The fact dawned on him slowly. He had no idea who he was. As far as he knew, he had no name, no family, no home, no friends. Also, judging from his surroundings, he was definitely not going to find any in here. He was propped up against the wall of a stone cell, sitting uncomfortably with his head bowed down. Raising it required much too much effort, so he scanned the ground nearby and could see other children roughly his age, all in roughly the same condition as he. They, however, had clothes.

A chill came to him immediately at the thought of his nakedness. He was only wearing one thing, something he'd rather do without. A shackle was attached to his ankle; to it trailed a ball and chain. This time, there would be no escape for him--assuming there had been other times, that is. Judging from the severity of his treatment, however, he considered this to be a safe assumption. Finally, he did manage to lift his head, but all he could see was more children, more cell. He moaned, unsure of what he should do, if anything. In the end, he was at a loss.

After a few minutes, he realised that among the children, all of them were boys, and all of them sported blonde hair. What was going on here? The uniformity of all of them was too eerie to be coincidence. Something was definitely afoot.

One boy in particular caught his attention. The boy was staring directly at him, fixated by his every action. Free from a shackle, the boy walked cautiously up to him, fearful of incurring the wrath of one of his cellmates.

"You 'kay?" The boy genuinely looked concerned. "They real' di' a numba on ya..."

"I guess they did."

The boy frowned, cocking his head. "You a real ledin, ain'tcha?"

"I guess I am," he replied, not having the slightest clue what a ledin was.

"Sha, nice t' meetcha, ledin." He raised his hand, but did not offer it for a handshake. "Name's Squeaky. Wha' k'n I call y'?"

"Ledin's fine," he answered, already disinterested. The boy frowned, nodded, and sat clumsily in front of Ledin. He simply looked him up and down, examining him with intense fascination. He whistled softly.

"Dag, Ah du'no why ya still standin', kid." Squeaky took his arm and looked at some of the worst bruises and gashes more closely. "Really, ya shoo' be dea', ya know." Ledin only shrugged, and proceeded to test the chain that would invariably prevent him from getting anywhere. Another chill passed through him.

"I'll survive." He gave up on the chain, instead curling himself into a ball, shivering anew. "If I don't die from chills first." His chain jangled as he shuffled his feet. Squeaky cocked his head in thought, then began to look around.

"Mayb' I k'n help y' wit' that," he considered, scanning the room back and forth. With his head turned, Ledin could hardly make out what he was saying. Rising to his feet, Squeaky moved to one corner of the large cell and prodded a boy with his toe. Jostling the boy twice more and winning no response, he gingerly removed the boy's clothes and brought them to Ledin.

"Ah kno' takin' from deads' bad luck"; he shrugged, handing the clothes to Ledin. "Mah luck, not yers, tho'." Ledin dropped the clothes reflexively, not too keen on the idea. Squeaky chuckled slightly. "Them or freeze," he stated simply. Ledin couldn't argue with that.

All of the clothes were too small for Ledin, but the dead boy had been carrying a poncho that he could wear. It looked more like a dress on him than anything, but it was clothing, ragged or not. A little warmer now, Ledin used the rest of the clothes as a pillow and tried his best to rest. If he was going to escape--and he was; the situation was much too eerie for his tastes--he would need his strength. Eventually, he did nod off to sleep, his newfound friend keeping watch over him.

~~~~~

His sleep was troubled by dreams. Broken images, faces he didn't recognise, all of them confused him to no end. The most vivid image, however, was that of an elfish girl with blonde hair and blue eyes--much like himself. He had no idea how he knew she was an elf, or who she really was, but she looked familiar nonetheless. He saw many images of her, most of them happy. The last one, however, was not.

Ledin could see the girl, her face contorted in agony, falling to her knees as she clasped a sword which had been thrust cleanly through her gut. She stared wide-eyed at Ledin--through Ledin--and coughed blood. Life slowly seeped away from her body. Her left hand fell away from the sword to support her weight as she doubled over and coughed still more blood. Her eyes glassed over; her face grew slack. She fell limply to the ground with a soft thud, her body still convulsing.

The dream ended abruptly as Ledin awoke with a shout.

Squeaky was watching him when he woke, leaning against the stone wall to his left. The two of them didn't look very much alike, Ledin realised. Unlike every other boy in the room, Squeaky's hair was only barely blonde, and his eyes were so dark they were hardly blue at all. He was also a few years younger. Of course, Ledin could be mistaken. He had never seen himself in a mirror as far as he could remember, after all, so his appearance could be much different than what he thought.

"We'come t' th' worl', prin'sis," Squeaky mocked. Ledin smirked at him, exercising his neck to get the kinks out of it. "Coup' of 'em tried ta kill ya, but I kep' 'em off."

"Thanks."

"Shah thin'." Ledin shook his head vigorously, feeling much better. "I coon't save ya food, tho'." Ledin ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head in disbelief. How did he get in this sort of situation? Why the hell couldn't he remember? Well, those were questions for later.

All but a few of the other boys were sleeping--it was probably night-time.

"Go to sleep," he said to Squeaky. "I need to figure out some things." Squeaky nodded.

"Luck t'ya, buddy." Ledin nodded.

"Yeah..." Luck was something he would definitely need. Ledin ceded the makeshift pillow and waited for Squeaky to fall asleep before allowing his mind to wander a little. Obviously, they were all here for some sort of reason. Apparently, he had been a bit of a problem case when they brought him in. Still, Ledin didn't think he knew how to fight; he was quite certain he had few-if any--physical abilities. He couldn't have been that much trouble for them, and even if he had, it certainly did not warrant the severe beating he suffered--not to mention the shackle.

And why the dream? What was wrong with him? Did he know her? There were far too many questions he couldn't answer, so many more he dared not even ask. Ledin began to pace about, at a loss. He moved to the door, making agonisingly slow progress due to the ball hanging from his leg. He inspected the door's hinges and its lock.

"That won't do you any good." Ledin wheeled about to face the owner of the voice. He blinked: it was the girl from his dream. Dumbfounded, he simply stood there, mouth agape.

"Well, don't just stand there," she said, "say hi."

Ledin swallowed hard, his voice little more than a squeak. "Hi." The girl cocked her head, and rested her hands on her hips.

"Don't tell me it happened again." She threw her hair back and sighed. "You really should stop that. It's really annoying, you know." Ledin simply stared, not sure what to say.

"Who...?" he started, unable to get anything else out. The girl jumped, crossing herself in apology.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She moved to Ledin and hugged him tightly. Releasing him, she smiled sadly. "I'm Faith, and before you ask, yes, I am a ghost. Do you have a name yet?" Ledin blinked again and slowly informed his strange new friend of his name.

They would talk for quite some time. He had many questions to ask.

~~~~~

Ledin was worried that Squeaky would wake soon. Faith assured him that she would be gone by the time he did, but Ledin still worried.

Faith crouched near him, whispering in his ear: "First, to get rid of this shackle." She reached for the chain and--to Ledin's utter surprise--crushed it in her hand. "And now for the door." She inspected the lock, peered through the keyhole, raised the light level inside the lock, and in the end only frowned.

Throughout the entire process, Ledin could do nothing more than kneel by her, feeling like a fifth wheel. He peered over her shoulder, but could understand little of what she was doing: sorcery was beyond him.

I can unlock the door," Faith assured him, "but you'll have to get out quick, understand?" Ledin nodded affirmatively, already tip-toeing toward Squeaky. Faith motioned for him to stop.

"When I unlock that door, I'll have to go." She bowed her head gravely: "I won't be able to come back for a while."

Ledin nodded. "I'll be okay."

"Always the optimist, eh, Ledin?"

"I have to be."

She smiled weakly: "This must be so hard on you..." She was on the verge of tears, but she caught herself, refusing to cry. She put a hand on his shoulder, pointing to Squeaky with the other. "Go get your friend. I'll get you out of this." Ledin nodded and began to turn back toward Squeaky, but Faith stopped him. Gently, she kissed him on the forehead.

"Be safe," she whispered. With a blush, Ledin tiptoed to the back of the room. When he looked back, she had already gone.

Not wasting time, Ledin shook his friend to wake him. He woke instantly, fully alert.

"We're leaving," Ledin informed him. Squeaky gazed at him with equal parts of confusion and disbelief, but he only nodded. They moved silently to the door, and Ledin opened it slowly. He prayed it would not creak.

With his breath caught in his throat, Ledin waited for the door to open enough to admit the both of them. The entire process took place in complete silence.

Through the door, they moved like shadows past guards both awake and otherwise. Those of the drunken variety were especially comical, he thought. To their surprise, however, they found the front door of the jail wide open, unguarded.

Quickly, they escaped, the cold night their only friend.

~~~~~

Squeaky pondered. "Weh, we k'n always go ta Tarro." He grinned. "I 'ave friens there."

Ledin ran a hand through his dirty hair. "Good a place as any, I guess." He shrugged. "Lead the way."

"Shah."

They took the road east toward the rising sun. Ledin felt cleansed by its beauty and warmth. His life had just been turned upside-down, but it could only get better. With a smile creeping around the corners of his face, he walked beside his friend in high spirits. He had the feeling the day would be a good one. He had less than a handful of coins in his pocket, but he had his freedom; he would manage. Nothing could possibly spoil the day for him.