The door creaked open rushing in, hands trembling.
With him came the metallic scent of blood- his blood.
"Oh… it's you, Rain."
Lum stirred from his cot.
His whiskers twitch as the smell reaches his nose.
"What happened to you?" he rasped, pushing himself upright.
But when he got a good look of Rain's state- garments soaked through with scarlet ichor, dried flakes clinging to skin, the raw patch of torn flesh across his back- his breath hitched.
His knees buckled and gave out before he could even rise fully from the bed.
"Who did this to you?" His voice cracked, thin with rage he couldn't hold.
"Who?" He grabbed Rain's arms, shaking him weakly.
Rain's resigned look told him everything.
"Those little shits…" Lum snarled. "I'm going to kill them—!"
He tried to stand, but his legs failed him immediately.
He stumbled and collapsed hard onto the dirt floor.
For a moment he just lay there, panting, the tremor in his limbs refusing to stop.
"Ahh haaa haa, huh."
A hollow, self-mocking laugh slipped out of him- quiet, bitter, nothing like humor.
"Look at me," he muttered, voice thin. "This is what the 'great' Lum has been reduced to…"
Resigned of his state, he crawls to the section designated as the kitchen.
He reaches for a canteen, in the long dead fire- the canteen had cooled, its contents barely warm- but it would do...for the use he had in mind.
He proceeds to crush the herbs into it ...making a watery concoction.
"Come here, son" he gestures, at the still dazed Rain
Rain paces, and sits, his back turned to his guardian.
Lum soaks a rag...wrings it above the wounded back - eliciting a wince from Rain- he proceeds to clean.
"Now tell me what happened."
Lum says, whilst still cleaning.
The words snapped Rain out of his dazed reverie, he trembled as the full weight of his actions settled upon him. The consequences yet to come...
He sudddenly gets to his feet, starts pacing
"They will come for me!! Oh...what have I done?!"
He cries out, snot dripping from his nose.
"Rain...Rain, look at me."
"What did you do boi?" Lum grabs his shoulder, with all the strength he could muster, weak and pityful as he was.
Rain hesitates
"BOI! I asked you a question!"
I...I didn't mean to...I didn't," "They wouldn't stop!"
"WHAT DID YOU DO?"
"They wouldn't stop, I had to ....I didn't know,...the knife!"
In his panic, recounts what had transpired, incoherent as he was.
"Oh gods… Rain… what have you done…"
Their panicked exchange gets interrupted by a distant clammor.
Rain paces to the entrance- in the valley below, an array of torches moved, closing in.
"They are coming!"
He panics, goes to hide at a corner of the shack carved out from stone
The consequence was about to catch up to him.
Lum was at a loss on what to do.
But damn him, he wouldn't let them harm the boy, so long as he still had air in his lungs.
Shooting down his thoughts,
What could he possibly do?
With his state, it would be a miracle to hold down one of them, let alone the incensed mob.
"Listen to me son! You have to run" he says as he grabs a pack and dumps all their stored jerky.
"There's nothing left for you here son. " He hands him the supply pack,
"Take this and run!"
Rain hesitates,
"Don't mind about me son, I'm already at the end of my rope" he sighs, his bony hands trembling.
"There's a whole world out there to be discovered...run...live to see another day son."
His eyes look at Rain,
Pleading, as he unslung a leather side bag from the wall- Rain's carry around pack.
"Don't leave this behind" he says, handing it to Rain
Takes his cloak and orders the dazed Rain to put it on.
"Now Run! Farewell son." He utters, his voice heavy, eyes threatening to break floodgates at any moment.
Rain runs outside, the path of escape was blocked - the mob - at a distant rushing in.
Rain swifly climbs behind a rock and croutches.
It took a few moments for the ratkin mob to get close, he could hear their crazed bloodlust, the rants of 'justice'
They were so close, his heart skipped a beat, one mishap and they would discover him.
~~ ~
Lum paled as he saw how close the mob was, close enough to hear Rain's breaths.
He had to do something.
Lum strikes his walking stick aganist the ground, drawing in the attention of the mob.
"Where's the vile greyskin?"
"Bring him out....Now!"
The mob yelled, pitchforks and torches in hand.
Lum barrs the entrance of his home,
"I WILL NOT LET YOU HARM HIM!" he yells in reply
"You DARE stand in the way of justice?"
"You stand with the vile creature ...the one who's brought great misfotune upon your Kindred?"
"What have you been reduced to, Lum?"
Unrelenting, Lum gave a piercing look...his silence stated his stance, he wouldn't falter.
"How can one man stop us? Push him out of the way!"
That was all Lum heard before he found himself flying...thrown to the side.
He lets out a sigh of relief as he sees Rain's figure receding.
"He's not here! Find him!"
One of the middle aged ratkin yelled, as he angrily paced to Lum's figure.
"Where is he?"
"I wont let my sons murderer get away! Tell me, NOW!"
He lifts the old ratkin-Lum had a smug smile on his face
"Do as you wish, I'm not telling you anything."
The mob ransacked the place, looking for one long gone.
"Down there!"
"He's running away!"
Someone shouted, pointing at Rain's silhoutte... at the valley down below.
The crazed mob gave a chase, quickly catching up to Rain's figure.
~~
I wheezed as I ran, trying to increase the distance between me and the bloodthirsty mob of ratkins.
My muscles burned, screaming for me to stop.
I knew, stopping meant death.
The 'justice' the pursuing ratkin screamed about was just but an illusion, crafted to make them sleep better at night.
They would execute with extreme prejudice.
At the periphery of my vision, I notice a small pass.
It took a split second to break, scrapping my knees and elbows aganist the rough ground as I suddenly change my direction.
The thin pass would help slow down the ratkin- but not for long
Shards of rocks bit into my face as I tried to maneuver within the catacombs I'd escaped into - in an attempt to thin out my persuerers, it worked, to an extent.
Ahh!
A bellow escapes from one of the ratkin, I look back , only to come face to face with a flying club.
Quick on my feet, I leverage my weight, shifting just in time to evade a blow to my face.
I wince as the club lands on my shoulder, sending a jolt of pain up my nerves.
It will all be for naught if they caught me in the end- which was about to happen.
Chik!
A pitchfork embedded onto the wall, scraping aganist my thigh as it flew past.
My quick reaction saved me from getting skewered.
As if cue to the others- a rain of pitchforks were sent flying the next moment.
I make a sharp turn at the approaching intersection, dodging the thrown farm tools, but scraping the flesh out of my knee in the process.
Thunk!
I come to a sudden halt, hitting aganist a side wall to stop my momentum.
A cliff edge graced my vision- I had made the wrong turn , and thus the end of my run.
Black waters violently churned down below, striking aganist rocks as they rushed- Ekat marra!
"Stop!"
My view shifts, locking eyes for a split second with the ratkin, the mob behind me.
The leading ratkin unsheates a machete, closing in on me, the conered 'greyskin'.
Hesitation gets hold of me, I give the man a pleading look.
The man raises his weapon, charging.
To face certain doom?
Or
Take a leap of faith?