Josh Cramer ReelBlinkKoRN@aol.com
| "It's the human, I
tell you!" Devon heard from his hiding spot outside
the meeting room. The town meeting had gone on like this
for some time now, the Tigeerians babbling at each other,
nothing getting done. For a moment, Devon considered
going in the room and working things out, but then
decided against it on grounds of being torn apart. He was
an escaped prisoner, after all. Suddenly, Xelif spoke up. "This is getting us nowhere," he addressed the crowd. "Even if the human is behind all this, there's nothing we can do about it now. We have only one choice, we must evacuate the town." Worried murmurs came from the people. "We can't leave the town," someone yelled. "If we do, the Foxapeds will come after us! We'll be too vulnerable!" "Would you rather drown here?" asked Xelif. "We have two choices: we can stay here and die, or we can evacuate and take the chance of being caught by the Foxapeds. Personally, I'd rather take that chance than die in a watery grave." The crowd reluctantly nodded in agreement. "Yes!" Devon whispered. Finally something was getting done. In that moment of carelessness, Devon managed to knock a vase off the windowsill. "What was that?" one of the Tigeerians asked. "The human!" Devon took off running, a dozen wrathful Tigeerians in chase. With every few steps, a new Tigeerian joined the fray. At this rate, Devon would have the whole town after him in a few minutes. Abruptly, a paw pulled him into an alley. "Shh...don't yell, I won't hurt you," a feminine voice said. Devon nodded. The paw was removed from his mouth, and Devon turned around to face his aparent rescuer. A small framed female Tigeerian stood before him, beautiful in her catlike grace. Her emerald eyes and pale orange fur shimmered in the moonlight. "I am called Shar," she said. "Please follow me, I'll get you out of the town. It isn't safe for you here anymore." She grabbed his hand and led him through a maze of alleyways to the town gates. "Here you are, human, take these, you'll need them." She handed Devon a pair of daggers. "Now go." Devon started for the exit; he heard sound of running feet. "There he is," a member of the mob yelled. "Get him!" Devon sprinted toward the exit. Just as he reached the gates, they were closed on him. He was trapped. The mob caught up with him, but approached him slowly. "This proves it," a mobster said. "The human has to be a sorcerer to escape from our prison!" Devon took a moment to reflect on just how stupid these people were. Unexpectedly, the ground pitched to the right. The angry mob was thrown to their knees, and only Devon's skills in agility kept him from doing the same. The ground between Devon and the group of grounded Tigeerians split apart, water gushing from the crevace. The mob was pulled in as the gap widened. A high pitched scream got Devon's attention. He looked back toward the maze of alleys to see Shar hanging from the edge of the ravine. "Shar," Devon yelled, "hang on!" He franticly looked around for something to use as a rope. Finally, he spotted a rope keeping a nearby catapult from firing. He cut at the thirty foot length of rope with his dagger, and a large boulder flew from the catapult. "Oops," Devon chuckled, "I hope there was nothing over there." He grapped the now free length of rope and tied one end to the hilt of his dagger. He then threw the dagger just to the right of Shar. "Grab on!" He yelled. Shar grabbed the rope and pulled herself across the ravine. About midway through, the dagger in the wall came loose. Shar screamed as she plummeted into the river. Devon swore and grabbed the rope. As the tension became more and more, Devon began to pull the Tigeerian up the cliffside. After what seemed like an eternity, a small paw grabbed the ground in front of Devon. He quickly grabbed it and pulled Shar up into solid ground. "You saved my life," Shar exclaimed, throwing herself into Devon's tired arms. Devon returned the hug with quite a bit of self-satisfaction. "We still need to get out of the town; it's sinking." The two ran out of the forced-open town gates, and onto truly solid land. Shar collapsed from exhaustion and shock. Devon gathered her up in his arms and carried her into the forest beyond. He traveled a game trail for quite sometime until he found a suitable spot for a camp. He set Shar down and began to clear the area out. Once he had a ten by ten foot area spot cleared, Devon layed down a bed of dried leaves and set Shar down on it. It had to have been more comfortable than the naked ground. Now that Devon had a chance to observe her more, he found that Shar was quite small for a Tigeerian, about equal height to him, and of a slighter build. Devon didn't know anything about Tigeerian females, it could be that they were all this small. Devon admired Shar for a while longer, she was positively radiant in the moonlight. Wait a second, Devon thought, am I falling...in love? Devon pondered this as he kept guard the rest of the night. * * * In the morning.... |
DEVON DECIDES TO:
1)walk into the village.
2)wait until dark and sneak in.
3)Reader's Choice.
| Comments for Josh Cramer |
"I applaud thee. Great humor and suspense and the first person (in my recollection) that has incorporated a female tigeerian into the story." --just Pierce McDowell
