The sun was now above the sky, and if they wanted to leave today they needed to get moving. But Chris was holding them here, for some reason unknown to him. He respected Chris, he was one of the inmates and gang leaders who still acted human. Not like Marrisa how thought that she was a goddess. But Orisino would not go any further than respect, he didn't trust the man with his life or with that of Tamora's. Who was currently playing in the snow with the five children. Throwing snowballs, building snowmen and making angels. The joyful screams of the children filled the air, some men, hunters by the looks of it, stopped to look at her. With such hunger in their eyes, that it was not very difficult to know what was on their minds.
"Do not even think about it." He said to the men, when they came into ear shot. One of the men snapped his attention towards him. But then his gaze changed into something else.
"Sorry, Orisino. We didn't know that the girl was spoken for." He said, and the others echoed their excuse. O, how he loves to say that she was not spoken for. But that she didn't want what they wanted to do. But he knew better if he did that she would be hunted down. The men continued their journey outside the city gates, to hunt the monsters who normally hunt them. Orisino's watchful gaze went back to Tamora, who had noticed nothing. Which was a good thing, but he would tell her when they were on their way. Maybe he needed to make some piece of jewelry, he had seen it on other women who were claimed. But maybe that would send the wrong messages. Or maybe he thought too much, and he needed to ask her what she thought about it. She was thrown a snowball towards Aurora, who ducked out of the way. The ball smashed into Chris's face. The children all stopped in their tracks, dropping their snowballs in an instance.
"Who did that?" Chris asked calmly. The children all pointed towards Tamora, the little traitors. But Tamora in turn raised up her hand.
"Sorry, it was me. But I was aiming at Aurora." Tamora answered. Chris nodded and whipped the snow from his face.
"Well that teaches me to walk into a snow battle, without any protection." He said, with a wide smile on his face. Who grew even wider when he saw the snowmen, angels and even a snow fort. "You have being busy. I am sorry that I have missed all the fun." And for some reason, Orisino believed him. Chris truthy cared for the wellbeing of these children. Orisino had no doubt that he would join their game, once Tamora and he were on their way. "Well then now the reason why I stepped into this war zone." He threw a bag towards Orisino. "This bag is filled with jerky, gloves, and some tool to get clean water." Orisino opened the bag and it was indeed filled. There was even a flashlight in it, something that was very rare inside this hellhole of a prison.
"Thank you..." Orisino started, but Chris raised his hand to stop him.
"There is no need to thank me, you have done so much." Chris said. Orisino frowned was he talking about the greens? How many times did he need to tell people that he did it for selfish reasons. He was tired of people finding his shack, claiming that it was theirs. And the only way to stop it was to get those greens from the platform and bring them to the crossroad. There was nothing noble about that, nothing. He knew that he probably saved the children from a fate that was worse than death. But that was the one humane thing he had done. O, he almost forgot. He had taken Tamora under his wing. For what it is worth, that was maybe for selfish reasons too. He didn't know, something that happened a lot the last couple of days.
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"Well then we probably need to get out of your hair." Orisino said, instead. But Chris shook his head.
"There is no need." Chris replied. "You can leave whenever you want, if it is not to close to the war." He pointed out and Orisino nodded.
"Come Tamora, the north is waiting for use." He said, Tamora nodded and walked over to him. "Until we meet again."
*******
The left the streets of the city behind them, the normal mossy road was covered under a thick layer of snow.
"Keep your eyes and ears wide open." He said, and she didn't say anything in return. His gaze went towards her for a brief moment. Her hands were on her belt where she kept her daggers. She was prepared, something that made him proud. "The snow is both friend and fow."
"That almost sounded poetic." She remarked. But he couldn't see the joy in that, he was about to explain what he meant by it. "I know what you mean, it will show use tracks of the monsters and other people, but then in return it will show ours." She said, and he nodded, again a sense of pride was glowing inside him. She was a quick learner, something he needed to keep in mind. They continued their journey in silence, keeping their attention on their surroundings and on each other. The road went to a bare part of the landscape, there were no trees or bushes to hide behind. Something that was both in their favor as in their disadvantage. The sun was almost blinding on the white snow.
"There is a city on the horizon." She said, breaking the silence. He nodded and looked at the large buildings.
"That is Marrisa's city, we better stay far away from that as possible." He replied. She nodded and they went on. As they came closer to the city, trees and bushes started to appear. But also small ghost villages, the houses were covered with ivy and some other plants. The rooftops were almost collapsing under the added weight of the snow. The sun was almost gone, and they needed to started up a camp soon. One of those houses might be a perfect solution to that problem. He grabbed a fallen branch, with enough leaves on it. And started to drag that after him, covering his tracks. He pointed towards the village and Tamora simply nodded. They walked past a few houses before entering one in the middle. The roof seemed stable enough and the ivy was covering the front door, there was however a backdoor. But that one was not touched in years, still he grabbed his machete before entering. There was no monster inside the house, no tiger, bear, plant or human. There was no smell of rotting flesh, or wood. No sound other than their footsteps on the floor, and their breaths. The walls and floors were bare. The shutters were firmly placed before the windows. Allowing no light to pass through. There was a simple chair and table placed in the kitchen. A perfect place to boil snow, so that they can drink it without getting sick. He pointed towards the snow just outside the backdoor, she nodded and started to scoop it up. He stood guard, but there was nothing inside or outside that moved. After she was done collecting the snow, he placed the cooking device on the table, who was surprisingly stable. They drink the boiled water and eat the first piece of jerky. He pointed towards himself, and raised one finger up. Telling her that he would take the first watch, she nodded and started to lay down on the kitchen floor. He looked at the moon, if that one was all the way up he would wake her. And so he did. He lay down on the same spot as she did and closed his eyes. Not suspecting that sleep would take him, but it did. But he was wakened much too quickly for his taste. He looked into Tamora's bright blue eyes, she placed her finger for her lips. Motioning that there was something, or someone outside the building. He rose up and heard something too, it was not a human, but an animal or plant. The door was closed off, probably Tamora had shut it when she heard something. Which was only clever, so would it become harder for the one outside to come into the house. He moved slowly to one of the windows, and looked past the shutters. He couldn't see anything, but that didn't mean that there was nothing. His hand was on his machete, just in case the thing outside busted in. But nothing happened, absolutely nothing. Still they left through the front door, just to be on the safe side. And they started to move passed Marrisa's city without any sound.