A man with sharp teeth - Tales of Nowardo #3
Commander Oswield sat in his enormous armchair and stare into the air as he often did when he had to make a difficult decision. Despite the huge size of the armchair, it seemed tiny in comparison to the man in it and at the same time he had an elderly look. He was often compared with a mountain: Huge and ancient. After a minute of starring, Flenk became inpatient. "So, what do we do about the digging-creatures plague? We don't want to end up eaten alive as it happened in bunker#7. Do we?", he asked again. Flenk tended to use chairs different than other people. He had squatted in the seat across Oswield and seesawed from side to side. He was not what one would expect the second most feared warrior of the camp to look like. He was small and thin, but what his opponents had to find out was, that he was also fast, nimble and precise.
Just as Oswield was about to give an answer, someone came into the door. It was Gidgig, one of the warriors of "the camp". That was how the inhabitants of bunker#2 called their home. He was a tall man with only one eye and hard pangolin-like scales on his left arm. It was not atypical for inhabitants of the camp to have genetic modifications like these. In fact, most of the strongest warriors had some kind of genetic modification, that made them stronger. And it was not uncommon, that they weren't good at speaking: "Found man around camp", he explained the interruption, "When came man just fell on ground." As he explained he clapped his right hand into his left to illustrate the situation. When Oswield turned around to him, he looked on the floor. Despite Oswield's elderly aura, he was feared by all in the camp. When he had been younger, people told, Oswield killed a group of bunker#2 soldiers with their commander's arm, he had ripped off the body with his bare hands. Nobody knew when this was, him being young or him not being Commander yet. The people of the camp knew the stories about his legendary deeds from their parents and grandparents, but all that are alive only know him like that: An elderly mountain. The only one that was brave enough to look him in the eyes was Flenk. That alone made him a well-respected man in the camp. Gidgig made about Flenk's tiny knives once. In the next second, the knife became very big and in the second after that Gidgig had only one eye.
"Did he had anything valuable?", Oswield asked. He had to ask since there were rules for sharing spoils even in this case. "No. No thing. Empty." Flents eyes widened. Only now he turned around. "Tell me more about this man. How could he survive out there without anything?", he demanded to know. "Sharp teeth. four-leg-jumper blood." "He killed a four-leg-jumper with his...", he didn't finish the sentence and just nodded with an amazed expression. Gidgig shrugged. "Commander", Flenk whispered with his smoothest voice as he turned back to Oswield, "I did my last special mission well. You said even exell...gent. Can I have a little gift as bonus?" The commander stopped starring into the air and started to stare at Flenk. Flenk looked away. Even he wasn't brave enough to maintain eye contact for long. "Of course. I understand.", the Commander answered with a smile, "You are a very loyal member of our community and one of our greatest warriors. If you believe it will make you stronger, you can eat the hearth of this wild man." "No. Yes. Thank you, Commander. But I. I want him complete", and explained further as he noticed the confusion in Oswield's face, "I want him alive. I want to train him. I want him to become a great warrior like me." The Commander began to stare again. His eyes moved up and down, left and right as if he could calculate formulas that decide about life and death." Finally, after two minutes he looked back at Flenk. Flenk had grabbed the table between them and starred full of excitement. Oswield starred back until Flenk looked away. Flenk began to shake out of excitement. Oswield took another moment just to enjoy the power he had over Flenk. "Make him gud.", Oswield answered slowly. "Thank you!", Flenk shouted full of joy as he jumped up and down on his seat, then made a backflip and landed in front of Gidgig. "Because he will solve the digging-creatures problem. Alone, obviously.", Oswield added to his answer just before Flenk could leave the room. Flenk became quite. "Sometimes you really surprise me with your clever solutions, Flenk.", Oswield complimented him. Being complimented by the ancient mountain was something really special and normally Flenk would be full of joy now, but not this time. "Yes, Commander. That was my plan.", he said quietly as he left the room. It was a lie. That was not his plan. That was not his plan at all and then he realized that this was the perfect puzzle piece that he missed in his plan. He began to laugh again.
How did you like this part of the story? How will Jarek react to the situation when he wakes up? How would you react in his place? Please tell me in the comments, on twitter or however you can reach me.
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Just as Oswield was about to give an answer, someone came into the door. It was Gidgig, one of the warriors of "the camp". That was how the inhabitants of bunker#2 called their home. He was a tall man with only one eye and hard pangolin-like scales on his left arm. It was not atypical for inhabitants of the camp to have genetic modifications like these. In fact, most of the strongest warriors had some kind of genetic modification, that made them stronger. And it was not uncommon, that they weren't good at speaking: "Found man around camp", he explained the interruption, "When came man just fell on ground." As he explained he clapped his right hand into his left to illustrate the situation. When Oswield turned around to him, he looked on the floor. Despite Oswield's elderly aura, he was feared by all in the camp. When he had been younger, people told, Oswield killed a group of bunker#2 soldiers with their commander's arm, he had ripped off the body with his bare hands. Nobody knew when this was, him being young or him not being Commander yet. The people of the camp knew the stories about his legendary deeds from their parents and grandparents, but all that are alive only know him like that: An elderly mountain. The only one that was brave enough to look him in the eyes was Flenk. That alone made him a well-respected man in the camp. Gidgig made about Flenk's tiny knives once. In the next second, the knife became very big and in the second after that Gidgig had only one eye.
"Did he had anything valuable?", Oswield asked. He had to ask since there were rules for sharing spoils even in this case. "No. No thing. Empty." Flents eyes widened. Only now he turned around. "Tell me more about this man. How could he survive out there without anything?", he demanded to know. "Sharp teeth. four-leg-jumper blood." "He killed a four-leg-jumper with his...", he didn't finish the sentence and just nodded with an amazed expression. Gidgig shrugged. "Commander", Flenk whispered with his smoothest voice as he turned back to Oswield, "I did my last special mission well. You said even exell...gent. Can I have a little gift as bonus?" The commander stopped starring into the air and started to stare at Flenk. Flenk looked away. Even he wasn't brave enough to maintain eye contact for long. "Of course. I understand.", the Commander answered with a smile, "You are a very loyal member of our community and one of our greatest warriors. If you believe it will make you stronger, you can eat the hearth of this wild man." "No. Yes. Thank you, Commander. But I. I want him complete", and explained further as he noticed the confusion in Oswield's face, "I want him alive. I want to train him. I want him to become a great warrior like me." The Commander began to stare again. His eyes moved up and down, left and right as if he could calculate formulas that decide about life and death." Finally, after two minutes he looked back at Flenk. Flenk had grabbed the table between them and starred full of excitement. Oswield starred back until Flenk looked away. Flenk began to shake out of excitement. Oswield took another moment just to enjoy the power he had over Flenk. "Make him gud.", Oswield answered slowly. "Thank you!", Flenk shouted full of joy as he jumped up and down on his seat, then made a backflip and landed in front of Gidgig. "Because he will solve the digging-creatures problem. Alone, obviously.", Oswield added to his answer just before Flenk could leave the room. Flenk became quite. "Sometimes you really surprise me with your clever solutions, Flenk.", Oswield complimented him. Being complimented by the ancient mountain was something really special and normally Flenk would be full of joy now, but not this time. "Yes, Commander. That was my plan.", he said quietly as he left the room. It was a lie. That was not his plan. That was not his plan at all and then he realized that this was the perfect puzzle piece that he missed in his plan. He began to laugh again.
How did you like this part of the story? How will Jarek react to the situation when he wakes up? How would you react in his place? Please tell me in the comments, on twitter or however you can reach me.
first part | next part | all parts
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