animal ears

?The weather was surprisingly good.

The early morning sunlight penetrates the water flow of the waterfall and shoots into the cave, and the crystal clear light is scattered on the rock wall, forming a series of active circles of light.

Since he had plenty of time, he was not in a hurry to go out. Cole let Palanki eat enough before leaving the house, but Palanche didn’t dare to eat much because he was afraid of Norman who was sitting across from him. Instead, he kept shrinking behind Cole. Norman is of course very dissatisfied with this brat who has been clinging to Cole, but he will leave later, so he can bear it for now.

Although Norman's face is smelly and fierce.

Of course Cole knew what Norman was thinking, and turned to look at the terrified little orc behind him with a wry smile. When Cole turned his head, Palanch opened his eyes wide, with a bitter face and red eye sockets, and then gently pulled Cole's clothes.

On the way to send Palanch back, Cole noticed that Palanch's little hands had been tightly holding on to his sleeves, and his steps were getting slower and slower, so he lowered his head and asked, "Are you tired?"

Looking up, Palanch silently looked at Cole, his silver eyes filled with complex colors, then lowered his head and shook his head.The leaves on the tree swayed endlessly with the sound of the wind, and the light spots that fell on the wet ground full of thorns and dead branches were like fire, shining right in front of the feet, but bringing no warmth.

It's like I can't figure out what's going on in this child's mind.

Cole sighed, touched Palanch's forehead, and said softly, "Tell me if you're tired, don't force yourself."

The drooping head didn't lift up again, just nodded silently, the small face was instantly covered by the hair, no expression could be seen, but the hand never let go.For the rest of the way, Palanch kept his head down and followed Cole closely step by step. The two crossed the river to the downstream, and soon saw traces of people. The hand is gripped tighter.

He was shaking.

Cole noticed it, but suffering from Palanch's silence, he had no choice but to hold his hand behind his back, hoping to bring him some warmth.

He smiled consolingly, without words.

Not long after, he sent Palanch back to the place where he was last time, the river not far from the entrance of the village.

Seeing that there was no one around, Cole turned his head and was about to say goodbye, but Palanch suddenly reached out and grabbed his sleeve, firmly.

"I can only send you here." Cole glanced at the village, shook his head and smiled wryly, "I can't send you in."

Hearing this, Palanch raised his head slightly, and it took a long time before he let go of Cole's sleeve, his hands were stiff in the air, and he did not let go, his eyes looked straight to this side, and the shallow silver eyes contained With unpredictable emotions.

His eyes were deep and distant, not like a child, and his hand never let go.

"Parange, I have to go." Cole said apologetically, "Go home obediently, be obedient."

Then kissed him on the forehead, just like a parent treats a child.

Although he only met twice, Cole loved Palanch from the bottom of his heart.

But Palanch bit his lip, as if he wanted to say something, but finally fell silent, let go of Cole, and then took a few steps back with a strange look on his face.But Cole couldn't stay, and after simply saying goodbye to Palanch, he turned around and walked back to the forest.

However, the matter did not end there.

That night, in the dead of night, Cole, who was sleeping, was suddenly awakened by a strange rustling sound outside the entrance of the cave, so he got up cautiously, approached the entrance of the cave, listened carefully, and found that the sound was nearby.

It seems that there is something outside, but there seems to be little movement.

Not a predator, but the sound of a small animal.

So he sighed, stopped Norman who was already gearing up, shook his head, then raised the torch, and walked out first.

If it is a small animal, the firelight can drive it away immediately.

Sure enough, as soon as Cole walked out, the voice disappeared. Cole looked around the dark surroundings, and suddenly smelled a trace of blood, so Cole followed the smell of blood, and found that there was only a puddle of undried grass on the grass. Bloodstains, it seems that some animal was healing and resting here just now.

The grass was stained with a large amount of blood, and it looked like he must have suffered a lot of injuries.

Where did you escape to?

Cole fixed his eyes, looked at the dark forest in front of him, thought that the animal should have escaped into the forest, and looked around, it seemed that there was no abnormality and no sense of danger, so he took a breath and prepared to turn around. The cave, and just when he turned around and took two steps, he suddenly heard a slight grunt from the nearby grass, similar to a grunt from his throat.

...!

Immediately took a torch and pointed it towards the place where the sound came from. Under the light of the flickering fire, Cole saw that under a big tree five or six steps away from him, there was actually a wet little snow-white wolf cub lying on its stomach. .The cold and hungry little wolf shivered, raised his eyes to look at Cole, the silver eyeballs made Cole look familiar, so he knelt down and stretched out his hand to the little wolf cub, but the little wolf shook instead of running away. Tail, licking Cole's finger affectionately.

This feeling made Cole feel familiar, so he called out tentatively, "Palanche?"

Hearing the call, the little wolf cub snorted, shook his fur, and stood up crookedly, but soon fell to the ground, raised his head, and drooped his ears pitifully. Make a painful snort.

"Is it really Palanch?" Cole was surprised, blinked, and quickly hugged Palanch into his arms.

Only then did Cole realize that Palanch was frozen and his foot was injured and bleeding.

The bright red blood was all over the white fur, not just the feet. Cole noticed that the corner of Palanch's mouth was also bleeding, and his heart twisted. Cole carried Palanch into the house without thinking too much.

Palanch's leg was deeply wounded, the wound was deep to the bone, as if he had been severely scratched by something. Cole knew that if he didn't take care of it properly, Palanch might be disabled.When dressing the wound, Palanch curled up in pain when he lightly touched the wound, his eyeballs were moist, and he kept breathing in pain.

When preparing to apply the medicine, Cole found that the herbs to stop the bleeding at home were used up, and the night was still dark, so it was definitely not a good time to go out, so he could only stop the bleeding a little. Cole lit up the bonfire in front of him, hoping to let The little wolf cub felt warmer and forgot about the pain for a while.

Feeling the warmth, the little wolf cub in his arms squinted his eyes, and kept looking at Cole.

Cole's heart ached unceasingly, and seeing Palanch like this made him feel uncomfortable.

After touching the soft fur of the wolf cub, Cole raised his head, looked at Norman, and said softly, "I obviously sent him back today, but I didn't expect to follow him here again."

The gloomy Norman was silent for a moment, reached out to stir the bonfire, and whispered: "He has been staying outside the door since sunset."

"What?" Cole's eyes widened in surprise.

Why didn't he notice it at all?

Continuing to fiddle with the bonfire, Norman said, "He's afraid of me, so he doesn't dare to approach."

Hearing this, Cole couldn't help asking: "Did Norman realize it long ago?"

"Ah, the smell of blood is very strong, you can tell it when you smell it." Norman replied without hesitation.

"Why didn't you tell me?" To be honest, Cole complained a little, since he was aware of it, told himself earlier, Palanch might not delay the injury.

However, Norman raised his head, stared at Cole, and said coldly, "Why should I tell you?"

Cole looked at the indifferent Norman in disbelief, raised his voice slightly, and said with a frown, "How can you say such a thing."

"That's how I am." Norman withdrew his gaze, dropped the dry branch that was poking the bonfire, glanced coldly at the little wolf in Cole's arms, and snorted coldly, "This kid obviously wants to rely on you, do you think I will Are you happy because someone tried to steal you from me? I'm sorry, Cole, I can't do it, I'm a petty and selfish orc, I'm not kind, and I'm not generous, I just know you're mine, that's all.”

The atmosphere suddenly fell silent, Norman was muffled, but Cole didn't know how to answer.

From Norman's point of view, Norman does have his reasons, but...how can he refuse to save him?

Whatever the reason, Cole felt that Norman did something wrong, but Cole didn't want to upset Norman, so Cole took the lead in breaking the silence, saying, "At least you didn't stop me from bringing him in."

"That's because I know that no matter how I try to stop you, you will definitely bring him in." Norman paused, looked up at Cole, and continued, "I know Cole too well, and your heart is too soft. If I If you don't let this kid in, you might spend the night with him outside, I don't want you to be hurt, and I don't want to be hated by you, so I can only choose to be patient."

Norman, who is beyond the fire, is willful and self-willed, but unexpectedly, it is heart-stirring.

I never thought that Norman, who has always been wayward, would say these words. Under the cloak of waywardness, he was thinking about himself, because he was afraid of being cold and hated by himself, so he silently chose to endure, even if it was what he hated. Things, also endured.

Even though he couldn't agree with his actions, he couldn't hate him like this.

At least...he didn't chase Palanch away, did he?

Cole suddenly felt sore in his heart. Later, when he looked over, Norman's face was still gloomy, so he apologized softly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be angry with you just now."

But Norman straightened up, suddenly bent down and pinched Cole's nose: "Hmph, as long as you know." Then he got up and walked towards the door.

"Norman, where are you going so late?" Cole quickly stopped the person who was about to go out.

Norman turned his head, shrugged his shoulders, frowned and said, "Go and find medicine, the kid's feet will be limping if he doesn't take care of them."

"promise……?"

"Hmph, don't look at me with such a grateful expression, I'm not for him." The big hand suddenly rubbed Cole's head violently, Norman curled his lips, looking impatient, and turned his resolute chin, staring Cole, but his gaze was very gentle, "Stay here and watch that brat, don't make me worry."

threatening tone.

Standing at the entrance of the cave, Norman leaned on the rock wall and looked back at Cole, telling him, "Listen to me obediently, no matter what happens, don't go out, I'll be back soon."

"Yeah." Cole nodded slightly, "You have to be careful too."

Then, Norman's figure disappeared into the vast night.

Watching Norman leave, Cole looked down at the little wolf cub in his arms who kept throbbing and panting, and kept smoothing his fur with his hands, hoping to relieve some of his pain.

"Should it hurt?" Cole hugged Palanch and said distressedly, "It's such a strong little thing."

Hearing Cole's voice, the little wolf shook his ears and rubbed his head against Cole's arms.

"Why don't you go home?" Cole asked.

Palanch opened his eyes, looked at Cole, then shook his head, snorting lightly.

Smiling wryly and touching that little head, Cole couldn't help turning his gaze to the outside of the dark cave. The howling evening wind made his heart slowly start to become restless.

Why? ?