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    "Eric! Eric!" Saul rushed forward panic grasping at his mind. "Eric!" He franticly pushed his way through the crowd. "Eric!" They had pulled him out of the well. He was laying sopping wet on the ground, still and pale, lifeless. "No please Eric!" Saul threw himself down next to his younger brother's still form. "Eric don't do this to me!" He shook him. Eric's chest was still; he wasn't breathing. "NO! Don't do this to me!" Saul pounded a fist on his chest. Water poured from the corner of the limp boys mouth. "Eric?" Desperately Saul shoved his hands down onto the boy's chest. More water poured out, and again he pushed down on his chest producing more water. But Eric still wasn't breathing. "No… No!" Through the pain and the loss an idea struck him. He had seen it work for young ewes and he had herd tell of a midwife doing it once… Bending down he blew into the younger boy. Eric's chest rose and fell but he didn't start breathing. "C-mon Eric!" He tried again and again. Suddenly Eric gave a weak gasp. Water poured from his mouth; he started to cough. "Thank the god!" Saul pulled him into a tight hug, gently patting his back. Water finished pouring from the 12 year old boy's mouth; He lay with his head on his older brother's shoulder breathing in soft gasps. Sighing in relief Saul gently carried him back to the house.
    Saul gently tousled off Eric's hair. The boy was breathing better but he hadn't woken up and he was shivering violently. Saul had wrapped him up in layers of blankets. He had stoked the fire and sat himself as close to it as he dared holding Eric in his arms. But there was no response. He didn't know what to do, so he just held the boy close to him cursing his helplessness, praying, and hoping. Around midnight he finally got his first response.
    "Saul?" The voice was weak and sounded pathetic, an uncertain plea more then anything else. Saul almost cried in relief.
    "Shhh it's alright, you fell in a well. That's why you're like this."
    "Oh," Eric murmured and sneezed. "Love you"
    Saul smiled "I love you too"
    Over the next few days Eric recovered drastically. Saul wouldn't let him out of bed but Eric had the strength to grumble that he was "bored sick" and that "a little cold had never killed anybody." Then, on the forth day, when Eric was asleep and Saul was about to hit the sack himself, the Paston came.
    As the religious leader of the village, and the only one with enough power to rival that of the headman himself, this was an unusual visit. Saul welcomed him in and was going to set the table when the man waved his hand.
    "I just came to talk."
    "Oh" Saul sat down opposite him.
    "I hear your brother fell into the well."
    "Yes sir."
    "and he wasn't breathing when they pulled him out…" The Paston's voice was grave.
    "He had a lot of water in him." Saul replied cautiously.
    "But after you got the water out of him he still wasn't breathing was he Saul?"
    Saul's hands clenched into fists on his lap "Well no not at first sir but as you can see…"
    The Paston interrupted him "Saul I hear you breathed life back into him."
    The 16-year-olds blood ran cold. "No. It… it's just we do it to ewes…"
    "Sheep are animals Saul"
    "And, and the midwives they do it to babies when they are born blue…" his voice had taken on a pleading tone.
    "Babies have not yet begun to live Saul."
    "No… but I didn't… I mean he… Please!"
    "There can be no exceptions"
    "NO! I can't just abandon him!"
    "That choice is yours but the fact remains the same. As a sin against the natural order of this world he is a danger to all wherever he goes now."
    "No!" Saul leapt to his feet.
    Men burst into the room pining him down. "No Eric! Run!" He screamed struggling violently. Other men emerged from the adjacent room nearly dragging his wide-eyed little brother.
    "Saul!" Eric called out seeing him. "What's happening? Why are these men here? What's going on?!"
    Mr. Cutlin? Mr. Kotter? Mr. Emergen? He looked from one from-earlier face to the next, all now showing such hard expressions. No one would look him in the eye. "Saul? Please Saul..."
    Saul gritted his teeth looking away. He couldn't do anything now. They were taking Eric outside. "Saul!!!" Saul squeezed his eyes shut; He heard rather then saw the sound of sizzling flesh, the horrible scream. Finally managing to wrench himself from the men as their grip loosened, he rushed out of the house. They had left him there, laying on the ground, unconscious, the symbol of an X, the dreaded mark, branded forever, for all to see, on his forehead.
    It took Saul a matter of minutes for him to gather what they needed of their positions. He could feel the angry eyes of the fellow villagers on his back as he left. Word spread fast in a small town. The people who he had once counted as neibors gazed at him with resentment. "Why did you do this to us?" The same question was reflected in all their eyes. Their house would be burned; their names would be erased from all records. Now, Gazing down at his little brother's face Saul broke into tears. It would be worse then if they had died, it would be at though they had never existed.