The Kingdom

Chapter 8

The last thing Jack wanted to wake up to was a puddle of blood and aheap of human bodies. He blinked as he sat up and stared, shocked anda little annoyed, at the lifeless guards that had tried to take himback to a life that he no longer wanted. If they hadn't snuck up onhim like a bunch of spineless weasels, he would have been able tokill them without really trying. Something had beaten him to it. Jacktitled his head. The guards looked like they had been mauled alive.By something with very sharp, pointy teeth. Jack just hoped it wasn'tanother imp. The last time he had encountered one, she had tried torip his eye balls out of his skull and roast them over a fire.Forcing himself to his feet, Jack stumbled and squinted his eyes. Itwas dark, so dark he could hardly see his hands in front of his face,but he had to find Don. The poor little jailbird would be eaten alivein the wild, if he hadn't been already.

The spot on his skull where the guard hit him ached as he forcedhis way through thick groves of bushes, searching for a path in thedarkness. Anyone with a slight understanding of commonsense knew notto wander around in a forest, especially not at night. If you were onthe path, it was less likely that something would disturb you. Jackgrunted as his foot hit a raised tree root, almost tumbling to theground. He felt like a drunk, wandering around in complete blackness,trying to find his way home after having a rough night out with hisfriends.

Jack jumped slightly when he heard a rustling in the trees to hisright, and his nerves spiked. His palms were damp as he searched inhis coat pockets for his hunting knife. He couldn't find it.Hesitantly, he moved towards the sound. "Don? Is that you?"Scrunching his eyes up, searching the darkness, he finally graspedthe handle of his trusty knife and thrust it in front of him.

There was no response, but the rustling stopped. Jack cocked hishead as he heard the sound of heavy breathing, panting. Stepping awayfrom the group of trees quickly, Jack hurried away, afraid ofprovoking something. Forget it, it was nothing, Jack toldhimself as he shambled about. But that didn't stop him from turninghis head in that direction periodically, listening for somethingfollowing him.

Jack had been searching for Don for hours, and his throat and lungswere slowly killing him. He hadn't had a drink of water in ages, andthat bump to the head didn't seem to help anything. Jack was slowlylosing interest in finding his new friend. The sound of rushingwater from a river mocked him as he walked noisily in the dark. Theracket was enough to scare away squirrels and deer, but the morenoise he made, the more bigger animals were drawn to where he was.

With a disappointed huff, Jack stumbled again and finally just satdown, where his eyes started to feel heavy and his mind started toshut down. The constant chirping of the crickets and other bugslulled him. It was pointless to search for someone in the dark, andif Don was really set on being found, Jack would eventually find him.Promising himself to look for him in the morning, Jack closed hiseyes and drifted to the land of dreams, where both of his parentswere waiting to talk to him.

It was still dark when Jack was roughly startled from his dreams bya growling. He couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from; it soundedlike it was emanating from all around him. Jack sat completely still,his heart frozen in place, his body stiff. He was glued to where hesat. The growling slowly got louder, until it vibrated in Jack's headlike a horrible, dark music.

Jack sat there, certain he was going to die, when he felt somethingcoarse and hairy brush against his arm. Fur. Shuddering, Jackclenched his eyes shut, although with it being full dark, it didn'tmatter either way. Jack jumped as something slimy and warm slappedagainst his face. It smelled disgusting, like rotten meat and deadleaves. It was a tongue.

Hesitantly opening his eyes, Jack flinched as the large tonguelicked his face. He blindly reached his hand out in the direction ofthe warm breath blowing on his face. It traveled through the openair, before finally hitting a fuzzy face. Jack petted the head aminute before lying back down, the tiredness in his eyes making ithard to see. The unknown creature sat down next to him, close enoughthat Jack could feel it's overwhelming body heat. Without realisingit, Jack slipped back into the land of the dreamers, the beastwatching him into the early morning hours.

The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon when Jack awoke.It was a fairly cold morning and frost clung to everything, includingJack. It didn't really shock him to see a dog-thing sittingrespectfully at his feet, it's open mouth breathing steam into thechilly air. It's tongue lolled to one side, it's tail whooshing onthe ground as it swept back and forth. It unnaturally long teeth thatJack wanted to touch, a lean, powerful body that was almost as fastas a cheetah's, and long, scruffy fur that helped it hide in thedark. Jack also observed that it was a female. Raising his handslowly, so not to scare it, Jack slowly stood up and stretched hisaching limbs. His head still hurt. It reminded him of a hangover.

The dog-thing didn't seem dangerous, but in this part of the world,you could never be certain. Jack stepped gingerly away from it, hisbody half turned. Jack never turned his back on anything, unless hewas craving a dagger in it. Cautiously, he walked away, his head heldhigh and his back straight. The path was no where in sight, soshaking his head, Jack walked in one general direction. It wasn'tlong before he heard the thud of paws and panting following himthrough the thick forest, and he smiled to himself. He had a newcompanion.