He had gone a different route through the forest on his scouting trip to Springs Bloom, following a barely established game path through the trees and brush. It would take him around the back side of the town, where The Mississippi ran its closest course to the town.
"Fourteen Thrask kittens. Three adults watching." Dietrich was crouched behind a bush, viewing what appeared to be a field trip from the school to the river.
Even though the temperature was consistent with Autumn's chill, the cubs still played in the river and on the shore while under the watch of the same school teacher from the village and her two helpers.
It was a sunny day, and Dietrich could see the rays of the sun poking down through the treetops. The river narrowed a bit inside of a little gorge of sorts that the river had eroded into the land over time.
Even though Thrask hated water, the kittens seemed to be having a fun time, their excited calls and words bringing a sense of peace to Dietrich.
"Peace. I haven't felt this since before the war." Thought the man. He wished he could merely walk up to the group with a wave and then continue his way to Springs Bloom.
But, as was his way of life and the fate of being a human, it would never be the case. Him walking to the group would spell disaster. They would see a large and unknown creature wearing clothes while walking towards them.
Mix kittens into the equation and they would certainly do something drastic. He was not keen on killing teachers and assistants trying to protect kids.
But truth be told, he did not know why Thrask society believed in their kids. He had forgotten to ask Kasma about that piece of information and made a note to ask him later.
However, as he crouched there, Dietrich realized that he could just see the tips of the ears of a Thrask below him. Standing up from his couch slowly, he peered over the bush to see that one of the kittens had wondered a bit further from the group and was sitting on the opposite river bank from them.
She appeared to be playing with the mud and was facing upstream. It put Dietrich on her left and the others on her right.
He had thought the river was a little deeper, but if she could traverse it, then it obviously wasn't. She wasn't very far from Dietrich, perhaps twenty or so meters away.
She appeared to be older than some of the other cubs due to her height. Dietrich's eyes drifted over to the teacher, inspecting her.
She wore a piece of clothing which looked like a kilt for her lower clothes. It came up just short of her knee caps. Tied into the kilt-piece was her top, which seemed to be a shawl of sorts that wrapped up to cover her chest in an appropriate fashion.
Her assistants were similarly dressed, although upon closer inspection, their attire differed slightly.
Dietrich was not worried about the small details of their clothing. What he was worried about was the sudden breeze at his back. His eyes widened under the goggles he wore, realizing that he was upwind of the group.
No bath or deodorant would be able to stop his natural smell from permeating the airwaves and betraying his hidden presence to those below.
The first ones to notice were the children. They stopped messing around in the water, looking around the land in confusion. Then, the assistants noticed it. They too looked around and finally set their gaze on the teacher.
And when his own eyes focused on her, Dietrich could see that she was staring right at him. Time dilated and Dietrich locked eyes with her. It was dead silent and one of the assistants gasped when they noticed Dietrich.
"C'elia..." Muttered the now clearly male assistant. Dietrich watched as the teachers eyes darted from Dietrich to the kids and back again rapidly.
"The young!" Hissed the other assistant, a female. Still, C'elia, the teacher, stood rooted to her position. Dietrich guessed that she was terrified and while he wanted to take advantage of such a thing, he remained rooted to his position because he realized that the assistants were speaking and he could not understand them.
"Run home!" She screeched. Dietrich remained still and did not move, watching as the chaos ensued. The children dispersed and followed the grown ups, save for the one on Dietrich's side of the river.
They passed through the trees crying and yelling out in terror as they ran. Once they were out of sight and out of his hearing, Dietrich looked down to see that the kitten below had not moved and apparently paid no mind to the commotion that had just taken place.
"They have left you behind, child." Said Dietrich. The kittens ears did not react to his words. There was no directional change at his speech and that was when he realized why she did not react.
"She must be deaf! She cannot hear!"
Slowly, Dietrich stood and moved through the brush to the kitten, edging close within five meters of it. Then it turned its head to where the other Thrask were. Quickly, she stood up and Dietrich watched as she frantically looked around.
She began to get upset and frantic, making strange noises that he had not heard any Thrask make before. It was distress, but Dietrich assumed that she had been deaf from birth and could not vocalize her words properly.
He heard a strange chuffing noise that Kasma had made when he started crying and hearing it come from a child made his heart ache.
While he was not a kid person by any true measure, the thought of the abandonment that the kitten was feeling got his own emotions working.
"She must be so afraid. The others suddenly vanished? Does she feel abandoned? Betrayed? Forgotten? How awful!" Thought Dietrich.
And so, he slowly walked up behind her, scooting closer and closer until the shadow he cast even under the trees enveloped her. She did not notice at first.
Dietrich finally understood just how small Thrask children were for the first time: This one couldn't have stood taller than his thigh. She was quite thin, but Dietrich perceived such an aspect as kids being slim.
"Human children are not born fat, so why would you be?" Asked Dietrich to no avail. Once again, there was no response from the distraught cub except for her noticing that it had gotten a darker for some reason.
She turned around and looked up, mouth hanging open presumably at the sight of an alien creature after her caretakers disappeared.
She screeched and then covered her eyes with her hands, sobs escaping through bared fangs.
Dietrich stood glumly for a second before kneeling down slowly and touching her shoulder with a hand. It was a light tap with nothing more than his thumb and index finger.
Hesitantly, she removed her hands and looked at him. Dietrich felt a strange warmth fill his heart as she seemed to pause her crying for the moment.
Taking that as a cue, he stood up and turned in the direction of the village, lifting an arm at the village and gesturing. He took a few steps and looked back to see that she had not moved, merely lowering her head slightly in fear and hugging her knees to her chest.
"Come along, child. I shall take you to your home and return you safely." He said. He knew she couldn't hear him, so he raised a hand and beckoned her to come with his fingers, waving them towards himself.
Slowly, she got up and walked over to his side where he offered his gloved hand to be held. Dietrich did not think she would take it, but he felt the smallest of pressure grip onto his palm.
Her hand was so small in his and he held it gingerly as if any extra force would shatter it.
"Like an egg, but even more fragile." Thought Dietrich. Truth be told, he had been less careful with eggs than with this kitten. She was a small thing and he felt himself fearing that a strong gust of wind would bowl her over.
"Well, it appears that I seem to have an affinity for distressed Thrask who are in situations nobody should be in. First Kasma, and now you." Said Dietrich.
As they walked, he kept his eye on both the path itself to Springs Bloom and the surrounding forests. Regardless of why other creatures felt when he entered their presence, he would not take any chances with a small child in his charge.
"Now, do not tell anyone else, but it pains me to see others suffer. It goes against everything I am as a hunter." Said Dietrich.
He did not think that watching someone run on bloody stumps after their feet were mulched by a mine would be a highlight of his life.
Hands were meant to hold and caress, not be mangled to unrecognizable pieces that looked like spiders on the battlefield.
Dietrich's position was unique in that he liked to kill yet abhorred it all the same.
"And that is why I am the way that I am. It is expected of me by the others and it has gotten me this far. Strange, is it not?" Said Dietrich to the child.
Dietrich knew he was a hypocrite. He would not deny it. He just thought it was interesting. He looked down at the kitten and she looked up at him after a few seconds. When she noticed he was looking down at her, she quickly looked back forwards.
Dietrich knew he was not sightly for the world. It was a slight shock at the beginning when he came to find that cats had replaced people, but he had gotten over the excitement quickly.
For the Thrask, however, it seemed that there was no equivalent for a human in the world. The Dog People existed, but they were nowhere near as strange.
The height, lack of fur, lack of claws, strange expressions, and clear sentient intelligence immediately ensured that a human would always be feared.
He and the others, as long as they were in the Thrask lands, would always be something to stare at, much like a museum piece or even persecuted like the Jewish community.
Such a thought dampened his spirits slightly. He was much more than what they would see at first. However, his mood brightened as his mind began to work.
"The main difference between me and some other human is that I lack moral restraint. The longer you all stare at me, the more likely I am to put my hands to work." Said Dietrich. He looked down to the kitten.
"I speak from the heart, of course, in the fact that I am not some pushover. Everything will be done to the last breath. I refuse to fall." Concluded Dietrich.
By his own words, he had proved everyone else right in that he had become a fanatic. There would be no surrender in any case. Any action would be performed until he could not go any more.
"But, only if they make it so." He added. Dietrich was more than willing to cooperate and coexist with these animals. But, as it is with human nature, he knew it was not very likely.
"And so it would seem that humans and Thrask have some similarities than I would like to think."
He looked ahead to see the edge of the wooden wall through the trees. They were nearing Springs Bloom and Dietrich understood that his time with his silent and hard of hearing companion was near its end.
He had enjoyed their walk, mainly because he was able to expel some deep and dark secrets without any reaction.
Therapy, in a way of some kind. Just being able to speak up about the things on his mind and have someone quietly listen was a relieving feeling for Dietrich.
The tree line came up and he paused his motion just before it. He let go of the kittens hand and knelt down. She looked at his face with a shocked expression.
Dietrich smirked and pointed to the village, beckoning for her to go. She took a step away but grabbed at his pant leg, tugging on it.
Dietrich looked to the town, able to see that there was a commotion at the gate. He brought his binoculars up and looked through them, seeing the school teacher and a peculiar looking Thrask arguing with what looked like a group of guards.
Dietrich brought his binoculars down and then to the kitten. Once more, he pointed to the village and gave her a firm push on the back alongside a very tense look. Reluctantly, she obliged his commands.
She took off running, getting herself off of the game trail and onto the main path to the village. The front gate entourage noticed her after a short moment with the teacher howling in what Dietrich assumed was relief.
The teacher grabbed the cub excitedly while the town guard and Thrask of Interest watched in amusement. Dietrich focused on this new Thrask through his binoculars.
Decidedly, Dietrich assumed it was a male. The Thrask species was particularly difficult when it came to discerning gender unless certain features were easily seen, but this one just reeked of a male aura.
He wore a long dark brown coat, much like a trench coat, that extended to his calves. Under the coat was a similar colored shirt and pants which were cuffed at the knees. A bright red sash went across his chest, running from right shoulder down to his left side.
His fur was colored like an Earth orange cat with dull stripes running across the back of his head. The fur itself was long and coarse looking, unlike Kasma's silky and short hair. He also looked like he had a beard, seeing as how his whiskers were fashioned like a mustache and some extra fur extended down his chin like a goatee.
The wooden hilt of something poked out from his waistline, obscured by the coat. Dietrich assumed it would have been a knife, but it curved just as it went under the coat and it did not look like it had a pommel piece.
Dietrich assumed this was the Warden that Krisch'a was talking about. His appearance was official looking and he stood with an authoritarian stance. Dietrich brought his binoculars down as he watched the group talk for a small moment before turning to head inside the gate.
Dietrich almost got up to move, but he took a minute to slow down and weigh his options.
"They could attack me. I could fall before a group of them like nothing. Range and cunning are my advantages, not strength alone." Thought Dietrich.
While he believed that there may be a stretch of a possibility for them to receive him in a positive manner, Dietrich was understanding of the reality he was living in.
An attack was highly likely and he would be surprised if they did not attack him at all.
He looked to the group, eyeing the dangerous melee weapons and bows held by the group. It would be painful at best and deadly at worst if anything bad happened. In fact, he would not only die a painful death, but leave his friends without his help.
"We Germans dared to fight the world. I can handle myself but I must remain vigilant." Concluded Dietrich.
He felt his rifle sling uncomfortably dig into his shoulder, so he took it off to carry it. And with cautious confidence, he began to walk.
The game path crossed a main road that had been properly cleared and pathed out. He was in full view of the gate by now and yet nobody seemed to notice him. The only sounds he could hear was the beating of his heart and the crunching of the ground under his boots.
Dietrich had gotten fairly close to the town itself and somehow nobody had set their eyes upon him. He was not a short figure by any measure and he was the only thing standing within fifty or so meters of the town.
Dietrich watched as the group entered the gate, conversing amongst themselves. It sounded like it was a happy idle conversation and Dietrich suddenly found himself hoping that they noticed him.
His prayers were answered when the teacher bent down and released the deaf kitten to run off, turning around herself for some unknown reason.
Dietrich froze involuntarily as the repetitious practice of years worth of hunting commanded his body to stay still much like one does when a deer notices their movement. He was nearly cradling his rifle, hoping that they still had no idea what a gun was and were not threatened.
And that was when Dietrich realized that his confidence might have been his folly.
The teacher had now seen him twice, and both times were when he looked as if he was a predator prowling for an opportunity; Sneaking up while their back were turned and attention focused on something else.
First with a cub who was deaf and now with a whole town that had its gates wide open.
She did not emote or react except for her fur standing completely on end where it was exposed. The rest of the group looked like they were going to walk off and that was when the Warden noticed that the teacher had frozen.
The orange cat turned and looked his way and hesitated. Dietrich knew what the cat was feeling: The lurch in your heart when something surprises and scares you at the same time. This time, however, the Warden spoke and the guard turned as well.
Dietrich felt his face flush as everyone stared at him.
Not a muscle moved. Not a sound was made. Even the surrounding forest had died as if on queue. Dietrich pondered their reactions, comparing it to Kasma's.
He was a complete unknown to them.
A creature of an origins not understood by them in any way.
Something never heard of.
"Kasma had a shock introduction to me. I saved him and in the heat of the moment he had no time to react. These ones have time and distance. They knew that 'something' was out there." Thought Dietrich. He began to recall the timeline since he had arrived.
"They know I came from the direction of the bandit camp: The one that was entirely destroyed with one survivor who was later kidnapped, killed, and skinned in their town with no witnesses." Summarized Dietrich.
As he stood there, he wondered if they were drawing connections between these events. Certainly, by now, the Warden who had been sent here in relation to the larger picture should have connected the dots.
Dietrich had to admit that this interaction was bringing him a form of joy. To see their surprise and shocked reactions meant that he was doing a good job in striking fear to the surrounding land.
But he wanted to get inside the town, not have them shoot arrows at him. He could see the captain fumbling with a crossbow and that some archers had already begun to nock arrows.
"What shall I feasibly do? I could not understand what they were saying a while ago for some reason. I spoke to Kasma and Sehth'ker just fine this morning." Questioned Dietrich.
He watched as the Warden stepped into the entrance of the gate, furred hand gripping whatever it was in his waistline. He brought another hand up to his muzzle and yelled out.
The only words that Dietrich recognized from Kasma's limited teachings were "You" and "Creature" in essence. There was more and Dietrich assumed that the whole sentence was along the lines of "You are a scary creature. Stay away!" or any other similar line of thinking.
Dietrich Fischer, being Dietrich Fischer, decided that he would try and walk up to the gate, so that is what he did.
He made sure his steps were slow and steady, giving the group ample time to become aware of the fact that he was walking. His speaking of the Thrask language would be rough and gruesome, but he had an idea of what he would say.
It took him nearly a minute to reach the gate, surprised that nobody made a move to attack him. Everyone was ready to move at a moments notice, however. The Warden still held onto whatever it was that he had and the guards kept their weapons close.
When he reached the gate, the first thing he noticed was that the group smelled like wild animals. But even with the stench of poor hygiene lingering around, he came to a stop just in front of the gate.
The Warden looked up at him, nervous as one could get. Dietrich assumed that this figure was usually the one who did the intimidating and held the authority. But in this situation, Dietrich knew that he was out of his league.
Seeing a very tall, bipedal creature wearing clothes and displaying sentient intelligence was a sure fire was to promote chaos in the mind. The Warden, with a shaky voice and trembling hand that rested on the piece in his waistline, asked a question.
"What are you?" It was spoken in a very basic format. Dietrich felt some moisture begin to form under his goggles where the material rested against his face. Dietrich believed he had a good idea for what he would want these Thrask to know him as.
"Hunter...from land...far beyond." He struggled. Dietrich took nearly fifteen seconds to formulate and speak the basic sentence. He raised a finger casually, pointing to the teacher.
"You leave...child alone. Disgrace!" He growled. The teacher recoiled and Dietrich felt animosity fill his heart for her abandonment of a defenseless kid. But he kept his emotions in check.
"You...I know. We know." Said Dietrich. He tapped the Warden's chest with the muzzle of his K98.
"Kingdom send you. Know why." Revealed Dietrich. He tried to speak another sentence, but it was so horribly butchered that it caused a snicker to escape the lips of a singular guard.
Dietrich looked to her as she stood with her sword and spoke with an ice cold demeanor.
"Krisch'a laughed."
That shut the whole group up. Nobody spoke or did anything with his reveal. It was subtle but it was massive. They now knew and he was sure of it. He could not help but boast his skills.
"Others coming. We have goal. Must be done." Said Dietrich. He took a step and was now towering above the school teacher, slinging his rifle over his shoulder.
"Sehth'ker said you help. Know things." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder and base of her neck. The teacher seemed responsive after the mention of Sehth'ker and she gave the Thrask affirmative gesture.
He removed his hand and lazily pointed into the town.
"May I enter?"