Ten. . .
Esau forced himself to breathe, his fingers folding into the seams of the clothes hanging off his arms. The basket sitting in front of him was filled with strips of clothes he and Edythe had prepared days ago, clothes they had made impervious to the fog.
Clothes they would need in three day's time.
Eleven. . .
With a burst of anxiety he shoved his hands back into the basket of linens, relishing the coolness that dug into his fingers as he threw a stare at the soldiers. Why isn't she back yet?
It was all he could do to calm his nerves and yet each second that passed made it harder for him to breath.
Where are you?
Time seemed to roll on without pause even though he had taken great pains to count it slowly. Edythe was taking too long to get back from the forest and now it had been twelve minutes since she had left.
Esau hadn't expected both soldiers to wake up before she reached the workshop but a part of him was grateful for her absence. At least now he didn't have to worry about upsetting her again.
What if 'he' woke up? The nine year old swallowed down the thought. Edythe had told him. . . she was in no condition to fight again.
I've got to help her! Esau threw a hasty glance at the door, at the soldiers, then looked back to his hands. He was shaking.
The boy was about to be consumed, completely taken over by the the fear in his heart, but then he paused.
It was instinct that warned him, the familiar tickle—like a feather against his mind—that alerted Esau of another presence, one that didn't belong to his sister or the two men he had been talking to.
What are you doing here? He shifted his gaze from his trembling hands to the door behind the soldiers.
"What are you doing here?" He repeated, out loud this time, under his breath.
The warmth of a thought brushed against Esau's doubts, tempting them to vanish. But the string of badly worded ideas that bombarded his mind were not his. He knew that from experience.
The boy's eyes narrowed at door as it swung open, not at all convinced that no one was there.
"Oh, just in time." The words repeated in the Esau's head like an echo. "It looks like his time is up."
Get out of my head. He hissed silently as he watched Aleron Alun breeze past the soldiers and come to stand next to him.
"I came to see you, of course." The serpentine boy said with a chuckle, answering the question Esau had asked moments before.
The nine year old stared at his friend, silent as he took in the new features in front of him. Three horizontal lines marked each side of Aleron's face, resembling whiskers as they twitched with each change in the boy's expression.
With mousy hair drooping down the sides of his head and curling around his ears, a gentle face and permanently sly smile, Aleron Alun was the picture of beauty, especially with his hazel eyes dancing across the room in excitement.
"You look different," Esau said at last, dragging his gaze from the boy to the two soldiers. The one with blonde hair looked like he was about to pass out, his chest heaving and eyes closed as he leaned against his comrade.
The boy's eyes moved down the man's bandaged chest till his gaze caught the spot of red seeping out his sister's hardwork.
"Well," Alun pulled on his shirt, the black material contrasting strongly with his pale skin. The scales on his neck shimmered, almost transparent as they crept up to the base of his jaw.
I'm not wearing your sister's face anymore. He projected the thought into Esau's mind and the glow around him faded away.
Yes, I noticed. The nine year old answered absentmindedly as he pulled out a thin vial from the bottom of the basket and held it in the air, trying his best to conceal his thoughts from the serpentine boy.
"Hey," Esau waved a hand at the soldiers and threw the glass bottle at them, "catch."
Alun just watched him, his eyes gleaming with light as he did. "Where is she?"
Esau pretended not to hear him.
"What is this?" The soldier with blue eyes asked as he caught the vial, the bottle seating itself in the center of the palm effortlessly.
Suddenly Esau felt annoyed, his fingers digging into his palms as his surprise at Alun's arrival wore off and he remembered his previous panic. "If you don't want him to die, make him drink it."
His head had started to throb, the door zooming in and out of focus as he fought to keep his gaze still. The room had become stuffy, suffocating him with dangerous thoughts of corpses and monsters; demons of the night clawed at the frayed edges of his mind, peering deep into him with wide, golden gazes. And suddenly he was reliving the destruction of his town.
His frustration peaked the moment he remembered Edythe's absence, how pained she looked after her fight with Alun's master. The pain wasn't real, it didn't affect him but somehow it was now unbearable. If Edythe was hurt again he wouldn't be able to laugh it off. . .
His feet began to move before he could think his actions through. But just before he could dash out of the workshop, away from the eyes of everyone in it, a cool hand reached up to touch his forehead.
The sensation that flooded his mind stopped him in his tracks, sending waves of calm rolling through his body. Esau started and looked up to see Alun staring at him with playful eyes.
"Al. . ." Esau watched his friend take his hand away. This prompted him to look down at his own hands, his plain ordinary hands. "How did you do that?"
Alun nudged the nine year old with his shoulder. "It's a secret," the serpentine boy knelt by the basket, a curious look in his eye as he lifted it up and peered at it from every angle possible, "plus it looked like you needed it."
Esau let out a long breath and clenched his fists. "Thank you."
Alun raised his head and beamed at him. "What are friends for?"
The nine year didn't say anything, unsure of how to reply. Instead he turned to the dark-haired soldier, trying his best to mask the tremor in his voice. "Are you ready to discuss terms now?"
The man scowled but relented. "If we do what we want you'll give us the antidote. No tricks."
"In three days you will escort us to the capital." Esau told him. "Of course you can go gather the rest of your soldiers. If they are still alive, that is."
"They are alive." The man said, a bit too forcefully. "But it would be impossible to take you to the capital without clearance."
Esau opened his mouth to interject but he was cut off by the soldier's next words.
"And even if you had clearance, I can't see a way of leaving Lacau. We're stranded."
"Don't worry about that." This time it was Alun who spoke. "They don't really need you to do much," the boy made a gun with the fingers of his left hand, "just point and shoot."
"Escort us to the capital and I'll give you the antidote." Esau repeated. By this time the other soldier was already unconscious, standing only because he was supported by the other man.
"Fine." The blue-eyed soldier agreed reluctantly. "But I'll need to go get my soldiers."
"Captain Issac Westley," Alun mused with a coy smile. "Interesting. You really caught a big one." The boy turned to Esau.
"You can go." Esau replied after Alun had finished speaking, ignoring the shock on the Captain's face. "But you're leaving your friend behind."
"How do you know my name?" Issac directed his question to Alun.
"Issac and Philip is a nice pair, nice minds, good thoughts. I'm Aleron Alun." The boy held out his hand, his expression nonchalant.
Esau felt tempted to roll his eyes but he didn't. He thought of how to explain Edythe's whereabouts to Alun, not quite sure that his friend wouldn't try to kill her again.
"That doesn't answer my question." Issac snapped, his eyes narrowed at both boys.
"He's from paradise," Esau answered offhandedly.
Alun turned to his friend, a frown on his lips as he did. "How did you know that?"
This time Esau couldn't be bothered to divert his thoughts and answer the mind reader, he could already feel Alun's impatience. The serpentine boy barely held back from plunging deep into the mind of the nine year old.
"Are you going to get your soldiers or are we coming along?" Esau asked Issac and shrugged off the prick of pain in his temple, expecting Edythe to walk in any moment now.
The captain shot a look in Philip's direction then pulled open the door as he laid his friend on the floor. "Who is staying with him?"
Esau and Alun shared a knowing glance and answered the soldier together. "Don't worry about it."
†