Sneak

In the forest, the surroundings was glimmering with sparkling lights despite the sun's light being blocked by the canopy of trees. The tall trees with their abundant leaves kept blocking the sun and the only light came from the luminescence of the life 'mist'.

Suddenly, the rush of the wind startled some small animals minding their own business while returning to their nest. Several figures kept brushing past the clustered trees, not concerning themselves with the small animals since they were rushing to the cave where their companion was waiting.

The creaking of branches and rustling of leaves soon followed when the group had to jump on the branches to avoid getting wet by passing on the small stream below. Because they were not on a hunt, they did not bother to travel quietly.

The group did not have to go far since the cave was only a few kilometers away, and with how fast they were running, it was expected that they would arrive on time.

As the fastest among the group, Ling came in the cave first. Maga already sensed its visitors so it was already crouched in position, weight distributed to its hind legs, to pounce on the first one to come in.

The weight of the dragon was too much for a child his age and stature to bear but Ling was also ready for his friend's usual behavior. His laughter while petting the dragon was the welcome when the others finally caught up to him.

Based on their routine, Rin started the fire to cook the children's food but left some meat uncooked for the dragon. With the help of Yabang, the smell of the delicious food was hidden by the barrier he made with his 'mist' to block the cave entrance. It was not difficult with only him helping since the cave had only one opening which was the entrance they came in. His barrier had to enclose their area to avoid letting out the smoke, sounds and smell made.

Since he had nothing to do, Lino sat near Ling and Maga to wait for their food. He already had his dinner at home but the running they did exhausted his energy so he decided to retain his energy first to keep up to the others on the way back. Restless, Lino also started patting the leathery body of the dragon while listening to Ling talk.

"Tang'ga did not come with us today too. Do you miss him?"

"Which is a relief. I don't think I've breathed any easier these past few days we visit." It was Lino who answered after the other boy's question. Ling just smiled at this because he noticed that Lino was also worried about their friend. He knew that the only way for Tang'ga to follow orders was to scold him frequently.

"Stop that, Lino," Yabang said to his friend again. "Tang'ga could probably join us tomorrow after his exercise in their field today."

Used to the reprimand, Lino's reply was only a nod before quietly returning to his petting of Maga. Seeing that the others were all quiet, Ling decided to give them his news even without Tang'ga since he knew the other would not have much to say anyway. "I have news. I think Maga and me had to start preparing to leave the village." Then, he told them the letter the elders received from the city.

"Isn't it still too early? I have to ask my grandmother if she'll allow me to leave too." Rin mumbled to himself after that announcement. Old Lady Burha did not fetter Rin too much like Mahina with Ling but the child's past could affect the old lady's decision.

"No!" Rin's thinking was interrupted with Ling's shout, "It will only be me and Maga leaving. I don't want to burden you guys too. I didn't say this to ask you to come with us. Besides, Maga can't carry all of us which would slow down the travel," he vehemently said as he stood up.

Rin had always been the composed one among the group but the sudden decision of Ling jumbled his emotions, making him raise his voice too. The usually quiet Rin had an angry expression on his face when he confronted Ling. "Do you really think we'll let you travel alone? Besides, wouldn't the adults allow us to go easily if there were more of us going instead of just you?"

Hearing the raised voices, Maga opened its eyes to look at his friends arguing. Both child were glaring hard at each other which made the dragon restless. With the muddle of emotions inside the cave, the 'mist' around them was also affected, making the air slightly suffocating.

A calm mind however, joined the fray before Ling could reply. Yabang spoke as a support to the other child since this was his decision too. "Ling, we already talked about this. We could tell our family that it's part of our training since they knew that we were always together during hunts. Our fathers have also seen us working together so it would not be a surprise to them if we travel with the same group too."

"B-but..."

"Wait, did you hear that?" Lino did not want to join the others' argument so he turned his attention to the food while staring outside. That was when he heard the unexpected sound from the forest.

The sudden interruption alerted the children. When everything turned quiet except for their breathing, they heard a loud bellow with a voice familiar to them.

HEEEEEeeeeelppp~

The shout was followed by stomping sounds then a roar from a beast. The 'idiot' mumbled by Lino was lost as they started to rush out to save their friend.

Maga was the first one to arrive at the scene since it was flying. A wild boar had cornered the boy on a dense cluster of trees with the small stream behind him.

Tang'ga panicked and looked around frantically for a way to escape the beast. Because of his injury, he couldn't outran the boar so he had to think of another way to lose it, a difficulty for him everytime.

The boar snorted and scratched its heel on the ground, ready to rush at the still standing boy. It was mad because the boy had disturbed its hunt for its dinner. Because of the noises made by the boy, its prey manage to be alerted about a predator targeting it and the deer ran away before the boar could catch it.

Suddenly, a roar unsettled the confrontation between the boy and the boar. Then, a huge black figure flashed from the trees at their side to position itself between the two, its back to Tang'ga.

For the first time ever, Tang'ga was relieved to see the dragon. Unlike the others, he was still afraid of the unknown creature but, since his friends were comfortably interacting with it, talking with and touching it even, he was fine to join the group. And it's not like he had another choice if his only friends were with the dragon.

Soon after, the children arrived at the place and they waited while Maga took care of the boar. Maga was already full so it was only scaring the boar to leave as it was not interested in keeping this small food.

Reluctantly, the wild boar snorted again then, moved back to the bushes to return to its territory. It still had to look for its dinner since the previous one escaped. Another snort was let out when it thought of the reason why its dinner was gone.

Back to the area, a boy had his head bowed to avoid looking at the angry stares of his friends. Before anyone could verbally scold him, Tang'ga apologized, "I'm sorry, guys. I really missed going out with you so I sneaked out of the house."

Of course it was Lino who hissed first. "Idiot!" But he did not continue with one look he received from Yabang.

"Let's return to the cave first to continue our talk."

But the low growl of the dragon cutted in before the children started to walk back. Later, they heard a series of footsteps and rustling of leaves but they were not panicked since there were times that other animals near the area. Hence, they were surprised when several children laughing entered their view.

The one in front looked even older than Yabang with a confident smile on his face. Nobody from Ling's group recognized them so Yabang was about to speak to ask them to return to the village as the area was dangerous, except Tang'ga mumbled ahead of him, "Cousin, how did you get here?"

Still chuckling while removing the leaves on his hair and clothes, the cousin replied, blithely prancing ahead of the others, "I thought we wouldn't catch up with you running from that boar, cousin. Aunt asked us to keep an eye on you but you still managed to sneak out and almost lost us."

This stupid cousin of his was always getting into trouble so his rich aunt and uncle's impression on them, the cousins, were more favorable compared to their son. It was funny when the boy was chased by the boar. But why should they help him? It would be this guy's fault if something happened to him, going to the forest alone at this time.

All the children behind him share the same thoughts. Another boy who usually follows him was going to laugh again however, he choked when he opened his mouth. His eyes widened and he stopped walking.

Seeing that the others were still walking, he raised his finger to hold onto the shoulder of the one in front of him. He raised his other finger to point at the figure beside Tang'ga and stuttered, "K-Kul'it... T-There–"

Frowning at the other boy's interruption, Kul'it looked at where the finger was pointing at. His eyes also widened. After getting unnoticed by the wild boar before, he was relieved that a stronger group managed to scare it away.

Afterwards, he became carefree and walked to his cousin's group. Now, he realized he was unaware that there was another fiercer attack coming at them. Before the others could stop him, he was already running out while shouting 'Aahh!'.

Seeing their leader run, the other children followed, some were confused while the others were tripping from wanting to run ahead too.

The confrontation with the other group only took a few minutes. Ling and the others were confused as they saw the backs of the running children disappear from their views. Scratching his head, Tang'ga was also confused since his cousin didn't answer his question but left anyway.

"Uh, should we chase them?"

"We don't have to chase them. It doesn't matter much what they spread since we were already thinking of leaving the village. Let's return to the cave first then move to another one."

As they were preparing to move out of the cave, Ling continued his point before anybody could think the final say was Yabang's. He spoke and the chaos continued. "Like I said, I won't let you come with us, Rin. And you also want to add Yabang and the rest?!"

"What? I didn't say anything about them!"

"What 'the rest'?"

"Lino, don't confuse the conversation. Ling, you have to listen to our reason too."

"Uh.. What's going on?"

"You wouldn't understand anyway even if it was explained to you."

"Lino!" "What do you mean by that?!"