Concentration was the order of the day! As calmly as possible and with fixed eyes, five young troll whelps, girls and boys aged between 8 and 10, guided their wooden needles and the thread hanging from them. They were sewing a leather drinking tube together and, although it was slow going, they were making progress. This was not quite the case with the sixth student in the group.

  Apart from Blood Tusk’s inexperience, he had a hard time guiding the inappropriately small needle with his huge fingers. His advantage was that the gladiator’s hands were so rough from all the years of fighting and handling weapons that he didn’t notice the constant stitches he gave himself.

  The fact that the thread got tangled between the giant’s fingers and he couldn’t get it out made the troll children giggle and cackle innocently.

  “Quiet,” Haki said sternly, but not too loudly. ”Pay attention to your own work. Carelessness means mistakes, and if you carry this bad habit into the jungle, it will kill you.”

  The whelps ducked their heads, but they weren’t frightened, and a few quiet giggles broke out before they all went back to sewing.

  These casual sounds of young whelps, this atmosphere, this life as a tribe - everything was as alien to Blood Tusk as it could hardly be and he felt extremely uncomfortable for the first time in his life. At the same time, however, he knew that he had to endure it if he wanted to return to the arena. In his opinion, it was just another kind of fight and he wouldn’t lose it.

  “All right, show me your water skins,” Haki demanded. She began to take the homemade water containers between her fingers and examine them as meticulously as she would an adult. ”A little too much stitching... hmm, this one will drip... that’s acceptable... and.” Haki stopped mid-sentence and she held the last drinking tube in front of her eyes in disbelief. “What is that?” The last drinking tube between her fingers was from Blood Tusk, but it wasn’t a drinking tube and she could slide the fingers of both hands through two holes and the leather was completely open at the top.

  “My little brother prefers to wear cloth diapers, but they certainly hold more water than that,” grinned one of the children.

  All the little trolls started laughing heartily and foolishly. They held their stomachs and rolled around on the floor, because that was no drinking tube, but a leather diaper.

  “Well,” Haki said wearily, taking a generous break for further inspection, and she tugged at the leather. ”At least your stitching has improved and the thing is pretty sturdy.”

  For a little more than two weeks, Blood Tuskhad been with the group without a tail, and his progress had been rather modest. “It’s getting better,” he nodded nevertheless, satisfied, while even Kriz’kriz on his shoulder refrained from commenting and the puppies’ laughter bounced off him. At least he had quickly learned that their minds could not be compared to those of adults and that’s why he let them get away with things. At least that’s how he saw it, and it was more because his mind was, in a way, hardly any bigger than theirs. “That’s all that matters. It’s not a fight to the death.”

  “Is that what you think?” Haki raised an eyebrow. “You were able to experience first hand what it’s like in the jungle without fresh water. As lush and vibrant as our home is, if you don’t know where to look, a full water skin can save your life.”

  “Mhh, or drinking directly from a source.”

  “If you know their locations or also know how to find them. But you can’t even sew a skin for water. So don’t rush anything.”

  “Se’hek,” one warrior snorted as he saw the leather diaper and snatched it from Haki as he passed. He showed the drinking tube with glee to a few other middle-aged trolls, and they joined in his gloating. The word Se’hek had been trollish, but it was no longer unknown to the gladiator and meant something like ‘useless idiot’ in the common language.

  Haki glared at the mocking thief, but he ignored her, and she turned to her students. “Enough for today. I’ll see you later with the skinning. Off home!” she instructed the whelps, who jumped up and scampered off in a hurry. Only her big one remained seated, but she grabbed his wrist. “Except for you. We’re practicing hunting!”

  “We did that this morning,” said Blood Tusk, who had been immobile at first. ’Rest is important too.”

  “Not for you, come on!’ Haki demanded, annoyed, and continued to tug at him.

  Blood Tusk snorted unwillingly, but he still went along with the agreement and let the female pull him.

  Beyond the decaying walls of the camp, the two were met by the old fisherman Ataz, who, along with Djar’Ku, had known about Ja’Jen, and greeted the trolls with at least a nod. His destination was the resting place of the oldest trolls, where only one of them was sitting by the fire.

  “Did you find anything?” asked Djar’Ku, who was lying on a huge pile of furs.

  “Unfortunately, only small pools that exist everywhere around us,” sighed Ataz. Although the group had come across smaller rivers with fish during their hike, they were hours away from here and it was very dangerous to stray so far from the safety of the group just for fish. ”So make sure we build our village on or very near a river. I really miss swimming in cool water and the quiet hours while fishing.”

  “You know I don’t have the final say in this. We old ones give advice and the young bucks want to prove themselves, so they’re more likely to follow their own lead.”

  “Oh come now,” Ataz murmured, giving his tired bones a much-needed rest by the warming fire. He glanced around warily before speaking softly. ”You have the giant at your side - you can call the shots. You just have to want it.”

  “That might just work,” Djar’Ku admitted cautiously. He had even thought about it once, but had decided against the idea. ”But that would only cause trouble, with trolls, with the tiki, and a few days later someone would slit me in my sleep or ram a spear into my back while hunting. So let me be granted my last days in peace, since we already have enough problems.”

  “Mhpf, you’re probably right,” Ataz agreed with a sigh. His words hadn’t been meant entirely seriously either. ”The young have to find their way, for us too. We can’t keep them from doing stupid things forever.”

  “At least that doesn’t mean we have to sit back and let them do risky things, that could kill us.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “And until then, we still have Blood Tusk, who will hopefully protect us from that,” Djar’Ku smirked, thinking of the situation.

  The provisional acceptance of the gladiator had been a rare opportunity among trolls to vote democratically on his whereabouts without a jatal. A narrow majority had voted for him, on condition that he prove his worth. Four eager warriors, male and female, had confronted him simultaneously in an unarmed melee in which none were to be killed, and though Blood Tusk had still been slightly injured, he had beaten the trolls with some effort, and with more black eyes and broken bones.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Who knows,” Ataz grumbled. Not that he wished it, but he wasn’t the only one who had some doubts about the colossus. ”He hasn’t even started to learn about the tiki, because he has a hard time learning about anything else.”

  “Unfortunately yes,” Djar’zu agreed, but he had known enough trolls of a similar nature. ”But then again, not every great warrior is destined for more than just fighting. I’ve met quite a few whose only reason for existence was their strength.”

  “Our people want to see more, that’s a different situation,” Ataz pointed out, stretching his own old back with a crack. ”Although that Blood Tusk at least earned a few full, grateful stomachs the other day when he killed that huge wild boar.”

  “Ah yes, the wild boar,” Djar’Ku murmured, scratching his forehead modestly. ’Between us, he fell on it.”

  “What do you mean, he fell on it?”

  “Blood Tusk is fantastic with a spear,’ Djar’Ku said knowingly, since Haki kept him up to date on everything. “Not so much with the bow and it’s so cumbersome in the jungle that he can’t sneak up on anything or just lurk in the bush. So Haki climbed a tree with him at a pond and they waited. When a herd of red wild boars came by, he wanted to throw his spear from above and lost his balance. The rest ended up on our fires.”

  Ataz couldn’t help but laugh, but not in mockery. “Prey is prey,” he said, before lowering his voice again. “Nevertheless, he should make some visible progress soon, unless he saves us from a horde of hostile trolls.”

  “Yes, he must,” Djar’Ku agreed thoughtfully. He knew that the group honored the agreement and tolerated him, but nothing forced the rest to stay here. Therefore, Haki and Djar’Ku had taken a risky gamble that could end up weakening rather than strengthening everyone. ”Or if we could see what Haki has seen. That would probably remove any resentment against Blood Tusk.”

  “Any resentment? Everyone would be at his feet,” Ataz stated mischievously. ”Even if some of the females have already set their eyes greedily on him, regardless of his shortcomings.” After this realization, Ataz became nostalgic, while his gaze was lost in the flames. “And as for his strength, in the last few days I had to think of the stories my father told me when I was just a whelp. Such unbridled power and ferocity sounds like U’Zon and his chosen ones, the Centurions. It is said that these warriors can fight dozens of enemies without suffering a scratch, and they are chosen and imbued with the power of U’Zon himself.”

  Djar’Ku was familiar enough with the tiki U’Zon, the god of the trolls’ untameable nature, to know one thing. “In this part of the jungle, I have never heard of a troll who would have this status,” he mentioned doubtfully. ”There are certainly enough followers, but what Haki described... then Blood Tusk would have had to have been touched by the tiki itself before he was born, since he doesn’t know the tiki and therefore doesn’t follow the will of U’Zon.”

  “Well, that remains to be seen, but maybe U’Zon rewarded us with Blood Tusk? All the hardships and deprivations we’ve faced, with the ferocity of true trolls.”

  “We fought back, yes,” Djar’Ku agreed. However, he didn’t believe the fisherman’s words. ’But we were so small and insignificant and so quickly on the ground that I don’t believe that U’Zon sent us a troll without any faith, who he was supposed to have touched anyway.”

  Ataz smiled bitterly. ’You old warrior have clearly been in too many fights. It always keeps you grounded, doesn’t it?”

  “Not at all,” Djar’Ku dismissed the comment. He simply had more experience in this matter. ”You are right, I have been in many fights. That’s why I have a more rational view on this. You, on the other hand, know where and how to best fill many bellies and that is worth much more. Mirihiji must be proud.”

  “Praise be to the Mother of Gifts,” Ataz patted his left chest as he thought of the tiki of kindness and greenness.

  Mirihiji was especially honored for always providing the abundant gifts of nature, and it was very pleasing to her that they were passed on and shared among trolls. She also looked down on those trolls who invited guests to their home, which was known as the mercy of Mirihiji, and attacked them from behind.

  “Elders,” a male voice made itself heard. ”Have you seen Haki?”

  “Sa’Thuk,” Djar’Ku raised his hand in greeting. ’You missed her a while ago. I think she went on a new hunt with Blood Tusk.”

  “She’s wasting too much time with that useless idiot,’ Sa’Thuk said angrily. ”She’ll end up getting herself pregnant by that unclean one.”

  “I don’t see what’s wrong with that,” Ataz replied. Not that he was keen on falling out with Sa’Thuk, but even a fisherman like him saw the advantages. ”Whelps of this blood, raised properly by true trolls. What could be better for our soon-to-be tribe?”

  “The wrath of the tiki!” Sa’Thuk cut through the statement. ’To be inseminated by an impure one, what a disgrace.”

  “That will hardly happen as long as trolls like you are better off as our guest,’ Djar’Ku interjected calmly but suggestively. He knew that the young warrior would certainly not contradict him.

  “No, that won’t happen,” Sa’Thuk agreed. His tense posture and bulging muscles showed how much this situation annoyed him. ”But that’s Haki’s bad luck if she’s not here. You two can come to my camp in a few minutes. The scouts are back and they’ve found a few new places for a village.”

  “We’ll be there,” Djar’Ku nodded and got a silent nod in return before he watched the possibly future jatal. ”Well Ataz, you heard it. Maybe today you’ll get the river or lake you’ve been wishing for so much.”

  “I think it’s more likely that our guest will return with the spoils of the hunt before I’m allowed to fish again,” Ataz shook his head in amusement and, like his counterpart, he stretched his old bones.

  About half an hour from the wanderers’ campsite, a branch lying on the ground cracked under the heavy foot of Blood Tusk, and alarmed, a band of small monkeys instantly ran in all directions and up trees.

  “Again,” sighed Haki, who was moving silently over the remarkably well-stocked floor of the jungle. ”This isn’t the sand of your arena. Your footsteps don’t sink silently.”

  “I didn’t see it,” Blood Tusk answered. With all the small plants and bushes on the ground, he simply couldn’t see such sound effects as loose branches. ”I need more practice to get used to it.”

  “You’ve survived in this arena for a long time,” Haki noted. She was strict, but she was like that with everyone, not just because she had to educate the gladiator. ”So you know that sometimes time is not on your side. You have to learn faster so that you can fit into our group.”

  “I’m a fighter, that’s why we made the deal,” Blood Tusk said bluntly. He wasn’t the only one who knew that was the simple truth. ”I should defend your group, not making them like me.”

  “It’s not just about making them like you,” Haki added. Secretly, she wanted to see once more what she had seen that day against the king alligator, and she believed that the best way to do that was to expose the gladiator to the jungle itself. ”I’ve already explained to you that being able to survive in the jungle will make you stronger.”

  “And I told you that’s exactly what that snake-bitch said,” snorted Blood Tusk, slightly annoyed, and he gripped the homemade wooden spear in his right hand. ”But I don’t feel any of that yet.”

  “Because you’re making almost no progress...”

  “And the reward?”

  “...the reward?”

  Blood Tusk nodded. “We haven’t mated for days,” he said. The gladiator’s urges were particularly strong, even for a troll, and he was used to not being without a female for very long. “I can tell by the way you smell that you want to.”

  “I have other priorities,” Haki growled back strictly. Of course she knew that the male was right and the mere mention of mating made her body heat up briefly and release corresponding pheromones, which the gladiator perceived immediately. However, the female was strong-willed enough not to think with her thighs and not to let her trollish nature take her by surprise. She controlled herself for the sake of her group alone. “And don’t think you can take another female! The tribe won’t like that at all.”

  “Won’t they? Even if the others want to?”

  “Since I’m responsible for you, I forbid it!” Haki declared. She was lying at that point, partly because she had her eye on the imposing troll. “Those are the rules of our group. You have to follow them.”

  “Mhh,” Blood Tusk murmured with a long, thoughtful look. He didn’t know any better and he believed the female’s words. “So we mate when I get better?”

  “Much better!” Haki added when it occurred to her only now as such an obvious fact. From all his stories, the gladiator was always rewarded for his victories and successes. Perhaps this was her way of teaching the foreign troll the ways of the jungle and more. ”We’ll start today. If your wooden spear brings us a rich prey in this hunt, I will be the prey of your other spear later.”

  “Done,” Blood Tusk agreed readily. He was not hasty or overexcited like a small child who had just been promised sweets for good behavior. He was simply reacting as second nature had become to him in the arena over the years.