The Angel's Humanhood

5. Things Only the Fire Knows

At a very silent kitchen, tables were spread out across the room, mostly makeshift ones, with one or more kids from various ages sitting around them. Wahag was seated on the most decent looking one that had chairs, unlike the rest. Joza sat directly opposite of him and no one touched their food. Wahag noticed that few of them had scars on their faces and arms, one was missing a limb, and another was on a wheelchair.
"He looks like the scarecrow Dodi made last week," a very young boy said from behind Wahag which was followed by giggles and a snort from the strange girl who he now realized was the oldest in the room after Joza.
Joza glared at the source of the comment and everyone went silent again.
"I will spare you the dramatic interrogation. Never been good at it." Joza adjusted on a squeaky chair that sounded like it was calling out for help. "So, don't make me regret it."
"I wasn't following her." Wahag said abruptly.
Joza scratched her chin, "then, what's your story? How did you end up in these woods? And don't give me some horse manure about..."
"Joza! Language!"
"What? I said manure." Joza said defensively. Giggles spread again in the room. "Shut it!" Joza silenced the room again and turned her percing eyes back to Wahag, "Your next words better be the truth."
They will think you are absolutely crazy and kick us out to be eaten.
"You want a truth that you are willing to believe. What if I tell you a truth that you won't even understand and let alone believe?" Wahag unconsciously leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
Joza scratched her chin skeptically, "We found ourselves a philosopher," she turned to the strange girl. "Dow, I don't care what you want to do with him. Tie him up and use him in the fields or throw him out to be eaten by the night hounds. Either way, fine by me."
"I can't stay here!" Wahag complained before Dow could say anything.
"Then it's settle, to the hounds." Joza waved a hand and few of the older boys started to get up.
"Wait! Wait! Let's eat first." Dow put her body between him and the boys.
"You and your soft heart. What difference does it make if he is full or hungry while being eaten?"
"You said it's up to me." Dow met Joza's eyes.
Joza sighed, "Let's eat!"
Dow sat next to Wahag, "If you complain about the food, I will kill you myself," she murmered as she sat down.
Wahag promptly took a spoon full of the contents of the plate which was mostly gray substance with some carrots floating in the middle. The flavors hit his whole being, Wahag let out a pleased noise against his will and everyone looked at him.
"This is so good! Who made this?"
All the kids in the room including Dow looked at him in horror like he was eating roaches fresh from a pile of dunk and being happy about it.
"Ah, finally someone that appreciates my fine cooking!" Joza waved a spoon at him, "But it still won't get you out of these handcuffs, " Joza broke out into a belly giggling laugh and the room broke out in a mix of snorts and head shakes.
The room cleared quickly. Everyone was gone except for Joza whose snores echoed in the room to the point that when he exchanged the "what now?" glances with Dow, there was no hope for them to actually have a conversation, unless they did it telepathically.
Dow gestured by pulling at the handcuffs' leash for him to follow her.
Standing outside in the night had an eerie feeling that didn't make sense to Wahag who was generally comfortable in the dark and so he should be as a being made of fire and light.
"The night hounds, they are not the normal type that you would commonly find in this world, are they?" Wahag asked.
"This world? Have you been to other ones or something?" Wahag could hear Dow's eyes rolling.
"Don't ask about things that you are not ready to hear the answers for."
Dow gave an exhausted sigh, "Yes, they are an odd type. I can't find any records of creatures as vicious or as cunning. If you get bitten, they haunt your dreams and drive you mad before you even bleed out."
"There is no name for what they are. The name I know for them has no sound, but it roughly translates to spirits or ghosts. Their physical body are bits and pieces of animals that they have preyed on. What kind of people live in the nearby village?"
"Aren't you from the village?"
"I am not from around here."
"You mean this area of Earth or this "world"?"
"Does it matter?"
"I guess it doesn't." Dow said with a shrug.
After a moment of silence, Dow sighed deeply, "I can't let you go. We have worked way too hard to build this hideout in the middle of this hell hole. We can't risk being found."
"I gain nothing from exposing you. I don't care about anyone of your kind," Wahag said unaffected by her apologetic tone.
"That's exactly the problem. You don't care. Also, you are a coward and cowards always snitch." Her tone this time was drained of any sympathy.
Wahag wanted to defend himself and say that he is not a coward, but he knew he would be lying. He was humiliated by his own weakness way too many times in less than a day to be in denial. He might have been a mighty jin, but as a human, he lacked a lot. And the body that he was in had weak energy.
"Would you trust me if I wasn't a coward?"
"I am not sure." Dow's eyebrows bonded.
"Fine. I will become a strong human and when I do, you will have to let me go by either trusting me or by force. Doesn't matter to me."
"You always say the strangest things," Dow searched his face for lost his sanity, but she couldn't find it.
"I couldn't be any less interested in what a human thinks of me or my actions."
Dow resorted to scratching her head to find something to say,
"Okay, nevermind your UFO thing. Are you going to work in the fields or choose a tree?"
"One day when who I am finally sinks in your tiny clay brain, you will be filled with regret." Wahag disgust blazing through his eyes.
"No need. I am already filled with regret for not letting the hounds have you." Dow met his eyes with the same disgust even though she was a good deal shorter than him.
Wahag wanted to scream at her to just do it, but the part of him that knew how grave of a sin it is to throw one's self away stopped him.
"You should be grateful for whatever God of a world you come from that we are short on hands these days."
"There is one God and no other for all the worlds. And you better have respect for him." Wahag was on an edge.
"God? What God? If there is a God out there, he created this hell hole and forgot about us."
"Watch it!" Wahag's voice echoed through the woods and woke few sleeping birds. Before he could say another word, he felt something sharp and cold on his throat.
"No, you watch it." Dow had him by the collar and the knife was shivering in her hand as she spoke quietly.
Nothing else was said that night she walked him to a small secluded hut and locked him in.