17 They ran and they ran

Little Freddie was strolling the forest on his lonesome. He whacked the shrubs in front of him with a stick, watching the dewy beads of water whip off the leaves. He pretended to be a knight that gallantly slew his foes across an epic battlefield.

Earlier, the other kids had teased him, saying he was too chicken to go into the forest alone and that he always needed Lina at his side to do anything.

Freddie was a BOY, not a GIRL and BOYS weren't chicken. That's what his dad told him. So the little brat took it upon himself to prove the point, bravely facing the tall trees and shrouded forest floor and uneven trails all by himself.

See? He was brave, totally not a chicken.

Dead leaves and branches crunched under his feet. The distant call of a cow echoed past the canopy. A whole flock of birds startled, taking flight. The sound caused Freddie to flinch. His little heart raced in his chest but surely he was just imagining the dark shadow that was creeping behind the wide tree trunks and dense bushes.

Just his imagination.

Little Freddie repeated in his mind desperately.

But his imagination was wild, as it was the imagination of young children. His breathing sped up as the shadows crept and grew. Fear held him in its jaws. A crinkling of leaves was enough to send him bolting. Bird wings flapped against the wind and Freddie imagined a murder of crows saturating the skies like black clouds of disease.

Little Freddie ran and ran, his short legs took him off the path. An exposed root snatched up his ankle and he fell, he tumbled. Rolled and rolled, down the slide of a hill catching dead leaves in his clothes and hair. Finally his body thudded against a log.

Disorientated, the boy slowly got to his feet, using the log as leverage.

Only it wasn't a log at all.

Fabric moved beneath his touch. The body wasn't stiff yet, still soft but when Freddie's hand came away it was red with A man was looking up at him, expression locked in the moment of death, mouth and eyes gaping wide. The young boy fell backward and shuffled in fear. Adrenaline was still soaring in his mind, vivid and gripping without reason.

He got up, and broke into a run. There was no consideration about which direction he was running in but he fled as fast as his feet could take him. When he looked back he smacked into something else. And fell.

"Ow…"

"Are you stupid?" A young female voice shrilled. It was a girl, much older than Freddie but not old enough to be considered an adult. "Run! The other way!"

Freddie blinked and scrambled to his feet. The girl was tall, almost twice his height with wild blond hair and eyes that had shiny flickers of gold. "Hurry up!" She yelled at him and took his small wrist in her hand, "Or else we'll end up like Jordan!"

Freddie's mind flashed back to the terrifying corpse he ran into earlier and his face went pale. Without thinking or questioning it further he ran with a strange mysterious girl, not knowing if he was going toward or away from Motsven. But there were the cawing sounds of crows, barking and howling in the distance.

They ran and they ran.

…

Leonel's eyes peeled open slowly. He felt hot but he was wearing nothing but his underwear. He wondered absently if the radiator was left on. He groaned, tired and lazy, and snuggled into the warm nape, arms tightening around a thin waist.

"..." Blue eyes snapped open and he full-on kicked the person he was holding right off the cot.

A piercing yell. Julian's thin hand came over to grip the edge of the cot, "You brat! My back! You damned broke my back there. If I become paralyzed, what will you do, hm? I hope you wallow in guilt and depression till the end of days!"

Leonel hissed and reached for his discarded clothing, dressing quickly. "You'll be fine. Pervert. Why didn't you sleep in your hammock?" Taking a look around and seeing how everything was neatly organized and that there was some semblance of space in the cramped shackle. Satisfied he took a long stretch only to grimace in pain. The wound on his abdomen flared causing him to fold over slightly.

"Be careful, would you?" Julian huffed as he stood, eyes narrowing without his glasses. "Don't undo all my hard work." He scolded before feeling around for his eyeglasses. "Didn't sleep in my wonderful beloved hammock because some beast held me captive."

Leonel would never admit out loud that the old man was a bit cute like this, helplessly flailing without the ability to see. Carefully, he plucked the glasses off the desk and held them behind his back without saying a thing. The Inquisitor noticed how his arms were red with dried blood and felt a slight pang of guilt.

"What? What do you mean?"

Julian completely ignored the question and squinted at the Inquisitor, "Do me a favor and make yourself useful for me, okay? Go find my glasses for me."

"Hm," Leonel didn't budge an inch, "What do you mean a beast held you captive?"

An accusing finger jabbed at his chest, "What do I mean? I mean exactly what I mean! You were a beast! When I tried to leave you grabbed and fondled me like a toy, you did," the color drained a little on Leonel's face which only encouraged him to continue with added absurdities. "And when I threatened to have my way with your body, the tables only turned on me. Who knew you'd be so ravenous in your sleep!? Alas, young men are all the same."

Blue eyes narrowed, "Don't get ahead of yourself in those wild fantasies of yours." He decided he no longer wanted to hear the doctor blabber nonsense in his face. He took the eyeglasses and carefully placed them on Julian's face. Those cat-like eyes blinked up at him. Leonel enjoyed watching the way realization dawned on the doctor's visage.

"Ah! You demon, you had my glasses this entire time, didn't you? I can't believe this!" Julian threw up his arms in defeat. He hobbled over to his hammock and plopped right back down, glasses removed just as quickly as they were put on, and then placed them on his chest.

Incredulous. Leonel decided to ignore the doctor for now.

It was already late into the morning and Leonel felt his stomach rumble in protest. He was awake and ready to face the day. No more Blueiron Hearths for him! He will cook breakfast like a normal person on fire. Gathering materials from the Food Preservation Device™, Leonel went outside with a knife and wooden boards. He was ready to make a feast for himself, and maybe save a bit for that skinny doctor that made him feel like a failed wife who couldn't cook well enough for his husband.

Leonel shook the offending thought out of his head. He set down the vegetables and meat and was about to start working. But a set of footsteps up the hill caught his attention. Not one, but two sets. One heavy and one light.

A young girl made it over the hill first, her twin braids bouncing as she ran. "Oh." She halted, startled at the sight of him, and waited for the woman to catch up before approaching.

The woman was pretty short, middle-aged with sun-kissed skin and wrinkles along her eyes and mouth that told of her years. There was darkness that sunk into her face and apprehension when she looked upon Leonel's tall form, hesitant on approaching too close.

"Good morning, Sir Inquisitor," she greeted. "Mind I ask if the good Doctor is home?"

"He's sleeping," Leonel's voice was as sharp and blunt as always, causing the older woman to flinch. It wasn't his intention to scare her but he didn't care much about her assumptions about him either. "What do you need him for?"

The young girl peeked out from behind the woman's legs. She cleared her little throat, "Did Freddie come by? He's been gone since yesterday."

"Who's Freddie?"

The woman's smile strained, "Freddie's my boy. Ye high, with curly brown hair. I know that he comes by the Doctor's often so I just thought maybe he was here…"

"He hasn't." Leonel answered dryly. The woman's shoulders sagged in disappointment. "Have you spoken to the other children and asked about his whereabouts?"

She shook her head, "I only asked Lina here," and patted the shoulder of the girl at her side. "Freddie's usually with Lina. Most of the other kids around town are a bit big for him. So I thought..."

"You should ask the other kids first."

"Right," the woman sighed again and held out her hand, "Come now Lina dear. We'll go speak with the others to see if we can find out where that child of mine has gone."

The girl nodded obediently and followed after.

Leonel hadn't thought too deeply about the incident at the time. Children went missing often.

It wasn't until later in the evening, the entire village had taken upon the task of becoming a giant search party for this Freddie kid and Leonel ended up being dragged in it as well.