BLADES AND BONES

Chapter 7: White skin, Red blood

The albino couldn't sleep. He did not feel secure in a place away from home despite the pain subsiding. Moreso, still bare without clothes, he wondered if Ashven forgot to give his set of farmer garb back or he intended to do so. Either way, Kesk was irritated. His curious self wanted to know more about that man and why did he save him. Not so long, the blond felt hungry. He sat upright and thought of finding some food. He left his bag under the pillow for the moment, using the blanket to cover himself from head to body like a veil. His ankle still hurts. It was so dark, too. But he have memorized the way out to the door. The best choice was to crawl on the floor to avoid hurting himself even more. Standing and hopping was harder. From the bed, he used his hands to search and feel the ground. He touched the cold, smooth floor, probably wooden as most houses in those times have. Falling carefully, his abdomen and legs come in contact with the floor then using all four limbs to move about the pitch dark interior of the house. Slowly making progress until he found the doorknob. Kesk was relieved to know it wasn't locked. 'Thank goodness.' He made his way out of the room. As the door creaked open, he shortly smelled a whiff of an aromatic incense or something like a perfume, later on, he also caught up a foul smell that he guessed was coming from stale meat. "Ashven?", he called for the man who saved him, thinking he was still awake. But there was no answer. "Maybe he's asleep..." The farmer changed his mind to ask Ashven for help. He did not want to bother him. Then his focus shifted to the smell. 'Ashven is keeping all the meat to himself that it spoiled, huh.', the albino assumed. Also,the man thought the perfume must have been used to drive away the bad scent but failed. In that circumstance, it didn't smell pleasant anymore for Kesk. Grabbing onto the cloth at his side, he covered and pinched his nose in disgust, leaving so little air to breath. The smell was getting stronger the longer he stayed, the farther he is away from the bedroom. He did wonder where are the windows or that brunet was too paranoid to at least let the light in and closed everything just like what he did in the bedroom.

He crawled further and felt a post, or what he perceived as a leg of a furniture. The man reached up and realized it was a table with rounded edges. 'Maybe there's food in the table.', Kesk was overjoyed thinking he was lucky to find a table fast. Though, he was still stressed on relying solely on his senses other than his functoning eyes. He was like a blind man. Then his stomach grumbled, pushing him to search further faster. The surface of the table was rough as if it has cuts and dents. Reaching farther the table, his hand bumped to a hard, round object, 'A plate?' He then pulled it closer to him to grasp if he finally found some food. Poking at the center part of the plate, it was kind of sticky and wet. He did not stop there despite feeling disgusted for he was desperate to find something to fill in his appetite. Hunger allowed room for tolerance in the part of the blond. There were three or more of small unknown solid objects with irregular shapes that he could feel at the tip of his fingers aside from the easily identified metal spoon and fork. Unable to figure what those compact, firm things, or if it's safe to eat, he thought to resort to his last option: to use his nose. The unusual scent has been bugging him the entire time since he first inhaled the bad dose of air. He hoped his hunger would disappear because of that sickening stink but it didn't. The mix of puking and hunger battle in his belly. In desperation, he ignored his fear of the unknown. The mere thought of seeing the sleipner still haunted him yet he did not stop the search. He chose to do something rather than stay in the room. Henceforth, he bravely lowered his head to have a sniff.

"Gross! What the hell is this!?", the blond whispered to himself. He showed utter distaste and covered his nose again with his clean hand. He confirmed that the food in the plate had the same unpleasant smell as the surrounding. The farmer concluded that someone or something could've eaten in that spot for a long while. Running back to the room could have been done but his condition prohibited him. He wiped his unclean hand on the blanket first and he's back on the floor. There's no way he's going stay here longer. Thinking of finding the main door out of the house but he remembered he has to come pick up his prized sling bag in the bedroom. The man sighed, navigating his way around the dark place returning to the bed. The whole task was tedious though he made it that far. He realized that the house wasn't that big after all. His next plan was to escape through the big window. Remaining hungry and exhausted. With his bag wrapped on his body, he aimed for the window which was easier to find because the curtain wasn't too thick to cover the moonlight through the glass window. At last, he was able to grasp the frame of the windowpane and opened it in the middle as he found a twistable lock. It was merely as high as his chest. He still crossed with difficulty, having just one foot as support. The blond relied on his masculine arms to help him cross to the other side with his head out first. He fell on the grassy floor upon reaching out, lucky that it was not that high. His eyes squinted at the moon whose light was strikingly bright. He was able to secure the blanket with him. The floor was soft but dry to his feet, another thing he was thankful apart from the recent accomplishment of getting out of that disgusting place. Adding to that, he never thought he'd miss the light. He loved the moonlight more than ever. The smell of the bloody forest was even more preferable than inside the house. A breath of fresh air...

Tired but he knew better to move quickly before monsters show up. Its time to use his compass again. At the current situation, he utilized the cloth for him to sit down, making it dirty white. Kesk was fishing for his stuffs in the bag when a silhouette covered his source of light. He looked up, stunned, seeing Ashven.

"What are you doing out here?" Ashven eyed at the open window then to Kesk. The blond was too shocked to answer. Not a word came out of his lips. "??"

"Come, I'll help you up." The brunet offered a hand for Kesk, smiling at him. It took a moment for the farmer to think about taking his hand but he took it. He puts an arm around the blond's waist while the latter has his arm over his supporter's shoulders. The dirty cloth was left on the ground. This time around had the blond figure out that Ashven's height was indeed more than his. They reached the doorstep in less than a minute of quiet walking. Kesk was baffled the whole time. Maybe it was his head injury, his hunger or that unpleasant odor that made him feel groggy after trying to escape. Nevertheless, he could not just imagine living inside the stinking house again that he was forced to speak up.

"It... Uhh, stinks inside so I...out...of the window.." The brunet stopped turning the doorknob.

"Oh? So you went outside your room, too."

"I was hungry.", Kesk defended himself. From the putrid odor he smelled to Ashven's mysterious personality had Kesk imagine the worst things in mind. The air he breathed in the kitchen was awkwardly peculiar. It wasn't the familiar scent of burnt beef nor chicken. It was something else.

"Sorry, I had nothing to feed you at the moment. But, you have to know something first." Before the albino could respond, the taller man opened the door. Welcoming the stench of the room to their nostrils. 'Not this again.', Kesk swore he was better dead than alive now.