"Arish! Rozz! You're alive!" The Drenzuen shouted. Del was wide eyed along with all the Drenziens. They looked at the stranger Dora moment then to one another.
"Wait!" Arish shouted but it was too late. Rozz was tackling Del and Blerek went for Nimlis. Nimlis quickly drew a blade from his beaver and slit Blerek throat msking short work of him. Del wasn't so quick.
Rozz tackled Del causing him to drop his short spear. Del reached out for it but Rozz pinned his arm. Del looked up and saw the Drenziens face contorted in fury. Then to Asela surprise one of the others, Dimmit, kicked Rozz off of Del. Arish darted for the short spear and grabbed, she tossed it to Dimmit who then plunged it into the chest of a still stunned Rozz from a fresh kick to the abdomen. Del stood and the group all looked at each other then back to the Drenzien that stood afar.
"What the hell are you doing?" He shouted.
"No… no wait!" Arish yelled but the man was turning to leave. Del and Nimlis rushed towards him. The Drenzien darted into the dark woods. He managed to get a little closer to the stranger but Del lost his way in pursuit and trippped, stumbled and fell, causing him to slide down a short steep hill into a kind of marsh. He heard Nimlis rush past him as he fell.
Above him Del heard Nimlis crash into the man and a few grunts before seeing Nimlis stand back up. Feeling a wave of relief Del stood but a small animal caught his attention just on the side of the marsh. A deep forest green lizard creature stood at the bank of marsh looking up at Del with small bulbous black eyes. It looked him up and down curiously and took another few steps towards him before stopping again.
"Hello there…" Del said cautiously.
The creature slidden closer to him and then reached out a small geeen hand. Del then noticed a small patch of red coloration on the skin of the lizards head. Del reached back and the lizard skidded up his arm.
"Oh… well… I guess." Del said as he looked into the bulbous eyes of the small lizard and smiled.
"I guess we're going to be friends." He said.
"Del!" He heard Nimlis shout from above, thankfully apparently emerging victorious from the scuffle.
"I'm coming!" Del shouted back.
Del met Nimlis who had subdued the Drenzuen and helped him carry the unconscious body back to camp. The fire was still going thankfully, the Drenziens were confused by Del's new found friend.
"Why is that thing on you?" Arish sneakily asked.
"I don't know, he wanted to be." Del shrugged.
"What is it?" She asked, her tone still one of disgust.
"It is a skecol." Nimlis stated still staring down at the unconscious Drenzien.
"They are docile."
"Ugh." Arish mutttered glancing back to the skecol on Del's arm then back to the fire.
Del looked at the small creature and saw it's black eyes looking back at him. He smiled, he didn't know how long the small animal would stay with him, but he enjoyed its company. It looked like a little dinosaur. The green lizard settled on his arm apparently planning to stay a while.
Another long moment passed. The four of them that remained all stared down at the bound drenzien. He had the same plant like bindings the survivors from the ambush had when they were being brought to the city. Nimlis must have had some on him or found the plant nearby. Del was impressed at the resourcefulness.
"Why did you stop them?" Arish finally asked Dimmit after all was settled.
"You could have helped instead."
"You weren't." Dimmit shrugged.
"I didn't want you to get hurt."
Arish looked down for a moment. Del swore for a brief second he saw a hint of care in her eyes. Now however she only looked confused, unsure about the mix of emotions she was feeling.
"We should bring him back." Nimlis said.
"He will encumber our trip."
"Bring him back? We should just kill him." Dimmit said flat out. Arish looked at him wide eyed.
"What? He's obviously not alone and he just saw us attack our Allie's, if he gets word back to them we're as good as dead."
Arish now looked back at the ground. She remained silent, unsure of what to say, clearly wrestling with her emotions.
"It is not our way." Nimlis stated.
"Your way or not, we've been walking for the better part of a day now." Del replied to him.
"He's right. Dimmit is." Arish finally said.
"If word gets back to his group of our betrayal we will be hunted and killed, or worse."
Del looked at Arish for a second then back to the bound Drenzien.
"Worse?" He asked.
"Our people take betrayal very seriously." Arish shrugged.
"Exactly." Dimmit said plunging Del's half spear into the bound Drenzien. Del felt the lizard creature tighten its grip on his shoulder as it was startled by the action, but it didn't leave him.
"No!" Nimlis shouted but it was too late.
The Drenzien was bleeding out. He eooened his eyes for a moment only to be startled and bleed enough out of his throat to be dead a moment later.
"Relax." Dimmit said.
"Now I did it. Not you."
"Ugh." Nimlis pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Let us just rest. The night grows short."
The group was silent the rest of the night. Nimlis had sheeed to take watch, unable to sleep with his guilt of the dead prisoner and the potential danger combined.
The others drifted off one by one. Arish being the first to find sleep, wanting the night to be over. Then Dimmit next to her. He seemed to have some affection for the girl Del thought. Then Del himself found sleep, after stroking the bs l of the lizard trying to calm it for a while. He assumed it would dart off into the jungle in the night. The jungle was far from silent, Del fell asleep to the sounds of the nighttime animals and insects buzzing about the trees.