A trace of gold flickered across his vision and he looked for it on his body. It was gone. 'What was that?' Jacob patted himself over to look for bugs but nothing went crunch.
"Master.." Jacob looked over in the direction of Shortie and saw a large, very large beast drinking by the water. It had a saddle.
"Finally!" Jacob ran over without any regard for his safety and hollered. "Hey! Hello! Hello?!" As he went closer, he noticed that it wasn't a horse. Jacob stepped back and onto another twig.
A voice called out, it sounded hoarse and old. Jacob immediately thought about the small furry animal and wondered if he was about to be squashed by the SUV sized beast.
'You can't be serious' Shortie looked on with pity at Jacob on the ground. "Master, get up." Shortie's voice was mellow and calm.
Jacob snapped out of his funk and caught a glimpse of the Rider. He was harry from the back, wearing a red robe that stretched down his back and cut into two at his tail. 'Tail?!' His eyes drew upward and saw the ears, they were pointy like a dog. Then, his eyes immediately trained on the tail again, it twitched and flicked. "He-Hello?" Jacob wasn't sure what to expect, the rider took off their helmet and long hair flowed down. "Girl?" The word came out of his mouth and it startled the rider.
"Hmmph." In a high pitched humph, she turned her head around and looked at Jacob. "Oh, its a Human." Her eyes were about to roll when he saw Shortie walk from around the Bocabeast. "Great Ancestor!" She leapt over a rock and went to kneel in front of Shortie. "Great Ancestor! How can this be? Your kind, they have all gone from this place." She tilted her head in confusion, "You're much smaller than I heard about.." She poked at Shorties body a few times while she was in a state of confusion and wonderment.
Her eyes perked up when she saw the collar and took it off. "This doesn't look like a divine object?" Holding it up with two fingers she seemed oddly confused about its use. There was a small medallion, it said Shortie on it. "Shore-tee" She pronounced it right and clasped it back around his neck. "Great Ancestor, you must come.. come, meet the Elders." She pulled on Shortie but he just sat down.
"I just want to sit under the sun, you go get them and come back with meat." Shortie yawned and laid down on a large rock to sunbathe.
"Shortie." Jacob walked up to Shortie and seemed to misunderstand the situation. "Why are you laying down?"
Shortie waited till the girl had gone and then started explaining. "This is how I get meat at the Camp, I lay on things and people bring me meat. I like meat, we wait." Shortie plopped his head down and scratched his back against the rock. 'ahhh' He was enjoying himself.
Jacob gave up, they had been following the river for most of the morning. Stopping wasn't a terrible idea. Thirty minutes later, a rumbling shook the pebbles and a few minutes later a group of Beastmen arrived. All of them looked sort of like dogs when their helmets were removed. They each approached Shortie with caution. When they were close enough, they bowed in prostration.
"GREAT ANCESTOR" They all cried out in unison.
'Ehh? Really, they are really going to fall for this?' Jacob watched as they pulled meat from a satchel and placed it onto a rock. Shortie turned over, ran up and started to chow down on the meat.
He grew stronger and slightly larger in size with every bite. His rate of growth continued that way until he stopped eating. There was a visible change in his weight class, the time he had spent with Jacob was short but he had almost doubled in size. On all fours, he was taller than Jacob.
Shortie rolled over and looked at Jacob. "Rub my belly." His tail wagged.
"Rub my belly." His tail wagged faster. "Rub my Belly, Rub my Belly, Rub my belly!"
The group of Beastmen looked at Jacob, "Human, do as the Great Ancestor asks. Rub. His. Belly." They gave off an imposing look, towering over Jacob's stature.
Jacob got down and started to rub Shortie's belly. Shortie's tail wagged furiously and his tongue flopped out. The Beastmen Elders were a little embarrassed but it was the nature of all things to want positive attentions. They admired his willingness to expose himself like that, so bold, so natural, so brutal and wild. Untethered and burdened by responsibility. "Great Ancestor, please, come with us. You can bring your pet." Pointing to Jacob, they all got onto their Bocabeasts. "It is a honor, Ancestor, please come see our village."
'Pet? I'm no one's pet!' Jacob wanted to correct the lumbering Beastman but he was so much bigger.
Shortie rolled over onto his feet and broke the rock. He picked up his paws to check if something was stuck in them but they were clean. Jumping off, he landed on the ground and a thud shook the pebbles next to him. "Jacob, lets go." Shortie started to walk but then saw Jacob walking slowly behind them. He grabbed Jacob and threw him onto his back. "Do not fall off or kick me in the ribs."
Shortie started running, running with the pack. Faster and faster, Jacob held onto his loose shirt and Shortie's collar. He dared not lean. There were a few times that Shortie ran through bushes, but it was mostly isolated, following beside the lead of the Bocabeasts left a wide path most of the time.
It took more than thirty minutes to get back, Jacob had few things on his mind. He had spun out during the ride, losing focus of what was important. He didn't care about going back to camp, there was a lot to find out in the place he had found. The village was circular, it had a well in the middle that led deep underground. A church-like building was used as the local papal, Beastmen dressed in priest outfits made it a dead give away, a spiritual center of the town. Jacob was fascinated, he wondered if the Beastmen had just one god or many.
When they came to a stop it was near a stable, the Bocabeasts were put away and Shortie was escorted to the Elder's building. There were a lot of artwork on the walls, pictures of Beastmen fighting other Beastmen. Some of them were so unique that Jacob couldn't place their heritage in his zoology timeline. Flying lizards dominated a lot of the pictures that were hanging, Jacob wanted to ask if they were Dragons or maybe half-dragons. The looks he got earlier while refusing to 'rub the belly' were enough to keep him quiet.
"THE ELDERS GREET THE GREAT ANCESTOR!" A procession of bloodline worshipers followed behind Shortie. "Great Ancestor, your appearance is a great fortune to us all, Please stay and hear our request."
Shortie's tail wagged, "Meat. I want meat." Someone snapped and a row of girls brought out trays of meat and then the head of a Oldesea Beaver. It's meat was stringy and pulled like taffy, shortie loved it. Jacob ate some of the meat, it was cooked, that was all he knew. It left him feeling stronger than before. Shortie also noticed the increase in size when he collar no longer fit, it burst apart at the clasp. Showing his size off, Shortie howled. It was deeper than ever before and shook the rafters.
After he was done showing off, Shortie flopped onto the pedestal and yawned, ready to take a nap. "Let me know when you figure it out. These old bones must sleep." It was like night and day, Shortie passed out, leaving the Elders with puzzled faces that all turned to Jacob.
"Okay, Human, What's your story?" Elder Day pushed the conversation to change, ending the original awkwardness, only to be replaced with silence.
Jacob didn't know what to say. He stood motionless and silent for a moment then answered, "My name is Jacob Wickfawn, we got lost from our Camp but now I think its much further away than we thought." He walked over the Shortie and scratched behind his ear, shortie's leg kicked a little. "I think I'm really, really lost."
Elder Day cracked the stick in his hands with his grip and ground his teeth. "So it seems."