Outcast Among the Reeds

Chapter Five

   "Easy, easy, I'm not going to hurt you," he said softly.

   It's a trick; he's just trying to get me to drop my guard.

   She cringed, hearing soft rustling from his direction. Here it comes. She could not stop herself from trembling, even as she braced for the impact. She did not want to be  beaten but she could not stop him. She waited...and waited...but the strike never came. Cautiously, she raised her head. He still knelt on the other side of the confined space, watching her with curious bright green eyes.

   "You were thrashing in your sleep," he explained, ignoring her defensiveness. "I didn't want you to open your wounds, though," he paused, grimacing, "it would seem I caused you to do just that."

   She hesitated, but the pulsating pain drew a quick glance, then she stared in surprise. Her upper arm was wrapped in some kind of soft white cloth, a dark red stain spreading slowly along the outside. Her back stung, but not nearly as badly as her arm. And everything else just felt sore. She uncurled slightly, taking in the rest of her body. Small bruises interspersed with shallow scratches dappled her skin from feet to hip and along her shaking arms. She suspected more of the same marks graced her torso but she could not see them beneath more of the soft cloth coiled tightly around her. Her muscles ached down to the bone and as the initial terror of waking to unfamiliarity faded, she felt a deep exhaustion creep through her.

   I feel like he caught me trying to run again. But I haven't run in...She could not recall the last time she had attempted to escape from him. And I pleased him during his last visit. Half of her soreness likely culminated from that experience. But where had the rest...

   She gasped as her foggy memories came rushing back. The storm; the creature; the fight at the river...she had failed to kill it. Why was she still alive? She'd felt its murderous rage, its overwhelming desire to feast on her flesh. She shivered, hugging herself. She never wanted to feel such a thing ever again. Even wolves at the peak of the hunt did not thirst so for their victim's blood.

   A plaintive whine drew her from her reverie and she looked back towards the man. From behind him emerged the head of a creature resembling a large, oddly colored wolf. Instead of the normal greys and browns, his coat boasted a mixture of long gold and white strands. Its muzzle seemed a little shorter, its legs a bit thicker...or was that just an illusion of the fur? Dark brown, sad eyes peered at her longingly, a look she recognized from the other animals in her forest.

   "Ta'shiki," the man sighed, though even she could not miss the affection in his voice. Fearlessly hooking his arms around its thick neck, he tugged it over to lie half in his lap. "We are trying not to scare her, you big fur-ball." His hands sank deep into the not-wolf's pelt, rubbing its neck and working their way up behind its ears and under its jaw. Its tongue lolled out the side of its mouth while it basked in the attention.

   She watched them, surprised and curious despite herself. Other than herself, she had never seen an animal act so affectionate with a humanoid. They usually threatened or avoided them.

   Taking the chance while he was distracted, she glanced around her. Soft walls of shaded green enclosed her on three sides with a drooping pointed ceiling. Under her lay a soft blanket, crumpled from her earlier struggles. Another lay in a heap by her feet, having shrugged it off in her attempt to escape this stranger. Beyond that, bundled into the corner, sprawled a lump of colorful fabrics. Beside her, two more blankets made up another bed and she wondered if it was the man's bed. Across from her, held open by the not-wolf's body, the green material separated into two flaps affording her a glimpse of trampled grass, a rock-lined fire pit, and shadows of trees.