“Move faster!” The butt of a spear was forcefully shoved into my back.

Oh sorry, I didn’t hear you the last THIRTY TIMES YOU TOLD ME!

I didn’t say that out loud of course. It’s very hard to talk when someone ties a strip of leather around your mouth. This also brought into question the wisdom of telling someone who’s FEET YOU BOUND to move faster. And yes, my hands were tied to.

Ladies and gentleman, we’ve exited SNAFU and are now coming up on the wonderful state of TARFUN. If you look all around you, you’ll see nearly a dozen angry cat people ready to shove a spear up my ass at the slightest provocation.
I missed the roc.

After they found me asleep under the tree, they tied me up and started a forced march off into the jungle. The kid had been sent on ahead, presumably to tell whatever village we were going to of my capture. I didn’t know what they had planned for me, but considering I was being treated like a POW it can’t be good.
My foot snagged on a root and I fell painfully to the ground. I was immediately beaten with spear shafts and told that if I fell again, I wouldn’t get back up. It wasn’t my fault. It was hard to move when you have a large stride but small rope.
The night vision helped, but it wasn’t like I had an NVD.

Still, angering the guys with weapons when you’re unarmed, naked, and tied up is never a good idea. That’s why so many adventure novels don’t make sense to me. I was pulled back to my feet and shoved forward to get me going. The only difference being the slight limp I now had and that the shoves to go faster came every minute now instead of every three.

Equestria’s a great place aint it?

I don’t know how long they walked me. I counted thirty-seven whacks so I assume just over half an hour. I was on my last legs as we crested that final hill and no matter where or what it was, I was glad to have finally reached our destination.
Torches lit up the night giving me a clear view of where I’d be…something. I had no idea what they planned to do with me. Given my treatment, I assume it was nothing good.

Before me stretched a small village. It had maybe twenty to thirty huts surrounding an open square with a large hall of some sort smack dab in the middle. They were wooden and round, done out in all browns and greens. The whole place had a very earthy feeling to it and was reminiscent of those jungle tribe villages in movies. It looked like the whole town was in attendance to watch the hunters return with their prize.

A much stronger shove came from behind sending me rolling down the hill head over tail. I crashed into a bush. Hard. I heard chuckling from the townsfolk and let out an unhappy moan. This day was getting seriously close to FUBAR.

Two hunters grabbed me by the shoulders and hauled me to my knees. They started dragging me towards the town center. The crowd parted for us.

I couldn’t tell any of them apart, at least not at first glance. Every single one of them was shorter than me and golden furred. They all wore the same brown tunics though some of the women were in skirts instead of pants. If I got close enough to see their eyes it was always blue. Every single one was decked out in an assortment of beads. Even the children whom I saw running in between the adults every now and again.

They hauled me into the town center, right in front of a large stone table. Standing on that was the village chief. I knew that because he had a headdress made from bones and accented with roc feathers (trust me; I know what those look like), a big wooden staff with some kind of fetish at the top, a large bow complete with full quiver, and an ornate ivory knife at his hip. All the hunters, hell most of the villagers, carried these knives (and a few swords), but his had a gilded handle. He was by far the oldest cat here. His fur was silver instead of gold, but he possessed the same piercing blue eyes. Tall and whip thin, he gave off an aura of quiet strength and authority as opposed to the more bulky populace. The chief remained silent, probably waiting for the whole town to show up so no one would miss the entertainment.

I was put on my feet and told very clearly not to move if I wanted all my organs to stay in the general vicinity of their proper places. Then the whispers began. With my new keen hearing I caught all the little questions they had about me. “Who is that?” Where did he come from?” “Do you think he’s Voltess?” “Nah. None of the Voltess are that tall. Relk?” “No. Same problem.” “Do you think his height is proportional?”

Wait what?

A little to my right in the front row, one of the women was giving me an…appreciative glance. Two rows back, a man noticed this and proceeded to give me one of the most forceful death-glares it has ever been my displeasure to come across.

*THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!*

The chief had decided talk time was over for now and was rhythmically thumping his staff against the table. The noise faded exactly like it does in a crowded high-school auditorium. Slowly and reluctantly. Finally, there was no noise left except the chirp of jungle insects and the faint, collective breathing of the cats. Then he spoke with a voice that was that mixture of high and scratchy that only old men can pull off.

“What is this?”

“The boy found him under a mango tree growing on the shores of Sky’s Rest,” the lead hunter said. It was then I noticed the kid from earlier standing to the left of the alter looking very pleased with himself. Never before had I felt the urge to strangle so powerfully.

“He kicked a tree to get the fruit down instead of climbing.” Lo and behold! I hath invented the mental facepaw! “He said his name was Mango Jack.”

WHAT! Oh no! Nonononono! That is not my name!

As expected, the crowd broke out into scattered laughter. Meanwhile, I was busy practicing my heat vision on the kid. His head remained intact, though he did wince a bit when he noticed my gaze. I still considered that a victory.

“What tribe is he from?”

“We don’t know. He doesn’t have any markings. In fact, he was naked when we found him.”

“Yes, I was going to ask about that.” More snickers. You know, I didn’t feel self-conscious at all until he brought the naked thing up. What was even the point? My fur covered everything up.

“You have done well Bo,” he said to the kid. The boy beamed at the praise. “He shall make a fine gift.” Gift? What the hell do they mean gift? “Put him in the cage with the outcast. We shall tend to him tomorrow.” That’s it? They aren’t even going to take off the ropes?

The crowd dispersed, all of them heading for their respective houses except for ten. These ventured into a large building near the hall along with the hunters. When they returned, the ten had acquired spears while the hunters were lacking. The chief hobbled on his staff into the hall and shut the door tight.

Meanwhile, I was dragged to a rough cage on the opposite side of the plaza and thrown in. It was simple wood and a dirt floor. There was a pile of rags in one corner and no noticeable bedding. Or toilet.

“Nice place isn’t it?” said the pile of rags.

Wait…that’s a person!

A cat so old his fur had turned grey pulled himself up and looked at me. His eyes were the same clear blue as the rest, but far more tired. His entire body was crisscrossed with old scars. He spoke with a voice as rough as sandpaper.

“My name is Ren-Thel.” He walked over. He smelled like his own waste. There isn’t a toilet in this cage…

He reached behind me and I felt my bonds fall. I ripped the gag off my mouth and got to work on my feet. They came easily once I had my claws out. If there was one thing I liked about today, it was retractable claws.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, Jack.”

“That’s not my name.” One eyebrow shot up.

“I’m not going to call you Mango.”

“No, that’s not what I meant!” He rolled his eyes.

“Alright then, what is your name?”

“I’m…” A question. I was in a strange land around strange…cat things. They’d never seen me before. They had no knowledge of my home or its customs. I could literally call myself anything I wanted. Why go with my boring old human name? An idea formed in my head. A private joke I could snicker at every time someone talked to me. Sure it wasn’t the most pleasant sounding name, but this was a dream! What did it matter?

Yes, I still had myself convinced it was a dream. I was close to a mental breakdown, cut me some slack.

“Khajiit. My name is Khajiit.” The stare I got was totally blank.

“I like Jack better.”

“What…No! You can’t just do that!”

“I think I can Jack. I think I can.” Who knew cat people had troll faces?

“…Fine. Whatever. I’m sure my new owners will just rename me anyway.”

“New owners?”

“Well yeah. They said I was a gift. Aren’t they selling me into slavery or something?” He looked at me like I was an idiot. Which I probably was.

“A gift to the Gods.” Gift to the…

Giant stone table.

Ornamental knife.

Creepy old dude with a giant headdress.

“What’s going to happen to me tomorrow?” Ren leaned in close. His eyes spoke of a sorrow that only comes from seeing something horrible happen over and over and never being able to do anything about it.

“Tomorrow at sunrise they will lay you across that table, cut open your innards, read them to determine the will of the gods, then turn your body into soup.”

…Huh.

I was at the bars in a second.

“Hey man, you got to let me out. I didn’t do anything to deserve this!” The single guard they left behind stared at me impassively. He’d probably heard the same shtick a thousand times.

“You are an outsider. You were on our land without permission and ate from our trees. That’s as good a reason as any.” He then preceded to hit me with the butt of his spear to keep me from ‘defiling the bars.’ He then resumed his slow walk around the cage. The same pitiful shuffle that millions of young people do when they come into contact with their age old nemesis: work.

“The spear right away. He really doesn’t like you. Usually people get to two or three complaints before he strikes.” I rubbed my already sore head and channeled the slowly building rage into a glare that could crack solid rock. Though not solid wood. Still waiting on that heat vision.

“Considering how this day’s been going, I’m not surprised.”

“Sounds like there’s a tale there,” the old tom said with a smile.

“Not much to tell really…” Actually true. It only took ten minutes to go through everything. I spent most of my time here either unconscious or climbing. Two things that don’t provide a lot in the conversation department. There were a few good bits though.

“You survived the roc?” He was in appropriate awe. Even the douchebag guard now looked at me with some measure of respect. Oh, and the reason they focused on that was because I left out everything related to humans. Just went with the old amnesia root. To them the only thing I remember is my name. Khajiit, not Jack.

“We did hear screeching by Sky’s Rest. It’s what drew Bo in the first place.”

“Ah those young kits and their curiosity.” Ren let out a small chuckle. I barely noticed. I was far too busy being wrapped up in fantasies about the roc eating Chala. Little bastard. “Still, very impressive. The only other cat known for going toe to toe with that beast is Trisk the Elder.” Elder? As in the old wretch with the hat? He must have seen that in my face since he let out another laugh. “He was much younger at the time.”

“Yeah, sure.” I leaned my head against the bars. I don’t know why, but fatigue overtook me then. I’d spent a good portion of today asleep yet I still felt like I’d run a marathon. I guess I had in a way.

“Get some sleep Jack.”

“Khajiit.”

“Whatever. I hope you have one last night of pleasant dreams.” Right. Tomorrow I get to see what my insides look like. Fun. Waiting around worrying didn’t help anything. Plus, my bones felt like lead. Things always look better in the morning, right?

Wrong.

“Wake up, but don’t open your eyes.”

Yeah, I had actually gone to sleep. Seems strange since I was just told some people were going to eat me, but I was still half sure it was a dream. Weird way to be woken up though, even in a dream.

“You are going to do exactly what I tell you, when I tell you. Do it right and we might get out of here alive,” Ren whispered.

“Not like I’m in a position to argue,” I whispered back.

“When I tell you to, open your eyes, scream, and strike me. Make it look hard enough to knock me out, but don’t actually do it. Then talk to the guard.”

“Why?”

“So he’ll focus on you not me.” I sense a clichéd escape attempt in the works. Oh well, not like I have anything better to do. We both waited in what I’m sure was an awkward position for a few minutes. Then: “Now!”

My eyes snapped open to see the old grey cat leering over me with what might be the most disturbing expression I’d ever seen. I would have hit him plan or no plan.

“GAH!”

I smacked him hard as I could across the jaw. I kept the hit shallow so that any damage would be superficial. He played his part beautifully, flying to my right and doing a little roll, coming to a stop at the cage bars.

Correction, the cage door bars.

Clever old bastard.

Cruel laughter came from right behind me. Ren had timed the whole thing so there was as much distance between him and the guard as possible. I pulled myself to my feet, casting a hateful look at that delightfully brilliant cat.

Time for that acting class to pay off.

“Crazy old pervert! You come near me again and I’ll rip it off! Understand?” He didn’t move. I really hoped I didn’t actually knock him out. The hit was shallow, but he was old. “How long has he been in here?”

“About five months,” the guard cheerfully replied. FIVE MONTHS! How the hell is he still alive? “He left before I was born. Don’t know why he left. Only Elder Trisk is old enough to remember.”

“Poor guy. Sounds like a horrible dry spell.” The guard nodded his agreement. I quickly put together a plan. If there was one thing high school taught me, it’s that people love to brag about their sex lives. I just need to get him talking (god help me) and give Ren the time to do…whatever it is he’s going to do. “Come to think of it, I could use some refreshment myself.”

“Oh,” he said mockingly.

“Actually there was this one woman in the crowd,” his smile shifted downward, “she was giving me this look.”

“Oh,” he said with a voice full of spite.

“You think you can help me out?” I said jokingly. Any hint of cheerfulness had disappeared. In fact, he looked like he wanted to stab me. Repeatedly.

“No.”

What’s his problem? Wait…there was that one cat behind the whore…oh this should be fun.

“Oh come on. I’m dying anyway and she looked like she wanted it.” His left eye twitched.

“Ralza would not be interested in the likes of you.”

“Looked pretty interested to me.” I heard a soft scraping sound from behind me. The guard didn’t seem to notice.

“She may…coerce the looks of other men, but…”

“Coerce? She was practically screaming for me to take her right there. If I wasn’t tied up I might have.”

“Like she would stoop to your level!”

“Yeah, she looked far more likely to lift her tail to my level.” That joke was brought to you courtesy of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

“You know nothing!” Oh he’s got it bad. I almost feel sorry for the poor guy.

“I know you have a crush on the town whore. Really though, who can blame you. Those curves…”

“Shut up!”

“Is that really the best you can come up with? Shut up. Exactly when did we become five year olds?”

“I’m warning you! I’ll…”

“You’ll what? Sic your nympho girlfriend on me?”

“You are one word from feeling my spear!”

“At least that’d be one person ‘feeling your spear!’”

That last one may have been a bit too much. He slammed the butt throw the bars and gave me a shot to the stomach. He followed with a crack to the head that sent me sprawling back into through the door onto the hard ground of the plaza.

“What the-”

*THUNK*

Ren appeared behind the poor guard and swiftly bashed his head with a rock. He fell to the ground unconscious, but the old prisoner didn’t stop. He continued the beating until the man’s skull cracked, ending all thoughts of his pretty dream girl.
I watched the whole thing with wide eyes. It didn’t even take a minute. I just sat there and saw someone get murdered in cold blood.

Is it really that easy?

“You killed him,” I whispered.

“Yes.” He stood over the corpse of the cat I had insulted not thirty seconds before. Then he looked at me. “Get over here.” I didn’t move. Just stayed there staring. “Come here.” Still staring. “Now!”

I hauled myself to my feet, still with a disbelieving stare turned to the corpse. I shuffled around the cage awkwardly, not wanting to get near the dead man. I hadn’t seen a corpse since…never mind. It’s not important.

I don’t know how, but right there I knew this was real.

Then I was standing there. Me and an old killer, standing over the body of a man who had just been worrying about who the girl next door was sleeping with. At least now he wouldn’t have to worry.

Ren reached down and started pulling off his clothes.

“What are you doing?”

“You can’t keep walking around naked.”

What…OH HELL NO! Stealing from the dead, while perfectly acceptable in video games, is a big taboo in real life. And those cloths were touching a dead thing! I didn’t want to wear them!

“I’m not doing this.”

“Yes you are!” He rounded on me, his voice as loud as possible while still being a whisper. How quickly he snapped showed me just how much shit we were in. “You don’t seem to understand what’s going on here. These people were going to kill you. They ritualistically seek out the defenseless to sacrifice to their cruel gods. They are cannibals for crying out loud! I don’t know how they did things where ever you came from, but here we do what is necessary to survive. This isn’t Equestria. We do not extend the hand of friendship to our enemies; we extend the blade of our knife!”

So I am in Equestria. Or at least around it. Jesus, the show never covered this.

He finished looting his kill and passed the shirt and pants to me. It came with a belt that had a sheath for his knife on it.

“I will not tolerate another refusal. We are in the middle of enemy territory. If you want to live you will do what I say, when I say it. Understand?” I nodded. “Good. Now put on those clothes.”

I complied. They were surprisingly comfortable, if a little short. I don’t know why, but I removed the beads. Whatever they were significant of, it wasn’t mind. He’d already had his life stolen; I didn’t need to take his identity. God, I never even learned the guy’s name.

While I did that, Ren dragged the body in the cage and covered it with a sprinkling of dirt.

“That should buy us some time. We have maybe ten minutes before a guard shifts through here. That’s ten minutes to get as far away from this hellhole as possible. You ready?” I nodded, not looking at him. This whole thing didn’t sit right in my gut. Still, I didn’t want to die here. “Good, then take this.”

He pressed the guard’s ivory dagger into my hand. He himself had taken the spear. I felt a sense of empowerment wash over me. There is a psychological effect to being armed. I suddenly felt calmer. Less afraid about the entire village of cannibals surrounding us.

“Follow me and stay close.” He dropped into a running crouch. I followed. With my long stride I covered more ground than he did so I had to go slow to keep up. Good thing to. I could hear snoring from inside the houses. I didn’t know how many families lived per hut, but there were over a hundred of the golden furred villagers in the clearing during my ‘trial.’ Take out the child, that’s 70-80 warriors. In other words, the final wave on horde mode.

We weaved in-between huts and across beaten paths until we reached the village edge. It didn’t take that long, the place wasn’t that large. Fifty feet from the last hut the jungle beckoned, promising safety for those who knew her secrets. I was willing to bet Ren-Thel was one of those few.

All that stood between us and freedom was a single guard looking outward.

“There defenses seem rather light.”

“The Lacuni-”

“Wait what?” He looked at me in confusion.

“Lacuni. That’s the name of the tribe. That we’re escaping from.” You’ve got to be kidding me. He must have noticed my snicker. “What is so funny?”

“Nothing, it just…sounds familiar. You were saying?” He looked at me with suspicion.

“Right…Anyway, the Lacuni are raiders. They’ve scared every tribe in this area into submission. The only ones that could pose a real threat to them are the Vren, but they are peaceful. The only reason the Lacuni have not wiped them out is the sacrilege of attacking one’s so close to the sacred grove.”

“Vren are good, Lacuni bad, don’t mess with the sacred grove, got it.”

“You learn fast. Wait here.”

He moved like the wind. Totally silent and with a grace that defied his withered look. If he was in that cage for five months then they must have fed him well. The woman never saw him coming. Without a sound he slipped behind her grabbed her by the shoulder, and slit her throat with the spear blade. She fell and didn’t get back up. Ren waved me over.

That’s two deaths I’ve seen. It wasn’t bothering me as much as I thought it should. Maybe it was shock. Maybe it was the fact they caged me. Maybe I was just a bit of a psycho, but I was close to getting out of there without lasting damage.

When I got to the corpse he was wearing a knife belt. He tossed the guards spear away and motioned me forward. Nothing else needed to be said.

We stole off into the jung-

“THE PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING!”

Goddammit.

“RUN JACK!”

He didn’t need to say it twice. Abandoning any pretense of stealth, we sprinted full out into the brush.

“I thought you said we had ten minutes!”

“I was wrong! Now shut up and run!”

We did. Past trees and over streams, through bushes and across shrubs. We never stopped, never looked back. To do so meant certain death. The screams of the Lacuni hunters (ha-ha) followed us everywhere. They obviously had experience at chasing prey. This went on for half an hour. Then we made a mistake.

“Cut through here, we can…damn!” A cliff, too high to climb, towered before us. “We’ll have to go around.”

It was at that moment that five golden warriors charged out of the trees behind us.

“Get down!” Before I could react, the old man shoved the butt of his spear into my chest and knocked me behind him. The first Lacuni, a short woman, charged with her spear aimed for his chest. In a move I didn’t even see, he knocked it aside and bashed her in the head with the shaft of his weapon.

She fell down and didn’t get back up.

Two more rushed him, a man and a woman, both letting out a scream that didn’t sound like anything a thinking creature could produce. The one on the right came in with a low jab. The silver cat sidestepped and kicked her in the chest, causing her to double over. The other tried to stab him in the back. Somehow he managed to grab onto the weapon and drove it into the woman’s neck, kicking her spear upwards into the man’s groin as he did.

When a fourth made to throw her spear, he calmly shoved the sterilized man in front of him. The weapon crashed into his chest, sending him to the dirt. With a growl that wouldn’t be out of place on Animal Planet, he charged the disarmed woman.

I pulled myself up while he rushed the spear thrower. I almost felt sorry for her. It didn’t even seem like a fair-

Something hard smacked into my back, sending me tumbling forward. Instinct kicked in again and turned the fall into a somewhat successful roll. I came up crouched and turned to look at my attacker.

It was the big guy who had captured me. And he looked PISSED. Fear coursed through every vein in my body as I scrambled backwards. So much so that it drowned out the pain of having my head bashed with a stick.

He took a few steps forward. The look in his eyes was something I’d never seen outside of movies before. The kind where the villain wears a hockey mask. With what courage was left in me, I held my knife out defensively and stood up. I could say I died on my feet at least…

He laughed, dropping his spear and drew a knife of his own.

"To make it fair," he said simply before dropping into a fighting stance.

I glanced over at the battle Ren was waging. Another hunting party had found us and he was busy kicking all kinds of ass. Which left me on my own…

Against a blood crazed cat warrior who was charging right at me.

“FUCK!” A panicked step backwards was all that saved me from having my stomach split open from his first swipe. The flurry of attacks that followed kept forcing me backwards, dodging being my only option since I sure as hell couldn’t block them.

“Stay still coward!” I was so focused on trying to keep track of his hands that I completely missed the kick he aimed for my stomach. The wind was ripped out of me as I doubled over, opening myself up to a slash downwards. In desperation, I threw up my knife, trying to deflect the attack.

I missed.

His blade gashed my arm causing some of the most intense pain I’d ever felt. My left hand instinctively went to the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. And that left me no defense against the kick to the head I received a few seconds later.

Next thing I knew, I was staring up at the star filled sky. And at the guy about to kill me standing right above my chest. Which he stomped on. Twice.

I got the feeling he liked kicking me.

“And here I thought I’d actually get some entertainment. Oh well.” He knelt down and put the knife to my throat. “Last words.”

I wanted to say something poetic. Something memorable. Something I could be proud to go out on. Unfortunately all of my concentration was focused on making sure I didn’t piss myself. So much for dying with dignity.

The cannibal simple shrugged and cut downward with the knife, cutting open my throat and resigning me to a slow death choking on my own blood.

Or at least he would have if a fist sized rock hadn’t crashed into his skull.

He fell off me, crying out in pain. This was all the motivation I needed to scramble to my feet and back away. He wasn’t paying attention to me anymore; he was too busy trying to keep his brains in. I could run now. Dash off into the trees. Get as far away from him as possible.

He’d chase me of course, but what else could I do? I mean, it’s not like I could…

We do not extend the hand of friendship to our enemies; we extend the blade of our knife.

Could I?

We do what is necessary to survive.

Before I could even register what I was doing, I charged, crashed into the man, and shoved my knife as far into his belly as it would go. All I could feel was my heart pounding in my chest as I twisted the knife. All I could hear was the wet, grinding sound it made when I ripped it out of him. All I could see was the look in his eyes as he fell backwards, never getting back up.

The cat whose name I’d never know died with surprise on his face, as if he’d never really thought it’d happen to him.

That was my first kill.

I’d just killed a person.

And I felt…

Good?

“We need to go. There will be more soon,” Ren said from beside me. He’d seen the whole thing. Just sat there and watched me kill someone. He took off, following the edge of the cliff. I went after him, dropping the knife as I did. I…I didn’t want to hold it anymore. Apparently the hunters had been searching for us in packs, because none of the other cries of alarm were anywhere near us. But they’d heard the fight.

And they were getting closer.

*SCHHWAFF-CLACK*

Scratch that, they were pretty close.

I was dimly aware of the arrow striking the rock above me. I say dimly because I couldn’t spare any extra thought process for it at the moment. My mind was to full of: Keep running! Don’t think about the guy you killed. Keep running! Ignore your exhaustion. Keep running! Sweet Jesus, this is so fucked! Keep running!

“What are we looking for?”

“It should be just around here…aha!”

The cliff we were following suddenly dropped away.

Into a larger cliff. With a waterfall.

We continued for maybe fifty feet before he turned to the drop. He gave me a manic smile. I looked down. Far below was rushing water and white rapids indicating rocks with a clear path right in the middle. The other side of the river was a flat bank leading to some trees. I looked back to him.

“You’re kidding. You’re kidding right?”

“It’s this or the Lacuni.”

I glanced behind me to the forest full of screaming, cannibal, cat warriors.

“MOOOOTHEEEEERRRFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-”

Once again, I found myself being woken unusually, only this time it came in the form of a sharp pain on my head.

“OW!”

I sat up, rubbing my dripping head to see a smiling Ren looking down at me.

“We made it.”

“Wha…” I gazed at my new surroundings. We were situated on the bank of the river that Ren had apparently dragged me from after I’d been knocked out right in front of a tree. On top of the cliff, pretty much the entire Lacuni tribe stared down at us. Not one of them tried to jump in after us. I gave the old fighter a warm smile.

“You know, just once today I’d like to wake up normally.” He laughed and I joined him. We yelled insults up at the stranded Lacuni tribe, daring them to come down after us. I did a cartwheel while he danced a jig. We compared their parents to women of the night. I raised my middle finger up above the other-

*SCHHWAFF-THUNK*

Pain.

I fell to my knees, too stunned to get up. For some reason, my right arm was twisted behind me at a weird angle. It was very uncomfortable. I tried to move it into something more regular, but it was caught on something. The Lacuni started shouting something at us, but it sounded far away.

“By the gods! Don’t move Jack! I’ll try to find something.”

Move? Why shouldn’t I move? As an experiment I tried to move. A pain more intense than anything I’d ever felt shot up my arm. I decided right then and there not moving was good advice.

“Here!” Ren held a stick in front of my face. “Bite this.” I complied. I don’t know why, but it was hard to think. At least the pain was starting to fade. In fact there was a strange numbness slowly working its way down my arm. “Hold still.” I’d already established that moving was bad. I wasn’t going anywhere. I heard a strange sliding sound. Like metal on something soft. “I’m sorry.” Sorry? Why would he be-

*THUNK*

The pain was back. Lower now, closer to the elbow. It was also far worse. Whatever that numbness was I hope it got down there-

*THUNK*

There was a sickening crunch. I heard something break. I didn’t know what Ren was doing, but he-

*THUNK*

It was worse than anything I’d ever felt. Worse than every other pain combined. Yet as the pain below my elbow worsened, the pain in my hand receded. Why is-

*THUNK*

I bit down on the stick so hard it nearly snapped! It felt like-

*THUNK*

MAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEIT-

*THUNK-SHLISH*

My arm dropped back to my side. The pain in my hand was gone, but the pain in below my elbow burned like hellfire. I spit out the stick and screamed to the high heavens. It must have been bloodcurdling, because the Lacuni stopped taunting us and just stared. I felt Ren take off my shirt.

“Just keep calm Jack! It will be alight.”

He grabbed my arm sending fresh jolts of pain through it. I screamed all the louder. Why did it hurt so much?

I felt something wrap around it. Hard. It felt…in the middle, yet on the end at the same time. How is that possible? It didn’t matter. At least the pain was going away. Actually, everything was going away. The sound of the river, the light from the moon, the smells of the jungle. It was all just fading into soothing blackness.

“Don’t worry!” Ren said as he lifted me by my left shoulder. He sounded far away. “I know some people who can help you. You just have to stay awake, understand?” But I’m so tired.

“Stay awake, Jack!”

It’s so late.

“Stay awake!”

No, it’s time for sleep.

“Stay awake!”

Goodnight.

“STAY-