Spirit Animals: Life Of Tarik - Book 1

Encounter

Something wet touched Tarik's cheek, causing him to wake up. He opened his eyes and squinted against the harsh sunlight and made out the two figures of Lumeo and Fang on each side of him. He had moved slightly into the shade under a tree close by to where he fell down the hill. Tarik was injured and couldn't walk after hurting his foot. A scratch was present on his cheek and the fall left many rips in his clothes. By now, Tarik was at his weakest, injured, hungry and lost.

Lumeo lay down next to Tarik and Fang went down to the river just ahead. It was very helpful of Fang to be helping out now, even though Tarik never expected his enemy's spirit animal to care for him. He reached out with a weak hand and rested it on Lumeo's head and began to pet the otter.

"What are we going to do, Lumeo?" Tarik asked weakly.

Lumeo squeaked in comfort and moved closer to him as if saying "everything will be okay". Fang came back with a fish in his mouth and placed it down on the ground next to Lumeo. The otter stood up and happily brushed against Fang's leg and then looked at Tarik.

"I can't eat a raw fish, that's disgusting," Tarik said as he scrunched up his nose.

Fang turned away with attitude and began to gather rocks into a small circle as Lumeo gathered small sticks.

"Are they actually serious?" Tarik thought in disbelief. Two animals setting up a campfire isn't something to see everyday. The smoke will attract possible attention, positive or negative. Once Fang and Lumeo were done setting up, all they needed was to set the fire. The only problem was that they couldn't start a fire. Tarik was too weak to do anything, and Fang and Lumeo lacked the ability.

"Don't worry about it," Tarik leaned back on the tree. His stomach growled in the need of food once more. Fang and Lumeo looked at each other and approached the fish. Lumeo pushed it towards Tarik, but Tarik pushed it back to Lumeo so that he could eat it. Fang raised his head and turned away to find more food that was "suitable" for Tarik.

But before Fang could leave, two men on horseback came down to the area. The horses reared and were tempted to turn away because they feared Fang. The mountain lion growled, Lumeo squeaked and moved in front of Tarik to protect him. Tarik stared at the horseman in fear as he was too weak to put up a fight.

"Are you the Greencloak boy?" one of the men asked.

Tarik had previously taken off his cloak and hid it away to hide his identity.

"No," Tarik replied.

Fang hissed and approached the men, the closer he got to the horses, the more scared they became.

"Well, if you are the Greencloak boy, we came to tell you that you're a wanted kid in Zhong," the man said.

Tarik said nothing.

The other man dismounted from his horse and slowly moved closer to Tarik. "We are not here to hurt you".

Tarik recognised an emblem on the man's armour, he wore the same emblem that Lynk's guards wore when he was captured. Lumeo bared his teeth at the man.

"Get away from me," Tarik warned.

At this time, Fang recognised the men and lunged forward to the man on the horse. The man screamed and fell onto the ground as Fang sunk his teeth into his neck, his horse ran off into the trees. The other man watched and drew his sword as his horse also fled the scene.

"You always were a bad spirit animal, weren't you? So disloyal to us," the man spat at Fang.

Fang's icy glare burned into his enemy and he charged forward at the man. The man held his sword in two hands, Fang watched his movements closely and jumped forward. Lumeo also jumped at the man and bit his neck which made him drop his sword. He cried out and Fang tackled him to the ground which sent Lumeo flying. Luckily, he landed on his feet and Fang finished off his opponent.

Tarik stared at the man as if trying to process what just happened. He was wanted in Zhong, probably for the chaos that happened in Xin Du, and he had been found by Lynk's guards. They needed to leave as soon as possible.

"Lumeo, Fang, we need to get out of here," Tarik said.