INITIATION ULTIMATE, Chapter 14.1: Narrated by Tharseo

Tharseo encounters a group of people in the woods who mistake him for a thief. Can he escape the weapons they wield?

Early in the morning, I reawaken, starving.  For a moment, I contemplate stealing more of Unari's berries - No, I can't do that...  I'll have to trade items from the bag of hygienic supplies the soldiers gave me later.  And I can't just go up to his doorstep, because he'll shoot me.  I guess it's just time to explore.  After shuffling through my coat pockets, I brush my teeth, grab a flashlight, and crawl out of my tent.

            Time to go; now how do I turn this on?  I shuffle in the dark to find the flashlight button.  Feeling a protruding bump and pressing it, a thin red beam pops from the back of the light, searing my skin.  With a sharp yelp, I drop the device and shake my stinging arm until the burn fades.  Sofos rigged it with a laser?  I can definitely use this!  There's another button beside the one for the laser, which is for the actual light source.  I turn off the laser and flick it on.

            Flashlight?  Check.  Obviously.

            Katana?  There it is... Check!

            Hopefully nobody will steal the rest of my items while I'm gone.

 

***

 

            I wander upon a camp of seven males and females, each in separate sleeping bags around a fire.  I wonder why they have chosen this location to camp out.  There has to be a reason; maybe there's food around here!

            One of the males stirs, a boy of about fifteen.  He sleepily blinks his eyes, and then lifts his head, surveying the area tiredly.  I hold my breath, clicking my flashlight off and stepping backward into the darkness, hoping for it to conceal me. My foot cracks a fallen branch, and the boy startles, wide eyes looking straight at me.  "Hey..." he murmurs.

            "It's okay," I say, "I'm just looking around..."

            "Thief!" the boy suddenly cries, alerting up the rest of the sleeping Initiates.  "You're the thief who has been stealing our food!  Get him!  Get him!"

            "I'm not a thief!" I cry, wheeling around and taking off into the forest.

            "Over there!  Over there!" the boy continues to scream, sending the others in a frenzy.  "Get him!  Get him!"

            "Thief!" another Initiate echoes, and begins racing toward me, wielding a mace in his starved, bony hand.  I wheel around ninety degrees, rushing away as fast as I can.  "Thief!  Thief!  Thief!  Get him!"  Soon, the whole group is pursuing me like a pack of starved wolves.  Can I outrun them?

            I trip over a root sending me sprawling on my face.  Picking myself up as fast as I can, I sprint ahead, only to be clawed in the face with a whip of branches.  That’s sure to leave some scratches, I think as the sting gives way to warm beads of blood. I crash through some brambles, biting back a pained shout, and then tumble down a hill.   At the bottom, I collapse into a heap, knees in a puddle of cold moisture and face in a pile of wet leaves.  With a quiet groan, I clear the water out of my eyes.  Hopefully the pack has lost my trail in the fall, but I doubt it.  If only I didn’t make so much noise!              

“Thief!  Down there!” a cry rises, echoed with the voices of the other pack members.  "Get him!"  I can turn on my flashlight, now that I know they'll find me anyways.  The light flicks on, broadening my range of vision and clearing out the obstacles.  I should be much faster now.

            There's something in the distance, barely visible against the dark morning sky.  What is it, a stone wall?  If I run fast enough, perhaps I can scale the rocks to safety.  I'd like to see my assailants try to climb up after me in that starved, weakened state of theirs. 

High speed, I take off in the wall's direction, avoiding the obstacles that bar my way.  By the time I make it to the wall, I'm winded, and my pursuers have been left in the forest.  As soon as I begin my climb, they reach me, shouting their anger and plans to capture me.  Their hands tear at my shirt and tug at my feet, making it near impossible to climb.  I fall back onto the dusty ground, head scraping against the stones.  A flash of lightning crosses my vision as the side of my head hits the ground.  Blindly, I swing my katana, but it meets no resistance. I open my eyes.

            All seven attackers have backed away from me, looks of fear and surprise on their bony faces and sunken in eyes.  They're not looking at me; instead, they're looking to the side of me.  I hear a long, low growl, and I slowly turn to see what the other Initiates are looking at.

            It's a small, knee-high creature that looks like a black dog.  Large, unfamiliar eyes glow bright blue in the dark, darting around to look from the attackers to me.  Deep in its throat, it lets out a snarl, crouching protectively over its food, a large fish that is nearly half its size.  The creature's large foreleg fins surround the fish, a possessive gesture announcing, "This is mine!"  

Getting to my feet, I slowly edge away from the creature, careful to avoid making eye contact.  The last thing I want to do is anger it; what even is this thing?

            "Cantiko," one of my aggressors whispers to a younger boy.

            "How did it get over?" a girl asks the fifteen year old leader.

            "This one is small, so it can fit through the cracks in the wall.  Stay away.  Even at its young age, it can kill you!"

            Taking advantage of my attacker's fear, I formulate a plan in my mind.  My finger moves from the flashlight button to the laser button.  "Yeah!"  I cry defiantly, "This Cantiko is my loyal companion!  So if you don't want him to attack you, I say you get away from us!"

            Even with fear in their eyes, my attackers manage to give me looks of skepticism.  "The creature is only protecting his catch," the leader argues.  "You know nothing of his kind!"

            "You want to bet?" I exclaim.  This plan has to work, I think desperately.  "If you don't believe me, I can make him growl!  Growl..." I think of a name off the top of my head, "Wolf!"  Praying that the plan is a success and the creature is too protective of its food to attack me, I give the creature a flick with my laser.  The pupils in those glowing blue eyes dilate, and its fur stands on end.  It lets out a shocked cry, extending its foreleg fins wider around the fish.  The growl in its throat deepens, and it takes a defensive step forward.  My attackers stumble into each other in their panic to take a step backward.

            Only their leader remains still.  “The creature doesn’t understand your commands,” he reasons.  “He was only reacting to the loud sound of your voice!  You do not control this beast!”

            “I do, I insist forcefully, “and if you want to take the chance that I do not control him, it’s all up to you.  But I have trained him to defend me, even if it means attacking others.  Now, I’m not the guilty party here, your people are for attacking me.  I’m no thief.  Even if he does attack and kill you, I won’t be held responsible!”

            The leader looks at me as if I am an idiot.  “First of all, thief,” he emphasizes the word,“don’t try to hide your identity; we saw you steal our deer.  You were wearing the same shirt!  Just because you wore a black mask doesn’t mean your identity is concealed!”  My Creatorian shirt?  They saw someone wearing a Creatorian shirt steal their food?  “Second of all, you seem to overlook the fine details that if you did have your Cantiko attack us, the blood on his teeth will trigger his eyes to flash gold, forever making him thirst for human blood for the rest of his life.  I still don’t believe you!  Thief!”  The declaration rallies his people, and the shouts of “Thief!  Thief!  Thief!” assault me from all sides.  The loud voices also aggravate the young Cantiko, who lets out a sharp bark, silencing them all.

            So turning gold-eyed makes Cantiko aggressive blood-lovers?  I can use this information to my advantage!  “Turning the Cantiko golden-eyed is a risk I’m willing to take," I improvise, "and he also seems quite willing to take it.” I point to the creature as it moves away from the fish, closer and closer to the attackers.  The sound of snarling fills the air, and my assailants draw their weapons.  “So,” I say with a grin, “Attack, Wolf!”  My assailants don’t wait to see whether my claim is a lie or not; they flee into the woods, their leader following close behind.  “Yeah, run!” I shout to their backs, grabbing a rock from the ground and chucking them into the forest behind them.  “Run, you weaklings!  Whoo!”

The feeling of eyes watching me makes me turn my attention  back to the young Cantiko.  Those large, blue eyes look up at me, and I make the mistake of looking directly at them.  A magnetic wrenching feeling unearths a memory from the depths of my mind.

 

I’m sitting under a tree, looking up into the branches while a brown squirrel sits up in the limbs, chattering in a language that I can’t understand.  “444!” Mom calls, and the squirrel disappears into the higher boughs for safety.

“Mommy!  Did you see the squirrel?” I exclaim, only three.

“No,” Mom admits.  “What did it look like?”

“Brown and furry.  And it had a funny voice!” I describe excitedly.  A movement catches the corner of my eye.  “Ion!” I cry.  “Look Mommy, it’s Ion!”

Fifteen year old Ion had never really wanted to participate in our picnic, but Mom had begged him to do so, and he had finally agreed.  Now, he balances a tray of food on one arm, a less than happy look on his face.  “I’m coming!” he calls to us while Dad lays out a blanket in the shade of a tree.  As he’s headed for Dad’s blanket, the tray topples from his hand, scattering bits and pieces all throughout the grass.  Sprinting toward Ion, I help him pick up the fallen items and put them back on the tray.

“Thank you, 444,” Ion tells me appreciatively.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, the words resound in Ion’s voice as the creature stares into my eyes.  I blink, backing away.  An eerie feeling settles over me...  Can this creature understand me?  Is it thanking me, and if so, what is it thanking me for?  “I’ll leave you to your fish,” I whisper. Wheeling around, I sprint away towards Unari’s property, careful to avoid my seven assailants on the way. 

If Unari is awake by now, I can trade for food with him.  Maybe I can get more information out of him about Cantiko, too.

Author's Note

Constructive criticism is appreciated.