Chapter 31 - Little One
"Yes… I'm fine," said Pan with a hint of helplessness in his voice. "And before I forget. Buy me a horse tomorrow, one that won't be frightened by blood and noise."
"Yes master," Edward replied shortly, noticing that his master was no longer in his normal mood.
Pan didn't understand why the awareness of knowing that Pallas was probably dead brought him so low.
"If the master will excuse me, I will prepare a meal," Edward said.
"Right. Bring me mead," Pan replied.
When Edward retired to make an evening meal for his master. Pan sat on the bed and stared at the small dark brown ball. He opened the lid and placed the mandrake offspring in his hand.
Holding a gold, no, probably five gold at his fingertips was something he thought, as a dockside boy, would never be able to accomplish in his entire life. But here he was, and here was the gold none of his ancestors could get.
'Five golds.' Pan thought, passing the ball from one finger to the other.
As Pan thought about how many things he could do with five golds, the brown root ball made a small movement. A move that would go unnoticed by anyone not as attuned to green as Pan.
'Are you hungry little one?' Pan thought and sent some essence to the ball.
The little ball absorbed everything quickly and shook a little right away, as if it gave a little chuckle of joy, making Pan smile too.
Captivated by the little ball's actions, Pan decided to feed it some more and both plant and man stood there, laughing like fools until Edward returned with the meal.
There wasn't much talk after that, Edward was already relieved and impressed by his master's fortuitous return and had nothing more to say in the face of the obvious positive results. As for Pan, he limited himself to eating like a hungry homeless person as usual and drinking the mead as if it were water, before throwing himself on the bed with the ball in his hand and falling asleep.
'By the salt, what a hangover.' Thought Pan the next morning, before he even opened his eyes.
"Why is my chest so heavy?" Pan whispered with displeasure and brought his left arm to his chest.
But what he felt made him jump up and throw sleep and hangover and whatever was in his chest away.
The reason for hia scare in question, she gave a half-muffled squeak of displeasure that sounded oddly like stepping on fragile, dry branches.
'By starlight! But what the hell is this?' Thought Pan as he looked at the Grass Mandrake which was slightly greener than the normal ones and ran with its little legs towards him, squealing in delight.
Pan and of course, wasn't swayed by the fluffy appearance of the living root and picked up his sword from the headboard then drew it, while attaching the sheath to his legs and soon entered the state of absolute clarity.
'Never take the hem off the waist again.' Thought Pan before preparing for battle.
Having one arm less is something he was still getting used to. And having to sheath your thigh to get your sword out could be the difference between life and death in the future.
Pan then patiently waited for the ball to come towards hos, three meters, two meters, one meter… And nothing, there was nothing, no attack, no storm of chaotic branches. The little ball just reached his feet and snuggled into them, making soft little squeaks.
Normally he would have attacked anyway. But for some reason, Pan understood that the little ball just wanted a naughty pat. Which was bizarre beyond belief and scared him more than if she'd attacked him.
'How does she know my direction? I was stopped.' Pan thought remembering that the little mandrakes felt the environment by their roots, by things like humidity or wind caused by external sources and when Pan was still, he should be invisible to the little one.
The little ball then, as if understanding his thoughts, jumped on his right foot a few times.
"You understand me?" Asked Pan.
But there was no answer.
'How strange, very strange.' He thought.
And when he thought that, the ball rolled back and gave little screams that sounded with indignation.
'Do you understand the meaning?' Thought, trying something.
The ball in turn gave new squeals of joy and jumps to one side and the other.
'Go back.' Pan thought and the ball did.
'Go forward.' Pan thought and the ball did.
'To the side.' The same result.
'To the other side.' It's the same again.
"This… this is…" stammered Pan and fell on his butt on the bed. The little ball taking this as a signal to nap again used its roots of chaos to fling itself onto the bed and between Pan's legs.