one more chap to go (finally)
Chapter 14
It had taken a week, but Scrawny was able to craft himself a whip out of elum hide. As he was practicing cracking it, getting the mechanics of the technique down, Zig approached him.
“What’s the whip fer?” he asked.
“Well…” Scrawny said as he cracked it again, “since I can’t make the big jumps with muscle strength…I figure I could swing my way across.”
“Hmmm interesting idea, never thought of that.”
“Yer didn’t spend 80% of yer life with a Vykker scientist.” Scrawny teased.
“Most of those that used ter work fer the Cartel didn’t have such luck getting a nice boss like yer did.”
“I know.” Scrawny said as he coiled up the whip and slung it over his shoulder. “Let’s try this out shall we?”
Scrawny padded over to the newbie area, Zig following. He climbed up to one branches and looked across at the branch on the other side. He studied the area and noticed a higher up that was about halfway between. He uncoiled the whip and, after taking aim, snapped it up to the high branch, coiling the end around it. Then, with a deep breath, he jumped off and swung.
The swing was exhilarating; he had to force himself to keep his eye open. Toward the end of the swing, he reached out with his tail and barely managed to grab onto the other branch. He paused a moment, panting, hanging by his tail and the whip. He flipped the end of the whip a couple of times, til the end around the high branch released. Scrawny then grabbed the branch with his free hand and pulled himself up. He laid there a moment, panting, his heart still racing. Then it finally dawned on him:
“I did it…” he muttered as he straightened up, “I did it!”
Zig joined him in his honks of victory
Scrawny kept practicing, getting the technique down. After about a week he considered himself an expert at swinging through the trees. While this method was a little slower then just jumping across, he was able to keep up. He wasn’t afraid to use his whip on young sligs who got out of line either, giving a whole new meaning to the term ‘whipper-snapper’. He had even offered to start going out on patrols with Zig and the others, well more like ‘insisted’.
One day Zig approached him. “Yer know…we could use a messenger. We have been meaning ter start sending messages ter one of our new allied villages, but we didn’t have anyone ter deliver them. Would yer be interested?”
Scrawny turned to him and smiled, “I would love to.”
“Good.” Zig smiled, “I’ll show yer the route ter Bea’s village tomorrow morning.”
Scrawny couldn’t wait….
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