The Lizard King

Part 8: Reparations

The scale was turned over and over again in Kayla's hand as she watched it glimmer in the candlelight of the pub. Such a beautiful scale. From such a beautiful creature in life. How could people bring themselves to even kill them?

Feelings of hate had moved out of Kayla's heart and were once again replaced by pity. The very last of his kind and he might not even know it. Kayla couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be the last person in the world. Would she have lost her memory too? What would it be like knowing you're alone forever, with no one like you around ever again?

The closest thing she could fathom was the death of her father. Such a strong man. He was caring and respectful of the woods around him. Stern yet fair. Everything Kayla wanted to be in life. And he was struck down as quickly and ruthlessly as they come. Killed by the very thing he wanted to prevent.

Then there was her mother, her poor mother, collapsed in on herself with the weight of grief and guilt. So terrible the loss that her face looked down a pint of ale every evening, even as her own little girl starved in her bed.

With all these thoughts and emotions going through her head, Kayla almost didn't notice the tears streaming down her cheek. Trauma was still there, looming over her like a bad omen. The pain she felt years ago was just as prevalent. And even then, she knew that it was nothing compared to what that lizardling would feel if he remembered the truth. Loneliness. Sadness. Those words probably wouldn't even begin to cover it.

The more Kayla sat there twiddling that scale in her fingers, the more she came to realize that there really wasn't anything she could do to help him. Her heart sank and suddenly the idea of being in the pub didn't appeal to her. She just wanted to go back to what was left of her home.

As she walked down the main road to her house, the sun slowly getting lower in the sky, she couldn't help but feel at least partly responsible. Kayla was human, after all, and it was humans who were directly responsible for the decline of the lizardlings.

She wasn't there all those years ago but she was part of the problem. Kayla now knew that she was living on stolen land. Land that was only cultivated out of bloodshed. Maybe she deserved a destroyed house. She might have deserved to be eaten that night.

It was just as Kayla was thinking this that she was walking around the last bend in the road to get to her ruined house. When she lifted her head up to find her smashed door, she was met with something entirely unlike what she expected.

Right there in front of her was a large shelter made out of dry, fallen logs. Kayla looked around all four sides of it, inspecting every inch like it was some sort of practical joke. She even gave the structure a kick to see how well made it was. Solid as a rock. It was actually fairly well made. A little, slightly hidden door sat near the corner furthest from the road. It was little more than a thick, flat piece of wood, but it fit perfectly in the hole it was made for. Kayla moved it aside and, hunched over to fit through, stepped inside the structure.

The outside was great, but it was nothing compared to inside. The floor space was great, almost 200 square feet, and the layout was square-like. The walls were built up high with the ceiling almost four feet above Kayla's five foot eight inch self. All the walls were lined with packed mud to give them a smooth look. The ceiling was made up of several layers of thin, light tree limbs and topped with pine needles and large leaves for waterproofing. The only opening in it was a small circle and directly below was a small fire pit, a campfire already burning inside with a set of small logs and tinder set aside to keep it burning. Alongside that were two sacks and a small note.

Kayla walked over and examined the sacks closely. She opened each one individually. The first sack was filled to the brim with freshly killed rabbits and squirrels. Each one looked fat and was likely healthy before it died. Altogether it was about twenty pounds of fresh meat.

The second sack was the one that really caught her by surprise. Inside the bag was about 200 gold schillings. Kayla couldn't believe her eyes. She had to pick them up and look each one over to make sure they were real and that she wasn't being tricked. She wasn't. They were real. Every single one.

Kayla, still confused and surprised, turned her attention to the note for answers. The note was written by someone who obviously only had a basic understanding of how to write but it was still discernible enough to read. It ran:

I'm sorry for my actions. I hope this will help.

-Your friend in the Woods

That note didn't touch the floor for the first fifteen minutes after Kayla read it. She just couldn't believe what she was reading. This wasn't just remorse or guilt. If it was he could have just given her the gold and let her go. He actually...cared for her.

Kayla shook her head. This was a lot to process in such a short amount of time. She decided that now would be best to focus on what she knew. Her stomach had been roaring in hunger for a while now and she decided to put her new food to good use.

She took out each carcass and laid them out. Three rabbits and about five squirrels. Each of them already dressed and waiting to be skinned. At the bottom of the bag was also a large bag of salt. Kayla smirked at the sight. She'd be able to preserve the meat for longer after cooking. She took the first squirrel she saw, skinned it, and stuck it on a spit she carried in her bag.

The animal cooked slowly but the results were well worth it. Every piece was just as juicy as the last and the meat was so tender it almost fell off the bone. Kayla ate so much and so quickly that she didn't even realize she cleaned the meat from the skeleton in just a few minutes. Desperate not to waste the remaining meat, she prepared and cooked the rest of the animals in much the same manner. When they finished, Kayla allowed them to cool and then carved the meat with her dagger. She then salted each piece heavily and allowed it to dry. The remaining salt she poured back into the bag and shoved it into the pile of logs by the fire. A safe hiding place from anyone looking for such a rare commodity.

The gold she would probably use tomorrow. Kayla's new house still lacked beds and a table like her old one. She couldn't buy all three of them at the same time, however. She hasn't made a sale in days and people who suddenly show up with that much money usually have it after a night of raiding a merchant's caravan. But still, she reckoned she could spend enough to buy soft bedding like wool and straw. She could also buy a hammer and some nails to make her own table to save money.

When Kayla finally settled down for the night, however, her thoughts weren't on food or money. They were on that lizardling. As she lay there, feeling so grateful for everything he'd done, she couldn't help but feel admiration for him. She was so surprised that he would give her anything. He who had so little in the world as it was.