Chapter 7: Masiaka.
I growled deep in my throat. I felt no love for either of the two in front of me. I knew them too well, far too well, to trust them.
“Masiaka , stop that. You know better. Now tell us what you’re doing out here with that little Kyrnin thing.” Misty said.
Taiga began to giggle. I took a step back. Giggling was not something I normally associated with these two unless they were planning something.
“Oh, Come on Misty. He isn’t a puppy anymore, and he isn’t just going to mope around forever feeling sorry for himself. Don’t question the boy, It should be obvious what those two were doing out here when they were *ahem* interrupted.” Taiga said. Practically purring as she spoke. I stared at her in confusion for a moment then I realized what she meant. I choked
“Taiga! It’s not like that. We’re out here on our way to find Lightfall!” I half-yelped as I said it. I soon regretted I had done so. It sounded like I was lying.
“Oh sure you are” the two chorused in unison and then burst into a fit of giggles. I growled again. Somehow this was worse than them acting manipulative. I felt irritated with them.
“ Are you going to help Rodain or just sit there giggling all night? If she dies I’ll know exactly who to blame for it.” I said, half growling. I felt angry and I didn’t try to suppress my anger. I knew my power wouldn’t work, so for once in my life I wasn’t concerned about keeping my emotions in check. It was an incredibly liberating feeling. I felt my hackles rise. Misty took a step back her eyes wide with something like fear, and something like surprise.
“All right. All right. Calm down Masiaka. You wouldn’t want to hurt anyone, would you?” Misty said “So that’s who your…um… ‘Companion’ is then. Rodain, hmm, isn’t she the new leader of the Kyrnin?”
“ Just. Heal. Her. Now” I growled.
Taiga raised an eyebrow and Misty sighed.
“ Alright. Calm down. I can tell she’s still breathing all the way from over here. If she’s still breathe then I can save her. Anyway, she managed to howl pretty dern loud back there. That’s how we found you. We saw the smoke and headed out and then we heard the howl so we-“
“Misty, dear, stop talking. She might be really hurt. The Kyrnin are famous for their stamina after all. She could have been running on empty to do that howl. Come on now. Let’s go see if you can heal her.” Taiga said, also giving me a wary look.
The two walked over to Rodain and began whispering to each other. I stood there felling awkward for a moment then Taiga called over her shoulder.
“Get some food! Misty is going to be starved after this healing!”
I nodded and dashed off into the burned forest. At first I thought I could find no life there, but as I ran I heard a faint cry of pain. I headed towards it cautiously. No telling what was making that noise.
I nosed through some burned bracken, half expecting there to be a flame there, but there was none. On the other side of the bracken I saw a Tadita lying there. It was small for it’s kind an a particularly lovely shade of silver in my sight, its ears appeared to be tipped with a deep red-brown color. Despite its size it was a lovely example of its species. One of it’s hind legs was caught under a log that had fallen when the fire had been in the forest.
When the little creature saw me it squealed in fear and tried to claw it’s way out from under the log. I whimpered in pity for this creature and vowed to myself to make it’s death as quick and as painless as I could. I padded forward to the creature . It was desperately scrabbling for freedom, and failing. I lifted one paw and placed it on the back of the animal and forced it to the ground, pinning it there so it couldn’t move. I lowered my head and prepared to kill the creature with a swift bite. I placed my jaws around the creatures neck and prepared to bite down.
Then I heard it whimpering and froze. It’s whimpering sounded almost like a puppy’s. I shook the thought out of my mind. The healer needed food and the kindest thing I could do for this creature was to kill it. I prepared again to bite down.
And again the animal’s pathetic whimpering stopped me.. I pulled my head back and stared at the little animal in confusion, but I used my paw to keep it in place. It turned it’s head to look at me and whimpered again. Its big brown eyes were pleading with me. I knew it didn’t want to die. I couldn’t kill it and maintain a clean conscience any more than I could kill a pup and do so.
I sighed and removed my paw from its back. It stared at me for a moment and then blinked it’s big brown eyes as if it was confused. If made a half-purring half-barking noise that sounded strangely like a question and I felt compelled to respond.
“ No, I won’t kill you. I think you’re too smart to kill. If you’ll hold still I’ll dig you out from under that log.” I said, and to my surprise the creature held still and wrung it’s tine forepaws. Nervously making little purr-barks. I managed to constrain my surprise and began to dig around the creature’s foot. Soon I had freed it. The foot looked injured, but not broken. However the Tadita would be hunted and quickly killed if I left it here. I felt that I couldn’t just let it die, not after I had saved it. I looked at the little creature as it examined it’s foot with a concerned look in it’s eyes.
“I have a ..uh.. ‘friend’ who is a healer. Come with me and she’ll fix your foot.” I said to the Tadita, feeling a bit foolish. The creature tilted it’s head at me for a moment in response.
“ If your foot hurts too much for you to walk then you can ride on my back.” I said softly. I then knew I was wrong. The creature was dumb. It wasn’t understanding a word I was saying. I turned to pad away.
A Soft purr-barking stopped me. The Tadita had limped a few steps up to me and then looked at me imploringly. I blinked with surprise. The creature had understood me.
As I stood there trying to understand how the Tadita could comprehend what I was saying It climbed on my back. I stood there for a moment feeling awkward and then slowly stepped forward, half afraid it would fall off my back. It didn’t.
I went at this pace for a few minutes, but when it became clear that the creature could hang on I broke into a slow trot. The trip returning was much slower than going. And as I came upon the three wolves I hade left behind the sun was rising in the trees behind me.
I imagine I was quite a spectacle coming back with the Tadita on my back, but fortunately no one there was awake to see my but misty. To my surprise the healer was the only one awake. She was sitting placidly staring at the forest. She grinned when she saw me.
“ I see you got food Masiaka. But isn’t it supposed to be dead?” she asked with a sarcastic note in her voice.
“I rescued it Misty. I couldn’t kill it. I want you to help it.”
“ Uh-huh. Well, I never liked Tadita meat anyway, always felt wrong to eat them. Some say they’re as smart as song eagles. But since no one can bond to one on one can prove it. I’ll send Copperhead out to go get me something to eat. I’m not really that hungry. Your friend woke up early on when I was healing her and finished the healing herself. She really has a lot of talent.” Misty said and got up and closed her eyes. I opened my mouth to remind her that my Tadita needed help, but then I realized she was speaking to her bond ‘bird’, a Songeagle named Copperhead. I looked upward and saw an odd form circling overhead and knew instantly it was Copperhead. The Songeagle soon soared off and Misty turned her attention back to me.
“ Let me see your little Tadita now. What’s wrong with it?”
I turned my head to the Tadita.
“ You need to get off my back now. Misty is going to help you.” I said to it, and it hopped right off my back. I turned back to Misty.
“Its foot is hurt.”
“ Which one?”
“One of the back ones. I think it’s the one on the left.”
Misty sniffed at the Tadita for moment. The Creature held perfectly still as Misty proceeded to examine it . The entire time it held still it was looking at me, its deep brown eyes trusting me. Nothing had ever looked at me that way, with complete trust, and it made me feel a little squeamish inside, but still good at the same time.
“ Well, his back foot is broken, but it’s minor. I’ll be able to fix it easily.”
“So it’s a he?”
“Yuh-huh. Are you going to keep him?”
“ I don’t know. I suppose if he wants to stay with me he can. I won’t chase him away.”
Misty nodded in response and then went about healing the foot of the creature. She gently pressed the end of her muzzle to it’s paw and closed her eyes. Before long the glow of one controlling the essences surrounded her. The Tadita gave a quick yelp of surprise and then quieted down. Misty lifted her head and the glow disappeared. She turned and looked at me.
“ So, what are you planning on calling this little feller?” She asked.
I thought about it for a moment. Looking at his handsome marking and silver coat. He looked back at me and make one of his odd purr-barks. I suddenly knew what I wanted to call him.
“ Tadita, would you mind if I called you Gin?” I asked. The Tadita shook his head as if indicating that he wouldn’t mind at all. I grinned and Gin grinned back at me.
“ Well, seems like the little thing likes you,” Misty said with a half grin, “ Who knows? You might actually bond with it. Wouldn’t that be something?”
I nodded briefly and yawned. I hadn’t realized how tired I was until that moment.
“Hon, you’re tired. Get some sleep.” Said Misty, she was looking at the sky now. Probably waiting for Copperhead to return. I nodded drowsily and stumbled over to where Rodain slept. I lay down next to her and fell fast asleep.