Gentle Beast 29

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Daybreak swept over the Camuda Valley, and the originally dark valley brightened.

Ryan walked out of the cabin and closed the wooden door with a back sweep of his hand.

The girl inside was still asleep. Sunlight poured in the window and a white halo fell across the girl’s cheek, her thin skin closed to transparent.

The sunlight was harsh, and Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu furrowed her eyebrows. Her slender lashes quivered shortly after like a delicate fan and blocked her clear eyes.

Yesterday, Ryan refused Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s request and she had looked at him with those same eyes and asked, “Why?”

Ryan was cool-headed afterwards, as if he had forgotten what he had said, “It’s a long way to the east of Bornia, and it is extremely cold out there. You cannot reach it on your own.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu could not refute it.

Her strength alone was insignificant in this land of beastmen. Before she had “Táo Táo”, and while Táo Táo could not help much, he was still a companion. But, Táo Táo transformed into a strong, stalwart Leopard and she no longer had the nerve to ask him to accompany her.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu quietly hesitated: “I can find Eric. . . Eric said he was heading east. . .”

Before she could finish, Ryan set the canister down on the bed and interrupted, “Wait until you’re well before you say that.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu: “. . .oh”

And so the topic was dismissed.

Later, Ryan got up and went outside looking for food.

When he came back, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had already wiped the medicine herself and shrank into a corner of the bed, fast asleep. She had such tiny bones that asleep, she didn’t take up much space. She had left such a large empty space on the bed that it could accommodate Ryan’s body.

However, Ryan stood by the bed for a while but didn’t end up laying on the bed, instead laying face down on the couch for the night.

Why didn’t he let her go?

Ryan stood at the door of the cabin with the sun passing over his broad shoulders, casting a large shadow on the ground.

He always knew that she had only one goal in mind.

Countless times she had hugged him to her, pathetically, and said with grievance, “I want to go home” as she thought of her home, of her father and her mother.

Where was her home? Why had she come here?

And what about that “space” that she could pull a numerous amount of things out of? Ryan thought, he just wanted to figure it out.

*

Ryan walked to the home of one of the elder’s called Scarlett, where a female was sewing a deerskin vest.

The female was tall, appeared about the age of an eighteen or nineteen year old human girl. She had leopard ears, deep eyes, a long nose. This was the elder’s daughter Suzanna.

Suzanna’s ears shifted as she heard the footsteps and she immediatley put down the vest to look at the door, “Ryan——”

It was a strange pronunciation.

Ryan walked into the yard and looked into the house, asking in the same tongue, “Suzanna?”

Suzanna nodded then whispered, “Rhode is here, talking to my father in the house.”

Ryan paused and asked, “What is he doing here?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “Who knows? They never let me hear what they talk about.”

Seeing Ryan didn’t react to her words, she turned her eyes a little and added, “But, I heard. . . when you weren’t in the clan, Rhode and Laurence got very close. Rhode did not leak your background to Laurence!”

Ryan was silent, noncommittal.

When Laurence had come to the door, he had already suspected Rhode and Dole.

After learning that Rhode was planning to elect the next leader, Ryan guessed his plan without difficulty.

——Let him and Laurence fight to the death, then Rhode, the third strongest man in the race could take advantage of the weakened opponent and fish himself up.

To his disappointment, Ryan had returned unharmed and also returned to the leader’s position.

The injuries on Ryan’s arm from yesterday were from fighting with other leopards.

“He came to look for my father this time, and I don’t know what dad is thinking. . .” Suzanna muttered, glancing at Ryan. He was obviously not thinking about her words, but she was reluctant to let Ryan off. After a while, she pretended to ask casually, “I heard father say you brought a female from outside? How can that female satisfy you?”

Ryan looked at her, “What are you talking about?”

Suzanna pointed to the sun deliberately, “It is still early.”

“. . .” Ryan realized what she meant and took back his line of sight, saying smoothly, “This does not concern you.”

Suzanna was originally just a little tempted, but she did not expect to get such an ambiguous answer, and her mouth dropped a little, “I have not seen her yet. You hide her so tightly, do you not intend to let her go outside? Can I go and play with her?”

Ryan said no, “You’ll scare her.”

The leopard language was different from the human tongue. They had imitated the human system of language but kept their own pronunciation.

Unlike the reindeer, elk, and other herbivorous species that had mimicked the human language.

When Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had met Rhode the first time, she had not understood what he was saying.

The only reason she could understand Ryan so well now was because Ryan himself spoke in both tongues, the human and the Panthera.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was recently as frightened as bird, if Suzanna disturbed her, it would only make her much worse.

Suzanna widened her eyes and made a fuss, “Ryan, you hold onto her too tight!”

Ryan did not deny it.

A few moments later, Rhode stepped out of the house with Elder Scarlet.

When he saw Ryan, his footsteps stiffened, but he quickly resumed as usual, pulling on an unconscious smile as he passed Ryan.

Ryan didn’t take him to heart and walked into Scarlet’s house.

While Ryan had been gone, the race had gone loose and no one obeyed discipline, making everything a mess.

The food stored for the race had gradually dwindled and it did not take long for the females and elders to have nothing left to eat.

So Elder Scarlet wanted Ryan to lead the young males out on a hunting trip, to fill up the food stores of the clan, and to regain the majesty of Ryan’s leadership.

Hunting generally took five to seven days. Often this kind of thing Ryan would ask for nothing else, but this time he asked, “How long can the food last?”

Scarlet said: “At the most, ten days.”

Ryan: “I’ll head out in five days and bring back the food within three.”

Scarlet expressed doubts, “Three days, would that not be too anxious? Why not start two days earlier?” After all, transporting the food would waist an entire day.

Ryan paused for a while and said, “Something is wrong.”

Scarlet glanced at him and saw through his thoughts, “Have you taken care of that female you brought back?”

Ryan did neither confirmed or denied, “She’s injured.”

These past few days, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s wounds were beginning to heal but no one had looked for her and she was unfamiliar to them. According to her temper, even if the people drove her out of the clan, like that time in the Elk village, she would be miserable in the snow, weeping.

“You do not have to worry about that,” Scarlet told him seriously, “Rhode just sought me out, and he seemed interested in the female. He offered to share her with you.”

Scarlet’s tone was flat, like he were talking about dinner, “You know, the females of the race are scarce. It’s normal for them to have many men. Rhode should take good care of her while you’re not in the race.”

Ryan’s face darkened, “And you promised him?”

Scarlet said, “Considering she was brought back by you, I did not immediately agree. I told him to go seek the opinion of the girl.”

*

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was bored lying in bed. Betham had come to look at her wounds and gone, leaving her alone.

Yesterday, although her words were refuted by Ryan, it did not mean she had given up on the idea.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu thought, once her would was healed, she would say goodbye to Ryan and leave.

She could not persaude herself to live here, after all. . . She did not know how Ryan had become smaller, or if he had gotten close to her on purpose.

. . .

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu absently fiddled with her compass, suddenly frowning. Picking it up to look carefully, her entire face hollowed.

When she last saw the compass, the original guide towards the south swayed from side to side as if interrupted by something. The arc swung almost across the entire disk, making it impossible to tell the exact direction.

Was it broken?

No way. . . she clearly remembered it was good before she went unconscious!

When she was frightened by Laurence and if fell to the ground, did it break?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu twisted her small face, unsure how to repair this type of thing.

What should she do now?

She needed to go east, and this was her only way of determining her direction.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s expression became sad when she suddenly heard slow footsteps outside the door.

She thought Ryan had come back and she sat up, looking toward the door.

The door opened then and she said, “Ryan, you know. . .”

Her voice suddenly fell short.

——That was not Ryan in the doorway, but some other leopard.

He had short hair and sharp eyes, like a falcon’s. Inside the house, he glanced around and finally fell on Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu remembered him. By the reindeer village, he was the one that caught her and asked about Ryan’s whereabouts.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu thought he was still looking for Ryan, and she subconsciously backed away, saying, “Ryan isn’t here. . .”

Rhode was one of the small number to master the human and panthera languages.

“I’m not looking for Ryan,” he slowly curved his mouth into an expression not quite a laugh or a smile as he stalked towards the bed, “I’m here for you.”

He said such and did not wait for Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s response. Sweeping his arms under her legs and his elbows under her butt, he lifted her up and walked toward the door——