"Tell me about the Great Ancestor's past. You travel with him, surely you must know of his conquests and life." Ulikta started shaking Jacob's shoulders in annoyance.
Jacob had been standing there against the wall for a few minutes, he was holding his head and mumbling to himself. She tapped him on the nose, it was a behavior that caught Jacob by surprise and snapped him back to his situation. "Oh uhh, He's a Great Swiss Mountain Dog, he's only six years old. Shortie spent most of his life in Blue Forest Camp. Most of the time he is celebrated by the people there, he has his own squad of personal assistants and spends time doing whatever pleases him.. and of course you know, one of his favorite things is having his belly rubbed." Jacob did his best to make it sound official, he wasn't sure what to think about the present situation. The tribe was treating Shortie like he was some sort of beast god, offending them could be his nightmare.
Ulikta smiled, "Ahh, so you revere him as we do. Come, let me introduce you to the rest of the Elders. As Shorties' pet human you have rights too." She walked around the room, pulling Jacob along by the sleeve.
She introduced him to each of the elders individually, there were a lot of names and faces to remember and Jacob didn't know how to tell the difference between a few of them. Just keeping track of their names would take a lot more practice. Elder Coalser was the easiest to remember because of his disinterest in Jacob entirely, he looked at him with contempt and disgust.
"So what's his problem?" Jacob asked.
"Human's hunted one of his children years ago, they wanted his core. Its a common problem, you're lucky that Shortie escorted you into our territory, otherwise, you would surely be dead by now." Ulikta yanked on the sleeve to pull Jacob along, she led him around the village and into a room with a small gate before she started to close the door behind her. "Wait here, we're going to be busy discussing the future. There is a bed and water, don't tear anything up or misbehave."
The door slammed.
"What?" Jacob went to open the gate but it was locked. "Hey, don't leave me in here. I am not a PET!" Jacob paced around the room, irritated beyond his usual self. 'I'm not a damned pet!' He pounded his fist on the gate, "LET ME OUT OF HERE!"
A guard came over and smacked Jacob's knuckles that were touching the gate. "Get down, stop making noise." The Guard rattled the cage and pointed to the corner of the room. "Go lay down, stop making a ruckus. Stupid human, I'll never understand why the Ancestor allows you to follow him." the Guard kicked the gate. "Don't make me come here again."
The armored soldier stood nearby with a spear at the ready.
Jacob looked around the room, it was lined with rocks and there was a window near the top. "Is this a prison? "SHORTIE!" He cried out.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Elder Trion spent the better part of an hour introducing each of the Elders, Shortie remained mostly quiet during the banter. His eyes were closed but he was listening intently.
"Where is Master Jacob?" Shortie got up.
"Your human? We put him in the kennels, he won't be bothering us." Elder Hennai replied and tried to continue the discussion.
"Where is Master Jacob?" Shortie started walking around the room, smelling the floor. Then, he strolled out of the room and out of the building. He followed his nose for a few hundred feet then heard his name.
Jacob was screaming, yelling at the top of his lungs. "SHORTIE!" Then there was nothing but muffled grunts and the sound of something hitting the floor.
"I said shut up." the guard backhanded Jacob, it left a cut on the side of his face.
Shortie's pace quickened, he sprinted through the open doorway and skid across the stone floor. When he saw the guard raising his hand at Jacob, Shortie bit down on the Guard's arm, breaking it.
The guard cringed from the pain and yelped slightly. Shortie shook his head, ragging the arm into an unusable state, then, he bit down on the guards neck. There were crunching sounds and the guard fell motionless.
"Did you just kill him?" Jacob reeled back, he had never seen something being killed in front of him. It was a new experience, something he probably could have gone his entirely life without seeing.
"I protect the Children." Shortie pissed on the corpse and sat down next to Jacob, licking the wound on his face.
Jacob was lost. Nothing made sense. Instead of freaking out, he went with it and started to pet Shortie as gratitude. "Thank you for helping me."
Elder Codok came around the corner and saw the corpse with bite wounds on its body. He called out "GREAT ANCESTOR!" worried, he rushed into the room. Shortie was sitting there wagging his tail, there was blood on his mouth and across Jacob's face. "What happened?" Elder Codok rushed up to Jacob and tried to pry him away.
Shortie growled and barked. It thundered in the small room, startling the Elder. "Leave the child alone!"
Elder Codok backed up, he didn't know what to do in that moment. When he regained his wits, he called the other guards. "Go get the rest of the Elders."
Two minutes later they were all standing in the doorway. "What is this?" Surrounded, Shortie growled heavily. "Get out of my way." he barked again, the ceiling shook.
"Great Ancestor, he's just a human. Surely you don't care what happens to trash like that. Come, let us show you our gratitude for coming to the tribe." Elder Fauss held out his hand, Shortie snapped at it and barked again.
Shortie Howled, a light green energy started to accumulate and then, when the howl beginning to wain, a pulse of energy fired into the group of Elders. Elder Kol and Rodel were covered in a heavy flow of energy. Rodel's right arm and Kol's left were damaged, they hung to the side. The wall behind them had an indentation, there were teeth marks in the stone.
"Great Ancestor!" Elders Michensa, Jobar, Jiken, Day and Borannan knelt down in reverence. "We do not mean to offend the Ancestor.?" All of them looked on at Kol and Rodel, blood poured from the wound and spattered across the floor.
Shortie Barked again, still surrounded. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" He stood in front of Jacob and growled, intent on attacking.
The Elders looked at eachother in shame and moved out of the way.
"GET ON" Shortie barked again, Jacob grabbed the dead guard's spear and got onto Shortie's back. Once he was situated, Shortie growled again and dashed through the opening. Outside, many guards had followed the Elders, gathered by the first outcries and barks. Shortie passed by them all, sprinting as fast as he could. He broke through the ranks of guards, pushing through them like a field of corn.
Jacob held on but it was a lot easier, Shortie had grown, he was bigger than a horse. A figure was following behind them, solitary and unrelenting. Jumped across boulders to clear some of the gap, she was already falling behind. Passing over a ridge, she lost sight of them and Shortie's speed never dropped.
He ran until sunset, a small depression in the landscape gave them cover, a trench blocked the wind with three large lodestones that jut out of the ground. Jacob wanted a fire but the only wood he had was attached to the spear that he needed to keep. Shortie was much larger, settling for a warm blanket of fur instead, Jacob slept next to Shortie.
The air on the plains was dry, it wasn't hot but it wasn't particularly cold. Niether of them had much difficulty keeping asleep, even the nightlife in he area was quiet and kept to themselves. By sunrise they were both well rested and ready for the day ahead of them.
Both of their stomachs growled but there was no food. Jacob got onto Shortie's back and they traveled to the west, away from the river. A forest, or at least a sea of green could be seen in the distance. Whether it was a mirage or not, it was in the direction of freedom. Holding onto the spear, Jacob rode into the plains.