Page 19 of His Human to Adore
“Wherearewegoing?”I tug on Toron’s sleeve as one of the elders leads us out of the tribe’s walls and into the trees.
The elders have been teaching some of the older males to hunt, but Droth, the tribe’s leader, has told me many times I am much too small to carry a bow yet. Yril is also much too small, but he is walking next to Toron, who is holding both of our hands as the elders take some of us into the trees.
“I do not know.” Toron’s eyes narrow at the other young males walking with us. His body is tense, but he just holds my hand tighter. His jaw ticks softly as he looks up at the elder, who seems to be in charge. I do not know his name. I barely remember all the names of the brothers close in age to me. I just know that we are supposed to do what the elders ask because they look out for us. They keep us safe.
“Where’s father?” Yril asks from the other side of Toron.
The elder nearest us casts a downward glare and pulls his lips back in a snarl. I avert my eyes from his quickly. I dislike it when the elders are mad at us, and some of them have been getting more and more upset as time passes. They complain that there are too many of us and that we do not help around the tribe.
“We should have left the older one at the tribe,” the elder, who looks mad, speaks to another.
“He would not leave his blood, so he had to come.” Another elder says. They do not use hushed voices, which is strange since it seems like they are speaking of things they shouldn’t. “Narrath will learn that he should not put up such a fight when it comes to the betterment of the tribe. If he had agreed with this plan, he would have only lost one son instead of two.”
I do not understand why they are mentioning Toron’s and Yril’s father or why they talk about him with so much anger. Toron must understand them better than us because his eyes flash red, and he is tugging us closer to him. His claws dig into the scales of my hands until he is drawing blood. I want to cry out and tell him he is hurting me, but the elders are staring at us with a look of amusement in their eyes. Why are they happy that Toron is upset and hurting us?
Toron’s footsteps slow, and his hold on Yril and me ensures that we slow as well. We are in the middle of the group, away from the elders, when he speaks to us in a low voice. It is clear what he says is only for Yril and me and that we must take him seriously, but I am becoming frightened of the trees and the monsters that lurk in their darkness.
“We need to be careful,” Toron says. “They mean to kill us, and I will not let them kill my blood.”
“They aren’t going to kill us,” Yril says as he looks around at the group of males that were led into the trees. “There are too many of us and only a handful of them.”
“And most of you are small.” Toron hisses like it is our fault that we are still small males. Even he has not gone through the changing to become a large male, I do not know why he speaks of our smallness like we can help it. “They do not mean for any of us to return to the tribe.”
I want to tell Toron that he must be mistaken because the elders have always looked out for us. Yes, there is often fighting over feeding all the young since there are many more of us than there are males who can hunt. The elders who keep looking back at us with a look of accomplishment on their faces are worrying, though. My chest begins to beat rapidly as my body starts shaking. Yes, something is very wrong.
“What should we do?” I ask. My small voice is louder than I mean for it to be. One elder turns to look at us, but they know they’ve walked all of us to a spot in the trees that we are not familiar with. It is easy since none of us have ever been outside the walls except for Toron, but he is never allowed to venture this far.
“We stay together.” Toron slows his footsteps again. “We can survive together, yes?”
I nod, and I assume Yril does as well because Toron keeps slowing his steps until we are nearing the back of the group. His head moves to scan our surroundings as the brothers move around us. I think he is waiting for the right time to move away from the group so we can make our way back to the tribe, but no, he is watching all the elders.
“They are leaving now,” Toron says. “They will leave us here to die when night comes.”
“What?” My little voice is shrill and grating on Toron’s nerves, I am sure, but he cannot say things like that and expect me not to be frightened. “We need to go back. We cannot survive the night.”
“Calm down!” Toron hisses loudly next to me, his red eyes causing me to cry when they land on me. His face softens when he sees how he is scaring me, and he releases my hand to brush my tears from my face. “You are a strong male. Both of you are. You need to be strong for all the other brothers.”
“What are you going to do?” Yril wipes at his own eyes but tries to look strong even though we all know he does not actually feel that way.
“Today is not a hunting day, but Almaac told me he was coming out on his own because we need more meat.” Toron scans the trees like if he hopes for it hard enough Almaac will appear and be there for us to ask for help. He is almost a full-grown male, and he is a wonderful hunter, so he will be able to get us all back to the tribe safely. “He was going to train me since father still thinks I am too young, but then I overheard the elders talking about grabbing all the young, so I knew I needed to stay close to both of you.”
“So you will find Almaac?” My frown wobbles on my lips as I try to hold back my fright. I am hoping I can be strong like Toron needs me to be.
“I will,” Toron nods his head and then turns his eyes to the sky. “You and Yril need to gather the brothers and find a shelter.”
“Where?” I ask.
I do not know why will need to find shelter if Toron is going to find Almaac, who will save us, but I do not ask these questions because I must be a strong male. I need to be strong and help my brothers. Not be scared and crying like a babe.
“I do not know, but there are many shelters out here. Father says it is where brothers go when storms catch them by surprise during a hunt or if they are caught out at night.” Toron grinds his teeth against one another and nods his head like he is trying to convince himself to be strong, just as Yril and I are. “You need to find one. A storm is coming, and the brothers will perish if they are caught in it.”
“There are many days until the storms,” Yril says, pulling on his brother’s hand like he’s trying to make him believe his words.
Toron keeps his eyes above us, even though the trees block our view of the clouds. “A storm is coming. Trust your brother, Yril.”
“We will find shelter,” I grab Yril’s hand in mine and tug him toward the brothers, who are all looking around like they are just noticing that there are no elders around us any longer. “Come, Yril. The brothers will not listen to me. I am the smallest of us all.”
Yril does not rip his eyes away from Toron until brothers, who are full of questions, surround us. Some have already started crying and asking for their fathers if their fathers are still around. Toron must disappear into the trees because Yril is returning his attention to the brothers and me.