“Tomatoes! Get your fresh tomatoes here! Only 5 pieces each!”

The hawker’s voice rose above the bustle of the crowd. Mirram pulled her shawl tighter around herself. She looked down. Esterian walked beside her, his left hand firmly in his mother’s right. He could feel his mother’s bracelet rub against the side of his hand. Silver, with a green stone set in it, she treasured it above anything else she had. He looked around, greedily drinking in the sights of the market.

Mirram pulled him a bit closer as she made her way through the crowd. The sun beat down on them. She was sweating, but there was still more to buy. She looked at the various stalls. Keen eyed merchants were shouting themselves hoarse, trying to attract potential customers. The air was dusty. Mirram coughed once and kept moving forward.

Esterian looked around. At four years old and two feet tall, there wasn’t much he could see above the knees of the passing crowd. A few of them wore shoes. The majority were barefoot. Most of their pants were torn and mended. Multicolored patches on their knees. Of the stalls all he could see were the legs of the tables. They were broad and made from a dark wood. He could see some of the wares being sold. Juicy red tomatoes and ripe oranges made his mouth water and his stomach grumble. He tugged on his mother’s sleeve.

“Mom, I’m hungry.” He looked up into his mother’s face.

Mirram looked down. Adjusted the shawl around her face so that she could talk more freely.

“I know you are, my Este. And you’ll have something to eat soon, I promise. Now hurry up, there’s still a lot more that we have to do.”

“But I’m HUNGRY!” Esterian’s voice was louder. A high pitched tone of hunger and frustration. His legs were hurting. They had been walking since the early morning. Somewhere along the way he had picked up a pebble in his right shoe that was making walking even more unpleasant. It had finally gotten to him. Eyes watering, he started crying. Loud wails as he stopped walking and sat down on the dirt.

People were starting to look. Mirram quickly covered her face with her shawl and looked downwards. She picked Esterian up off the ground. Patted his bottom to clear the dirt and held him to her shoulder.

“Shhh, my darling. I know today’s been hard, but you have to be strong. Can you be strong for me? Can you be my big boy?”

The crying died down. Esterian sniffed twice and pulled back his head. Mirram wiped away the unshed tears in his eyes. He nodded once to his mother. She set him back down.

“Perhaps I can help?”

Mirram turned to the voice. It came from behind her. The speaker was an old man. His hair was white and his face wrinkled. But his eyes were keen. His mouth was drawn into a relaxed smile. A dimple in his left cheek.

“No thank you.” Mirram quickly turned away.

“I’ll take care of him. You’re not the only traveler with children. I run a care service for them. I’ll keep them fed and safe. Just give me some pieces when you come to collect him. He eats fruit?”

Mirram turned back. The old man’s smile was broader. He was pointing to a group of maybe six or seven other children, some older, other younger than Esterian who were sitting around eating from plates on the floor before them. One of them would say something and the sound of childish giggles would float over. Mirram looked down. Esterian was pulling hard on her hand. He wanted to go join them.

“Don’t worry. He’ll be fine. I’ll take good care of him.” Something in the man’s voice and his face made Mirram trust him.

“I’ll be back in another two hours or so. I can find you here?”

“Of course.”

Mirram bent down.

“Esterian. Look at me.”

Esterian tore his eyes off the other kids and looked at his mother.

“I’m going to let you play with those kids over there. You have to be good and listen to this man, okay?”

Esterian nodded. His eyes drifted back to the children.

Mirram kissed him on the forehead, pulled him into a tight embrace and stood up straight.

The old man nodded once to her before he put his arm around Esterian’s shoulder.

Mirram looked back at him, swallowing down the anxiety that rose within her as she saw her child being led away. She pulled the shawl around her face again, took a deep breath and hurried away.

The old man led Esterian over to the other children.

“Children, I want you to say hello to Esterian. He’s going to be with us for some time.”

The children looked up from their plates. A chorus of ‘Hello Esterian’s. Esterian shuffled awkwardly, trying to hide behind the old man’s leg. The old man smiled down at him and said,

“Make some friends, and I’ll go get you something to eat.”

He walked off towards a hut a few meters away. The other children went back to eating, but they stole curious glances at Esterian.

The old man returned and put a plate of fruit before Esterian. His stomach grumbled loudly. The children burst into laughter. Esterian looked down embarrassed but he started eating. The fresh fruit was cool in his mouth. The juice leaked out the corners and trickled onto his shirt. His mother would not be happy.

“So you’re Esterian? I’m Payl.”

Esterian stopped eating to look at who had spoke. It was a child maybe two years older than him. His dirty blond hair spilled messily over his face. His mouth was drawn into a grin that showed several missing teeth.

Esterian looked back down at his plate. He didn’t know what to say.

“Don’t worry. First time here, everyone’s quiet. Now if you finish eating, we can go and hear a story.”

Esterian’s eyes lit up. He loved stories. His mother would tell him one at night if he had been good the whole day. Lately, he hadn’t heard many stories. Esterian hurriedly stuffed the rest of the fruit in his mouth. He chewed them, juice running in thick streams down the edges of his mouth. He swallowed. Looked up at Payl.

“Can we hear the story now?”

Payl laughed and got to his feet. The others followed suit. Esterian clambered to his feet as well. He followed as the group walked towards the hut. The old man was sitting on a chair outside it, in the shade of a tree. The kids sat back down around his feet.

“So. You all want a story now eh?”

“YES!” They shouted in unison.

“Which one?”

“Tell us about the reckoning.” Said a little girl, hardly four, sitting at the edge of the group. Esterian had heard that word before, in a talk between two merchants earlier in the day. They were talking about how everything had been so different before the reckoning.

“No. Tell us about the Shadow of Heaven!” cried out a boy sitting to Esterian’s left. The rest of the group nodded and shouted their agreement. Even the little girl at the edge.

“Hmmm. That’s a big kid story. Are you all sure you want to hear it?” The old man paused. He looked around. The group had fallen quiet. They looked at him and nodded.

“Well. A long time ago, there lived in this very town a family. Dad, Mom and little Zere. Now Zere was about your age. And he was very naughty. One day he snuck out while his mother was busy in the kitchen and cut up all her pretty flowers. When she saw this, she was very sad and started crying. Now you know that you’re never supposed to make your mother cry. Well, Zere was so naughty that instead of apologizing to her, he just laughed at her and went around playing. That evening when his father came home, his mother told his father what he had done. His father just said,

‘If you’re naughty one more time, I won’t save you from the shadow when he comes at night!’

Zere didn’t care. He rushed off after dinner, and taking his father’s paint, drew all over his father’s new shirt.”

The old man looked around. Every child hung on his words. He smiled to himself before continuing,

“So Zere’s father as punishment, took him to his room, put out his candle, closed his window and left him alone. Without a candle or the stars, Zere’s room was totally dark. All Zere could hear was his own breath.

He heard the sound of steps outside his room. Hard firm steps growing louder and louder as they came closer. Zere hid under his blankets. He was scared. So scared that when he tried to scream, no sound came out. The steps were just outside his door. Then they stopped.”

The old man was enjoying himself immensely. He knew that he was at the center of the children’s world at that moment. He was relishing the feeling.

“There was a loud creak as the door was pushed open. Zere looked out from within his blankets and saw a figure fill up the whole doorway. He was clothed in black. His armor seemed to be forged from the night itself. His face was covered under a black helm, with slits for eyes. Those slits glowed red. The Shadow stepped into the room.

Zere jumped out of bed and ran to the far wall. He was still too scared to shout. He picked up some toys from the floor and threw them at the Shadow. They fell out of the air before they hit him. The shadow walked closed to Zere. He pulled a dark black blade from a scabbard on his waist. The blade glowed red in the dark. Zere crouched down against the wall, too scared to even try to run anymore. The Shadow came closer and closer and then BOO!”

The entire group jumped as the old man finished the tale. They were breathing heavily. Esterian’s heart was racing. His breath was coming in short gasps. He had felt he was there. The visions of a man in Black armor, with a blade darker than night itself, red slots with eyes had been too vivid to be imagination. The world around him had grown darker and darker as the story had proceeded till he felt it was night. Now though, the day went back to normal. The old man was laughing loudly. A few of the other kids were grinning sheepishly.

“It doesn’t matter how many times you hear that story. You all still jump like babies at the end.” The old man was wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

“You always say BOO at different times. So it’s not fair!” Protested Payl.

The old man just kept on laughing.

Esterian looked around. He could still feel the red slit eyes on him. He looked around, desperate for his mother.

“Esterian!” Cried out a woman’s voice.

Esterian was on his feet in a flash. He ran to his mother and hugged her tight. Mirram adjusted the shawl and the bags she was carrying, and hugged him back. She pulled him away, kissed his forehead. The old man walked over to her.

“He was a very good boy. Ate all his lunch and made no trouble.”

“Thank you. I have no idea what I would have done if you hadn’t helped.” Mirram reached into the purse in her pocket, took out a few pieces and handed them to the man. The man gave them a quick glance, nodded to himself, smiled to Mirram and walked back to the other children.

Mirram looked down at Esterian. He was oddly quiet. There seemed to be a tightness in his eyes.

“Is anything wrong, my Este?” she asked.

Esterian just shook his head.

“Okay. We’ll talk when we get back home. Come on now.”

It was much later. Esterian was lying in bed. He was nestled in his blankets. His mother was sitting beside him, combing back his hair. Her arm bare. Esterian wondered what had happened to her bracelet.

“Did you have fun today, Este?”

Esterian was silent. He looked at his mother. In a very quiet voice, he said,

“Mother, I know I’m naughty sometimes, but you won’t let the Shadow get me will you?”

Mirram recoiled slightly at the name. Her face tensed, her arms twitched. But she drew a breath and said,

“The Shadow? What are you talking about?”

“You know, The Shadow. The big bad man that comes at night to catch naughty boys. You won’t ;et the shadow take me will you?”

Mirram leant forward and kissed Esterian. She patted his hair once more and said,

“My dear Este. The Shadow’s just made up. There is no big bad man who catches naughty boys. And I’ll keep you safe from anything. You’re my little darling.”

“Can you check if he’s hiding under my bed?” His voice was still quiet, but there was a bit more confidence in it.

Mirram bent over the side of the bed.

“There’s nothing here, Este. Now go to sleep.”

She kissed him one final time and blew out the candle. Esterian turned away and closed his eyes. A few moments later, his breathing grew deeper and steadier. He was asleep.

Mirram got up and closed the door behind her as she left. She walked downstairs and checked the door. It was locked. She checked all the windows. All of them were firmly latched. She walked back to the front of the house and pulled back the curtains on one of the windows. She stared hard and long into the night, just as she had done every night since her husband had been killed. She swept her eyes over the front garden, searching for those red slit eyes. That black armor that had seemed forged from night itself. She searched for the Shadow of Heaven. She searched for the man who had killed her husband.