Mayen could finally see again, albeit with a stinging right eye and a darkness not yet touched by the light of dawn. He was cold, cold and sweaty from the anxiety which those taken hostage can relate to. He wanted to pee, he wanted to drink… Wanted to scratch his back, to wipe his forehead, to crush and grind to a pulp that mosquito buzzing into his ear, to sleep, to remove the stiffness from his legs. So many things. But he was back to having hands tied behind him as the leash now tied him to a tree trunk. Good thing he was in a sitting position, that allowed him some relative freedom with his knees, such as wiping awkwardly his forehead and hurting his nose the first time he tried to squish a bug taking advantage of an immobilized blood source.

Dor and Weld had brought them to a halt which had been for far too long postponed. Now that they were all four into the forest, the two captors had no qualms of unlocking the prison door of the mind. To be blinded for so long, forced to go where you knew not without any sense of direction, only thoughts could come. Yes, one could hear, one could touch, smell and taste, but sight was the eye of one’s heart literally and metaphorically.

Mayen searched for his father and found him safe and sound. With only an oil lantern of course the ruffians would keep it mostly for themselves, still, he could see a little. Though gagged, the wayside peasants managed to communicate by tonality alone. Words, expressions… A lot can be codified within a few notes, as if speaking, when deprived of articulation, is but raw music. Granted, the sounds father and son made were far from harmonious and pleasant to hear, and generally it was but a sequence of three to six, or seven at maximum. The more there were notes, the harder it was to interpret and rather by a steep increase in difficulty.

-“Are you okay? I bet that is what you said.” Weld had nothing better to do than to find amusement in guessing. “Yeah, we always say the “o” of “okay” at a slightly lower tone than “are”, then the “kay” is the highest note.”