Thank you for all the reviews so far! And for the guest who left the riddle- -it's much appreciated, I find them hilarious. Looking forward ta seeing if ya got anymore, haha. Any who, here's chapter 10.
I own nothing but my shoes and my laptop.
It was drawing late in the day by now. Birds outside called for companionship, lonely with the almond shaped leaves of nut and pine trees. The low bubble of a stream drifted through cold shafts of sunlight. Tentatively, a cricket hiding in the tall grass tested the early evening. It dared a second chirp, then a third, when a crow swooped down to investigate. The cricket, deciding it'd enjoyed enough bravery for the day, returned to quiet and the crow was left pecking at clean blades of wet grass.
Eventually, the crow's attention drifted, focusing on bigger and brighter things, such as a strange ring of shiny beside a human corpse. Usually, the crow would dive straight for the shiny thing, but for the time it was cautious. This was because the corpse, though small compared to others of its kind, lay very, very near an old Human nest. That, and cautious meant not being dead. Not being dead appealed to the crow a great deal.
Studying the area around and, finding it clear of potential enemies, the crow came closer to the corpse. Since nothing moved, it dared a bit closer, before just going straight for the shiny. It started picking at where it connected, making sure to keep one eye on the dead and the other on the nest's opening. But, no matter what the crow did, the shiny refused to come off that black little bag. Frustrated from both the lack of cricket and shiny, the crow squawked, coming close to the corpse, itching for an eye or two.
It flared wildly as a dog blasted toward it, snarling. Neko stood atop his master's chest, tall with head high and ears erect. It painted a dramatic picture, the dog guarding his human master while she lay unconscious under a chilly evening sun. As to why she was unconscious... That remained unknown. As well as how long. Neko stood guard while waiting.
He was a dog. Dogs waited.
Soon enough, another crow came by and he barked at that one too. It flew off. Pleased with himself, Neko returned to waiting.
What for? For his master, of course. Good dogs waited for their masters for everything, and Neko was a good dog. His master was better though. She could walk on two legs, and talk to other scary humans, and make food. Sometimes, if he was good, he would get to taste it, too. Because he'd recently gotten some yummy yellow stuff, he knew he was a good dog. This dog yearned to be a good dog.
Another crow! Neko leapt after it, challenging it to just try, when it flew away. Tail raised high, he bounded right back onto his master's chest and settled between the straps of her dress. She lay awful still, but he was a good dog and would wait. Now, do not misunderstand. Neko had a smartness to him. He may not understand most commands or human speech, or where the wind came from, but he did know that his master should not sleep the way she did now. What she did now felt wrong. Alive, he knew her to be, but for what reason did she sleep so soundly?
The yellow thing! She had eaten that yellow thing!
Neko jumped, sniffing quickly around her mouth. It didn't smell like poison... But he then remembered he also ate the yellow thing, to make sure it was safe, and it tasted good so that must mean the yellow thing was fine. Whining, puzzled, Neko sat down again, watching the tall grass. His master liked long grass. She liked to stare at it for long times. Usually in the middle of the day. Or the morning. Or the evening, if she could find some.
He shook his head, berating himself for getting distracted. His only goal should be to understand why his master stayed caught in this unnatural sleep when just before, she'd been happy and fine. She'd made the yellow stuff in that big house, talked to a scary human, eaten what looked like white bug-shells. Then, when many loud humans ran inside, she came out to this long grass, and fell down.
She'd yet to get back up. That is why he was worried. But, he didn't have the answers, so he would wait for her. Absolute confidence, he had. And he would wait for that confidence to be proven true, and when it did, he would still continue being a good dog because that is what good dogs did. They waited, and they served, and they waited again.
He jerked up. A bulky, limp body smashed through one of the windows, hitting the ground hard, splattering glinting shards of glass. Neko rose to guard, lips curled with a quiet growl, cautious but eager to fight any potential threats. And, from the looks of the limp human's bloody face just a mere ten feet away, there was a definite threat.
The body wheezed in a scratchy, squeaking tone. Neko leapt between it and his master, hackles raising. As he did, more humans burst from the building, garbling speech his direction, and one in particular was the scary human female his master had fed the yellow thing to. His claws dug into the earth, growl raising till he felt certain she would hear and stop coming toward them. She stopped. More of a pause, actually, with a quizzical glance at him, then his sleeping master.
A massive shadow suddenly rose from the forest to swallow the earth. The sky itself turned dark with it, and Neko became afraid. Not of the shadow, for he could see it came from a huge white fish-cloud, or because all the humans had started garbling at each other, fervently pointing to the cloud, but because there was a human falling from the cloud. They, he could sense, were powerful. The same trickle of feeling he'd gotten from his master when he first saw her was rolling in waves from this strange, falling human, who was right above them.
And his master was still asleep.
Ferociously, he snarled, running onto his master's unconscious, drifting chest to howl. Surprised, the falling man looked down and a second before he landed, he moved so his feet slammed on either side of Neko's master. As the dust settled, only the noise of Neko's low growling and the few coughs of nearby humans littered the air. When the man became visible again, his robes were clean and white, like his hair. His age was evident. All of a sudden he started garbling nonsense, hooking Neko by the back of his scruff to hold at eye height.
Apparently there wasn't much to look at but Neko kept right on growling even as the old human laughed, yet he was set down easily and no further pursuit of him occurred. Rather, the old human simply walked over to that scary female girl to garble nonsense at her. She garbled nonsense back. Eventually, they started for the fish cloud, which had come down from the sky after the falling man, but far by the treeline rather than the tall grass. The woman paused, turned to garble something else at all the humans around, and they all started in for the fish-cloud. Even the bloody-faced man stumbled inside.
Neko huffed. Settled on his master's chest, content to watch the fish-cloud thing fill with humans. Right as the last few were moving in, one abruptly stopped to look at him, stock still. It was a recognizable human, a tall one with wide shoulders and shiny things on his face, by his eyes. He carried a box with him wherever he went, as he did now, jogging toward them with long legs. For one reason alone did Neko refrain from growling; this man was one he knew his master liked. For that, he would let him come near.
The big man did just that, even going so far as to crouch beside his master and touch her arm and neck. He too garbled nonsense. Then, carefully lifting one of her arms, he guided her onto his back. Neko allowed him that, but made sure to stay close as the man trotted over to the huge fish-cloud thing, where there were stairs strapped onto the side, leading to an open door. When they started up the stairs, the big man was stopped by that older fellow from earlier. None too soon, his master lay in the arms of that powerful, scary old man.
A man who laughed at him, flipping his master like a dog toy.
He lunged for a heel. Then for the other, since the first moved. Bolting up the steps right after them, Neko scrambled to sink his fangs into any form of that man's flesh. Led by the nose like a dog (which he was), teased down unfamiliar, red carpet hallways...Neko's only drive hung on his limp master, hanging precariously over the shoulder of that terrible old human. He brought them through another door, then, still avoiding every attack Neko threw. Almost carelessly, the old man tossed Neko's master on a cushion. And then he began...inspecting, perhaps, her? Neko didn't care. The man was touching what wasn't his and wasn't awake enough to fight back. So Neko would defend. Good dogs defended their master.
He never landed a hit.
Soon, the old man left, and Neko became left with his master in the small, square room, alone.
He growled at the door.