MUD
The huge creature roared again. The girl cowered in a corner, unsure what would happen next. Over the next solar cycles, she had learned little of the humanoid culture. They were hunters, but not the typical hunters she knew from her home world, whom hunted for food and sustenance, for clothing and housing materials. No, they are thrill-seeking hunters, stalking and killing the most dangerous game they could find.
They were an incredibly advanced civilization but yet, primitive and savage in manners. The initial courtesy, with which the creature had presented itself when the girl had woken up, soon faded away and his carefully chosen words among the familiar voices were reverted once more to grunts and jaws clicking, almost unintelligible to the girl.
She could only hazard a couple guesses as to why he was roaring now. Her hesitation or tardiness in completing a task, an offense he had reprimanded her for in the past, or an offensive gesture she had unknowingly committed with her posture. She was never sure why, she just understood that she was there to serve him as entertainment and hunting aide, no better than a R'ga Z'van.
-"I'm Sorry, Roarr" the girl apologized with a trembling voice and making the submission sign with his left arm.
-"Use the ceremonial knife to remove the R'daya, don't forget that, N'vara" He explained again, gesturing and showing the correct way to wield the knife.
She had called him Roarr because she failed at pronounce the Creature's real name, she lacked the mouthparts necessary to make the necessary clicking sounds, so he decided to call it Roarr, like the sound he made when angry or impatient, similar to that of the wild beasts that inhabited her world. "Damn, how can I remember details and not something as personal as my own name?"
The name he gave her because her own was lost meant Mud, and the reason for name her like that was because what happened the same day she'd woken up in that strange planet, after the Hunter warned her not to escape to the jungle, she had tried anyway.
- o –
Two Lunar cycles prior
-"This is your home now" she felt a lump in her throat when hearing those words. It meant that she would never see her mother, her grandsire, the Clan leader ... or any other Nara again.
No, she had to escape now, far from the beast that had brought here, far from this new reality, far… The humanoid hunter was distracted on his trophy gallery; he took one of the skulls from a niche. It was strangely familiar; the forehead was not rounded like hers, but flatter and had a bulge over the black sockets where the eyes should be. A word came to her mind: Va'Nara, The other people that shared her world. The Hunter stroked the skull with one of his black nailed, scaly hands from the forehead to the lower jaw, while making a clicking sound, She could only imagine what the fighting would have been like, the Va'Naras were strong and able to withstand a great deal of pain, and they were good at hand-to-hand combat...
She ran as fast as she could towards the jungle, the ground was spongy, wet and hot. She was grateful for this since she was barefoot, in her home world this would have meant that she would not have gotten very far.
The jungle thickened just as she heard a roar, the humanoid had noticed her escape and was surely after her. She ran faster but the air was so hot that her lungs burned and coughed, but she didn't mind and kept running. The jungle kept her from seeing more than five steps ahead; suddenly she tripped and fell into a muddy pool.
-"Puajj" she exclaimed, wiping mud off her tongue. She tried to get out of the puddle, but the more she fought the more she was stuck there. The hunter's roars sounded closer.
She cornered behind a thick root and remained still. Completely covered by the mud, only her eyes were barely visible. After a few moments, the hunter appeared above her on the trees. She saw that he was wearing a mask of a shiny material, with markings similar to tattoos on the face of Clan Leader.
-"WheRRe RR U?" her own voice came from the hunter, although it sounded odd.
She did not answer, the hunter searched the surroundings and there was even an occasion that he looked directly where she was, but for some reason he didn't see her. The hunter jumped from one branch to another and looked again, could not find it. Then he disappeared, jumping from tree to tree.
She remained still for a while; her plan was to wait until the suns were low over the horizon so she could continue. The heat of the day was unbearable and would advance further during twilight and at night. But several hours passed and the day seemed not to end, the two suns had barely moved on the ski, shining like the eyes of an angry god.
She slept a long time, still submerged in the mud that appeased the heat; resting her head on a stone to avoid drowning and it was when she woke up that the suns were finally preparing to hide behind a mountain. To get her bearings, she decided that it was best to look for high ground; she thought she saw a path that climbed the mountain and followed it.
When she had climbed the slope, the suns had already hidden but three gigantic moons took their place so she had no trouble navigating in the dark. She heard noises in the undergrowth and became alert. Had hunter found her? Hadn't she been careful enough at covering her tracks?
But what emerged from the bushes wasn't the Hunter or any other of his kind, but a young Nara, covered in mud just like her on clothes of fur and giant leaves. He was picking fruit from a nearby bush, and she saw several small lizard-like animals hanging on his belt.
- "Hello," she said in her language.
The boy turned and was paralyzed. Maybe he didn't expect to find anyone around, she got closer.
- "Can you understand me? Hello?"
The boy stepped back, dropped the fruits, and ran.
-"Wait, wait!" she screamed and ran after her, but the boy soon disappeared into the thick jungle.
"So is there other Nara around here in this strange world? Obviously that boy didn't collect food for himself" she thought. That gave her a little hope, maybe they could tell her where she came from and why she had been brought here.
The crunch of dry leaves invaded the night silence again and for a moment she thought the boy had returned. She was wrong.
From the jungle a strange, quadruped beast with large fangs emerged. The first thing he saw were the eyes, four orange eyes with slit-like black pupils and a snout full of sharp conical teeth, as well as two extra fang-like jaws. Over its neck it had black appendages similar to the Hunter's dreadlocks, like a mane and emitted a mix of sounds of grunts, gurgling and clicking similar to those of the hunter.
She backed away slowly; the beast crouched ready to launch the attack.
-"Easy… Easy…"
The beast gave a terrifying roar and something activated in the girl's brain, the memory of a huge beast smashing in, broken stone spears, breaking bones and blood... a lot of blood.
"Not again!" she screamed and raised her hands to cover herself from the death she knew was inevitable.
- "Aaaaaaaghhhh!" her scream stopped when death didn't come.
The hunter was there, between her and the beast with a spear in one hand and strange blades in the other. Hunter and prey fought brutally, throwing claws and spear blows until finally the Hunter emerged triumphant. With a circular disk-shaped object that looked to her like the silvery full moon, the humanoid hunter sliced off the beast's head.
- "You... you saved me" she said.
He roared in response, released the beast's head and it fell to the ground still shedding bright orange blood.
- "You saved me–" she repeated.
The hunter grabbed her by the neck and watched her. The mud had dried and some pieces were falling.
- "N'vara" said the hunter in a throaty voice.
-"What?" She asked, not understanding.
He took her muddy hair, which looked like dreadlocks.
- "N'vara" she repeated, and collected mud and rubbed it in her arms, as if explaining the concept
- "N'vaarrrra?" she repeated, emphasizing the sound Rrr.
- "U ... N'vara" pointed at her. Then she realized that she had given her a name and that it meant "Covered by mud"
- "C-come..." he said, and without waiting for her, he took the head of the beast and walked back to his home.
- o –
I hope you enjoy this one and don't forget to comment. Here's a glossary:
R'ga Z'van. Hound, tracker dog
R'daya. Heart
N'vara. Muddy, Covered in mud
Nara. Human, How humanity call themselves
Va'Nara. Ape man. How Homo sapiens Cro-Magnon calls Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, Neanderthal