A/N: I'm really enjoying this story and I managed to cram in another chapter ✨
A few people have been having trouble loading my chapters and if the words are all over the place, try re-installing the app or open it in a different browser.
I hope you like it! I recommend tea and baked goods with it, that's what I've been doing 😄 lots of love ❤️
This is unedited and messy - but it'll be fixed ASAP.
Chapter 2.
Louis was torn from his sleep by a tremendous crash downstairs.
He jerked upright and looked at Holly who was crouched on the bed. The Sai-ran's eyes were so wide, the whites showed all around his iris and his green hair stuck up on one side.
Furniture banged downstairs and Louis heard muffled shouts.
Holly jumped up from the bed, half falling to the floor with a gasp of pain. Louis felt his muscles unfreeze and he scrambled to steady the boy.
"They're here! They found me!" Holly's voice was a panicked whisper and he clawed at Lou's arms with his blunt fingernails, until he was freed, and lunged for the windowsill.
Louis heard his mother's voice raised in outrage, and he reacted fast, undoing the latch to the window and hefting Holly up by the waist, until the boy could climb onto the roof.
He shut the window quickly and bundled his quilt back in a drawer and tossed his spare pillow onto the bed. Just moments before a blow sounded on his door.
"Open up!" A man's voice demanded and the door groaned beneath the force slamming against it.
Louis ran to the door and turned the key, darting aside, when two men stormed into his room and started ransacking through it.
"You won't find him in there!" Fiona stood in the doorway, coat flung over her nightgown and cheeks flushed with anger. "This is my son's room!"
"The red-one was spotted near your yard, m'am." One of the men said. He was stocky and dark haired with a wide brimmed hat. "He's owned and a dangerous criminal."
Louis had a hard time keeping the disgust off his face. Holly wasn't an animal to own. He was just a scared and hungry boy.
Fiona's hand jerked, as if she wanted to wave it in exasperation, but she gripped the doorframe instead. "And you have to pull my tavern apart to find him? My customers pay good money for a decent nights sleep!"
"Sorry to disturb you, Ms. Brown." The Sheriff, Tom Mccray, appeared over her shoulder. His hazel eyes were bloodshot, as if he'd just got out of bed himself. "I told 'em we ain't got no red-ones, but they barge in anyways."
The men finished with Louis's room, leaving it in shambles, and left muddy footprints on the floor.
Fiona watched them search the next room through narrowed eyes. A guest squawked in horror and her breath hissed angrily through her teeth. The Sheriff patted her arm awkwardly.
Another man came running up the stairs. "He's been here! The chickens are dead!"
"What?" Fiona exclaimed, as if this was her first time hearing it. "It's probably just a fox!"
"No m'am." The man said firmly. "They've been drained of blood and that's the tell of a red devil. They kill and steal wherever they go."
The Sheriff went pale and made the sign of the cross and Fiona folded her arms with a deep frown.
Some folks were right superstitious and Louis could see how red skin and blood drinking could be associated with the Christian devil. It was all nonsense of-course, but his ma had told him that fear and ignorance could make people believe all kinds of terrible things.
"Well, you best go and catch him then." She snapped and the men all reacted instinctively to her authoritative tone. She raised her chin, blue eyes flashing. "He could be miles away by now."
The dark haired man, who appeared to be in charge, stepped forward with a threatening scowl - maybe he didn't like the idea of a woman telling him what to do - and Louis was beside Fiona in an instant, squaring his shoulders and staring the man straight in the eye. No one was laying a hand on his ma.
The Sheriff put an appeasing hand on his shoulder.
"Ms. Brown is right." Tom said, tone friendly but firm. "Nothing goes on beneath her roof without her knowing. Let's leave these good people to their sleep and keep looking."
The men reluctantly agreed and the leader took off his hat and shook heavy drops of rain onto the floorboards. "You see or hear anything m'am, you best report it fast. Those red-ones might kill your lodgers next."
Fiona's fingers dug into her sleeves and she nodded tightly. Satisfied that he had planted a seed of fear, the man descended the stairs and his men followed. When the front door shut, Tom turned to Fiona with a shamed face.
He was a tall man, large and burly, with greying blonde hair and heavy sideburns. Louis had always suspected that the Sheriff was keen on his ma.
Tom had lost his wife to tuberculosis a few years back and Fiona was still young, and pretty, and there was a lot of speculation around her husband traveling so much.
"Sorry about that Ms. Brown. I have to follow these men and make sure they don't accidentally light the town on fire." He said with good humour, but anger hardened his eyes. Tom took his job seriously and he didn't like the way these men were handling things. "I'll send the boys over to help tidy things up."
"I'd appreciate that, Tom, thank you. I'll have a meal ready for them." Fiona forced a smile. "I'm just going to have a word with Louis."
The Sheriff nodded and on his way out Louis heard him reassuring the guests in the hallway. He was a good fellow at heart. Fiona shut the door and turned to her son quickly.
"Where is he?" She whispered.
Louis checked the yard through the window, before undoing the latch and climbing up. He wasn't sure if Holly would still be there and relief gripped his chest when he saw the boy clinging to the old shingles in just a nightshirt and looking out of his mind with fright.
"They're gone." Louis stretched out a hand and Holly stared at it, as if it was a snake about to strike. "If you stay here someone will spot you. Come on!"
Holly looked so torn and lost, but he reached out with trembling fingers, until Louis caught his thin wrist and helped him down.
"Quickly!" Fiona hissed and when they were both inside she pressed clothes into their arms. "Change."
They obeyed while she searched through the broken trinkets on Louis's floor and found a tin box stashed with the money he'd been saving for five years. She shoved it into a pack.
He'd aimed to travel at nineteen and visit the places his parents had told him so much about.
"You have any family?" She directed at Holly as the boy pulled a hood and a hat over his head.
"Y-yes. In...in Kepaten." Holly stammered and tied the loose trousers around his waist with a belt.
"Then you need to take the ferry from Devan." Fiona shoved the pack and a bed-roll into Lou's arms. Then she pulled him in for a fierce hug and a kiss on both cheeks.
"Travel just came a little sooner than you thought. Send me a telegram and don't be gone too long." She said in his ear and he grinned at her, excitement and dread bubbling in his veins.
Holly watched them both with an open mouth and a fragile hope in his green eyes.
They waited until Fiona had stepped outside to distract the guests and then they scuttled down the stairs. Louis spent a few gut-churning moments fetching his pa's rifle from the shed and then they took off into the dark.
The forest was close, just a half-hour walk out of town, and Louis kept to the edge of the road and the shadows of the trees. He'd camped out plenty of times and it was reassuring to know some of his gear was already stashed in his pack.
The rain had eased to a cold drizzle and he had a firm hold on Holly's thin waist. Lines of strain were etched into the boy's face, but he clutched Lou's arm and limped as fast as he could.
A horse would have spared the Sai-ran a great deal of pain, but Louis knew that when you trekked through the woods a horse would only slow you down and attract thieves.
They finally reached the edge of the trees and rainclouds and branches blocked out the sky.
"We have to camp." Louis whispered when the forage became thicker. He didn't reckon anyone was looking for them out here, they'd still be in town checking the barns. But he kept his voice low, just in case.
"No." Holly was panting hard and Louis could feel the boy's sweat and heat through his shirt. "A little further."
"I'm blind out here and you're not well enough to travel." Louis pulled them to a halt and Holly leaned against him, breaths ragged with pain.
"I don't want..." Holly mumbled something more, but Lou's attention was on a patch of curving branches lit by faint moonlight. He guessed those meant shelter and pulled the Sai-ran in that direction.
Holly hissed through his teeth and a weak slap whacked Louis's chest. Strangely it made him smile, because even drained and hurting, Holly still had some fight left in him.
"This look good to you?" Louis said, not too tired for jokes, and began to lower Holly to what his boots deemed to be dry ground.
The Sai-ran gripped his arms, nails digging into his jacket. "To the...right. There's moss."
Louis lifted his brows, because he couldn't see it, but he moved Holly in that direction and sat him down carefully. The moss felt a little damp, but soft.
"You see in the dark?" He asked as he fumbled through his travelpack and pulled out a flask of water from a week back. It tasted stale, but still good enough to drink.
"...a little." Holly accepted the flask and gulped loudly.
Louis pulled off his wet jacket and boots and unfurled the bedroll, smoothing it flat against the moss.
He listened to the rustle of Holly's clothes and could just make out the Sai-ran gingerly easing off his large boots. They should find him a pair that fit, when they reached the next town.
It wouldn't be easy hiding Holly's bright skin and hair and Louis could only hope the men hadn't put up wanted posters in Devan.
"Come on. Lie down." He felt calmer now that he was resting and he reached out thoughtlessly to touch Holly's arm.
The boy's skin was smooth and hot beneath his fingers and the slender muscle tensed.
"We only have one roll and I'm not lying in wet moss." Louis mumbled sleepily.
Holly's exhale sounded pained, but he moved over slowly and lay down. He was still wearing his shirt and trousers, just like Louis, and his small body radiated heat.
The roll was only made for one person and Louis had to press against Holly's warm spine. Keeping his hips well away from the boy's backside, because, even exhausted, his prick was starting to lift.
Holly was trembling and his breaths came fast. Poor guy. Louis couldn't begin to imagine what he'd been through.
"You're warm. It's not a fever, is it?" He whispered and the boy stiffened.
"No." Holly choked out. "My people are warm, not cold like yours."
That sounded like an insult and Louis had to repress an instinctive protest. His ma wasn't cold hearted, and neither was he, but Holly had seen a lot more bad than good in his life and Louis wasn't about to belittle that.
"Yeah." He murmured. "One day, hopefully soon, folks will start treating your people right. Like they're supposed to."
"...that will never happen." Holly whispered after a long pause and his voice sounded close to tears.
Lou's heart squeezed painfully and he resisted folding a protective arm around the boy's waist. That would only push the Sai-ran further away.
He wanted to say it wasn't true. He wanted to believe that everyone was inherently good. But the truth was he didn't know and he could only speak for himself.
So he settled for a comforting squeeze to the boy's shoulder and tried to make his body as relaxed as possible. Hoping Holly's would follow through contact.
It wasn't easy to do with soft hair tickling his nose. It smelled like fresh rain and sweat and Louis wanted to bury his face in it. His cock gave an insistent pulse and he sighed, knowing he was in for a long and restrained journey.
Comments (4)
See all