Chp.8: Transgression

From the smoke in the oasis it could only indicate very, very big problems. Everyone now had homes, so no one needed to camp; therefore, the most logical solution was that a fire was breaking out. The chances of this happening were infinitesimal, since there was no lightning in the desert to start a fire, and sparks or similar events rarely occurred; however, if even a small fire started and was left unchecked, it wouldn't take long to burn down the entire oasis. "Well, at least we won't have to worry about where to farm anymore" Brenno tried to play down as he ran towards the column of smoke.

"It's not the time, Brenno!" Gord growled. "Between the two of us, you're the one who can scream the loudest. If it's really a fire, scream with all your might. Darbi or some other dragon will hear you and come running to our aid"

A minotaur and a lizardman certainly couldn't put out a fire by themselves, but neither could they create unnecessary alarmism in the village; if it turned out to be a false alarm, they would just scare everyone for no reason. Therefore the best thing to do was to go and check the situation without disturbing anyone, and if it really was an emergency to yell for the dragons to hear. Darbi and his siblings had often been shown to be able to hear a leaf fall from miles away; surely they would also hear the scream of a large minotaur like Brennus. As soon as Darbi recognized him, he would surely rush to their aid; and even if he didn't recognize the voice, the dragons would still come to check. And because of their speed, they'd be at their side in minutes, and could use a few runes to put out the flames… or maybe even just go to the lake, fill their huge mouths with water, and then spit it at the fire.

Fortunately, none of these countermeasures needed to be implemented: when they arrived at the scene, Brenno and Gord discovered that it wasn't a fire at all. However, even though it was definitely better, it was still a problem. "What are you doing!?"

The cause of the smoke turned out to be a rather large bonfire lit in the middle of a clearing. It had been meticulously prepared to prevent nearby plants from catching fire, and had even been surrounded with stones to prevent any kind of spread, so whoever built it had at least taken care to make sure they didn't damage the forest. About fifteen people were gathered around the bonfire, mostly lionmen, but there were also some tigermen and lizardmen and even a human, and many of them had plates full of roasted food in their hands. Above the bonfire were positioned large quantities of meat that were still cooking, and their origin wasn't difficult to identify: not very far from the fire it was in fact possible to see the dead body of a kori already almost completely skinned and disemboweled.

"I hope for you that animal was already dead!" Brenno exclaimed stepping forward. "And anyway, why didn't you take him to the warehouse?"

The people present looked at each other with guilty eyes. Most of them were clearly scared; evidently they didn't expect to be discovered during their transgression. One of them came forward and seemed willing to support Brenno's point and pretend that they had only found the animal's carcass, but Gord anticipated him. "That kori wasn't already dead, was it?" he asked. "You know that hunting is forbidden, right?"

The people remained silent for a moment, then one of them, a massive lionman with a thick mane, stepped forward: "Yes, we know. Hunting is forbidden, fishing is forbidden, collecting things from the forest is forbidden... everything is forbidden here!"

Gord ignored the last comment. "I assume you're the boss. What's your name?"

"Alan. And I'm not the boss" the lionman replied. "We all acted of our own free will"

"Okay, Alan. So tell me again, if you knew it was forbidden, then why did you hunt and kill that kori? I understand you all received your food rations. Am I wrong?" Gord asked sternly. "Perhaps something happened that I, a member of the Council, am not aware of? Was there a delay in deliveries? Maybe you were robbed?"

"No, sir. None of that" Alan answered. "We all received our daily allowance as usual"

"Then why did you kill that kori, if you already had something to eat?" Gord raised his voice. "What do you have to say in your defense?"

The other people there looked a little uncomfortable. Clearly they had expected that they could kill and cook the kori without any interference: they hadn't expected two members of the Council to discover them in the act. Now they were probably wondering what would become of them. But Alan, on the contrary, didn't lower his gaze and did not appear weak. "We killed this kori because we decided that he will be our dinner for today, while our ration will be preserved" he replied. "We don't know if we'll have food tomorrow, so it's better to save some, right? At the end of the day, a person has to eat. One kori more or less, how much difference does it make? We'd rather kill it and eat it now and keep the food we already have than assume that our food runs out and there's a lot of competition to hunt these beasts"

Both Brenno and Gord frowned, and both looked at each other with worried eyes. Apparently they had gotten to the point where people had so little confidence that they still had food the next day that they started stockpiling their own. "We still have a lot of food in our warehouses" Gord said. "Starting to hunt other prey now makes no sense. And today Haku brought a sand worm, so our supply has increased even more. You have no reason to worry"

"But there's something to worry about!" Alan exclaimed. "Today that dragon brought us a sand worm, very kind of him. And then? When that sand worm runs out too, what are we going to do? Will we wait for that dragon to bring us another one? What if one day we have to fight with him? Or what if he decides to demand something in exchange for his services? I don't know about you, but I don't want to risk it. I don't want to be in the thick of the fight when people start fighting for food. So I worry about this, and I wamt to be sure that I can last a little longer than the others"

Even though the other people said nothing, none of them contradicted what the lionman had just said and indeed they nodded vigorously. All of them felt the same way. After all, relying on another person for food wasn't a guarantee of receiving it: even if Haku continued to carry a sand worm every day, or if he asked his sister Sisna to provide him with provisions for months, no one would be calm about. It would always be a food source beyond their control, something they could not know if it would arrive the next day as well. What if Haku realized how much power that situation gave him? What if he decided to blackmail them, threaten them or raise the price? Both Brenno and Gord doubted that it would go like this (after all, they didn't have anything that Haku could be interested in), but they certainly couldn't expect ordinary people to think the same way. People wanted to make their own food; only that way would they feel safe. Even if a crop had the possibility of going bad, it was still something they could control and manage at will; this, due to some strange psychological mechanism, was enough to keep them calm and hope for the future. "I can understand your fear" Gord tried again. "But you needn't be afraid of running out of food. We have plans for the future and we've made sure that no one ever goes hungry. The Council is..."

"The Council? Tsk! Don't try to tell me about the Council!" Alan nearly screamed. "All you do is sit around a table and discuss and impose absurd bans on us. You can't fish, you can't hunt, you have to avoid disturbing the 'natural balance'... personally, I seriously doubt you know what you're doing. Or maybe you really do... but I don't care. The truth is this, I don't care. Maybe you have a plan, or maybe you don't, but as long as I don't see anyone taking action to fix this situation, then I do it myself. And me I don't care if there are bans. I want to have food in my stomach, always! So I start hunting these animals, which are full of meat and can guarantee me to create the necessary supplies for another week. If this affects the balance you talk about all the time, and it's going to kill all these creatures... well, better them than us! Animals are there to be eaten, after all! And I'm not going to stop and live in fear just because two guys of your caliber told me to!"

Gord narrowed his eyes. He could understand many of the lionman's motivations, but he still didn't like that last part. "What do you mean... two guys of our caliber?"

Alan bit his lip, realizing that perhaps he had said too much. He seemed very reluctant to answer, but then decided he might as well say whatever he thought. "Oh come on, you know perfectly well! You two may sit on the Council, but everyone in this village knows who you are. A coward who is constantly trying to avoid fights and stand up for himself, and a drunk who can barely think of anything that it's not the beer, you both toadies of one of those dragons! You claim to represent us, but in reality you are in the service of those monsters! You can't..."

Brenno suddenly moved and moved within centimeters of Alan, so much so that the lionman's face nearly collided with his pecs. Alan stiffened and his claws came out of his fingers, and his hand trailed down to her waist where he probably held a knife or some other type of weapon. Everyone else present gasped, including Gord who expected Brenno to kill that lionman with one punch, but contrary to everyone's expectations, when the minotaur spoke his voice was extremely calm and determined. "You're right. I'm a drunk who can barely think of anything other than beer. I'm also rough around the edges, disinclined to accept defeat, burped at the table without any dignity and often ate with my hands... but I also have defects. And one of them apparently is to save ungrateful people" he said, and in saying those words he brought your face even closer to Alan's. "Because I saved your life, remember? I'm the one who took your people and dragged them out of their condition of slavery! Of course, Darbi was the commander of the expedition, and it was Zamor and Haku who they allowed us to win, but I was still the one who freed the people of the lionmen, of which I believe you are a part too! Am I wrong? Maybe that mane is fake?"

Alan didn't dare argue. He would have liked to, but Brenno's gaze was rather frightening, and the lionman didn't even have the courage to raise his eyes. "I'm a drunk and I'm proud of it, but it has never stopped me from doing my job. Gord isn't a coward, if he avoids arguing it's because he doesn't want to cause unnecessary conflict, and sometimes a good argument is so much better than to meaningless ranting. And Darbi..." Brenno narrowed his eyes and nostrils even more. "...he is our friend, and I don't allow you to call him or his family 'monsters'. Because it is only thanks to those so-called monsters that you are here today and not rotting in a ditch"

The minotaur was silent for a moment, then looked at the other people present. "All of you, finish eating what's on your plates, then take what's left of that kori to the warehouse, so it will be distributed with the rest of the food tomorrow" he ordered, then he looked back at Alan. "And you, now go home. And when this situation will be over and the Council will have resolved everything... rest assured that I will come and beat you up"

Alan lowered his head and hurried to obey. The other people present also did as they were told. Gord, who hadn't said anything thus far, patted his friend's shoulder. "Really a good speech" he admitted.

"When it's needed, it's needed" Brenno answered with a bellow of rage.