Chapter 4: More to Come

"It's alright," I said slowly approaching the huddled few. "Everything's alright."

One of the women spoke up. She, like the others, was dressed in rags and clearly malnourished. She held a bundle of cloth in her arms, tightly pushing her child to her breast. "Please, don't let them hurt my baby."

"They won't hurt anyone," I assured, approaching the humans like I would our scarred livestock. San began to tap her foot in annoyance, unwittingly causing the ground to shake. A stern look from Duke made her stop. The two titanic creatures were as large as the tallest building in the town. The houses that they were currently surrounded by dwarfed them. The leopard was the only one who stood however, the wolf used a small stone building as a seat. "They won't hurt you, I promise."

The people were scared and clearly not to bright. It never occurred to them that if either Duke or San wanted to eat them, they would simply scoop them up and, well, eat them. It took several minutes, but eventually one of the men came forward into the open. When neither colossal creatures made a move, more followed.

"What do you want?" asked a man. He was afraid to look up at Duke when he asked so his head hung low.

"He only wanted to defeat the god so the leopard may be free. They'll leave, but you must swear that you will never worship another god again. If you do, they'll be forced to come back and lay siege to your city."

Duke felt sympathy for these people, knowing what is was like to be abandoned, beaten, and alone. Deep down, San felt the same. However, neither would permit another god to gain power, and thus endanger them.

Duke lowered his paw to the ground, and I climbed onto the palm. Many people gasped in amazement as I was lifted up and placed gently into the pouch. The wolf turned his back on the humans, growled, then set off for town he called home. I was about to drift to sleep inside the small bag when I noticed San was walking beside us. Sitting down and looking out the little hole, I could only see her furry thigh, rear, and tail, but I assumed it was her. How many fifty foot tall leopards would Duke allow to walk right beside him?

"Zanniber was afraid you're rebellion would inspire me," said the feminine, feline voice. "That's why he sent me to kill you. More gods will get scarred; more of their servants will come. What should we do?"

"The gods will not band together to kill us," said my master. "Their petty hatreds and dislikes will see to that. So, each god will send their own creatures to kill us. Those that want to be free, we will help. Those that don't, we will kill. It's simple as that."

"Are you sure it was wise to allow any of the humans to live?"

"No. But they lost faith in one god, and they saw what we can do. I doubt very much that they'll call forth another any time soon."

The gentle rocking as Duke walked stopped and a pair of fingers sincerely lifted me out of the sack and placed me before my mansion. "Sleep well," Duke whispered, before he and the spotted cat set out to the square where they'd sleep.