Black Heart (mxm)

Where Death Sleeps

He wasn't sure what time he awoke, nor the day, but Daiya felt a thousand times better than he had before he'd passed out. His body was a little numb, but as he flexed his fingers and toes, feeling began to return with little pinpricks of sensation that drew a smile to his face. 

"Looks like you've finally returned to us, lad." An old but gentle voice said somewhere to his left. 

Daiya took a few more moments to relax before he let his eyelids slowly lift, taking the darkness away from his vision. After a few blinks, the straw roof a small distance above him became clear, reminding him that Kovash was supposed to have taken him to a doctor back in the town he'd previously run from while being chased by Fin. 

"Your large bat friend gave me quite a fright when he suddenly appeared behind my small home while I was tending to the garden, then let your prone body slip from his back." The man said as he hunched over, clearly having a little trouble due to his age. He pressed a damp cloth against Daiya's forward for a few seconds before leaning back with a nod of approval. 

"You are very lucky, lad. Another day or two without medicine and you would have been lucky if you ever managed to open your eyes again." 

Daiya slowly sat up as he returned the man's nod, glad for his help when he reached forward to assist him. When he was finally leaning comfortably against the headboard of the small bed, two old pillows between him and the wood for slight padding, he turned his attention fully to the old man. 

"I apologize if Kovash startled you... but was there not another creature with him?" He asked, wondering what had happened to the fox, to... god. 

I cannot believe that such a creature was the god everyone reveres. He thought that it must have been a trick of some sort, but there was no question that his bones had been healed by the small animal, and it had definitely spit fire back at Fin's keep. 

"No, lad. Just your scary bat friend arrived with you. He is likely still lying just behind my home. I could not get him to move on, no matter how much I badgered him." The man said right before Kovash spoke into Daiya's mind. 

I am here, master. Are you feeling better? 

Daiya felt his smile grow a little wider as he replied. Yes, and yes. Thank you for looking after me, Kovash. 

It was my pleasure, master. Kovash replied before Daiya returned his focus to the old man before him. 

"Thank you for helping me, sir. Would I be able to ask you a few questions, by chance?" He asked as the man offered him a glass of warm water. 

"Of course, lad." 

After taking a few moments to nurse his drink, Daiya reluctantly lowered the half-empty glass so that he could speak clearly. 

"Do you know Fin, the master of the keep far upon the hill in the distance?"

The man nodded his head before speaking. "I do. You see, lad, he owns this town in a dark, twisted way." 

That idea didn't sit well with Daiya at all. 

"Do you mean to tell me that he terrorizes these people?" He asked, sitting up a little straighter. 

The man sighed out a quiet breath, seemingly unsure of how to respond for a few moments. When he finally did, Daiya's heart sank. 

"Yes, and no. You see, this town is nothing more than emergency meals for him and his horde." 

But what about those people that had been brought here with me? Does that mean that they are in this town, too, and not at the keep? 

"What of the people that are brought here? There were others that came with me that seemed to be on some sort of contract or list..." Daiya said, unsure of how to phrase how the people had literally been taken away much like cattle at a stockyard.