The mail runner

Chapter five

His hands were weak, arms felt heavy from the blood loss. He just layes there on the floor of the bedroom, the three had already left say that they'll savor every bite of him.

So here he laid on a hardwood floor with his blood dribbling out of him. The three daughters hadn't cared to restrain him in any way as they knew they injured him enough. Since arms help balance his body, the lack of ability to use without immense pain now made them near useable.

He groaned as he rolled onto his stomach. He groaned as his damaged body ached in response. Leaning back on his knees to then stand on his feet was a difficult process. In the end his damaged body was able stand. Blood dripped off of him as he walked towards the door. The sticky sound of his blood soaked feet taking strive was the only noise at the moment.

Reaching for the ornate brass doorknob that blocked his path didn't stop him as he tried his best mentally ignored the pain and push past it. He could feel the cold metal on his palm as he grabbed it. He could hear the mechanical innards of the lock move as he turned it. Gently  pushing the door helped keep his actions quiet.

Sluggishly dragging his feet across the ground, Cursor's mind focused on the sole objective to find a safe place to rest. He felt bad abandoning Ethan to the evil women in the castle. Turing right, he walked through hallway that had a wooden door at the end. His visioned tunneled as he kept walking towards the door. Opening it led him to a living room of sorts with a couch and a set of large red felt chairs that surrounded a dark wooden coffee table by a lit fire place. Looking at both sides he saw the right had connected to a opened room with pillars in the center. To the left of the pillars was another wooden door that matched the design he opened no more than a few seconds ago.

Exerting his already battered body to the door. His lungs burned as they were being pushed to the limits. The heavenly smells of the outdoors were gone and replaced by the sickly scent of iron filled blood.

When the soles of his feet touched the cold black and white tiles, the cool floor sent a shiver up his spine. The closer he got to the door the safer he felt. Pushing the door open in a rushed fashion, a heavy clunk was made as he entered the room hoping his gut feeling was right.

"Well hello. An who might you be?" A large heavyset man that looked bed ridden. His skin was a that of your regular blonde caucasian. The clothes on his body looked to be stretched to their max as the buttons on his vest and undershirt were broken at the bottom, revealing his large gut.

Cursor looked at the man in disgust and awe at someone who could live while being that size. He wondered how the man even could even survive in this castle. The man just hand a smile on his face as he held a lit cigar between his pudgy hands.

"You know it's rude to not respond to someone, let alone stare?" He said in a joking attitude. His voice was very upbeat and his mannerisms was very professional.

Cursor shook himself mentally from the surprise person "Sorry about that. My name's Cursor .I just didn't expect another person to be alive in this castle." He started to back up realizing that this large man might be like the women. "You're not like the women here are you?" Cursor asked nervously.

The stranger let out a hard chuckle at Cursor's question. "Hahah oh god no. I'm just a humble merchant named The Duke. While I am a omnivore, I most certainly do not eat people. Personally I prefer duck or other fowl Mr.Nuntius ." The Duke responded to the question as if it was a joke.

Hearing a total stranger use his last name brought Cursor back on edge "How do you know my last name?" He aggressively yelled.

"Mr.Winters reaction was more confusion when I knew his name." The Duke said to himself

Cursor tightened his hand into a fist "You didn't answer the question." He stated

"My bad I was just thinking something." Duke said sincerely. "How I know your name is rather simple. As a merchant I must know the customers that enter my shop so I can sell them what they need. An to me it looks like you need to be patched up." He said as he pushed a first-aid kit from his side of the table to Cursor

Cursor shook his head and pushed the first-aid back towards Duke "Sorry I have no money."

Only for The Duke to push it back again "this ones on the house take it."

"I can't accept something that I can't pay for" Just as he was about to push it away again, The Duke interrupted him.

"Then how about do me a favor in return." The merchant had kindly suggested. "You take this but when I need you to deliver something for me can you do that? Think of like this, I scratch your back you scratch mine."

Cursor just sigh as he didn't feel good about not paying. Plus Lady Dimitrescu had said he needed to bandage his wounds. "Deal."

Popping open the first-aid bag, he neatly splayed the contents across the table. Grabbing the green antiseptic bottle with a matching green cross. He dabbed a small amount onto two gauze pads. Before putting into pads on his shoulder, Cursor applied some petroleum jelly on the wounds to prevent them from dry or sticking to the bandage. Taking a deep breath he placed the pads on his shoulders

"Ugh." He hissed as he started to wrap the bandages around his chest in a diagonal fashion. When he finished the bandages formed a x across his chest. "Thank you Duke." he said as he tested the flexibility of the bandages.

Out of the blue the door to the opened as Ethan walked in. The two made eye contact on each other. Ethan went up to Cursor and hugged him.

"I thought you died when they took you away." Ethan said. "I truly didn't want innocent people to be involved in this. Please just get out of this horrible

"It's fine Mr.Winters, I made a promise that I would help you get back your daughter and I intend to keep that promise." Cursor stated.

Ethan broke off the hug "I understand that your a teenager of commitment and pride. Like you had implied when you delivered that package at night in the middle of a snow storm." Ethan was being blunt in his words but kind in his voice "but you got a life ahead of you. And that could easily be cut short right now."

"Then I'll have to be sure to not get cut. I'm a delivery person, it's my job to bring something from point a to point b. So let me help." Cursor pleaded.

"Do you think you can retrieve a special mask that's guarded while not dying in the process?" Ethan asked

Cursor had only one answer "yes."