He befriended and learned a lot from a thief named Martin who was kidnapped in a raid on one of the coastal lumber villages. Bill was one of the many hobbits in charge of the "Herd." Like the rest of the slaves Martin was made to do manual labor and would end up in the Wildings' bellies eventually. Bill was one of the lucky ones being a hobbit and taken young and assimilated into the tribe.
Martin was allowed some small amounts of freedom when Bill was to watch the Herd. Martin taught Bill some skills of his trade to pass the time and to tried to persuade Bill to let him go. Bill wasn't going to let him go because of the risk of being kicked out of the Tribe. One night, on Guard duty over the herd, Bill overheard one of the Elders saying that he wasn't really a wilding but was kidnapped young from the villages.
At the age of 14 Bill, now angry at the Tribe, told Martin that he would free him if he took him along with him. Bill freed Martin and thought he would go back to his parents, but he didn't know which village he was from, or who his parents were. So they headed south to try to get to one of the coastal villages away from the Tribe. Gill had never been on a raid on the Human Settlements yet and didn't know where they were, and Martin didn't know how to get there either since he was blindfolded during the way back to the Tribes moveable camp. Martin told Bill that he went to the Villages on the coast because there was alot of trade there, and a lot of purses that could be cut.
They came upon and old abandoned tower and wanted to get out of the rain. They made a fire in the center of the tower which had a broken stone floor and holes in the cieling in places so you could see the sky. During the night an old Hobbit in dark red-stained leather sat beside the fire and awoke them. He introduced himself as Drogo the Red. He told them how he had also escaped the Tribe and had found this tower in the middle of the Island. An old Blood Mage had taught him some of the ways of his Order before he passed, and gave him ways to learn more after his death. He told them to go to sleep and they would talk the next day.
Bill didn't really know where he was going, or what he was doing with his life, so he decided to stay with Drogo and said goodbye to Martin after Drogo showed him the way to the closest coastal village. Gill tutored under Drogo until he was 20. At 20 Gill was getting tired of all of the chores and punishments used to train him in the ways of Blood, and realized that Drogo wasn't really teaching him all that much, and was instead just using him for manual labor.
Drogo taught him that cannibalism was thought distrurbing in some circles, which Gill thought funny. Who didn't eat people that were your enemies? How could you defeat your enemy if you didn't take his strength from him?
Bill told Drogo that he wanted to go out on his own and perhaps go to the mainlaind. Drogo was filled with Rage and imprisoned Bill down in one of the underground cells. After 2 years Drogo made a mistake when entering the cell and Bill slayed him with his bare hands and teeth. Bill took Drogo's Red Studded Leather Masterwork armor and his coin of Drogoss. Bill also took Drogo's gold and a Blood Red Tome of the Order of Bloodmages, in case he chose to take up that profession later in life.
Bill made his way to the village that Martin had gone too and found him half drunk outside a bar. Martin had been caught a few times for some minor thievery and wanted to get out of the small village and onto bigger cities with more money. Martin remembering the help that Bill gave him, helped Gill stow away with him on The Merchant ship The Sea Whore bound for Diev and points along the way.
While on the ship Martin went out among the crew to "help them with thier belongings" and never came back. Bill assumed the worst and kept hidden. Bill snuck out that night and tried to find out what happened, a drunk sailor bragging about the incident to another sailor revealed what happened.
It turned out that Martin was caught stealing and thrown over board...after the rowdy crew removed Martin of his hands, feet, arms, and legs in that order, and with much time in between the chopping.
The Sea Whore was plauged with unexplained deaths. Many of the crew would turn up missing thier hands, feet, arms, legs and ears. They would also at times be found missing thier heads, or thier hearts. Still others were never found. The Sea Whore docked in Stormshire and replaced what crew they had left, except the Captain and his First in command.
When The Sea Whore docked in Diev and started to unload its cargo the Captain and his First in Command turned up... or rather thier parts turned up in random boxes around the ship but no blood was found, they had all been drained. The ship was nicknamed The Bloody Whore by the locals and could not find a buyer or a crew to man her. Many believed that Martin's Ghost haunted the ship. Many believed that Martin's Ghost ate the flesh, and drank the blood of whoever manned the cursed ship.
Bill found his way to Diev with a few soveniers in his backpack and around his neck.