Chapter 8: Into Arisota's Hold We Go
Within the property of a farm, a small hole was populated by some yinglets and a hill-dog. One fuzzy head popped out of the hole, which belonged to Flick. After Flick left the hole, multiple yinglets followed silently after him. After several minutes of soft chin scritches, which felt like months to me, Dutchess finally felt comfortable enough to begin sleeping. I followed after the leaving yinglets a minute later. I just hope Dutchess won't follow after us.
The regroup point was located within Farmer Climp's barn. There was a small portion of the barn's outside wall that was slightly rotten and eroded, which was hidden by some crates and barrels. Flick and his scouts went through it, while I entered the barn last. As I entered, I noticed in the darkness that all of the yinglets were looking at me. Flick was also looking at me, but was also incredibly irate.
I smiled weakly and scratched the back of my head. "Well... Um... So zhat happened?"
Flick hissed and shook his head. "You just made our mission so much more difficult, Roy."
I shook my head. "Okay, but to be honest, Yogs was zhe one zhat was pulled into zhat hole in zhe ground."
Yogs whined at me. "Zhat is true, but I no want to be getting blamed for getting caughts!"
Flick huffed, but sighed a second later. "We still have a mission to do. But now, zhe mission has become more difficult, because we now have to worry about going into zhe beast-tamer's headquarters to learn why zhey are rounding up hill-dogs."
The scouts tilted their heads and talked amongst each other. "Do we knows why za beast-tamers is rounding up za hill-dogs?" "I don't know. Zhis is new." "Iz it a bad new?" "I dunno." "Do we go back home now?"
Flicked turned to his scouts. "We do not have a lot of time available to us. Arisota's Hold is a big place, and we can't go to zhe Beast-Tamer's kennels and look for our missing patriarch afterwards." He turned to Yogs. "Yogs. You take half of zhe scouts. Your group will be in charge of looking for Mazhink. I believe he should be close to zhe Larrow Viggs Statue. Look for Mazhink inside zhe buildings around zhere. Stay away from zhe guardsmen and don't get caught. Be as sneaky as you can be, and eavesdrop when you can!"
Yogs made a small gasp. "Sounds very scary." He then nodded. "But I do zhis, yes yes!"
He then turned to me. "And as for you, Roy. You're going to stick wizh me and my half of zhe scouts as we visit zhe kennels, which is next to zhe Beast-Tamers guild."
I blinked as I looked between Yogs and Flick. "Uh... Okay. You make it sound like it's very dangerous zhere."
"Zhat's because it is." Flick replied, folding his arms behind his back and pacing. "It's where zhey tame, train, and breed hill-dogs. If zhose hill-dogs so much as get a whiff of our scent, zhen our sneaking mission will be discovered. And zhat is bad."
Oh hell. That is bad. Bad for me. If I so much as get caught once, then I would fail this stealth mission. AND Flick's evaluation.
"Oh no! Zhat means we gotta rub dirt into our pits again!" One of Flick's scouts complained.
Flick rolled his eyes. "Yes yes, we always need to be careful around hill-dogs. Especially trained ones. Yogs. Zhat also means you need some more dirt too. You got slobbered on by zhat hill-dog earlier."
Yogs chuckled and looked down. "Oh yes yes, I remember zhat happening to me. It was very scary. But I also remembers zhat hill-dog's name is Duchess. I am happy I not get ated."
Flick clapped his hands with a look of determination. "Right. Let's go to zhe field, rub some dirt on ourselves, split into two groups, and zhen go to our objectives. Let's move!"
I followed after Flick and began asking another question. "So how come I'm no longer teaming up wizh Yogs?"
"Yogs is a smart and sneaky yinglet. He knows when to duck his head out of trouble when trouble comes close. But as for you tagging along wizh my team and not wizh him anymore, it's because I still need to evaluate you. You haven't failed you evaluation just yet, even if we did get spotted by zhat dumb girl and her dog." Flick said as he lead me and the sneaking yinglets to a plot of tilled soil in Climp's farmland.
I nodded. "Ah. So I guess zhis means I get to learn some sneaking tips from zhe Patriarch of Sneaking himself. Right. I see zhis as a good zhing. ... So why did you pair me wizh Yogs in zhe first place?"
"I can't hear myself zhink if I talk aloud, and teaching you about how to sneak while going zhrough zhe outer perimeter would alert zhe hill-dogs." Flick explained. "Also, Yogs speaks more quietly zhan me. Now shut up and raise your arms. I'll need to put some dirt in your fur."
I blinked as I raised my arms up, letting Flick rub dirt into my pits. "Wait. Why didn't you put dirt in my fur before now?"
"Because you didn't smell as bad before we left. Zhat, and you smell like a hill-dog. Now SHUT UP and let me do zhis." Flick hissed.
Yogs smiled dumbly at me. "Can I have Roy rub my pits wizh dirt pretty please?"
I blinked. "Uh. Sure? I suppose?"
After a quick, yet laborious, application of dirt upon our persons, Yogs went ahead with his group of scouting yinglets. Me, Patriarch Flick, and his yinglet scouts, were to go to the beast-tamer's guild. Or to be more precise, the hill-dog kennel, a building next to it.
As we approached Arisota's Hold, I couldn't help but take in the sights. Many of the buildings were barely illuminated by the glow of a slowly traveling moon, while the inner districts had lantern light lighting the streets. Arisota's Hold was surrounded by various houses, while the 'hold' itself was a huge stone edifice carved out from one of the smaller mountains that belonged to the Indrel Mountains.
Arisota's Hold was divided into five districts.
The first district is shaped like a crescent ring, and it's where all commoners, criminals, and homeless folk live. It used to be called the housing district, but it was given a more fitting nickname when the nobles of the past trampled and stomped on their subjects anytime they evaded or refused to pay taxes. To the people that live there, it's colloquially known as 'The Step'.
The second district is slightly more elevated compared to the first, and many of its structures and facilities were focused on crafts and constructions. Day in and day out, the people work hard in this district in order to make their daily bread. Most of the people who work in this district are blacksmiths, which often mend and make the armor, tools, and weapons for the guardsmen and soldiers. As such, this district is called the workshop district for that reason, but is otherwise nicknamed 'The Anvil'.
Higher up still is a district where traders, clothiers, artists, and craftsman of various walks of life make most of their profits in. It is here where people show off their wares and produce, hoping that a buyer would come by to exchange their goods with coin, or of something equally valuable to barter. And if you ever get bored looking at all of the odd trinkets at the various stalls, there is the occasional street performer to entertain passerby. This market district is known as 'The Purse' by many of its locals.
The fourth district is a fortress that was built directly and carved into the small mountain. It houses many of the militaristic forces that are hired by the nobles to defend and serve Arisota's Hold. Guardsmen were tasked with maintaining the law, while the soldiers train themselves to the brink of physical fitness in the event they were needed for a war, and the sentinels were carefully groomed for the purposes of being glorified bodyguards to the nobles. If a war ever got too out of hand, then the peasants would be guided into the fortress and share in the safety of this district's walls. The military district is often nicknamed 'The March' for that reason.
Atop and past The March is the final district, the royal district, which is home to nobles, wealthy craftsmen, high-ranked guild members, as well as the master of Arisota's Hold. Due to the placement of the military district, the noble district is heavily defended from beneath itself since it rested atop of the other district, and was even more elevated than any other district as well. Flick has no idea what goes on in that district, since it's so heavily defended. It is known by the surrounding inhabitants as 'The Crown', a nickname that even the nobles and past lords themselves prided over.
Many of the guilds' leaders were safely guarded in the The Crown, but there are a few notable exceptions to certain guilds that acted more like tradehouses that served anyone with coin to spare, which were protected by Arisota's Hold's guardsmen. Such guilds were typically located in 'The Purse', 'The Anvil', and outside of 'The Step' districts. Fortunately for me, Flick and his scouts, the Beast-Tamers guild was heavily specialized in taming, training, and breeding hill-dogs. The Beast-Tamers required wide pastures in order to train their hill-dogs, which is a natural habitat that the hill-dogs normally live in. It was a very low rung, yet noble profession, to be a Beast-Tamer. Because the Beast-Tamers needed wide pastures to train their hill-dogs in, it meant that the Beast-Tamers' guild would need to be situated far from the outskirts of The Step, so people could comfortably sleep in the night and not be abruptly awakened by a loud chorus of barking hill-dogs.
Yogs, on the other hand, was to take a team of scouts and search the buildings around a statue that was named Larrow Viggs, located deep within the market district. I don't know who he is or who he used to be, but he seemed like a historical figure to the people of this hold, whom was idolized in statue-form for all to see in The Purse. Perhaps he was the one who found a way to commune with the hill-dogs and created the defensive outer perimeter? I wouldn't know, for I had not asked Flick.
But Yogs had his own mission. Ours was getting into the Beast-Tamers' guild. Or to be more precise, the hill-dog kennel, the building next to it.
The guild of the Beast-Tamers is a three stories tall building made of adobe brick. A large fenced area was behind it, which had eighteen or nineteen hills populating its backyard. It has two flags on the building, one symbolizing the guild's allegiance to Arisota's Hold. This white flag had a dirt brown mountain painted on it, with a black building in its middle, and a yellow crown surrounded by stars above it. The second flag was the guild's flag. It was red and it had two hands holding onto separate leashes, which both circled around and attached to the neck of a fat-faced dog with a helmet, with underbite fangs cartoonishly protruding from its jowls. This building was not of our immediate concern, though I guess Flick might want to sneak into there if our information retrieval mission proved fruitless in the kennels.
Lo and behold. The hill-dog kennel next to it.
It was a squat and wide building, being only a single story high and made of wood, with roofing that was made of corrugated wood roof tiles. Judging from the animal smells emanating from it, it had frequent use. I can only surmise that the purposes of the kennel was to enable the Beast-Tamers a means to tame young hill-dogs and teach them basic tricks and commands. It's a rectangular building situated right next to the Beast-Tamer guild's base of operations, with several gates lining the sides that allowed personnel and hill-dogs access in-and-out of the building. All things considered, it could be more accurate to call it a barn than a kennel. or stables. Or maybe a pound, since it houses and trains dogs that digs earth and uses soil to make their mole-hill homes.
As we approached the side of a sturdy wooden fence, which began from the guild building's entrance side that encircled the hill-dogs' training grounds, Flick motioned at me and his scout team. "Okay guys. Since it's night time, zhe humans in zhis guild are all cozy in zheir beds, while zhe nightwatchmen are patrolling zhe halls."
"So we go to zhe Beast-Tamer's kennels during zhe time when no-one is around, and figure out from zhere why Arisota's guardsmen are gazhering up hill-dogs." I added. "Sounds easy enough."
"But we're not going inside zhe kennel's front entrance. We're going to climb up to zhe kennel's roof and look for a window in." Flick added.
I cocked my head at him. "Uh... Why sneak in like zhat?"
"Less of a chance for zhe hill-dogs to track our scent." Flick answered. He then pointed at the sturdy wooden fence. It seemed to be about as tall as me twice over. "Now we climb up zhis fence. Roy. Go ahead and give us a lift up. Kleaf. Assist Roy. Yenk. You help me and everyone else up."
I joined with another yinglet. He cupped his hands together, and I copied him. "Oh, I get it. We're making a ladder of yinglets. Smart." I replied.
"Just be sure you no wobble your legs around so so much, new guy." One of the scouting yinglets said as he stepped on our hands. "Okay, now get me uppies."
Once me and the other scout, whom I think is named Yank or something, above me and Kleaf, Flick climbed over us. "One at a time, fellas. Voot. Come up here. We'll hold Yank while Cleaf climbs up. Roy will follow after him." Flick instructed. The third scout in our group then climbed up the yinglet ladder. Cleaf then began climbing up Yank's body, while I did the same once Cleaf was clear. "Okay. Now we hang from zhe ozher side of zhe fence and drop down. Hmm. Zhe ground looks a bit far. Roy. Whatever you do, don't land wizh your legs straight. Land slanted on your tail first, and ZHEN you land on your arms AND legs. If you land wrong, be sure to twist your body and zhrow your tail down to offset your landing impact wizh zhe ground."
I blinked a few times. "What?"
Flick sighed. "Let me demonstrate. Watch carefully." Flick then proceeded to hang from the lip of the sturdy fence before he jumped down. As he descended, he used his tail to cushion his landing somewhat as he landed on all fours.
"Yeah, new guy! Like zhis!" The three other scouts demonstrated the yinglet landing technique.
I looked down at the ground below me. I was reminded of the brittleness of yinglet limbs. I was hesitant for a second, but I gulped down my doubt and slid down the wall gently before landing on the ground, mimicking their techniques as best as I can. I could have SWORN I could feel my limbs bend unnaturally before they resettled back to their normal straightness. Right. I forgot to land with my tail first. Flick shook his head. "Tail. First. Are you hurt?"
I rubbed my arms and legs a bit. "... I zhink I almost sprained myself."
Flick shook his head but sighed in relief. "Be zhankful you didn't manage to actually sprain yourself zhen. Come on. Zhe kennel is just over zhere."
"And I is zhankful I don't have to carry him back." Another yinglet said, sounding somewhat like Cleaf. "He's wizh Uggie's group back at zhe secret enclave, right? Yogs would hafta carry him all za way back, and not I."
"Cleaf." Flick sharply spoke. "Shut up now. We're sneaking."
"OH! Oh. Right." Cleaf replied, embarrassed.
I sighed in relief as well before we went to the kennel. Getting to the roof of the kennel was a different matter entirely, but thankfully there were several barrels filled with hill-dog treats that was positioned on the wall, and we used those to get up to the roof of the kennel. There were horizontal door hatches on the roof. What luck. The Beast-Tamers probably use the hatches to descend on hill-dogs within the kennels they were being kept in, or something. I would have asked Flick what they were for, but we were already stealthily making our way inside through the roof hatches.
However, we were careful as we intruded. There was little light within the kennels, the only sources originating from starlight and the traveling moon. Frankly, it was very hard to see. Flick quietly pointed at a scaly dome on the ground. It looked quite suspiciously like a sleeping hill-dog. Thankfully, it was sequestered in a pen to itself, and we could see from our vantage point that other pens were also similarly occupied, save for one or so that were empty.
We traveled along the rafter beams quietly, with me silently tailing behind Flick. We eventually climbed down a support beam and went through a door to another room, where we found a desk with a large amount of paperwork sitting on top. Flick went up to the papers and began scanning through one after the other. This went on for a few minutes.
A few more minutes passed.
Several minutes had passed.
Many minutes slowly passed and my patience was wearing thin.
Summoning up the most hushed whisper I can make, I quietly asked Flick something. "Is it alright if I speak quietly like zhis?"
"Zhat volume is fine. We're not too close to zhe hill-dogs." Flick whispered back.
I nodded. "What are you reading?" I asked.
Flick sighed as he read yet another page of paperwork. "Anyzhing zhat explains why zhese Beast-Tamers are gazhering up zhe hill-dogs."
"What have you read so far?" I continued asking.
Flick sighed as he placed a paper down. "Not anyzhing useful. All zhese papers has zhe names of zhese dogs, what level of training zhey have, and ozher stuff."
I cocked my head. "So zhese dogs are brought in from all around town so zhey could be trained here?"
"My zheory is some raiders or enemies of Arisota's Hold began systematically attacking zhe outer defense perimeter, and zhe peasant population didn't get word of zhis news. Zhe lords of zhe hold probably ordered zhe Beast-Tamers guild to gazher up some hill-dogs so zhey could breed zhem and replenish zhe ranks. But at zhe same time..." Flick paused as he scratched his chin in thought. "If zhere WERE a shortage of hill-dogs in zhe outer defense perimeter, zhen how come zhere isn't more soldiers guarding zhe borders? We would have certainly saw more night patrols patrolling all over Arisota's Hold."
I looked at the paperwork that was strewn on the desk. On the front page, it had several details that seems to describe one of the hill-dogs within one of the kennels.
Name: Vunkershmidt (Responds to Vunker)
Sex: Male
Age: 7 years
Mother and Father: Nalia, Goros
Siblings: 6 (Goros Jr., Yabbaba, Jepon, Derakis, Zeebee, Bob.)
Handler: Grenfack Yacktree, Senior Beast-Tamer
Training: Combat training complete, approved by Beast-Tamer Guild-master Farankal
Condition: Scar on left paw. Ear infection x2 caused by earwig.
Without thinking, I decided to turn a page over and read the next one. Flick looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You can read?"
"Yeah." I responded.
Name: Plinky
Sex: Male
Age: 5 years
Mother and Father: Berty, Butch
Siblings: 8 (Franky, Dalka, Yirildy, Bessy, Jessy, Yeshim, Beezee, Zack.)
Handler: Zipple Yacktree, junior Beast-Tamer
Training: Domestication training complete. Combat training pending.
Condition: Ear infection x2 caused by earwig.
I turned yet another page over. There must have been something Flick missed when he read through these.
Name: Princess
Sex: Female
Age: 4 years
Mother and Father: Felicia, King
Siblings: 3 (Chancellor, Prince, Duchess.)
Handler: Zackis Lecknart, Trademaster of Lecknart Tradehouse
Training: Domestication training complete.
Condition: Strict meat diet, feed strips of tenderized meat or wet kibble. Ear infection x2 caused by earwig.
This page in particular got my attention. "Um. Hmm. Lecknart. Where did I hear zhat name from?"
Flick quickly nabbed the page from my fingers. He looked intently at it for a few seconds before whispering. "Lecknart. Didn't zhat girl say she'd meet us back at zhe Lecknart Tradehouse in a few days?"
I chuckled shaking my head. Right. Her and her dog named Duchess. "Right. Jerrla said zhat." I pointed at the paper. "Anyway, I noticed zhat zhis paper says one of zhe hill-dogs is a sister to Duchess. You remember? It was Jerrla's hill-dog zhat ended up catching Yogs zhat one time."
"Hmm. So it is." Flick replied as he reread the paper in his hands again. "But it doesn't tell us why zhis hill-dog is here. It doesn't tell us why zhese beast-Tamers want zhat girl's hill-dog eizher."
"Hmm." I hummed to myself, looking at more of the papers. After poring through a few more papers, I found two more that had the names Chancellor and Prince written on them. They were apparently inside of the Beast-Tamer's hill-dog kennel too. "Flick. Are zhe kennels usually zhis full of hill-dogs?"
Flick shook his head. "Zhe hill-dogs normally sleep in zheir own burrows in zhe hilly training grounds. Zhey normally let zhem sleep here in zhe kennels during zhe winter season, especially for zhe ones zhat are young, being trained, or are sick."
"OH DAMN ZHE SUMMER CRAAAAAWWWWWLLLLL~!" A high-pitched singing broke our conversation.
Flick hissed loudly, but under his breath. "WHO IS SINGING? STOP SINGING NOW."
"I WANT ZHIS SEASON TO FAAAALLLLLLLLLL~!"
"I is not singing, patriarch!" "Yeah. Someone else is!" "Zhen who is a making singing?!" Cleaf, Yank and Voot exclaimed in whispers.
"KEEP YOUR ROOF AND YOUR SHAAAAAAAAMS~!"
Flick pointed outside of the room."Yenk, you go first. We'll follow."
"Yes, Patriarch." Yenk said. Huh. I thought his name was Yank or something. We began tailing behind Yenk as he followed the yowling screeches of song. It was like a mix between utensils scratching along a plate and a chalk board being scratched by tens of many nails.
"BECAUSE ALL I WANT IS CLAAAAAAAAAAAAMS~!"
Flick blinked. "... Wait. I know zhat voice." We eventually came upon a hill-dog pen. Even though it seemed empty at first, a second closer inspection of the pen revealed to us that it was inhabited by a yinglet, singing while he was sitting in a corner. Flick's eyes grew wider as he saw who it was inside the pen. "Mazhink?"
The yinglet inside the pen stopped his god-awful singing before turning abruptly to us. "... Flick?!" He tried to get up, but fell to his side. We saw that his arms and legs were tied together, preventing him from moving around too much. "OH BY HABZIG'S TITS I ZHOUGHT I'D NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN!"
Flick hissed at the other yinglet angrily. "Keep it down, you idiot! You'll wake zhe hill-dogs!"
"Eh?" The yinglet tilted his head. "No I won't. All zhe hill-dogs in zhe kennels have ear infections."
Flick blinked his eyes. I mirrored him. "All of zhem?" We both say at the same time.
Oh. Now that I remember, nearly all of the entries of the paperwork I read through did say they had earwigs infesting their ears. Gosh, now I feel so stupid, thinking back about it.
"Yeah yeah! Zhey're all sleeping, and zheir ears are no longer hearing good because zhe earwigs keep eating zhe inside of zheir ears. Shame zhey don't have a buddy zhat can lick zhem out." This yinglet turned to look at me. "... Huh. I don't recognize you. Flick, do you know zhis yinglet?"
Flick nodded before he gestured to me. "Patriarch Mazhink, zhis is a newcomer to Sharp Rock Enclave. His name is Roy. Roy, zhis is Mazhink, Patriarch of Bartering." Flick then gestured to Mazhink.
Mazhink was a short yinglet with forearms and forelegs that is smaller than normal. His fur is pure white, while light grey stripes draped down his sides, and his back was a medium shade of gray, and a furry dark grey diamond grew squarely in the center of his forehead. His eye color was a pale orange, and one of his eyebrow-whiskers were missing. His teeth and shelltooth is black. His tail and body was bandaged, but I saw no trace of blood staining them. His arms and legs were bound together by a taut rope. His arms were bound close to his torso, while his legs had limited mobility. His captors probably tied him up this way so that he could use his feet-hands to bring food into his mouth.
I nodded to him. "Nice to meet you. Want to get out of here?"
Mazhink smiled broadly, showing me a row of multiple sharp teeth. "Oh yes yes please! Zhey keep zhe keys to zhe kennels' pens in zhe utility closet. I heard zhat zhe spares are kept in zhe Guild-master's main office."
"Or we could jump over zhe pen and untie you." I suggested. Thankfully, the pens were only tall enough to keep a single hill-dog inside them, and not a gaggle of yinglets from retrieving one of their own.
Flick nodded. "Good idea Roy. Okay Cleaf. Same as before, like when we went over zhe wall. You too Roy."
"You got it, Patriarch!" Cleaf said as he went to the side of the pen and cupped his hands, while I joined him and did the same.
We got over the pen like how we had gotten over the wall outside of the kennels and joined Mazhink. Flick brought out a knife and was quickly cutting Mazhink's binds. "So how did you get yourself in zhis situation?" Flick asked.
"Oh, it is so so embarrassing, Flick." Mazhink recanted with humility. "I was wizh some of your sneaking yinglets when we were trying to eavesdrop on one of zhe trade-meets. But I ended up getting caught by lots of guards and hill-dogs. I zhink Melbin stepped in somezhing smelly zhat led zheir dogs to our hiding position. Well, what happened after was embarrassing. Zhe rest of zhe yinglets got away, but I ended up tripping on some stupid branch on a stupid fallen log. Zhey sent word to zhe nobles of Arisota's Hold zhat zhey caught me, and zhey received word back from zhem zhat zhey'll be here by morning."
Flick sighed as he sliced him free from his binds. "Hill-dogs AND guards, huh? Have you learned anyzhing?"
"I know we are to stay away from zhe guards and hill-dogs, Flick. But zhis was important!" Mazhink rubbed his wrists and knees, freed from the rope that once bound him. "I heard zhem talking about moving female yinglets somewhere. It's super obvious to me now zhat someone is hiring mercenaries disguised as traveling bards to gazher up our females and kill our males, but I didn't learn anyzhing else."
"What about zhe team you were wizh? Were zhey captured too?" Flick asked as he helped Mazhink over the pen.
"Zhey should be hanging around at our regroup point. It's zhe abandoned bakery." Mazhink replied.
Flick nodded. "Okay. Here's my plan. We swing by zhe statue of Larrow Viggs first, swing by zhe abandoned bakery second, and zhen we all regroup back at Climp's farm."
Cleaf nodded happily. "And zhen we'll take a nap before heading back to our secret enclave!"
"Shame we didn't learn where to find zhe females zhis time." Yenk sadly added.
"Wait what? Mercenaries?" I asked incredulously. "Zhey are hiring mercenaries disguised as bards to kill yinglets and steal females?"
Mazhink blinked a few times. "... Well yeah. Zhe United Tribes of zhe Souzhlands have many tribal humans living zhere, while many yinglet enclaves live on zhe outskirts of zheir territories. Zhe tribes have no set currency to trade wizh, so zhey settle wizh animal hides and epic tales instead. Arisota's Hold find great difficulty getting furs, so zhey outsource pelts, especially from zhe tribes in zhe Souzhlands."
I furrowed my brows and looked at the ground. "... I'm guessing zhese tribal humans are not so friendly to outsiders. If zhat's true, zhen zhese mercenary bards were probably paid to go to zhese tribes and trade stories for pelts. However, somebody decided zhey could cut out zhe middle-man and get pelts from poaching male yinglets in zhe fringe yinglet enclave raids. But why abduct females?"
Mazhink sighed sadly. "Humans typically use yinglet pelts to make a cheap resource called 'leazher'. Most humans get zheir pelts from prey animals zhat zhey hunt. If zhose animals are scarce, zhey would most certainly settle for exiled yinglets."
Flick tapped both my shoulder and Mazhink's. "Less talking, more escaping. We're not out of danger yet."
We looked at each other for a second before we nodded and followed Flick up a support beam and across the top of the wall of a pen. Mazhink quickly looked at me for a second. "You are a well spoken yinglet by zhe way. You're not an ordinary newcomer, are you?"
I smiled, but I wasn't able to answer. Loud barking startled us. We looked down and saw that a hill-dog was roused from their sleep. The other hill-dogs were unaware, but it probably wouldn't be long before the Beast-Tamers were roused from their sleep in the main guild building.
"LESS TALKING, MORE ESCAPING!" Flick urged loudly at us.
"HELP!" I looked down and toward the source of the voice in distress and saw that, somehow, Mazhink had tripped and was hanging dangerously close to the awoken hill-dog, his left foot-hand keeping him from falling into the pen. He probably tripped on his own feet when the hill-dog barked.
"MAZHINK? OH NO!" Flick shouted.
The hill-dog was about to jump up and snap at Mazhink's face.
This was NOT good.
Without thinking, I discarded my spear and jumped down at the hill-dog's shell and rode on it.
Flick quickly pulled Mazhink back up, whom was assisted by Cleaf and Yenk. Voot looked dumbly at everything that was happening.
Me, on the other hand, was hanging on for dear life as I rode the hill-dog like a rodeo bull.
Unfortunately, I was not much of a bull rider. And the top of the hill-dog's shell was smooth, and hard to sit on.
When my seat shifted, my tail came close enough to the hill-dog for them to chance a bite.
It was then I knew that I was caught by the hill-dog.
It swung its head so strongly I was forced from its back. Thankfully, its teeth sank into my sneaking clothes. Unfortunately, it swung me around so violently that it ripped me right out of my sneaking cloak. I sailed over its enclosure. I landed in an empty pen. A sharp pain impacted with my head as my hearing was deafened by a loud ring. Did my head hit an empty dog bowl? I wouldn't know, since my vision blackened. The last thing I heard was heavy footsteps surrounding me. A torch was brought to my face before I completely faded from consciousness. I saw human faces staring at me. They seemed surprised. I then became unconscious.
Well ain't that great?
A/N: Thank you for your patience. This chapter took a long time, but I finally completed it.
