Finding the Village

The boy felt blood gush from his nose, and his sight was blurred from the tears he couldn’t stop. One eye was swollen almost entirely shut, but he could just make out the glint in the eyes of the two criminals who had him by the scruff of his ragged shirt. One of them looked especially happy for the chance.

They’d taken him by surprise. Grabbed him while he was snooping around their camp filled with stolen goods and a considerable amount of weapons and ammo.

The majority of the little group circled around the other two, watching them toss the runt of a boy around like he was nothing. With how his ribs poked out, it wasn’t too far off from the truth.

“Aw, have a heart, will ya? Look at ‘em. Just skin and bones…” one of the watching criminals cooed halfheartedly.

“He’s gotta weigh no more than the clothes on his back!” another jeered.

“He don’t even got horns!”

One of the robbers grabbed at his belt, taking something off of it.

“Lookin’ to gain a little weight? Maybe a few rounds’a lead will help.”

The boy couldn’t see it, but he recognized the spin of a revolver’s chamber in his ear. His revolver, to be exact.

“Shootin’ him with his own gun… you gotta love the irony.”

“Come on, you’re not gonna gun down a kid, are ya? He’s not gonna be healed enough to be a problem by the time we’ve cleared out.”

The criminal holding his gun dropped the boy to the floor, turning his glare to the other. He brandished the familiar firearm at his partner.

“Don’t gotta be healed to run his mouth.”

“Like he knows this forest well enough to tell anyone where we are. We clear out tonight, we’re gone before anyone can come grab us. I can’t have this kid’s blood on my hands. I’m a thief, not a killer.”

“Then stand back.”

The boy closed his crying eyes as he heard the gun click, but instead of a gunshot, he heard a thunderous crash followed by cries of shock. Opening his one good eye, he could barely process what was going on. The nabis were sprawled out on the ground, scrambling to their feet or fleeing the scene. The nabi holding his gun pointed it at the blur of movement… but the creature was both larger and faster than he anticipated. It rammed into him, sending the gun flying and bones cracking as the robber nabi hit a tree. The boy crawled toward his gun, no longer the focus of the chaos. Grabbing it, he tried to aim it at the blur as well; it might have saved his life, but that creature sent a man flying with enough force to break bones. Hopefully it wasn’t immune to bullets.

But aiming was hard enough in the dark, especially with one eye swollen shut and enough bruises to make moving hurt. Even if the target was large, it was fast. The boy placed a paw on a nearby tree to support himself as he stood up. His heavy breathing blotted out the screaming, though it was growing more distant by the moment. Maybe the creature had given chase. Maybe he’d have enough time to make it back… somewhere. There was a village nearby, he knew that much. But he didn’t know where. Especially not from here.

He’d only been walking for a few minutes, trying to stop the bloody nose while ignoring all the rest of his aches. They’d thrashed him good for “trespassing”- held him down, pummeled him, kicked him, clawed at his already ragged appearance. At least they didn’t mess with his hat, even if it was a bit dusty from being thrown off into the dirt. Hats didn’t heal.

He heard a snap from behind, and turned around with his gun in hand.

Staring down at him was the creature from before. A creature he’d only ever heard about from the church.

Staring down at him with large, almost glowing purple eyes… an aurusalkar.

His hand shook, and he nearly dropped the gun. Much like his hat, it wasn’t made for him, and he hadn’t quite grown into either. Still, his aim, while tremulous, was still mostly trained on the aurusalkar.

“Watch where you're pointing that. You're gonna hurt yourself.”

The boy forced himself to blink, which somehow made his head ache.

“You’re an… an…”

“Aurusalkar? Mhm. And you’re hurt.”

The aurusalkar tipped the barrel of the gun away from him, unfazed by the possibility of being shot.

The boy held his left arm, which was the more bruised and scraped up limb.

“I-It’s nothin’... just need to get to town.”

“And you’re headed this way?” The aurusalkar jerked his head in the direction the boy was shambling.

“Yeah…” he nodded, his ears drooping at the sarcastic tone in the auru’s voice and the long stare that followed.

“Town is…” the auru picked the boy up and spun him almost completely around, “that way.”

“Oh.” The boy felt his face grow hot, and he adjusted his hat to hide it. “Thanks.”

Trying to maintain any sort of dignity, he staggered off in the correct direction, feeling the aurusalkar’s eyes on him the whole time.

Without warning, the auru scooped him up by the scruff of his mane, and trotted off toward town.

“I can walk…” the boy weakly protested, “I got legs.”

“Hurt legs,” the aurusalkar retorted with a mouth full of thin mane.

After uselessly squirming for a few moments more, the boy relented, instead using his free hands to keep his hat from falling off. He was too tired to resist a god, anyway. He just hoped there was someone in this town who would let him wash the blood off, if nothing else.