Hollow and the child went out from the cave and saw Ogrim running while breathing heavily "Hollow *huff* please come *huff* back, we can *huff* talk about it *huff*" said Ogrim while breathing heavily "oh your here, who's the little guy? " said Ogrim "I don't...know, I chased him...to the cave" "why?" asked Ogrim "he looked...like the figure in...the 2nd dream I had...last night" said Hollow "Hollow, your getting ridiculous, it was just a dream, it can't be real" said Ogrim "yeah you're right", "anyways we should probably look for his parents" said Ogrim, "let's...ask him" Said Hollow, "hey there little guy, do you know who or where you're parents are? " asked Ogrim, the child stayed silent and shook his head "we should...head back to the...others" said Hollow "Yeah we should" said Ogrim. Hollow and Ogrim walked back to the knights "where were you guys?" asked Dryya frustrated but before Hollow could answer Ze'mer interrupted "wait, what's that between your horns?" said Ze'mer spotting the child between Hollow's horns, "awww he's so cute" said Hegemol "he looks just like Hollow when he was young" said Isma "anyways can you guys find Cornifer, while we look for his parents ?" said Ogrim "urgh.. Fine but you guys better not run off again" said Dryya, Ogrim and Hollow had asked every single citizen of dirtmouth men or woman from children to the elderly, after hours had past they couldn't find the child's parents nor anyone who even knows the child, Hollow and Ogrim were united with the rest if troop "so did you guys find Cornifer?" asked Ogrim "we searched everywhere in dirtmouth but we can't even find a trace of him, how about you guys? " said Dryya "we couldn't even find someone who knows him, it's like he just appeared out of nowhere" said Ogrim "maybe we should search his parents tomorrow in another town, we should keep looking for Cornifer" said Ze'mer "OK but while we look for Cornifer one of us should babysit him, just in case he doesn't "try" anything" said Dryya "I'll do it" said Isma with enthusiasm "I'll also look after him" said Ogrim, Hollow kneeled to Isma so she could take the child from Hollow's horns, but when Isma tried to take the child from Hollow's horns, the child hugged Hollow's horns tightly, Isma pulled harder but the child hugged Hollow's horns tighter, Isma gave up so hollow took the baby off his shoulder and gave him to Isma, "are you serious!?" said Isma annoyed, Isma took the child, the child kept trying to reach his arms to Hollow while Isma and Ogrim started to walk to the opposite direction of Hollow, the Child started to cry silently, Hollow ran back to Isma and Ogrim, Isma put the child to the ground and he ran to Hollow and hugged him, Hollow kneeled and hugged the child back, "I have...to go" said Hollow but the child hung on to Hollow's cape while still crying, Hollow grabbed the child and said "don't worry...little guy, I'll comeback...I promise" Hollow let down the child and he walks to Ogrim and Isma, halfway he looked back at Hollow and continued walking.
Ogrim, Isma and the child went to the carriage and settled down in it, Isma and Ogrim walked to Isma a bit, and Isma noticed that the child has been staring off at the carriage window for sometime "he's probably thinking of Hollow" Isma thought to herself "he looks just like Hollow when he was young" she thought to herself in a soft tone, "hey, what's your name?" Isma asked, the child stayed silent and raised his shoulders, Isma was confused "wait, does he not have a name?" she thought to herself, the child became sleepy and slept on the spot, Isma took the child and rests his head on her lap, "have you ever thought of this? " said Ogrim, "like what my love? " asked Isma "our future together?" said Ogrim while blushing "I look forward for it everyday" said Isma while she kissed Ogrim and rest her head on his shoulders, Ogrim rest his head on her head and they both fell asleep. Isma woke up and saw that the child was gone, she rushed out from the carriage, making Ogrim fell to the side of the carriage seat, waking him up, "what's wrong my love? " asked Ogrim "the kid is missing" said Isma worried "oh no"said Ogrim, they searched him in town and the surrounding forest and found him sitting in the edge of a cliff watching the kingdom, "there you are" said Isma "jeez kid you shouldn't run away like that, we were so worried about you" said Ogrim, the child pointed his finger to the view of Dirtmouth, "the view of Dirtmouth really is Great in these hours" said Ogrim "yeah it is" said Isma, Ogrim and Isma joined the child and sat next to him. After sometime the child pointed to Isma's nail, "what is it kid? " said Isma while the child kept pointing at her nail, "what are you trying to say? " asked Isma, the child grabbed his nail and hit Isma's nail "so, you want to spar with me? " the child nodded "jeez little guy, I don't know about this, she can be really tough" said Ogrim, "aww come on, I'll be easy on him" said Isma.
Isma and the child were in the forest the two readied they're nails, Isma strikes her nail at the child, the child deflected her attack using his nail, the sounds of clashing nails filled the forest, the child charged to Isma and he slashed his nail to her, Isma did a flip to go behind the child and she raised her nail the child clashed her nail before it could reach him, then he charged at her knocking of her nail, to the ground and causing her to fall to the ground, "wow kid where did you learn how to fight?" said Isma while getting up "oh wait you can't talk, it's okay you don't have to tell me" said Isma, "wow little guy, your fighting skills remind me of Hollow when he was young" said Ogrim, the child looked to a tree and walked to it.
(Hollow's side of the story)
Hollow was walking with his troop (Hegemol, Dryya and Ze'mer) he was thinking about the child, "hey bud, lighten up, what's wrong?" said Hegemol "maybe...I should have...been the on who...babysat the little guy, he seemed...worried about me" said Hollow "maybe it was the right thing to do, with you gone, he can be more independent, I remember when you were young, you kept following your father everywhere, then when you started training with us you stopped" Hegemol said teasingly, "come on let's find Cornifer and you can go back to him" said Hegemol "OK guys we should split up, Hegemol, you're coming with me, Ze'mer you're with Hollow, let's meet here at dusk" said Dryya, the two groups went out and searched the forest.
(Hegemol and Dryya side)
"hey Hegemol" said Dryya "yeah? " said Ogrim "do you think something happened to Hollow? He's been acting strange since yesterday" said Dryya "what do you mean?" said Hegemol "I mean I know he's a quiet but he's never been this quite, do you think he's thinking about "the incident" five years ago? " said Dryya in a sad tone "nah, his dad wanted to save him, and his letter from his dad said to not feel guilty about it, but yeah he has been acting a little off lately" said Hegemol "I'm worried about him" said Dryya "yeah me too" said Hegemol, they continue to search for Cornifer, then they found one of Cornifer's maps, and they head back to the place where they would meet.
(Hollow and Ze'mer side)
"I sense you are troubled" said Ze'mer "yeah I am, I've been having these nightmares about dad" said Hollow "yes, but there is something else you are worried about" said Ze'mer in a soft, whispery tone "what do...you mean? " "the child" said Ze'mer "yeah, I'm worried...he was really...dependent on me...do you think he's fine?" said Hollow worried "Don't worry Hollow, Isma and Ogrim will take good care of him while you're gone" said Ze'mer, suddenly they heard the sound of nails clashing, and heard Isma's voice, they ran to the source of the sound and hid behind a big tree, Hollow was mortified to see that the child was sparing with Isma, he wanted to stop them but the child was doing good actually, the spar between Isma and the child ended, the the child looked at Hollow and approached him, he got closer and closer until the child got to him, "hey little guy, where did you go?" "he's with me" said Hollow "oh hey Hollow, how was it?" "not so...great, we still haven't found...him yet" said Hollow while the child climbed to Hollow's horns from his arms, "we should come with you" said Ogrim "but who'll...babysit the little...guy?" said Hollow "He can come with us, I mean he was pretty good at fighting and defending himself" said Isma while smiling.
The troop reunited, "we found one of Cornifer's maps but we still don't know how to find him" said Dryya, the child reached his arm to the map "what's wrong with the little guy?" said Hegemol "I think he wants to see the map" said Isma, Dryya gave the map to Hollow's and he gave the map to the child, he grabbed the map and smelled it, then he jumped off from Hollow's head and started running "hey kid where are you going" yelled Hegemol while the knights chased after him, the child was fast for his size and was able to dodge every obstacle "wow the little guy's fast, even with short legs" they kept running until finally they made it to the entrance of Deepnest "hey kid *huff* wait up *huff* "said Dryya "you shouldn't keep running away from us like that" said Isma " then the child pointed his finger to the entrance of deepnest "that? That's Deepnest the land of the weaver" the child pointed to the map and then to the entrance "what are you trying to say? "I think he's saying that Cornifer is in Deepnest" "is it true? " asked Hollow, the child nodded and lifted his arms signaling Hollow to pick him off the ground, Hollow picked up the child and put him on his shoulders while the child was holding Hollow's horns, "let's go troop" said Dryya while the knights jumped into Deepnest
YOU ARE READING
...son?...
Non-FictionThis is a sequel to "a heart in his pale chest" that was created by the amazing "Debby_Gatta_thebeast" and all his/her friends from archives of our own and the cover is credited to Wingmould from tumblr
