202 White Owl (2/2)
”WHAT?”
The old man looked amused as he was laughing at Laz's face. Laz's forehead seemed to have a few black lines on it as he stared at this old man who seemed to be full of jokes.
”I'm not joking either. The place you disappeared? Up at the north side of the state? Lots of people have gone missing in there. If you don't come out within the day, you never come out. At least, not within the past year. You're not the only one who went missing, but I bet you're the only one who came out.”
”How much do you know old man?”
”Old man eh? I guess I deserve that. Like I said, I know much, but not much of it will be helpful. Don't worry so much. I was told to find you and take care of you and that's what I'm doing.”
Although the old man seems to like to joke, the fact is that Laz realized that when he said he was sent to find him, he didn't seem to be lying. But that was weird since even Laz didn't know where he was. So who could have sent the old man?
”You wonder who sent me, right boy?”
”Laz. And yes.”
”The spirits did, of course. They said a boy wondered in and his annoying pet was hounding them to let him out. So they needed some help.”
”Annoying pet?” Laz looked down and noticed that Tyr was still relaxing while curled up like a kitten with his legs wrapped around him.
”The spirits are rather unusual things. They don't dislike humans, but they don't like them much either. They say that humans have forgotten their path, forgotten the old ways. But for those who still seek them out, they are still there to guide. It's just much harder now. Anyway, having wondered into their home, you should be dead. Seems as though you're pretty lucky.”
”This seems like a shitty plotline from a bad story.”
”Life is exactly like that at times boy. Try not to let it get to you.”
They didn't talk much after that and soon arrived at the old man's house. It looked like an old ranch style farm house that was well taken care of. As the old man pulled in, several young children who were playing in the yard came over and ran after the truck as it pulled in. When the old man got out, he was jumped by all four of the kids who looked like they ranged in age of four to ten years old.
”GRANDPA!” They yelled as the smallest ones jumped on him first and the two older ones stopped just before.
”I'm back. You're all out here playing? Where is your mom and sister?”
”Mom's inside. Sarah is off doing whatever,” the ten year old answered. He looked like a young boy who was covered in various layers of mud like the rest of the kids. It seemed like they had been having fun playing around the yard.
”Grandpa, who that?” The youngest girl asked. She was the one who looked about four years old. The next oldest was a boy around six and another girl around eight.
”Oh him? Just a stray I picked up on the way home,” the old man joked.
”He doesn't look like a dog,” the younger boy commented while looking at Laz. The little girl on the other hand wandered over and looked up at Laz who was now wearing his hood. He had originally changed after Tyr had done up his wounds which was apparently a year ago. He had checked earlier and it seemed like all of the wounds he had have healed and even the webbing had disappeared. This was one of the only reasons he had believed the old man's story.
”Where is your tail?”
”I tuck it inside my pants so it doesn't get in the way,” Laz responded with a smile. The little girl giggled at the joke and kept circling Laz as though he was some sort of strange, new creature. Laz couldn't help but laugh at the girl's playfulness.
”I'd tell you to come in and get cleaned up, but these little ones are going to need to be cleaned up first or their mother will kill me. If you want, behind the barn, there is a shower stall for horses. You can go get cleaned up there,” Onacona said, pointing off to the big red barn in the distance.
”Sure thing,” Laz said and started walking. He felt dirty as it had been a year since he last showered. Top that off with the fact that he still felt dried blood on him and it wasn't a pleasant feeling.
”I'll bring some clothes out to you in a few.”
”That's ok. I've got some spare ones with me,” Laz said, not thinking about it. As he walked away, the old man looked back at him while herding the kids inside. Even though it was only mid day, they were much too dirty at the moment.
'He's got spare clothes with him? The spider carrying them or something?' The old man shook his head and didn't bother thinking on it. The boy really was too strange after all.
As Laz reached the area behind the barn, he noticed the horse cleaning area he had been directed to.
”Shower stall for horses, eh?” Laz said, looking at the area. It was basically just a large, cement square on the ground with wooden walls on three sides and a large opening on the forth. There as an over head shower along with a rolled up hose and various types of shampoos. Laz didn't know what kind of shampoo he was expected to use, but found what looked like an oatmeal bath and figured that was good enough. He also made a mental note that he should get some personal cleaning products for the future and wondered why he had never thought of it before.
After setting the now awake Tyr down, Laz stripped naked without much thought and turned on the water which came gushing out. It was a stall designed for horses so having high pressure was a must. After getting the temperature right, Laz went under the water and began washing himself, cleaning off the various dried blood and other junk that had seemed to collect on his skin. It was almost like he had washed away an outer layer of junk which made his almost charcoal like grey skin a few shades lighter. It was still much darker than natural however.
Laz couldn't help but look down at himself as well. The black, tribal tattoo like lines really did seem to be covering much of his upper body including his chest and stomach and all along his back. Luckily they didn't extend much down his arms or go onto his neck as that would have made them much harder to hide. Either way, Laz felt like he looked kind of like a convict or an ink junkie considering what it looked like. The tree and red moon marking looked unchanged as well, just the the tree looked more defined while the moon was a brighter shade of red. Noticing this led him to start thinking about that mysterious A'ruya and wondering if she knew what was happening with him.
Maybe he was distracted due to his thoughts and the water pressure was pretty intense which caused him to not notice the surroundings, but before he could process things, he suddenly saw a pair of legs walking along the side of the washing area and a voice that seemed annoyed.
”Can't believe they were playing with the shower again when I told them not to,” the voice said as a pair of lovely legs in cowboy boots walked around the corner and then froze in mid step after seeing Laz.
Laz was surprised as well and didn't say anything while observing the attractive young lady whose dumbfounded gaze was fixed right on him. Well, to be more precise, it was actually staring at his manhood which was dangling freely in front of him while the water cascaded down his naked body.
After being stared at so long, Laz felt a little weird and decided to break the silence.
”Hello.”
”AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.” The girl's scream echoed across the yard and made it's way back to the house where Onacona was stirring the pot of stew that had been made for lunch, a job he had taken over from his daughter while she went to clean up her kids. He could help but start laughing so hard his stomach started hurting as he doubled over.