Gold Fever (m×m) ✔

XXV: He is a friend

《 ASPEN GRISWOLD 》

I stretched my arms, enjoying the wider range of movement. I couldn't fill up my lungs to their limit, but I was regaining my strength. I was reminded how much I used to rely on my phone, when I wanted to check up on the difference between a bruised and a fractured rib. Now, as things were, I just had to trust that my body could fix itself from whichever injury. 

"Did you know that the inventors of the internet believed giving access to it to everyone would make us clever?" I asked the lynx, as I studied its reflection from the rippling surface of the lake. I raked my fingers through my already messy hair. "They thought that everyone was going to read smart things, but instead.."

"Instead.." I stopped to cackle with laughter and then to cradle my injured side when I inhaled too deeply in the process. "We watch videos of chipmunks eating peanuts and.."

I clamped my mouth shut when I heard a faint but sharp noise behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, wincing at the twinge of pain in my side. If the voice had come from Phoenix or one of his friends, I would be lying in a pool of my own blood. 

I was growing slow and careless. 

But it wasn't Phoenix or his friends. A girl was staring at me from the shadows of the trees. She had a crossbow propped on her shoulder and a braid, thick as a robe, of red hair reaching all the way down to her hip.  

With one swift movement, the crossbow was in her hands and an arrowhead pointed at me. I stumbled up to my feet, pulling out my knife even though I knew it was useless. I willed my breath to stay even, not wanting to move my ribs any more than was strictly necessary. 

"Papa." She spoke in an urgent, hushed voice without taking her eyes or the aim of her arrow off of me. I didn't dare to move, in fear of getting myself killed. "Viens ici, papa."

Before her father emerged from the woods, I dropped my knife and lifted my hands up in surrender. In the shape I was, I could take down the girl in a hand-to-hand compact, but not a full-grown man. I thought I was going to die there and then, before my ribs had a chance to heal.

"C'est un ami." A man said before gesturing at the girl to lower her crossbow. He was a barrel-chested man in a pair of camouflage pants and a rifle on his shoulder, and it took my brain a while to recognise him.

Relief turned my knees into a puddle, and I slumped on top of them to the ground, cradling my side. In a second, Pierre was there, the girl following right in his footsteps. It was nice to be cared for. They helped me lie down, and Pierre examined the bruises that had started to lose their intensity. 

"Who did this to you?" Pierre demanded as he smeared some ointment on my skin. His calloused hands worked with surprising gentleness, sliding along the tender skin of my side.

"Elian Phoenix's friend." I admitted, closing my eyes at the cooling effect of the balm. It was worlds better than the over-the-counter painkillers I had with me, and the relief was instant.

Pierre grunted at the mention of Phoenix's name, face twisting like he had just eaten a lemon, while the girl went as far as spitting on the ground. 

Who had they lost because of him?

A mother? A brother? A sister? A friend? Or all of the above?

"I spotted a fresh trail yesterday, two or three pairs of footsteps, heading south." Pierre pondered out loud, while helping me sit up. He then discarded his earlier thoughts and explained in a low, menacing voice: "He broke one of your ribs, but don't worry, we'll take care of him while taking care of Elian Phoenix."