Avarii- the Golden Child

by Mark A Herring

  Also, during the past couple of weeks, at some point I decided to wear my necklace under my tunics, not over them, as it kept moving around and getting in my way when I was trying to do something, and feeling the bare (or, bear) claws against my skin reassured me that even if I lost all my other weapons, I still had one more to rely on. And, I had also taken some of the razor-grizzly's fur to make into leather strips as well, for the sole purpose of re-doing my claw necklace when the leather was cured and ready for use. Grizzly leather, with my grizzly claw necklace/weapon...

  * * * * * * *

  Midnight and I walk along as we patrol our territory and before long we hear the sound of rushing water. A stream is nearby.

  Midnight stops on the trail and I look at him curiously. I know he hears the water too, and he looks to me and licks his lips.

  Yeah, I'm thirsty, too, and I need to fill my water-skin—

  Am I imagining things again, or does Midnight seem to have a mischievous look to his face? Then he squats down to the ground, like he's ready to pounce, tail swishing around in the air furiously.

  You want to race? Oh, yeah? You think you can take me on, buddy?

  I get on my mark, and off we go!

  Tearing through the forest, between trees and brush and over boulders, fallen tree trunks, under tree trunks, running over the top of thick branches intertwining between trees... I know I can't actually race against him, but I do give him a good run. My own skills of navigating the forest has improved greatly since we got together and I observed how he got around, but he just beat me to the water's edge!

  The stream is full of fish, and we decide to take a break from our traveling. I take off my kilt (the green one) and tunic and boots, and I leave my undershorts on, headband and grizzly necklace on, I put my belt back on with knife on it, and my quiver of arrows and my bow (and the forearm guard!). I stay in the shallow area of the stream while I use my bow (I can't miss!), and Midnight splashes about in the water going after the fish his way.

  I laugh at his playfulness as he dives into the deeper water, fully submerging himself sometimes, then comes back up with a fish in his mouth, which he devours on the spot, or manages to gig a fish on one of his front claws in the shallower areas.

  After I harpoon four fish with my arrows, I decide that that is enough for my own use, then I go about the business of cleaning them. By now I am an expert at it (I can do this in my sleep!), and in no time I have my cleaned fish roasting over a fire on the beach by the river, while Midnight is still playing in the water going after the fish. It is my turn to watch over him as he splashes about in the water.

  When my fish are fully cooked, I put three of them away in my food satchel and eat the fourth one, still being entertained by Midnight and humming to myself. When he finally has had enough, he comes out of the water, shakes himself off and lays down by me and the fire. I smile at him and pet his muzzle, and he playfully bares his teeth and acts like he would like to nibble on my fingers. I giggle.

  Then—- I don't know, but I thought I heard a sound off to our left, towards northeast. A strange sound. One I have never heard before. I thought for an instant that I was only hearing things, but Midnight had heard it, too, and he is instantly at attention, looking in the direction we had heard the sound.

  What was it? An animal? Not like any animal I had ever heard so far during my stay here.

  It almost sounded.... like.... a voice. A person's voice, calling out in fear, or excitement?

  I stand up and face the direction Midnight is facing, and right there, at the tree line on the opposite side of the stream from us, is the form and face of a person. A villager! Out here? Is there a road nearby on the other side?

  Looking at his face, he seems to have a wide-eyed expression of absolute terror as he looks at us; the panther and the child (and that child dressed only minimally in a leather headband, claw necklace, and black undershorts), standing next to each other by our camp fire, as though we belong with each other. And, well.... we do belong with each other. There is no way I am going to leave my protector and friend, and there is no way he is going to leave me.

  Then another man appears next to the first one, to witness what the first one is seeing. And they shoot expressions of disbelief at each other. It looks like they are chattering at each other, and frankly, it sounds like much monkey chatter that I have heard here before.

  To me, they look a little funny; with hair on their faces, under their noses and mouths as well as on their heads. I cock my head to the side and smile at how ridiculous they look and sound.

  Then they disappear back into the tree line at the same time.

  We never see them again.

  I cock my head to the other side, wondering what that was all about, then we return to our camp and decide it is time to move on.

  Towards evening, we find a decent camping area before it gets too dark. I start a fire, get ready for the night, roll up in my cloak, and lay down next to Midnight's soft and warm belly, in between him and the fire. A practice we had started doing to protect me on both sides from other animals.

  The next day, we wake to the worst, thickly dense fog I have ever seen in this land! I can hardly see my own hands in front of my face. I don't know what is going on, nor what we should do. Should we stay and wait this out? Or try to find another cave for protection until the fog is burned away by the sun?

  I guess Midnight decides to do the latter, as he grunts a signal to me to get my things together to move on. I quickly do so, then follow him through the forest. But the fog is so thick, I can barely see him at all. I put my bow over my shoulder so I can clutch his tail with my hand, contact he doesn't mind at all as it helps me stay with him. I even consider to relate to him that I want to ride on his back, I am suddenly so concerned about losing contact with him in this fog.

  There is a fallen tree on the trail we are on, and Midnight makes the leap over it while I duck under it....

  I shouldn't have let go of his tail.

  I should have let him know that I needed a ride on his back, because I had lost contact with him. I expected to see him on the other side of the fallen tree, but he is nowhere in sight. The fog is blocking all but minimal light, and it's dampening all the sound in the area. I can't see him, and I certainly can't hear him, either.

  I start to panic—

  I call out to him the only way I know, using a panther-like roar of my own (more like a panther-cub like roar) to let him know where I am. If anything can find me, I know he can.

  Nothing!

  No return roar from him that will tell me that he's looking for me.

  No sound. No movement.

  Nothing....

  I start to run in the direction we have been going to catch up with him, but I still can't quite maneuver around the trees and rocks and boulders and brush that he is capable of, but almost. Am I going in the right direction? Did I get turned around in the fog? I can't see the sun, the rings, or anything else. Just this cursed fog and the closely packed thicket of the forest.

  Now I really am lost!

  Despairing, I stop myself on the trail, sit down with all my stuff, and listen all around me.

  ….

  Nothing....

  I can't take this! I stand to my feet again and let loose another roar, just in case he could be in close proximity to me now.

  Still nothing....

  Midnight.... where are you?

  I feel my heart getting ripped out of my chest and shattering into a million pieces.

  I know he would never willingly leave me behind. I imagine that he's going out of his mind searching for me, all to no avail.

  Curse this fog!

  I let loose another roar, not a signal this time, no, no! The anger and frustration I feel towards this weather caused this roar.

  I collapse to the ground in a sitting position, wrap my arms around my knees, my knees to my chest, my forehead resting on my knees, tears streaming down my face....

  I ha
d already been on my own since coming to this world, for about three months. Learning the forest, the animals, before I ever met Midnight. And in the month we had traveled together, I never thought I could have a better companion to travel with me.

  My protector, my teacher. My loyal friend.

  Now he's lost track of me, I lost track of him, and we can't find each other.

  I feel more alone now than I ever did when I woke up and found myself in strange surroundings, not remembering anything that had happened before.

  I stay there for what seems like hours, before deciding to find a cave or some kind of shelter. And in the intervening hours that I sit there, the fog never goes away! It seems like it is here to stay, frustrating my efforts to find my trusted traveling companion.

  Aimlessly I go on, looking for anything that I can use for a campsite and be protected from the elements. Finally I find one, little more than a hole in the side of a small hill, and call it home... for now.

  I make my preparations to build a fire, and I wonder if I should build the fire as a signal in the front of the cave, in an attempt to draw Midnight's attention to it, or to just keep a small one inside the cave with me. Well, if he is around, I reason, he could still see the glow of the fire through the opening of this cave and find me.... I really hope.

  After making my camp and fire in the cave, and there really is no more room for anyone, or any thing else in here, I take out a fish and a peach-like fruit to eat for supper. Then, crying again as I miss Midnight terribly and roll myself up in my cloak, I cry myself to sleep, desperately hoping he finds me tomorrow morning.

  For once, I find myself hating this world....

  Chapter Nine

  The morning comes, as it always does, and I do not want to get up. The embers from the fire are cold, but not as cold as my heart.

  I'm not hungry, I can't eat. My fish will keep for a while in my bag.

  I stay in my little hole in the side of the hill for the whole morning, not wanting to face the day. I keep hoping I will see Midnight's welcome face probe into my hideaway, but he never shows... and I keep wishing that an earthquake will come and bury me in here.

  At about midday is when I finally drag myself out of the shelter, my cloak wrapped around me against the chill, but the chill I feel is inside me, not in the air.

  The sun is out, the air is warm, the sky is clear with a nice breeze, the rings are shining from the brilliance of the sun, I can hear water tricking off somewhere and birds are singing....

  I hate them all.

  I'm sick, I know it. I am heart sick for losing the first and only real friend I have made since I got here, and what a magnificent friend to have!

  All my clothes are inside the hole, all I presently wear are my undershorts, headband and claw necklace under my cloak. I take off the cloak and toss it inside the hole. I look up at the rings shining in the sun, and I wonder: why?

  Why did this happen?

  What am I going to do?

  I don't know. All I do know is that my water skin needs to be filled, again. I don't want to do it, but I'm getting thirsty. I can do without food for a while, but water is something I really need. So, reluctantly I go back to my shelter and get out my water skin. I follow the sound of running water, find a good sized stream, and, looking about for trouble, I proceed to refill my skin. As I do so, I daydream that Midnight would be on the other side of the stream, looking at me like, “How did you get over there, Little One?”

  I constantly look about me, feeling the cool, clean water around my shins and my hands, but I see nothing. No signs of him at all.

  My water skin is full, and I tromp back to the hole. I can't decide if I want to get dressed, or not. Nor do I really care to get dressed. Just a meaningless chore for me right now. Perhaps I'll just get more wood and make another fire.

  So I do.

  And I stay there another day, eat another fish, keep my fire going, drink as little water as I can, and get ready for the night.

  And I do it all over again the day after that.

  No signs of Midnight.

  I want to call out for him again to let him know where I am, but now I'm afraid I'll call another predator instead, now that the sound dampening fog is gone. I'm sure my voice will carry on the breeze now, but I probably will not get the results that I want.

  On the morning of the next day, I decide that I have to keep moving. I can't stay here forever, although I really would like to. Or the ruins I first came upon. Go back there and call it my permanent home? Can I even find it at this point?

  I don't know.

  I get my short sleeved dark brown tunic and green and brown kilt on, my boots on, gather all my gear together, and once everything is in place, I head back down to that last stream to replenish my water skin again, then decide to travel along the stream, with the direction the water is moving.... southeast, I suppose. I know I am going southeast, but I just don't care. It does not matter to me. One direction is as good as another. Even due south, to the dreaded Spider Valley. It would take me a while to get there, another couple of weeks I guess, if I decide to go that way.

  What ever.

  I spend the day trekking through the wilderness, practicing everything I learned from Midnight when I observed how he moved.

  I finished the last of the fish I had the day before, and I need to hunt again. So, making a camp under a tree, I take my tools to go scouting out a game trail, particularly around the stream I had been traveling along. And in no time I find a large flightless bird drinking from the stream. I use an arrow to snag my quarry, and take it back to my camp, clean it, and have it roasting over the fire.

  My watchfulness of my surroundings is multiplied by two now: looking out for trouble from other predators, and watching out for my friend.

  Where had he gone? It was like the fog had just erased him from existence.... he was there, then he wasn't. This is an issue I can't stop brooding over. Or, did the fog erase me from existence from that world— no, I can see that this is the same world as it was before.... stupid.

  So I eat only a small portion of the bird when its done over the fire, and put the rest away in my bag for later, and bed down for the night.

  Chapter Ten

  The following morning I get everything ready to move on again. The days are just blowing together now. How long has it been since I lost contact with Midnight? A week? More? It feels like a month already.

  He would not want me to give up, to lay down and die, I know this. When I first started exploring this world, I had lots of fun. There was fun to be had at each turn, dip in the ground and over hill. The fun pretty much ended when I had to stop going south because of that valley. Then I met Midnight after that, and he began showing me other things about this world that I didn't see before.

  My protector, my teacher. My loyal friend.

  What is he going through? Has he already forgotten me? I knew he has intelligence, but how far does that intelligence go? Has he given me up for dead?

  I travel along a different game trail now, cross a road, and I come across a panther, but it is not Midnight. This one is younger, much younger. It sizes me up for prey, but I communicate with it that that would not be a good idea on his part. He doesn't listen, and charges me full on. On reflex my spear is up and through his heart as he sails through the air, and I effortlessly dodge his attack.

  Great.... just great. Not only do I miss my best friend something fierce, now I am forced to defend myself against one of his kind. I would have liked to make another friend, sure, but he would never be Midnight. Could I possibly feel even worse than before? Thanks a lot! I don't need guilt to be heaped on me, too!

  Well, that's the law of the forest, kid; kill or be killed.... it was him or me. And I will choose me any day, unless Midnight is in mortal danger. If I could find him! I tug on my spear to take it out, and I'm afraid its wedged in there too good. Putting my foot by the wound where I stabbed him, I finally work my spear out without breaking the
shaft, and I keep my tool. I suppose I could make another one if I had to, but that's only if I have to.

  I continue on, not even bothering to take any part of this panther, as either a trophy or any of his meat. It was just sad.... very sad only. He did not have to die.

  I stop to take a drink after a while, and take a look at my surroundings. Looks like I'm now heading northeast. My emotions are.... lessening.... I suppose. For now, anyway. I need the exercise to get me going, and maybe I'm starting to get over the loss of my friend.

  Could I ever, truly, get over that? A part of me will always be with him, and a part of him will always be with me. I have the spirit of a panther! Panther Boy Sean! No longer Nature Boy, now I am Panther Boy!

  I make a small smile to myself, as I wonder if I should go ahead and make a camp here for the night as the sun is already going down, but some sounds draw my attention off to the... south. Southeast.

  Some sounds? More like a lot of racket! Something is going on, not too far from here.

  Now what?

  I sigh and decide to investigate, as Midnight would have if he were here.

  With the setting sun, I discover a grove of trees on the other side of a small hill, and I can see the glow from firelight in the middle of the trees. A camp? By the road I had crossed earlier? I also see a picket of beasts of burden, like horses, tied up just outside the grove. They appear to be very agitated, stomping their hooves on the ground and making the sounds that they do. But that's not the only sounds I hear; lots of shouting coming from the camp within the grove of trees.

  What is going on?

  I creep up further to the grove of trees staying out of the firelight, and I put down my bags, keeping my weapons with me for my own protection.

  I see fourteen people in the camp.... what are they doing? Fighting?

  It looks like seven against seven. Seven of the people.... men, they look like, similar to the men Midnight and I saw before that cursed fog, and seven others.... are very different. They don't look like the men at all: first, they don't wear the same kind of clothes as the men, and their skin is different, a color like that of wet mud, as if they had bathed in it. But mostly it is their faces. Such faces! Grotesque with noses twice the length of the men, coming down to a sharp point and slightly hooked at the bottom, and their ears long at the top and very pointy. Goodness! Are their eyes really red?