The Wanderer – Part II
The tiger sat in his room, checking his equipment. He took a sheathed short sword out of his backpack. “yes, if I need to fight. I'll need something. The staff is too big for the woods, the room to fight is limited, unless on a clearing.” he said to himself. He put the staff in a corner of his room. As he put out a loincloth out of his backpack he looked at it, and then took a look at his right paw. The burning mark was still on it. It would never leave him. The symbol of his clan, reversed, forever burned in his hand. This would always remind him, that he had lost his name.
He looked at the loincloth again. The only thing he could take with him from his old life. It reminded him of the old days too, but of some happier days. Well, these times would never come back, and besides he had to focus on the task ahead. He decided to wear it, since it would not limit his movement or agility, which could be a critical factor in the woods. Finally he pulled out a grey robe out of his backpack. This should give me some camouflage in these woods. There were some other items in the backpack, but he didn't bother to get them out. He put his backpack, and the leather vest in the closet in the room.
When he looked out of the window the sun had just set and the stars came out, it would be a wonderful night. As he thought so, it knocked on the door. As he opened the young girl was standing in front of him carrying a tray with a loaf of bread, some cheese and a jug of wine. “My father... The Innkeeper sends this to you, since your food was spilled earlier.” She blushed when she noticed, that the tiger was topless. “My.., May I enter?” she asked, after she took a breath. “Please, come in”, the tiger responded. The young wolf girl entered and but the tray on the table leaning over more, then it would be necessary, showing the tiger her butt, wriggling it softly, while standing up again. She moves towards the tiger, softly caressing through his chestfur, “Do you need anything else?” she asked him, moving around him, touching him. “I don't need anything else, but thank your father for the meal.” the tiger responded. She started to massage his shoulders softly, and asked again “Ohhh, are you sure?”. As she continued to tease him, he answered “Isn't your father expecting you back?” “Oh I'm on duty preparing the rooms, he won't expect me back for at least an hour” she says as she massaged his shoulders, moving her paws to rub over his back.
The tiger sighed, and took a step forward, escaping the paws of the young girl. ”Oh my,” the girl said “you must be exhausted after your travels, please let me comfort you for a moment.” stepping close to him. He turned around holding out his paw in front of him to stop her “Please, no. Just leave me.” The girl looked at his paw, with the burning mark and asked shocked “ What happened to your paw? This looks bad? Are you are Gang member? I heard some Gangs in the north mark their members that way? It seems, there is a mark in it, isn't it? What happened?”
The tiger sighed again, “Please, this is no gang mark, and yes as you noticed I am very exhausted, so please thank your father for the meal and his hospitality.” he said, guiding her towards the door. “thank you for everything.” he said, as he pushed a copper piece in her hand, and closed the door quickly behind her. He locked the door and left the key in the hole. He sat on the bed, sighed again and thought on his strategy for tomorrow. Then he thought about, what he had learned years ago. He laid back on the bed, and slowly fall asleep.
[five years earlier]
The mountains rose up high in front of him. His stomach was growling in protest, his limbs also protested against marching any further. He was really exhausted, he hadn't eaten anything real in the last two days. And he hadn't eaten very much in general the last few weeks. In the valley only very few settlements existed, and in none of them the people were very fond of strangers. So he had tried to hunt some animals for food, but in his conditions most of them were to fast for him. Furthermore he was unfamiliar with that terrain around here, so he didn't know which plants he could possibly eat.
He was still marching towards the mountains, near them he might find something to eat, a lake, with fish. Yes fish, fish is easy to catch, and the ones here should be edible. But he had not seen any lake from the distance, but there must be, or at least a river which was coming from the mountains. A short rest, yes on the next possible place he would take a short rest. And then he would find something to eat, just a bit, that would help him. Crossing the mountains would then be an other problem, but something to eat, and some rest. Stop his limbs from aching, yes. He fell over. “Need to go on, need to...”, where the last things he thought before darkness embraced him.
As he opened his eyes again he was running. “He brought the evil upon us, he is responsible for the death of our clan” he heard from behind him. Loud drumming accompanied the voices. They were hunting him. He ran, through the jungle, his home jungle. He knew every spot of this jungle, at least every spot around 20 miles of his home village. He could outrun them easily, he knew this place better then anyone. Wait, didn't he just pass this clearing? He must have been wrong. The drums were rising. They came closer, he tried to run faster... Again that clearing, now he heard them from two sides of him and they came closer. “There he is. Catch him. He is the doombringer of our village. Everything is his fault.” He changed his direction to be able to escape both groups. They had gotten closer. The drums were unbearable loud. He ran faster, and faster, his but he seemed only to get slower the faster his feet moved. There, he was on the same clearing. The drums, they misled him he was sure. They got louder every second. Now he heard the voices from the direction he was running to. “Get him. He is the doomed one. The Doombringer, the village killer.” Drums, they came closer. He was surrounded. Everyone was around him. “Doombringer” they shouted. They got closer. “Doombringer” it sounded from all directions around him. The drums and their voices was all he could hear now, no other sound. He was in the middle of the clearing. He saw the shadows approaching. Getting closer, the clearing got smaller, the drums got louder, heavier. The Chanting got louder and louder “Doombringer” it sounded. The shadows came closer, Darkness came near him the chants were overwhelming. “Doombringer, Doombringer” they shouted. He was now kneeling on a small spot of the clearing trying to keep his ears shut as the shadows approached him. “Doombringer, Doombringer, Doombringer” the monotonous chanting was now all around him chanting in unison with the drums. The shadows danced around him, as the chanting seemed to get close to him, they seemed to touch him. “Doombringer, Doombringer” The chanting became faster and louder, the shadows danced faster around him and now, were about to jump on him....
“Noooooooooooo,....” he screamed. As his scream faded away, he realized, that all was a dream. The next thing he realized was, that he was not in the open wilderness. He looked around, he was in a small room, laying on a bed. He looked around, it was a small bed, barely big enough for him. A nice warm blanket, he was lying under it. It was brown. And a pillow, he had slept on a pillow, it was not the clearest, but he supposed, it could might be dirt of him on that pillow. Next to the bed was a small table with a jar on it, he looked inside, it was almost empty, just a few spills of a liquid, it smelled of herbs. There was small closet at the behind the bed, closed, and a window let the sun inside the room. There were shutters on it, but they were open.
He tried to move, still everything hurt him, and he felt weak. Not as weak before he fell, but still weak. Whoever brought him here, had cared for him, but why? Who was it? The tiger didn't bother looking for his belongings, he didn't have anything valuable. He tried to focus, find out, where he was, as the door into the room opened.
An old rat entered the room, and spoke words, which the tiger did not understand, he tried to listen, but did not get anything. The rat sighed, and said something else, the spoken words now sounded different. As he still looked puzzled, the rat again spoke up. “Do you understand me now, tiger?” the rat asked. The tiger looked up and nodded. “Ah, good. If you had spoken one of the more southern languages we would have a problem now, cause I don't know any more.” he chuckled. “Well listen tiger, you were bad shape, when I found you. You were unconscious and slept here for three days. I fed you with this herb brew, that you wouldn't die.” the rat said.
The rat looked really old to him, everything on this rat looked old, even its clothes. His fur was grey, “like the ashes of fire”, the tiger thought. Still he didn't look weak, just old, but somehow still full of life. He had a small white beard under his chin. He looked, as if he knew to handle himself, and the tiger had the feeling there was more about this rat, than what met the eye. But why would this old rat rescue him? Him, who possibly deserved death was rescued by a strange old rat. On the other hand, this rat spoke his language, and possibly some others as he had spoken to him obviously in different languages. Well he had to wait, maybe he was to be sold as a slave something,or something. Soon he would know what the rat wanted of him. Maybe he was already poisoned or dead. And if he was dead he was sure he was not allowed to enter the halls of his ancestors, so he ended up here in a small shag with a rat.
“Now, my name is Corion, Corion Mystwalker to be exactly. What is your name, young tiger?” the rat said, looking in the tigers eyes, which immediately started to fill with tears. He sobbed,”I, I don't have a name, not anymore. My, I... it was taken from me.” he managed to say, sobbing. The rat looked at him, long but somehow understanding. After a moment he said: “I see, you are an outcast, am I right?” The young tiger just nodded between his sobs. “You lived in a Clan in the southern jungles, yes?” Again, just a nod. “Born into traditions, moralities, a system of values. And you violated these, yes?” more sobbing and nodding. “Oh, don't cry anymore, little one. Its okay now. This part of your of life over now. Look at it that way. You have a fresh start now. You don't have a name, this means, no bonds to your old life, to everything cruel they might did to you”, the rat said softly coming closer, moving a hand under his chin, looking him in the eye. “Do you want to start a new life?” The young tiger felt suddenly so comfortable, so secure. He stopped sobbing, and with tears in his eyes he nodded. “The world outside of here, is different from the little clan world you know, but I think you already know this. You almost died here.” He looked at the tiger, who blushed a bit.
“You already received a great deal of kindness from me, and so far it has been free.” There was a change now in the voice of the rat. It still sounded friendly and comforting, but something was different, the tiger felt it, but he couldn't exactly tell what. “I can help you find your place in this world. Help you understand this world, which so different from your old, I can teach you. But this will have a price you will have to pay. Do you understand that?” The tiger looked confused, what did this rat want, finally sell him as a slave or kill him? He must knew, that he had nothing to pay him. “I see and sense your confusion, I will assure you, you don't have to pay a price right away, but you will have to repay me later. Before you think of, what I might do to you, remember: I found you dying, and instead of just killing you, I brought you here.” The rat took a close in the tigers eyes, before he continued “Still you do not have to decide right away, be my guest for this day and think about my offer. Tell me tomorrow how you will decide. For now, stand up, but be careful, I assume you are still very weak. Come and have a decent meal now. You will feel better.” The tiger tried to back away, and be unimpressed, but as Corion mentioned a meal his stomach growled. The rat chuckled, “Well at least this decision is taken from you, so come...” he said, and led the tiger out of the door in a bigger room.
The tiger looked around, table, two chairs, chimney, two other doors, window on the wall. Sparely furnished, just as the other room he thought. “Have a seat” the rat said and went through the other door, and returned shortly later, with a pitcher and a loaf of bread and some meat. He placed it on the table, offering it to the tiger. “Please have a meal, you must be starving.” The tiger still hesitated. “As I said earlier, if I wanted to kill you, I could already have done so, so please have a meal.” The tiger sighed and sat down and then the smell of the bread and his growling stomach took over. He began to eat, he really threw down the food, satisfying his stomach. “Ah, glad you enjoy your meal. When you finished, go and rest a bit more in the bed. I'll leave for a moment and be back later the day. Go and think about my offer. If at anytime you decide to deny it, this door will lead out to the world, you are free to go anywhere you like.” With these words he left.
As soon as the tiger was full, he thought about the offer. Well he would have to pay the rat somehow, but how, what would this rat want from him? On the other hand, what were his options? Running away, he didn't know the language the people speak here, he didn't know anything about this world. He had known his jungle, but this wasn't his jungle. He went into the other room and laid on the bed. So many things to think about, still he drifted away to sleep.
He dreamed again, once more the nightmare of the chase, and just as the shadows were leaping, he awakened. It was dark in the small room, it must be in the middle of the night. He stood up and listened. Silence in the room, but there seemed to be sound from the other room. He walked over to the door, opening it. Corion sat in front of the fireplace, smoking a pipe. He turned around, “Having bad dreams, lad?” he asked. “Come sit in front of the fire, let the warmth banish the darkness.”
The tiger sat close to the fire, the warmth indeed felt good. He relaxed, his body felt better, well he felt better than the few weeks. He had made up his mind. “Corion,” he said, “I've made a decision. Please help me, teach me about this world. I am willing to pay, which ever price you want.” The rat smiled, looking at him. “I knew you would make the right decision. Don't worry about the price yet. At first you have to learn. I will teach you about the culture of these lands, I will teach you the language of the northern lands, so you can understand the people. You will learn many skills, that will help you survive in this world. I will teach you. And now, go to bed again. We will start early tomorrow, so get some rest.” The tiger remained in front of the fire, it was so nice and warm. Soon again, the tiredness took over and fell in a dreamless sleep.
In the next weeks Corion taught the tiger how to speak thelerian, the language of the northern lands. After a while he teached him also to read and writhe, so that the tiger wouldn't get lost in this world again. The days passed and he trained the tiger also to get in shape again.
[today]
When the sun rides the tiger awakened. He looked out of the window, it seemed to become a warm sunny summer day. Just perfect for the hunt. He put on his loincloth and pulled on the dark robe. Then he sheathed the short sword, took a small bag with him, which he knotted to the loincloth. He went down the the bar. The Innkeeper was also up, already busy, since most of travellers would continue their journeys soon. He asked the innkeeper for a loaf of bread, a waterskin and a breakfast. He stuffed the bread and waterskin in the bag at his loincloth, while he waited for the breakfast. He got scrambled eggs with bacon and some bread for breakfast. He ate fast, thanked the inkeeper and gave him a silver coin and his roomkey. “Keep it safe, till I return” he said to him. Then he went out for his hunt in the Alandi forest.
