….
Once again, I'm reminded of a story, of a boy in a jungle, raised by animals, and under the protection of a.... panther, until he gets to a village?
How can I remember a story like that? Where did I hear it from? My village? Mom?
I climb out of the water with my freshly cleaned clothes and hang them up in the branch of a tree to dry. I put on another pair of undershorts, one of the two black ones that I have, I put my leather headband and razor-grizzly claw necklace on, then climb up to Midnight on the boulder and sit down next to him, by his belly, wrapping my arms around my knees and crossing my ankles.
He leans over and sniffs my long wet hair, his warm breath blowing down my wet skin— that tickles!
I giggle and put my hand on his side and give him a pat. His head is just too high up for me to pet. Then he begins purring and lays down, fully stretching out on the boulder.
He's letting me touch him! And pet him! I look at his full length form, and I am.... what is the emotion I'm feeling? That he would look out for me; the chance encounter we had, guiding me in this direction, share my camp with me, then defend me against that monster of a bear....
I rub his soft belly (I can feel his deep, rumbling purr with my hand!), and notice some marks there, past battle scars from fights he had before, and a few newer ones from just this morning. And I see other fresh scratches on his sides.
Aw... he got scratched up during the fight. A few of the scratches look a little deep, too. I grimace as I lightly trace a finger over some of them. I hope he's alright.... perhaps he licked his wounds while I cut the meat out of the bear, or when I made my necklace. They look clean....
I nearly start to cry, overcome with emotion at the thought of this giant creature next to me; this gentle giant towards me; ferocious predator and a danger to anything else, and he gets hurt in the process.
What is it about me that.... he would....
I sigh as I wipe away a tear, glad that he wasn't hurt more seriously. Doing as he's doing, I lay down on my back in the sun to dry off, with my hands clasped behind my head, resting by his belly. I can feel his body rising and falling with his breath, and I can hear his deep, rumbling purr, mixed with his heart beating as I drift off in a nap.
Chapter Six
Probably about an hour later... I'm guessing, we get up together. I stroll over to my clean and now dry clothes and put them on. Dark brown short sleeved tunic first, then my brown and green kilt. I make sure my claw necklace is on the outside. My leather headband on properly. After I get everything on and fastened, I go through the process of getting everything else on: knife on my belt, sword on my back with my arrows, then my bags. Bow in my left hand, spear in my right.
I look to Midnight and purr at him, as if to say, “OK, I'm ready.”
He looks back at me while he sits on his haunches as if to reply, “Seriously? You have to do all that to get ready? Ugh!”
As he gets on all fours and turns towards the north, I smile mischievously at him with an expression, “I'm not like you....”
North.... we're now heading north along this stream.... Well, at least we're not going south towards Spider Valley again....
I begin to wonder; is this area Midnight's territory? Are we now patrolling his domain? Are these panthers territorial? And how do I know what that is?
I still don't know, but as we travel together, I am constantly on the alert. Not that I never was before, but since that razor-grizzly attacked us just this morning, now I know they could be anywhere. So, I have to be ready for anything. And now I'm not using my spear as a walking stick anymore, but clutched in a more ready position, to be used at a moment's notice.
In the company of my sure-footed friend, showing me how to move about in the forest more stealthy, I become more sure-footed myself, but careful not to become too arrogant of my increasingly learned ability. I'm afraid that if I show off for Midnight, I'll end up making my way through the forest, only to trip at the last part and fall on my face again.... way to go, Sean of the jungle.
No, I stay behind him as we travel, seeing where he goes, how his feet uses the ground, and do what I can in my boots to copy what he does. I'm nearly tempted to take off my boots and just go barefoot as he does, but I'm not sure if my feet can handle it, so I keep them on.
After we have traveled a good distance, we stop to rest under a large tree. There is space between the enormous roots at the base of the tree for us to rest comfortably, and I take out my water skin to take a drink. I still have a golden apple, a quarter of that rabbit left, and the grizzly meat. I wonder if Midnight would like a snack, so I offer to him the rabbit again, and again he doesn't want it. I guess he just doesn't like cooked meat. So I take out the apple for myself and start peeling it with my knife... and I am reminded that this was exactly what I was doing when I first met Midnight.
I smile to myself at the now pleasant memory of that encounter and glance at my new friend, and as I pop a freshly cut apple slice in my mouth and start to chew, I start humming a tune. I hum it softly, not too loud, so as to not give our position away to any other predators, and I notice Midnight looking at me strangely. He has his head cocked to the side, and is looking at me.... intently.
Startled with his reaction, I stop humming and swallow the chewed up apple slice.
Am I doing something wrong?
As if to reassure me, he leans forward and sniffs my hair, then gives me a lick on the cheek. His sandpaper tongue tickles my smooth skin and I giggle, now his expression softens and he relaxes again.
I start humming my little tune again, this time humming it to him and paying attention to any other reactions he might give. This time he closes his eyes and turns his face to the sky as if to say, “Oh, yes! That's pleasing to my ears.” and starts purring again.
So we sit here in the shade of the tree, resting for a bit; me humming to him, him purring to me. I finish eating my apple.
I reach to him to stroke his neck; I certainly can't reach the top of his head as we sit there and he so much larger than me.
Midnight opens his eyes and looks around with his ears pricked up. He hears something off in the distance.
We both stand up, looking around, when I see that his gaze is focused off to the west. I look in that direction and I see storm clouds approaching.
Ah...
I look up at the tree we're under, and I wonder if it would be enough to shield us from the rain. But then I hear thunder from the approaching storm, and from some recess in my mind I recall something about not being near a tree when a storm has lightning.
It has rained many times during my travels here, but this one looks worse by far— and.... am I seeing a tornado?
Uh.... I think we need to go!
I grab all my stuff in a hurry, and once Midnight sees that I have everything, he sets off at a blistering pace. I have no idea which way we're going, I can hardly keep up with him, and it starts pouring rain. In no time at all I am absolutely drenched in water, and with the heavy downpour I can't hear his feet, nor can I even see him anymore.
Midnight!
I almost start to panic, but I see that Midnight is stopped ahead to wait for me. When I catch up with him, I am out of breath, and I look at him with an expression to say, “How much further?”
I guess he notices my sad state; all wet, cold, and miserable. And I guess I just look pitiful to him. He sits on his haunches and gestures with his head towards his tail.... I have no idea what he's saying. Then he makes a move like he is about to stand up, and sits on his haunches again, still looking at me very pointedly.
Oh! He wants me to climb on his back? And he'll give me a ride?!?
Awesome!
I put my bow over my left shoulder, climb up on his back, with my spear in both of my hands, and my arms around his thick neck, we set off again.
The storm is getting worse, and I think another tornado has formed not too far away from us! With blinding speed, Midnight navigates around trees
and between trees and through brush, over rocks and boulders, and under fallen trees, and trees that had just been torn from their roots and flung across the sky by the tornadoes. The thunder is deafening, the lightning blinding, the rain pouring, and the wind howling.... it is a wonder if I can see or hear anything at all. I just hang on for dear life to my dear friend as he seeks shelter for the both of us.
After what seemed like hours, we finally find a cave of some sort.
All I know is that Midnight has stopped, the rain is no longer pouring directly on us, although I can still hear the rain and the wind and the thunder, then he purrs at me as if to say, “We're OK now, Little One. You're safe.” I look around and see that we are safe for now, and I get off his back. He shakes himself dry and looks around (I secretly wish that I could to that now!). The cave doesn't appear to be too deep. Actually, it is more like a few boulders piled up on each other, with a space in between to hide us from the elements.
I take off all my bags and equipment, and marvel at the miracle that I hadn't lost any of my seven arrows on the flight here. A precious commodity, my arrows. I know I left probably hundreds behind at the ruins where I found everything I now possess, but I can't take it all with me. And I haven't tried to make any more yet. I had studied how these arrows were made over the past few months, and I just hope I can recreate them if I ever need to.
I wish I had firewood to start a fire to get warm and dry my clothes, but I'll just have to make due without for the time being.
I strip off all my wet clothes (except my headband and necklace, I leave them on), freezing to death and shivering so bad I fear my bones are now rattling together. I know my teeth are certainly chattering, and I get my dry clothes out from my bag, but I'm afraid I'll only get them wet too and defeat the purpose of getting dry. So I instead just put on a pair of undershorts, wrap my cloak tightly about me, and sit down on the ground next to where Midnight is laying down to rest.
I lay my head against his chest and feel it rising and falling with his breath, and even above the noise of the storm outside, I can still hear his deep, rumbling purr.
Chapter Seven
At some point during the evening the storm finally blew out.
I wake up next to Midnight, seeing that he's still asleep, then I get up and approach the edge of the cave entrance and look around. The air is chill, brisk, and I can see my breath a little when I breathe out. I wrap my cloak tighter about me.
The sky is cloudless now, stars are starting to shine, and I can see the midnight shadow in the rings approaching from the east. I wonder how big the shadow is capable of getting at night, when I hear some movement behind me. Midnight is awake now too, and I turn to look into the cave, but it is all just pitch black, and I can just make out the reflection of what light there is from his gold eyes. I would like to find some firewood, but I know it would be useless as it's all still soaked from the storm.
Midnight moans softly at me, a signal for me to come back and get warm, so I do. I nestle up next to him, and I can feel the heat from his body seeping into my cloak, warming me up in the process.
Instantly I'm back to sleep.
* * * * * * *
The next morning we wake up, and I notice that there seems to be a mist hanging in the air. I don't see any clouds, just this light mist all around. I sniff the crisp, clean air, and I sense nothing wrong with it. I turn to face Midnight, who is grooming himself at the back of our cave.
Then he comes up to the entrance of the cave with me and sits on his haunches and looks around. Just to be clear here, as to his size, while he stands on his four feet and I'm standing fully on my feet, the top of my head only comes up to the bottom of his chin! Which I now stroke and rub. I can see he's enjoying me petting him; I don't think wild animals typically get petted, that's always a good way to get a hand or arm taken off by them, but Midnight doesn't mind, now that we're getting to know each other. But when he sits on his haunches, like he's doing now, his head towers above mine.
I take in a lung full of air, hold it for a moment, and blow it out, relieved that the shelter had been found.... of course, look who I am traveling with! The King of the forest, and we are in his domain. Of course he would know where the shelters are.
Just to be silly, as a child, I put myself directly in front of Midnight, under his chin, standing as tall as I can, and yes, Midnight remains where he is sitting and lets me do it, and... is he resting his head on mine now? He has to lower his head so his chin can reach the top of my head. And he's purring? He's hugging me in his own way! I start humming another tune.
What a sight we must have made if anyone was there to see us! Panther and boy, at the mouth of the cave; me on my feet, and Midnight's head with golden eyes resting on my head, and his bulk out to the sides behind me, and I'm singing to an audience of animals that cares to listen.
After a few minutes I turn towards the cave and go back in, now that there is enough light to really look around. I make sure I still have all my belongings, my tools, clothes, bags. Yep. It would have been tragic if I lost something, like my food bag— my bag! I still have it, but I'm concerned that the storm may have soaked my food. Nope! My food is still nice and dry and fresh. I suppose that was why whoever made this satchel years ago lined it with bees-wax, for that very purpose. Huh!
I decide to tear off a portion of the bear meat and the rest of the roasted rabbit and make a meal. I wonder if Midnight would like any, I feel a little guilty of eating in front of him and he doesn't have any. I offer some of it to him, but he doesn't want it. I have to remember: he does not like cooked meat.
Instead, as I'm sitting there with my food and my cloak on, he rises on his four legs, majestic creature that he is, faces me, and makes a low rumbling sound close to his purr. I'm guessing that was a signal to me to wait here, then he leaves. I guess he's going hunting....
Later on, I decide to dress in my dark brown long sleeved tunic with gold trim, and red and brown kilt, nice and dry and comfortable, although my boots still need to dry out. I venture a little ways out from the cave to see if I can find anything to make a fire with. The sun had come out and is drying the land nicely, and I'm just seeing if any wood can be used yet. I do manage to find a few small logs for me to carry that felt dry enough for firewood, and bring them back to the cave with leaves of some kind to start the kindling.
Soon I have a nice fire going, with my clothes that I wore yesterday and my boots by the fire to dry, when Midnight comes back to the cave with a fresh kill. I smile and purr at him as he enters the cave. He frowns for a moment at the fire, as the light chases away any darkness in the cave, and has warmed up the entire space against the chill in the air.
I guess he just wasn't expecting a fire to be here when he got back, but then he lays down next to me and the fire and enjoys his catch.
Instead of moving on from our cave, we “decide” to stay another day and night in the protection of our shelter while the land continues to heal and dry from that storm.... (hurricane?)
Chapter Eight
One month later....
That next morning was the time I packed up and we continued on our patrol of our territory.
I found out that Midnight was not taking me to any village, because during our patrols, I discovered that there were at least four villages that were settled in this area, with lots of farmland surrounding the villages, and like me, Midnight avoided any direct contact with the inhabitants.
The first time we came upon a village, we both stood together, watching the townspeople going about their business, completely unaware they were being watched by us. Then with a heavy heart; I didn't want to leave Midnight's company, but I started walking out into the open farm land towards the village.
Midnight saw what I was doing, and made that barking growl at me, and when I turned to look sadly back at him, he was just about beside himself with anxiety that I was leaving!
Oh! He was simply observing them! He wasn't taking me to them! My heart
leaped for joy and I ran back to him within the safety of the forest, then I felt guilty at making him upset with my actions. I just dropped all my belongings at my feet and threw my arms around his neck, relieved that what I feared and dreaded was not going to happen.
I couldn't help it, I started crying and looked apologetically up at him, and he looked back at me with what I seemed to see as a smile of relief on his part, if he could smile.
He sat on his haunches, started his purr, then bent down to my face and gave me a lick that wiped my tears away, and added his own saliva to my face!
I didn't care! I giggled and wiped my face off with the sleeve of the tunic I had been wearing, then I returned his purr with my own and I petted him on both sides of his flanks with my hands. He gently rested his head on mine for a moment.
Forgiven, we skirted around the settled land within the tree line of the forest, and continued on our way.
And during our travels, if there was a cleared field we came upon, we avoided being out in the open, although we did go over some naked mountain passes sometimes as we crisscrossed over the mountain range that goes from north to south.
And we typically hunted together, me with my weapons, and him with his. Midnight was also mystified with my method of fishing when we came across a stream or creek that had them. He liked fish, too, but his method was more of a hands on approach, the method I had tried when I first found myself in this strange land. But due to his speed, he was able to pull it off much better than I ever could. That's OK, though.... I had my trusty arrows that I used very effectively now and did what I could to preserve and protect them so I could keep using them. When we happened upon some fruit trees, I took any that looked ripe enough to eat, and then playing with Midnight, I would hold one out to him to see his reaction to it; usually turning his nose up at it and ignoring me.
Avarii- the Golden Child Page 4