Soul of a Human

With the coming sunset, they reached their destination, and Drop let out a relieved sigh at the sight of the big sturdy wooden palisades. Mor's thoughts were with his friends. It had only been a few hours, and even if they could call for help without delay, they would be stuck there for days. Right at that moment, he hated the human and himself. True, they had saved Orth and the others for now, but they were still in danger.

"Hey, Cutter! Nice haul you got there!" Another big man shouted from atop the wall.

Cutter raised his hand in a gesture of greeting, and a few moments later, a gate built into the wall was opened, allowing the hunting party plus one entry to the settlement, revealing the biggest man Mor had seen yet.

"Cutter, good work." The new one said, and Mor could only stare.

This one was about as big as Fortress, but while Fortress had a fighter's upper body musculature and lean waist, the other was a barrel of muscles. The armament of some black carapace and two great axes felt like overkill to Mor, but he had to admit it was intimidating.

"Thank you, chief, but we brought more than the gobbler." Cutter greeted the apparent village chief, both of them embracing in a bear hug.

°Holy shit, I wonder how much that one bench presses.° The human mused, snapping Mor back to reality.

"If I'm no longer needed, I'm leaving. My wife is waiting!" Fortress interrupted, and with a nod from the Chief and Cutter, he was off.

"Lovesick, softy." Drop grumbled, making the Chief laugh.

"You're just envious. With a wife like that, you would be the same."

"True, Lize is a real beauty and has fire," Cutter chuckled.

"I still wonder how he landed her." Drop said, pouting in jest.

"Hey!" Mor interrupted as the gate crashed shut behind him. "I need your help to find my friends!"

"Cutter, what yapping thing have you brought?" The chief asked, with a stern blick towards the little boy.

"A lost Soul… He said their fancy flying thing had crashed, and we found him running from the gobbler. He's quite annoying but was perfect bait, so we let him decide if he wanted to follow us." Cutter quickly explained.

°I don't like this one.° The human grumbled.

"A Soul-kin? Well, he's a lucky one, but I won't accept getting yapped on by someone without the right to speak. Lock him up for now. I will decide tomorrow what to do with him and get him something warm to wear. The nights are still getting cold." The chief decided, to the protest of Mor.

"No! My friends need help now!"

°Don't make it worse. Orth and the others are fine! I'm sure of it.° The human urged caution.

"I won't allow any protest." The chief growled. "Silence, take him away. I will think about what to do with him in due time."

Silence nodded, pushing the young Soul-kin along, but Mor wouldn't have it. He channeled power into his body and turned around, only to get hit in the face by Silence's big fist and drop to the ground out cold. Again.

This put a satisfied smile on Silence's face and drew a sigh from Cutter.

"Not the brightest Soul I've seen." The chief said.

"But he has balls if his story is true. He led the gobbler away from the crash site and was ready to give his life for that of his friends." Cutter answered.

"Interesting, maybe somebody will take him in and make an Ice-hunter out of him. Didn't Fortress have such ideas? Courage and loyalty are the main Ice-kin traits, after all." The chief mused.

"Yes, I think his wife put it in his head. Thinking Soul-kin might make good guardians or at least taunters, with their idiotic energy levels." Cutter answered.

"But I can't have that kid disrespect me, so I will think about it for a while," the chief said, ending the discussion and walking away.

Cutter then resumed organizing the storage and processing of his catch, ordering Drop to take turns with Silence, watching their prisoner. Drop accepted this order with a bit of disgruntlement but eventually obliged. He followed after Silence and arrived just in time, when the striker threw first the boy and then some rough blankets into a small storage shed and locked the door.

Mor woke up shivering and cold, sitting in total darkness, some rough but heavy cloth thrown over him haphazardly.

°Why didn't you help?!° He cursed the human. °We could have pressured further!°

°Because you were an idiot. I saved us from worse! The deal was one day! ONE! Sleep a bit, gather our strength, and then go look for the others…° The human grumbled.

°I got knocked out again!° Mor whined.

°Serves you right… Who knows how long we will sit in here now… I understand your desires and panic, but what you did was absolutely brainless.° The human chided Mor, drawing a sigh from the boy.

°You’re right… I let my panic overtake me…° Mor apologized.

°Great, now that you're done bitching, how about giving Orth and your parents a call?° The human offered, and Mor could hit himself for not thinking of this himself.

Orth should still be at the crash site, so he tried him first. Concentrating on the spell, Mor felt it failing, and his heart sank.

°I can’t reach Orth.° He stated.

°Then try the others, Tiara, Saphine, Clare, Dino, and your Parents!° The human ordered, not letting Mor overthink about the first failed attempt.

Mor obliged, and try after try, it failed. Something hindered the connection from establishing itself.

°I don't get it. Why is it failing? Maybe Orth and the others are dead, and Dino and my parents are on their way to recover them?° Mor feared the worst.

°They are alive.° The human stated, matter of factly.

°How would you know?° Mor asked.

°Because I believe that, and until somebody shows me their corpses, I won't believe otherwise.° The human explained. °Don't let yourself be depressed about something you don't know!°

The little pep talk gave Mor more hope, and he decided to trust the human in this matter. He draped himself further in the rough blankets, trying to keep the cold from his body.

The following day the door opened a slit, and Silence shoved in a plate with food, then wordlessly closed it again.

°I hate the silent treatment…° Mor complained.

°That's your fault. You shouldn't have disrespected the bossman.° The human mercilessly rubbed that fact in.

Mor grumbled for a second, not wanting to acknowledge this fact but having no defense against it. It was the truth, after all. Instead, he inspected the food and noticed it was very meat-heavy, with some sturdy rootlike things as a side. He was used to a heavy vegan diet, but after trying it, he deemed it edible, only for his body to make him miserable a few hours later at the unusual food.

°Either you need to get used to it, or your body can't handle meat. Could be either.° The human mused while Mor wretched and groaned in pain.

This treatment lasted three more days, and luckily, it seemed Mor's body only needed to get used to the unusual food, which excited the human for some reason. On the morning of the fourth day, at the same time Dino gathered up the stranded Soul-kin, the door opened, and Mor was greeted with the sight of Cutter.

The Ice-kin warrior threw in some warm clothes, and after Mor had changed out from his tattered robes, he obediently followed, earning an appreciative nod.

"He's able to learn." Cutter thought while leading the boy to the big longhouse in the middle of the settlement, where the chief would decide Mor's fate.