N21, Waking up (Part 2)

I peered inside our old lair, but it seemed empty. To make sure, I kept advancing into the growing darkness, but it didn’t matter how long I walked, I couldn’t find anything.

Then I turned to the pond. The clear water allowed me to see all the way to the bottom. It was full of life. Crabs and fish were swimming everywhere between the green and brown algae and I tried to discern if some of my underlings were hiding among them. I looked for what felt like hours, but every time I thought I had glimpsed a rat’s tail it ended up being something else.

Next, I walked towards the lizard nursery. Along the way, I kept staring at the side passages. I had the vague feeling a big lizard was chewing on a rat somewhere. I wanted to take a look but feared the beast would show up to chase me if I were to approach one. Anyway, I had to hurry up. Here in the open the enormous reptile could suddenly appear from behind.

A while later, I reached the nursery. There were a lot of lizards roaming around. They were also chewing on something, on small bones. They were littered everywhere on the ground. I made my best to ignore the reptiles. I was a lot bigger than them now, and surely my underlings weren’t so weak to fall prey to such puny beasts.

I focused on the scaly sacks that gave birth to the lizards. They were hanging from the ceiling and attached to the walls. There were too many to count and the ones at the back were barely visible, shadowed by the ones in front. For a moment I got a glimpse of a bit of fur and ventured inside. It soon proved to be a bad decision, they were just furry sacks. Now I was in the depths of the nursery, close to that mouth I didn’t want to encounter again. I could see the black tentacles peeking from behind the twitching sacks. They were slowly approaching, ready to ambush me from all sides. Before being surrounded I ran away while hearing the shrieks of the rats that were being born from the nursery only to be eaten by the voracious maw.

After escaping and calming down a bit I decided to go back to the corridors and look for my underlings in the safe room, but some humans were approaching with their hurtful light. I had to hug the wall and keep changing routes, yet no matter how many paths I tried, the humans were always there and I was forced to retrace my steps again and again. Finally, they surrounded me. All of them were clad in leather armor, their faces indiscernible under their hoods. One of them took a step forward. I recognized him but was unable to call his name. The man kept advancing towards me and I, enraged, ordered him to stop. Despite my shrieks, the man kept getting closer and I, frightened, repeated my order, but he didn’t seem to care, and instead of halting he raised a spear.

‘Agh!’ Just before the spear reached me I woke up.

‘Damn! What a fucking nightmare!’

My heart was beating fast and my muscles were tense. If I were still human I was sure I would be drenched in sweat.

A few days ago I was finally able to arrange an expedition to look for my underlings. It was difficult to explain my aim to the chief, but in the end, I was able to convince him to let me leave the village accompanied by a few tamers. I wanted to go alone, I feared my followers would hide if they sensed the ratmen, but the chief insisted and I gave up. Going with a group as soon as possible was better than going later or not going at all.

I traveled along the tall ratmen to the temporal lair we had used after reaching the caves only to find it was empty. A closer look convinced me no one had been using it for a long time.

Next, I checked all the spots that came to mind like the big pond where we had caught fish and the nursery where we hunted newborn lizards, yet I was unable to find any trace of the gang.

I wanted to go back to the corridors and check the safe room that was our first lair, but the number of human groups that roamed the caves near the corridor’s entrance was too high. It was only thanks to the lights they were carrying that we were able to avoid all of them.

In the end, I came back empty-handed and in a gloomy mood. I couldn’t stop thinking that if I hadn’t postponed the matter for so long I would have been able to reunite everyone. I was feeling regretful.

‘Well, it’s not like they are definitely dead. They are smart and learned a lot of tricks from me, they may be living happily somewhere.’

As for me, I was wondering what to do. Now the village chief was more or less the only individual that had any control over me. I could take advantage of my position and learn all I could about this cursed place from him while being relatively safe. Maybe I could even train the fierce rats in the pens as my new underlings! Then once I had amassed enough strength and knowledge I could just leave the village and look for a way to become human again…

Growl~

‘Uh, I should leave my daydreams for later. Now it’s time for breakfast.’

A bowl of food filled to the brim with sweet meat was already waiting for me. It was something I got to eat every day, along with a few salted meat morsels to add some variety.

Now I was the official… companion of the village chief. I got to go everywhere I wanted as long as it was a place within the village and I could eat as much as I desired. It was quite the indulgent life, if I was human I would surely be putting on weight.

Even then not everything was good. After I had fully recovered from my wounds the chief had insisted on painting my body with some white motives so everyone would recognize me. Also, the big dogman had the annoying habit of petting me when he was bored. I tried to avoid being with him in the tent for long periods of time. but I needed to at least go back to eat and sleep, so he always got some opportunity to mess with me.

‘At least he says some interesting things at times.’

In resume. Apart from a few details, I was having the best time since I had awakened in the underground corridors.

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‘Though I would prefer to be the chief myself.’

It couldn’t be helped, as a dog, it didn’t matter how strong I was, the ratmen would never accept me as their leader. Also, I had no chance nor desire to beat the current chief.

After finishing breakfast I went out. There, in the empty space beside the tent, the two dogmen that worked as the chief’s guards were having a mock battle. They were wielding their axes with the heads wrapped in thick hides to dull the blows. For a training they did regularly, the exchange was really intense.

‘If I were to fight against any of them I would lose in no time.’ I thought, feeling the pressure of their bout. Both of them moved swiftly and each of their strikes was precise and heavy. I wondered how they had never sustained any fatal injuries.

‘They could at least use something… less lethal.’

Even if they were wrapped up a blow from the stone axes in the wrong place could easily kill them.

‘Well, it’s not like they have wood down here… No, wait. They have!’

While I was lost in my thoughts the spar came to an end and the two dogmen took a rest and drank some water to cool themselves. I noticed their eyes fixed on me, but they didn’t say a word.

‘I wonder what they think about me.’

I had already confirmed that they were able to speak as well as the village chief, but they stayed silent nearly all the time. The most I had heard them talk was on the few occasions when the chief had asked them to explain something. When they needed to inform or give orders they were always as brief as possible.

‘Maybe it’s a side effect of growing up with a mouth not made to speak human words.’

The average ratman also avoided long talks.

Having rested enough the two dogmen started to exchange blows again. They were very diligent and repeated the same routine every morning, not like the chief, that rarely participated. Well, it wasn’t like he needed it. Every time he fought the pair the match would end in a few movements. That was how strong the leader of the village was.

‘Hopefully, the day my strength can be compared with theirs isn’t far away.’

There had been another important development as of late. That was, I was growing again! It hadn’t been long since I evolved into a dog, but all the signs pointed that I was close to change form a third time. It was really exciting news.

‘Now, if I could evolve into something with the ability to speak or use tools…’

I was still a bit salty that I hadn’t ended up as a ratman last time.

‘Well, I better not get my hopes too high. As long as I grow stronger I should be satisfied.’

Losing interest in the mock battle between the dogmen I made my way down the slope to go visit my subordinates.

…

Days later I was being petted by the village in his tent. “I told ‘em to lash the one in charge fifty times.” He was ranting about how the tannery personnel had messed up a batch of hides.

It wasn’t yet time to sleep, but today I felt especially tired.

“At least they didn’t ruin any of the varans' hides.”

Varans was the name the chief used to refer to the big lizards, but I wasn’t sure where he had gotten it from. The tamers just called them big lizards, while the artisans called them ‘brown hides’.

Lying on his bed the chief sighted. “I really wanna go hunting, but…”

He kept talking and I tried to pay attention in case he said something useful, but for once his petting felt soothing.

“Yaw~.” Too soothing.

In an effort to stay awake, I changed my position and put my head on top of the bed. I had gotten big enough to do it while laying on the floor.

“So for now I’m stuck ‘ere.” The chief concluded.

Once the tent fell silent I couldn’t resist the drowsiness any longer and my consciousness drifted into a cozy darkness.