Life of a Nomad

Chapter 5 - Training and freedom

“You never mentioned feeding yourself.”

I pried one eye open to look at Collin with an ‘are you kidding me?’ look before I replied, “That’s because I was starved at a daily basis. Or rather weekly basis; as soon as the chieftain left, Alex had free range to do what he pleased, especially if Luke had gone with his father.”

A scowl appeared on Collin’s face while he mouthed “Luke?” Rolling my eyes, I explained, “Luke and Alex are the chieftain’s sons, Alex being the oldest and Luke being my protector. He’s the only one in the whole pride who gives a damn if I make it through the next day.”

The burning look in Collin’s eyes changed rapidly into one of understanding before he growled between his teeth and looked away. Then he turned back, his eyes now burning with determination. “Then prove them wrong. Is this, “He gestured at my sprawled out body, “The real you?”

I scoffed and sat up, “No, this is me flipping off the world and showing them I don’t give a damn anymore. But you’re right; If they want me to leave, I’ll leave but I’m going to show them what they missed out on.” I replied with fire in my voice.

All my life, the pride had gone out of their way to either avoid me or torment me. Now I would show them what I am before I take my leave here. Forever. I looked up when Collin barked out a laugh and shook his head.

“What?”

He just shook his head while pointing at me. “You see little red, I’ve seen a lot of youngsters but only a few had what it takes to get far in the world and you kid, got it by the bucket load.” I scrunched my nose up at his comment and stood up. “I am not a kid, I’m sixteen and I’ll turn seventeen in a few weeks.”

Collin placed a hand on his chest and gave a mocking bow. “Apologies miss. But I turned twenty-two a few months ago, so compared to me, you are a kid.” I rolled my eyes at that and muttered, “Wow, six years difference. Doesn’t even act like an adult though.”

He playfully narrowed his eyes at me before pointing towards the forest. “Start running and try to dodge me for as long as you can.” Flicking the dirt of my clothes, I mockingly saluted him while saying, “Sure thing princey boy.” before I dashed away from him, hearing his footsteps following me a few moments later.

This time, I kept my eyes focused on my surroundings while my ears remained focused on Collin, as he was slowly gaining on me. Twigs were breaking under his feet stomping down behind me, so I used my agility to sprint towards the thicker part of the forest, where I quickly weaved between the trees, which stopped Collin’s larger, more built frame from going any further.

“Hey!’ he shouted out and I looked back with a smirk when I noticed that he was forced to run around the thicker part, giving me a few more miles head start. I smiled wider before I said, “You never said I had to do this fair!”

---Collin’s POV---

I couldn’t help but shake my head as Christina had rebounded and was now running away quickly, using the surroundings to her advantage as she weaved between the smaller trees and forced me to back off. But when she shouted out towards me, that felt like a challenge.