THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART SIXTEEN )

Realising this was a child, Nathen said, "who are
you, where are you from?" The child now feeling
a lot braver answered, "me name's Ben, me ma's
dead, me pa's a prisoner, taken by hunters. The boy
started crying, sobbing he said, "they killed me
ma and I hid, I didn't come out for two days, I
was to frightened, I thought they would kill me too."

The boy then asked the man in the pit his name,
"my name is Nathen and I have a funny feeling that
your father was captured by the same man who pushed
me in this pit."
The boy looked surprised, "why did a man push you
in the pit?"
"because I refused to do his bidding, until I had
some food," Nathen replied. "Please!" said Nathen,
"is there anyway you can help me get out of this
pit?" At this point the boy became worried, he said, "how do I know you won't hurt me, if I help
you out of that pit?"
Nathen said, "I give you my honour, that nothing will happen. I can help you and you can help me."

But still Ben was not sure. "You know?" said Nathen, "I have a family, a wife, a son, a daughter, she is probably about your age, how old
are you?"
Ben looked at Nathen, smiling he said, "I'm twelve,
this is my twelfth summer, me ma said on the
morning I was born, the birds were singing so loudly, that you couldn't hear me ma's screams
as I was being born. It was such a hot day me pa lay me under a shady tree, he said I was a
large baby and strong, he named me Ben, under the
shady tree, because he said it was a strong name,
I was named after me pa's brother, who me pa was
close to. They would hunt together, they nearly
always knew what the other was thinking and could
feel if either of them was in danger."
The boy felt sad as he told Nathen of his family.

To be continued .........