And who was it? A bandit from the city? Someone curious about our new huge mount or this little money bag? Someone from the treasurer's keep? King Genthius' crew maybe? Ardi didn't say it was an enemy after all.
"I don't know them, but they're bad at hiding. They've gone from stand to stand without even eyeing at the merchandise nor talking to the seller."
No, definitely not the crew then.
It was still early morning, Show couldn't act. Keith asked, under his hood. 'Can you do something to slow them down? Like you did the other night to distract passer-by.'
"I'll ask the boys. They'll surely make 'em sick. I'll can't stop guiding you there, the street are a little too narrow, you could get lost easily while if you stop, the ones behind would catch up with us."
A few hundred meters later, the whole crew awaited, sitting in the grass at the city's outskirts. They cheered, put their hands up in the air to manifest their joy to, one day, be freed.
They all frowned when they heard Ardi's request. Nothing should stop Keith's way, and no one. While Ardi started to run, Keith gently kicked Cowtch with his legs, it barely reached the sides of his ribcage.
The crew flooded the alleys and looked for the suspicious ones.
Two people were staring at their target that suddenly accelerated. In order to not lose it from sight, they made their first wrong move, the confusion on their faces and the uncontrollable haste their movement took indicated their intent, run behind the target.
King Genthius' crew couldn't physically interact with the followers, but they could still slow them down with their usual tricks. Soon came up a sneeze attack followed by a strong urge to rest. Their fatigue, one that was born the same instant they began to sneeze, forced them to stop.
'What the heck is that?' They asked themselves. The two men had two horses that believed their owners had gone crazy.
One of the guy keeping the necklace ran after the kid and Ardi. He knew his 'skull coin' was guarded by his two companions as well for years, he could go take vacations, but that wasn't his goal, he shouted once he reached them.
"Two men, priests with long robes, striped in white lines on their sleeves up to the collar. Do you know them kid?"
And Keith answered, sitting backwards.
"No, never seen such clothes. But I've once been questioned by priests, I thought they had came to an halt after their city blew up."
"Heh! This kid had plenty of fun even before encountering us! Treat our friend well, so long!" Said the man, returning to the city.
Ardi thought about their pursuers. 'They are obviously looking for him since that city. Though I have why they're here, I wonder how they did to find him so easily.'
A kilometre later, Keith was still holding tight on his ride, he observed Ardi, running next to him and asked.
"Are you not tired of running? Don't you run out of breath?"
"Of course not, I am but a spirit, therefore I stopped breathing when I died, but I hope we won't make the full journey this way, it's not very comfortable. Here, we take this road." He said pointing a narrow path next to the road.
They kept following the sea. The road had been built centuries ago, yet because of the numerous bandits in the area, no one took care of it, making it a thin territory for slave market or black market traders.
"You know, you can go in my head too, with Mister Show." Said the kid, eyeing at the not-so-real athlete.
"I'd rather not, I don't like him to be honest. He made your life tough, I guess you're used to talk with him because he's your only travel companion, heh?"
"He teaches me his language. I wouldn't be able to understand his people if I went to Eastern Jin unprepared! He's currently giving me tips on grammar. I'm happy to have someone new to talk to, Ardi, learning for whole days straight sure puts a strain on me sometimes, I feel more nervous."
'By the way, I was right. We were being followed!' He added to tease Show.
The old man could only swear in private, he hated being wrong.
Few hours or so later, still nearby the shore, they hid in thick bushes aside the path. They had Cowtch walk around over a few meters to make themselves comfortable. Branches didn't last long against the animal, it weighted more than a ton, by far. It had a fat chunk at the base of its neck, and a layer of skin wobbling right and left starting from its chin to the upper part of its torso. Who could've thought something looking alike the late Buffy could be twice as big?
Its short brown fur was thick enough to prevent scratches from flora.
Keith took off his cloak, he thought long of what he could do to gain more of Ardi's friendship. He bit the tip of his finger, enough to make it bleed a lot. Without complaining, he drew a bridge, on the lower part of it, from the left to the right side. He repeated the same on the other side of the cloak.
"Is that a curse?" Asked Ardi, patiently waiting too.
"It is, I drew a bridge, though I haven't seen many in my life, it doesn't matter how good it looks. I am simply putting my will in it, that way hopefully, you can stand, or at least sit on it while we travel. You'd enjoy the landscapes with me." Replied Keith, not letting the fact Ardi could hear his thought stop him from having a normal conversation.
Ardi asked. "Why don't you draw a shield on it? According to your logic, wouldn't it help it defend you?"
Keith bit his finger again, making the blood flow out anew, he focused to finish the inside of his cloak. "That's Mister Show's role. Plus the dark color I just added seems to attract more attention than before, I don't want to add anything that'll bring us trouble, we already have plenty without asking for it." He waited for the red paint to dry, less than an hour and then stood up to untie Cowtch, ready to go.
"Are you not eating? You should eat something before we depart, else you won't grow up properly. By the way, how old are you now? I can't gauge it myself. From what I saw, you were like... Seven." Said Ardi, mocking the kid for the few years his appearance lacked.
"The calamity was... about a year ago... It took me three moons to get here... Next dry season I'll be nine." Keith concluded.
Ardi was perplex. The memories he had of the kid seemed to drag on ever since he looked six. Ever since he encountered the monster. 'Could it be the little one forgot to age? Impossible. Yet here he is.'
Show was omnipresent in the kid's mind, he could clearly both ear Keith's and Ardi's thoughts. He saw time passing by, and the boy's injuries healing, the reason he had yet to age was unknown to him, he wished he was similarly cursed too during his lifetime, then he remembered how contorted the kid was when hunger clung on his whole body, how chaotic was the explanation and how hard it was to control the kid when he fed.
Normal life was over the instant he had the taste of flesh.
Back on their track, Keith stuck the tip of his cape under Cowtch's saddlebags, he asked Ardi to give it a try.
"Are you sure I'm not going to end up butt-first in the dirt?" Said Ardi with a wry smile.
"Can you get dirty?"
"No."
"Then just try it!"
The man took his run-up and, jumped with all his might while closing his eyes. He felt the weird sensation under his belt, it wasn't very comfortable but it was better than piggyback with his friends. The cape under him wasn't thick enough to lessen the pointy animal's bones under it, yet it was the best feeling he had since he died.
They were back on their way, both with a slight smile on their face, satisfaction.
From time to time, Ardi talked about Keith's memory.
"You know that white powdery thing on the mountain? That's called snow! It's more or less cold water.. Also also the mountains you wanted to cross, those are called Tibetan mountains. It is said they reach the sky and no one but their inhabitants can cross them.
And this, that's no cow, that's a bull, it has this hanging organ in between its rear legs, that's not for drinkable milk. Don't mistake it because of its name!"
Their pauses' rhythm followed the bull's needs and after three days, it became able to walk during the night rather than under daylight. The bull had been trained to travel as a ride and not as a common cattle, though they doubted he couldn't pull few hundred kilos behind. The animal stopped every three hours to eat or drink, as for Keith, he was unwilling to scare the animal to fasten their pace, too big.
The pirate ran out of tales soon, Keith had already seen most of them, though he could still ask why a war begun or where it was. Knowledge hadn't been shared after all, images couldn't always talk by themselves.
Not needing to sleep, Ardi offered to watch over the kid and wake him up if needed. They soon adopted a steady pace, juggling with Keith's language lessons and regular normal meals, it was far from being a perfect pace.
Before sunset and after sunrise, Show wasn't able to defend the kid, the thirteen hours of sunlight were a disadvantage against their pursuers. Those who'd sleep only eight hours and get back on their horses, seeking their target.
A full week after leaving Chittagong, Keith and Ardi had begun a new kind of apprenticeship. Hand-to-hand fight. Ardi sure knew a lot about geography and history, but he was good at fighting too. During their free time, him and his crew would fight for fun, though they already knew who was the best. Their ever regenerating body was a perfect occasion to fight, for five hundred years. Enough time to create their own combat sport for fun, never being able to share it until Keith's arrival.