48

The third day after the carnival's end saw Jaguarin in the forest, trying to find where Orion's little home was.
He had already been walking for a good half hour, and was getting aggravated. He should have gotten some
form of directions through the tree-maze.

But soon he caught site of what looked like a man-made structure, and approached it. Seeing a one-room
building, he smiled, thinking that this must be it. Orion wasn't there, but had said that if he wasn't, he would be
back within an hour, since he was almost always back before dark.

As it was, the jaguar waited only ten minutes or so before he heard Falcon's odd little howling sound.
He stood up from where he'd sat in the grass and grinned as Orion came out of the woods, two dehata-like
creatures in his hand. He didn't know what they were called, but they tasted similar, only they were not quite as
timid. "Hey, Orion. I never thought of you as the hunter type."

Orion chuckled a bit sadly as he lay the two animals down. "Well, it was either that or die of starvation," he said.

Jaguarin's grin faded, and he nodded. "I suppose that's true," he said. "Um, are you going to skin those?"

"Well, I'm not going to eat them with their fur on."

Jaguarin grimaced. "I...am going to, uh, come back when you're done, is that all right?"

Orion chuckled. "Of course. Give me a half hour or so. I can scrape the hides later."

Jaguarin looked rather ill, and moved quickly away while Orion began his task.

When the meat was on the fire, Jaguarin and Orion sat on a large log nearby. Orion had flattened it on
the bottom and top, making a primitive bench. both were quiet at first, as Jaguarin was letting Orion take his time.

Finally, the young man spoke. "They took us to a ship," Orion said. "They took my parents to a
different one." He stared into the fire as he spoke, its flames flickering warm orange light onto his face. The
sun was dipping below the horizon., and soon the fire would be all the light they had.

"Do you know what happened to them?" Jaguarin asked.

Orion shook his head. "I got thrown into a room with a bunch of other prisoners. We stopped at
several places, until just a few of us were left..." He looked at Jaguarin. "You ever hear of a Mutant named
Blackmoor?"

Jaguarin frowned. "I've heard the name. Some bigshot jackal, am I right?"

"Yes. He is in close with the government and military. He owns a huge complex, run by him and his
taskmasters. He supplies the Military with vehicles, often, gasses for gas warfare., sometimes money. He's got
mines, hangars...all kinds of enterprises." Orion sighed, thinking of the dismal complex that had been his home
for such a long time. "Most of these are powered by slaves, it's a slave complex is what it is. A work camp."

Jaguarin stared. "You were enslaved?" Orion nodded, opening his hand, which bore Blackmoor's brand. Jaguarin stared at it, horrified. "My gods, Orion. You were just a child!"

"Yeah. He had children there. Still does, I guess. Easier to control, easier to train. They fit in the
mines, and other smaller places." Orion couldn't help but shudder at this. "He had adults there. mostly
Mutants and humans. No Thunderians. He sold the others he had." He looked towards the town. "That's why seeing so many seems odd to me. Even unnerving. I was more Plundaarian than Thunderian, living so long there."

"You lived as a slave all this time?" Jaguarin looked completely horrified at the prospect. he had
noticed some of the visible scars on Orion's body, and had not thought they could be what they looked like:
whip scars. But apparently they were.

Orion shook his head. "No, not the whole time. I tried escaping twice; the first time I got caught and
punished for it. I was nine. I think. The second time we tried, we made it, I was thirteen then, I'm pretty sure.
I've been able to keep almost accurate track since then."

"What'd he do to you?"

But Orion shook his head darkly, turning the spit on which his kills were cooking. "He hurt me. Bad.
That's all I want to say about it." Jaguarin nodded agreeably.

"You said 'we'...who else escaped with you?"

Orion hesitated here before answering. "The first time it was me and two other Mutants. Slaves," he
quickly amended. "A simian and a hyena...I'd made friends with them. But after two escape attempts, he kills
you, and Tamarin died."

"Gods...he was the simian?" Orion nodded. "But the hyena wasn't killed?"

Orion shook his head. "No. After we were forced to watch Tamarin's execution, we were sent for
punishment, and then eventually back to our normal chores. He was named Hyder, three years older than I was.
He looked after me from the beginning, and we became very good friends. But the second time we escaped, we
got separated, and I didn't see him again for a long time. I never knew exactly what happened to him, but I didn't think he had been caught. I hoped not."

The pair was silent for a few moments as Jaguarin took all of this in. Orion stared at the fire. Finally,
Jaguarin asked, "Where did you go? There are no free Thunderians on Plundaar, are there?"

Orion shook his head. "No. At first I went to the home of a rat Mutant. A few years before, Blackmoor had
sent me there to work for a couple of months. She gives her servants vacation, and during that time she pays for
the services of one of Blackmoor's slaves. He asked me because I had behaved well for months. She was kind. She tried to buy me from Blackmoor when she saw how the damtadd treated me, but he wouldn't sell. She taught me how to dog-paddle, a little bit. Wish I could have stayed there." He sighed. Blackmoor had not let him go back, even though Hintracrii had requested him. Too pissed about his first escape attempt, he guessed.

"This is...it's weird," Jaguarin said. "I never heard of decent Mutants before..." He frowned, and then
cocked his head. "What's a damtadd?"

At this, Orion actually laughed. "Damtadd. A curse. It means 'bastard'."

Jaguarin also laughed. "Plundaarian...of course you'd speak it. You probably got in trouble if you
spoke Basic."

"No...but I got in trouble if someone gave me a command in Plundaarian and I didn't obey it. Most the
taskmasters translated, but some were just sadistic jerks. And Blackmoor didn't take ignorance of the language as an excuse to disobey. So I learned it pretty fast."

Jaguarin shuddered. "Jeez...you really...that's unthinkable, my friend."

"Yeah. He never fed me enough, either, and he's the reason I'm terrified of water. Anyway. After I
escaped, I hung about the towns, stealing what I needed here and there at night. Met a jackal kid who taught
me some about hunting, and eventually I got good at it. Lives in the wilds for years, and I was happy there.
Ran into a few problems here and there, but I was mostly happy. I was free, didn't have to worry about being
beaten for screwing some minute thing up." he turned the spit again, then put his chin in his hands. "Met
Falcon less than a year ago, just barely born, from what I could tell. Caught in a vine that has sticky...sap or
something that ensnares its prey, I hate those damned things. I freed him and we've been friends ever since."

Jaguarin smiled, petting the friendly little hyena cub, who looked up curiously. he had already eaten
while Orion was hunting, a held found a little rodent like creature that Falcon particularly liked. But now the
cub was looking expectantly at Orion. "It's not done yet, cub, be patient." But Orion knew the cub had no
patience. He laughed and ruffed Falcon's mane. Falcon gave him an indignant look and lay back down.

"Wow..." Jaguarin said at last. "That...it's...it's amazing, Orion. I couldn't have done what you did.
I'd have gone mad within a month." he looked at Orion, who seemed mildly surprised. "You've got a lot of
courage, I think."

Orion blinked, but then he smiled a little. "Thanks," he said quietly. "I didn't used to. I used to think
that all the things my mas-" He cut off, growling silently at himself for the slip. "-my captor said of me were
true. I thought I got in trouble all the time because I was to stupid or incompetent to do things right." He tossed
a bit of wood into the fire. "It's still surprising when someone says something to the contrary. "

Jaguarin looked at him for a moment, then tentatively put an arm around the smaller cat. Orion tensed
for a moment, then accepted the gesture, smiling a bit. "Thanks."

Jaguarin grinned, let go, and eyed the meat, which was smelling really good. "How long until that's
done?" he asked.

Orion laughed. "Oh yeah...you were the eternal stomach, weren't you?" Jaguarin's question had brought forth this from his memory. "You always liked to eat."

Pleased that his friend remembered, Jaguarin stuck out his gut proudly. "Yep! And the envy to all the
girls in upper school because I never gained much weight because of it."

"It's nearly done cooking," Orion assured him. "One for you, one for me."

"Cool. Thanks." A companionable silence ensued then, and Orion was surprised that he felt better
having told his tale.

"So how'd you get here? I mean King Claudus himself is who told everyone here to let you be."

Orion smiled. "That... That's a long story. Not long after I found Falcon, I met up with Hyder again..."
Orion told the story of how he;d met up again with Blackmoor, and of how Hyder had helped him escape death.

Jaguarin was listening quietly, his eyes wide as the stories of what Orion had been through were told.
He didn't speak, only let Orion continue,

"Hyder brought me back...well I can't say a whole lot about him. But he brought me somewhere safe, and
helped me get a ship I could escape in. An old military ship that had been released from duty and was available
to the citizens. Easy to fly, and the auto pilot did the rest." He laughed, a little bitterly this time. "I almost
couldn't go through with it. I'm terrified of small places, too. Again, thanks to Blackmoor." Orion moved the
food away from the heat to cool down a little bit before he handed one over on a sharpened stick to Jaguarin.
"Had some problems when I got into Thunderian airspace, though."

Jaguarin took the meat, and cocked his head. "Why?" he asked.

"Well, I was in a Mutant ship. I was asleep when they hit me with warning shots, and blared over the
radio that I had better pick up else they'd blast me into many pieces."

"But...couldn't they tell you were Thunderian?"

"No visual."

"But your voice-" Orion was ready to correct him, but he soon saw it was not necessary. Jaguarin had
realized it on his own. "I see what you mean."

"Yeah. They were all ready to execute me as a spy or a traitor, I think. Even when I told them I had
been a slave, they thought I had turned to gain my freedom."

"So how'd you convince them otherwise?"

"Truth serum and lie detectors. The king himself actually wanted to meet me." Orion shook his head.
"It was a shock to me, that someone in so high a station would treat me with respect. he helped me get my
home built, he said it was the least he could do. he hadn't been able to stop the Mutants from killing people..."
he sighed. "Not that there was anything anyone could have done, anyway. Hyder says we haven't really fought
for five years. Not openly."

Jaguarin nodded. "We haven't. it's kind of a stalemate. But there's people working on trying to get
some kind of official cease fire. Peace talks, and all." He picked a piece of meaty off his meal and ate it. "Not
likely. Not with those miserable bastards over there. They like to kill too much."

Orion frowned. "Not all of them!" At Jaguarin's surprised look, Orion relented a little. "Sorry...it's just
that everyone around here thinks they're all murdering bastards... They're not. it's just that the people in
control of the planet are, and they persecute everyone else." He paused, then continued. "People like
Hyder...there's a whole organization that wants peace, that wants to end slavery. Even the woman, the rat
Mutant, said she believed I was treated wrongly...I think she may have had serious thoughts about rallying for
the end of slavery, too."

The jaguar was quiet for a long time, only taking a bit of meat here and there as he thought. "You're
right," he said finally, his voice low. The sun had set, and it was dark all around them, the cheerful fire their
only light. "Thunderians tend to be judgmental at times, unfortunately." He laughed a bit ruefully.
"Including me. I'm sorry." Orion nodded and began on his own supper, giving a bit to Falcon every now and
then. "I'd like to meet this Hyder someday," Jaguarin said. "I'd like to meet the man who showed such honor
and courage."

Orion smiled, then. "Me too. He said he'd look me up. Hopefully that day will come soon."

After Orion had told his story, the talk went to lighter subjects. He told Jaguarin a few of the things
that Hyder and he had spoken of while working for Blackmoor. He told him about the conversation about the
race, and the bra.

"Holy shit, I remember that!" Jaguarin exclaimed, and laughed. "I remember you and I whispered about
it the next day!"

Orion grinned. "Yep! I remembered I wanted to be a racer, very badly." He told Jaguarin of some of the
more amusing things that had happened to him, and the jaguar told Orion things that had happened to him in
school, and how his life had turned out. "I'm a leatheresmith," he said with a grin. "I was an apprentice for a
few years before my master retired, and I too over." Then he blinked. "Um, maybe I shouldn't use the word
master."

"It's all right. Hyder held an apprenticeship, and he said he had some problems with the word, too. But
his teacher was a good person, at least." Orion chuckled. "I miss him a lot, though. We always thought we'd
always stick together. but then we lost each other in the escape." The two young men were finished eating
now, and lay down in the grass, looking up through the trees at the stars.

"Yes. Things happen a lot. But at least you're both free," he said.

"Yeah."

They talked a bit more, Orion telling Jaguarin of some of the creatures of Plundaar, and teaching him a
couple of Plundaarian cuss words. Jaguarin laughed and taught Orion their Thunderian counterparts. This childish conversation took a few moments of their time, and managed to put both in a better mood.

Soon, though, Jaguarin stood. "I should head back, I have to work tomorrow at the shop."

Orion also stood, and hesitantly held out his hand. When Jaguarin grasped it, Orion said "Ah, hell with
it," and drew Jaguarin in to embrace him.

Jaguarin smiled and squeezed Orion tight. "I missed you for a long time," he said. "I always feared
you were dead."

Orion sighed. "I never knew what happened to you. Hell, I was so terrified, I hardly had time to think
about anything."

Jaguarin stood back. "I believe it."

"Yeah. Well, I'll see you in town then, Jags." Orion blinked, the name having popped up, and he
laughed. "I remember that. I couldn't pronounce your name."

The jaguar laughed aloud. "That's right...I forgot about that. I hate that nickname." But before Orion
could say anything, Jaguarin held up his hand. "But for you? Special deal. You can have the honor of being the
only cat alive allowed to call me Jags."

Orion blinked, and then laughed, giving his old friend a shake of the head. "I am honored," he said,
laughing. "It's a deal."

The two friends parted, then, and Jaguarin headed back for town. Orion went to sleep with a light heart
that night.

Chapter 49

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