N21, Waking up (Part 1)

‘Uh…’

I woke up with a badly beaten body. Contrary to my expectations I wasn’t in one of the birthing rooms in the corridors nor one of the nurseries in the caves. Instead, I was laying on a pelt inside a spacious tent. Most of my body had been wrapped in bandages that showed blood stains everywhere.

‘…I’m still alive? This must be the first time I survived a near-death experience since I awakened in this underground.’

This was surprising. When I lost consciousness I had been prepared to make my way up from a puny rat once again.

“Ow!” I groaned as I tried to get up. It seemed like I wouldn’t be able to move anytime soon.

“Gno,” a tall ratman noticed I was awake and came closer, gesturing me to stay still. After making sure I wouldn’t try to get up he rummaged through some sacks and jugs before coming back with a couple of bowls, one with fresh water and another with minced meat.

Seeing them I realized how thirsty and hungry I was. As soon as the ratman laid the bows on the floor I hurried to drink. Once satisfied I got ready to eat but stopped when the food’s smell reached my nose.

It was that sweet scent again. It brought back the dark memories of the fight inside the walled grounds and anger and concern filled my mind.

‘What happened after I passed out?’

I was worried about my subordinates, but no one inside the tent could answer my questions so I went back to the food. It looked like plain raw meat that had been minced to make it easier to consume. I tried it hesitantly, just like its smell it had a strange, sweet taste.

‘… I’m sure it isn’t poisonous.’ I thought as I chewed it slowly.

Despite the strangeness, the meat was delicious. The appetite I had lost after remembering what had happened before I passed out came back and I gobbled down the food in no time. With nothing else to do, I surveyed the surroundings. The tall ratman who had served the food was dressed as a tamer. I assumed he was here to take care of me or to be my new partner. I remembered Tone with a twinge of guilt. It hadn’t been my fault, but I had left the tamer to die.

To stop my mood from spoiling further I kept examining the tent. There were lots of hides and pelts laying around. Some seemed quite colorful while others, like the one I was staying on, were quite cozy. There was also some furniture. A bed, a small table, and three chairs. The bed was just a pile of hides and pelts but the table and the chairs, despite being quite shabby, surprised me. They were made out of wood!

‘I wonder if they know a way out.’

It was the first time I had seen wood down here apart from the black roots. There were a lot of things in the village that could make use of it, yet the ratmen used other materials to substitute it.

‘Even if they know one it’s obvious it isn’t easy to use.’

The exit could be far away, or the path leading to it could be dangerous or difficult to traverse. There was also the possibility that things were even worse outside than underground. I remembered the reptilian monster and couldn’t suppress a shiver.

While examining the rest of the tent a tall figure opened the hide curtain that covered the entrance and came inside. I instantly recognized the village chief. There was no one else in the settlement with such an imposing figure and well-tailored clothes. Today he was clad in a flashy armor made of orange hide with red spots and decorated with dark green feathers.

“Oh, are ya ‘wake already?” He said after noticing me looking at him.

I nodded. There was no need to try to hide that I could understand his words at this point. After all, his interest in me was probably the main reason I was still alive. It was better to leverage this fact and get as many privileges and useful information from him as possible.

‘Now, how do I ask him about my subordinates?’

They had been fighting their way into the walled grounds during my fight with the veteran tamer’s dogs and their current situation was my main concern. I slowly turned my aching body towards the entrance, thinking about the best way to make my worries known to the chief.

“If ya’re worried ‘bout yer kindred they are doing well.” Before I could come up with a good way to ask the chief gave me an answer. Such unexpected words baffled me. “Surprised? As a leader it's easy to understand yer concerns,” he said laughing.

‘I guess his strength isn’t the only reason he got to his current position.’

I looked at the one I called the chief of the ratmen with newfound respect. There were many questions in my mind, but before I could think of a way to ask them the chief told me “Now ya need to rest. Yer wounds were really serious. We’ll haff time to… converse once ya’re better.” Then he turned around and took a sack of food before leaving the tent.

I rested my head on the fluffy pelt. With the most pressing matter resolved, I could focus on healing without any worries.

…

It only took me around six days to recover enough to be able to walk around. Time was difficult to measure in the underground cavern, so I could only make an educated guess by counting the number of times the ratmen, or in my case, the village chief, whom I had classified as a big dogman, went to sleep.

With my body healing a lot faster than I had expected I didn’t want to delay meeting my subordinates any longer. Yet when I tried to exit the tent the village chief stopped me. “Ya must be patient, in a couple of days I will accompany ya ta see ‘em.”

After his promise, I passed the next two days nervously waiting inside the tent. By the time the chief allowed to let me out, I was already good enough to run, though only for a bit.

“Alright, it seems ye’re fine enoff to go out,” he said.

Hearing these words I hurriedly left the tent. Outside I was greeted by a magnificent view of the ratmen village. As I had suspected I had been living in the chief’s tent on the highest part of the slope.

Under me, there was a sea of tents only parted by a few narrow paths. Now I knew they weren’t only homes for the most distinguished tall ratmen and their assistants, their main purpose was to store the majority of the food and materials that the village needed.

Past all these tents, to my left, on the side I had dubbed as the north one, was the tannery surrounded by walls. Behind it, and sharing part of its wall, were the walled grounds, separated from the cavern’s side by the long corridor that gave access to the fierce rat pens excavated in the rock.

To my right, or the south side, was the crafting area where the artisans dried pelts and crafted all kinds of objects. Past it was the big open space where most of the tamers and ratmen laborers lived. I could see many of them moving around the scattered small tents. It was also there where the three main entrances to the village were situated. Two to the south and another one to the east. All of them were surrounded by walls that helped defend the village from wild beasts.

After rejoicing at the sight the chief was already behind me. “Nice view, right?” He also stood for a moment looking at the cavern before starting to walk down the slope.

“There they are. I ordered everyone not to bother ‘em. They were pretty wounded the other day.”

Following the chief, I arrived at the big flat area that occupied most of the cavern. Number One and Number Three were resting there. Like me, their bodies were covered by bandages. Seeing them after so long made me feel a bit emotional.

It didn’t take the pair long to notice me approaching. “Woof~” With a happy bark they rushed to my side. Both of them were quite excited and wouldn’t stop running around me, wagging their tails.

‘It seems you also had a hard fight. Thankfully your injuries weren’t life-threatening.’

I took my time greeting the two, but couldn’t help noticing someone was missing. After a while, I gave the chief a meaningful look.

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“As ya see they’re alright, albeit I omitted a little detail ‘bout the dark one,” the chief said, closing his eyes and rubbing his snout.

‘Uh?’ I began to worry, where was Number Two?

“He got impossible to control after ye all got wounded, so I had to lock ‘im in a cell,” he explained pointing towards the north edge of the cave.

Following his finger, I looked towards the wall that held the rat pens with a concerned expression. I wondered if this was the reason why the village chief hadn't allowed me to meet them until now.

“I will bring ya there. I hope ya can make ‘im come back to reason,” the chief said with a slightly somber tone.

Once again I followed the chief, this time accompanied by Number One and Number Three along with the tamers in charge of them. We went through the walled grounds and into the long corridor that held the pens.

“He’s there,” the chief pointed to a pen that had been sealed with a boulder. “We’d to put the rock to keep ‘im in.”

The ratmen in the corridor made way for our group. After getting closer I saw a little opening that allowed me to peek inside the small cell.

“Careful, he tries to bite everyone that gets close. I was told they feed ‘im using a long bone, and it gets crushed every time.”

Number Two was lying inside the pen. His fur had several stains of dry blood, but he hadn’t been bandaged. The ratmen were probably unable to treat him. After spotting me he rushed to the door with the intent to bite.

‘This is all that fucking tamer’s fault!’ Anger boiled within me. ‘He will definitely pay for this.’

“Groarr! Grr groar! Groar!” Unable to succeed the dark dog started roaring menacingly. He was completely enraged and kept trying to reach me through the little opening.

‘Huff, it seems he doesn’t recognize me. In that case…’

“Grrr, groarr!” Pay attention! I commanded him.

Inside the cell, Number Two stopped rampaging. He took a step back and stood still staring at me while growling. I pointed at the boulder with my snout and signaled the chief to open the cell.

“Hmm…” Looking at me with a hand on his chin, the chief pondered my petition for a moment before accepting it. “Alright. Ye guys, open the cell.”

Receiving the order, the ratmen present reluctantly pushed the boulder away. It was time to face Number Two directly.

‘So far you have been way more loyal than I expected, but it seems you need to be reminded who is in charge every now and then.’

“Grrr, groarr!” I repeated the command with Number One and Number Three supporting me from behind. For once I was truly confident in dealing with Number Two.

I stepped into the cell. Number Two was still on guard against me. He should have figured already who I was but needed a little push to be totally convinced. With a confident gait, I walked towards him. Then, as I stood tall in front of him with Number One and Number Three flanking me, I put my front paw on his head. Feeling my touch, Number Two’s tense body loosed up and the black dog let himself be pushed onto the floor gently.

‘That’s it, good boy~. You had to endure a lot.’

After several days I had finally reunited with my three subordinates.

…

A couple more days had passed. I had invested most of my time interacting with my subordinates, making sure they were treated well and waiting for my body to fully heal.

At this point, I was more or less back to my peak and only a few little bandages remained on my legs. Today I was going to leave the village on an expedition. The goal was to show the ratmen what had happened to the missing members of the hunting party.

I wasn’t thrilled to go anywhere near that place. I had tried to explain to the chief several times that the enormous reptilian monster had killed them, but he was only able to understand that they had fallen prey to some dangerous beast.

So here I was, waiting for the ratmen to finish the preparations to depart. None of my subordinates was coming with us. Compared to me, their injuries were healing pretty slowly, so they would stay in the village.

‘Maybe it’s my injuries that healed abnormally fast…’ I wondered. It had been only a few days since I was laying in a pool of my own blood about to die.

The members chosen to go on the expedition had gathered near the east entrance. Among them, for some reason, was the veteran tamer.

I didn’t know why that bastard had to come with us, nor why he hadn’t received any punishment after trying to arbitrarily get me killed. He was calmly conversing with another tamer while his three dogs waited nearby.

‘If I were able to talk I would make sure to send you alone into that monster’s maw…’ My thoughts were full of scenes where the hateful ratman died a horrible death.

“Alright, we’re ready,” said the chief. This time he was going to accompany us. “We rely on ya ta lead the way,” he added while patting my head.

The chief gave the order to depart and I started guiding the group through the caves. Other than him, our expedition was composed entirely of tamers and their dogs, so no ratmen laborers were accompanying us this time.

We advanced fast using the main paths of the underground. As we made progress, I gradually grew restless, and once we were near the place of the incident I was on edge. Attentive to the smallest sign that could reveal the reptilian monster’s presence.

I spotted the torn black roots in the wall and cautiously walked towards them. This time there was no traces of the sweet smell, and the red crystals on the roots and ground were all gone.

‘I wonder what would happen if I bite it…’ I thought, tempted by the memories of the alluring scent. Then I shook my head after remembering the motive of our expedition. ‘No, I’m not here for that.’

I pointed at the root, then looked at the chief before pointing again at the cave ahead.

“So they lost their lives for this.” With a sad expression, the chief unsheathed one of his daggers. The blade that had always been hidden was unmistakably made from one of the reptilian monster’s teeth.

I nodded repeatedly. He was completely right.

“A lesser drake appears here at times. I suppose ya saw it. Dat asshole has killed many of ma fellas,” he said with an angry expression.

I briefly reminisced about Tone’s final moments. I had been unable to forget the last look he gave me.

“I banned everyone from coming here, I even told ‘em I was gonna confiscate all the fangs they find!” The chief said completely enraged. “I don’t know why they keep doing this…” he added lowering his head.

‘They probably wanted to gift it to you anyway.’ I thought, looking at the chief’s sad expression.

The average ratman seemed to idolize the village chief. They would go to great lengths to get praised by him.

“Hey, ya,” the chief called the veteran tamer. “Ya heard it. It was dat scaly shit who killed ‘em. Now stop asking ‘bout punishing this one. This isn’t the time to fight among us.”

“Yes, chif,” he bowed down respectfully, but from below I could see the hatred on his face. He clearly still held a grudge, and so did I.

‘Damn asshole! Once the opportunity arises I will make a bloody mess out of you.’

“Then, let’s hurry back,” said the chief as he gestured at the rest of the group to turn around. “I don’t wanna leave the village alone for too long.”