'Oh I can't kill you yet, you midget. But I wish I could.'
"I can't let Yotoh see you nor Ned. I'm glad you are alive but not in this state. What will happen to Kodra if we touch you? I wish I had more time."
"Did you find Lorbe?"
A screech exited the boy's lungs. It entered Picco's ear to never leave his mind. The kid contorted to his utmost extend to grab the man with his frail hand.
The second screech was lower and his jaw moved, but without a proper tongue nor lips, he couldn't speak.
'Run away please.' Keith wanted to say.
"I'll see you later, I don't know when, I'll do my best to convince the king, he seems to have taken a liking onto you. He'll give you a safe place."
Picco said while exiting the house, bowing in gratitude.
"Thank you my king, I hope I can see him in better shape soon."
The escort received the new command and obeyed. A square wooden structure was brought, it was covered of colourful tissues, very light ones, almost transparent. They oscillated with the light wind pressure and kept the content hidden.
His face was covered to avoid people freaking out. He was put on a multi layered bed. It had plenty of bumps that helped him not move and open a wound. Soon after, the servant brought flowers and spread perfume because they were disturbed by the smell. One of the servant spoke.
The king said he would visit you once he finishes his business with the market section. You'll have few hours to rest before he comes.
The kid let himself drift in the Explanation to chat with the Shadow and have something to see. He asked.
"Say, what did you draw on the floor?"
'I wrote his name. Just a trick to impress someone who speaks with a blind without introducing himself.'
"Woa! You can write? Can you teach me?"
'It was an idea given by the earlier woman, can you write now? You are clumsy, I'm not sure you can hold the writing stick properly. But we'll give it a try here. Look over here.' Show said moving around the many suspended bandages under the infinite stellar constellation.
Mister Show had the buffalo skull on his head, his hands were less distorted and allowed the boy to distinguish fine gestures. He spent a lot of time introducing the alphabet in all of its characters.
"I see, reading is easier than writing. Even though I can't see outside of here. Well at least I can still hear."
'I can reconstruct something first, if I help your eyes, the royals will go wild. No one ever recovers their sight except if they get struck by lightning. That'll be too much of a miracle for you. Your stomach survived the fire, but the pipe where food goes through didn't. That should be the first thing in my list. Then.. Maybe your vocals.'
He had multiple tasks. He was busy teaching and fixing the kid. But it wasn't that hard to do. Just slow.
"There'll be a moment we'll need to ask for food... I don't think they'll comprehend it. What can we do about that?"
'What nonsense are you spouting? He said he accepted you because you were special, I am sure the midget and the two other gave him some insight. The king will be the one who complain your desires. We just need to know what he wants from us.'
Half the alphabet. That how much he managed to get used to before they were interrupted.
"Here I am, how was your small trip? Ah don't bother answering that. I brought you a little something! Here, touch!"
The king erupted in the quiet room, making noise with his ornaments and jewels, touching walls with his belly belt. He gave the kid a light piece of wood. It was colourful and gold lined like most things in the room, but it did not matter much for a blind person.
"You can hide your face once you don't need the bandages and wander in the palace if you wear it. You'll have ample clothes soon enough."
The kid nodded and the king was satisfied.
"I'll introduce you to my court soon enough, have some rest. For the three men I spoke about earlier, I may keep them around. Comfort and security is good only when there's pressure pushing around your bubble. Oh, I almost forgot. That man that came to tell me what monster came into the city, he's dead, in the mass grave. Romeo or something like that. Doesn't ring a bell? Maybe it was Moore then."
He left the room with the little reaction he got.
'Well at least we don't need to look for him.' Said Keith, not even sad.
'And now I know where's the mass grave! Luck didn't show much for the past month, then here it is! so convenient!' Said Show, surprising the kid.
'What do you mean?'
'You remember the black thing from your stomach? It makes a line I can see, not the shiny one, but on the contrary very dark. If he came here we just need to find the black lining to find plenty of food.'
Keith ironically thought. 'Tracking people and finding dead, isn't that the most useful ability one could have?'
He plunged a finger in his mouth an touched the bottom of his throat. He then touched the inside of the wooden mask and asked.
'Can see it?'
'Yes, good idea you had there.' Answered Show.
A new person entered the room. The cleanest man of the palace. He was about 1m70 tall and kept all his hair in a light blue turban. He wore a long robe that hid his arms and muffled the sound of his steps. He kept his back straight and pulled a little chariot across the room, holding liquid food like soup and puree.
"Hi, I have been assigned for your meals. My name is Prem. Nice to meet you...? Dear guest."
Keith was forcefully fed with awkward difficulties. The slightest spasm from Keith's eyes would make Prem jumpy.
'What is he doing? I'm not moving , how can he have such hard time?' He asked.
'His main hand is broken, it is tied to his torso. But he's feeding you as best as he can, judging from the sweat on his forehead.'
Some food fell on his chin and the servant spoke while cleaning it with the delicacy of a feather.
"I ap-apology for my clumsiness. I was wounded by the ashura during its rampage. I was on a mission in the eastern district for..."
And so he talked about his 'exploits', fighting back the abomination. None of this made sense to Show who commented along.
'Nah, he was the first to faint.'
Another liar around. Nothing that changed his habits. The meal had no taste at all, just rough matter being swallowed. His tongue was in a pitiful state and couldn't give him his little feeding adrenaline. His stomach was full but his appetite was growing.
The will he had deep inside of his mind, pushing him to eat fresh meat would remain dormant for a few more days.
---
In the eighth temple, northern district of Varanasi. Yotoh, Ned and Picco were welcomed by Ravi, the head of the local believers.
"Even if it's him, we have no trace of Raima, and for god's sake you can't say if he nor she is the culprit. We can't be offensive toward the top guest in this city. It was obvious from the king, he gave me little time to investigate, he wants to protect him. Don't you think the kid became precious to his eyes? He's going to be a pain in the ass to encounter anew."
"As for you Ned... Well I know your objectives but I don't approve your conduct, therefore I propose you to part ways."
"I wan' the accommodashions."
Ned said, moving around a chunk of wood in his mouth with his tongue to speak.
"Fine, but let's not see each other again."
---
The next morning, Keith tried to stand up and walk. His lower body did not suffer any burn under his belly button and the challenge was to lift the upper body straight.
He used a vertical structure next to him to climb with Show's encouragements.
'Balance your weight on the pillar, don't worry it's solid. Just a little more. Yes! Finally we can walk. Can we?'
A few step in total darkness. Feeling his way with his toes. He palpated the pillar and could only distinguish lines and rough design, it was beautiful and represented many figures holding the ceiling, but the kid lost most of his touch. His hands were still covered in bandages, and the skin on his hands was covered in crust. He couldn't differentiate smooth from detailed parts.
He touched his face when he was awake. He explored the new face he had. The place his nostril were expended and were higher than usual. His eyes were dry because he couldn't close them. He still had most of his ears but lost his hair that struggled to grow back.
Between his heavy breath and moans, he asked.
'How is my throat now? Did you fix it?'
'You can try to speak, but with your tongue missing I doubt you'd do a great job.'
He was focused. While letting out a thin stream of air, he tightened his new larynx and let out a sound. It was low, lower than an adult's voice. It looked alike a rumbling, like something heavy being dragged down. The variation of the sound was too poor to be called vowels. It was nothing Keith could use to communicate even if he moved his jaw.
He slammed his fist on the pillar, angry of his failure. He hated his new condition. What a pitiful move he did.
Prem was here, he hadn't been noticed but if the kid still had his sense of smell, he'd notice the servant's accident.
'I have to change my loincloth. Please don't notice me.'
Prem knocked from the inside of the door, faked its opening and said.
"It's me dear guest. I'll be here soon with your meal. Please be patient."