Chương 16: Success ?
We were having our lunch when Fashu and her sister came telling us that the hunting parties with the young orcs had come back.
We were all excited to see Vaela again and hear of her adventures. So we headed to the village center, where orcs gather after a long journey in the forest. The two brothers didn't seem to have anything better to do and followed us out of curiosity.
Many people were present. They could be seen embracing each other or proudly telling how they killed their game. All sorts of big corps were lying on the ground. It wasn't our first time seeing this scene, but it's still as impressive as ever. I looked around to see if I could find Vaela. It was Burny who found her.
" Guys, She is next to the fire panther."
We moved next to the three meters red panther.
" Hi guys, look at what I killed in the past week."
"Woah, you killed it alone." Exclaim Rorm.
"Yep, it wasn't an easy fight !"
Vaela then proceeded to tell us about her achievement and how exciting and challenging the two months were.
"What are you going to do now that you finished your training ?"
"Now, well, I will join one of the hunting teams, train to get stronger, and help you guys to prepare yourself for your own ceremony."
We were all reassured to have our big sis back.
...
Later that day, Vaela came, but it was only me and Zala this time. She wanted to see us alone because we were her favorite little ones, and she didn't want to make the others jealous. She had seen us growing since we were babies and came daily to play and teach us.
She caught us in a bear hug as soon as we were alone.
"I missed you so much, my two little wolves!"
It warmed my heart to see how much she missed us.
"Did you miss me ?"
" Yes, very much," answered Zala
"Vae, can you let me go? Your breasts are choking me."
"What, are you taking advantage of me? Since I won't let you go till you tell me how much I missed you, hehe."
'If I were taking advantage of you, I wouldn't have told you. You are the one taking advantage of me.'
" The past two months were hellish without you. Can you l let me go now"
"No ! Don't exaggerate things and call me big, sis."
She hugged me even harder as if to prevent me from speaking
" I missed you very, very much, big sis"
She finally let me go with a big satisfied smile on her face.
"So tell me, what did you do these last two months ?"
And so we told her everything that's happened.
"Oh, so that's why you are wearing this cute mask. You're adorable with it, by the way."
"Aren't he? I always try to pet him, but he would always get angry and run away," pouted Zala.
"I kind of want to pet him as well."
"No, shouldn't you be angry with Baruba for forcing this mask upon me"
"Why should I ? The mask improves your survival chances, and I'm confident you'll be able to change its form, but most importantly, you're cute with it."
I sighed, she was right, but I still wanted to see her angry for my sake.
" I wanted to see you guys because I wanted to tell you that the tension between our tribe and other nearby tribes is quickly increasing. Learn as much as you can from Baruba. Although he is a bit crazy, he is by far the most competent orc of the tribe. And don't share this with the others. I was not supposed to tell you. It will be our little secret alright ? "
" Alright," we both replied.
"I'll keep you posted. Let's go back."
And we joined the other for dinner.
With Vae's return, the training got even harder, especially for Ushha. Vaela would take apart and fight with her. They were getting closer after each friendly spar. Ushha was improving quickly. It relieved me quite a bit.
Each evening I would take some time to meditate on the mask and try to perceive it or sense anything that could help me. As I was meditating, I was reminiscing about what happened earlier : I went a bit overboard in training.
Baruba had started to teach us how to fight. Before, he only gave us tasks to make us realize how important our environment was and how to use it. With the possibility of meeting other orcs in the forest, we had to learn how to fight both the beast and the orc. It was two different kinds of battle but with the same goal.
Baruba gave us all a spear, and we had to choose a partner of our level to fight with. And as you have guessed, Zala always ended together. Not only because she was fond of beating me but also because no one wanted to fight us. For unknown reasons, I was as strong as an orc three years older and Zala 4 years. But that wasn't all. Zala was very talented and could quickly grasp anything Baruba would teach on the of holding a spear which made her one of the worst opponents.
The rule for the spar was that as long as one didn't give up, passed out the fight, or was ejected from the circle, the fight would continue.
I was facing Zala, who was smirking at me.
" Hoy Yal, are you ready ?"
" More than ever !"
" Are you sure, this time Vae is training with Ushha, you won't be able to hide in her breast"
She suddenly smiled when she said the last part, but it was not the gentle and warm smile she could give. It was more the chilling one with murderous intent behind it.
'It's not my fault if I got in her bosom. You beat me so hard that she pitied me and hugged me. It wasn't even during the fight.' Sometimes I really couldn't understand women.
" What are you waiting for ? I will not hold back today. You will crawl under my foot", she said, taunting me with a sadistic smile.
It had the opposite effect on me. I remain calm and fully determined. 'I will not lose this time.
She was stronger, faster, and swift. She was dancing in the ring. I took more damage, but I landed some blows here and there. I was at a disadvantage but far from being pushed out. Thanks to my wolf senses, I had an easier time dodging. We were nearly evenly matched, but she always had something more. So I decided to take some risks, and it didn't go well.
She was moving like a cat. She swang her spear vertically at me. I sidestepped to doge and readied my spear to pierce her. She prepared to counter, but I let my spear go at the last moment and closed the distance between us. I wanted to take her by surprise and finish the spar with a well-placed punch. But it's not what happened. She instinctively spun her spear redirected toward my chest and pierced it. It was too fast for both of us. Her face metamorphosed, and she started to cry.
"No, Yalak !" She yelled. She let go of the spear and caught me before I fell.
"I'm so sorry, You have to hold on, Yalak, or I'll kill you thousand times. BARUBA ! BARUBA !" sob, sob.
I wasn't able to hear or see what happened afterward, but I listened to my heart beating vigorously.
BOOM
Stronger and stronger.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM
I felt a wisp of warm energy escaping from it as it happened six years ago, I tried to reproduce it, but I wasn't able to. This energy flowed through my body and helped me to rebuild it. After a minute, I blacked out from tiredness.
When I woke, I was at Ulga hut with Ushha, Zala, and Vae next to me. Baruba was a bit further. He noted at me and left without noise as if he had never been there in the first place.
Zala jumped at my neck, crying. Vae let out a big relieved sigh and hugged me.
"Hey girls, do you want to kill me? It's painful !"
"We were so worried," said the girls.
"I'm soo soorryy" cried Zala, not wanting to let me go
"It's alright. It was a cool moved you used back then. I didn't predict it" I patted her head to calm her, and it did work.
They then let me rest. So I started meditating.
As I was reminded of the incident, I particularly focused on the part where I felt my heart pounding.
'Let's try it again.'
I closed my eyes and felt my heart beating.
Boom, Boom
Tried to get the same feeling as before.
Boom, Boom, Boom
And there it was, a wisp of warm energy got out of it. I was fascinated by it. I observed it for some second, then my thought wandered toward the mask, and before I could create the wisp of energy quickly moved toward it and was absorbed by the mask.
Suddenly something incredible happened. The mask seemed to illuminate the room with a red light.
'Wow, it's beautiful'.
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