Riding to Genua

As the sun rose the next morning, I spent a few moments in the quiet of the early morning just watching its' accent; savouring those first few moments of peace as the only one awake. Since I stayed awake all night keeping watch and feeling extremely bored, watching the sun rise was very exciting by comparison.

I woke up Hin first. "Hey Hin, wake up!" I whispered to him.

He mumbled something incomprehensible, and I kissed his nose. That's when he opened his eyes. "Good morning." I whispered. "Want to watch the rest of the sunrise with me?"

Hin smiled at me. "Sure." It was clear he was in a good mood this morning.

We sat beside each other on the grass and held hands, observing the sun in silence. Finally, Hin put his head on my left shoulder and we sat there for a little while longer, before I spoke. "I guess we should wake the others, we need to get to Genua this morning."

"How long is the ride?" Hin asked.

"It should take three or four hours. How about you wake everyone up, and I will worry about breakfast. You and Cadmus Brutus make sure camp gets packed up and I will get that contract signed. Then we will get on the road."

"Alright." Hin said with a smile.

I left the sight of the camp and found some small plants and sticks that I turned into hard-boiled duck eggs, loaves of bread, chunks of cheese, apples, and oranges. These I carried back wrapped in cloth.

Back at camp, Cadmus Brutus was dousing the fire, and packing things up, while Hin was rushing over to me after talking to the boy.

"I have to untie the kid; he's got to pee." Hin declared.

"No one is letting him run loose until he has that contract signed." I countered.

"That's not fair, you don't…"

"I have it right here." I produced a scroll from my clothes. "I just need him to sign it."

"Come on!" Hin said, as we quickly walked over to the squirmy boy.

I produced a knife from my belt and made a quick, slashing motion across my palm and then closed the injured fist. The boy noticed my actions and for a few moments stood perfectly still. I handed the bloody knife to Hin.

"Cut the ropes off his wrists." I told him.

As Hin cut the rope, I turned to the boy. "You are going to sign the contract, and then you had better go empty your bladder before it bursts out of your body."

I unrolled the scroll with a flick of the wrist and held it out to Hin. The rope fell away, Hin took the scroll, I grabbed one of the boy's wrists and dipped his thumb in blood that welled up in the palm of my other hand. I pushed his blood dipped thumb against the scroll and then let him go.

For a moment, there was a sulphurous smell, as the boy's name appeared of its own accord beside the bloody thumb print. 'Felix', the glowing blood red word said.

The boy stared transfixed for a moment, but whatever spell he was under broke when I rolled the scroll back up and stored it away for safekeeping. It was like his body reminded him of the need to pee, because he made a sudden dash for the nearby bushes. I used my power to heal my palm before I asked aloud, "Is anyone ready for breakfast?"

After the other three had ate, the camp was fully packed up and we were choosing our horses, Felix informed Hin, in a quiet voice that he did not know how to ride a horse. He had never done that before.

With that fact facing us, we gave him the option of riding in front of Hin or I. Felix chose to ride with Hin. I got the feeling he found Hin less scary than I.

During the three-hour-long ride, I said nothing, but listened and observed. Cadmus Brutus and Hin talked with Felix the whole time. They told stories and tales and asked Felix some questions, and he asked them some.

Felix told Hin that he was from Genua, and that his mom, her husband and their 6 children lived in the rougher part of town.

"Mom will be so upset by all this," Felix said quietly, "and Atticus Linus will be so angry he is most likely to beat me to the gates of Hades!"

"No one is going to do that! I won't let them." I said to him, "you might not like your situation, but it could be much worse. It might be scarry, but you will be alright."

I rode forward, so my horse was beside Hin's. "Listen, kid. You might feel frightened, but there are few beings in this world who are scarier than I am. Do you remember signing the scroll this morning?"

Felix nodded and said, "Yes."

"The reason your name appeared in glowing letters, even though you did not write them, is because it was not a normal contract. It was a contract created by a lesser demon. I created it."

Felix looked frightened and trembled a little.

"But just because some of us aren't human doesn't mean we are cruel or that we want to harm you. You don't find Hin terrifying, do you?"

Felix snuck a careful glance at Hin and answered, "No."

"Yet, he is not human either."

"H…He's a demon?!" whispered Felix.

Both Hin and I laughed at that.

"No, he is a djinn."

"A djinn!" gasped Felix, "Not like…" his voice trailed off.

"Yes, lad. A granter of wishes." Hin said.

"And today, he is going to grant you the wish of protection from angry parents!" I chuckled happily.