Someone coughing and wheezing for air was heard a few feet away as the stranger began moving. The stranger woke up to six pair of eyes looking at him making him sit up in a hurry.
"Hold it, hold it. Stay calm, we aren't going to hurt you." Jasper said with an outstretched palm seeing the confusion and fear on his face.
The stranger looked at them with caution before the visible tension of his small body relaxed a little.
"Im Damon, here drink some water." He said with an outstretched hand holding a small bag in the shape of a waterballoon. Damon had also crafted a canteen.
The boy eyes darted around nervously for a moment as hesitation was in his movements.
" go ahead." Damon insisted.
The next second the canteen of water was out of Damon's hand and being chugged down like a beast dying from thirst.
Damon watched with calm uncaring eyes, but in reality he was carefully examining the boy.
"He's fast, and that was a swift grab for someone so exhausted. He had such a light touch, I barely felt his hand." Damon noted.
The boy took a breath, and began consuming more until he noticed all eyes were still on him.
"Sorry, i.....the boy paused for a moment before putting the canteen down.
"Im just really thirsty, I've been running for days and I haven't drinked or ate in a while. "
He said looking down as if he was in shame.
"No worries, how'd you get out here." Asked Jasper.
"Well i escaped, like you guy's. You're from that old house east of here right?"
"Yes we are." Answered Damon, it made no sense in lying. If they're calculations were correct about the sapphire river and the distances between the two nearest city. It wouldn't make sense for kids their age to be out so far away. Plus Jasper and Raya's clothing was the same as the stranger while Damon had his covered with his lizard armor.
"The torturer, how did you escape him." Raya asked with interrogating eyes.
The stranger took in a long breath and released a nervous sigh as if just thinking about it was tough.
"About four days ago, some man came to visit. Someone who sounded as if they were really in charge of kidnapping and branding us. He was scolding and beating the man named chum for letting you three escape. At that time, he had just finished branding me." He said shifting his right leg and turning a bit showing his branded scar of a bird with skeleton wings.
"Wait, who's Chum?" Damon asked.
"Its the big man's name that branded me, I guess you all call him the torturer." He responded looking at Raya because she was the one who called Chum the torturer.
Raya noded and the boy continued.
"The second guy got really rough with that fat bastard, tossing him around like he was nothing more but a child. I end up getting tackled by the torturer by accident as the second guy threw him for the fourth or fifth time. "
"So what, you were just standing there in the midst of it all, and what did the other guy look like?" Jasper asked with a frown.
"No, I was chained up hanging on a hook in a blacksmithing room. I dont know what the other guy looked like. He was wearing a mask and hooded cloak. I only know his voice. "
They all exchanged glances, the mention of hanging hooks and the blacksmithing room as they remembered appeared in their heads.
"Well after the man called chum was thrown into me, the chained hook i was on broke from the ceiling. I played dead at first, but they quickly checked my pulse and believed I was just unconscious. "
"Unfortunately for chum his punishment wasn't over. I laid there acting like I couldn't hear the cloak guy's fist bashing into his face repeatedly. While playing possum I noticed a dagger on the floor that had slid to the back of the room near the wall. "
He began feeling around in his trousers near his waist searching for something.
"You mean this dagger?" Raya said carefully pulling it out.
The boy looked at it and shifted in a way like he was about to reach for it, but stopped seeing they're faces which weren't hostile, but more cautious.
Clearing his throat he settled back down while asking for more water.
"Sorry, its just that dagger has been my only protection besides my speed since escaping. I know you all are being cautious and I dont blame you." He said in a genuine soft tone.
"Your speed?" Damon repeated with a raised brow.
"Yes, my ability is speed."
"Wait, you're an awakened, but aren't you like 10 years old." Jasper shouted out.
" no offense Damon." He added.
For the first time, the boy smiled while rubbing his face.
"Im actually thirteen years old, but i get that a lot, or at least I believe I did. I dont know, my memories are very hazy, I dont remember much after waking up in that place."
They exchanged glances again. Damon twisted his lips in thought as he couldn't believe it. Its not that he didn't believe it, it was just he didn't want to. The stranger looked younger than thirteen with his almost baby like face.
"So how fast are you." Jasper asked intrigued.
"Hold on, let him finish his story first." Damon interrupted.
"Ok, well the masked man forced chum to round up the remaining captives in the back and brand them all at once. He went with him to get them and when I felt it was clear I went for the dagger and laid back in my original spot after hiding it in my pants."
"You didn't make a run for it right then?" Damon asked instrested in his reasoning.
"No, I felt if I did i would be caught. The cloaked guy was on a whole different level of power. Compared to him, that big bastard is nothing but a normal meat bag."
"After, all the captives were branded while under the surveillance of the cloaked guy. They gave us some food and chained us back up in another room. I honestly didn't think about escaping after that, but later I guess the cloaked man left because that spineless pig rebranded and tortured the ones he couldn't torture while his boss was there, which meant it was his own sick game and not something he was supposed to do."
"Anyway during his little torture sessions I curiously attempted to use the tip of the dagger to pick the lock on my chains and instead the dagger spilt the lock in half."
All of them looked at him oddly and then at the dagger which Raya was holding.
"Yea, my exact reaction too, my only guess is its not a regular dagger, but an enchanted one with a skill that can cut through some tough things like metal and iron. Its just a guess, i haven't studied too much about enchanted weapons yet but I know they all possess certain skills. That's the only way I can explain it."
"I cut everyone in the room loose and made a break for it. Many of us escaped, while others weren't so lucky. At first I had two other companions, but we got separated after being attacked by spiders. Im not sure if they made it or not." He said with a sadend face before continuing.
"Days passed and I just ran north after going south and being cut off by a river. Its embarrassing to say, but I can't swim." He said with under looking eyes as if he expected them to insult him for not knowing how to swim.
Instead of teasing the boy for not being able to swim. All three of their faces froze and looked like deers caught in headlights as soon as the words river exited his mouth.
"Those looks, I know you three were at the sapphire river. Those looks could only mean you've seen it as well." The stranger thought to himself.
"Uhhh, what kind of river was it?" Damon asked while wiping sweat from his forehead.
"He's clearly shaken of the mere mention of a river, but he's fighting to keep his cool and play dumb." The boy measured in his head.
"What do you mean what kind. A river is a river." He said acting like he didn't understand completely.
"I mean as far as I can say description wise, it had a unusual dark blue color." He said in a simple tone.
"You didn't get in it did you?" Raya shouted out like a crazed banshee. She shouted without realizing she did making the boy look at her with concern.
"No, I told you, I can't swim."
An odd silence fell upon the camp for a minute before Damon snapped out of it and asked one final question.
"Did you hear us fighting in the distance? Is that how you found us?"
"Not entirely, I was hiding in a tree one night and saw blue and red burning energy that lit up the sky like fireworks. I just followed the direction it came from, I was skeptical at first but ran across signs of an old campfire. So I just continued in the same direction, I was nearly done. I was too exhausted to go on, but heard you guys fighting. I stepped in using the remaining energy i had left and blanked out." He said finishing the story.
They all had their on thoughts about his story, it all seemed very possible and some events lined up with they're own. Jasper couldn't think of one reason to doubt his story nore could Raya. Even his body language didn't seem off, not even a little.
Damon on the other hand still wasn't so sure, it wasn't because he saw through his story or anything, in fact the boy's story made all his suspicion go away, but it was one thing that bothered him. Which was something he relied on heavy. A simple gut feeling.
"Well, looks like you'll be tagging along with us uhhhh."
"Knox, my name is Knox."