As much as his mind desired to stay with the ranger he would not be a burden to the man. He could deal with the separation, he lied to himself, falling one step behind Ravin as he strolled through the town. The older going first in case of a trap. 

He had not noticed the strange silence that accompanied them. Ravin must be overreaching, he assumed. It did not stop the boy from feeling safe within his presence. His earlier fear dwindled, evolving into uncertainty. 

It is a tad weird that they had not run into anyone yet. Where is everyone? 

“Hello?” Ravin called out, his voice echoing through the town. 

“Who goes there?” A voice yelled out; alarm laced within their tone. There was no one within sight. Ravin slowly held out his hands, a sign of peace. His body radiated calmly, his voice matching. 

“We are weary travelers in need of provisions. We mean you no harm,” Ravin said. Jax glanced up at Ravin inching closer. The youngling gasped looking behind them, grabbing onto the elder’s cloak. 

Ravin turned to the villager, pushing the boy behind him. The man held a sickle in one hand as he glared at the two. The villager stared the duo down, descending the steps on the porch. 

“That is what they said last time before they raided our town. Now, why should I be inclined to believe you? You’d be better off getting’ along. We ain’t got anythin’ worth stealing,” the man said in distain, his accent bleeding through the cracks. He twisted the sickle in his hand menacingly.

Ravin could beat him in a fight easily. That was not what had him worried. The kid needed help he could not provide, more so than his ego needed a boost. 

“We did not come to steal,” Ravin sighed, he could not believe he was about to do this. “Please, my friend is injured. We just need some supplies then we will be on our way. I promise.” He pleaded, glancing at the boy to prove his claim. 

The villager looked at the stranger’s accomplice and took in the boy’s appearance. The young pale skin, clothing ripped to shreds, and doused in a mix of mud and dried blood. The bruises purple color standing out in vain. The frightened eyes refused to meet his. The man’s hard stare turned to stone on the older boy. 

“You with him willingly?” The man asked the young boy. Who could not be much older than his son. Not a teenager but not an adult either. The stone-cold glare spoke accusations of his thoughts of the elder boy. 

Ravin paused, internally cursing. Shit, why had he not ever considered that pressing fact. He kidnapped the kid in the dark of the night like a serial killer looking for their next victim. 

Is it considered kidnapping if you kidnap someone from a kidnapper? Either way the kid was not here freely. He had not exactly given the kid a choice in the matter since he found him. 

Jax nodded his head from behind the brick wall that was Ravin. Upon the daunting villagers silence he realized the man could not see him from where he stood. He tried speaking only to croak out a weak moan. He cleared it, hoping it would do well enough to speak. 

“Yes,” Jax’s frail, timid voice answered. His throat hurt from the disuse, but they expected an answer. So, he would have to make do with the pain.

He had talked more in the past week or so than he had in his entire life. He would never have spoken at all if it were not for Ravin, the one who saved him. He could do this for him. It is a small thing, but he did not want Ravin to get into trouble either.

 

The response seemed genuine not that it mattered to the man. He watched the young man shield his ‘friend,’ placing himself between the boy and the opposing danger. The kid hid behind the young man as if he could hide the injured one from the world. 

As compelling as their demeanor may be, the man was not in the mood for pity. His sympathy ran dryer than The Misty Desert. The man frowned, ready to cast the duo away when an angels voice called to him. 

“Henry,” Andrea, his sweet beloved wife, stood in the open doorway off to the side. Watching the stand-off from the safety of their home. Henry turned to her, to tell her to go back inside. She spoke first. “My love. What is the meaning of this?”

The door fell shut behind Andrea as she stepped out and off the porch into the afternoon light. Her gentle eyes complimented her smile soothing the boy’s racing heart. A melody forgotten by time but known by heart sung in his mind. 

She greeted them the same way Ravin had when he and Jax had first met. A light touch to her forehead, bowing her head respectfully. Ravin performed the gesture back intriguing her husband. 

“They are trespassing, Love. I will not risk the actions of a stranger after what occurred just last week,” Henry said, pointedly staring at the duo. No words they had said he deemed worthy of truth. 

“My dear, may I? They are but children.” Andrea said sweetly to her husband, looking into his eyes knowingly. She turned to the boys as a mother would, her instincts rearing forwards. 

“Where do you travel to?” The mother asked curiously. Her gaze never went astray as she joined them on the ground by her husband’s side. 

“Where the road takes us, I suppose. I go where I am needed,” Ravin said, honestly to the woman. 

“May I be so bold as to inquire where you come from,” Andrea asked, noting the lack of signifying insignias on their clothing. The lack of anything really, even identifying signatures of a career.

 

“I have to say, I am curious as well as to where you acquired your injuries,” Henry questioned. His assumption hadn’t disappeared as they would have hoped. For all Henry knew, they had rehearsed this entire thing and made the boy say it. 

“We were attacked north of here,” Ravin answered, glancing dejected at Jax for effect. “They caught my friend while he was fleeing for safety and beat him. He is lucky to be alive nevertheless walk. That is why I inquire your help.”

“The place where I was born no longer exists. Outsiders destroyed it, much like you experienced,” the elder of the two responded answering Andrea next. His posture guarded as it was open. The couple turned to Jax awaited his answer. 

Jax froze as everyone’s attention turned on him. His grip on Ravin’s cloak tightened with unbearable pressure. 

“I-I don’t know,” Jax said uncertainly. A lifetime ago he knew the name of his home, but he learned he was forbidden to speak it. A distant memory from before the cage. 

A sadness akin to grief flooded his being. It must’ve shown beyond his walls because the next thing he knew an arm wrapped around him, pulling him close. A comforting heat settling against his side. The hand attached to the arm rubbed soothing circles along his back. 

Henry sighed, knowing his Andrea could not resist a soul in need. After seeing the boy, neither could he. They needed it after all. 

“We will help you on one condition; you are to leave by dawn,” Henry said. He would have preferred sundown, but the night was no longer safe to travel under. Those shadows ruled the night, killing anything they came upon. Sniffing them out like blood hounds. 

“You have my word,” Ravin said, accepting the terms. He had not planned to stay that long anyhow. 

Andrea clasped her hands together in happiness. She smiled as she addressed the two. 

“Splendid. I will show you the way to The Doctor. He will get you fixed right up,” she said, waving them on. She lovingly patted her husband’s arm as she passed. Ravin and Jax followed Andrea through the awakening town. People poured out of the shops and their homes watching as the newcomers passed by. The sight deemed safe to come out into the open. 

Jax stared at them all in wonder. They were all so different. He knew that people looked different of course. He was inexperienced, not naïve mind you. It was their attire that caught his eye. There were no two alike, each telling a different story about the person. 

He grunted as a townie shoved their shoulder into his, jumping back when another stepped on his bare foot with their boots. Every path Jax tried to take became blocked. The constantly changing, randomly moving horde trapped him in his place. 

His breath became short. His eyes darted around, desperately searching for a dark head of hair. The world spun making him feel light on his feet, Jax’s stomach rolled, twisting painfully causing him to want to double over. 

The ground disappeared beneath him just as a hand wrapped around his upper arm. Jax jerked, trying to loosen the hold to no avail. The stranger dragged Jax to the edge of the dirt road. Pulling him along until they reached a house at the streets end, near the center of town. 

“Almost there, bith,” the stranger said, walking up the stairs into the home helping the kid all the while. He led the trembling boy into a separate room laid up with a sturdy bed and a cabinet in the corner. A workman’s bench and table along the side covered in books, bottles, and a pair of scissors. Ravin maneuvered Jax so that he would be sitting on the freshly made bed. 

The boy all but collapsed upon the hard mattress. His body begged him to lay down, while his mind reeled itself back into the present. The most he could do was hunch over as he fought for air. What Ravin could only describe as a panic attack subsiding. The kid riding out the aftershocks.