Page 14 of Tiger's Trek
Taking a step closer and speaking a bit louder this time, Nik said, “Hello? Again, I’m sorry to wake you, but I need help.”
There was a loud protest and then a mighty thrust of both feet before the red-faced little man wrenched his body into an upright position. “What do you think you’re doing? Can’t you see the sun has set?”
Nik stepped back, his eyes wide as he stared into the man’s one large eye set in the middle of his forehead.
“What are you staring at? Judging my size, are you? Wondering how someone with such short legs got himself so far out in the forest? Well, shame on you! You ‘normal-sized’ people go around constantly thinking you’re better. Well, you’re not. Now get out of here. Whatever you’re peddling, I don’t want any.”
“No. No, you don’t understand, sir. I’m not judging you. And I didn’t want to disturb you,” Nik added, trying desperately not to stare at the man’s one large eye and failing. “I’m merely asking you for help.”
“What? What is it you say? You want my help?Myhelp? Did I hear you correctly?”
“Yes. Yes, you did.”
He sighed and sat up straight, yanking his tunic into place. “Very well. Who do you want me to curse? And keep in mind the quality will depend on how much you can pay. And I charge double at this hour.”
“Curse? Um... no one.”
“No one? Son. Don’t you know who I am?”
“Uh... no?”
“You’re not a bright one, are you?”
“Well, I’ve always thought that?—”
“Let me answer for you:No. You’re not. And just to speed up this conversation so I can go back to sleep, I’m a likho.”
“Oh. Nice to meet you, Likho.”
“No, no, no. Mynameisn’t Likho. I amalikho, as in the supernatural-creature-you-never-want-to-meet.” He blinked, waiting for a reaction from Nik, and got nothing.
“Seriously? The Bringer of Misery? The Master of Temptation? The One-Eyed Demon of Disaster? The Ghoulish Gnome of Grotesquery?”
“I don’t thinkgrotesqueryis a word.”
“Don’t talk back to your elders, son.”
“Look, are you going to help me or not?”
The man pressed his hand over his one eye, then scrubbed his face. “This is what the younger generation is coming to. They lose all respect for their ancestors. You work and work to maintain a reputation, to develop a sense of fear and foreboding, and then what? They lose all interest. What’s worse... they’ve never even heard of you. What’s the point, I ask you. Maybe it’s time to retire. They’ve all become desensitized anyway. Nobody stays long enough to hear the old stories. Short attention spans, that’s the problem.”
“Umm, are you just going to sit there talking to yourself?”
“Who said I was talking to myself? Weren’t you listening?” He sighed loudly and got to his feet. “Never mind. What is it you want, kid? Just spit it out and leave,” he said grumpily.
“I just wanted to know if you’d be willing to share some food. That’s it.”
“Share my... share myfood?” The corners of the likho’s mouth lifted, and then he began to chuckle. Soon the chuckle turned into a full belly laugh that caused actual tears to leak from the man’s very large single eye. He wiped them away with both hands, as there seemed to be a tear duct on either side. Stepping forward, the man clapped Nik on his arm, which appeared to be as high as he could reach, and said, “Thanks for the laugh, kid. Just for that, I won’t curse you for waking me. Just see to it that you don’t do it again. I don’t do favors twice.”
Reaching down, he picked up his sack and flipped it over his shoulder, then rounded the tree.
“Wait!” Nik called out and attempted to follow, but when he stepped around the tree, the likho had vanished.
Stomach rumbling, Nik wandered through the forest for an hour, hearing nothing but the sound of hooting owls and the rustling in the underbrush of small things being hunted by larger things. He cursed himself for a fool. Why had he run off by himself and taken no note of where he was going and how far? Now he was no good to anyone. How could he save Veru when he wasn’t even capable of saving himself?
Soon a thick mist covered the ground, and his feet began sinking in the mud. He’d come across a boggy area of the forest. The air stunk with rot and putrefaction, and instead of the rustling in the underbrush, he heard the sound of splashing and the guttural groaning of large creatures rattling the water as they called and moved. He felt the prickle of tiny things crawling on his neck, and he brushed furiously at his arms and face.
Sometimes it was sweat. Occasionally, it was something else. Fortunately, nothing bit or stung him as he made his way through the muck, praying for it to end and hoping he could find a scrap of food and not end up being food for something else. When the moon sank, so did his hopes. Why, oh why, didn’t he stay with Stacia and Iriko? At least then he’d have a tiger on his side. What an idiot he’d been. He was so weak with hunger that his vision blurred. His thirst was a powerful thing, but he dared not drink the water he found pooled between the trees lest it make him sicker than he already felt.
