Lament of the Slave

Chapter 69: Full Moon

Honestly, it was a struggle to stay awake. It really was. I even resorted to biting the side of my mouth to keep from succumbing to exhaustion. It was painful, yet the only solution I could come up with, when I was otherwise unable to move under a blanket of moss.

It didn't work, though.

At least that's what I figured when I was suddenly awakened by a growl that resonated in my bones. I have to say it's not a nice wake-up call, especially when you don't realize what beast it belongs to. I nearly pissed myself, terrified that a wild animal was attacking me.

Foolish, I know. However, my brain upon waking has always been sluggish.

Well, Esu spoke, I realized after a while.

"Cub, come," he grunted after he woke me up.

I have to admit, I didn't want to. I would have preferred to stay lying down as my body was still overwhelmed with exhaustion and close my heavy eyes. The brief nap was worse than the hellish training. Did I have a choice, though?

Quickly checking my body, I made sure the moss had stopped healing me, and I was fine. Then I pushed myself off the ground while yawning and walked towards Esu, only to pause after two steps. He wasn't standing there alone but surrounded by six mother mossbears.

There were many more on the edge of the clearing tonight, I was sure of that, yet even though I rubbed my eyes, I saw no sign of them when I looked around. The most likely explanation I could come up with was that they returned to the woods during my training with the young mossbear. Strangely, it made me much more nervous now that there were only half a dozen of them.

Gathering my courage, I once again set forth with each step, realizing more and more that these six beasts were closer to the Esu's level than the others. They too, were old enough for me to call them ancient like King of the Woods.

"Nearer," he growled as I stopped at what I considered a respectful distance, one where I didn't have to tilt my head that much as I looked up at him. Yet, at his urging, I halved the distance, not daring to object. The grumbling of the mothers that followed made me uneasy even though they were assuring me I was in no danger. Surprisingly, they also considered me their cub, or rather part of their family.

Esu's growl drowned them out, though. "Cub. You young, weak. Needs grow. No ties to woods, tho."

He said nothing I didn't know. If I wanted to survive in the world, I needed to get stronger, much stronger. That's why the hellish training he put me through. The fact that I had no connection to Esulmor Woods wasn't news either. After all, today was the first time I heard of this place. What I couldn't tell was where he was going with it.

So I just grunted in acknowledgment of his growl.

"Cub, human too. Less dangerous. Grow stronger, outside. Gift Bearer teach," Esu growled, telling me I should get stronger outside these woods, to go back to the other humans, where I should let Deckard teach me. I didn't expect something like this from the beast, but he wasn't stupid.

He's the one who showed me what I am after all. And since I was part human too, the world outside the woods was less dangerous to me than to the other mossbear cubs, at least in his eyes. I...I wasn't so sure. Yeah, mossbears were hunted by the Imperial army as soon as they left Esulmor Woods. Needless to say, I was no better for it. I was hunted by anyone who was tempted by the bounty on my head.

Still, I didn't feel like refuting him as I didn't want to spend the rest of my life as a beast in the woods either.

"My cub, my responsibility," he growled firmly, and the mothers grunted in agreement. "Blue moon full, you here, train."