The Beast and The Brain.

When I woke up my clothes were damp from the soggy bed roll and it was dark out. I stretched my sore body and reached for J’s pack. If I was hoping to find any secret or person possessions of J’s then I would have been disappointed. There was nothing but the bare minimum in her pack. I riffled through it until I found the sack of dried fruit and nuts, and the leather fold of jerky. My mouth watered and I stuffed a handful into my mouth. I choked as I chewed the leathery meat, and fished through the bad and found one of the canteens to wash the food down.

It was hard for me to restrain myself, but I took my time with the rest. I chewed slowly and drank small portioned amounts of water. When I finished the meat I moved onto the fruit and nuts. It took me a minute to shove it all down my throat and even when all of the food was gone I still had an empty pit in my stomach. But even that small amount of food made a difference. I could already feel a small amount of energy trickling its way through my body. There wasn’t a moment to lose.

I had to act quickly before any of it drained away. I unleashed my power and turned into a hunter the moment I changed. I kept as little as possible so I could easily navigate through the swamp. I went after the first scent I came across, there was no time to be picky. I followed a damp musky scent, and I knew before I even found the animal, that it was going to be a male. Sure enough, when I came across the creature laying in the tree it was a dark black wild cat that stunk of pheromones.

I let out a growl to make my presence known, the large cats’ tail flicked and its rounded ears pricked forward as he jerked his head up in surprise. I had been pretty stealthy with my approach, but now I could feel my power slipping, I needed to make this a quick kill. The cat jumped down from the tree and let out a territorial growl and approached me. I thought it was going to be the easiest fight in the world, but I was wrong. While the wild cat didn’t stand a chance against me he was surprisingly quick.

It was smart for an animal, and while it refused to back down, it never attacked me full on. It always barred its teeth and lashed out at me when I got to close and would back away. I was a little wary too; the gashes on my body were still healing. And if this cat managed to hit me on one of them…I didn’t want to think about it. So I used my advantage of flight and took down the cat from above. I felt a little guilty for killing him, but I needed to get to j, and that was most important. I ate every ounce of meat I could find on the cat and then, with more energy, I went looking for my next pray.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It took four wild cats, six otters, twelve fish, and two birds to get my stomach to a relatively decent place of being satisfied. I walked back to J’s supplies and packed the canteens into J’s sack and then checked my sword. To my relief, it wasn’t rusted. I said a silent thank you and took a few minutes to oil it and sharpen it with J’s supplies. I figured I should do it now while it was safe so I would be ready. When everything that was necessary to have was packed and prepared I shouldered J’s sack and started walking. I left the bed rolls behind they would only take forever to dry and weigh me down. I didn’t really need them anyway. I returned to the spot where J and I kissed and from there I heightened my scent. Nothing. I cursed, I had been worried that this might happen; with all the rain and amount of time that passed I knew there was a high chance that the smells would be washed and gone.

I muttered a small curse, if only I knew the general direction at least then I might be able to start walking and pick up humans scents when I got close enough. I decided to try anyway. I lashed out and focused solely on strengthening my sense of smell. I was assaulted by the smell of the swamp, but no humans, so I pushed further. And my head started to pound, like I was standing on my head and the blood was collecting. I hadn’t done this before, and I wondered how much I could push myself. I ignored the sensation and pushed further, the pounding strengthened and started to hurt, I gritted my death and went further. I needed something. I pushed one last time with great effort and there is was. Smoke, a good sign of human life. I held onto the scent and determined which direction it was coming from and then let it go.

The pounding in my head stopped and I opened my eyes and brought my fingers to my nose where I felt something warm. It was blood. “Great, just what I need right now.” I took a mental note not to push myself too hard next time.

Last thing I needed was to die from me pushing my brain over the edge. So I started walking. My plan was to get somewhat closer to the hideout and then I wouldn’t have to push myself to hard to find it. It was a long day, without J here to keep my mind busy I found that I talked to myself on common occasion. I also kept myself alert for animals to eat, and enemies that I might have not smelled or picked up.

I caught meals throughout the day, whether it was a wild cat or an otter, or a large bird or fist, I needed sustenance. So I ate and walked all the while keeping an eye for any traps or scouts. When night started to call I found a large tree and nestled down between its roots, with a surprisingly full stomach and a determinedly resolved mind.

Halfway through the next day I searched for signs of the hideout. And to my relief, and somewhat surprise, I found that I was close. Closer than I expected to be, I was also a bit wary. I hadn’t come across any scouts or other humans the entire time. But then again I hadn’t been sticking to any paths or direct route, the only reason I wasn’t, was because I didn’t know where the paths were and I wasn’t afraid of the animals that were living here now, because I knew I could take them all on.

The closer I got to the hideout the more quite I was with my steps and the more I kept my senses on alert. I was about a half mile out when I nearly got caught by a scout. Luckily I was able to hide behind a tree as he passed, and I wondered why I hadn’t heard him when I noticed that none of his footsteps made a single sound, not even when a twig snapped under his foot. I didn’t take a chance after that. I opened up all of my senses so I could hear, see and smell better. After I did that I didn’t run into any more problems. And soon, I was catching my first glimpses of their hideout. The area where the hideout had been built was entirely raised up a few feet from the swamp with good solid ground. And I knew that this was from the man that had the power to manipulate the earth that J had told me about.

There were less trees took, only a few very large trees with large canopies hung over and created shade for spots throughout the hideout. I decided that I needed to know what I was up against before I decided to waltz in and try to save the day. I smiled, J would be proud of me for actually thinking ahead. I snuck around the perimeter, moving silently and carefully in the shadows around the hideout. I found a tree that hung over some of the houses, it was one of the largest and its branches were enormous.

I first found a patch of mud and covered my arms and face. Always better to be safe than sorry. I looked around to make sure no one was around and then I let out my power so my fingers grew into talons and I used them to dig into the tree trunk and climbed. It wasn’t easy, and by the time I reached the branch I was covered in sweat. I reigned in all of my power and sat cross legged with my back against the enormous trunk. I guessed that two people could lay down side by side on their backs and still have a little space to spare. I wondered how old this tree was, and what sorts of stories it had if it could talk. I decided to close my eyes and rest while I had the chance. I would move to the end of the branch when night fell, that way I would be less likely to draw unwanted eyes.

I couldn’t have asked for a better spot to hide and keep my eyes on things. The branch reached out a decent amount over the hideout, and stopped right over a roof of one of the houses. Tonight I would climb out to the edge and from there I would observe, and learn who my competition was, for now I slept, and prayed that I didn’t suddenly become a sleep walker and fall to my death.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I woke a few hours later just as the sun was setting. Everything was sore, everything was stiff, and I hurt. The gashes along my body thrummed with pain, but I knew I had to just push through it. It wasn’t getting better anytime soon, so I just grit my teeth and didn’t think about it. I opened up J’s sack and took out one of the canteens. I swung it over my shoulder and propped my sword and back against the trunk. I crawled on my hands and knees and made my way out. When I made it all the way out I was right above the house, and I laid down on my stomach so my head had a clear view where the branch forked. The first thing I noticed were the houses. They weren’t made like most that I had seen. They were raised a little off the ground and they were made from solid polished wood, with sliding doors and wax paper. It made sense, this place was hot, and the houses would be more open with wax paper and sliding doors but still keep the rain out. Even from here I could tell that these houses were built to last a lifetime.

There were people walking around everywhere, which I was surprised by the numbers. I never expected there to be so many. Some attended cooking fires; some were practicing with weapons, some were just talking in small groups talking. But I didn’t see a single person just standing doing nothing, which meant that everyone must have a job and duty. I watched the people for about an hour and realized that they were probably more active at night when it was cooler. Lanterns and torches were lit around the entire perimeter and throughout the porches of the houses so there was a warm glow throughout the grounds.

There was a warm glow throughout the grounds. And I could see the flicker of candles through the houses wax paper. I decided that I would push my hearing out so I could listen to the group of men talking, they wore leather vests that opened and showed off their collar bones which were tattooed with the same mark that J had.

“-besides it’s not like they actually had a good excuse for coming back empty handed. They should have known better.” The men murmured their agreements. “We don’t need weak men like them, I’m glad David killed them.” My heart jumped, so I hadn’t killed them. It must have been their leader…David…it was strange to hear his name now after all this time, the man responsible for everything. “Well at least Aaron had the sense to not return empty handed.”

One of the men shook his head, “There is a reason why he is head of a division. And why David trusts him.” They all agreed again and I wanted to stop listening so I pulled out of the conversation and put my attention onto the practice fights.

The instructor was watching the men and woman with wooden swords as they went up against each other. “Halt!” He yelled and everyone stepped back for a pause, “You there, Ann! Use your power one more time and you’ll be going up against me. This is training you to defend yourself without your power now try again!” they resumed fighting. I noted that all of his ‘students’ were of different age, height, and weight. And I couldn’t help but wonder where all of them had been recruited from. For the most part many of them seemed to have never help a weapon before, that made me feel a tad better. If David’s army was made up of men and woman who didn’t know how to fight I doubted very much that they could pose a real threat of war.

Not only that but while there were a lot more people here than I had expected, there weren’t nearly enough to go against a good standing army. But then I frowned, I had to remember that J was just one person too, yet with her power she could take down an entire squad of soldiers within a blink of her eye. Not only that, but I was just also one man, and yet given the chance I could demolish half an army without retaining too much injury. And if every person here had some sort of ability then they could automatically equal ten normal soldiers on the battlefield. I swallowed hard. I needed to find J and get her out of there.

I shook my head, I needed to focus on one thing at a time. So over the next hour I watched the practicing, dinner being served, eaten, and then patrols being set up throughout the night. But there wasn’t a whisper of J’s whereabouts, and that concerned me. Surely someone would be excited enough to talk about her arrival? The night wore on and soon the houses went dark and many of the torches were darkened. And after a while I found myself dosing off against the rough bark of the tree.