Alongside those who are sinful.

Chapter 8

As Dietrich carried the prisoner towards the camp in one hand, he lifted the cat up slightly to assess his condition.

The leg that he was limping on was injured quite harshly, with visible bruising and swelling near the calf under his fur. Speaking of fur, he revealed only a small portion of it mainly on his tail, bottom half of legs and arms and finally his head because of his colorful red coat. He also wore baggy breeches that stopped at the knees.

All in all, Dietrich felt that this feline was a noble or someone of importance.

"These colors signified wealth, power, and royalty in our medieval times. Perhaps it is the same here."  Pondered Dietrich. If it was not apparent before, Dietrich did not care for these creatures societal inclinations.

The only thing that mattered was survival.

"I do not know how I even arrived here. How would I ever get out?" He thought. With an expert feat of human agility, he hopped onto a thick root of one of the trees then began bounding across them all while holding his charge.

"It will not be long now before I introduce you to the others. I hope you have a name." Muttered Dietrich. There was no reply from the feline and he didn't expect one. The only thing that mattered right now was how he finally had an advantage on the bandit leader and her camp.

Through one more meter of trees he moved until he was finally at the rocky outcropping, alone with only himself and his "friend" that he had just picked up.

"Katya? Hiroshi?" Hissed Dietrich, quietly. He looked around to see that there was no sign of the other three humans that had been with him only thirty minutes ago.

"Hudson?" He whispered. Dietrich waited for a response that didn't come. With a shrug and no better idea, he gingerly placed the feline down on the ground and sat opposite of him. Once he was settled, Dietrich took notice of the felines wide eyed expression.

"You fear me. You are right to fear me. But you do not need to worry." Said Dietrich. As he spoke, he watched the feline prisoners breathing became labored and erratic. He dug his fingers into the ground and tried to slowly inch away from the area while looking all around.

Dietrich pointed to the feline and held his hand up to signify the command of "Stop!"

It worked and the feline froze once more. Dietrich placed that same hand on his chest and looked at the feline.

"Dietrich. My name is Dietrich." He said. He then pointed to the feline and asked for its name. When he got no response, he repeated himself using the same sentence and action. The feline brought a shaking paw to his chest, stammering out a sentence.

Dietrich did not listen for the specifics of the felines introduction, merely listening for a repeat in the strange language.

He did hear two words repeated and to Dietrich, it sounded as if his new friend was saying a word pronounced "Kas-Ma."

And so, that is what Dietrich assumed the felines name was.

"Kasma." Imitated Dietrich. He approached the feline and tapped a gloved finger to his chest. The feline nodded and raised a hesitant hand to do the same thing.

"H...Heat-trick." He said quietly. Dietrich nodded excitedly, smiling.

"He must have issues pronouncing certain syllables with a feline mouth. No doubt that if we learn each other's languages, we will both have the same issues." Thought Dietrich. He confirmed his earlier suspicions about gestures and customs being different because Kas-ma recoiled and threw his hands up in front of himself while looking away because of his smile.