Chương 16: Risks

Lieutenant Jones ducks the cup sailing passed his head.

"What the hell do you mean he's gone! Get the scouts.."

"Sir the scouts are tracking it already. The camp is setting up for a longer stay while the fast movers are chasing him. We have to let them do what they do and hope they can return successful." The lieutenant cuts in with a salute.

"Fuck…. Ok what's the story. How did he escape? Last report was he was probably the best prisoner I've ever heard of. Never tried to escape, didn't fight back, he never even complained."

"We have the cook in custody, somehow it seems he helped the creature escape, but I haven't conducted any type of interrogation."

"Alright I'll be present for them. Especially if we cannot move until the scouts return."

Terran was a mixture of pissed and amused.

"You're telling me the scouts haven't found him, AND you didn't ask about the soldier who's dead in the medic tent before coming to accuse me of helping him escape?"

"What's the soldier got to do with this? Wasn't he killed in the escape?" The lieutenant asked with a wrinkled brow. Terran shakes his head with a chuckle.

"No he was being carried away when I walked up to the situation. Apparently someone thought it would be funny to smack him with a stick. He reacted pretty dangerously. Then with all the weapons pointing at him I tried to keep them from killing him when he decided to run. Probably thinking they would kill him anyway. He's not an idiot. The dead soldier quite literally poked a bear."

"The problem with conscripts is we don't know who to actually believe. I understand your position. You will be released but you will be under watch." The lieutenant started to exit the tent before Terran left him a final piece of knowledge.

"Did anyone report that he can talk?"

"Sir please stop breaking our chairs. There aren't many left in the camp." At this point Rictor had smashed everything that was breakable in the command tent.

"Who's responsible for reports from the guard? Get him in here. I need to know why this wasn't part of our report for the last fucking month!"

Six scouts have walked past since Blick burrowed beneath a log to wait. Patience was well learned living in the jungle. His angry log cover helped blend into the forest floor almost too well. Unless they nearly stepped on him, he would look like just another downed log. The problem was he didn't know where he was or which direction to go. Running blind was probably not the safe option. Thinking his odds would improve at night fall he dug slowly and quietly into the dirt and buried himself in a too small hide hole.

When he woke up it was dark out. With the occasional stray beam of moonlight shining through the canopy there was a quiet simplicity to the forest at night. Crawling up out of his hole he moved slowly closer to the camp. They will scout the wood, but will they scout the camp? While so many are asleep I can probably slip in and hide until they move again and I can just go the opposite direction they go. That and, how was he supposed to hunt and cook food while being hunted? There is a lot of food in the camp.

Staying low and working at a snails pace he made his way back to the camp. Remarkably few soldiers held the perimeter tonight. Thinking they probably had extra out in the wood looking for him he smiled. The first fairly decent spot he found had some extra armor and even helmets. With a happy little grumble he named each piece as he put on the armor and found a big shoulder bag to stuff his lock box and angry log cover in. New words were hard to remember so he practiced them as often as he could.

Oh yeah it's not an angry log. It's something called ally gate ore… I think that's close. With a shrug he shoulders the bag and peaks out the tent flap to find a route that will likely lead him to the Terran. He needed food and the man had shown himself as an ally. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. It took Blick quite a long time to find Terran. Turning to pretend like he was looking into the forest when soldiers came close. He felt silly.

With no real plan should he be noticed, he wandered the camp in search of his only ally. He finally spotted the cook walking between a wagon and tent with a bag the size of his torso over his shoulder. Trying to keep his pace casual and scanning the area as he walked, Blick finally made it to the back of the cook tent where he poked his head in to look before entering. Terran dropped the sack with a grunt and turned around to see the fully armored Blick.

"SHIT FUCK!!!"

"Cook, you alright in there?" A shout from the other side of the tent wall"Yeah I smashed a finger no worries!" Terran responded with wide eyes staring at Blick who just stood there trying to figure out the words. After a second or two of just staring, Terran walked calmly over to Blick and closed the tent flap behind him. With a bit of eye contact he placed a hand on Blicks shoulder and guided him over to a seat. Sitting him down and handing him a bowl of food Terran continued to work and think.

What the hell do I do with this guy? If I go tell the captain will he try and take blick by force or will he just leave him alone and let him travel back with us? This is going to get me in so much trouble. Over the next hour Terran started showing Blick around the cook tent, instructing him on how to mix the flour and roll the dough for the bread.

Before Terran leaves to shuttle some food to the captain and medic tents as his new routine has become he tries to explain "stay here" to someone who doesn't understand the language. Sorting that issue he loads up and heads to the captains tent.

"Lieutenant Jones. I have the captains meal." Entering the headquarters tent and handing the food over, Terran stops for a moment to test the waters.

"Sir, I have an unrelated question."

"Go ahead Terran." The lieutenant replies while walking the food over to an empty desk for the captain to eat when he gets back from a meeting with the scouts.

"Sir, what is the goal with Blick? Why do we need him?"

"Well that's a bit above your pay grade, but just for curiosity sake I can tell you a bit. Ultimately we don't need him. The goal is to figure out where he came from so we can scout for more resources. We just need him to point us in the right direction. But since he doesn't speak or read we decided to bring him to the capital and hand him over to the academy to learn and maybe they can get him communicating well enough that we can locate his home or determine how he ended up here."

Thinking hard for just a few more seconds, not wanting to say the wrong thing.

"So sir, if they do catch him. What happens then?"

"That's an odd question, it depends. If we could capture him with no force and have him just accompany us we would. But it seems our men have already created such a hostile environment I don't think we can manage that. We will likely have to tie him up and transport him against his will. Once he gets to the academy we can let them deal with it."

"Sir…. What if I told you I could all but guarantee he will cooperate?" Standing from the desk and staring Terran in the eyes, the young officer understood what was going on and clearly was taking the cook seriously. He stood there and thought for almost an entire minute.

"If you make that happen I can credit your conscription time as complete and release you from service." Terran relaxed a bit before making one demand.

"Sir, I mean no offense here, but if I take that deal I need an assurance that no harm will come to him." Putting himself in danger was a new character trait that Terran was really not appreciative of yet. Until now it's always been him just looking out for himself. But since Blick came around he hasn't been able to just sit aside and watch. When the officer gives a nod and makes the promise of Blicks safety, Terran invites him to the cook tent. With so much at stake he hopes and prays Blick takes this well.