A man she barely know and worst of all, unsure if she could trust.
"What if Among is as dangerous as Asclepius? What if he's just like stories Daddy used to tell me? A gentleman by day, a hungry wolf by night that'll eat me up?!"
Philomel's mind begins to wonder as her gaze never left Amon.
" Who's a dirty baby? Who's a dirty dirty baby? That's right you are! You Are! You're the dirty baby."
" Abuuuuuuuu brrrrrriiiii!"
The infant squealed in delight as Amon kept talking to him in a silly tone and waves the damp cloth over him, playfully.
"The baby seems to like him, maybe he isn't dangerous? Then again that baby trusted me and I tried to kill him. So, that doesn't help me in any way. Didn't I sleep next to him in the stables? He didn't do anything to me then... Why didn't he do anything? Am I not pretty? Am I too fat?! Am I undesirable?? During this whole journey, he never complimented my beauty. No wait isn't that a good thing?? ... I don't wanna be called ugly though!! What's so bad about my looks?? He must have been blind last night or have terrible taste in women or was probably terribly exhausted and was struggling to stay awake and stand guard the whole night. Yeah! That!
Which means... I must make him dog-tired and I'll be safe at night! Shouldn't be too hard to exhaust him, caring for the baby takes up most of his energy, and if that doesn't work..."
Philomel recalled one out of thousands of her daddy's advice.
Anubis "If a guy touches you longer than 40 seconds or constantly touches you, tell Daddy. I'll whoop his ass. If he says he loves you, tell Daddy, I'll show him what love with my fists is like. If you like a guy, tell Daddy, I'll give him a choice (choice of how he would want his ass whooped) Huh? Oh, nothing Little Mel Mel. Daddy was just saying that he'll give the choice of... candy?"
Philomel frowned remembering that even if Amon did something, she couldn't tell Daddy since the mission wasn't completed.
"Well then, I'll just have to whoop his ass if he does anything to me!"
Philomel concluded as she shows off her lack of muscles to herself and patted that thin layer of muscle, proudly. Amon and Little One silently watched her as she was lost in her own world.
" She must be motivating herself for another battle with the Light elf, Lenny. You wanna tell her that she definitely wouldn't have a chance if he fought her seriously?"
Amon concluded as he watched Philomel.
" Ah ai baain loo!"
Little One nodded.
" Yeah, me neither. I already have arm strain from bouncing you for so long. I rather not have anything else hurting."
" buuuurrrrr...."
" Hey! Don't drool on me."
Amon exclaimed as he quickly wipes off the drool from Little One's chin.
" Alright boys, break time over! Let's get to this village already! "
Philomel announced as she clap her hands and started packing everything back up.
" How do you plan to keep the watermelon? Won't the juice leak out into your sack?"
Amon questioned as he pointed at the remaining half of the watermelon.
" Ummm... Guess I'll have to carry that by hand then. Unless you have a better solution?"
" I was thinking of shoving it into the baby bottles but then again, I don't think we can fit half a watermelon into two small baby bottles."
" I don't think it's a good idea to keep feeding him watermelon. I already feel like we broke the laws of nature doing it once."
" It was an emergency situation but I get your point best not, to test our luck. Let it be a one-time thing and hope we never have to do it again."
" Agreed."
Philomel nodded as she stands up, packed and ready to go. Amon cradles Little One in one arm and grabs his sack.
*Crunch crunch crunch*
The sound of fallen dried leaves being stomped underfoot echoes throughout the forest once more as our Villains slowly made their way through the peaceful forest. Philomel kept scanning the area looking for any sort of manner of beasts to hunt. Can never go wrong with extra food after all. Amon on the other hand was more focused on keeping energy-filled Little One, entertained, which made him constantly trip or slip and bump into Philomel who walked in front of him.
" Among! Come on! Look at where you're going. "
" I'm trying to. Little One is all of a sudden playful."
Amon explain as Little One kept pulling on his shirt wanting to continue to play.
" Aren't babies vampires?"
" Vampires?! I know you don't like Little One but to call him a bloodsucker, isn't that a little too much?"
" I don't mean it like that, I meant, eat and sleep all day, then cry all night."
"Now that you mentioned it, that sounds about right. So why isn't it like that for Little One?"
" Wasn't he wide awake after we kidnapped him? Maybe his sleep cycle is off."
" But that was just for 2 hours!"
" Maybe that's all it takes for a baby."
Philomel guessed and shrugged. Little One suddenly makes a choking sound and burps out a little bit of half-digested lunch onto Amon's shirt. That was all it took to fling Amon back into panic mode since the puke was red.
" HE COUGHS OUT BLOOD!!! "
" What?!"
Philomel exclaimed. Amon rubs Little One's back as he opens Little One's mouth trying to see if his mouth was accidentally injured. Philomel whips around and instantly frowns at Amon.
" That's too pink to be blood. That's just the watermelon you fed him. He puked it out, he isn't bleeding. "
Philomel clarified as she pointed at Amon's now puke-stained shirt.
" Little One!! You're okay, right? You're okay right?!"
Amon repeated his brain wasn't functioning as he holds the baby at arm's length, checking Little One carefully. Little One suddenly getting so much attention couldn't help but squeal in delight.
" He seems too happy for a baby that just puked."
" That means he isn't in pain right?!"
" Maybe he is a mascot and is happy when hurt?"
" There's such a thing?!"
" Hey, mascot elves gotta come from somewhere, right?"
" We need to get him to a healer then! Don't worry Little One! Hang in there! Help is on the way!"
Amon reassured as he switched arms and carried Little One on the left, away from the puke. One moment Philomel was standing in front of Amon, the next Amon was running and leaving her behind. Philomel was shocked at his newfound speed, especially with Amon's half-healed leg but that didn't keep her back for long. With just a few sprints, Philomel caught up to Amon and matched his pace to run beside him. Little One, watched as the world blur past him, much faster than before, with the wind flowing against him. He waves his arms and started to squeal in excitement, thinking it was another theme park ride.
Birds took flight as the two of them pass by, squirrels scurry around branches, shocked by the sudden appearance of them through a bush, and were left curious by their disappearance that was just as fast. If this was a race, Amon would have probably won 1st place, of course, if Philomel let him, if she didn't then a solid 2nd place. But for this situation, they would both tie in the first place since Philomel jogged next to Amon, the whole way.
Amon's running came to a halt as soon as he was just a short distance away from the village. He panted for breath as he hunched over his knees. Little One just kept squealing as he bounces in Amon's left arm, and whacks Amon's back with his little hand, trying to make Amon do it again.
" Hey, noble steed, your rider wants you to keep running."
Philomel jokingly informs Amon as she snickers behind her hand.
" *Panting* Panting* Just... a moment... you... eyes... see... healer's... place..."
Amon wheezes out between breaths, unable to pay attention to the village in front of him. Philomel turns to the village and starts examining it.
The hash sunlight of the early afternoon bore down upon them no more. The sun was hidden away behind clouds that gathered and swam near the tip of the distant mountain. The village was made up of wooden huts with fences running about, fencing in their farmlands that were barren and bare.
Right in the middle of the farmland were two groups of farmers arguing in the distance. One group was light elves while the other was a half-beast, a rare race that could only be found in Aravorn at one point in time. But after the Dragon Wars, this race finally stopped being legends/rumors and started to live amongst other races as they strive for their personal dreams. The half-beast group was fewer in numbers than the elves' farmers, yet they still stood tall. The representative of the half-beast group didn't hold back, baring his fangs to show his anger. His striped tiger face frowning at a light elf, his pawed hands, clutched in a fist as his tail whips furiously behind him.
Philomel wasn't surprised to see a tiger in a human structure, and wearing farmer clothes since she has stolen supplies from a half-beast town before. But she was quite amused with the angry whisker twitching and the tail for a moment before her gaze turns back to the village. There weren't any street food vendors in sight, it was just wooden hut after wooden hut without any signboards.
Well there except one small signboard full of scratches, right next to Philomel saying "Welcome to ". Then the original name was crossed out and another smaller name was written under it " Beggar's Hole". Philomel didn't like the place already, there wasn't anyone around, no children running about playing, it was like a ghost village. In fact, the only people she could see were the two groups of farmers arguing in the distance.
"I'm definitely not going to get myself involved with that. "
Philomel thought to herself, not really wanting to go in between two fighting races and ask for a healer. She walked up to the nearest hut and knocked on the wooden door. Silence, there was no answer.
" Hello? I'm just a traveler wanting to ask for directions to the healer's hunt. "
Philomel said trying to keep her tone loud but gentle at the same time while she examined the lock to the door. There was no handle but it had a lock, which informed Philomel, that there was probably, a huge block of wood serving as a slider lock, on the other side of the door.
"These types of locks are hard to pick, since they need high-quality lock picks, to withstand the weight of the wooden slab as it slides open. But not very pretty since its mechanics stand out on the inside rather than hidden behind a doorknob.
Heavily designed to keep things out, even the windows look the same. Not even a gap in between to indicate it opens but from the discontinued grooves on the wood, it's definitely a window of some sort. There are scratches on the doors, walls, and pouch. Probably having a beast or monster problem at night. A scavenger's worst nightmare, high security, and monsters."
Philomel hypothesized as she waited for a response.
*Thud*
The loud sound of the wooden lock behind slid back broke Philomel's thought as she peer at the increasing gap of the door. The door heavy creaked as its occupants slowly opened it. An older female gazelle appears from behind the door. Her long pointed horns almost touched the tip of the door frame, there were such beautiful patterns of white running along her face, down her neck, over her shoulders, and into her hands. She wore a simple dress that almost touches the ground. Behind her sitting on a carpet was a small lion cub playing with a smaller gazelle. Which Philomel found extremely strange since their animal counterparts would be enemies but by the way, there were playing, she guess that was the norm around here.
" Yes?"
Villager Gazelle questioned with a cautious attitude.
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