In Secret (Sequel to Behind the Scenes)

Ryos

When they reached the barn, Ryos stopped, nostrils flaring. Blood... What?

The farmer stopped with his hand on the big barn door, glancing over his shoulder at the boy behind him. He was wide eyed, breathing a little quickly and looking around in a panic. "Boy? Ya alrigh'?" The young man whipped his gaze to meet the farmer's eyes, clenching his fists and setting his jaw in determination.

Levy had set this up. He wouldn't be in danger... would he? She could be testing his ability to adapt to danger. Ryos took another breath, deeper this time, to see if his tiny mentor was lurking nearby watching. He couldn't smell her, and now that he thought about it, the blood he smelled was old. There was a very faint tinge of fear to it. "What exactly is my job?"

The farmer pushed the door open a bit, the scent of fear becoming a stronger. Ryos tensed before his brain caught up with his nose and told him the smells he was reacting to were animal, not human. "I got a pup got hurt. His ma is m'huntin' bitch. She's normally real good like, but with 'er pup like this, she ain't lettin' me near. It ain't gonna kill 'im, but it'll fester if'n I don't clean 'im. I don' wanna scare 'im more, or make 'is ma lose trust. She's m' best bitch. Ya tink ya can help?"

Ryos let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He was capable of killing animals, he'd done it with his... his father. For food. But he didn't enjoy it as much as some hunters. Helping an injured animal though? He could do that. "Of course, sir. May I see the animals?" The farmer nodded and headed into the barn, murmuring soothing words to the hound that started growling as soon as they stepped in.

The barn was airy and cool, the top outside doors of the horse stalls thrown open to the beautiful day. The stalls were mostly empty, the beasts out in their pasture. One big black horse, however, hung his head over his door and huffed a breath into Ryos' hair as he walked by, trying to lip some of it into his mouth. The boy smiled, reaching up to stroke the velvet muzzle. "Hello, friend." The farmer paused, raising an eyebrow at the boy. He'd meant to warn him, that stallion was usually mean as sin, but he seemed to like this child for some reason.

After a moment of playing with the big creature's forelock, Ryos turned to his employer and started walking deeper into the barn. The growls from the last stall had settled when they stopped, but now she had started up again. As they came to the open door, Ryos could hear whimpers from the wounded pup as well. He looked in cautiously, crouching to present less of a threat to the scared hounds.

There was a tan colored puppy laying on his side in the corner, one ear completely black, and a patch of black across his muzzle. He wagged his tail weakly, and Ryos saw a bit of black on the tip of that as well. There were three other puppies of various colors piled on each other asleep in the corner opposite. They didn't seem to be bothered by the tension. The pup's mother was standing between the door and her litter, her brindle coat standing on end and her long floppy ears pinned back.

After assessing the situation for a moment Ryos backed out of the line of sight of the dogs, standing to his feet. "Alright, I'm gonna do something. Can you keep the mother focused on you?" The farmer raised an eyebrow at the small boy before stepping into the stall just enough to get the mother's attention. "Ey, purty girl. 'S jus' me. I ain't gonna hurt ya, nor yer pup. C'mon now." As he continued to murmur nonsense words to his hounds, Ryos slipped into the next stall, closing his eyes to concentrate.

As Skiadrum had taught him, he pictured himself melting into the shadows, becoming one with them. When he opened his eyes, all color had faded. Everything was in shadow, but it didn't impair his vision at all. He found a shadow on the wall next him and stepped close, flowing into it. It was a strange sensation, feeling like he had no form. When he was part of the darkness, Ryos could go wherever he wanted, usually in an instant. He slid through a crack in the wall, moving slowly so his shadows wouldn't distract the bitch and agitate her.

There was a spike of fear and he glanced around to see the farmer staring at him. Well, at the mass of shadows that he'd caused on the wood of the walls. He had to give the older man credit, he didn't slow down his litany of things he and the dog were going to do once the pup was healed. The poor, stressed mother had stopped growling, but her hackles were still up. Ryos continued his trek around the stall, stopping behind the wounded pup. It looked up at the shadows, sniffing curiously.

From this close, the shadow wizard could see that the wound was a gash down the hound's side and back leg. With a bit more focus, Ryos extended his shadows onto the ground under the pup, supporting its wounded leg before pulling the pup into his chest. Or where his chest would be if he had form. The curious little creature didn't even yelp or whine at the strange sensation.

When he stepped out of the shadows in the next stall over, the puppy licked Ryos' face, wagging its tail happily. The farmer heard the boy rustling around in the straw and backed out of the stall the mother was in, closing the door gently. "Good work, boy. Not gonna lie, I wasn't sure wha' ya had in mind, but tha' was some righ' fine work." They heard an agitated bark from the closed stall next to them as the mother realized her puppy was missing. But she calmed quickly, curling up around her other pups.

Ryos walked back towards the barn door with the farmer, cradling the pup in his arms. "Righ' then. Here's yer payment. I'll take this 'un now." He scooped the pup up and laid him on a table to clean the wound, then handed Ryos a bag of jewels. Ryos took it with a small smile and a nod. "Thank you, sir." With a final pat for the pup, he turned and walked out the door, heading back for home.