DJ in the River

DJ was shell-shocked. Standing at his place, feet glued where he was, the detective watched a very naked man slowly rising from the appeasing water bath in the scorching heat shining around. His breath hitched painfully when the said naked man started to grow bigger as he slowly walked towards Jerry while keeping a daring almost alert stare intact.

Taut muscles flexed along each movement, and water droplets cascaded down fast from the broad expanse of a chest to the navel and then to the bulging thighs, displaying an image of a man DJ wanted to become so bad in his miserable life.

Alas! That never happened

‘life is unfair’ he thought as he stood there watching the man he wanted to become, ascending from the small river, blowing DJ’s logical senses for a long minute.

By that time, Yael had spotted the old man. The Lord was watchful of the old rescuer, who stood a few feet away from him and looked at him like he was in a trance, and observed him and his unusual movements silently.

Yael was one fine man and there wasn’t any doubt about it, he was sculpted like a tough warrior and daunting although a little malnourished but still very strengthy, charming looking and broad. That fine specimen was no less than a Greek god with an intimidating aura and appearance that spoke volumes on its own.

All in all, the lord wasn’t ashamed to showcase his body …..if anything, the man was proud.

Waking up from the tired slumber in the rock shelter, the first thing he did was to hunt the water supply nearby after checking around for any potential danger. To his luck, the task was accomplished a mere half a mile away where he found a small waterfall nestled between mountain structures, the large man didn’t think about waiting before he shed his clothes and dived in.

Feeling refreshing cold water over his skin was the finest thing he had felt in those long months of wait, not being able to take a bath and rotting in that suffocating cell was in itself a huge torture. Chevy’s men were nasty and so was he but that trait of theirs affected Yael more when they refused the request for a bath and pretended it to be the most bizarre request ever.

But now, in a span of a night, the time has changed and Lord Yael was free.

Celebrating his freedom, Yael cherished the opportunity to his heart. He dipped his head under the water to rinse off the dirt in his long locks, swam around in the luxury of that blissful stream and splashed water here and there as he rubbed his body to discard the layered filth over his pores the best he could.

The moments of such joy were incomparable but they didn’t last long when alongside the sound of swishing water, an echo of his name fell over his ears. Classifying it as an error of his mind, since all it portrayed was the old man with a pretty voice, the man remained unfazed and resumed his cleaning until it happened again and this time, the voice was closer.

It wasn’t an error……

With that thought, the lord then roused from the water with his huge build and silent aura only to find the source of that alluring voice calling for him, standing across from him at the edge of the small river with boots deep in water. Alberto, the old man, was far but not too far not to witness the utter amazement and shock he held in those dreamy orbs.

Making Yael feel a tingling sensation in his body.

While keeping the stare, the lord then moved under the water. With multiple ripples forming around him, Yael crossed the distance in several large strides making the water around him splash as he gradually revealed himself bare, like the day he was born, to the astonished eyes of the detective.

Cruel….

On the other hand, was DJ, engulfed in pure discomfort with his body stiff like a stick. The detective tried hard not to let his gaze waver and wander in directions he wouldn’t be able to live down all his life,….. he tried to stabilize his breathing and mentally scolded himself not to portray any disrespectful expression as he fixated his nervous orbs in those daunting and scary ones of the Lord while watching him getting closer.

And closer he got.

In a frame of minutes was Yael literally towering over the detective and gazing down at him, the size difference so obvious that the younger had to crane his neck in order to meet eyes with the man standing in front of him in all his glory.

Without a word, the older stared deep into those magnificent, beautiful eyes, and found nothing but surprise in them. He could have discerned more, may have found some hidden secrets or perhaps….. dreams, but before that, the younger and comparably smaller one had to lower the gaze because of the over-whelmeness of the situation.   

All those efforts of not portraying any disrespectful expression were at shortage that a shade of pink was spreading over the uncovered part of DJ’s face and beneath his eyes at an alarming speed. The boy wanted to close his eyes to manage some courage but all he could do was place his small hands around his face to feel the heat of his embarrassment.

Yael would have chuckled if the circumstances were different, he would have said or done something in order to escalate that blushing mess of an old man but he reigned himself from doing any of that. The sceptical side of the lord told him to beware of the man who hadn’t manifested his true identity and was still under disguise as he eyed the slightly out-of-place artificial beard barely sticking to the side of DJ’s face.

Little did he know that the detective hadn’t found the opportunity yet.

Swiftly changing his gaze to a tough glare, Yael pushed past the detective roughly. He bumped Jerry’s fragile form with his sturdy shoulder, making the boy lose his balance and tumble backwards. Thankfully, he was safe from landing his butt in the water and over the pointy rocks that could have ended in some sort of damage.

But where did that man go?.......

“W-wait..” Jerry blurted out as he quickly turned around, wanting to stop the lord before he vanished somewhere else and created a new job for the detective. But to his utter surprise and embarrassment, the lord was right behind him, bent over the small rock and shuffling with his clothes that DJ hadn’t noticed before.

The older stood straight after hearing that yell, face grave and eyes dark, and DJ felt shivers running down his spine at the chilling glare.

“What?” Yael gritted out but his voice turned sharper and harsher than he intended which didn’t fail to make the detective flinch at his spot.

“I-I….Uh….I….T-thank yo-you for…for s-saving my li-life earli-lier……I….o-o…” the boy stammered his gratitude to somehow start a conversation but once again he flinched when Yael’s low and rough voice reached his ears.

“No need. You saved my life and I saved yours. We are equal in that account before we part ways” the lord clarified with a straightforward display of his intentions that he didn’t want to do anything with DJ anymore.

Well……basically DJ could go and get lost for all he cares, is what he had tried to convey.

But that didn’t suffice for the boy as a swarm of some really crucial questions erupted like an angry volcano making the young detective frown.

He wanted, no he needed more clarifications.

“w-what?” he murmured lowly while Yael followed the movement of his lips behind bushy hair with his keen eyes, he also managed to glance at the moustache that was coming loose around Alberto’s lips but the oblivious man didn’t have any idea.

“you freed me and with that,…… your job is done. I can manage the rest on my own” The finality in his words made DJ feel dizzy. The world around him turned silent, his brain went empty all of a sudden as he slowly deciphered the selfish meaning behind those words.

How was he supposed to save himself from the lords if he didn’t manage Yael’s return to Ezekiel?

How was he supposed to save himself from the men sent after him, searching for him like mad dogs only to kill him?

How was he supposed to save himself from some newly formed followers aka Chevy’s men, who were also after him after Yael’s rescue?

What happened to the promise the man on the phone made about Yael saving him from all this?

Why, without doing anything remotely offending, people are after him for his life?

Is he gonna get abandoned in the middle of the forest….?

No, that can’t happen…..

The mind-numbing thoughts created a whirl of emotions in DJ’s brain, overlapping conclusions and confusion caught the boy in the middle. He was tongue tied but he wanted to speak, he wanted to remain calm but his body fidgeted without permission.

Soon, at the corner of his brain peaked anxiety and panic and the detective knew what was coming his way.

“B-But wh-what about….about th-the caller……h-he sa-said…..” the boy stammered as he desperately tried to convey what was going wrong in all that scenario as he flailed his hands wildly.

Yael, witnessing the rise of anxiety in Alberto, subtly placed a cautious step ahead in case of any inconvenience that might follow with what the man was behaving like as he raised his brow in question.

“what caller?” he asked eyeing the old man observantly who was flailing his hand in disapproval while heaving for breath.

“th-they w-will kill me…….t-they are-are a-after me…” the boy cried out as tears filled his eyes. Yael couldn’t decipher the feeling that erupted in his heart at the wounded sound Alberto was talking in. He felt a strange pinch in his heart that somehow made him feel guilty for something.

And so, to lessen the feeling in him…….the lord tried to reason with the old man with the intention of coaxing him gently.

But he was incapable of using gentle tones……whatsoever.

“They aren’t after you Alberto, they are after me…..why are you so---…” the lord tried to draw a real picture as he splayed his arms to calm the shorter male but his voice turned accusing on its own making the boy to let out his first sob of betrayal.

And Yael felt guiltier.

“y-you don’t-don’t under-understand….” DJ sobbed silently, he fumbled with his fingers while trying to keep his depression at bay and not struck him into full panic.

“what do you mean?” Yael asked with his rough almost demanding voice.

“w-we ha-have to-to go together pl-please…” DJ conveyed in a desperate whisper-like voice. Feeling his knees going weak, the boy looked around for something suitable to rest his small self but nothing deemed fit.

“go where” Yael almost shouted in return, agitated with the man who was a blabbering mess but nothing understandable was coming out of him. His voice and tone did nothing but add into DJ’s anxiety and the boy found himself unable to cope anymore with the situation.

Jerry needed time to collect himself and compose his emotions before he could answer any more questions Yael was asking.

And for that……..in the next moment, he slumped down on the rocky ground without the care in the world, where water covered the surface unevenly, and folded his knees to his chest.  He then proceeded to place his arms around his shins before hiding his face between his knees dismissing himself from uttering another word.

The detective didn’t care about his clothes and boots getting soaked in the running water, he just sat there hiding his face and started to count from one to hundred, under his breath and in a quiet tune.

A mechanism to make himself better and out of his misery.

He didn’t care about anything at that moment, not about the caller, not about his critical situation, not about what future holds for him as well as the man who stood a few steps away from him and watching him with nothing but confusion in his eyes.

………

Flashback…

 “…… The plan for east is ruined but there is still a way to work this out.” The man paused and DJ heard a series of different voices merging together behind the caller.

“w-what wa-way?” the boy asked.

“listen to me carefully boy……..” the man started with a sigh and DJ heard a little shuffling behind the caller.

“by tomorrow morning……a caravan of traders and old villagers will pass by the shortcut gravel roads around the forest you have lost yourself in….” the man couldn’t help the mock as he added in his information and DJ, on the other hand, made sure to roll his eyes really hard to pay back the complement.

What’s his fault?

“those people have dancers and musical groups accompanying them as well…..since they are travelling for the festival. If, by any luck, you and Lord can make it to the gravel paths by tomorrow morning then there is a fair chance of your encounter with them” the man on the phone completed with a long breath.

“b-but we-we are l-lost in-in the fo-forest….a-and…” DJ tried to explain the situation best to his abilities but he couldn’t deliver more when the man interrupted him with a stern voice.

“We do not have more options detective…..you have to return to Malia in any case and that too with lord Yael before you get killed in between the trees and left for wild animals” the caller instructed and DJ stopped himself from uttering a curse.

Now, he was scaring him.

“B-But…” he tried again in hopes….

“try to merge with the caravan…..ask for help. Pretend to be a trader and use a disguise if need be but be careful little boy…..you and Lord Yael shouldn’t be caught before I send some help” the man alerted with another horrifying advice.

Help…my foot.

DJ, by the time the call ended, was in tears. He looked around the shelter, his somewhat colourful merchant clothes, the disposed of revolver at a distance and a bag full of artificial jewellery and then fixated his eyes on the small device in his hands that was blank of any call or name or screen display.   

“Fuc-Fuck Y-You….” he muttered, innocently, under his breath and got ready to search for the lord.

……

The chapter ends here folks…

See you next time….

Sayonara people~~~~~