Chapter 32: Convincing the Guardian for a quest.
Adrian sat on the stump, a small pile of sturdy, straight branches beside him that he’d collected from the woodpile. In his hand, he held his harvesting sickle.
Grey sat on the frozen ground a few feet away, watching him with intense fascination. Her head was cocked as he took the first branch and began using the sharp edge of the sickle to whittle one end to a sharp, nasty point. The sound of the blade scraping against the wood was rhythmic, almost peaceful in the quiet morning.
She watched the slow, deliberate movents of his hands, the way the wood shavings curled and fell to the ground. She didn’t understand the purpose, but she was captivated by the process.
Adrian worked in silence, his focus absolute. One by one, he transford the branches into crude but effective wooden stakes.
They weren’t masterpieces, but they were sharp. Sharp enough to do so damage if driven with enough force.
He made six of them in total, each about the length of his forearm. Just in case he needed to prove a point if the need arises. Or to act as a deterrent to any stubborn creatures He might co across.
When he was finished, he gathered the stakes and stood. Grey imdiately stood too, her eyes fixed on the sharpened sticks.
’ Well would you look at that.’
Adrian chuckled at her reaction, wondering to himself wether she was a dog or a wolf. He led her back inside, into the main room. There he saw his mother nding clothes by the fire, while humming softly to herself.
" Oh? You’re back inside?"
She glanced up as they entered, her eyes lingering on the stakes in his hand with a flicker of concern. " Is that what you’ve been doing all this while. Care to tell what you plan on doing with those things?"
" It’s nothing to worry about mom, I just wanted to take so extra precautions incase I happen to encounter another troubleso situation." Adrian tried to reassure her.
" Troubleso situation?" lissa frowned, her face creasing with displeasure. " Adrian why don’t you just stop going into the forest till the end of winter. We already have plenty enough as it is, I’d rather you didn’t put yourself in harms way..."
" Mom, I understand that you’re worried but we both know I can’t stop, we’re herb gatherers, what good would it do us if I stopped working just because of a few unlucky day’s. Shouldn’t you be encouraging instead for not giving up?" He walked up behind her and massaged her shoulders while smiling cheekily, trying to ease tensed self.
" Unlucky sounds more like an understatent....." She still expressed her concerns but in the end, she finally gave in due to Adrian’s persistent nature.
Grey on the other hand glanced at the two who were laughing together before glancing at her shoulders, which she touched before glancing back at Adrian who’s hands were still on his mother’s shoulders.
Afterwards, Adrian went inside to the kitchen area with Grey following closely behind. Inside, he pulled open a drawer. He then took out two of their kitchen knives. They weren’t weapons, to be honest, They were simply for chopping vegetables and deboning fish. But desperate tis called for desperate asures, they had decent, sharp blades and sturdy handles and they were better than nothing, so why not?
He tucked them, along with the stakes, into his large herb-gathering basket, covering them with a piece of cloth.
******
He turned to his mother, who was watching him with that quiet, knowing look of hers. "Mom, I’ll be taking Grey along with today."
" Adrian! No, that’s too dangerous."
" I know but she insisted I do." Adrian winced inwardly at the fact that he lied to linda outright but he knew that his chances of finding the Gorgon girl would plumt without Grey’s help.
" T-This" lissa froze for a mont, finding it hard to believe.
" Dear are you sure about this, going into the forest is too dangerous for a young girl, why don’t you just stay here with until he returns." She said.
Grey blinked her eyes, before glancing at Adrian, she was mostly confused because she didn’t understand much of what lissa was saying but she did notice Adrian’s gaze lingering on her, he didn’t say a word but she could tell that he wanted her to agree with him.
She glanced at lissa before nodding her head.
" So it’s true then." lissa sighed when she saw Grey’s answer.
" Don’t worry mom, I promise we won’t go too far from the village, I promise. So stop worrying, You look prettier without wrinkles." Adrian joked.
lissa put her nding down and walked over to him. She placed a hand on his arm, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper that Grey could definitely still hear. "Fine, it’s not like I can stop you if you wished to go, But, you better mind your manners with that girl, you hear ?" Her eyes turned serious. "She’s a guest under our roof. You be a gentleman and take care of her out there. Don’t you try anything... Understand?"
Adrian felt his face grow warm. He forced a joking tone. "I promise, Mother. I won’t try anything. We’ll Just gather herbs." He gave her a quick, reassuring smile.
"We’ll be back before dusk. So make sure to prepare a scrumptious dinner for us ok."
She searched his face for a mont longer, then nodded, patting his arm. "See that you are."
With Grey trailing behind him like a silent, grey-haired shadow, Adrian left his ho. At the ti, The village was slowly coming to life, with smoke rising from chimneys and the sounds of morning voices filling the air. He adjusted the basket on his back, feeling the unfamiliar weight of the knives and stakes. His plan was simple, and terrifying.
He would go back to the general area where he’d first t the Gorgon, hopefully to look for any clues still there to track her down.
He was so lost in this thought, his mind already thinking about the treacherous paths of the forest, that he almost walked right into the man standing at the edge of the village, right where the path t the woods.
’ What’s he doing here, shouldn’t he be inside the village or sothing?’ Adrian thought to himself when he saw who it was.
It was Leo. The man he had rescued from the goblins’ cave. He looked much better than the last ti Adrian had seen him, the bruises on his face had faded completely, and he was wearing clean, warm clothes. But the haunted look was still there, lurking deep in his eyes. He seed to be taking a walk.
" My apologies, I shouldn’t have blocked your path." Leo said, looking sorry.
" No. It’s nothing. I should be the one apologising, not you." Adrian smiled at him, gesturing for him to calm down. " I’m pleased to see your’re up and about."
" Thank you, I just thought I might as well stretch my legs this morning, since I’ve been coupéd up for quite a while." Leo said before his gaze shifted towards Grey who was staring at him in silence from behind Adrian. " I didn’t know you had a friend?" Leo said while blinking his eyes.
" Well believe it or not, the both of you have quite a lot in common." Adrian chuckled awkwardly.
" A lot in common?" Leo muttered before his pupils widened. " Wait, you don’t an she’s–" at the thought of what he’d experienced under the arms of those three. Leo couldn’t help his heart rate accelerating a bit.
" It’s not what you think." Adrian patted him on the shoulder to calm him down less the poor guy might as well have a heart attack. " She isn’t exactly like you. I just happened to save her since she was wondering around the forest alone and injured." At the latter part of his sentence, Adrian’s lips twitched a little, since he was the one who had inflicted her with such grievous injuries.
" I see." Leo’s expression eased after hearing Adrian’s explanation. His gaze turned pitiful when he shifted his focus to Grey who remained silent behind Adrian, staring at their surroundings absent mindedly. " Lucky for you. You happened to et Adrian in ti." Leo said with a smile but Grey simply turned to stare at him in silence.
" Is sothing wrong? I hope I didn’t offend you with my words, I was just trying to.." Leo beca worried when Grey didn’t say a word to him.
" No, it’s not your fault, she simply doesn’t understand much and can’t quite speak."
" T-Thats terrible!" Leo responded in shock, not expecting her situation to be so pitiful.
" I’m so sorry, I had no idea." Leo said before bowing at Grey. " Please forgive . I hope you don’t take my actions to heart." Leo spoke kindly.
Grey didn’t understand a word he said but she at least seed to grasp his intentions. She didn’t understand why he was apologising but she nodded her head.
" Well we’ll be off then, we still have so herbs to gather, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day." Adrian grabbed Grey’s wrist and walked ahead.
" Alright, good luck you two." Leo waved them off. " And Adrian, don’t forget, we’ll be leaving within the next 3 days." Leo shouted causing Adrian to chuckle helplessly, if he didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought Leo had an ulterior motive for bringing him along.
" My family should be here by then." Leo added.
" Alright, I’ll be sure to keep it in mind!" Adrian replied before him and Grey retreated into the forest.
******
The crisp crunch of their footsteps in the snow was the only sound as Adrian and Grey left the village behind, the familiar wooden houses shrinking into the distance. The forest lood ahead, and like always , Adrian felt as if he was walking into a vast, silent world coloured in white and littered with wintery scenery.
’ This place always seems more uncomfortable each ti I co here." Adrian sighed before he adjusted the wicker basket on his back, the weight of the hidden knives and stakes did nothing to ease his mind, instead they felt like a constant, grim reminder of why he was carrying them with him.
He glanced over at Grey, who walked beside him, keeping up with his pace with minimal effort, he had given her his other pare of fur boots since he had one to spare so her gait wasn’t hindered, nor did she feel the cold at all. Her head kept swiveling as they walked, as if she was always monitoring their surroundings, taking in every flicker of movent around them, whether the movents of birds flying between branches or little animals scuttling about on the snow and in the trees.
" Looks like sothing’s never change." Adrian smiled at the sight, thinking to himself that whether she looked like a girl or not, Grey’s natural predatory instincts were still as sharp as ever, this eased his heart a bit, making him feel slightly more reassured that co what may, They would be able to handle it together.
Adrian eventually stopped so as to converse with her. Using his gestures, he tried his best to communicate with her, for easier communication, he had even brought a make shift drawing of the Gorgon girl.
" We need to find her." Adrian gestured towards the drawing on the parchnt in his arms, before continuing. " But we also need to actually gather herbs, or my mom will ask questions."
" Maybe we should do that first?" He pondered to himself, stroking his chin.
" It might be tasking carrying the herbs around during our search but, who knows how long we’ll be out here."
" I think it’s far more safer if we stock up, so we have an excuse for being out here all day..." He trailed off, realizing he was basically asking for advice from soone who had, until very recently, communicated mostly in growls and gestures. The language barrier was an annoying thing that was for sure.
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