Two Priests One Boy

Raw never looked up from the stopwatch he held in his right hand when

Steen entered the large kitchen of the rectory.

The priest was seated in front of the huge, red- bricked oven staring hard

at the timer, willing it to chime. He had spent the entire wee hours of the

morning baking what he considered to be his best recipe of hand kneaded,

home- baked Westfall Oat bread and it was nearly browned on the edges

and ready to be removed from the hot oven. The smell was heavenly!

Raw drew a long breath through his nostrils and leaned his head back in

satisfaction. He couldn’t help uttering a muffled… mmmmm…at the thought

 of his freshly cooked Stormwind apple butter and hot honey being poured over

 the soft, cushiony bread still hot from the oven.

Without argument, the gourmet breakfast promised to start a beautiful spring day. The birds had begun their morning song outside the tiny circle

shaped window above the short hardwood table that was still covered in flour from his earlier preparation efforts. There were linked sausages, grilled

to perfection lined on a simple white platter. Large, brown eggs, hard –boiled with a runny yolk, chopped, crisp apples, warm with cinnamon and sugar,

the bread would complete the feast!

“Morning Raw, you been up all night again?” Steen asked his fellow priest as he poured a cup of strong, dark brewed coffee from the pot on the

hot plate and sat at the messy table. One look around the room had already told him everything.

“Got up at three am to knead this dough actually and from the smell of it- worth every minute of lost sleep.” The long-bearded, older priest replied, still

 never taking his eyes away from the watch.

Steen grinned, “I seriously can’t complain about getting assigned here with you. I bet I’ve gained 25 pounds since the council gave me this transfer.

 You are by far the best chef in the priesthood my friend. Plus, you make a mean bit-o-wake-me-up coffee.” Steen swallowed the hot brew and nodded in

appreciation.

“There!” Exclaimed a happy Raw as the timer dinged ready in his hands. He quickly donned a set of reinforced, fire-resistant gloves from the wooden

cooking butler and opened the cast iron door of the oven swiftly then carefully pulled the long wire rack from the hot cavern. Waves of heat poured

into the small kitchen from the opening and sent a mouthwatering blast of the aroma of fresh bread billowing throughout the house.

“That’s sinful.” grinned Steen looking at Raw over the rim of his coffee mug, his eyes gleeful.

“It may be sinful but light above! It’s good stuff! Do you have clean hands?’ Raw was chuckling as he set the four loaves of bread on the cooling rack

on the counter and covered them with a red checked cloth.

Right at that moment, they both stopped and stared at each other.

“Did you hear that?” Steen perked his head to the side and set his coffee down on the table.

Puzzled, Raw turned toward the arch shaped door next to the oven.

“I thought I heard… something. Is it that mongrel you found in the wood the other day? Seriously Steen, you should have let that worg die on the path

you found it. Worgs are nothing but trouble you know. Besides, I dislike animals.” Raw stared hard at his friend as he took the few steps toward the small

wooden door to the yard out back.

“Max is fine and he’s outside in the barn. I have been tending to his feet; someone or something nearly burned the pads off his paws.” answered the

younger man.

“MAX! You…you’ve NAMED him? I don’t care, you ARE NOT keeping him.” Raw was clearly annoyed that Steen would even remotely consider keeping a wild animal on monastery premises. Why, it was unheard of! The priest huffed in disgust.

“SHHH…There it is again! Did you hear it?” Steen hushed the older priest with a quick wave of his hands.

They both held perfectly still.

“There! Again! Did you hear it? Sounds like laughter.” said Raw to Steen. They both stepped forward.

There in the glen beside the rectory was a small child amidst the flowers in the morning meadow. He was giggling and running through the field of yellow-gold blossoms, his thin, long blond hair mixing gently with the yellow buds upon the early morning blooms.

He was chubby cheeked and dressed in a long white cotton nightshirt.

The toddler had an envelope pinned to his chest. Upon the envelope in beautiful script the following had been penned:

‘For safe keeping”

“What the…” exclaimed a surprised Raw as he stepped onto the flagstone porch. An equally puzzled Steen followed him outside and stared. They both dropped to their haunches to meet this small visitor at eye level.

As the toddler approached them he was smiling, his gait one that spoke of newness to walking. He lumbered toward the duo on the porch and stood before Raw. With swiftness too fast for such a small person the boy snatched a handful of Raw’s long beard and gave an unusually hard YANK!

“Ow! WHAT THE HECK!!” cried the older priest as he fell back on his rear end.

The boy let out a string of gleeful giggles and repeated” Ow-wee.” and pointed at Raw’s face with a chubby finger.

Steen sucked a hearty laugh back behind his teeth as he observed the middle aged priest rubbing his chin with one hand and backside with the other.

“Come here little one.” said Steen softly to the child as he stretched out his hand to the boy. “Come here.” He encouraged.

The child inched toward the younger priest, still grinning, his rosy, chubby cheeks flushed with color from running through the flowerbeds.

Quietly he looked at the child’s round little face and asked

” Well, hi there, who are you? Huh? What’s your name little one?” Steen grinned at the lad as he carefully grasped the boy’s forearm.

“MA-WAW-DIS” the boy slammed the answer into Steen’s face.

“Marriddis?” repeated Steen.

The boys open palm swept up with a THAWCK! smacked up against Steen’s cheek.

“MA-WAW-DIS!!” the toddler corrected as he reached down and grabbed a piece of worg scat Max had left near the step of the porch after barely having made it outside. The youngster promptly smacked Raw across the face leaving a nasty brown mark across the older priest’s left cheek.

Letting out a stream of giggles at his own entertainment tactics, Marudas pointed at Raw’s face and said

“POO!” and continued his gleeful reaction at his own antics.

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The child was sitting in the bucket Steen had modified as a booster seat; which had then been attached with a rope to the bench of the kitchen table. In one chubby fist, Marudas held a half-eaten plump sausage and in the other a small wooden spoon dripping with Raw’s applesauce. He was happily banging the end of the spoon on the table while he punctuated every rhythmic spoon hit with a “LA- LA- LA- LA” in a singsong, high pitch voice.

He turned a sticky face at the two priests, stuck his tongue out and promptly gave them a wet raspberry, splattering the pair with the un-swallowed happiness of the breakfast Raw had so lovingly prepared.

Giggling, he stuffed his mouth full again and resumed his morning song.

Raw gave Steen a shell-shocked stare. The men were beside themselves and totally out of their circle of comfort. They both looked exhausted and were covered in bits and pieces of breakfast fare, from collar to hem of robe.

Steen released a long held breath in the form of a defeated, tired sigh, taking in the vision of the boy in the seat before him and returned Raw’s stare with a helpless shrug.

“Hellooooo? Anybody home?” came a soft female voice from the front walkway of the cottage.

Startled back to reality Steen and Raw looked at each other and said “The Ladies!” Both men simultaneously remembering they were expecting company this fine spring morning.

Jumping into action Raw smoothed his long beard, tangling his fingers in his sticky whiskers in the process. Steen wiped his hands down the front of his robes, doing his best to smooth the wrinkles and cleared his throat.

“We’re in the kitchen!” He yelled out, his voice sounding slightly desperate and relieved all at once.

Saks and Sariseva were tethering their beautiful white mares to the hitching post in front of the rectory. Saks lifted a small basket from the back of her mount, carefully sliding it up her arm.

‘We’ll be right in.” Saks hollered back as she checked the contents of her basket and whispered a slight “Shhh”, to the pet within.

“Sari did you bring my roses? They will make a beautiful centerpiece for the receiving table for services this week.” Saks looked up from the basket as she questioned the tall, beautiful woman standing next to her mount.

“Yes, I have them here. You have such a green thumb Saks! They are the most beautiful shade of yellow I have ever seen! I haven’t a clue how you get them to shade the way they do. I think you missed your true calling when you entered the priesthood. You should have been a gardener. They are truly fabulous!”  Sariseva buried her nose in the large bundle of perfectly budded yellow roses and took a deep breath of the flowery scent, closing her eyes and losing herself in the fragrance.

Saks blushed a little, “You’re so sweet Sari! Why thank you, I love roses, what woman doesn’t?”

They walked to the front door and were met by the men who were stumbling over each other to let them in, their movements were jerky and they were a mess!

“Oh! Thank you! THANK YOU! Light Above!!  LOOK Steen and PRAISE as we are saved!!  Yes! Yes! Do come in! Please come in, welcome! I have made a breakfast“, Raw was gushing the words and practically pulling Sariseva and Saks into the cottage. Steen was quick to open the door for them, his head nodding a quick agreement.

Sari glanced a quizzical look in Saks’s direction and saw that Steen had an equally anxious grin upon his face that mirrored that of Raw. It was then she noticed the disheveled state of their clothing. Steen had a section of hair pointing straight out from behind his ear and Raw’s beard was a tangled mess of wire.

“What in the world is going on in here? What have you two been up to?”

Saks and Sari stopped cold in the doorway and stared at the men.

Saks tapped her foot.

Raw and Steen stared at theirs.

Marudas was unbound.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The toddler shot into the room, jumping up and down on the balls of his feet and pointing his spoon in the direction of the women; “Nan! Nan! Mimee! Mimee!” he clearly addressed the two newcomers. He excitedly hopped toward the back door all the while yelling “Puppies, PUPPIES! PUPPIES!’ Clearly the child wanted them to follow him.

Sari and Saks looked at each other with twin astonishment and then looked back to the men.

“Whose child is that?” Saks questioned Raw directly; she was still in a state of confusion as to exactly what had been happening here this fine morning. Sari became aware that her jaw had been open and closed her mouth, and turning to Steen, tilted her head and raised an eyebrow in his direction.

“He showed up.” Was all that Steen could manage to squeak out.

“What do you mean ‘He showed up’? That makes no sense.” Sariseva was as confused as Saks looked.

Raw picked up the explanation:

“He just showed up… this morning… about forty five minutes ago. I was taking the bread from the oven and we heard him laughing and running in the backyard. There he was. We brought him inside; he was hungry so we fixed him a plate and sat him down to eat. Here, “Raw handed Sari the letter that had been pinned to the front of the nightshirt of the boy,” This is all we know of him.”

Sari opened the note and read the following impeccably penned message aloud:

“This is our child. We find ourselves in a position to be unable to properly care for him. We can think of no better or safer place for him to be. Please understand that it is with great grievance that we entrust him into your care. He is loved and he is very special. We cannot and will not return for him. Know ye this.. He is destined for things that we don’t understand and are better explained by the environment you can offer him. Please let him know that he is always loved. Please keep him safe.”

Saks took the letter from Sari’s hands and scanned it with her own eyes.

“My word!” was all she could say.

Right at that second Marudas came rushing back into the front entry and grabbed the hem of Raw’s robe looked up at him and yelled “PUPPIES! Hey… hey..POO!” He addressed Raw demandingly,” Puppies out der...Poo.. come.. Puppies!” Tugging hard on the fabric with his sticky hands and nearly pulling Raw to the floor as he turned toward the yard and did his best to drag the older priest with him.

Steen bit back a chuckle but couldn’t hide his grin, “Aw ..Raw he likes you, he called you Poo.”

“SHUT UP.” Raw’s tone was flat in response. His teeth were clenched.

Steen dropped to eye level with the boy, “ Yes, there’s a puppy out there.” The words were softly directed at the child.

Marudas released Raw’s garment from his grip and lumbered toward Steen;

He placed a hand on each of Steen’s cheek and turned his face to look him directly in the eyes; softly he whispered to the young priest, “Noob…puppy…out der..(Marudas pointed to the back door of the cottage); “Noob…come, puppy owee, puppy oweee. The toddler then pointed to his own feet and looked back in Steen’s eyes.

“I don’t believe this!’ Steen lifted his face to the three standing over he and the child. He was astonished!

“Don’t believe what?” the older priest chuckled.” That he called you Noob? I can believe that! Aww…. Steen I think he likes you.” Raw’s tone was mocking through his grin.

“He knows!”

“Knows what?” asked a still confused Saks.

“He knows the worg has injured paws.” Steen was amazed at this realization and searched the faces of his fellow priests one by one as he looked up from his spot on the floor near the child.

“Worg!” Saks gasped and unconsciously pulled her pets’ basket closer to her body. “What Worg? What has been happening down here this week?!” First this child!! And..and…  Now a dangerous Worg? You men are out of sorts!” She was unnerved at the unexpected turn this visit had taken and frankly was scared for Alicat, her smoky colored cat that hid in the basket.

“How could he possible know that worg has burned Paws?” Steen was still trying to figure it out and spoke more to himself at that point than the others.

Marudas sat beside Steen and pulled off one white dirty sock exposing a tiny foot that was beet red and hot to the touch.

“Owee.. Noob..Puppy oweee.” Marudas showed Steen his feet.

His big round eyes then met Sari’s gaze.

They all gasped simultaneously and exchanging amazed looks with each other, knowing this was beyond them all.

Steen allowed the child to grasp his hand and be led to the back door. The other three partially stunned priests were following closely behind the pair. They made their way down the stone pathway to the barn, with the boy chattering to Steen about puppies and owees   for the entire walk.

The toddler stopped at the entrance to the comfy looking old structure with its high thatched roof and light smell of hay and horses. Marudas put a sticky finger to his lips, looked up at Steen and said with all the seriousness his young round face could convey stated, ”Shhh..kk? Noob.. Shhh.” Under any other circumstance that exchange would have been unbelievably funny, but things being what they were Steen stopped and watched the boy tip- toe into the barn.

The first stall on the left side of the barn was unlatched and strands of hay were scattered about on the dirt doorway. A heavy breathing was coming from the creature within, sounding much like the type of sleep that comes from exhaustion by pain or having been over-worked.

Saks stood at the entry to the barn clutching her basket close to her body, not wanting to take another step forward;

“Steen! Don’t you let that baby go in there with that animal! I won’t have it!’, Saks voice was a harsh whisper and her expression was alarmed that Steen would consent to allowing this child anywhere near a wild worg.

“Mimee…shhh..kk? “Mawadas is kk. KK?” the boy turned and faced the beautiful lady in the doorway. A feeling of calm overcame Saks and she answered him with an unusually soft “OK Babe, if you’re sure about this.”

Marudas gently led Steen to the doorway moving ever so slowly all the while saying “Shhh, shhh, shhh” as if whispering a reminder to himself. They turned into the stall and there lay the worg nestled in a bed of hay in the corner of the small area. The morning strands of sunlight sliced through a space in the wooden wall, capturing the tiny dust particles as they floated through the air and danced onto the sleeping wolfing.

The creature was large and its white fur was unkempt and straggly with parts of the mane matted and muddied. The four paws bore Steen’s mark of attempted doctoring and were covered with clean white cotton bandages. There was a slight medicinal smell coming from the wraps.

Sari sniffed the air,” Is that Sungrass and Goldthorn I smell on those bandages Steen?” She asked the young priest.

“Yes, as recommended by the Alchemist in Stormwind. Why? Should it have been something else you think?”

“For burns? No, that’s what is commonly used. Well, for people anyway, I am unsure about worgan though. I assume it would be the same, would be logical to me anyway.” Sari was carefully eyeing the toddler while she answered Steen.

Marudas crept next to the sleeping worg and knelt down beside him glancing in Steen and Raw’s direction every few seconds all  while repeating “shh, shh, shh” in his little whispery breaths.

His tiny hand gently picked up the worgs right foreleg and he began to unwrap the bandage. The worg’s paws, although not grown to full size, were twice the size of the toddlers hands. A low rumble of a growl began to quiver the belly of the beast, the boy continued his rhythmic “shh, shh, shh.” directed more at the animal now than to the priests who stood nearby.

“This is not good Steen; it’s not safe for any of us in here. An injured worg is nothing to be toyed with.” Raw’s forehead was lined with worried crevices and his gaze never strayed from the child on the stall floor. A slight sheen of perspiration covered his hairline and his fingers nervously threaded through his long beard. “We should take this child from here and go…now.”  Raw’s every nerve stood on edge and he poised himself to snatch the child up should the creature awaken.

Steen moved slightly closer to the boy, a great desire to protect the child filled his gut; he fought to keep his instinct to grab the babe and run out of the barn with every inch of control he could muster.  Raw was right, they shouldn’t have allowed him anywhere near this wild animal. What had he been thinking!

Sariseva stood holding her breath, watching every detail of the encounter with an Eagle eye. Her mind was sending the worg soothing thoughts as she sent a prayer for safety to encircle the child. She was rooted to the spot where she stood and found that her feet were unmovable. She opened her mouth to tell the others but no words came to her tongue.

Saks stood at the back, biting her bottom lip and clutching Alicats’ basket ever so close to her side.

“shh, shh.” Marudas was rocking his little body back and forth just a tiny fraction of an inch as he held the great paw in his hands. He pulled the remainder of the bandage and exposed the pad of the paw. The flesh was severely burned and open, seeping raw meat where there was once a pad exposed to the morning air. The wound was terrible, the burn deep and although Steen had done well in his attempts to clean it and provide medicine for healing, the injury was devastating to the animal and eventually would have brought about its death.

Marudas took each leg in turn and gingerly unwrapped every bandage, the next paw looking worse than the one before. The four priests stood mesmerized and unable to assist or move, each frozen in position with expressions of utter concern and angst.

The tiny fingers began to touch every part of exposed injury on the wolfing, the child still repeating shh, shh, shh, in little rhythmic whispers. As the adults watched in hope and terror Maru’s fingers danced across the afflictions with rapid fire, smoothing and tapping and massaging the four extremities of the beast.

Then it began to happen!

Miraculously, slight dark strings of paw pad began to appear and sew their way into one another and across the raw burned edges of the wounds. Cross sectioning and re crossing until all of the paws were restored to health!

“MY WORD!” exclaimed a shocked Saks, her jaw more open than closed. “What in the name of The Lightbringer himself! Do you all see that? Or have I finally lost my mind! Did those Paws just knit themselves back together? Someone say SOMETHING!” Her voice was filled with amazement at the witnessing of such an event.

None of the priests could say a word. They each looked at the other in silent astonishment rooted in time to the spot they stood.

But what none of them realized was the real miracle was about to happen.

What was about to manifest was bigger than all their powers combined.

Marudas fell into a trance. His eyes wide and open and gaping, as if staring into something or someone unseen. His lips still mouthing “shh, shh, shh,’ but no sound emerged. He fell to the side and into Maxs’ left haunch.

The beast was instantly snapped and bore up on his newly healed feet with a loud growling and snatching of jaw.

Saks screams filled the barn.

A flock of white pigeons flew from the loft.