by Hugo Damas
Zaniyah had to admit it was quite thoughtful.
“Your name is?” Thunuk asked.
“Zaniyah.” There was no reason to lie.
“Zaniyah sounds familiar,” Thunuk admitted, casually. “I think one is part of my tribe.”
When the Hunter left, the tribe had around two hundred people in it. Seeing as he would have been as young as she was, it was actually surprising he even remembered the name or that he had heard it. Looking closely, he had a mean-looking jaw and a hard brow, but being a hard person in a tribe like his wasn’t a fault as much as it was inevitable. That was likely why his happy teeth and pleased big eyes called so much attention.
Also, his touch was surprisingly gentle.
“Why did you change your mind?” Zaniyah asked.
Thunuk glanced at her and smiled. That wide smile stood in such an enormous contrast against his battle-hardened body. “You are powerful. You fight like a beast. I have not met any woman that compares.”
“From my knowledge, you keep women from trying,” Zaniyah said.
“It is better,” Thunuk stated. “You are exception to rule, women need protection.”
Zaniyah had thought as much for most of her childhood, but life with the Wild Felids had shown her differently. She was not that unique.
Thunuk continued. “Women are tender and loving, we men are hard and killers. We fight, they love. But you fight like a beast.”
“…and you like that?” Zaniyah asked, still perplexed.
“It works very well for wild cats,” Thunuk pointed out while gesturing to the big cat they had killed just a couple of minutes prior. Her cubs would likely be eaten by the other members of the pack. “I always ask: why not have them fight? More than half the tribe is woman. If they fight, we then fight with many more than other tribes.”
Was this him trying to gain her favor? Would he speak like that if his friends were there? More importantly, would he have not joined them in what they would have done to her had she surrendered?
“How do you speak my language? What tribe do you belong to?” Thunuk asked. He had finished rubbing her wound, now he was just holding his large leathery hands around her entire leg, where the wound was.
Zaniyah was doing her best not to look him in the eyes.
“My tribe is dead,” Zaniyah stated. It was the second time in her life she said it out loud, and it didn’t sound any less strange. He nodded in understanding.
“I am wrong, then. Having woman fight is no advantage.”
“Women did not fight in my tribe.” Zaniyah brought the dagger back from his neck. She trusted him enough at that point, and she was tired. “They suffered. For the benefit of the tribe.”
“We all do,” Thunuk said, giving a brief glance at his friends.
Keeping a tight grasp on the knife, Zaniyah glanced over at them as well. “How can you forgive the killing of your friends?”
“You said leave.” Thunuk shrugged regrettably. “And we did not leave. You fight as you had to. I knew them, and I see you did too. I know why you fight. You know why I fight. But when wild cat appeared, you fight with me.”
“No, you fight with me,” Zaniyah sharply stated.
Thunuk looked back at her and chuckled. “You are strong. Even after you kill my friends, I consider you a fake warrior. So you would have killed me, too.”
“I still might,” Zaniyah said, and he nodded in understanding.
“Revenge will be theirs,” Thunuk told her with a shrug. “Death will get you, though not with me. But before it does,” he paused to glare a happy grin at her. “Marry me!”
The Hunter rolled her eyes and sighed.
The Jungle… it was the uttermost pit of insanity. Nothing worked like it did in the cities and that was in part due to how living there affected the people. Everyone was half animal, their goals and aspirations so linked with their emotions and desires that it made them act in ways civilization would consider insane.
Thunuk kept telling her she fought like a beast and she could tell what he really wanted. He didn’t say it because he caught on to the fact she would not welcome it, but it seemed to linger in the back of his gaze. His extremely lustful gaze.
I bet you love like one, too, it clearly said.
* * *
The Hunter walked on, limply marching to reach the end of the jungle.
Zaniyah was not in good shape. With a few days of rest and applied medicine, she could recuperate fully, even if she retained the scars. She did not have a few days, however. She hardly had one.
Zaniyah needed to return to civilization as quickly as possible and pass on the amulet to someone who would know what to do with it. It felt so heavy in her pouch, even if her waist didn’t feel it. Had those drilling demons not attacked the Wild Felids, Zaniyah would have remembered to take one of those magical pouches. As it stood, she had no access to magic or technology.
The Hunter was angry. If Thunuk and his friends hadn’t found her, if they hadn’t forced a fight, the wild cat would never have found her. She would still be making good time.
The Hunter glanced back in mid-limp. “You follow me still. Why? Return to your village.”
“There is nothing there I want more than you,” Thunuk said, without hesitation.
She winced in disgust, glaring forward. “You are sick in the head, Thunuk.”
“I am sick in the heart, Zaniyah,” he corrected.
Zaniyah scoffed and shook her head. “No, you are sick in the head. That will happen when your loins are in command.”
“It is where bravery is born,” he said with strange pride, his teeth gleaming white in a silly grin.
“Is it? I suppose that explains why I have failed to grasp it,” Zaniyah said, sarcastically.
Her statement actually struck a chord. He was left pensive, looking around in thought. Zaniyah caught sight of a very big thing in a bush, lying in wait to strike. She turned and walked around, not knowing, or caring, what it really was. She detoured enough that if it decided to attack, Thunuk would be its first target. He either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“You are right, that must be wrong,” Thunuk conceded, earnestly. “My mother was very brave, and she had none.”
Zaniyah looked back bewildered. He really believed that? Factually?
Dear Mother, give me patience. She didn’t say anything more. Zaniyah decided that replying would only make it worse. It would only encourage him.
“I can follow you. You not heading for tribe, right?” Thunuk asked.
“No tribe, just family. Far outside the jungle. In real world,” Zaniyah said, and immediately shook her head at herself, disappointed. Give him no reply, she told herself.
“What do you mean? This jungle is in the real world,” Thunuk said.
Zaniyah breathed out, waving her head in halfhearted guilt. He was right, of course, it was condescending of her to think of civilization as somehow superior, or real, when in comparison to the place they were from. It was how she felt, though, things were better outside.
World-ending Beasts notwithstanding.
However, this time, she knew better than to respond.
“Unless,” Thunuk ventured, looking up, “I am not really here. Maybe I am back on my floor not awake, and all this is just mushroom fantasies.”
Zaniyah frowned out of sight. Sounds good, go home and check.
“It would explain everything,” Thunuk continued by himself. “You are strong and mighty, but also glamorous. How can that be real?”
Zaniyah glanced back, still not offering words. Would he not stop talking?
“If I am dreaming, it would explain it,” Thunuk added.
Zaniyah groaned and faced ahead.
“I simply say!” Thunuk rose his voice, defensively. “You are the kind of woman that only exists in fevered dream.”
Her head dropped in surrender.
Thunuk really didn’t leave. He accompanied her and continued talking despite the absence of any co
ntribution on her part. He did everything she asked, except for leaving her alone. Zaniyah hated the fact he was actually useful since she was in no shape to be as stealthy as she usually was, or to climb a tree fast enough to avoid real trouble.
The Hunter was forced to count on Thunuk to scout ahead and, essentially, lead her out of the jungle.
Like everyone else in that world, he was very at home in the jungle. Thunuk knew it, just like he knew how to keep quiet while scouting or when crossing an animal’s territory. It was a blessing when that was the case.
Outside of that, he was a total blabbermouth. Thunuk just didn’t shut up, independent of how little she seemed to be listening, and he said things so outlandish and so weird that they kept getting a reaction out of her. Reactions alone, the slightest head shake or a scoff, or even a sneer, seemed to be enough to encourage him for many more rounds of monologuing.
It was one of the weirdest times for Zaniyah.
There was a man embodying everything she hated about her life, everything that had hurt and scared her far beyond what a wild cat could ever do, and the things he said only fed gas to that fire. His notions, his concepts, and what he understood as compliments and insults, it all hearkened back to an understanding of life and humanity that she had come to loathe.
At the same time, he had a level of gullibility and positivity that was utterly infectious, and completely unlike anything she remembered from tribesmen. He was joyous, perky, having fun doing his best to amuse her.
More oddly, his dedication to what he was doing -- following and helping her -- was definitely real. There were no tricks, no attempts to tell her to go another way, or to send a message to his tribe, or anything.
Zaniyah had to admit he was good at care-taking. With all the talking, Thunuk was hardly looking at her. He was constantly looking around, watchful and attentive, as well as carrying the spear in one hand and a bow plus one arrow in the other. Also, he was talking in whispers, even if it was still loud enough to make the Hunter nervous about not being able to listen to the environment more properly.
When he did look at her, it was with a very strong desire. It made her feel uncomfortable, and it wasn’t that she had never experienced wishful stares, she simply had never been okay with them. The odd thing was that his didn’t make her feel unsafe. Zaniyah didn’t sense any hostile or aggressive intention coming off of him.
And he didn’t seem to mind that she didn’t talk. That was truly something that was extremely annoying at first, when she had expected him to be affected by it and shut up. With the passage of the hours, though, Zaniyah began finding herself at ease with it. It was what she liked, after all, company that wouldn’t mind her being quiet.
In the end, Zaniyah had to concede that he was bearable. More importantly, Thunuk was not only useful, but very crucially so. She would never have made good time on her trek without his help. With it, she reached the edge of the jungle after just one day.
Thankfully, there were no more incidents, or none that Thunuk hadn’t easily dealt with by using his bow.
“Here we are, the jungle edge. Path should be safe until you reach village,” Thunuk said.
Zaniyah nodded in agreement, and Thunuk grinned.
“You are truly woman of action.”
She was feeling better. The Hunter could finally stand up straight and proudly as they looked across the open field that led out of the jungle. The moon was shining impressively across the land.
“Thank you,” Zaniyah said, surprising even herself. Taking a breath, she looked at him. “With what I did…I recognize I owe you gratitude.”
“Then you will marry me?” Thunuk immediately asked, without hesitation and very much excited.
Zaniyah shook her head but couldn’t keep half a smile from twisting her lip. “Not that grateful, Thunuk.”
Thunuk nodded with no less excitement, stepping forward and around her. He opened his arms, reaching his spear up in presentation. “Then let me follow you! I desire to be helpful to you.”
The Hunter glanced sideways at him, quietly. Shockingly, she actually found herself thinking about it.
“I know you need me not,” Thunul conceded preemptively, “but individual can always use help?”
Zaniyah sighed. “The world is different in the concrete jungles. You will not like it.”
“Tribe is not that ignorant about them, mighty Zaniyah,” Thunuk said.
The Hunter frowned, having a strong sense that she was going to regret her decision.
“Do not act without my say so,” she said, or more like surrendered.
Thunuk smiled heavily and broadly. “That is yes!”
Why not? Zaniyah had transitioned, why couldn’t he? Besides, taking a man away from the jungle tribe was probably a blessing on a number of women and children. And if he had expectations about her, well, she had no responsibility to meet them. If he believed she did, he would find out otherwise.
“They speak other languages so you will practice silence,” Zaniyah warned.
“Practice silence? How does one individual practice silence?” Thunuk asked, perplexed.
Zaniyah rolled her eyes and walked on, followed by Thunuk, who didn’t waste any time before promptly going back to talking non-stop.
Being in the open made the Hunter nervous.
Perhaps more beasts were waiting for her to pop out of the jungle. Maybe that one beast which she had eluded was waiting to ambush her.
While Thunuk’s endless monologue continued to unravel, Zaniyah scanned their surroundings. Even outside of the jungle, the terrain was still thick with flora. Fields of flowers, carpets of grass, trees both isolated and in small groups, all of it sparsely distributed around them.
Zaniyah was heading to the nearest city. It was an underdeveloped place set up alongside a conformed tribe that nevertheless had a train station. From there, she would send a messenger bird to find the Wild Felids. They had most likely switched locations, so she needed to know where they had settled, If they had even settled in the first place.
Perhaps, the Wild Felids were still roaming around.
Thunuk seemed to know the little town, having apparently enjoyed some trading with it. That surprised Zaniyah, and she wondered how much the tribes had changed in the time since she had been gone. Even with all the years that had passed, she never imagined that they could have changed, and her encounter with Thunuk’s friends was not the least bit promising.
Then again, Zaniyah never imagined someone like Thunuk could behave respectfully, but he surprised her again by dealing with the town guards politely.
Thunuk smiled at her surprise. “I guess you have been away for long. You maybe forget difference between wild and savage.”
The Hunter had not forgotten. It was simply that the perception of the line between them was different in the eyes of the civilized world. She didn’t argue, however, Zaniyah wasn’t one to argue. It was hardly ever worth the breath, nevermind the effort.
When she went to have a message sent, she surprisingly found one waiting for her. It was unexpected. Zaniyah left the Wild Felids without really saying where she was going, so she assumed nobody knew where she was, but that clearly wasn’t the case.
I hope this message finds you well and successful.
The Shadow Conclave will reconvene in five days. We have sent you a scroll similar to the one you used during the competition. Please keep it safe and check it often, we need to keep in touch.
The Shadow Conclave
She frowned. Zaniyah had wanted it to be from the Wild Felids, with some sort of news. Without it, far as she knew, they might still be in disarray, hurt, and unable to find Mother Superior. She felt guilty that she didn’t know for sure.
Zaniyah opened the scroll. It already had entries, in no small amount. Funny enough, it seemed like lines were being pushed up to the top, disappearing once they were old enough.
CF:
This is great!
Everyone, what do you call a
squirrel ready for winter?!
CF:
NUTS!
She scowled. The squirrel would have nuts, why would he be called nuts? That didn’t make sense. Most of the scroll was just filled with Circus Freak making nonsensical jokes. It led to the Mad Genius threatening to kill him. The Circus Freak wrote laughter like a drawing in response, at which point he remarked upon the fact that the scroll could actually just show everything he scribbled on it.
Then he started drawing butts and penises.
SC:
Circus Freak, we have disabled your scroll. You will now only be able to read.
Everyone else, please take this seriously.
Is the meeting still valid to host?
MG:
I will be attending.
That had been remarkably short for the Mad Genius.
D:
I’ll call in. I’m not leaving Igtahlia again.
The country’s mine, though. I’m doing my part.
SC:
Four days to the meeting.
S:
I will be present.
ST:
Successful and then some, count me in!
Also, anyone else being attack by Led by Anarchy?
S:
Yes.
MG:
They wish to assist the beasts. Everyone should expect their interference.
ST:
Well thanks for the heads up, effin’ bah. Earlier woulda been helpful.
Just sayin’.
SC:
Three days to the meeting.
S, we have what you retrieved, it’s safe out of the Beasts’ hands.
We also offer our condolences.
H, we have news you care about, we’ll discuss in person.
MG:
I did not know, I am not led by anarchy.
I am led by vengeance.
Zaniyah wondered what the Shadow Conclave was talking about when they offered Shadow condolences. More importantly, what news did they have for the Hunter? It could only concern her guild. She felt very worried all of a sudden, but she wanted to believe that if they thought waiting for the meeting was better, that those news could wait.
That they wouldn’t be bad.
The initials, The Hunter realized, represented the people who were talking. “CF” was Circus Freak, and so on. Following that protocol, she wrote her update.
