A Reason to Live pt. 10
*Disclaimer*
The following (part 10 of the series 'A Reason to Live') contains both mystical/metaphysical and Judeo-Christian Religious aspects. If you are offended by any/all of these subjects, you are strongly encouraged to avoid reading this or any subsequent works with the title 'A Reason to Live' that are written by me. Thank you for your compliance.
A Reason to Live pt. 10
The wolverine and his eagle wife walked hand in hand leisurely into the canyon.
"I'm telling you Roxie, no one is going to be there. You should just admit defeat now." The wolverine had his arm draped around the eagle's shoulder. She chuckled, and knocked his arm off her shoulders.
"Don't get your hopes up yet, we haven't even gone a mile yet." The couple went around a bend in the river-carved sandstone arroyo, and came face to face with Kyle and Shelly. Raymond nearly bumped into the grey fox he was so intent on getting there and proving there was nobody around.
"Afternoon, Roxanne, Raymond." Raymond stuck out his paw for the fox to shake, but she was unfamiliar with human greeting procedure. After a few seconds he retracted his paw.
"Kyle, you're back!" exclaimed Roxanne.
"I told ye I would be, didn't I? Anyway, I'm all for reunions, but we gotta get moving." Kyle began walking, and the other three Furs started walking after him.
"Well, Kyle," began Roxanne. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?"
"She's not mute, ask her yerself. Either of ya gonna tell me why ye were walking back towards the mouth of the canyon?"
"I guess you must be Roxanne, and that guy over there is Raymond right?" Shelly asked Roxanne.
"Yeah that's right; and who might you be?" asked Roxanne. Raymond had caught up with Kyle and was asking him a question. Two conversations were going simultaneously.
"How'd you escape Kyle? Did ya have to break some necks, throw some people in the air, stuff like that?" asked the wolverine.
"Raymond, are you going to answer my question?"
"What? Oh yeah, sorry. Roxie felt like something was going on, so we decided to turn around. Pretty crazy, huh?" Meanwhile Shelly was responding to Roxanne's question.
"Don't doubt intuition, Raymond. It'll save yer life." His answer seemed to trigger the end of their conversation. Shelly and Roxanne, however, continued to talk.
"I'm Chelsea, but everyone just calls me Shelly. Well, they used to, anyways."
"Hello Shelly, nice to meet you. Do you mind if I ask who used to call you Shelly?" All four Furs walked through the canyon. For two of them they were repeating a journey they had done the previous night and earlier in the morning.
"Not at all. Everyone back in the village used to call me that. Even Kyle did, well, does."
"So wait, you know Kyle already?" Shelly nodded her head. "Was he always this, this, odd? "
"Ever since I knew him, and we grew up together, so I've known him for awhile. But he seems a little weirder, even, since he came back from the desert."
"Huh." The eagle said, thinking. "Can I ask you why you left the village?" Kyle answered for her.
"Shelly had a disagreement, so to speak, with the man in black, and they kicked her out."
"Yeah thanks, Kyle." The fox said sarcastically. "That about sums it up though. New leader didn't like me, so he got rid of me." The four Furs kept walking, trying to get to the end of the canyon before it got too late in the afternoon.
The other two Furs protested and complained. Zane, the half wolf half chocolate lab, in particular grumbled the loudest.
"She's not even part wolf, lord! The son of our chieftain is a full blooded wolf, and you let him stay chief. At least I'm a half blood, lord. Everyone knows that wolves are superior to dogs!" The husky, Jasmine, turned to face her accuser.
"Shut up, all of you!" thundered the man in the ebon power armor. Immediately Zane shut his mouth and let his head hang in shame. The four of them were far enough away that none of the other Furs in the village heard the human shouting.
"Now all of you listen, and listen well, especially you," he pointed. "Half-blood. If any of you want to serve me, and I believe that you do, you must quit bickering." The man's demeanor shifted as fast as lightning. "Quiet one, you, standing at the back. What is your name?"
The indicated Fur stepped forward. His breed was indistinguishable, save that he was a mutt. His left side had been burned off completely by the fires caused by the tar monsters, and so his left side was covered in ash grey fur. He wore the traditional garb of the villages, and he had a dagger tucked into a blood red sash around his waist. He stepped forward.
"My name is whatever my lord wishes it to be." He said in a low voice.
"Blind obedience has its place, but that is what got the Germans into hot water a long while back. Regardless, you must have an ulterior motive, a reason for wanting to serve. Hold still now, and try not to fight." The human was scanning the Fur's mind, and the Fur did not resist. The man looked, and he saw. He saw memories flickering like film clips in the Fur's mind, waiting to be replayed.
"So" he said at last. "A psychopath. Rare thing among the humans, what with their pre-birth genetic scans and pharmaceutical tonics. You do like to kill, yes?"
The Fur briefly flashed a smile, but then controlled himself, his facial muscles not betraying his mood. "I can always use a fanatically loyal killer on my side." The silent Fur took his place at the man in black's side, standing next to Jasmine. "Finally, you, half-blood. Step forward." The Fur did as he was bid, careful to keep his face down, his eyes looking at his feet. "What right is it of yours to decide who I allow to serve me?" boomed the armored figure.
"I-I" stammered the Fur, afraid and searching for the right words to say. "Uh..." the Fur trailed off without giving a reason. Seeing that he would not respond, the man in black began to speak.
"You will not serve me, not now, and not when I return. When you were supposed to be on your best behavior, in a pathetic attempt, I imagine, to win my approval, you were questioning my actions. Get out of my sight, half-breed, and do not, for your own sake, let me see you harassing my chosen again." The human waved his hand dismissing the Fur, but the Fur ignored it.
"But lord, you can't, I don't-" The human cut him off by backhanding him across the muzzle. The jawbone broke with a sickening snap, and the startled half-wolf was lifted off his feet by the blow. The slack body of the Fur caught air briefly, but then fell back to the hard, rocky earth of the plateau and skidded towards the center of the village, where it tripped a villager carrying a basket of dried meats. The man wiped the fur and spittle of the back of his gauntlet. He turned to face the two stunned beings at his sides.
"Master" began Jasmine, the husky. "Will Zane be okay? I really like him, lord..." The second Fur did not share the first's sentiments.
"Boss that was awesome! Could you maybe teach me to do that sometime?" the excitement was obvious in the mutt's voice, and his eyes flashed with joy.
"First," said the man to the mutt. "Your name will be 'Red', after the blood you are so eager to spill." Red bowed low, acknowledging his new name. "Second, Jasmine, he will live. But what is it to you if he does not? You said yourself you could have any male in the village, so what does it matter if one worthless slug is salted? Now, gather your warmest clothes, and you each may bring one other with you. Mind you, Jasmine, that your other is not the half-breed. Prepare, for at dawn we set out for the southern mountains."
"Yes lord" said both Furs in unison. They bowed, and ran off to get ready. The man walked to the wolf-chief's longhouse. He entered, and pushed his way past the Furs seated inside, who got up and swarmed around him when he stepped inside. He threw the hide door out of his way, and walked into the wolf's private room. The wolf was naked from the waist up, and a heavy blanket obscured the shape of his lower torso and legs. He was lying in bed with his lioness wife, his black furred arm behind her shoulders, his paw resting on her left breast. The man ignored the scene.
"Wolfie" the man called. The wolf started to get up. "No" he said. "Don't waste your time getting up." The wolf settled back down. "I will be leaving in the morning, with my entourage. I will be back, however, and if you and the rest of the villagers behave, when I return, I will provide you the tools to conquer this whole region, not just one or two neighboring tribes."
"Okay, sir." The wolf said. The human walked out of the room, and out of the longhouse. He stood in the open, staring off into space, and thinking.
"Kyle, where are we walking to?" asked Shelly. The quartet had left the canyon behind them, and had entered a wide, forested plain, encircled by mountains. The trees were mostly pine, but now and then a leaf-bearing tree stood out. Off on the horizon, a particularly tall mountain was shrouded in clouds.
"There" he pointed towards the southernmost mountain, the tallest in its geologic family. The three other Furs turned their heads to look where the jackal was pointing.
"Geeze, Kyle, really?" complained the wolverine. "Can't the man in black just come here for our fight or whatever?"
"Why do we have to go all the way to the mountain, what's so special about it?" asked Roxanne. The ragtag four continued walking as the summer soon slid from its noontime zenith towards the horizon.
"The humans used to have some sort of base there" Shelly said to the group. Raymond did an about-face and looked at the grey furred vixen.
"So you're speaking for Kyle now?" he said in a bewildered tone that also suggested anger. Without warning Shelly's closed paw flew out in a right hook. She caught the wolverine off guard and the blow crushed into his eye socket and the side of his muzzle. Raymond staggered back from the blow, confused.
"Smartass" Shelly said and spat. "I'm a tribal aren't I? We know our surroundings. If the man in black wants to get off this planet, he'll need a rocket-ship. The humans there will help him." Roxanne, the eagle, was doubled over in laughter.
"Ray, oh you should've seen the look on your face when she decked you!" Kyle was pacing back and forth in front of the three Furs.
"If yer all ready, can we please get movin'? It's gonna start getting' dark in a few hours, and we still need to make camp fer the night." The four of them started walking again; Raymond shooting dark looks at his giggling wife all the while. Raymond let the other three pass him.
"Stupid bitch" muttered the wolverine under his breath. "Who does she think she is?"
"I heard that!" shouted Shelly from second in line, behind Kyle. Raymond grumbled under his breath some more. Occasionally a curse was audible from the mumbling. No one spoke as the quartet walked. The creatures in the forest, however, were not so silent. The chittering and squealing of rodents on the ground mirrored the chirps and whistles of the birds in the air and treetops. A slight breeze rustled the pine needles and leaves, carrying with it the scent of rain. Dry pine needles below the Furs' feet crunched at the surface, but farther below in the litter it was damp, and the spongy mass just squished down.
Clouds, ominous and dark, gathered on the horizon, the source of the rain-scent the wind carried. The group had hiked about two miles in the forty-five minutes since anyone last said something. A fat drop of rain, plunging down from miles above the ground splattered on Roxanne's beak as she just happened to glance upward. Before she could say anything, the sky was thick with falling water. The relative clarity of the day was transformed to heavy rain in less than a second. The sound of the rain falling in the forest all but drowned out the Furs, who had to shout to be heard. Thunder boomed nearby, deafeningly close. Lightning flashed out, illuminating the darkened forest. Through the strobe-light patterns of light and darkness, the four travelers managed to get to the rotting hollow trunk of a mighty fallen tree. The quartet huddled inside, dripping wet.
"Shit!" Roxanne shouted, trying to be heard of the roar of the wind and the crash of the thunder. "Where'd that come from? It was pretty clear all afternoon, and now suddenly this!" Kyle spoke, and the thunder seemed to wait for him to finish his sentence before it punctuated it with a tremendous boom.
"Not the best of situations, but at least we got a roof fer the night." Kyle walked towards the other end of the hollow log and sat down, ignoring the damp of his fur and the decaying tree.
To be continued...