Hans slid carefully down to the riverbank. As he got closer the wolf snarled at him and bared its teeth.
“Easy there, Kamerad…”
“Stay away!” The hurt wolf looked up. Its right eye was swollen shut.
Hans felt more than a little sorry for the fallen canine. Besides, whatever did this to the wolf could do even worse to himself.
“Who did this to you?”
“I said back away!”
“I’m going to get you out.”
The wolf snarled and swatted at Hans again, trying vainly to crawl away from him.
“Come on. Just hold still.”
It looked up distrustfully at the human. Hans reached down, shifted the wolf’s paws and lifted him up on his back. The beaten wolf flinched and snarled at Hans from atop his back.
“Let me go,” he coughed out.
With a deep breath Hans carried the him up the steep incline, almost falling back-first onto the river bank as he did. The wolf was heavier than most humans, but Hans had done this many times. By the time he got back to camp, the night was turning pitch black. Hans set the wolf down just outside his bivouac.
“Just lay there, alright?” Hans said, setting up a fire pit with sticks and twigs.
The wolf looked into Hans’ eyes for a moment, then lowered his muzzle.
“A human,” he grunted quietly. “Where are you headed, human?”
“Nowhere, really,” Hans said, lighting a match and kindling a fire. The wolf shook its head, as if Hans had given him a wrong answer.
“Do you have anything to eat…”
Hans opened up his mess tin. There wasn’t much left in there. He reached in and broke off a small slab of the dried meat from Deltia.
“It’s not much, but—” Hans leaned over slowly to give him a slab.
The wolf took a small, careful bite of it, then sat back and stared at the human. The fire danced upwards and illuminated both of their faces.
“A human escaping this far west. You must have been through hell,” the wolf finally said.
“Yeah. I have.”
“Must have come a long way, too…” the wolf mused.
“You could say that,” Hans smiled.
“Yes, well. You’d better keep going. They’ll be here soon enough.”
“I see…”
Who was ‘they?’ Hans didn’t want to show he was ignorant on this, lest the wolf begin to wonder.
“Actually. I was hoping to stay here.”
“You can’t. Grimeskins will be here soon. They chased me down the river.”
So he was talking about the ‘Grimeskins.’ They didn’t sound very friendly.
“Where should I go, you think?”
“Flee straight west. To the edge of the world if you have to. The Grimeskins will kill you in no time,” the young wolf winced in pain as he spoke.
“That where you’re going?”
He shook his head.
“Me? No. I’m going to the forest wolves. I’ll fight and die there, that’s all.”
“What if I went to the forest wolves, too?”
Kasha raised an eyebrow at the human, as if Hans had dropped in from another planet. Deciding to quickly change the subject before Kasha became yet more suspicious, Hans stretched and got up from his seat.
“If you don’t mind I’m going to sleep,” Hans said. “You should stay here. You’re in no shape to run.”
“…I know…” he sighed.
“Oh, and sorry. What was your name again?”
“You may call me Kasha,” the wolf answered.
Qok
Hex bit his lip as he departed the reception room. He’d had enough of the arrogant emperor Jiroft and his slights. One way or another Jiroft would regret the tone he used today. The monsters were coming to depose Jiroft soon enough. Good riddance.
Xusa, the capital of Ahuran, was just as it looked when Hex was much younger. Beyond the manicured green sprawl of the palace grounds, columns of tall lime-rock buildings lined the wide streets like giant offerings. From a distance, orchards and fields struggled in the semi-arid soil until a wall of white-capped mountains stopped everything.
An ox-drawn cart sat outside Hex’s residence early that morning.
“This cart headed to Port Jasra?”
An avian face whipped around at the sound of Hex’s voice.
“Woah! That really you, Hex?”
“It is, but I don’t recognize you.”
“Oh I knew you looked familiar! Last time you was here I took you and your family down to Giraz and the Gulf. I bet you don’t even remember this face.”
“I don’t, sorry, but I do remember that trip fondly.”
“Don’t you remember that time you fell asleep at the table and your face fell into the bean soup?”
“Oh, uh. You were there for that?”
“Sure was,” the avian laughed. “Name’s Qok. Nice to see you all grown up, though I wish it were under better terms.”
“How’d you manage to come so far in all this chaos?” Qok asked.
“Had some help all along the way. One thing I’ve learned is that there are a lot of good people out there. Even during hard times like these.”
The oxcart kicked off and shuffled along the main streets. Families and other travelers hopped aboard the cart. At some point Qok picked up some empty wooden casks which carried the distinct aroma of Berrywine.
By sunrise they were in the outskirts of Xusa, headed south and west toward the cooler vineyard country. Hex kicked his shoes up and relaxed as the sun rose. There was still a very long way to go, but this part of the journey would be safe and smooth. A nice change of pace from the previous weeks.
The slow, bumpy ride took them through a valley of wheat fields, and he could sometimes hear the grasses blowing against each other in the wind. He saw farmers with brimmed hats wading through the fields to collect the harvest before the frosts arrived. That day the cart stopped only twice, and sleep came easier than usual when the sky got dark. Most of the passengers, children included, had fallen asleep. By sunrise the landscape had changed again. Hex saw tiny vineyards passing by them, and felt the cool, mild air on his fur.
That afternoon they came to a scheduled stop. Hex recognized the town as Zarekord, a mishmash of narrow streets that spilled out past an ancient city wall into the cool meadows and orchards. Most of the other passengers disembarked in the town and made their ways home. Hex and Qok stayed at a travelers’ house at the edge of a Berrywine vineyard.
“Ya know I thought you would stay with us in Xusa. It’s much safer here, you know.” Qok said to him as they both got off the cart and put the oxen into a barn.
“I know. But. My younger brother lives in a safe location further west. I’m going to collect him.”
“Oh…” the old bird mused.
“Is that why you’re doing down to—”
“Yes. And its a ways even after that.”
“Where? Deltia?”
“No it’s, well, I can’t say where it is but it’s not Deltia.”
“I see. Well. If I can help you at all beyond Jasra just let me know.”
“I appreciate your help, Qok.”
Vaterland
“Kasha?”
A wet wind blew over Hans’ tent. He woke up and looked around to see that Kasha was gone. Gusts of wind were broken only by the pines. An overcast sky greeted the Landser when he stepped out of his tent and folded it up. Kasha must have been in quite a rush to get away from the ‘Grimeskins,’ whatever those were. If Kasha was right, then this region was no place to call home.
In silence he marched, or just trudged, his way out of Balaton woods and back to the rabbit huts which squeezed together on the glade. No one was outside today, and the door was shut.