(OOC: ugh... Long post...)
"This is easy..." the Zerdani thought to himself.
Working with the two young ones was not as difficult as Eihmo'tei thought it would be. They read his signs easily, and followed them without question. Even if they could understand each other, there was no need to talk anyway. They had to stay silent while tracking and stalking potential prey. Of course Eihmo'tei took care of the tracking, since there was no time to teach such a skill to his students. The hunt had been rather uneventful at first, but the two young humans did not care. They seemed excited to just be out on the hunt. A few times, the Zerdani had to hush some giggling with a finger to his lips. He did not blame them though. Such excitement reminded him of his first hunt with the tribe. However, it was time to be serious.
Eihmo'tei once again found the tracks of the strange antelope, similar to the ones he and Tala found the day before. This was not dry sand, which made it easier to judge how old the tracks were. The ground was still wet, meaning that they had been made fairly recently. There was a quarry now, and once the two humans realized this, they got more excited. Slowly and carefully, they followed the trail through the tall grass. After what seemed like forever, the animal came into sight. It was odd. Its horns were a lot shorter than what the Zerdani was used to, and they forked into several directions. It was a lot more lithe, and covered completely with short brown fur. Eihmo'tei snapped out of observation mode, and got back into hunting/teaching mode.
He pointed to the animal, and helped his young students get in position. They seemed a bit hesitant, so Eihmo'tei readied one of is own spears, just in case. Just then, a quiet rumbling sound approsched from the distance. The beast heard it too, and took off. The Zerdani cursed under his breath, then gave in to curiosity. What was making such a noise? It drew nearer and nearer, so he looked above the grass to see. The sight was magnificent. There were huge wooden boxes being pulled by beasts, similar to the ones seen in the human community of Essyrn. Humans rode on the fronts of the boxes, while others rode on the beasts that were not attached.
He looked back to see that his two students were seemingly scared by what they saw. What had caused this sudden fear? Who were these strange humans? With their current course, they were due to pass right in front of them, yet they had not seen the three because of the grass. Eihmo'tei tried his best to comfort the two, but it did not work. Ras said a word under his breath that the Zerdani did not recognize.
"Slavers"
Knowing the two would not calm down, Eihmo'tei would lead them back to the camp.
"Come." he said in his rough common. "Kii'arah..."
They hurried along, almost seeming panicked. Whoever these humans were probably were not nice. The three tread slowly, using the tall grasses for cover. The boxes were close now. Just then, Ras' foot caught a large stone and he fumbled over, making a bit of commotion. Unfortunately, one of the bad humans saw this and rode his animal over. The three were exposed now, much to the human's delight. Dismounting, he went over and forcefully grabbed the fallen child by the collar. Tala was frozen in panic at the scene. Eihmo'tei too could not believe what was happening. The human said some words whilst laughing, and picked Ras up off the ground. Even if he could not understand it, it still angered Eihmo'tei. He had to do what he could to protect his friends.
Jumping as high as he could, he sunk his sharp teeth into the arm that held Ras. The young one fell to the ground with a thud and Eihmo'tei released. The bite had drawn blood, which was present on his muzzle. "Go!" he cried, pointing towards the camp. They obeyed, but another rider pursued. Perhaps it was the taste of blood, but Eihmo'tei was in a frenzy. In this state, there was nothing he would not do to protect the younglings. He picked up a spear, and lobbed it towards the second rider. It hit, digging into the back of the shoulder, and caused the rider to fall from his steed. The two were far now, but Eihmo'tei had no time to feel relief. The bloodied human wanted revenge for what the Zerdani had done to his arm.
He swiped and kicked, but Eihmo'tei was too quick. Looking around, he was surrounded by the rest of the bad humans, who snickered and jeered. There was no way Eihmo'tei could fight all of these humans, but Kit could. He had to last until the two could get the word to the rest of his friends. It seemed only the bloodied human was willing to fight, so the crazed Zerdani continued on with tooth and claw, fighting like the wild animal he resembled. With the circle around, there was less room to dodge attacks, so he did the next best thing. Once again, he clamped down on his attacker, digging his teeth into an exposed leg. He began howling in pain, but in the end, this was a poor decision. One lucky punch to the side of the head made Eihmo'tei's world grow dark. Before losing consciousness yet again, one thought crossed his mind:
"At least they are safe..."
