Death's Favorite Child

31. Life Debt

Alis was fading in and out of consciousness as the remaining hunters and Daniel made their way to the main Panther village. She was carried on a stretcher made of sticks and leaves. She had a broken arm, a sprained ankle, and several bruises. The most dangerous one was on her head.

(Beast) "You all saw what happened, right?" one of the three hunters whispered to the others when Daniel was not close by.

The other hunters nodded.

(Beast) "She has a life debt to the human now..." the hunter added.

Alis had regained her senses but kept her eyes shut. She clenched her jaw. She still couldn't move. Darkness enveloped her again.

They arrived at the main village on the afternoon of the ninth day after departing the Second Settlement Village with 5 out of 8 people of the original group.

(Beast) "Welcome," the guard said. He immediately recognized the group except for Daniel.

(Beast) "Who is this?" he pointed at Daniel.

One of the hunters gave him a letter written by the Chief and directed to the Head Priest. The guard took off and gave the letter to his captain.

(Beast) "A human??? Hmmm. Bring him to the garrison until we get a message from the Head Priest and send the others to the infirmary. Get their report in writing," the Captain ordered. He then left towards the temple, clenching the letter in his fists.

A few days ago, the Head Priest called him to the temple and told him to expect a strange guest at the gate. He was to be polite and inform him immediately. He never thought the guest would be a human -- a race nobody had seen for a thousand years.

(Beast) "Please come this way," the guard pointed at Daniel.

(Beast) "The rest of you, head to the infirmary to get checked up and then make a full report," he added, pointing at the others.

The group of hunters was more than happy to be separated from Daniel. Even though he had saved Alis' life, they would feel their legs go limp every time he looked at them. They still couldn't shake the fear they felt that night -- it felt like an apex predator was looking at a helpless bunny.

Soon, in a small office at the garrison, a priest was sitting opposite Daniel.

"Welcome, Mr Daniel. The Head Priest has been waiting for you, as foretold by the Goddess," the priest said in fluent human language.

"After you rest a bit, we'll proceed with the ceremony at the temple. The Head Priest is not available today, so you'll talk to him tomorrow," the priest added.

"Ceremony?" asked Daniel.

"Oh yes, my mistake. It's a ceremony to bestow on you the Beast language. It will make your life here easier," the priest added, only to be confronted by a deeper frown.

"Oh, you don't know... Well, when the tribes were transported here by the Goddess a thousand years ago, they all spoke different languages. Panther people didn't live in one human country, but many countries. When they were suddenly transported to a single location to live together, there was a language issue. The Goddess, in all of her wisdom, gave us a Language stone. Touching the stone will transfer the knowledge of what we call Beast language to someone. It was massively used initially, but now it's only used when we need to host ambassadors from other tribes -- just to make sure there are no language barriers. Other tribes have similar stones."

'That's handy! I wish I had this stone when I was learning French in my past life,' Jon chuckled.

Daniel nodded to the priest. This would be very convenient to get the information he needed.