The Time of the Titans

Chapter 16: Captive Again

'Just us', I repeated in my mind. It brought me back to all the thoughts I had had over my long walks across the moor. Solitude.

It was at that moment Robin returned. I was astonished to see him carry a dead animal that appeared to be of his own size. It was one of those sand-coloured wild sheep or antelopes that I had seen earlier. This one had curved horns, so it was probably a male. I wouldn't have been surprised if it weighted more than the boy carrying it over his shoulders. Yet Rob didn't seem to have overwhelming trouble with it, which made me think that life here had made the boys strong.

"Sorry I'm late", he said, at least a bit out of breath, "but I thought we could use a bigger prey tonight at the Base."

I saw he also had some smaller catch. Some rabbits and seabirds were hanging from the small leather bag he carried on his back along with the quiver. He let the big animal fall to the ground, took a deep breath, and then stared at us with some suspicion.

"Why's he not tied up?" he asked from Ze.

"He tried to escape, but I won", told Ze. I understood now why he needed me to promise I would not tell about my little adventure. "I've got him fully under control."

"Okay", said Rob. "But it was your knots again, wasn't it? I've told you to tie your knots correctly. You do it wrong."

"I know", said Ze with his clear voice. "But it didn't get him out, did it?"

"Not this time, but you never know, Ze." Robin had a reprimand in his voice, but still sounded sympathetic, kind. "You should practice the knots."

"I will, don't worry about me", said Ze.

"I worry, cause you're my bro."

It was all quite cute, but it made me worry if I had made a mistake by giving the promise to Ze. Now Robin would think I had simply tried to escape, and he would treat me with more suspicion. On the other hand, he'd be suspicious anyway, so probably the small alteration of the official story would not do much damage. And it wouldn't do me harm to have someone among these guys who'd host a small debt of gratitude to me.

Rob came to me and Ze released me to scramble up and stand on my feet again. Rob studied my face with what looked like genuine curiosity, and then he grabbed my both wrists. He and Ze then tied up my wrists again, only this time in front. Rob made sure the knots were all correctly tied, and the bonds held firm.

"We need to move", said Rob then. "We've lost a lot of time capturing this prisoner and getting back to the hunt. It's imperative that we make it back to the Base before sunset."

Then he looked at me with his intelligent eyes. "We've got some load, but there are no donkeys here, or do you see any, Ze?"

"I see no donkeys, Rob", said Ze. There was a smirk on their faces. "Oh, except one. We've got this donkey here."

He pointed at me and I felt deeply betrayed, reminding myself of how just a moment ago he had told the story of his name.

"So, if you don't mind", said Rob apologetically. And they lifted the dead animal and started installing it over my neck. It felt heavy, but not impossible to carry.

"What is this animal?" I asked. Rob looked at Ze, rising his brow, and Ze responded with a friendly shrug, as if to express 'he's okay', which again kind of warmed my heart a bit, although didn't fully remedy the insult of being called a donkey.

"Man, it's a lope", said Rob. "They just roam here. Their colour and horns looked a bit like antelopes to us, so we just call them lopes. They, like, lope about a lot."