*hates writers block* actually this chap was pretty much written ages ago. Oh and it does seem like I am taking over Teal's characters...I'm not...actually she helped fix 'errors' with her character in this bit, so some credit goes to her for this chap.
Chapter 3
No one believed Tok when he told them about the encounter with the giant crossbreed. They didn't want to believe that there was a slig like creature that was quite possibly even bigger then Hak, so they all laughed it off...telling Tok that he must have been in the sun too long that day....
At the moment everyone was trying to figure out who has been stealing food out of the storage hut. Over the past few days, large amounts of food have been disappearing from the hut and the weird thing was that some of the wood that made up the walls of the hut appeared to be eaten...They had the scent of the guilty party and they knew it wasn't someone from the village, but when they tried to follow the trail it end up being so confusing that they couldn't follow it very far....
As a last resort they posted a couple of guards around the hut the next night...in hopes of catching the thief in the act. Rik and Skan were 'volunteered' for the job...
"D'yer think the creep will show tonight?" Rik asked.
"Well…” Skan shrugged, fighting an invisible opponent with his spear, nerves alert. “He - least, I’m guessin’ it’s a he - has fer th’past few nights, so I don' see why he wouldn' t’night."
"Feh...I wish I was in my nice warm bed right now..." Rik muttered as he toyed with his whip.
Skan smiled, grimly. "Well, I ain’t goin’ t’be getting’ much sleep, an’ it seems pretty pointless yer stayin’ awake if yer tired. Why don' yer take a nap? "
"On the job? Heh, no way… Spider taught me better then that."
Skan nodded, "Yeah, an’ he’d’ve been useful t’have round right now. Mebbe useful ter have had him here coupla months ago, too…"
"He wouldn' have been able ter handle it… considerin' what went on before. He definiately wouldn't have been able ter handle losin' Bea..."
Skan gave the younger slig a solemn look. “Listen, kid… all of us took losin' the old lady hard… Drek too, maybe even more. But…” he shrugged. “Guess yer right… Spide probably wouldn've have been able… what was that?” He jolted his head up.
"Sounds like it came from the back of the hut..."
"We better go check it out..."
They moved quickly and quietly around to the back. They both stopped frozen in their tracks at what they saw...
"Dear Odd...Tok wasn't kidding..." Rik muttered.
In front of them was the same crossbreed that Tok saw at the lake; it had its head through the window and was having a field day with the food inside.
"Yow… he's big…"
"How are we goin' ter stop him?" Rik asked nervously.
Skan gave him a look. “An’ how am I supposed t’know? First time I seen him, jus’ like yerself."
"Well...maybe we could jus' ask 'em ter go away?" Rik said sheepishly.
Skan shrugged. “Guess anythin’s worth a try."
He cautiously approached the crossbreed and cleared his throat, "’Scuse me pal, but that's our food!"
The crossbreed continued eating, seeming to not even notice him.
"Hey!” Skan gave it a prod with the blunt end of his spear. “You listenin’ t’me…?”
The crossbreed's head jerked up at the prod, startled, and it backed out of the window. One of the storage bags was caught on its head, preventing it from seeing. It shook its head, trying to get the bag off, but it was stuck firmly to its head horns. Its breathing rate visiblely increased...
"Skan...it looks like its goin' ter..." Rik said quietly.
Skan nodded and tried to grab the bag around the crossbreed's head, to try to help free it.
"Easy now big feller...jus' let me help yer get that off…" Skan said gently.
But the crossbreed seemed incapable of comperhending his words and started to back away, whining.
"Hey... hey! Take it easy...there's no need fer..."
Skan didn't get to finish, for as if on cue the crossbreed let out a panicked filled howl and bolted, narrowly missing running both the reluctant guards over. They both winced as it ran head first into one of the other low storage huts, its weight and momentum causing it to collapse. The crossbreed shook itself off and bolted again, this time toward the center of the village.
”Ah man…we better stop it before it wrecks the whole village!” Skan said as he and Rik ran off after it….
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