The truth hidden within the lies

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"I might have been through more than you during the last couple of weeks, but you seem to have been lonely much longer than me." William pointed out. It was just the last weeks that his life had been a living hell, before that it had been the easiest road in the world. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Just because a person lives away from his family doesn't mean he's lonely." He continued quite suddenly when realizing what he had said to the man.

"I just have a hard time imagining a life without a family. It feels like that is something that always should be there. But I guess fate doesn't agrees with that." He looked up at the sky as he spoke the last few sentences. It felt so unreal that he didn't have a family to turn to. Sure, he often argued with his father, especially when it came to marriage since his father wanted him to marry a girl he didn't have any intention of marry. But he loved that old bastard, because he was his father. No one could change that fact.
 
Shane felt pain for William. He felt the agony of his loss, even though he didn't realize his own. The forest was starting to clear now. They were drawing near the village. Once his mission is over, he returns to the barracks to await his next mission. Such was the life of an army's mercenary-cum-soldier.

And this boy will have been...

"Stop." He couldn't do it. It wasn't right. His gut feeling that had saved his life many times over was now telling him that this young man with the sad eyes and the tattered clothes is innocent. He'd seen the army's "rehabilitation process" for alleged criminals; it made him sick.

"I can't do this..." He turned to William. "I'm sorry. I lied. We need to go back." He pulled William's hand and began to drag him back to the forest.
 
William got really surprised when the man suddenly started to pull him back towards the forest even though they had gotten so far already. Exactly what had he lied about? He hadn't said that much that could be such a big deal so they had to turn around. There were three possible lies that William could come up with in his mind. The man's name, the inn and the village they were walking towards, or the safety that awaited them there. He had a feeling it was the last.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, but didn't even try to take back his hand. "What did you lie about?" It felt weird that such a nice man that had saved his life, given him food, warmth and guidance had actually been lying to him.
 
Shane picked up the pace, hoping it would buy him some time. "Later. Let's get out of here..."

He wove them into a clearing that he remembers was about a mile and a half from the village. He stopped here. "Look... I'm not who you think I am. I wasn't hunting for food in the forest when I ran into you. I was hunting for you!"

He took out an amulet from under his shirt and showed William the King's crest. "I'm an agent sent by the army to track you down. They were... they were planning to kill you."
 
William followed the man without a word until they stopped. He listened to what the man told him and at first he didn't really understand what the man meant with hunting him. But slowly the pieces was put together as Shane continued to speak.

They had thought about killing him? Weren't they even going to put him on trial? "If you were sent to get me, why did you decide to tell me about it?" He asked. "If they are planning to kill me, why didn't you just leave me to starve out in the woods?"

William kept calm, even if he tried to run away from the man he was certain that it wouldn't be too hard for Shane to get him. But he wanted to know why Shane hadn't given him to the military. It was his job, and he probably knew the whole story behind why the military wanted him. At least the story where he had become the criminal. If William himself had heard that story from someone about someone else, then he would never be able to trust or talk to the one he thought were guilty. And most people in society worked the same way, they only wanted to believe what society told them to believe.
 
Shane rubbed his brow. "It's a show of power! The King wants the murderer caught and brutally killed in front of the crowd to strike fear into people's hearts. At least that's what I thought until you started talking about your family..." He hesitated. "You... didn't really kill anyone did you...?"
 
William became pale white for a moment and he had a hard time finding his heart beat. For a moment he thought that his heart had actually stopped, at least until he started to hear the ridiculously fast beating in his chest.

"Of course I didn't kill them. What kind of motive would I have to kill my own family?" He was a bit irritated at that point, even though he knew that everyone thought that he was the murderer, to get it actually told into his face made it too real for his taste. "It was that idiot what's-his-name general that did it." Even though the general had been to their house many times he had no idea what his name was. "He killed my parents, burnt down my house and then told everyone that it was me because I saw him do it. And now people wants to kill me and I can't do anything about it because who would listen to me when its my word against one of the kings right hand man." He breathed heavily when he was done, all those feelings he had had deep inside for those last weeks suddenly just erupted at the stranger in front of him.
 
It was Shane's turn to be shocked. He put his palms on his face and had a moment. A general... Someone from the army was trying- no, succeeded- in framing an innocent young man for murder. It didn't make sense to him for a moment. Then he just felt angry. William was innocent. He believed it fully now.

"I'm such an idiot..." He faced William. "Look, I know just where to go... if- if you still... trust me." He felt ashamed now, despite the fact he was just doing his job.
 
William hadn't noticed at first that his nails were cutting into his hand so hard it started to bleed. He forced his hand to relax together with the rest of his body when the anger from his outburst had calmed down. It wasn't like Shane had anything to do with all that had happened, he didn't have to be angry at him. Still when the topic came up it was impossible to stay calm.

Shane's words surprised William. "I don't trust you." William started "But I doubt I will make it that far on my own anyway if there are military people this close by. So if I leave you I'll be damned and if I go with you there is a small chance I might be damned. I rather take the path I might survive." He continued. It was a bit of a lie though, he still trusted this man even though he had lied. He might have lied at first, but then he told the truth.
 
Shane couldn't explain why he felt so relieved. But they had no time to think about it now. If they must, they'd have to discuss it later. First things first.

A disguise.

"Take off your clothes."
 
William stood and stared at Shane for a few seconds, at first he thought he had heard wrong but then he understood that he hadn't.

"You want me to undress, in the middle of the forest.... Why?" Any other person would probably have done as they were told in that kind of situation, but a rich spoiled kid like William had a hard time grasping what needed to be done for survival in that kind of situation.
 
Shane had to suppress his irritation at the delay. He took William by the shoulders and tried to talk sense into him.

"Look, there are people out there who want your head. Before that, they plan of rending flesh from bone until you scream for merciful death. All this in front of a crowd of jeering watchers. Are you sure you want to be concerned about letting a couple of falling leaves seeing you naked? Now strip quick so I can put you in something less conspicuous."

He started digging in his sack for some clothes.
 
William's face became pale white during the lecturing and all he could do was nod as an answer. As Shane started to search after clothes in his sack, William started to undress. It felt a bit uncomfortable, especially since he was outside. If his life weren't at stake then he would never do something so vulgar. But he couldn't deny that it felt good to get out of his clothes. He had had the same clothes for weeks, and they were muddy and had holes and sweat marks. Changing clothes would feel very comfortable even though he had preferred doing it inside and without audience.
 
As Shane was rifling for the spare clothes at the bottom of his sack, he couldn't help but notice William out of the corner of his eye. He was battered, sure, but underneath was a pampered body that only knew the comfort of soft fabric and overstuffed cushions. Shane could imagine what his skin felt like, smooth and supple, the sound of sliding fabric coloring his imagination.

Shut up! Not the time or person!!!

He hoped William hadn't noticed his glances. He finally found an old wool shirt and rough linen trousers that was spun and made by a friend of his. She was not the best craftsman in the land, but her work was strong and lasted a while. It was totally anti-noble and perfect for the situation.

"Here-" he tried not to stare. "Put these on." He abruptly turned around and pretended to see nothing.
 
William didn't notice anything odd about Shane's behavior, mostly since he did everything to look away from the man. He mostly kept his eyes locked on the ground. It felt to embarrassing standing in the nude, outside in the forest, with a stranger.

He took the clothes and made sure he only looked at the clothes and not on Shane. When he touched the fabric it was nothing he had ever felt before. Did people really wear those kind of clothes? It didn't feel very comfortable.

But even so he put the clothes on without complaints, it was better than going around naked. The shirt was a little bit too big for him, but luckily the pants was about the right size around the hips so they didn't slide down. First when he was completely dressed he had escaped his embarrassment and noticed Shane standing turned away from him, trying not to look.

"Done." William told the man.
 
Shane turned around. His shirt sort of swam on William, which made sense since he was much more largely built than the other man.

"Great. Now I need to lose my identity..." He took the amulet from around his neck and looked at it for a moment... a token of his life's work and his rank and his belongingness with his brothers in the troops... and tore it off forcefully. He dug under a tree trunk and placed it there then piled dirt on it so it was buried, to be grown into by the tree's roots in a few decades.

He tried not to think about it too much. It was all a lie. He looked up at the sky and choose his path north. He called to William.

"Let's go..."
 
William watched as the man buried his amulet, the thing that proved who he was. It felt wrong somehow that the man would give it up because of him.

"Are you sure about that? You could just tell me the way and then go back to the way you're living. You could just tell them you weren't able to find me because you lost the track." William told the man. Giving up his life for someone he didn't even knew, why did this man do that? It didn't feel right to involve him in his problems. Especially not when he had already saved him more than once.
 
Shane refused to look straight at him.

"I became a warrior because I thought it was the right thing to do. My ideals were to protect the innocent and fight for our land in the name of our king. Now I realize how foolish I was and that they were merely using me as a tool for their plots to subdue the people. No, I refuse to return to a life that's nothing but a foolish lie."

He finally looked at the person he'll spend the next part of his life with. He sighed. This isn't going to be easy...

"Let's go... William." He offered his hand in a shake.
 
William couldn't refuse the man after that, it felt as if he had thought things through and made up his mind. A mind that couldn't be changed by anyone or anything.

The teenager looked at the man's hand for a moment before grinning and gripping it. "So I'm no longer a stranger?" He asked a bit teasingly as he shook the man's hand. He had no idea where they were going, and no idea how safe it would be. But he still decided to trust the man in front of him, just because he said so. Yes, he were naive, and a bit too soft hearted. Just as his mother had raised him. But he rather believe in people when they say something and maybe get betrayed a couple of times, than doubt every word they say and always look behind his shoulder because of distrust towards the people around him.
 
Shane smiled. "No, you're not. I hope you don't mind..." He looked at the sky. "We'd better find a safe place to settle down and have lunch. I smelled a river a few miles back. We might even get a bath."
 
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