***
In a medium-sized valley between sand dunes, three tents are perched around a fire that is about to die down, close enough to light up their entrances and light up the insides if the entrance flaps were pulled to the side, but far enough so there is no chance of fire.
A single person is sitting cross-legged, watching the fire, his back to the larger, middle tent.
There is no sign of movement anywhere, so Al’Aeen shifts to his human form, approaching the fire.
“Hello there, friend! I know you Earth-dwellers are modest about your bodies, though you really should be proud of yours. I could just eat you up! Feel free to grab some pants and a shirt from the pile there. It’s a nice surprise to see you are the obedient kind!”
“Where is my child?” Al’Aeen asks after pulling on a pair of pants barely reaching below his knees.
“Patience, big guy, you know you are here for a chat, don’t you?”
“Bring her out, or I will ring your neck right now!”
“You really don’t realize the position you are in, do you? You think I need three tents here by myself? Raised, bring your warriors out, please.”
A total of ten warhogs come out of the two smaller tents, forming a semicircle behind Al’Aeen and blocking his retreat.
A round pillow is thrown over the dying fire, landing at Al’Aeen’s feet unceremoniously at his feet.
“Grab a seat anywhere in front of me.”
“First, you will…”
“Oh for Calla’s sake, FINE! Earless! Bring the kid. And you, SIT!”
As the warhog with no ears comes out, the girl doesn’t seem scared at all considering the situation and Al’Aeen can only feel thankful that she is too young to realize what is happening.
“Stand on my right, Earless! Give her to me!
Hey cutey!
We want daddy here to see his child is fine. For now at least.”
A savage growl comes out of the big man, making the warhogs present flinch.
“I see you’ve learned to do that too, haven’t you Earthling? No matter. You’ve met my friend Earless, haven’t you? After all, you are the reason he wears that name.”
“All pigs look alike to me, wolf.”
“Oh? And what might that be?”
“Future victims.”
“That’s pretty savage of you, if I may say so myself. The Master is going to love you. But aren’t you Earthlings usually pacifists? Why the cruel mindset?”
“Because a pig sparred today is a future friend in danger. And if you say I’ve met your Earless before, who is now holding my child, you’ve just proven my point.”
“You are not as dumb as I would expect of an overgrown monster like you.”
“If you meant to turn me into a friend, your speech isn’t helping.”
“Oh Al’Aeen, your loyalty needs to be tested first.”
“No. First, you need to hand me, my child.”
“Or I could drop her into the hot embers. So stop testing me! The sooner we get this over with, the sooner you get her back.
Or die. Up to you, really.
Unless you think you can fight all twelve of us while protecting the kid at the same time?”
Suddenly, the warhogs jump forward, pinning Al’Aeen down, in a very uncomfortable, dirt-eating position.
The slight commotion finds Earless falling to the ground, his throat missing with blood spurting around, while Jena has one arm around the wolf’s neck.
“Lindator, let the child go or I will snap your neck right here and now! I thought I recogniz your voice.”
A.N.: Comment with 'give next' and at 7 comments I will post the next part (runs away from angry readers 😀)
Edit: we have 6 out of 7 comments so far, and i've just finished writing parts 24 and 25, while part 23 is one tap and one comment away from published status.
So i'm giddy to release those parts. Therefore, after 23 is up, counter goes to 0. At 7 comments i release 24, and so on...