"Excuse me, milord," he asked somewhat self-consciously, "but could ye spare a young scribe a moment or two of your time?"

"Hmmmm," said I, "that depends I suppose on what it is ye wish." Silently cursing the device that was proving so frustrating for me, I stuffed the runestone deep into my journey pack, pledging an oath to it that it had nae seen the last of me.

"This will only take a few anlaen," the youth said enthusiastically, drawing a battered notepad and writing supplies from his wrinkled, rain-sopped cloak.

"My name is Kaymun Andorian, and I be a newly joined apprentice to the Bards' guild." His soft features lit up with pride as he made this claim, and I chuckled at his obvious excitement.

"Mistress Silvyrfrost has set me to an assignment. I needs amass a collection of personal histories for me history class and I was wond'rin' if ye would mind tellin' me a little about yerself?"

I smiled at the lad.

"Hrrmmm . . . well I suppose I could, but 'tis nay much of a tale, nor a happy one, I'm afraid."

The boy's face lit up as he poised the quill over the blank papyrus sheet. "Anything ye could tell me would be great, milord!"

I thought for a moment, my mind drifting back to times and places it had been long indeed since I had revisited.

"I was born to Lianeesha and Darenth Hillwalker some twenty-two years ago. My mother gave birth tae me in the tiny ramshackle farmhouse that sat amidst the rocky and near-barren land that they called a farm, high on the steppe lands of the mountains far to the north in Aesry Surlaenis'a."

I paused for a moment, my thoughts drifting back almost unwillingly to those unhappy times.

"It was not a happy life for a boy, I'm afraid. Me Da was an accomplished thief and assassin, and a meaner and crueler man ye could ne'er hope to find, nor would ye want to."

"When I was fourteen years of age, me Da decided 'twas time for me to join him in his thieving and killing ways, a pursuit I dreaded to the bottom of me soul. Me Ma, may she rest in a peace she ne'er knew in life, refused to allow it, and they fought for days on end." Tears welled in my eyes as I recalled the events that transpired those many years ago, and I had to stop for a moment, my throat closed by the memories. I sighed and continued, my voice now barely above a whisper.

"It was then me Da made a demand of me that would change me life forever. He bade me kill me Ma, to prove me manhood, and to prove I had what it takes to become a heartless cold killer worthy of joining him. He beat me and threatened me and me sis, and said if I dinnae do it, that he would kill us all three. I saw no way out at the time and I . . ." I choked at this point, the tears streaming uncontrollably down my face. I whispered, "and . . . I did it. I put my own sweet, loving mother to the death . . ."

"And then I ran . . . as fast and as far as my young body could carry me. But he followed . . . and . . . and in a desperate battle for my life I somehow managed to kill him as well. It was only later that I came to find out that he had killed me sister anyway."

"The rest is hardly note worthy. I wandered the wilds for a time until I met a man, name o' Slu, a Ranger and a blessed soul I can tell ye, and he took me under his wing and now . . . Here I be . . . a Ranger in good standing, and a man with his own set of demons . . . and a driving need tae do right by the world wherever I may."

"Oh my . . ." the lad said, wiping tears from his streaming eyes. "I . . . I . . ." With that, he slowly closed his journal, and with nary another word, walked slowly away.