Loved and Lost

The Pact

The night was calm. Almost nothing dangerous came our way during the night. Mainly just a couple of predators looking for their prey. There was a medium size snake, more on the shorter side, that slid past me. Its scales were jett black and I remember learning about these ones just a bit; nothing good. It was called a Slandreg, of the Grorg snake species. Everyone in the family is jett black, but it's the color of the tint that tells us how poisonous it is. Blue, non. Green, painful and will mess you up. Red, you're getting something chopped off. Black, you're dead. This snake, as soon as it slithered by the moonlight hit it, showing off its green tint. I almost cried when I let out the sign of breath I was holding in.

The seconds slowed as the snake slithered its way over my legs, making me fear for my life. I couldn't scream, that would scare it so I just slapped my hands over my mouth.Without her help, I was hopeless and naked.

Slandreg's don't normally choose humans as a daily diet, but if they're hungry enough, good luck. I've heard they're mean little things. The weather was brutal and I'm sure my toes almost froze off once or twice.

The animals have been thrown off because of the conjured weather. By the time all this started, it was late last year, now it's the time that they have to get up and they're still sleeping because they can't tell the difference. Sure it makes for easy hunting but that's how things go extinct.

It's spring, damn near at the end of it. By now we would start getting ready for hunts and raids. We would be getting our supplies to last us through the winter. Etra furs would go to homes for warmth. The carpenters would be going crazy to do their best to make the boats we would be using.

Our town though. Litsurburge was full of givers. A few of them were selfish and didn't understand our ways, but most of the town would take you in, feed you, treat you like family. Not a single person, stranger or not, would go hungry, we would simply just eat less. From the stories my dad and other adventures at the pub, it was like no other village.

As I or any of the other children grew up, we were taught to cherish life. No kill would be unjust. Our gates would be left open for those to wander in, allowing them to take what they needed whether it was shelter, or food or just someone to talk to. Earl Vali would open his arms wide, bring them into a huge once officially met because an Earl needs to know who's in their home. His wife, Liv, would then proceed to kiss the wanderer, or however many there were, on the lips. Everyone would cheer, or you'd hope they would.

You would think it's the same as when someone gets their arm band for the first time, but it's not. No, when you get your arm band, that means you're swearing your loyalty to us. To love and protect Litsurburge.

We let the fire burn after dinner, not caring if it would go out. We didn't waste much time after dinner so we set for the outskirts of town, right on the edge of the forest. She had made two beds, one right under the other but we were high enough that it would be hard to notice us. Both sides wrapped around the bole of two trees. There was one tree behind us, in case we wanted to sit up or try to swing from. She called them "hammocks".

It didn't take her long to find the "Perfect" spot, and frankly, I don't know how she did. I was given the top hammock because I was keeping watch; I almost refused when I saw how high she was going with them. "No way." I scowled at her.

"Come on, it's not that high up." She insisted. Her chuckles didn't make me feel any better about the situation either. "It's only fifteen feet." She kept telling me that it wasn't high enough to kill me if I fell but I just didn't care.

"I've never been hammocking before." Which wasn't a lie, I just wasn't going to tell her that heights and I don't really mix. In return, she stopped what she was doing and jumped down to me. She landed just a few inches from me and I flinched backwards, almost losing my balance.