Chapter 30: The Icy North (V) Warm Halls

The snow was getting heavier and heavier as he dragged his feet through it, and the strength he had gained from the "magical visit" had subsided, bringing back the pain from the several wounds he had gotten.

Blood was dripping from the open wounds, leaving a trail in the snow, but it was soon covered by the new snow that kept falling from the dark sky.

The little bird could not illuminate the surroundings well, and he mostly used it to keep his hands warm.

The myriad of trees around him suddenly came to an end, and he stepped out onto an open field.

He looked back between the trees, the creature had not followed him, but he knew that if he did not get help soon, then he would be Zeran's dinner in a few days, and the thought made him shudder.

His wrists started to feel numb, and he stumbled ahead, trying to find some sort of road or other sign of humans, he did not want to run into any other creatures, his brain still could not figure out what they had been. They had even spoken normal common human language.

There was yelling in the distance, several voices were piercing through the wind, and Killian looked around to find the source.

People dressed in armor riding horses through the heavy snow were coming his way. His body stood out against the white background in the dim moonlight, and around a dusin of knights rode up in front of him.

The man at the front was dressed more elaborately than the rest, with armor over a cover of thick padded fabric. He was not wearing a helmet, and his hair color was hard to distinguish.

Killian saw what was a stern look, that was gauging him up and down for a few moments before another knight behind the man got off his horse and walked up to Killian.

"Killian Heathgrave?"

The man on the horse spoke in a deep voice, while the knight in front of him, reached out for Killian's hands to look at the metal around the wrists.

Killian simply nodded, it was as if the moment he had seen humans approach him he had lost all thought of fear or awareness and was simply relieved, making his body finally feel all the exhaustion it had built up at once.

"Yes," he finally mumbled and raised his hands for the knight to see, not protesting when the knight took out a knife to try and ledge the metal apart.

It hurt, but he held in any sounds of complaint, and he looked up at the man still sitting on the horse at the front. His chest carried an emblem of a Griffin.

The man looked old with wrinkles but had a stern and square masculine jaw and chin.

The light shifted as more knights approached, calling out their magic to illuminate the area.

The hair was blonde and the eyes were ice blue on the man staring him down, and there was a flicker of surprise from both of them when seeing the other's features.

Killian wish he had received those masculine features from that man, but he could tell now, that he was all his mother's son in that regard.

The knight that was helping Killian was finally able to remove the metal feather and looked at Killian, then suddenly looked down, as he had not expected what he had seen.

"Young… master Killian…" The man paused and looked back at his liege, who gave him a nod before he continued.

"Master Killian, are there any other immediate wounds we need to tend to?"

The man stood, waiting for a response, as he could not randomly touch or check Killian.

Killian knew he had just been acknowledged by them as a noble, and even a knight could not just arbitrarily touch him.

Killian opened his torn clothes and in the cold, even if they had noticed the traces of blood, they did not expect to see the sight of 3 long cuts into the young boy's lower chest area.

The knight in front of Killian opened and then shut his mouth.

How could such a scrawny young boy still be standing?

Even if the kid looked fragile, he had to admit there must be some sort of stubbornness inherited from the man leading them all, to be able to still be standing.

He got a compress from his bag, they had not expected to find the boy whole after the story they had received from the two travelers, but this would only be a temporary solution.

He put the compress on the boy, that without complaining was shuddering from the cold, and they quickly brought blankets to cover him properly from the wind.

Killian looked and simply nodded at the old man, he was no longer interested in the proper respectful greeting procedures between nobles.

He had come all this way to find this man, but right now he just wanted to get away from this place.

The knight in front of him helped him up to sit with him on a horse, placing Killian at the front, to hold him tightly as they moved.

The whole group moved across the field through the snow with ease. It seemed like these knights knew the terrain, even when covered in snow, and they were all soon on a road that had been cleared of snow.

They rode up to the gates of a large city. Patrolmen were waiting for them and opened the gate without any questioning, and without stopping they all rode inside following a broad main road up through the city.

Killian looked around, the city was beautiful. It was rustic and did have the European look to it he knew from his old world, but it came with a lot of stone cuttings like marble and granite details.

There were lamps along the road, filled with moving glowing lights as if lanterns had caught several fireflies, but with a much mor intense light to them.

It was a beautiful city and somehow mesmerizing in the moonlight, and noises from the citizens came from houses around them.

No one was there to welcome them back, and they arrived at a huge mansion-like estate on the outskirts of the area.

It was honestly somewhat of a disappointment as the border walls were broken and had crumbled in several locations, and Killian saw dirty windows and a front area that had not been kept for a very long time.

It was snot at the same standard as the rest of the city, and he wondered why.

The horses came to a halt, and someone helped Killian down.

"I was worried, Young Master".

It was Dante. The red hair was messy and it did not seem like he had been through anything less than Killian.

"I am ok," was all Killian was able to muster before a force suddenly hugged him.

It was Stella. Her petite body was wrapped around him, hugging him tightly, and Killian felt a grateful feeling tugging at his heart.

She was sobbing and hiding her face in his dirty clothes, and they both didn't say anything, instead, he just patted her back. They stood there for a few minutes while the men around them were pretending to look everywhere else or suddenly have something to do.

Dante held tightly on to Killian's shoulder, bringing him back close to himself as soon as Stella had loosened her hold on Killian.

It brought a smile to Killian's weary face, and he lit up.

People around them stopped in their tracks or movements of whatever they had been doing, looking at Killian.

The smile on the face brought some life back to Killian's cheeks, and it dawned on many people there just how beautiful his being was, even with mud and dried blood smeared over him.

Dante looked around and was not afraid of staring back into the fully-fledged knights' eyes, who seemed like they had just seen Killian for the first time.

They all, even by normal standards had big masculine builds, and were not easily deterred by a red-haired guy, that still had a few years to go before catching up to them.

Some of them even smiled back at Dante, taking the youngster's provocation as a brave trait.

Somebody coughed and the subtle words of 'mother hen' were heard, and Dante turned 180 on his feet to find out who had said it, but with no luck. A few chuckles were heard but then it became silent as the Archduke got off his horse.

If anybody was of a big build it was him, even among the other knights he was almost a head taller than anyone there. If it wasn't for the blonde hair and the piercing ice-blue eyes, no one would expect Killian to be the grandson of that figure.

It was the first time Killian was truly happy he had these traits, that until now had brought him nothing but unwanted attention from others, at least they now brought him some kind of right or at least believable claim to be that man's grandson.

Killian pushed Dante's hands off him and stood in front of his supposed grandfather.

He could not enter the place without permission or invitation, but all he could think about was a bed to sleep in, a warm soft bed, even a less soft bed would be preferred over rocky ground, he thought.

That is when it happened. The big man walked over with his imposing bear-like size and stood in front of Killian, moving one of his big arms towards Killian, grabbing him around the waist.

In the next seconds, Killian was unsure what had suddenly happened, and before he knew it he was being carried by the giant, into the manor.

His grandfather carrying him, and even with the big arms, were holding him gently like he was afraid of hurting Killian.

Killian looked up.

The piercing blue eyes were still stern and looking straight ahead, but the deep voice he had heard on the field calling his name, came out.

"You are too weak-looking".

Killian was surprised, not because of what he said but he could tell it was not said out of disapproval, somehow the voice had a worried tone to it, in complete contrast to the big stern facade the man had as he walked through the warm halls of his estate.

Killian was brought to a lavish room, a fireplace was already at full blast, and it was warm and inviting to his cold tired body.

His grandfather placed him on the bed and turned around to leave, replying before Killian could even ask.

"We talk tomorrow, now you sleep".

The man exited the room, and Killian breathed in deeply, ignoring his aching body, falling asleep on the soft clean sheets, not caring about how his dirty self was messing them up.

'I will apologize to the maids tomorrow' was his last thought before passing out.