Chapter Ten

As they walked through the door into the main room of the healer's home, a voice called out, "Berwen!" Turning and looking through the doorway into Cedric's room, Aragorn saw Cedric sitting on his bed with another young boy sitting beside him. He smiled as he realized that the other Rangers had been successful in their mission. His assumption was proven correct when Berwen rushed into the other room.

"Keane!" Berwen ran into the room, then stopped when he saw Cedric. "What happened to you…sir?"

Cedric glanced at Aragorn, wondering how much to tell the boy. Aragorn shrugged, leaving it up to Cedric. "I met up with some very angry men," Cedric answered carefully.

Berwen looked back to Aragorn, remembering what he had been told on the way back to the village. He looked at Cedric in horror. "Did my Papa do that?"

"He was one among many," Cedric allowed, not willing to place all of the blame on the boy's father. He knew how much Berwen adored his father, and would not be the one to tarnish the image the boy had of him.

"I'm sorry," Berwen said, tears welling up once again in his eyes. "It's all my fault."

Cedric blinked in surprise. That was the last thing he had expected to hear.

Before Cedric could think of anything to say to that, another voice called out "Berwen!"

Berwen turned around from where he stood in the doorway. Red stood in the middle of the room, staring at his son in shock.

"Papa?" Berwen's very hesitant voice broke the stillness of the moment, and Red rushed forward, grabbing his son and pulling him into a firm hug.

"Are you well?" Red asked, running his hand over the boy's back and arms, checking for any injuries. When his son did not return his embrace fully, Red pulled away and looked him over closely. The tear tracks trailing down his face did not reassure him. "Did someone hurt you?"

"No, no one hurt me," Berwen said, pulling away from his father and brushing the tears off of his face. "But you're going to hate me, and Mr. Cedric is going to hate me, and Keane is going to hate me…"

"Wait," Red said, confused. "Why would any of us hate you?" He looked into the room and saw Cedric and Keane sitting on the bed. His face reddened as he stared at them both. "What have you been telling my son?" He could not quite meet Keane's eyes, but he was now afraid that they had told Berwen that he had kidnapped Keane. This situation was not what he had expected, and he wanted to know what was going on.

"I have told him nothing that would make him think you would hate him," Cedric answered honestly, reaching out to pull his son closer to his side when Keane flinched away from Red.

"This is all my fault!" Berwen cried loudly. "The fire, the village, Mr. Cedric's injuries, they're all my fault!"

"How is any of this your fault?" Red asked soothingly. He was a bit confused about his son's outburst.

"I knocked over the lantern, and couldn't put the fire out!" Berwen wailed. "I burned down the house. I thought you would hate me, so I ran away. Mr. Strider found me and brought me back home, but he told me that you and some of the other men were mad at each other. Did you and the others burn down people's homes, Papa? There are so many homes burned down! Did you have anything to do with this?"