Chapter 13

Each creak of the wagon as it rolled into dips along the ground sent a sharp bolt of pain sparking through Andy's ankle. He bit back a groan and clung onto the side of the wood. Andy glowered at the dark green mold squishing beneath his nails the harder he clung onto the wood, the fresh rot trickling down his fingers. The boy sucked in a breath through his teeth.

A low hum brought Andy's gaze away from the side of the wagon. The man hummed a tune in the back of his throat, running his fingers through his donkey's mangled, brown mane. He idly led the creature forward with a small tug of the reigns around it's muzzle and earned a guttural snort from the donkey in return as it followed his command. Andy felt a twinge of guilt when he pressed back against the stack of firewood in the wagon.

Don't whine, he chastised his self as another dip caused his ankle to throb. He gritted his teeth. Don't you dare whine!

"Comfy back there?" The man asked.

Andy flinched, his brain slow in deciphering the man's words through his accent. "Yes." Andy said slowly. "Thank you."

The man rolled his eyes with a smirk. He casted his gaze over his shoulder, stifling a chuckle at the boy crushed in the corner of the wagon with firewood blanketing him.

"It's fine. I know it's as cramped as hell." The man chuckled at Andy's flush. "But it sure beats walkin' or sittin' on this old ass." He playfully slapped the donkey's neck, the creature head butting his arm in return. Andy smiled softly as the man added, "We shouldn't be too far now. Probably less than a mile…"

The irritated prince he had been shushing clawed its way back over Andy's being as he groaned against the side of the wagon. The trees that towered over them were slowly becoming shorter and thinner the further they traveled, leaving a dark, stormy sky to tangle in the heart of the forest. The thick debris of leaves and fallen trunks were also dissipating into gravelly silt and pebbles with each lurch forward; even the air had changed, icy with more remorse.

Andy looked up at the sun climbing down through gray clouds, simmering a dull copper with inky tendrils looming in its wake. Andy frowned.

"The day never seems to stay," he murmured.

The man glanced up at the sky and shrugged. "Probably because it has better things to do than watch us corpses cave in on each other." Andy stared at the man with arched brows. He shrugged again as he jerked the reigns forward.

"What a curt way of thinking." Andy replied quietly.

"It's not even thinking," said the man, "it's a fact here. The quicker you learn it, the longer you might live."

Andy's lips thinned out into a frown. He rested his chin on his arms, burying his head in his scratchy sleeves. Silence settled over them, save for the banshee creak of the wagon and grunt from the donkey, and after a few more moments passed, Andy's eyes widened. Miniature spokes of chimneys grazed over the last of hill of the forest. A sigh of relief fell from Andy's lips until the wagon came to a halt.

Andy blinked, arching an eyebrow as the man turned around. "I," the man started, moving back towards the wagon. He grasped onto the thick burlap nestled around Andy. "I guess I should have mentioned this earlier. We don't get too many visitors around here." Andy's brows furrowed as the man added, "And we don't take kindly to them either."

"W-we?" Andy squeaked.

"They I mean," he said quickly, raising his hands in defense. "If it were anyone else that came by those parts of the forest…" the man trailed off with a shrug, "…well…"

Andy's shoulders slumped. His ankle tingled at the memories ghosting down his arms roughly and swallowed thickly. Bile burned at the back of his throat as he nodded.

"I get it."

The man gathered the burlap flaps in his hands again, gesturing for Andy to lie flat in the wagon. Andy curled his self into the wagon and pressed his cheek against the wooden flanks. The firewood prodded at his spine and ribs while the man tossed the flap over the wagon. He quickly tied the loose strings to the sides of the wagon to keep the flap flat. He kneeled to the edge of wagon, murmuring, "Don't move until I tell you."

Andy absentmindedly nodded his head, watching as the man's silhouette disappeared. With a snort from the donkey, the wagon jerked forward. The dank, muddied flap left a sour taste in Andy's mouth. He carefully shifted his arms around his self, the rough fabric of his sleeves snagging onto the firewood, and breathed shallowly. The wagon bobbed from side to side as they headed down the hill and with one last rocky dip that made Andy's ankle wail in agony, the muddy forest floor dissipated into stony gravel and silt.

Wisps of smoke and ash flurried through the small town like wilted feathers of a raven; the smog in the air thickening as an icy chill began to slither along the wind. The man hissed at the cold gnawing beneath his fur vest and led the donkey through the tiny throngs of people. The townspeople, scattered along the ice slicked roads or bundled together in human coats, eyed the man's wagon with wide eyes. The man frowned as he felt a twinge of remorse in his heart to pull out a spare piece of firewood to throw to them, yet kept his eyes ahead. The steely branches hidden beneath torn garbs and nearly transparent skin made sure of that.

The man weaved through the outskirts of the town until he reached a towering, metal gate. He came to a halt and squinted up at the guards before him. Metal encased eyes bore into him as he shifted his sleeve up to his elbow. The man stretched out his inner arm towards the guards, letting a gnarled black lion stretch down his arm. The guards peered down at the wild mane stained into his pale skin and jerked their heads to the side. The one on the left lifted his lance to the tower over head.

The man yanked his sleeve back over his arm, trembling at the frail warmth, as the gates swung in. He grabbed onto the reigns of the donkey again and tugged forward. The donkey snapped at the man, drool running down the hairs of its black chin. The man quickly scurried through the gates with the wagon in tow, letting a short sigh of relief as the gates closed.

He wrapped an arm around the donkey's neck, moving swiftly with the packed herd of people within the walls. The ground crunched beneath his feet while he weaved in and out of the streets, hurdles of people squeezing by him and the wagon.

"So far so good," he murmured under his breath, pretending the snort from the donkey was an agreement. His eyes widened as the sight of weather beaten blue sign met his gaze, stark against the ice crinkled stone and brick buildings that matted down the street. He heart skipped a beat and tangled his fingers in the donkey's mane harder as he hurried his step.

"It ain't going anywhere slick."

The man froze and stumbled to a halt. His tongue darted over his chapped lips, cursing under his breath at dried up muscle that attempted to instead.

"Peder." The man said carefully, turning on his heel. The other's meaty frame towered over the man like a giant, his strangely hair messily tucked under his cap. The man's gaze flickered over the black armband on the verge of splitting around Peder's arm when the other let a snarl curl at the corner of his lip. Somehow, the man found his voice again, squeaking ashamedly, "What pray tell do you want?"

"What does it look like?" Peder snorted, trailing closer to the man until his breath washed over his face. The man swallowed back a gag at the rotten egg smell that invaded his nostrils. "You're wagon's not marked."

"I can see that," the man said, gasping for air in between his words. "The gatekeepers saw my wagon fit as it is."

"Then you won't mind if I take a second look then, hmm?"

The man frowned, fighting against the urge to glance at the wagon. He straightened his shoulders and puffed his chest out to be level with Peder's. A sly smirk laced his lips as he swayed his hands to the wagon.

"Be my guest my dear patrol."

Peder glowered at the man, slamming his shoulder into him as he rounded around the wagon. Peder's fingers fumbled with the bindings of the flap, snarling at the smile the man threw his way. Yanking the ties apart, Peder flung the flap aside—staring at piles of firewood staggered throughout the wagon. The giant's brows furrowed as he shifted through the piles of wood and frowned. He dropped the flap over the wagon again.

"Patrol," The man said mockingly. "Aren't you going to mark my wagon as checked?"

Peder growled, digging through his coat pocket. He pulled out a rusted head stamp and slammed it against the side of the wagon, making it tremble upon its weary wheels. A dark circle graced the side of the wagon as Peder stomped away, grumbling under his breath.

"It's so great knowing we're safe Patrol," The man called after him with a smirk, "from firewood!"

Peder roughly knocked into people passing by, spitting out colorful curses as he went, and disappeared around the corner. The man let out a sigh of relief only to shiver at the wind that howled through the city.

"C-come on boy," he stuttered through chattering teeth as he led the donkey towards the building with the blue sign. He rounded around the back of the building and led donkey towards a battered shed. Hoisting the rungs from the creature's back, the donkey clambered into its stall with the door slamming behind him.

The man quickly moved back towards the wagon, wilting hay tickling at his ankles. He flung the burlap off the wagon and sifted through the firewood until a choked cough met his ears. The man pulled off a piece of firewood from the head of the wagon to find aqua blue eyes squinting up at him, spitting out traces of mold that curled around his mouth.

The man's shoulders slouched as he let out a breath of relief. Andy spat out another drop of mold that managed to wriggle down his mouth. "Close one, huh?"

The man shook his head, pushing away the firewood from the side of the wagon as he sighed, "You have no idea."

The man gripped onto Andy's arm and carefully hoisted him out of the wagon. The boy winced at his muscles reawakening in a buzz while his ankle throbbed. Andy bit back a groan until the man pulled Andy's weight on his side.

"Don't worry," the man said softly, dragging Andy out of the shed. As they stepped out of the shed, the icy wind bit at Andy's skin. A wave of goose bumps rose on Andy's arms, wrapping his arm tighter around the man. The man's hand fiddled in his pocket and pulled out a key encased in dark black rust. Pushing it into the lock of the back door, the gears rumbled and clicked as the door swung in. He turned to Andy with a frail smile. "This should be the last time you'll be moving around so much…hopefully."

Andy arched his eyebrows at the last word falling from the man's mouth only to sigh at the warmth wafting over the doorway. The man closed the back door with his heel as they ventured through the dimly lit corridor. The meek warmth fanning through the building weaved towards them as the dim lanterns grew brighter. Andy squinted up at the dark wooden walls that glowed a dull wine violet, lulling him into the waltz of flames in the glass lanterns hanging down.

Andy shivered, feeling his muscles thaw against his bones, and leant his head against the man's shoulder when voices began to plume from the front of the hall. The man turned the corner and gently shoved a swinging door open with his shoulder. The two shuffled into a kitchen where the man leant Andy against a table. The wooden corner dug into Andy's side as he leaned back against it. He clung onto the sides of the table as his legs splayed out over the short edges. The man turned his back to the boy, shuffling through a cupboard until he came back with cloth and a small bowl. Andy squinted at the murky water sloshing around the copper edges.

Andy's lips scrunched into a frown until he yelped at the hand resting on his ankle. The man glanced up at him sheepishly. "Sorry." He murmured. "Just bear with it for a second."

The thick, muddied wrappings of cloth fell from Andy's ankle. The dim candle light swam along dark violet flesh that swelled around the dark red wound, like the dusting of dusk as it burns against the end of the sun. The man dipped the spare cloth into the bowl, gently dabbing around the edges of the wound as Andy flinched. He yanked his ankle away from the man only to groan at the searing pain that intensified after the other touched it.

"Would you be still." The man huffed, straining to keep the boy's ankle out. He barely brushed the wound again when Andy shifted away.

"You didn't say it was hot." Andy cried.

"How else am I going to clean it?"

Andy swatted the man's hand away from his ankle, biting down his bottom lip to stop the groans of pain from escaping. As the two continued bantering, heavy footsteps stomped towards the front door of the kitchen.

"Jurij, is that you?" A worn, muffled voice called, falling upon deaf ears and bickering. The door swung open as a man tottered in, sighing heavily, "Honestly how long does it take to get some fire…" The man stopped in his tracks, staring at Jurij frozen over a boy with a bloody ankle swaying off the table. He blinked as he absentmindedly shifted through faces in his memories that matched the young boy's only to come up empty handed. His eyes widened, lifting a shaky finger towards the boy on the table. "He…you…"

"Da. I can explain." Jurij scurried over to the man.

"You…" the man tugged at the shaggy hair receding along his temples. "You didn't…"

Jurij clapped his hands on the man's shoulders and led him to the opposite corner of the kitchen. He gently tapped the man's cheek with his fingers. "Da, breathe." The man took in a shaky breath and let it out slowly.

"Who is this?" The man said lowly.

It was Jurij's turn to squirm as he took in a shaky breath of his own. He jutted a thumb over his shoulder.

"A friend of mine." He said. "He was injured, so I brought him back here to treat him."

The man's eyes narrowed questionably. "Where was he injured?"

Jurij scratched the back of his neck, mumbling quickly, "In the forest."

The man's eyes threatened to topple from their sockets as he whipped his gaze over to Andy on the table and back at Jurij.

"Are you out of your mind?" The man hissed.

"What was I supposed to do?"

"Leave him!"

Jurij brows furrowed and crossed his arms. At the downcast chin and smoldering glare thrown his way the man groaned.

"You kept 'im hidden, didn't you?" He asked, running a hand over his face.

"Not even the guards sensed him."

The man sighed deeply. He snatched the wet, smoky cloth out of Jurij's grasp. "This is why you failed the nursing unit."

The man stalked over to the table and picked up the copper bowl. He casted a weary glance at Andy as the boy shrunk away from him. The man glanced back at Jurij, then the bowl—stomping out the door. Andy blinked, staring at Jurij shrug his shoulders.

"Don't worry. You're safe." Jurij said as a crash erupted outside of the kitchen with a hefty dose of swears filling the air. Andy arched his brows at him as Jurij frowned, "for now."


The crackling embers of the fire left warmth roaming down Andy's frame. He shivered as his muscles and bones practically thawed into mush as if reaching out for the flames themselves. The boy squinted through hooded lids at the shutters boarding up the windows along with thick sheets that draped over them. Rows of empty tables stretched out in the farthest corners of the room to its center, making it seem larger than it actually was.

The boy shivered again.

Illusions, he thought bitterly, nothing more than illusions.

Andy tucked his chin into the wool blanket around him and glowered at his freshly bandaged ankle. After three bowls of steaming water and a thick rag to choke out the cries that rubbed Andy's throat raw, the dried blood was finally cleansed and the throbbing had ceased.

"Nasty trap you stepped in." the man—Da, as the man had called him—had said. "You're lucky you didn't lose a foot."

The corners of Andy's lips twitched into a frown. Yes, he chuckled humorlessly, I'm so lucky.

"How's it feeling?"

Andy jumped, whipping his head around towards Jurij. The other tilted his head at him curiously. Andy shrunk back against the hard wood of the chair and looked away from the propped up ankle on the stool.

"It's fine." He muttered.

Jurij nodded, pulling up a chair from a table. He plopped his self down on the chair and sighed deeply. Andy glanced everywhere around the room, sneaking quick glance as at the man scratching at the short red-brown hair clinging to his scalp. He nibbled at his bottom lip and mumbled, "Thank you."

"Hmm?"

Andy buried his chin deeper into the blanket, saying louder, "Thank you…you…?"

"Jurij." The man threw the boy a lopsided grin. He chuckled softly at the flush crawling along Andy's cheeks as he snatched a fire iron lying on the floor and stirred the fire. The embers hissed and lapped at the iron as the firewood crumbled beneath it. Silence stretched out between the two, save for the fire's murmurs, when Jurij's eyes narrowed. "So who sent you here?"Andy fought back a flinch, staring up at the man who shot him a blank glare. "No one's that stupid to wander out into those parts of the woods and not know who crawls there. That is if you know the area anyway."

Andy's fingers crushed the ends of the blanket. The wood threatened to leave splinters in his back as he pressed harder against the rungs of the chair. Jurij frowned.

"I'm not going to harm you if that's what you're worried about." Andy lips remained closed. "You can at least tell me something about yourself. I did kind of save you out there." Silence. Jurij sighed. "How 'bout your home? Where did you come from?"

Andy looked down at the fire, the flames' light glazing over glassy eyes as Jurij sighed again. He turned back to stir the fire when Andy whispered, "I don't know if I even have one anymore."

Jurij jerked his head towards the boy. "You…were exiled?" He asked cautiously.

"Exile," Andy laughed humorlessly. "Wouldn't that be great?" He slouched forward till his chin rested on top of his knees. "No. My absence isn't enough to cause worry or joy."

Jurij rested his chin in his palms and leaned forward. He murmured, "How 'bout a name? You got one of those?"

Andy opened his mouth then closed it. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry," he sighed.

Jurij offered a soft smile, scratching the back of his neck. "Okay, then I guess I'll just name." Andy snorted, leaving Jurij's shoulders to slack; thankful that the tension was lessened—until now. "How does Odell sound?"

Andy arched an eyebrow. "What?"

Jurij scratched his neck and bit down on his lip. His thumbs twiddled together as he searched for words. "Getting you in here was the easy part. It's keeping you alive that's…more difficult." Andy's brows rose quizzically. "Try to understand. We aren't living in the best conditions in these mountains. And that's caused us to divide the last of us from the ones the mountain claimed.

"You see, this wall of ours is a haven from the outside. It keeps us tight knit to one another to the point we share the same breath. Feel the same heartbeat. We're a body—a whole individual! And an individual notices when something is wrong with it."

Andy flinched at the sway of hand Jurij took of his golden hair and buried his self deeper in the blanket. The man sighed, "So in order to keep our order, we check to make sure outsiders don't try to infect us per say. And if there is an infection…someone gets hurt. Bad."

Andy bit the inside of his cheek, furrowing his brows. "So where does Odell come in?"

Jurij flushed slightly. "Well, Odell…was my sister. You believe it or not remind me of her."

"So what will Odell say when she sees—"

"She won't." Jurij spat bitterly. "She's gone."

Andy's eyes softened. "I'm so sorry."

"Not that gone. She'd be better off that way though." Jurij grumbled, catching his self quickly as he cleared his throat. "She ran off with some mountain borne man months ago and escaped the wall. Hell knows where she is." He shook his head and looked up at Andy. "But none of the others know yet. As far as they're concerned she's been bedridden with Spotted Welch fever."

"Why don't the…others know yet?"

Jurij's lips twisted into a deep frown. "It's embarrassing to know that a part of yourself rejected the wall. Rejected the body…rejected me." Jurij shook his head again and leaned closer to Andy. He rested his hand near the boy's knee. "Da was this close to reporting you before he took another look at you. You're practically the spitting image of her. Minus the hair and gender of course." Andy blushed as Jurij pressed on. "This is the only way I know we can keep you alive long enough to…what is it that you're here for?"

Andy's lips twisted. What am I here for?

He glanced down at the fire's warm chestnut glow illuminating his savior's face; twinkling in his amethyst eyes like lost stars in the sky when the night was torn from it all too soon. The boy sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to Odell for a while," he said.

Jurij's eyes lit up as he let out a hearty laugh.

"Oh thank goodness!" he exclaimed. "If you didn't go along with that, we would've had to put you under the floorboards."

Andy smiled before the words sunk into his mind. "Wait what?"

"Never mind that," Jurij waved off his question as he leaped from his chair. "Da and I gotta make plans for your return. I'll be back to check on you soon." The man scurried out of the room and down the hall before he came to a halt. He backed up to the main room again and poked his head around the wall. "Are you sure about this?"Andy's brows furrowed before he shook his head and nodded firmly. "Okay, but first…what size dress do you wear?"


A/N: Finally updated! Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think so far. Warm hugs for all! :)