Entry #419938, added on 04-16-06 @ 8:10 pm EDT
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| Nano 05 - Prologue - Invisble Burning | Entry #419938 |
"I'm not going to hurt you. Relax. You will be just fine. No one is going to hurt you." Renar repeated those words for what felt like the hundredth time, and though his patience was wearing thin and he wanted nothing more than to snatch this sorry excuse for a human and push him off the cliff, he could not allow himself that pleasure. He had to keep his face smooth and his voice pleasant. Reassuring. "You will not be hurt."
The boy in front of them shook his head quickly, wiping the back of his dirty hand across his nose. The creature didn't even have a handkerchief! Renar doubted he had an inch of clean cloth on him as his loose shirt and trousers were both mud stained and torn. He suspected some of those stains contained dried blood as well. His hair was matted and his shoes were at least a size too small judging by how far his toes stuck out of one of the boots. The sight was disgraceful, doubly so when compared to Renar and his two companions. They were dressed properly in long coats and buttoned shirts and despite having to walk through the woods their shoes still shone. They were gentlemen, far above this. . . this thing, sniveling before them.
Renar offered what he considered to be a patient, understanding smile. "We understand that you are afraid, but we assure you it will be quite all right. Just a few moments and the pain will be gone. You will be free to go on your way."
The boy's watery eyes widened and he took a few steps back. The fool didn't even bother to glance behind him when his foot hit the edge of the cliff, causing a clod of dirt to come loose and plummet down that long fall to the craggy bottom. He may have been considering jumping ; some tried things like that. Renar couldn't see the logic in such a ridiculous decision.
"We know that you are hurting. You don't have to hide it from us; we can help."
"No you can't! They told me what you do. Go away!"
Ah. So the creature finally decided to speak back. It was a common enough plea. Renar sighed and moved his cane to the crook of his arm to free his hands and adjust his gloves. Clean, white gloves. He had several pairs that he always kept around, even while traveling. It never did to have your gloves dirty; it implied far too much. "So people have been spreading lies about us there as well. Think for a moment, boy. These people who told you this, were they able to help you? Or did they just keep you in a dark room, alone with this illness?"
The boy worked his mouth like a fish's, probably searching for an argument. There wasn't one. It was very difficult to argue against the plain truth.
Renar allowed his smile to fade into a look of disappointment and slowly shook his head. "They did, didn't they? And then they fed you lies. They tried to take away your hope. They told you no one could help, didn't they, and to not believe anyone who said otherwise. Well that was a lie. We can help, all you have to do is let us. We are not here to hurt you."
The disgraceful looking boy swallowed and finally turned to look behind him, down the side of the cliff. Renar could see the color draining from his face as he took a few shuffling steps forward. Good. A leap off the edge was looking less appealing to it.
"That's it. Nice and easy. We are not going to hurt you. Just come and relax for a moment and we can help with the pain."
"Really?" The boy looked back at Renar. He rubbed at the tears coming from his eyes, smearing the dirt on his face further. Disgusting. "You can make the headaches stop? The dreams?"
"Yes. We can take away the pain. We are not going to hurt you. We will help."
The boy slowly nodded and took another step closer before pausing, casting a suspicious look at them. "They said you have to kill us to do that. They say you do it so it's worse than death."
Renar shook his head, keeping his smile calm, inviting. "I promise that it will be easy. There is nothing for you to fear."
The boy studied him and his two companions, his face cautious like that of a mouse watching a cat. Renar thought he could imagine the twitchy nose and whiskers and had to fight to keep from letting his amusement show. These people were all much closer to rats then actual humans. Sewer rats.
Finally the boy nodded and inched forward. He still cast an occasional look back at the cliff's edge as if he thought it held an answer, but he was coming closer. Ever closer.
"That's it," Renar soothed, "don't be afraid. In just a short while it will all be over."
The boy stopped just a few feet in front of Renar and shifted his weight, giving yet another glance back behind him. "What am I supposed to do?"
Renar took a moment to focus on his smile to make it appear comforting, perhaps even fatherly. "Just trust me. Release all of the energy that has been tormenting you. You don't need to hold it in any more." He stepped forward, pulling one of his pristine white gloves off so that he could gently press his hand directly against the boy's forehead. The boy pulled back for a moment before staying still. Renar longed to flinch back as well. It was impossible to tell what sort of diseases could be contained in all that filth. He hoped his servants had remembered to prepare the washstand as he had instructed. He would want to be cleansed immediately. "There, very good. Stay very still. Relax." With his free hand Renar lifted his cane and pressed the silver knob to the back of the boy's head. All was in place. "Now just relax. Release all of that horrible energy. Release your agony, your pain."
A look of uncertainty flickered on the boy's face, his eyes crossing so that he could look up at Renar's hand. That look lasted only a moment before he took a long, almost resigned breath and then shut his eyes.
It was another moment before anything happened. The moment was not long but every second that passed was another second in which the grime of the boy's disgusting head could transfer to Renar's hand. He could feel the slime on his palm and imagined he could sense the movement of disease trying to bite his way into his flesh. Soap. He was going to need a lot of soap when he returned to the camp.
Suddenly a torrent of emotions flooded out of the boy's mind and swarmed up Renar's arm. It made every muscle of that arm ache as if it was going to burst and his bones felt as if they would shatter. He grit his teeth against the pain though he longed to cry out. It would not do for him to appear weak in front of his two companions.
Black spots danced before his eyes and he knew that if he did not soon reverse the onslaught it would overcome him. He shifted his hold on the cane behind the boy's head and slipped his thumb into a knot in the wood. His four fingers each found another knot. He gripped the cane and focused through the pain and then against the pain. Back into the boy. He had to push it back.
The torrent stood spinning between him and the boy, pulsating in them both. Through the black spots he could see the boy staring at him, blinking as if staring into the sun. He had no idea what was happening. The fool. Renar focused to push the pain forward with more strength and fought to speak in the same gentle tones he had before. "I am not going to hurt you. Let the pain wash back and out."
The boy nodded slightly and then gave a sigh as he accepted the pain back into him. That sigh caught in his throat and broke into a scream, his dirty face twisting in agony and his hands flailing up to push Renar away. He kept his hold, squeezing the head between his hand and the cane, and his companions came forward the keep rest of the boy from flailing. It was too late for him now. The disease was storming through him, back into the metal knob of Renar's cane which began to slowly throb with a soft red light. Renar could feel the wood beneath his hand beginning to warm as if it had sat in the sunlight on a clear day. The boy's skin began to gray and his screams grew increasingly hoarse as his body weakened. Not much more time now, not much at all. Renar moved with the decaying body as it crumpled to the floor, the screams now no more then choked sobs. The skeleton was becoming visible as the blood dried away and the skin floated off as ash, giving the appearance of the body being burnt alive without a fire. Seconds later Renar was clutching a yellow skull which turned to dust in his hands. When it was over Renar stood, holding his dirty bare hand to his side, away from him. The red light in the cane died away.
His companions stepped forward, one with a shovel to bury the ashes and the other to wrap a cloth around his bare hand. The faint smell of spices drifted up from the makeshift bandage. It would have to do until he could return to the camp. It would have to keep the filth at bay until then. Someday he hoped to not have to worry about such things. He smiled. At least today he had come a step closer.
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© Copyright 2006 Trintara (UN: trintara at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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