The Visitor Read Free Page A

curiosity.
    “ You’re asking yourself what this thing is, maybe... It’s a glove. Dad wants me to wear it to avoid being bitten. But, I'll remove it, because I trust you, I know that you won’t bite me if I don't scare you.”  
    Pressing his back against the bars behind him, he looked at her removing the object. He seemed exhausted. She waved her fingers while returning her hand into the cage.
    “ I'm not afraid, see. Especially, don't tell Dad! He would be very angry with me. You may be hungry and thirst... Thirsty, for sure! I'll give you something to drink.”  
    Under the bov’s still very attentive eyes, she lifted a container and filled a small cylindrical vessel that she passed between two bars. She put the receptacle down and drew her hand back ten centimeters only, hoping that he would come closer to her.
    “ Come and drink. Don't be afraid of my hand. It’s uncovered and holds no weapon. You see? Come! Trust me.”  
     
    *
     
    Etos listened to the high pitched chattering emitted by the lightning-slayer with perplexity. He never had until now the opportunity to hear these strange chirping sounds for so long. And for good reason! Better, in fact, to quickly flee when one of them approached. Indeed fear gave the best advice as to what action should be taken in such cases: run as fast as possible and hide. However, in the unusual situation in which he found himself, unable to follow this recommendation since he couldn’t flee, it was perhaps for this reason that curiosity had been able to take over from fear. So, he was listening to this chattering with a sort of fascination. Despite terrible pain burning in his flesh and anxiety that clenched his gut, he lent an ear and observed the creature with the greatest attention. In doing so, he conceived little by little the idea that it was speaking to him, that it was intentionally addressing him in order to communicate. As this idea went from being an assumption to that of quasi-conviction, his curiosity grew. How was it possible? Why did this lightning-slayer give him such importance? It didn't carry the thing that bangs and kills. Perhaps it would kill him later but, instead, for the moment anyway, it gave him water. He realized that he was very thirsty. The lightning-slayer continued to whistle softly. It didn’t seem aggressive. By its attitude, it even seemed to be doing everything to reassure him, to invite him to come near to drink. Was this a trap? Why would this be so since it had the means to strike him down with a single gesture using something that bangs and kills? All lightning-slayers had one, normally... According to what he had been told at least. In any case, this creature knew the one that had injured him by using such an object to bang him. So he had to be wary. He looked at the water and then the strange hand that remained near the container and hesitated. Why didn’t the lightning-slayer withdraw completely its fingers from there? Advancing very cautiously, without leaving his eyes off the hand, he grimaced in pain. The slightest of movements woke up pain in his injuries. The hand didn’t move. Its owner hadn’t stopped to produce the high-pitched wheezing, characteristic of this species of creatures, but its demeanor remained calm. It made no sudden movement. It seemed as if it was seeking to reassure him, at least that’s what he felt. He crawled a little more towards the water while meditating on the fact that it didn’t need to trap him to cause him harm since he was already at its mercy. It was by reassuring himself this way that he came so close to the container that it was now sufficient to stretch an arm to grab it. At this point, he looked at lightning-slayer in the eye and slowly advanced his fingers, ready to quickly retrieve them on the slightest suspicious movement.
    A breath of wind brought him a familiar scent that caught his attention; without a doubt, it was the smell of his own kind. Perhaps distracted by the