Its timing was impeccable - Androcles was too taken aback to decide whether to protect himself or seize his money, and ended up doing neither. He almost hit anything with all his strength, but in an instant he understood that the thing might take away a chunk of his leg. He pushed aside the fog of surprise, grabbed a snow-white ear, twisted it hard with his left hand, and pulled out the sword with his right hand.
Its ear was softer than he expected, and when he twisted it again, it loosened up surprisingly quickly. It screamed loudly and squirmed, but he didn't let go. He gripped its ears tighter and lifted its head away from his legs. It was a big albino coyote or something, probably sick because his legs were hairless, it was just his luck; was that a shirt? It was wearing a shirt.
He threw it away in surprise and joy. Then, as it tried to escape, he instinctively grabbed its tail, not knowing why he did this. It tried weakly to break free, but he was much stronger. He grabbed it by its shirt and held it up to his face. It was surprisingly light for something so big, oddly shaped, and squirmy... Then it turned and looked him in the eyes.
“Oathfathe
!"A
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okles curse. He almost dropped it again, but didn't. It was a thunderbolt device, a child of an orc. White fur, white cat ears, and a white tail, otherwise normal; human, more or less. "And every other goddamn god," he added. At that moment, it lost all fighting spirit and began to cry softly, sounding just like a human child. It went completely limp in his arms. It...no, he. The boy's shirt wasn't long enough for Androx to tell he was a boy.
"Oh, shut up!" A
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okles growled. He didn't want to put down the toolbox because he might run into the woods again. Or bite him. What is a Thunderbolt outfit doing on its lonely road in the middle of the night in Macron's rotten garden? Isn't Skywalker supposed to be holding on to its kingdom most of the time, aside from mercenaries? Why would it attack armed travelers? ?The sword is not easy to miss - it swings freely from the sheath on his belt. Someone must have put the tools up there and they need to be punished. Maybe A
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okles will eventually beat people up badly. Start with this toolbox.
"Seriously, shut up. Shut up!" Andrews frowned, but the boy who didn't look directly at him at first was trembling with fear and holding back his sobs. He flattened the cat's ears and curled his tail around his feet like a chastened dog. It was an impressively pitiful sight, Androcles admitted to himself.
"Oh, be quiet. You bit me and I should hit you, do as I say, maybe I won't. Now shut up. Be quiet. Calm down, here you go. Be quiet." The boy was trying to regain his composure, or at least It's like regaining composure. A
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Okles waited with what he considered admirable patience, and eventually the suite fell silent.
"Now. How old are you?" A
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Okles stared intently at the boy, who only glanced at him briefly, clearly frightened. He looked to be about the same age as the inn's waiter, barely reaching Androl's chest.
"I'm nine. I'm...nine years old."
"Good. Now, where are your parents?" Androcks said.
Kitty just looked at him, trying not to cry again. He held his breath and began to close his eyes tightly. A
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Okles sighed. The toolkit may assume that A
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Okles is going to cook him or something.
"I don't know!" the little eagle finally cried, and then started crying again.
"What does it mean?"
"They left me... I can't find where they went!" Kit said as she sobbed.
Is the boy infected? Whatever. A
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Okles stared into his eyes, and the suite quickly became quiet. "I understand. Then why did you bite me?"
"Please don't kill me, Master!" the boy said almost breathlessly.
"Who told you to do this? "Are you trying to rob me?" A
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Okles insisted.
The boy wanted to answer, but he was out of breath and couldn't even utter a word. He was shaking so hard that he almost collapsed, probably from the cold and fear. If A
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If okles were still alive, his old mentor Diokles would now kick him in the ankle for interrogating a child.
A faint child's voice came from the shadows on the roadside: "Please put him down, master. Please let him go." Androcles glared at the bushes that could not be seen inside, and changed his attitude towards Pato. According to Si, he is indeed a rotten bastard god. Look at his blessing, really!
A
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Okles looked carefully into the shadows, but could see nothing. He said to the white-haired tool bag in his hand: "If I put you down, you'd better stay where you are, understand? If you run away, I will be really angry." Got it? You're just standing there. The boy nodded, and Androcles set him to his feet.
"Well," said Androchus to the bush, "come out of there now, or I will beat your friend to a pulp."
"He is ill, master," said the first man in a trembling voice. "He couldn't stand up anymore."
god. Arkossworn, huntresses, sorcerers, corpse-eaters, and all the other evil, blighted gods. This isn't just a bad joke. Damn liar kid.
He sighed loudly; he knew he really should leave at this point. It's unlikely that there were any robbers nearby, and Androcles wasn't a man known for helping children. In many ways it's the opposite. He said to the voice in the shadow: "Where are you? I'm going to save you. I won't hurt you."
The owner of the voice coughed, then said calmly: "I'm here...in...no, here, down here."
"Why did you pick one with thorns?" Androx asked angrily.
"Because of the animals, they..." Then the voice coughed again. "They'll eat me."
"I don't see you down here at all. Look at me. Move. Do something. Where are you? Androx asked again, scratching his arm with the thorns as he dug.
Finally, Anchorex saw a hand waving feebly, finding the rest of the child. He grabbed his arm and slid it out from the thorns. It's also wearing a shirt and no pants, and for some mysterious reason is also a boy. But this one's hair, tail, and ears are dark black, while the other's are white. Another man-animal outfit. of course.
The black one wanted to bend down, but his body was too weak to move. He was almost completely lame.
The white-skinned man tried to speak modestly but his voice continued and he said: "I just want your money to buy food because he is dying. Please, master, I'm sorry. Can you feed us?" ?”
Androx turned and looked at the white toolbox, which made him take a step back, stumble, and fall to the ground with a whimper. He looked at the ground and choked again, this time clenching his teeth.
To them? He had to stop and think for a moment. It occurred to him that they might be orphans, and he had just vowed to feed the next orphan he met. It also occurred to him that God could just as easily have given the children some bread and left Androcles alone if the children had given him the gold coins. No, he might have been manipulated; the gods were toying with his father right up until his suicide, apparently not quite done with their reign over the family.
The children just looked at him meekly, shivering in the cold and frightened. He couldn't deny that this scene really moved him, but only a fool would make decisions based on emotion. "Kids, why aren't you both wearing pants?" Androx asked finally, trying not to look too menacing. "Even if you have a shirt."
The boy in white, for the sake of decency, pulled off his shirt and said, "That's because we were lost. We had nothing until we found these bags. They weren't even shirts; it was just me drilling holes in the bags with my teeth. We found them, Put it on."
"Seriously? Then why are you both naked? Why are you here?"
"That's because we're lost! We have nowhere to go." Otherwise we would have something to eat. We'll be in a warm place. He looked at the ground and started sobbing again, trying hard not to sob.
"You know, for a boy, you cried a lot."
"I can't help it!" Kit almost shouted. "I haven't cried until now, just a little."
A
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Okles thought the child would be angry, but he just looked dejected. Somehow it made him feel guilty. Or is this true mercy? Curse the gods. If he were still alive, Thai people would be smug about it. He always made fun of Androx, saying that his heart was too small for his body.
"Will you help us?" Okay? Master, please, he is very sick and I'm afraid he will die. "Maybe me too." "
Should he help them? After all, they are not his and he has important things to accomplish. Maybe he should...but he knew in his heart that he had already decided. They were orphans and he had to feed them to fulfill his oath. There is no point in thinking about it more carefully. Ankerex sighed, frowned at the sky, and said, "Well, I'm not going to just hang out and let you freeze to death. Come here."
The fair-skinned man nervously walked up to him and tried in vain to wipe the tears from his cheeks. Now that he looked carefully, the boy's legs seemed thinner than usual. In this case, he suspected that the child was hungry, so he picked up the bag the boy was wearing as a shirt and looked at his belly and chest. This is not good. He was as thin as a straw. Upon inspection, if possible, the black one is thinner, which explains why the boy didn't stand up. Androchus knew what it was like to be hungry, and these two children were on the verge of death. "You've got to be kidding me," he muttered under his breath. Two hungry boys in the middle of nowhere. No wonder the white one was crying like a little girl - he might have reached his final moments of despair and was about to lose all hope and die. A
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okles has seen this happen before.
At least his cloak was dry. He spread it out on the floor and called the children inside. The black one was completely lame, although he was awake and looking around. "Now you hold each other tight and keep each other warm," he said. He wrapped them up like lunches, as tight as possible, with the head sticking out at one end and a knot at the other end, tucking the feet in. Then he rummaged around in the dirt and finally found the fat gold coin. He stuffed it into his purse and tied it tightly.
They were still shivering in their cloaks, and no matter what Angelus did, the dark one would probably die soon, but at least they were starting to warm up now. If he could find wine and vinegar, and maybe sugar, and make a warm fire, he might be able to steal them back from the clutches of the corpse-eater Macron. Oh, and water. As soon as he found water, they needed water. Unfortunately, the canyon under the bridge has dried up.
He thought for a while about how to get it. For him, the easiest way was to throw them on his shoulders like a bag of grain, but he carried them like this several times after being injured, making it difficult to breathe. There is no use saving them if they are going to suffocate to death. Finally, he decided to hold them across his chest, almost like a mother nursing her baby. This will tire his arms, but it's necessary. Fortunately, the hungry kids didn't feel particularly heavy.
"Are you both okay?" he asked.
"Yes," said the white one.
"Yes." The man in black whispered, his voice a little harsh. This one probably won't work.
"Then we set off. I have no water or food, so I have to carry you until I find it. This may make you uncomfortable, so if you start to have trouble, just speak up. Got it? Androx ask.
"Yes," said the white one.
"Yes." The man in black whispered.
"I'm serious. I'd rather have you complaining than have you die."
"We will," said the White Goat. "Thank you very, very much."
A
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Okles didn't see any Skywalkers in the last village, so there was no benefit in going in that direction. It was rumored that there was a well at the intersection ahead, and he should have been close to it. If the children's parents were present, he could beat them until they agreed to take the children back. They deserved all the trouble they put him through.
Androcles began to walk forward at a brisk pace, as he had done a thousand times in the army, his wounds worse than the bites on his legs. They always tell soldiers that marching is never too tiring. Fortunately, the bite wasn't too deep, as its mouth was small. Tomorrow morning would be a mess, but he could ignore it for now. He has to defeat Kit, but that can wait until he's less likely to die of starvation.
Thanks to the road sweeper, Full Moon wouldn't let him fall on a rock and shatter his cargo. Or the moon itself. It occurred to Androx, with dark humor, that he was glad the children were hungry, otherwise they would have been much heavier and slowed him down.
However, now that he thought about it, the wounded were much heavier. He had carried them many times, sometimes for many miles. If the wound is severe, it will become less severe as he dies.
What a dark thought, he thought with a smile. Good soldier humor.
After a while, despite his efforts, the box started to get heavier. Of course, it wasn't enough to stop him, but his arm went from fatigue, to pain, to burning, and finally to numbness. This is much easier if it's later in the morning, after a good night's sleep and a full breakfast. Maybe he could convince the black man to postpone death while he napped.
It took him longer than he'd hoped, the sky turning from black to indigo, the moon setting behind the mountains, and his arms feeling heavy, but he made it to the crossroads. The pups didn't make any noise, but every time he checked, they were breathing.
At the last turn, Ankerix saw the wide, flat clearing he had been waiting for. On the road clearing, there was a cart and a few travelers standing next to a slightly smoking fire. A merchant once camped here. Maybe the parents of these kids were hired security guards or something. Even the businessmen themselves.
He walked toward the fire and looked for a place to put his toolbox. Six motionless figures in traveling rugs surrounded the fire pit like daisy petals, with spaces between them, but he frowned when he saw that none of them were Skywalkers.
The boys somehow fell asleep. He could not imagine how tired they must have been before they could sleep while the marching soldiers carried them. In fact, he can. So far so good. Because he is a marching soldier.
He placed them carefully so as not to wake them, then added a fire and a few more logs. He looked around and saw that he was right about the well, thanking the gods. He filled the bucket hanging on the rope with water, drank from the bucket, and poured out some of the rest. The kit only requires a little bit. If you eat too much, you will get sick. He handed the water back to them, carefully lifting their heads one by one to help them drink. They barely woke up, but they did drink. As soon as he finished speaking, they fell asleep again. Let the British or Thais complain about him now, he thought. The kit was fine until morning.
He stood looking at them, cat ears poking out from their little heads, soft fur, black and white, like a boy's hair. A
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okles never met Skytha before
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of equipment, let alone a haggard one. Adults are much more hairy. Maybe they look like a young man growing a hairy chest. But these two are still alive and sleeping, which is a success.
Food can wait until morning. If the company was so tired that not a single guard was awake, then he didn't want to upset them by waking them up. It was a little strange that no one in a commercial company was awake and standing guard, but Androx was too tired to think about that problem right now. He picked up a stone and wrote "Wake me up" on the dirt next to his head, then lay down and extinguished it like a candle.
