The City Of Beginnings

Chapter 14

I tried to move my arm. A searing pain went through it and gasped. My whole body hurt so much. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a bright sky. There were no trees above me. I lifted my arm ignoting the pain and looked at it. I had bandages covering everything from my fingers to the elbow. What happened? I thought. Then memories of a fire came to my mind. Fire I said the word in my head still dazed by my wounded hand. I tried to move a little, but my whole body burnt with pain. I gasped and felt my lungs burning from the sudden intake of air. I started coughing. "Oh look it here, the sleeping animal is awaken" I heard a familiar low voice followed by a bark. I turned my head and recognise the man I saw two nights ago approaching me. When he was really close he stoped and sat down. "How you feeling kid?" I didn't respond, I was too tired and hurt too much to be afraid. My face said everything. He smoothed my hair and said "It's okay little fella go back to sleep and heal" He kept brushing my hair and I closed my eyes enjoying the feeling. Quickly I fell asleep.

The next time I woke up, I was being carried. Strong arms were holding me. I grunted and hugged the person carrying me around the neck. I closed my eyes and again drifted to sleep.

The third time I woke up it was dark outside. There was fire. The sound of wood cracking made me feel relaxed. I stared at the flames for a long time, enjoying the warmth and light. I turned on the side. My body still hurt, but the pain was bearable. I was covered with something warm. I grabbed at it. It was my fur coat. It felt a bit burnt, but I was still very happy that it wasn't lost in fire. I moved a bit and my back bumped into something big. I turned on my back realising that there was someone sleeping next to me. I wasn't feeling scared. I examined the person. He was really big and covered in a long dark cloak that didn't cover his feet. I looked at his face. It was dark, but I could still wee a deep scar crossing his cheak vertically down to his chin. His brows were dark just like his hair and his nose was funny. It looked like it was broken once. There was a short beard covering his face. It looked like he hadn't shaved it for a month. I remembered my family then. Daddy never had a beard. He was always cleanly shaven because mommy liked that. I also preffered daddy's goodnight kisses not being tickly or itchy so in my own way I also supported daddy's non-bearded face. I remembered them again. This time I didn't cry. I still felt the pain, but it was milder. I shifted closer to the sleeping man and snuggled my head int his shoulder. I sighed. It felt nice. I closed my eyes.

                             *

It was warm. I felt something pressed against me. I opened my eyes and noticed that the kiddo was really close and gripping my arm. I slowly squeezed out of the kids grip and stood up. Marco was already awake and walking here and there across the campsite. I went to the bushes and took a leak. I sighed. We were walking for four days and the kid was still sleeping. That meant I had to carry him. I zipped my pants and went back. Marco wasn't pacing around anymore. I spotted him sitting close to the kid wagging his tail while the other was awake and scratching him behind his ears. I joined them. "Hi kid" His head snapped up to me. I scratched my head "Oh come on didn't we already went pass through the fear section?" No reply. "Okay how about we take the first step to trusting eachother?" I came closer, kneeled and extended my arm. "My name's Luca" and I tried to put on a smile. The kid was examining me for some time then opened his mouth. No sound came. He looked confused. He opened his mouth again, but didn't say a thing. He thought for a moment agonyzing over the fact that he couldn't speak, then he got an idea. He started poking the dirt making symbols into it. I shuffled closer to see what he was doing and saw three letters. They spelt Ana. I became shocked when slow recognition crept into my mind. The kid's a girl.