Chapter 2: Greeton and gone
"Fayt! I'm home!" Robert came in, face glimmering with excitement.
"Oh, hey dad! You're looking mighty happy now, good news?"
"The people of Greeton want to see more of my work. If they approve, we can move there! You should see it there! They have water running from little pumps all over their houses! They have chamber pots that wash the waste away with clean water and right away! They have lights, lights, so many lights! All run by electricity! And carriages in all sizes run off of water instead of lums. It's amazing, Fayt. You'll love it."
The boy smiled at his father's enthusiasm. "Sounds great, Dad. When are you showing them?"
"Tomorrow! Right away! Just think... no, don't, it's unimaginable! Just wait until you see it!" And with that Robert rushed to bed in order to get an early start the next morning. Fayt followed suit, wanting to see his father off when he left.
The next morning the two hugged before Robert sped off on their lum. Fayt kept waving and wishing him a safe trip until he was long gone.
Fayt enjoyed a noon and afternoon of reading an studying at leisure. The promise of Greeton was on his mind constantly as he readied himself for it. He was so excited that he became edgy, listening for any hint that his father was on the return with news. It was no wonder that he heard the lum's hoof beats as it returned to it's stall.
The boy was on his feet in an instant, rushing out the side door with a wide grin. Nobody. The stall door was wide open and the lum cowered inside.
We, the fangirls, have studied the lum and know that it's not one to 'cower.' The creature is naturally aggressive, thus why it is used in Glyphian military forces. It would take something truly horrifying to send such a stupidly bold mammal into panic.
Fayt shut the door and tried to coax the shuddering animal from safety. A scared lum would probably be quicker to strike something it saw as a weaker threat than the threat that caused it become said scared lum.
"Come on, where's my dad? Come here, settle down, it'll be ok, just show me where my father is." He eventually convinced the lum to steady itself enough to be ridden. Though it was still jumpy and caused Fayt to hang on tightly as it panicked over every little alien noise, it did lead him to a spot where the boy could find his father's files torn and spread across the earth.
Just that scene alone was enough to break his heart. No Greeton. It was all gone in an instant. All that research and hard work, gone. They would never get out of that ball-and-chain miner's town.
It was only after that disappointment he fell to his knees in total defeat. His father was gone was well. Eaten by wolves, perhaps? Mugged and left, dead, somewhere? He started the search for his father's corpse.
The lum was extra fidgety in the dark and darkening wood, so Fayt led the creature by the reins on foot.
He made sure to check the nearby trees, for signs of a recent struggle or blood, a river, but couldn't find any of it. When he checked in another direction, however, he was able to spot hurried footsteps. He followed them, almost feeling the full effect of their maker's panic as he did.
They led him to two tall iron gates. As he walked towards them, away from the overhanging canopy of leaves, heavy drops of rain fell quickly from the night sky.
"Hello!" He shouted, going on the tips of his toes as if trying to shout over the barred gates. "Hello! Is somebody in there!" But it was no use, the castle that sat too far away could not hear. He drew out a strong knife and pried at the chains desperately, giving up when the welding didn't give. "It's no use, you can't come in with me." He patted the lum's nose affectionately. The animal snorted and started to walk off when he let go, turning its head to see if he was following. When it saw that he was trying to climb up vertical bars, the creature snorted louder.
"No, I'm not going home, I've got-"
He was cut off at the lum snorted again and nodded its head towards the high wall.
"What is it?" Fayt released his failing grip on the gates and started to walk towards the lum before he saw it disappear into the wall. When he arrived, he found himself looking through a rather large hole in the wall. The area, being so horribly maintained, was falling apart.
The boy wandered up the cobbled walkway (though, by the size of it, it was more like a road or a small modern highway) and towards another set of ornate archways. The old wooden doors were intimidating, but falling well off their hinges. Fayt walked right in. In front of him sat a chair to sit on, very welcoming after his weary trek. He would have sat and rested if it hadn't been for the skeleton hanging, crucified, next to it. Too short to be Robert.
The alternate variety of decorations, humans and beasts, real and stone, caught in all variety of torment, caused Fayt to move faster through the musty hallways, frantic to find his father and escape. In his failure to do so before the night and his efforts caught up to him, the boy was, regretfully, forced to seek the night out in one of the warm bedrooms he was able to find. He lit the fireplace with a nearby match and warmed himself dry before stripping himself of his still-damp clothes and climbing into bed.
The blanket seemed to be tenser than it had looked before as he tried to pull it over his naked body. The rigidness of it made him take an effort to pull it over him, but it pulled back.
"S-sir! Please, go to the wardrobe and find something to cover yourself with!" It pleaded.
Fayt shook his head, startled and disbelieving, but obeyed and went to find a warm pair of pants to curl up in. "There, happy?" He smiled, dazed from fatigue as he fell back onto the bed. This time the blanket pulled up with ease, soft and incredibly warm.
"You're a very lovely guest, sir." The blanket whispered in his ear. "My name is Mayu and I will take good care of you here, just relax. You'll be able to leave in the morning."
"But I have to find... my... fafrrrr..." and his body relaxed into a deep slumber.
"Poor boy..." Mayu pitied him and started to sing him a light lullaby in his sleep. The song turned out to be a beautiful story about a prince cursed with wickedness and misfortune who meets a girl blessed with good luck and she breaks his curse with her kindness. It was a lovely song sung in a lovely voice, but Fayt's sleep was a veil too deep for it to penetrate.
In the morning, as the sun fought through the heavy decaying curtains of the room, Mayu shook Fayt into consciousness abruptly. "Wake up and go, you need to hurry!" She urged.
"My father!" He shot awake and tried to jump out of bed to find him.
"No, sir!" Mayu held him back by his wrist. "Sir, promise me you'll escape from here! If I let you go, run away and never come back! Your father can't be rescued!"
"Ma'am, I'm not sure how you're enchanted, and I'm not sure it's my business on how, but I know I have to find my dad!" He tried to pry the blanket off, trying not to hurt it in case it still had the sensitivity of a girl.
"Sir... please. Go find yourself a wonderful wife and grow a beautiful family. You have no business here. I'm starting to think that nobody does..." It almost sounded like a sob as young Mayu released her grip.
"What do you mean? I'll listen." Fayt was moved to sit back on the bed.
"You see, nine years ago the master angered a dragon. That dragon in turn killed his parents and turned his arm weak, angering him and driving him insane. The same dragon turned all of us who served our master into items, leaving him with no human company. I was a young maid-cook. I expected to become something of the kitchen, and I'm surprised I'm not. My mama, a bowl, says that it's because my heart lye elsewhere. Warm and comforting like a blanket. So here I am. The curse can only break when master falls in love with a woman and the woman in love with him. You see, you can't help us, so you had mind's well leave. The master is short tempered and quick to kill or torture any person he can find."
"So my father..."
"Is probably dead."
"Then I'll avenge him!"
"No!" Mayu cried. "Don't! You'll doom us all! Please! I beg of you! It'll bring you no good, nothing will change because of it! Please!"
The earnest sound of the girl's voice was enough to bring her face's image into his head. He sighed. "Alright, I won't kill him. I... I'll leave."
The relief from the blanket's breath was heavy. "Thank you so much sir... If I could... could I have a..." Fayt watched as the wine-colored blanket turned a brighter red. He smiled and leaned over to kiss its corner.
"Take care. I hope she comes soon." He stood, redressed, and walked out of the room, trying to remember the way to the exit.
Somehow he had managed himself into deeper and danker areas of the castle. One or twice he paused against a wall, stock still, in fear of the wicked one's foot steps echoing in the hallways. Needless to say it near scared him out of his skin when he heard the voice shout: "Fayt!"
The green cat's eyes flickered across, wide in panic, to meet the sad smiling eyes of his father's in a barred window.
"Dad!" He cried, rushing to embrace the man.
"Fayt, you have to get out of here before he finds you!"
"But I have to get you out of there! Where's the door? I can get the keys and-"
"Fayt!" Robert alerted. The boy felt the little blond hairs on his back and neck stand up as two crimson eyes bored into the back of him.
"Who's there."
"Let my father go, he has very important business to attend to in Greeton!" Fayt turned, not letting himself lose his resolve.
The crimson eyes scoffed. "Fine, then I'm keeping YOU, maggot." A hideous metal claw lashed out and gripped the boy's arm. "You look a lot harder to kill than the old man. Easy kills have never been my style." The eyes and the claw escorted Fayt into the pungent cell just as they dragged Robert out of it. The key turned and clicked the lock as the green eyes watched out another barred window in the door, watching his father be taken outside and set free.
He sighed helplessly. 'At least Dad might get to go to Greeton still...' Sitting down with his arms crossed, careful not to come close to any suspicious puddles, he began to plot what would take place next.