34
Orion did stay somewhat close to the city for a little while, as much
as is spooked him to do so. he'd
not found a stream in a long time, and his hunting skills were greatly
reduced by the scare he'd received.
While he got a hold of himself, heed have to stay close to a food supply.
On the fourth day of his exodus from the city, Orion woke up to see
that someone had been there. he
could smell them, and see some footprints. He woke up, alarmed,
and looked around...but found no one. What
if they reported him? What if they were on their way now with
nets and chains?
Shuddering at the thought, Orion gathered his supplies together and
dashed into the trees.
Not stopping until he thought he was a far distance form the city,
he finally did sit down and rest. He
would have to be more vigilant than he had been, or he was going to
get himself killed!
His shock and surprise were great, when a curious female voice said behind him,. "I know who you are."
He whirled around to see that he was looking at a young Mutant of the
jackal race looking at him
mildly. She was about his age, he realized, and he was staring
at her in shock, his jaw dropped nearly to his knees. Orion recoiled
when she reached out a hand to close his mouth.
The jackal looked a little surprised. "you're kind of jumpy, aren't
you? of course I guess if someone
had a bounty on me, I'd be touchy too." She smiled at him, leaning
casually against a tree.
"How...how did you find me?" he asked. His retreat had been fast,
and heed not heard her following
him.
The jackal laughed. "I've been going on hunting trips with my
father for years," she said. "I know all
the tricks. I've also been watching you hunt. You're not
very good at it, you know.
His initial surprise over, Orion scowled. "Hey, I-I've just started
doing it," he said defensively. "I never
had to do it before."
"You taught yourself then?"
Orion looked at her a moment longer, warily. "Yeah I guess...look
wh-who are you? You got friends
waiting around to jump on me...for that bounty?"
The jackal looked only mildly offended. "No. I have friends
who would, but I didn't tell them. I'm not
really interested in it."
Orion narrowed hs eyes., "You're a Mutant," he said, without really
thinking about it. "O-of course
you are." but then as soon as he said it, he felt bad.
Hintracrii would not have let anyone turn him in, and neither
would the parents of the little jackal girl he had met that one day
in the park.
Now the girl became angry. She growled, clenching her fists.
"Now listen here, cat," she spat at him.
"I thought that all the stories about you thinking yourselves better
than anyone else weren't true. I guess they
are. I could have your miserable hide dead in about thirty minutes,
you know!"
The girl's sudden outburst had made Orion flinch, despite himself. it was only a reaction.
Already having felt bad for his comment, he stammered, "I-I'm sorry,
I d-didn't mean... I mean usually..." But
looking at her angry face, he bit his lip. Would she turn him
in? he shouldn't have made her mad.
"L-look...don't turn me, in...please? Y-you know I will be killed
if you do." he guessed now he would see if
she cared whether an escaped Thunderian slave lived or not.
The jackal looked angry only a moment longer, and when she turned around
to see Orion's fearful
expression, she sighed. "No...it's all right. I'm not going
to turn you in." She considered, seeing the obvious
relief on Orion's face. "I guess you were a slave, they probably
didn't treat you so good, did they?" she said.
Relieved that she would not sic the Mutants of the town on him, Orion
shook his head. "No..." he said
quietly. "Th-they didn't."
There was an awkward silence for a few moments, during which Orion looked at the girl from the corner of his eye. He still didn't trust her but she had done anything yet that would signal she intended to harm him.
"Well look..." the girl finally said. "My name's Kwiri, it actually
means hyena, but my parents liked the
name, so they named me it. You...I have been watching you, and
maybe I can help you with your hunting?
There's prey around here, you just have to know how to find them, since
the terrain's easier for them to hide
in."
Orion frowned a little bit before finally saying quietly, "Why...would you help me?"
The girl considered a moment, then finally shrugged. "I don't
know. I guess I don't agree with all the
other adults in this place. I think cats are kind of neat, I
don't see what the problem is." She scowled. "And I
don't believe in slavery."
That right there was enough of a reason, Orion thought, and he smiled a little. "Yeah...I-I could probably use the help..." Then maybe he could move on.
The jackal grinned. "Well why don't you camp out where you have
been, and tomorrow I'll sneak away
from my father and come see you. It shouldn't be too hard, he
doens't always pay that much attention to me."
Orion nodded to her, and returned her wave as she left. "I'd pay
attention to you," he said quietly once
she was out of earshot, and felt his face turn red at the thought.
What the hell was he thinking, anyway? She
was just going to help him hunt. Shaking his head, he dug into
his pack for the jerky heed swiped the day before.
The next day, Orion woke up late in the morning, and saw no signs of
the jackal. Maybe she'd forgotten
about him? She couldn't have told her father or anyone else about
him, or he would have been captured by now. He shrugged and looked
in his pack to see what was there to eat...it was not much.
"Well it's about time!"
Orion whirled around for the second time in two days to see her cocky
grin. "Quit that!" he said,
closing his eyes. "You scared the kkrekk out of me."
Kwiri snorted. "Well you're probably gonna get caught if you don't learn how to tell if someone's following you or not."
The cat looked at her for a moment, and scowled. "Yeah? Well i thought y-you were the hotshot hunter. Why don't you teach me?"
She grinned amiably. "That's what I'm here for." then she
looked at him, considering. "Why do you
stutter?" she finally asked.
Taken off guard, Orion didn't say anything for a few seconds.
he really did not know how to take the
outgoing, spirited jackal that he was speaking with. his first
feeling was that he could trust her, and he thought
that he probably would like her if they spent any time together.
but she did seem to be pretty condescending at
times, and cocky. "W-well, I-I..." he stammered then growled
lightly at himself. "I...don't know," he said, which was not entirely
true,. he stammered, because he never knew when heed be smacked for
speaking or not...and that kind of thing was hard to kick.
Kwiri shrugged. "Well it doesn't matter, I was just curious. Come on...let me show you something."
Feeling somewhat irritated, Orion said nothing, but followed the girl to the edge of the grove of trees.
"See that little hole over there?" she said, and pointed to a tiny dark
spot in the sand. It took Orion a few
moments to see it, and if it had not been pointed out, he never would
have. the cat nodded. "Well that's a
dehata burrow, where they keep their young...and there's always young
with those things. They always cover
their burrows with sand like that, because that kind of sand deters
predators by masking the scent. You have
to have intelligence to find them...
Orion shook his head. "No. I won't kill a baby animal."
Kwiri blinked, a little surprised by the decisive way Orion had said
that. he hadn't stuttered or anything.
"Well...okay," she said. "If you're sure. they're a lot
easier to catch than the adults though."
"I said no!" Orion said, sounding suddenly angry. He closed his
eyes and willed himself to calm down.
Even he hadn't meant to bite her head off for it...they were only animals
to her. but Orion thought that killing a
baby animal was cruel, and wrong. And he had already vowed he
would never do it.
"All right, all right...no babies. Fine." but the
jackal didn't sound as mad as Orion thought she'd be. "I
guess there's nothing wrong with that...let me show you how to find
the adults then."
Orion nodded, not trusting himself to speak. did she maybe understand how he felt, even a little bit?
Throughout the day, Kwiri showed Orion many ways to locate his prey.
Some ways he had already
found for himself, but she showed him a good deal more than he had
known. She'd also tried to get him to feel
what it felt like to be watched. "We all got the instinct," she
said. "But you have to recognize it...it's kind of
like a shadow on your mind."
Orion had not known what she meant then, and he could tell she was getting
aggravated. "Sorry...I
guess I don't have the instinct. not smart enough I guess."
"Oh will you stop that? It's got nothing to do with being smart...and
besides you're smarter than most
Mutants I know. It's just...well, I don't know how to explain
it anymore. Maybe you'll know what I mean someday."
"Yeah..." Orion said, pleased that she thought him smart. "I hope so."
"Well...my father is probably expecting me for dinner," Kwiri finally
said. "You want to meet here
tomorrow?"
Orion smiled a title. "Yeah..."
"Okay...well I guess I'll see you then." And with hardly a whisper
of grass beneath her feet, she was
gone.
"I wish there were more people like her around," Orion said to himself
as he sat down to cook the dehata
Kwiri had helped him catch. he suspected that it was the mother
of the young in the burrow, but Kwiri had
assured him that dahatan never left their young under only one parent.
usually at least three were in charge of
taking care of them. She had also told him that the pregnant
females never left the burrows...this was after
Orion had suddenly had the thought that he had maybe killed an expectant
mother in his hunting and become
upset at the thought. It had set his mind at ease.
After eating. Orion again fell asleep.
Over the next couple three days, Kwiri came every day, late in the morning,
to teach Orion more about
what she knew best. And slowly, she began to get him to understand
what she was trying to teach. She'd never
taught before, but she liked it, even though she got impatient frequently.
but still, Orion had learned a lot, and
he was sure that it would help him.
During their time together, they talked quietly, usually when waiting
for a prey animal to show, or while
cleaning a kill. She had taught him how to easily skin and cook
the animals too, which was something Orion
was glad to learn. it was a lot easier than the way heed been
using! "So..." she said. "What's it like being a
slave anyway? I mean...do you just work, or...?"
Orion had blinked at her, surprised that she'd asked the question...and
he felt angry. "I-I don't want to
talk about it," he said to her, and had moved away from her in the
woods.
"Hey don't get so defensive...I just asked.
"Just asked? just asked! Y-you make it sound like it's nothing
to be a slave! D-d-do you know what
kind of things happen there? do you know what pain a-and-and...degradation
you go through?"
"No! That's why I asked!" Kwiri stood up, her hands on her hips.
"W-well...you don't' want to know!" Tears in his eyes, humiliated
with how he'd lost his cool like a
frightened child, Orion stalked angrily away.
Finding a quiet place in the trees, he sat down and tried to calm himself.
heed not often thought about
Blackmoor's place, trying to push it away in his mind, but now he did,
and it made him shake. He wondered
how long the memories and nightmare would haunt him like this.
After a few minutes, Orion frowned, as his feline instinct kicked in.
he felt almost exactly like Kwiri
had described it, like a shadow had fallen over his mind. "I-I
know you're there," he growled.
Kwiri stepped quietly form the trees, looking apprehensive. "I...guess
you're getting better at that," she
said. Orion said nothing, only looked away from her. "Look...I'm
sorry, okay? I know I'm pushy and nosy,
everyone says I am." She didn't speak as if she were ashamed,
only admitting a well known fact. "You don't
have to talk about anything you don't want to."
Orion turned to look at her, and then nodded. "Okay."
"So...am I forgiven?"
Orion laughed a title bit, and closed his eyes. "Y-yeah....you
are." No one had even asked his
forgiveness before...it felt strange to him.
"Well...good. Let's eat lunch then."
They did eat lunch, and soon their argument had been forgotten.
Time passed, and Orion thought that he might be making a friend in her.
She was spirited, bold,
unafraid, things he wished that he could be. And as they began
t trust each other more, Orion did begin to talk
of his life a title bit, here and there. This time, Kwiri did
not push him, only listened, sometimes with
amazement, sometimes with disgust. one day, Orion took off his
shirt, and told her to look at his back. The fur on his back, once
the only place where it was thick , was now rather ragged with scarring.
There were pat ches where fur woudln;t grow again, and the abuse he;d gone
through was evident. For once she'd been somewhat
speechless. "I...I never thought they'd..." she said. "I
mean i thought they only did that in stories. I've known
people with slaves, they didn't treat them that bad."
Orion was looking down at the ground as he put his shirt back on.
As he did, now that she was looking,
she scars on his arms too. "Well...a lot do. Mostly in
the slave complexes. That...that's why Ii don't like being
touched...or hit." She'd hit him once in play, and heed nearly
slashed her across the face in reflex. heed stopped
himself, and felt very embarrassed, but she had not done it again,
and thankfully had not said anything further
about it.
"Well...I can understand it now...a little bit. Just a little
bit." After a moment, she added, "I'm sorry...I
guess my kind isn't too nice after all."
"A lot isn't..." Orion said, then he looked up and wiped his eyes.
"But some are." Leaving it at that,
Orion stood. "I guess I'm ready to go on now.
It was the next day after that discussion when Orion woke up, feeling
something was wrong. He looked
up and heard Kwiri approaching, not bothering to be quiet like she
usually did. It was a test to see if he could
sense her before she got within attacking range, and he'd been getting
better. if he didn't open his eyes soon
enough, she pounced on him and tickled him! he was not very sensitive
to touch, thanks to his harsh life, but
she had managed to find a spot that was ticklish as all hell.
He nearly batted her head form her shoulders the
first time she did it, but she'd been too fast for him and he had begun
to tolerate it. It did ensure he was more
alert, even in sleep, and besides, it was kind of fun. Once he
got past the physical touch.
But now she did not pounce on him. "Look," she said, before the
young Thunderian could say anything.
"I...can't teach you today." The young jackal looked disgusted
as she sat down. "My father's been wondering
what I'm up to, gone every day like that...just when you don't want
them to pay you attention..." Kwiri shook
her head. "But anyway, he's suspecting something's up, especially
since I won't tell him anything. i don't
know what he think I am doing, but he probably thinks I'm seeing some
male..." She laughed. "Which is true I
guess..."
Orion felt vaguely embarrassed at the slight innuendo.
"But tomorrow...he is going out with some of his friends to look around
here. he followed me a couple of
times-" she held up a hand to still Orion's fearful reply "-he never
saw you, Im sure of it. but I think he thinks I
am meeting a male out here and he wants to find you. You should
be gone by tomorrow evening after his work
is finished. He tracks better than me."
Orion bit his lip as he looked at the ground. he was grateful
for Kwiri's warning...but he didn't want to
go. but he didn't say anything like that...all he said was, "O-okay."
he couldn't feel like this every time he had
to move on. He'd get caught like that...that's why you're not supposed
to get close to people, he reminded himself.
Kwiri looked at him for only a moment before standing. "Well...I
gotta go. He'll be wondering." The
jackal bent down and kissed Orion briefly on the cheek before running
back towards the town.
Orion stared after her, putting a hand to his cheek. He felt his face flush, and he felt strangely sad.
Biting his lip, he got up to his knees and began packing his things.
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