Free Boelik by Amy Lehigh

him the hat.
    Ryan took it and stared at it, then up at
Boelik. “A hat?”
    Boelik nodded. “Put it on. In busy places you
can pull it down over the right side of your face—I made sure to
get a decent rim for a reason.”
    Ryan put the hat on and pulled the rim over
the right side of his face and turned to Boelik. “Is it good?” His
bright blue eye was wide with hope.
    “ It’s perfect. The only
thing now is your legs. If you were a girl and had a skirt this
would be easy, but as it is… Well, only walking around towns in the
dark or standing behind something that covers your lower half in
front of people should do fine.”
    “ All right,” Ryan said,
nodding. “Now, back home?”
    “ Sure. I’ll race you,”
Boelik said, picking up the deer meat and bag of goods.
    “ Ah, no. I don’t think so,”
Ryan said, both his gaze and his voice flat.
    Boelik laughed. “All right, but let’s hurry
nonetheless. Dark’s already here, and I don’t know about you, but
running empties my stomach like nothing else.”
    The pair was back at the cottage, exhausted,
just before dawn. “So,” Boelik said as he walked in, moving aside
the pieces of broken door with his feet, “hungry?”
    “ Starving,” Ryan replied,
flopping onto his bed. “Also, exhausted.”
    “ Eating in the morning
then, are we?” Boelik spread salt over the meat as he
asked.
    “ I am.”
    “ All right then. Eating a
large breakfast.” Boelik put the deer on the workshop bench,
glancing out the window at the full moon. Then he laid the pieces
of the door back over the opening. Looking at it again, it appeared
that the door had been somewhat rotted anyway, making it that much
more fragile. He moved his attention around the cottage to see if
it was worth staying in.
    The wood was grayed and dry, and the interior
was a mess. Not just from the intruder the other day, either, by
the looks of it. But taking Ryan into account, Boelik figured they
could at least stay for a little while. At least to get the boy
used to having him as a housemate first, before trying to change
too much at once. Sighing as Ryan’s light, whistling snore filled
the cottage, Boelik lay down in his spot on the floor and passed
out.
    The next day, both woke up around noon with
rumbling stomachs. Boelik looked to the hearth on the back wall and
found a small stock of wood next to it. He put some in the
fireplace to get it started, taking flint and steel from his boot
and crossing his fingers in hopes it was old enough and dry enough
to light without tinder.
    Once a fire was started, he put the flint and
steel back in his boot and removed his dagger. He moved to the deer
and sliced some meat for two. Ryan watched his movements intently,
interest evident on his face.
    Boelik rooted around for a pan anywhere, but
ended up settling on two metal rods probably meant for a
clothesline and spearing the meat to cook it that way. He set the
rods to poke the top-back of the hearth and stabilized them with a
piece of wood for an anchor.
    When it was finished, Boelik motioned for
Ryan to sit by him in front of the fire. He moved the wood and
removed the rods, testing the heat of the metal by the venison with
his hand. “Ow,” he growled, tearing his hand back. “That was stupid
of me. Don’t touch hot metal,” he warned Ryan, taking out his flask
and pouring half of the water onto the rods, cooling them. “We’ll
need more water,” he sighed.
    As they sat around the hearth and ate, Boelik
asked, “So, how did that man from the other day find you?”
    Ryan swallowed a bite. “Well, I think he saw
me watching his flock. Actually, I was watching the dog work. He
shouted and ran away to his house, and I just ran. He probably
tracked me.”
    “ Have you been chased
much?”
    “ Not really. My first, um,
ten years, I think, I lived with my da. I remember he killed my ma
when I was little. He kept me inside and treated me like dirt, but
I guess he never had the heart to kill me. He