him and realised his pants had fallen to his ankles. After stepping out of the pants he put on the small suits cotton pants and shirt. He kept his special shirt on and discarded the shirt underneath it. The new cotton shirt on top of his special shirt felt comfortable. He then put on the chain mail.
This was quite heavy but not too heavy as to sent him of balance. The arms did stretch a bit too long for his liking so he quickly rolled them up so his gloves could go on his hands. He also rolled the legs of his trousers up, which were also quite long and he wondered where the socks were to go with the boots. Absent minded he dove into each boot and found each sock. Putting them on he discovered each boot had what looked like grass all over it but in black. This reminded him of the self preserving grass. A letter was also carved on the back of the ankle. A ’G’ which had points from the start of the G and at the ends as its written, were as if arrows tips. He put the boots on carefully and found they were only slightly loose. He stood up as straight as he could and walked over to the mirror to look at his new suit. It looked a bit loose but looked as if he’d grow into in a couple of years. The pants he noticed fitted well at the thigh and lower leg. There were also white stitches in rectangles which stretched from the pockets to above the knee and below the knee to the start of the ankle.
A memory quickly flashed to him. Each knight had armour plates which covered the legs in these three sections. As he began to remove the suit his mind was jumping around. He must be in for some kind of fitting for the full armour tomorrow. This must include his chest arms also. He must have been inducted into the army as soon as the King set eyes on him. The conversation he could not overhear at the dinner table between the King and Zarath must have been regarding him as they gave a small jump after noticing his eyes upon them. What if I don’t want to be in an army? After this question had bounded across his mind he decided that he could use the army to seek out the ‘Dragon of the Dark Forest’ and try and figure out why what was happening was indeed happening.