Spirit Animals: Life Of Tarik - Book 1

Caylif

After being dragged for almost a day, the Zourtzi guards abandoned Tarik and Chinwe. In the direction that they thought the Greencloaks were in, they were both starting to feel as if they had been led the opposite direction. Tarik occasionally spat blood here and there, his sickness worsening by the hour. Chinwe held his arm tightly, using herself as support for him. Lumeo and Chinwe's wildebeest were now out of passive state and following behind them.

Tarik never got to say goodbye to LaReimaja and his family. He was terribly worried about his father, but was told nothing more. He and Chinwe were kicked out of Fort Zourtzi, giving them no choice but to leave. It made Tarik's blood boil. The fact that he had left his Greencloak friends to check if his family were okay, only to be captured and tortured on a ship for days. He slowly realised that his trip to Nilo was hardly worth it, but then he thought again that if he didn't come, he wouldn't have known if they were safe or not.

"Are you okay?" he heard Chinwe ask softly.

"I'm fine," replied Tarik.

Chinwe still held him as they walked across the Niloan desert. Her grip seemed to tighten even more.

"Liar. I know you aren't," said Chinwe.

"Maybe it's because you're hurting me," Tarik looked at the girl.

He saw Chinwe's eyes widen before she let go of his arm. "Sorry."

"Not the first time," Tarik knew it wasn't the right time to bring up how Chinwe had lured him to Lynk, but he was upset. With everything.

Chinwe stopped and glared at him. "Do you want me to help you or not? I could leave you out here and let you die if you're going to be like that."

Tarik kept walking.

"Hey!" the Niloan girl ran to him and grabbed him, facing him so that their faces met. "I understand that it's been hard for you, okay?"

Tarik looked her in the eyes seriously, but said nothing. He saw her frown at him, but he didn't really care at this point.

"You're the most stubborn boy I've ever met in my entire life. It's actually so painful to deal with you sometimes, you know that? I hate your attitude right now," Chinwe slapped him across the face.

Tarik's face stung and he rested his hand on his cheek. "Are you crazy?"

"Are you?" Chinwe's fists we're clenched. "Want me to punch you instead?"

Tarik hissed and kicked her underneath her feet, knocking her to the ground. "Maybe I am," he said before walking away. "Let's go, Lumeo."

The otter squeaked before looking back at Chinwe, he didn't move. Tarik noticed shortly after and looked back.

"Lumeo?"

Lumeo sat next to a surprised Chinwe who was still on the ground staring at him. Tarik rolled his eyes. Lumeo actually seemed to disagree with him.

"You're mean," Chinwe said before getting to her feet, her wildebeest helping her.

"I know," Tarik admitted. "But I wonder why."

Chinwe walked forward again, and Tarik noticed that she had scraped her knee on the way down.

"Sorry," he said to her.

"I just... how do you know a move like that?" Chinwe questioned.

"Training," Tarik pulled out a piece of jerky from his pocket.

"But I've been training too, really hard," Chinwe sounded defeated.

Tarik sighed before chewing a piece of his jerky. "I can teach you."