The old devil appeared at the entrance of the cave, his blue-black skin swallowing the sunlight, and he said: "I have bad news for you, little one. We met to exchange their children for us, but they will not accept slaves." You are not enough for them, even if we only have you, six of you will not be enough.”
Somehow, the old devil's words penetrated Pepper's despairing haze. He pricked up his ears and looked towards the entrance of the cave. "You want to send me back?"
"No, I'm sorry to say, we will not send you back. We stole you to exchange for our own children, and they refused to exchange them."
"Then why tell me?" Pepper said.
The old devil sat down leisurely, his figure outlined in the bright blue sky behind him. The demons looked nothing like Dad said, except for how they looked. Pepper hated them anyway. Even if they locked his ankles in this small hole in the rock, they wouldn't stop torturing him. Pepper wished he could leave him alone and return him to starvation.
"You are not our relative, but I don't want to see you suffer. Why do you love your old master so much? The old devil asked.
"Why don't you give me back for free?" Pepper asked. It scratched his dry throat so badly that he didn't know if his throat would start to bleed.
"That's stupid. If we gave them back the slaves we captured, they would never trade again. They would say all their real children were slaves to get them back for free."
The old demon was quiet for a while, and Pepper lowered her head again, closed her eyes, and waited for the demon to get tired and go away. Another drop of pain dripped from his broken heart.
"You know, if you weren't so wild, you could live with us. We were too poor to keep slaves, so you were free. Tesvan thought that if you didn't eat, we should stop giving you Food. He's still angry about his arm," said the old devil. There was a hint of humor in his voice. "You should see how sullen he gets every time he changes his bandages."
The old devil stopped talking again, as if to give Pepper a chance to respond. He didn't. Instead, he tried to let the man go away purely with his thoughts. But no success.
The old devil said: "Do you want to know how I knew where you were the day we caught you?"
Curiosity had him opening his eyes and perking up before he realized what he was doing. He almost asked what was going on, but another painful tear dropped from his heart to remind him, and he said, "No, I just want to die."
"I'm sorry to see you like this, little one. Are you dying to vent your anger, or have you lost all hope? Good times will come as long as you are patient."
"I do not believe."
"Is this what Daddy, Mommy and Flower want for you? "Who is Flower? Is she your sister?"
Pepper's face immediately turned to hatred and he nearly hissed. If his mouth hadn't been so dry, he might have screamed.
The demon raised his eyebrows, surprised at the answer. "Your master's wife?" Maybe another slave? I think her name is still very important to you. Tell me, is she still alive?"
The old devil looked at him blankly, maybe there was only a hint of kindness in his eyes. Pepper barely dared to look at him. He had a headache every time. If the old devil sees this, Pepper will retaliate against him by bleeding out in the morning instead of drinking water. Everything is his fault. everything.
This is your fourth day without food and your second day without water. What would Flower think if she saw you like this? Would she see you as she imagined you? asked the old devil. "Or would she be ashamed?"
Pepper doesn't care what Hua thinks, as long as she can see him again. But he won't, and neither will anyone else.
The old devil dropped a water-filled skin on the ground beside him. He said: "Drink. If you don't drink, I will go in and pour it down your throat. You are too weak to resist anymore. Drink it yourself and have some dignity."
After that, the old devil finally left, and the snow crunched under his feet.
Another drop of pain dripped from Pepper's broken heart, beating like a plucked string in his body. It hurt so much he thought it would kill him. But it didn't, and that was something he couldn't stand.
How dare the old man mention flowers! How did he know who it was? But he didn't because he thought Flower was a girl. Pepper wasn't sure when he said the name, but he must have said it. He also didn't mention his sister Gabby. The thought of Gabby squeezing another drop out of the hole in his heart made him wince as he burned.
Dad will never come again, and Pepper will never see her again. Even if Dad finds out that he has been captured by the devil, he will not come to save him. He would just think that the little pepper was eaten. He never came to see me just to make sure, because it meant fighting an entire horde of demons. That's stupid.
His throat was sore and hot, his head ached, and his body felt strange. It's because I didn't drink water. That's what it feels like to be near death. Part of him longed to reach for the water skin, not even within arm's length, and drink. It's there. But this only numbs some of the pain, not the worst pain. The worst pain would last until his death.
However, he poked the water skin and wanted to do something. He watched it rock around, small waves running through it like on a lake. Before long, it stopped looking like water and turned into a toy.
The days passed slowly. Nothing else happened. Pepper didn't drink water. Instead, as he began to feel tired, he wished he could fall asleep one last time.
Pepper decided to whisper a prayer to Patos, even though he had no sacrifice, and Dad said you always have to have a sacrifice to get their attention. "Patos, Patos, I wish you could hear me. If I am yours as you say, then come and take my soul when I die, for I am about to die. Please hurry up .”
That's it. A feeling of determinism came over him, and he knew he had given it his all. A breeze somehow blew into the cave, chilling the wet skin on his face.
He got into the fur comfortably and closed his eyes. After such a long time, his tired and injured mind finally calmed down. It will be soon.
"did you drink?"
Pepper blinked and saw night falling. It was just a moment... was he dead? No, not yet. He is so close to me. It was dark, so dark that even the stone man couldn't see. The old man hovered beside him, patting the skin of the water.
"You didn't. I'm sorry, but I warned you."
"No, please," Pepper begged softly, his throat too dry to speak.
The old demon sat on Pepper's belly and held his arms down with his knees. Pepper struggled, but there was nothing he could do. He was too weak and the old man was too heavy. He gritted his teeth, but the old demon squeezed his cheeks until his jaw fell open, then dripped water into his mouth.
Pepper refused to swallow, but the man just held him tightly to prevent the water from flowing out. He would either choke or swallow, so he swallowed. The old man poured more water and waited for him to swallow it, then more and more.
Satisfied, the demon sat down and released Pepper. "My people think I'm stupid because I'm related to you," he said.
Pepper felt better after drinking the water, but he didn't want to drink it.
The old demon continued: "It's unusual that you are so good at hiding. This makes me very curious, so I care about you. When we meet your people in the spring, you will be a good asset to them." Deal. Not the pigfaces who keep you as slaves, I mean the horse owners of the plains - your real people. That's another reason," said the old devil. He crossed his legs to make himself more comfortable, then sighed contentedly and looked out of the hole. "When I was your age, we lived in—"
Something outside the cave caught the demon's eye and he bit off his words in surprise, Pepper turning to see what he was looking at. A dim blue star passed through the darkness, hovering somewhere over the camp. After a while it disappeared from his sight. Pepper's heart was pounding, slapping violently against her sternum. "Wolfsca
?It has to be...that's wolfsca
!”
Pepper used her last bit of strength to stumble forward as far as the chains would allow. "Wolfsca
!Wolfsca
!he shouted with all the strength he had left. He couldn't have done that if his throat was still dry. The water made his throat feel slippery rather than closed. "WOLFSCAR!"
He thought the old demon would pull him back and cover his mouth, but the man didn't move at all.
For a moment, when the little star didn't come back, Pepper worried that he was wrong, or that the fairy couldn't hear him. But sure enough, soon the star appeared again in its original place. "Wolfsca
!”
The little blue fairy flew so fast that he couldn't stop in time and bumped gently into Pepper's face.
Pepper was too excited to even think about it. He hugged Wolf Scar tightly to his chest and cried loudly and unashamedly. The rocky mountain that had been pressing him rolled away instantly and turned into nothing. Scar the Wolf cried too, trying to find something to hold onto with his little toes and little fingers on Pepper's jacket.
Every time Pepper tried to speak, he started crying again, his throat so tight it hurt, but he couldn't help it.
He looked back at the old demon and saw him sitting and leaning against the rock wall, waiting patiently, although his expression was very curious. Little Pepper was crying and dry, her throat hurt so much that she could only speak softly. He pointed to his mouth, asking for more water, and the old devil leaned forward and poured him some, then sat back down. Pepper choked, spit, and swallowed hard.
Wolf Sca
was the first person to successfully say it. "I'm afraid I'll never find you again!" Dad was very sad! And Mom. "
"I miss you!" Pepper finally managed to squeeze out a breath before he sobbed again. When he could, he said: "I thought I would never—"
Then he clenched his jaw again, his eyes dry and unable to shed tears. After a while, he whispered: "How did you find me? How is everyone?"
Wolf Sca
Said: "Wait a minute." Then she cried and hugged her.
The old devil kept giving Pepper more water, and he drank all the water. Pepper could feel the water healing his insides like magic. He is not lost. He is no longer lost. Dad can find him now.
Finally, Wolf Scar huddled up in Pepper's hands and became quiet. When he spoke, as usual, he blurted out incoherently. "From the first day, Dad asked me to start looking for you, but I never found you. I searched all the places where the aliens found you, so we thought you might have been kidnapped and eaten by demons. Dad asked I kept looking, and then I looked for demons, but I couldn't find any. So I started looking where there was no one at all, but I still couldn't find anyone, and that's why I came all the way here. I almost Gave up but then I thought I heard something even though it was too far away so I came and I found some demons so I looked around and heard your voice. Are you okay? You don’t look good..."
Wolf Sca
From Peppe
His hand jumped out, flew back, examined it carefully, frowned, and put his fingertips in his mouth. Suddenly, he roared and rushed towards the old demon like a day-old puppy. In as threatening a voice as a man of his size could muster, he demanded: "Why are you so mean to him? You tied him up! Don't you know who this is?"
The old demon obviously didn't know what to think of Wolf Scar, but he opened his lips to say a few words, and then changed his mind and said: "Maybe I made a wrong decision. From now on, I will be nicer to him. "
Wolf Sca
He clenched his fists and stretched his few muscles. He is smaller than a kitten. "You better! Give him some more water, or he will die! Unchain him! He is not a cow! That is the son of Androcles! And I am in danger too!"
Seeing the little fairy's nervousness, the old devil raised his eyebrows and said with a serious look: "I understand."
Wolf Sca
Showing his fist again, he nodded. He turned to Pepper and said, "Dad asked me to tell you something. Are you ready?"
"Yes."
The little blue fairy cleared her throat and said: "Remember whose son you are. Be patient, be cunning, and live. I will definitely come to save you. No matter life or death, you can't stop me."
Pepper's eyes burned and he lowered his head. "I know. I won't forget it again."
Wolf Sca
He walked forward and patted Pepper's forehead. He stood there for a moment, brushing a lock of hair aside and gently stroking a patch of skin. "The last time I saw her, she cried when I said I hadn't found you yet. Flowers was under surveillance, so I couldn't talk to him. But I saw him once pretending to hold your hand. I Bet that's what he did. Everyone misses you."
Pepper's eyes wanted to cry, but he was still too dry inside to shed tears. "I miss them too," he said quietly, his voice clear. "Very bad".
Wolf Sca
Turning to the old devil again, he shouted: "I told A
d
okles you lock your son in a little hole and you don’t feed him! You better hope things are different when he comes!”
The old devil nodded solemnly and said: "If necessary, I will use a stick to stuff food into his throat." Then, after the wolf scavenged
After flapping his wings angrily, he added gently: "That was a joke, wolf scab
. I will take good care of him. "
"How dare you eat him!"
"I wouldn't dare."
"Or anyone else!"
"He won't be eaten by anyone. I promise."
Wolf Scar glared at him one last time, nodded, flew back and kissed Pepper's forehead. "Dad said I'd come back as soon as I found you so he could leave to pick everyone up, so I have to go. But I'll be back as soon as I can. Are you okay?"
"Okay," Pepper said.
Wolf Scar stayed for a while and patted Pepper's nose. Then he gave him an awkward hug, turned around, and quickly left the exit. The fairy first flew in the direction of the camp, then disappeared and then reappeared with a large piece of bread in her hand. Wolf Sca
Disappearing into the sky, someone let out a cry of surprise and frustration.
