The morning appeared with an increase in invisibility of Solomon and Leo"s surroundings. They took turns keeping watch after the disturbance. While Solomon was sleeping, Leo would keep watch, and while Leo was sleeping, Solomon would keep watch. The night proceeded without further incidents.During one shift before dawn, Leo sat down on his bottom with his head looking up, while his hands supported his body. His legs lay sprawled, the left stretching and the right curled toward the south.
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He stared straight up into the sky and said in a low whisper, "Why?"
Leo"s right arm clawed at the leather sewn into his skin. The magic wires traveled in and out of his skin, sending magic pulses of energy in sync with the rhythm of his heartbeat. Leo felt the enchanted wire send pulses through his heart. They skewered him, you know; they wove the enchanted wire through his heart and sinew and tissues and organs, to ensure he would never take them out without risking death.
Leo clutched the skin still exposed to the sunlight. He clawed the inward parts of his flesh with his nails once he broke through the the surface of his neck. He didn"t dig too deep: he still wanted to live. He didn"t want to die yet...
Throughout his shift, Leo looked up at the clouds that congealed and seemed to be one ma.s.s in certain places. Leo stared at the blue blood on the road he and Solomon would have to traverse during the day, and he couldn"t help but wonder, "Will that be my blood someday? Blue like the sky, unseen until something or someone breaks through the layers... What am I even thinking? I flunked poetry cla.s.s!" The clouds turned and churned and grew brighter. Leo knew daylight was coming, and so did Solomon.
Solomon picked up his white hair with brown dirt on it. The prairie dirt mixed with his beard to create a homeless or eccentric look, depending on how one perceives him.
The old man, laying on the ground, stretched one arm and yelled, "It"s morning!"
"How long were you awake?" said Leo.
Solomon"s eyes darkened; he said, "For a few minutes..."
Leo didn"t say a thing.
Solomon said, "Okay! An hour... You happy?"
Leo didn"t say a thing.
"What"s your goal Leo?"
Leo didn"t respond.
"You know," Solomon said, "Everyone needs a goal."
"Leave me alone..." said Leo.
"It"s what keeps you alive."
"Leave me alone!" Leo said.
Solomon"s eyes twinkled, while he hopped up and said, "Forgive this old man! Now, cheer up! We have a long journey ahead of us."
Leo sighed. He patted his cheeks with both hands. He then felt refreshed and decided to get rid of this heavy mood he adopted. picked up himself up and launched himself onto the horse.
The horse staggered a bit and eventually decided to throw him off with one swift lift.
"Easy now," said Solomon, "He meant no harm."
Solomon turned toward Leo and said, "Don"t treat Martha like that."
Leo apologized to Martha, and he and the old man continued their journey through the prairie, where wind pushed the tall, golden gra.s.s back and forth, where hills stooped not too low and not too high, where buffalo grazed, where wolves and buzzards surrounded the corpses of the one-hundred and fifty bandits.