Red all over

Chapter 2

Ja'far sat in Sinbad's study, it was silent.

Too silent.

Ja'far liked silence but this kind of silence was going to drive him to insanity!

Sinbad watched him, as if studying for his next move. Either that or he wanted to see how long it took for Ja'far break.

"What?" Ja'far hissed out. "What do you want?"

Sinbad gave him a smile. "Actually I was waiting for you to speak about the other night." He said honestly. No use in beating around the bush and Ja'far thanked him for that. The sooner this was over the sooner he could go home. Not only that he had to check on Rune.

Ja'far blinked at that, he really sounded like an older brother just now.

"What is it you want to know?" He asked relaxing a bit.

Sinbad leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands.

"Why'd you do it?" He asked.

Ja'far shrugged. "He was a slave trader and wanted for treason in Balbad. I did what I did and now it's in the past." He answered and Sinbad smirked. Oh how he wanted to crack a book over the man's head because of it.

"If that's all can I go?" He asked and knew the answer would probably be no.

"Those men you were fighting, do you know who they were?"

"No." Ja'far answered and it was true. All he knew was that they were tailing him, and he guessed he was their target, since they hadn't followed the boy he was with.

A knock on the is what stopped the conversation and Ja'far was thankful. Maybe he could jump out the window and make a run for it. Sinbad answered with a 'Come in.'

A woman with blue hair came in looking rather worried. "Um, Sin, there's a weird boy asking for someone..." She says.

Of course Sinbad made him come along along with the blue haired woman. Ja'far took a mental note and remembered the way they were taking. Once the made it to the courtyard Ja'far froze at the sight in front of him.

Rune was there in the middle of the courtyard looking around. Guards were around him and a few other people. The handle of the basket in his mouth to carry it. He had one man under each arm and one on his back. It was clear that the men were unconsciuos by how limp they looked.

Ja'far stared at him and Sinbad took this as if he knew the boy. Before he could ask the boy was standing in front Ja'far. He dropped the basket onto the ground.

"They followed me... I didn't know what to do with them so I made them sleep." He told him and Ja'far's eye twitched. He didn't know why this surprised him, the boy is a Fanalis but he didn't know he was capable of taking out three men.

"How... did you find me?" Ja'far questioned. Rune sniffed. "Your scent, you smell like nothing, like a plain flower, so it was easy to find you. I waited but they came so I came to you." he stated simply. Sinbad watched the exchange of the two and told the guards to relax.

The men in the boy's arms started to stir and Rune dropped them, one of them hitting their head and making them go back to sleep. Rune turned to Sinbad. "He has a mixture of smells..." He commented sniffing the air around Sinbad and Ja'far pulled him back by his collar.

"So your name is Ja'far.. and you're Rune." They both gave a nod. They were now in the dining room. Ja'far had eaten some food and Rune was working on his third plate at the moment.

Ja'far didn't know the boy could eat so much.

The men Rune had were taking to the dungeon and were to be interrogated later. Ja'far honestly didn't see why he was still here. He had answered all of his questions truthfully and now all he wanted to do was go home.

Rune looked between Sinbad and Ja'far and he could obviously feel the tension coming from Ja'far. Sinbad didn't seem all that tense though. Thinking to stay out of the way he excused himself by grabbing another plate of food and going out into the hallway.

"Was he with that man?" Sinbad asked once the boy ran out the room with a mountain of food on his plate. Ja'far nodded. "Yes." He answered simply. It was a yes or no questions no other details needed. Sinbad sighed. "You don't have to be so tense."

"I honestly don't know why I'm still here." Ja'far admits. Sinbad's smile gets bigger. "What if I say you're interesting in a way."

Ja'far raised an eyebrow. "Really now? And what about is so interesting that you have to hold me here?"

Sinbad shrugged. "Everything." He said truthfully, there was no use in lying now. Ja'far blinked, no one had ever took a real interest in him. He was used to being alone and isolated, not having to worry about anything else. But for some reason life decided that that wasn't going to happen anymore.

Ja'far let out a sigh, in a way Sinbad had interested him too. He didn't know how, he just had that aura around him that attracted people.

It was driving Ja'far into a corner, and he didn't like it, not one bit. Sighing, he leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. "Fine.." He mumbled

Ja'far had a bad feeling. A very bad feeling.

Like his instincts were screaming at him. He was now on his way and he told Rune to stay at the palace. The boy was hesitant at first, he even followed Ja'far to the palace gates.

Once he got home he learned that his instincts were right.

He didn't even have to go inside to tell because the door was kicked open.

He let out a sigh and gripped his hair, telling himself to calm down. He stood still and listened, for anything. He heard flapping from above and brought two fingers to his lips and let out a sharp whistle. The white bird let out a strong 'caw' and landed on his shoulder.

"Search." Ja'far demanded and the bird took off from his shoulder and into the small house. Ja'far had found the bird the first day he got that house. It was either sitting on the roof or somewhere near the house, he didn't know what species it was, he never saw it's kind before. And Ja'far had trained it a few things, this one being one of them.

One caw, clear, two caws, not.

The bird gave out one solid caw and landed back on Ja'far's shoulder. Ja'far noticed that it's talons were red and dripping the thick liquid and it's eye was scared, it was fresh. Ja'far concluded that whoever was here, the bird tried to lash at it. He pet it's head and walked in the small home.

Ja'far took in the whole scene. Things were spread across the floor and a few things were broken, as if someone was searching for something. He went over to his bed and pushed it out the corner it was in. Well they didn't search everything. Under the bed was a ajar floor board. He pulled it open and took out the medium sized metal box from inside the hole and blew the dust off of it.

He opened it to reveal two knives, similar to the one he uses now. These were the original ones. They were much lighter than the other ones and more sharp. Ja'far tugged on the red wire under his cloak and undid the tie that held the blade. Once it was undone he put it in the box and tied the other two blades. He was really thankful that he kept the old pair, if he didn't he'd have to go through a lot to find another weapon.

He scavenged through the house, only grabbing a few necessities before heading outside. Once outside he went to a tree and carved a heavy 'X' on it. The bird landed back on his shoulder and he gave out a sigh.

Looks like he'd be spending more time with the king than he needed to.