Chapter 69: Kindness Test
Danny looked around.
The woman was putting the pot away. She was quick however, wiping the bottom clean with a wooden spoon, then wrapping the pot in a large piece of cloth and placing it in her backpack. She didn’t stop to look up.
The younger boy was giving his bowl a firm grip and eating quicker. He was scared someone might steal it so was eating in a hurry. He was also still uncertain about when he would get his next meal, so was looking up at Danny occasionally. He was clearly curious so wasn’t hiding it at all. He was looking up and down to check Danny’s sword, torn clothes and hurt leg every few seconds.
The second man was making sure everything was tied down. He pulled the straps tight, checked the buckles and rearranged everything. He was very careful and thorough. He was lifting bags to make sure they were not too heavy and swapping water skins between the packs to balance.
They didn’t look like slavers.
The slavers Danny had met before were always heavy, had chains visible and were carrying too many weapons. They always looked hungry, but not for food. They looked hungry for money. Their eyes were always calculating how much someone was worth to them. Their carts were always too clean for the roads they were supposed to have travelled on. This group didn’t look like that. Everything they had was too worn, with patches everywhere. They had different coloured thread sewn in. There were no chains, branding or hidden cages. No bookkeeping books.
They didn’t look like they could hurt anyone either. The woman looked exhausted. The boy was young and looked far too young to be out here. The men had weapons but had worn clothes with patches on the elbows and knees. Their boots were covered in the same muddy mess as everyone else.
However he had learnt a valuable lesson from the mountain.
He had met far too many people who looked harmless but were extremely dangerous. The old man had looked like a beggar but had moved with such grace. He had killed a Mire Wolf in one lazy swipe. Often the deadliest creatures in the Fog Lands are the ones you can’t see. The pale creatures that blend into the mist, or the insects that look like leaves until they are on you.
"Why?" Danny asked. His voice was a bit raspy as he hadn’t talked much since they had found him.
The man with the spear turned his head to look at Danny. He raised one of his eyebrows.
"Why what?"
Danny held his hand close to his sword. "Why let me come with you? I don’t even know you."
It was a simple question but it was the only thing that really mattered. There was never any point in doing anything in the wilderness without a reason. If someone offered you food they wanted you to work for them. If they offered you safety they wanted more numbers. If they offered you companionship they wanted information. Even if someone was being kind there was a price to pay. You quickly learn to ask what the price is.
The man seemed to think about how to answer. Danny liked that he didn’t rush to answer. Usually people who answer quickly have rehearsed what they are going to say. However, people who take their time to answer are actually thinking.
"Because you’re a child," he answered simply.
Danny’s face became hard. His eyes narrowed and jaw clenched. A cold feeling went through his chest.
He hated being called a child. It was a word used to make decisions for you. Telling you that you don’t know what you are doing and need to be protected, controlled or told what to do. It was the word Joric had used before locking him in the shed. It was also the word the slavers used when deciding he wasn’t worth feeding and was just a child.
The man saw the reaction and quickly added, his voice softening slightly and his hands moving slightly away from his spear. "And because leaving an injured child alone out here would be a miserable thing to do. Even out here, we try not to do miserable things if we can avoid it. We have enough miserable things happen to us without making more on purpose."
Danny looked away. He was staring at the partially covered fire pit. The earth was charred and there was a small amount of smoke. He didn’t know what to say.
He wasn’t feeling pitied. Not in the way he was expecting. Not in the way that made him want to snap. The man wasn’t using his fake sympathetic voice to try and get something from him. He was just stating a fact. He didn’t want to leave him because it would make him feel bad later. He would remember and it wouldn’t sit well with him.
The man didn’t seem to expect an answer. He just picked up his spear and began checking the leather wrap again. Checking for any fraying.
"We aren’t asking you to tell us your life story," he said after a short pause. His voice was calm and almost nonchalant. "You don’t need to tell us where you came from or what happened to your leg. You need somewhere to go, and we happen to be going in a useful direction. That’s all. We’re heading to Greybridge, then on to Fort Haven. You can walk with us until one of those places. Then you do what you want. No debts."
Danny looked at him. He was trying to read his face like the old man had taught him. Look at their eyes. Their mouths can lie but their eyes will constantly flicker to what they care about.
His eyes were constantly flickering to the tree line, ridge and his own people. He was telling the truth or at least wasn’t targeting him.