All characters referred to in this story are copyright Daniel Pering. Any unauthorized alteration, or distribution constitutes as theft and will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law. Enjoy but don't mess with this stuff.

CHAPTER III

The creature slowly awoke. It felt like it had been hit by a truck, save for the fact that no trucks still worked on their planet. It felt a cold, wet nose press against its left cheek. A wolf pup was sniffing and starring it in the face. It gave a small start that sent the pup running. The creature attempted to move but its attempts were halted firmly, by the stout ropes tying its front paws to a thick tent pole. It heard what seemed like a huge mob of voices coming its way. A few moments later its eyes widened as nearly a whole village of furrs came to see the strange creature the youngest huntress had brought back. The village furrs were all talking at the same time, which made for a great deal of noise. The creature was frightened out of its mind.

It remembered how its parents had died several months back. It had found them, or what was left of them surrounded by a number of furrs. The furrs had just finished skinning them when the creature stumbled onto the spot. There were five furrs on site, two feline, and three canine. All were covered in the blood of its parents. The furrs turned and began advancing on the creature with weapons drawn. The creature had stumbled and fallen backwards. One of the canines had dove for it with a knife and managed to cut its throat, almost mortally wounding it. The creature had managed to get away, but could not speak any more due to the injury.

For the last six months the creature alone had been able to feed all of its siblings since both parents were dead. That was how it had stumbled onto Lillian. As it sat, tied to the tent pole, it could not figure out why it had helped her. There was no reason for it. Furrs had murdered both its parents and almost did the same to it. The creature was trying to do what felt right and became angry when it thought of what would surely be done to it since it had been captured. More than anything it was angry that its brothers and sisters would starve to death because they were too young to hunt for themselves. The thoughts of its siblings starving and it being skinned alive for doing something kind, made the creature furious to no end. It struggled fiercely at the ropes , but was only creating cut marks on its wrists.

Some of the furrs watching were amused at seeing the creature struggle so, others flatly wanted it dead, just because of what its existence meant. Lillian had gone to speak to the council of elders, in order to inform them of what she and her hunting party had caught. The council would 'Send a single member to access the find in a couple of hours or days'. Lillian had not been too happy about that. She figured the creature would be dehydrated and so went to get it some water. She returned to find a large throng of other villagers surrounding her hut,

"Hey! Get away from him!" she yelled. She really did not know if the creature was male or not, but it is what came out of her muzzle. The crowd of furrs made space for her to get to the creature. Lillian entered her hut and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the creature was still alive and untouched. She looked at the extreemly thin figure struggling against its bonds and, for a moment, pitied it.

Lillian set the bowl of water down in front of the creature and sat down across from it so she could look it straight in the eyes. Its eyes fascinated her. She had always been told that this type of creature had cold, uncaring, and murderous eyes, the creature in front of her, however, looked more like a frightened kitten than the murderous monster she had been told about. Lillian picked up the bowl of water and inched it toward the creature.

The creature looked at the bowl then back up at Lillian. It did not trust her, but was somewhat puzzled at why she had not killed it yet. It looked back down to the bowl. It could not tell exactly what was in the bowl. The bowl looked to be filled with water, but who knew what kind of poison or whatnot she had put in it. The creature tried to back its head away from the water. In truth it was in need of the water quite badly, but did not want to mess up any chance of escaping by drinking poison or something that might make it drowsy or unable to make a clean get away. Lillian pushed the bowl right up to its face trying to make it drink. She could see it needed water and was trying to help it so she pressed the bowl farther until it touched the creature's mouth.

The creature used its head and knocked the bowl from her paws spilling a good portion of the water. Lillian made a grab for the bowl and came in very close to the creature. She managed to catch the bowl before it spilled all of its contents, but became aware she was face to face with the creature. Its eyes were wide with fright and it was also shaking. Lillian backed away from it and sat back down,

"How can I explain that I'm trying to help it?" she thought. She absentmindedly began to lap up some of the water with her tongue.

The creature saw Lillian drinking the water,

"If the furr is comfortable drinking that stuff then maybe it won't kill me." the creature thought. The creature tried to get at the bowl of water but, of course, was not able to due to the ropes holding it. It began to struggle a little bit, trying to get Lillian's attention. Lillian noticed the creature making a bit of a ruckus,

"What do you want?" she asked. The creature could not understand her language, but recognized the tone of her voice. It nodded toward the bowl several times. Lillian got the idea,

"Oh, so now you want the water." she grumbled sarcastically. She slowly got up on her knees and held the bowl up to the creature to lap up some water. The creature bit the side of the clay bowl and tilted it up to pour the water down its throat.

Lillian was slightly taken aback,

"Why don't you drink like a normal furr?" she asked. Someone from the crowd retorted,

"Because it isn't a furr, it's a monster. Why are you bothering to let it drink? I say we kill it. Everyone knows what those things do to furrs."

"Oh, really?" Lillian asked, "Then why did this one save my life?" The other furr had no answer to her question,

"You're insane!"

Lillian was in no mood to have her reputation tainted,

"Maybe I am, but what if the legends are true? This creature basically proves that at least some of the legends are true, and if some are real, then which ones? Maybe all of them are true. We need to find out. And I think this creature may be able to help us do that."

An old voice sounded from the back of the crowd,

"I think that may be a bit too much to assume just now." The furrs all turned around and let the ancient vixen through to get to the creature. Lillian bowed her head toward the old fox in a show of respect,

"Thank you for coming. As you can see I spoke the truth." she said.

"Your word was never in question, young Lillian, do not take offense at what is not meant to be offensive. Now let me have a look at the creature."

"Be careful! That thing is dangerous!" one furr said. The old vixen, Ruth, answered,

"And how do you know that? Have you seen it attack anyone? From what Lillian has told the council, this creature has not offered harm to any furr and has, in fact, saved the life of one of our own villagers. I intend to judge this creature on its behavior, not on rumors and superstition. Now leave all of you." she said. Lillian stood to leave as well. Ruth held out a paw to stop her,

"No, you stay here Lillian."

"Why?"

"Think of it this way. If you were captured by creatures you didn't know and you were tied up, would you want the only individual you know to leave your field of vision? Would you be more willing to cooperate if you felt threatened, or would you do better if you knew someone; even if it is someone you don't know really well, were to be there while it happened?"

"What are you saying?"

"You have been with this creature the most. Am I correct?" Lillian nodded, "Then it is safe to assume it probably feels more comfortable around you than someone it doesn't know. Your leaving would probably make it far more difficult to examine the creature than if you were here." Lillian understood and sat back down.

"Now, tell me exactly what occurred. How did you meet this creature? Tell me every detail." Ruth said. Lillian related the story to Ruth being sure to be specific about every minute piece of information. Ruth occasionally nodded and asked Lillian to repeat some details several times. Lillian finished telling the story and watched Ruth to see her reactions. Ruth closed her eyes for a few minutes. Lillian began to wonder if she had fallen asleep,

"Uh..."

"I'm still awake. I'm simply trying to comprehend why this creature would help you. I am at a loss for am explanation. It makes no sense." Ruth looked the creature dead in the eyes, "Can you understand me?" she asked.

The creature inclined its head to the right as if trying to comprehend what Ruth was saying. That action amused Ruth somewhat,

"Well it seems to understand language to some extent; or at least appears to. Has it been touched by anyone besides Carla and you?" she asked. Lillian shrugged,

"I honestly don't know, but I tend to think not." Lillian said. Ruth slowly put forth her paw and began closing the distance to the creature. It looked terrified and backed its face away from Ruth as much as possible.

"Hmm, interesting. Logic dictates it should have some fear and reservations about us, but this creature it absolutely mortified. Are you sure it has not been injured or attacked by anyone?"

"Quite sure. It has no scratch or bite marks."

"Lillian, call Roy please." Ruth said. Lillian stood up quickly and exited the hut. Ruth paid close attention to the creature's actions after Lillian left. The sly old vixen had a two-fold reason for sending Lillian out of sight for a moment.

The creature watched with a pitiful expression as Lillian exited the hut. After she was gone, it turned toward Ruth. It watched her with wrapped attention and swallowed hard. Ruth did not make a move, she did not want to further induce whatever the creature was afraid of. The creature's ears and face perked up when it heard footfalls coming back toward the hut. Lillian appeared first and sat down back in her original spot. The creature looked as relieved as could be possible. Then Roy entered the hut.

The creature's eyes became a size akin to that of the water bowl it had drunk from, as Roy made his appearance. Row pulled back the leather door-flap and entered. Roy was an immensely huge and powerful elk. He stood somewhere around eight feet tall and had a build like a world-champion body builder. In his right hoof-like paw he held a spear almost twice the size of Lillian with an antler rack that a creature could have slept inside of. Roy put down his spear and kneeled at Ruth's feet,

"You summoned me, Matriarch?" he asked. Ruth patted his head,

"Yes indeed, I did." she smiled slightly, "I need you to hold down this creature for me while I examine it."

Roy looked up in surprise with a questioning look to his huge features. Ruth chuckled,

"You can hold it, can you not?" she asked. Roy looked at the creature then back to Ruth,

"Yes, I'm sure I can." Ruth smiled,

"Good, you hold its legs so it doesn't kick me, Lillian hold its head will you?" Lillian nodded,

"Yes ma am." Lillian crawled behind the creature who was royally loosing its cool in a most expedient manner,

"What's going on? What are they going to do to me?" it thought.

Roy came close to the creature and grabbed its legs roughly. The creature began struggling fiercely, and Lillian had only a moment and grabbed its head before it tried to bite Roy. The creature was becoming weak. No food in almost three days, combined with the incredible amount of energy it was expending trying to break free was too much for it to keep up for a long period. It realized that struggling was no use and so became quite still and placid, for a time at least. Ruth smiled again,

"Excellent! Better than I had hoped for!" she exclaimed. Lillian was puzzled,

"I don't understand."

"This creature is intelligent enough to know when it is useless to fight, and so conserve its energy. Now remember hold it tightly while I examine it. Especially when I go to determine its sex. Don't worry I will warn you." she said.

Ruth began slowly and gently poking and prodding the creature's chest, checking for injuries. She quickly moved up to its face. She examined its entire head very carefully,

"Ah, ha!" she said, "Boy have a go at this!" she said touching its head trying to move it back so Lillian and Roy could see the long jagged scar that almost gave the creature an ear to ear smile. The creature thought Ruth was going to cut its throat and so resisted. Lillian finally had to pull its head back to get a look,

"Wow! How did it get that and survive?" she asked. Ruth shrugged,

"I don't know, but it might go towards explaining why it has not tried to speak yet. It may not even be able to."

Ruth continued her examination all the way down to the creature's feet, making sure to leave out examining its genitalia just yet. Its feet particularly amused her,

"Look how it uses its heels and toes to walk, instead of using just its toes. Amazing. Well that just about does it, accept for determining its sex." Ruth sighed heavily, "I sure hope the two of you have a good hold of it. Here goes." she said.

Ruth lifted the flap of its loin-cloth and the creature went berserk. It was almost impossible for, even Roy, to hold onto it. Ruth lowered the flap as quickly as she could,

"Well HE seems to be in good condition." she said. Roy turned to look at Ruth with some aggravation. Ruth noticed that Roy's nose had been injured and was bleeding slightly,

"May I please let go now?" he said sniffing away the blood from his muzzle. Ruth felt sorry for him,

"Yes, of course, you too Lillian." Lillian let go carefully and stood back to see him,

"So, is he?" she asked.

"Yes, it is confirmed. He is a human." Ruth said solemnly.