He only stopped fleeing after accepting that a hole in the ground the wolf found would be good enough shelter during daylight. The den was big enough for both, so they crawled in, tucked themselves close to the root system of an olden giant and became very silent for a while. Atef couldn’t see it in the dark but the wolf was incessantly moving his ears trying to pick up the slightest hint of a pursuit. He, on the other hand, could hear nothing but a buzzing sound in his ears mixed with the traumatic repetition of the battle clamor. It was nerve-wrecking, especially now that the adrenaline of the ordeal was thinning in his blood as his body was trying to recover some sense of a normal rhythm. Pains started popping up throughout his body but they couldn’t overshadow the one settled in his head. There was no winning against all this pressure and he succumbed to panic. He started breathing heavily, whining, feeling the full brunt of the torment he has just experienced. He screamed, he squirmed, he wanted to get out. Being with him in this hole was like being in a hornet’s nest. The visions of Pit started returning, he felt trapped. He lashed out swinging wildly into the darkness fighting invisible foes and proceeded to crawl towards the entrance. And then the wolf bit his leg. Lightly, but enough to confuse him for a moment. Then it licked Atef’s face over and over again. The panic subsided, the eyes got used to the dark. He was safe. And in that secure womb they both slowly fell asleep.

*

Within sleep there was an awakening. The golden reins were to be passed on, relinquished from the invisible hands that protected Atef in the face of danger. It was a natural progression of things, a necessary step towards destiny, inevitable as much as intimidating. The gift had to do it eventually, and what better moment than now, when the boy has proven that he can take care of himself. Of course, it helped, it guided him just a little, amplifying his reflexes and instantaneous decision-making to ensure that he would do the right things in midst of a battle; however, this assistance will fade away even further. The seed has sprouted and taken root, now it just needs to be able to direct Atef, which will prove to be a much harder feat to achieve. It wasn’t able to blatantly tell him, it lacked the method for it, a specialized organ that would establish a storytelling bond. The symbiosis was still too delicate, like a fledgling plant that needs to bud and open with time. It could only cast shadowy bellows that would reverberate in the void of universe hoping that the boy’s psyche would pick them up. Within him and yet unable to clearly communicate. A tragicomedy.

*

At first, he thought he was blind. Groggy, he was trying to remember what happened, feeling almost like a newborn which knew nothing about the world. Something was in there with him, hairy and smelly, producing faint growls as it slept. A hum in his ears started building up, creating a buzzing sound, unnerving but bearable. Suddenly, like a deluge, his head was ripped from the clouds and overwhelmed with the re-realization of what happened in the last day. The blessing of obliviousness was gone and it was all back there, every single image of the carnage on the slopes near Heresborg and the breakneck escape to the depths of the forest. He shuddered awaking the wolf.

- Sleep. Still day. We move, night. – growled the animal pointing its snout towards the way they came in. In the distance the faint entryway was turning yellowish, a sure sign that the dusk will arrive soon.

Magic roll: 74 out of 100 [5d20s] ; +2 to speaking with animals ; current level 10/50 ; mastery of beast-tongues increases

Madness roll: 57 out of 100 [5d20s] ; +1 to madness ; current level 11/100

Secret roll: 31 out of 100 [5d20s] ; 0 to a mystery ; current level 10/100

- I… - he uttered in disbelief – canna understand you! I canna understand what you said! The whole thing!

- You do? – puffed out the wolf lifting its head.

- Yes, yes! – Atef said with a wide smile savoring the perplexed look in the wolf’s eyes. It made him forget the buzzing in his ears, the devastating trauma of what he’d survived instead inciting wonder which had to be understood.

- Finally, I have uah oauh grr, fed up graur, grrrrr! – snarled the wolf trying to express a complex testimony on how annoying it is to try getting things into Atef’s thick skull.

The grin on Atef’s face melted away, swapping its place, and appearing on wolf’s snout. The animal thought its point has landed home.

- And now puff, just as before, nadda, a word, two in all that bangarang you make.

- Dumb boy! – came off the animal’s tongue with sardonic disappointment.

- I got that you mutt. Who you name call dumb?!

- You!

- For not speaking your growly bangarang!? You shouldda be lucky I ken talk to ya at all!

- Every time I graur grrrr uahuah ouwwww. What wrong with you?

- Nothing wrong, you just do my head in, mutt!

- You make my paws itch!

- What that means?

- You annoying. Grrr uahuah, have to save grrrr scrawny!

- No one asked you to!

- Fine! Grrrrr, auuuuuhhh ungrateful!

The wolf rose to its legs and disappeared through the hole before the boy could say a thing. Distant growls beckoned Atef to go after the wolf but his vexed pride and fear of the Untar eyes that may be preying in the woods kept him tucked in the embrace of the darkness. The hole quickly became cold, lonesome, rife with crawly things that unnerved him. The incessant buzzing sound was still there, always in the background reminding that something has changed. It will be his newest companion, like an annoying minor curse that he will need to learn to ignore. However, here in the lonely gloom it grew stronger with passage of time. It and his thoughts were Atef’s only companions and neither were allowing him to go back to sleep. He wondered if anyone had survived the ambush and what would the raiders do next. The battle was horrific, it was truly more a kind of one-sided extermination that he managed to avoid only due to the wolf’s help. And he never said thank you for it, instead choosing to bicker with the animal.

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- The mutt deserves a thank ya! But only if it says back the dumb part! I got called ‘nuff times dumb so far that I shouldda allow some shabby mutt to do the same!

Establishing that he should pay his dues by honoring the wolf, he sank back into brooding about the damnable turn of fate he experienced. Those several minutes on the battlefield became as close to hell as he could imagine, overtaking the years of fear-laden toiling in the Pit. However, he survived them having an active role in the outcome. This realization made him feel more powerful than he ever was. He saved his own hide! He commanded his own destiny even when someone else put him in the harm’s way. It was a rich, intoxicating feeling that he could almost taste and in his imagination it felt like blood mixed with honey. Like a potent panacea, this newly found confidence and courage invoked an undercurrent of bloodlust weaved into the wish for adventuring. The light was still there as a pulsating speck that competes with all other impulses influencing his senses but this new idea reigned supreme. And although he was dying to share this introspective wisdom with the mutt, he was still wary to crawl out and seek it out. Eagerness can be tamed, the lessons of the Pit continued to serve well. “Better slow and safe than patsy to be whipped.” He settled serenely into the crawling bedlam around him accepting all the centipedes, worms, maggots and other creeping critters and relaxed his eyes waiting for Sur and Baor to end the day.

*

- Mutt! – Atef shouted under voice annoyed that he is supposed to play hide and seek.

The night was starry and Lita has graced the world with enough of its shimmer to quell the darkness slightly more than usual. Therefore, it wasn’t smart to go around shouting, especially if you could be easily spotted from at least thirty paces. Atef kept moving onwards quickly, hunched forward and wary at the slightest sound that can squeeze through the monotone buzz in his ears. The only indulgence he could afford himself was the scent of a summer night in the forest.

- You’re loud! – a familiar growl came from behind.

- And you’re pissy! Why you go away like that?

- Told you, ungrateful! – snarled the wolf breaching the shadows to Atef’s left, the two red rings around its eyes demon-like in the night. Atef knew he would never get used to seeing the wolf in the night.

- Only when you pinch my nerves! Truce? I’m sorry and, yes, ungrateful.

- And? – wolf expected a tad more from an apology.

- You save my life, you’re best.

- How best?

Atef bit his lip.

- Best friend I have in this world!

- Hard to say that? Grrr auuuuuuuu ouhouhauuu?

- Didn’t catch that last auhauha part.

- I forgive you.

- I done nothing wrong to you mutt! What I shouldda ask forgive for?

- For being dumb.

- Stop calling me dumb!

- Why?

- Because I’m not!

- Prove!

Atef seethed with rage. The wolf was his protector for some reason, but also possessed a demeanor worthy of a solid back breaking hit or two with a cane. The thought of the wolf saving his life weaseled its way up his synapses again, and he decided to prove he was not stupid by recounting his last few days of soldiering.

- Less dumb. Bad luck – responded the wolf to Atef’s story displaying genuine understanding for Atef’s ordeal.

- I have to say thank ya again! But why you come after me?

- I had to.

- Had? Why?

- I see something in you. Similar to me. Grrr uauhuah woooo.

- Couldda not understand the last part again…

- One day you will.

- Mutt, I just realized. I never asked your name.

- True.

- But then, I also thought you had no name.

- Watch out. Sinking back into dumb.

Atef made an annoying groan but didn’t react to the jab.

- What is it?

- For you, Chanka.

- Atef – he responded just in case the wolf still didn’t know his name.

- I know your name.

- How?

- You said it in front of girl.

- Oh.

- Where is she now?

- Stayed with that no good high speaking turd! – exclaimed Atef with such passion as if invoking holy fire upon them.

- I thought she liked our protection.

- I thought too.

Considering the conversation exhausted, the wolf licked his nose then proceeded to bite the area with missing fur above his left hind leg. Then what was left of his tail became suddenly the source of all intrigue in the world so he tried reaching and biting it. Atef observed Chanka’s hopeless round twirling and realized a stupid animal was calling him stupid. All was suddenly forgiven, turning unexpectedly ridiculous and any hidden resentment melted away. The boy started walking, orienteering himself by the speck of light glimmering faintly in the distance.

- What now? – Chanka asked dropping the self-indulgence and starting to follow Atef.

- I know nadda yet. Maybe go back to Jarat?

- I can’t go in.

- Yes, you’re a mutt. But wait, maybe you canna? I dress you like dog mutt?

- That will not going to work.

- How you know?

- Because I’m a wolf! Don’t be dumb.

The sting came back for an instant again. It turned out it will take more time for Atef to learn to ignore it.

- Stup saying dumb. I’m not dumb. Say wrong!

- I will say wrong when you’re wrong. Now, just dumb. Uaaaaaaaaouh.

- Then you dumb for following me!

- That’s different.

- Nope, you dumb just as me.

- You know what; think again!

Saying this Chanka darted ahead into the thicket leaving Atef alone and ignored. It was more important to fill the belly rather than argue with the silly boy. Atef scoffed at the mongrel, slowed his pace and started again listening, trying to see if there was a slightest hint of anything dangerous in his surroundings. Nothing. Stillness. Perfect for fueling anger. He cursed Chanka as he pressed on, trying to understand why the wolf was so confrontational and treating him as a stupid boy who needed to be put in his place. He could do unique things as Gunther had said and that feat alone could enable him to quest the world in search of purpose that could prove to be much worthier than moth like attraction to some light that sits atop a temple in Jarat. However, the world will not look kindly upon this uniqueness as the old warrior had also implied. How to balance the two?

- Become a warrior! Like Gunther. Be strong for self! I couldda be feared. I couldda be respected. If I couldda be mercenary. What a mercenary needs?

He took one glance down at his body dressed in simple shirt and breeches and he understood that he needed everything. But if he wasn’t to start flaunting his talents everywhere when things turn awry, he was to be armed.

- Where canna I pinch weapon? Armor? Wha’ was name? Ervel said, that high speak moron… bones. The place with bones. Battles. Gold. That place. I shouldda go there. Get armed. Then see light! Then…

As he started hatching his flimsy plan, made entirely of hearsay and dreamy impressions of what it is like to be a mercenary, he decided to sit down for a moment and devote all his mental faculties to seeing how the planned steps would unravel into him becoming the most feared adventuring mercenary in the Empire. A patch of soft ground covered with grass was inviting his butt to place itself on it and as he sat down, he leaned his back on an ancient looking hollow tree.

- Seize!

The scream in his mind engulfed him, causing a million needle like pricks all around his skull. He leaned forward in terror letting out a painful cry. The dulled buzz in his ears returned, killing off the pain as instantly as it appeared. Atef turned around in disbelief, eyes wide, matching the fear observable all over his face. The stillness of the night was still there, he was still alone and his outcry felt like a silly try to attract attention in a massive ecosystem that just didn’t care. He retraced his steps, and concluded that the hollow tree was somehow responsible for the sudden sensation. Up on his feet, he hesitantly reached toward the tree, finally giving in, and plunging his hand to the surface so that he can be over with it as quickly and painlessly as possible.

- Seize! Seize! Seize!

He pushed through the initial shock and the pain subsided quickly. The buzzing in his ears turned crystal clear and the word uttered was commandingly beseeching! Atef could feel it meant well to him. The voice was esoteric, lacking any human quality that he could assign. It hinted of something he had lost long ago, before memory. That made it unique, believable. The pain was now completely gone, vanquished by the unknown force that sought to instill some greater truth into Atef. And in his youthful pliability, he was ready to listen to it!