The Sahara Chronicles#2: The Lost Fable (Available in full on Amazon)

Part III: Meeting of a Lifetime

Young Meril Snayt stared at the boy in front of him. He had a defiant scowl on his face, as though he didn't want to be there at all and was coerced to be. He was in the field of a farmhouse, a few feet away from the house that owned it.

The boy, though, had a bright smile on his face. He held up his left hand and said, "I want to be your friend!"

This always annoyed Meril. Everybody wanted to be friends with him just because of who his father was. He was very sure that this boy, too, was the same sort.

"I don't want to be yos!" he retorted stubbornly.

That remark would've driven home of any other four-year old and yet, the young boy kept his smile on.

"It's awright," he lisped. "We can do this one-way. I'm Lula Mills. My father works at the Palace of Alolis!"

Meril frowned, more out of confusion this time. "Palace?" he said. "So... you're really not here just because of who my father is?"

Rura (it is to be noted here that young children lisp a lot before they learn to speak properly) shook his head. "I don't know who your father is."

At this point, Meril observed that the boy had an accent different from his own – he'd never heard of it before. Nobody he knew spoke like that. Still, there was something about him that drew out his curiosity and before he knew it, he said:

"I'm Meril Snayt. Son of Merlin."

Now, the other boy's eyes grew wide with wonder. "Oh wow! No wonder you didn't want to be friends with me!"

Meril shook his head. "You got it wong. See, whenever other children find out whose boy I am, they always want to make friends with me. Well – not me, leally, but with my father. I s'pose they want something from my father or their parents do."

Rura nodded. "You understand the polities of the palace! That's amazing! You should teach me some time!"

This thoroughly confused Meril and he simply stared at Rura with his mouth dropped open. The other boy, though, smiled wider, showing all of his milk teeth.

Meril didn't take the hand he offered. Instead, he fell onto him, arms embracing his torso.

"From now on," he lisped amidst sudden tears that clogged his throat, "you're my bestest friend on the whole world!"

This definitely surprised Rura, who grew still. 'This boy... is he crying?' he thought. He heard some sobbing very close to his left ear. 'Oh dear, what have I done now?'

Just then, the door of the farmhouse behind them opened and a woman stepped outside. She turned in their direction and, when Rura noticed her staring at them, he at once tried to pull himself away from Meril.

"It's n't me – it's n't me!" he started yelling in panic. "He didn't make him cry – I didn't!"

The woman was most puzzled. She walked towards them; the closer she got, the more panicked little Rura became! It would've been a funny moment, if the young boy wasn't in serious anxiety.

The woman approached them and studied the scene in front of her carefully.

"Oh dear, is that Meril?" she asked. "Oh, Meril dear, why are you crying so?" She turned to the other boy. "Did something happen to him?"

Rura at once shook his head, very, very uncomfortable indeed. "Er, um, no, missus! She – he – just said me that I – that –" he sniffed, his own tears trying to overcome him – "that children always made friends with him because they needed something from his – uh – father, but when I said I didn't know who his father was, he... well, he became like this!" He paused, sniffing and gathering himself. "I promise you, missus, I'm done nothing to him more than that! I just wanted to be his friend!"

The woman knelt down beside Meril and extended an arm to stroke Rura's neat blonde head.

"Don't worry," she said in a soothing tone of voice. "Little Meril is generally a very sensitive lad and everything around him excites him very much. It's all right; you did nothing wrong. And it's okay to get excited."

She then patted Meril's head and gently pulled him away from Rura.

"Meril, my sweet pie," she said. "It's lunchtime. Do you want some fried potatoes?"

The little boy in question at once shot his head up and his tears stopped flowing. He looked in wonder at the woman.

"F-fried potatoes?" he asked quietly. "For me?"

"Yes, for you." She stroked his black hair. "For, to-day, we're celebrating the birth of a new life!"

Little Meril's face scrunched up in confusion. "What does that mean?"

The woman's smile widened. "The Dark Queen, Elmeida Castel, has given birth to a new baby – a girl – three nights ago! We're celebrating her coming into this world!"

"Oh yes, I've heard of that!" Rura interjected excitedly, no longer scared. "My father was telling us about it at dinnertime last night!"

"Alia! We're back for lunch!"

The woman looked up, the excitement intact on her face. Three men, two younger than the other – were walking towards her with some farming tools and tired expressions on their faces.

She raised her voice and cried, "John! Mike! Jim! You're back! Come – lunch has just got ready! In the honour of the birth of the Dark Queen's daughter!"