027 – A Chance to Learn – Part 1 –

A baboon ten feet in height, and with arms that could dwarf tree trunks came flying from the trees and delivered a flying kick to the abomination.

The large boarish body of the monster was lifted from the ground and sent hurtling into a tree with a heavy thud.

Uriel scampered back as he watched the massive gorilla stomp over to the abomination without giving him a second glance.

He could only consider himself lucky that the new beast didn't seem to think him worthy and rushed back to Zeresha.

He started to work on cleaning the wound on her body, but there was little he could do to get rid of what he believed was a flesh-eating acid that laced the wound.

Even as he tried to calm Zeresha, he found that all the usual techniques he used were useless, as she kicked wildly in the air narrowly missing him more than once.

Uriel worried that if he didn't leave before the victor of the fight was decided that he would become food for whoever the victor was, but Zeresha was in no condition to move.

A minute later his worries became reality as after an arduous struggle the baboon managed to mount the abomination, then from its back, it pulled back its fist and its huge muscles bulged like an iron hammer and it struck the antish head of the abomination.

The antish head was smashed clean off the body and went skittering through the clearing, where it landed it started to frizzle and disintegrate until only loose ash remained and the same held true for the rest of the body.

The hog's body and the thick leathery wings caught fire and withered into ash in just a matter of seconds.

Uriel looked up and gulped as the baboon suddenly turned its two large eyes onto him, with a sudden movement it jumped landing not two feet away.

Uriel pulled his back straight and tried not to let his fear show as the beast moved its head close and started to sniff around him, though he had a feeling that his chattering teeth gave him away.

A few seconds passed and the baboon looked passed him at Zeresha, then it moved towards her but as soon as the baboon made a movement towards her Uriel swung with his sword.

The baboon jumped back evading him with ease and tilted its head as Uriel leveled the sword at him with gritted teeth, his intent was clear the beast wasn't to set one foot in the direction of the mare.

As Uriel held the sword straight with a fierce look in his eyes, something that defied his understanding of the entire world occurred.

The massive ten-foot-tall baboon started to shrink in size, and the hair on its body gradually disappeared revealing a young man who stood at 6 feet tall, he had dark ebony skin and wore a simple sleeveless tunic made from animal hide and strings of beads adorned his strong arms.

The man raised his arms in the air and looked at Uriel in peace, "Uh, you can put that down I'm not here to hurt you, I can help," the man said gesturing at Zeresha.

"Ah, uh…" Uriel stammered foolishly his eyes still not sure of what he had seen, his hands fell down weakly, and the sword fell from his hands.

Uriel stared with his mouth hanging agape, his life as a farmer had done nothing to prepare him for such sights, he didn't even know what to think.

The man took Uriel's gesture as permission and walked carefully to Zeresha and was sure to stay in her sight as she lay on the ground, he kept his hands up in a passive manner while he started muttering some strange words in a soft register.

Oddly enough the sound seemed to get Zeresha to stop thrashing and she gave the man a light nod of her head giving him permission to get close.

Had Uriel been in the right state of mind he would have been extremely impressed at how easily the man had gotten Zeresha's approval to approach, as Zeresha had taken a while to allow even him to get close, and aside from his family, she refused to let anyone get close to her.

The young man pulled a cloth and a waterskin from his belt, the water skin had a thick liquid with a greenish color, he poured some onto the cloth and started to clean the wound.

In a few short seconds, the wound stopped pouring blood.

Zeresha trashed a few times but each time he would start muttering that strange chant under his breath and she would immediately start to calm down.

As he finished dressing and cleaning the wounds on Zeresha's flank, he got up and turned to Uriel, "Unfortunately healing isn't my forte, and the girl will need a lot of care if she is to recover from her wound," he informed Uriel who at that point was just barely able to register what was being said to him.

Uriel looked between Zeresha and the man with crazed eyes as he recalled all the stories he'd heard, and there was only one that had any resemblance to what he had seen.

"You… you're a druid?!" he asked uncertainly, there were just a few tales about it, the druids who could walk among the animals and become one with them.

It was always just a bunch of stories to him, things of make belief that folk tellers made up to make their stories more exciting but after seeing how the baboon had become a man it was the only thing that made any form of sense, yet it still made him feel like he was going crazy.

The man looked at him with an arched eyebrow and gave a simple confirmation with a nod of his head, "You can call me Urlo of the Argeum," he said.

"Argeum is that the name of your village or… tribe?" Uriel asked as he struggled to recall the little he knew about the druids while also struggling to keep himself from asking about the scary stories he had about them.

One of the scariest ones was that they would hunt down humans and eat them for trespassing into the forest, the adults would tell it to all the children to keep them from running off into the forests when they were playing.

"I suppose you could put it like that," he shrugged and looked at Uriel, "Now tell me what a flat lander like yourself is doing in the forest?"

'Flat lander?!' Uriel wondered with a look of surprise before he was forced to remember why he was here in the first place.

"I…" Uriel looked down and shook his head, "I got lost," he said being only partially honest.

Urlo raised his brow it seemed he wasn't buying it, "The closest village of you flatlanders is at least two days away, you could hardly wander into this part of the forest by accident, and with how petrified you were of the Antog I find it hard to believe that you wandered through the forest for more a day or two," he replied.

Uriel looked down at his feet he needed help and this was the first help that appeared for him in over a week, he didn't realize how much he had missed the sound of other people's voices until Urlo had started speaking to him.

It seemed crazy but after giving it a few moments of thought he felt like he would be willing to do anything just to keep speaking even if it meant recalling his horrific memories, it still beat being alone.

Having made his decision he spoke though he tried not to go into detail, "There were soldiers that attacked my village," he said feeling his throat clench up after just a few words.

"I… I managed to survive with Zeresha… but I got lost," he said choking on his words it really made him feel pathetic that he had somehow survived the entire ordeal while everyone was dead.

Urlo nodded keeping his face firm despite seeing Uriel crying like a child, from what he could tell Uriel had an honest face and he cared about the mare.

His care for the mare gave him a pretty good impression of him but his crying was like that of a child and extremely unmanly.

"I can take you to my Chieftess, she'll be able to help the mare, and if you prove yourself worthy she might even be willing to help you with your own problem," he said giving the matter a little thought.

Uriel's eyes widened with relief for Zeresha but he tilted his head in confusion, "What do you mean by my problem?" he asked.

Urlo raised his brow, "You have a connection to eldrin, and it isn't the healthy kind, did you not know?" he asked with surprise colouring his voice.

Uriel's eyes widened in surprise, "You can teach me how to control it?!" he asked.

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