A grunt escaped his teeth as he knelt beside the creek and looked to his ribs. A great bluish bruise setting in over the left side of his chest. He could feel it when he breathed, almost hear the bones shifting when he took a breath.
Bloody woman has no idea what she's getting herself into. he thought to himself while pulling a long stretch of cloth from his pack and began to wrap his ribs firmly. His ragged hair still wet from the rain, the metallic taste of blood still set within his mouth. A taste he had become well aquatinted with over these several months.
"Midgewater pass, I can take this route up and pass over the weather hills without being spotted." He muttered while dressing his ribs from the tumble he had run into earlier with the club of That Woman. A growl escaping his lips once more as he tightened down the bandaging.
He knelt there, looking at his refection in the water. The scars that marked his chest and back seemed to stand out amongst his pale skin. Something he couldn't take his eyes off of. He never understood them, never understood why they could be so cruel to something so innocent. His mind wondered back to the past.
The man held the brand in his hands, looking down to the boy and shouting. "I'll drive the devil right out of your bones boy! Tell us what you did to that farm house!" He raised the red hot brand set it near the boys skin.
Pellam lay in a heap in the floor, screaming and shouting as he felt the searing heat close to his side as he shook his head. "I didn't do anything! I didn't, I promise!" His voice screeched as the brand came closer and closer before it resided.
The door burst open, all he saw was fists flying and the brand fell to the floor. For a split second, Pellam paused before bolting out the door, hearing a familiar voice echo out to him. "Go back to the Stead Ilam, go now!"
Pellam shook the daze off, his gaze turning back to his rippled reflection upon the slow moving water. He stood, sliding back into his worn shirt before hefting the bag and quiver back over his shoulder. Looking back up to the great hill that stood before him. He slide knife back into the sheath that rested across the small of his back before picking up his crossbow and beginning his journey.
