Shia awoke in the afternoon. Her bark peeled and dropped away until she was once again covered in bark much like a swimsuit. I found it unnerving. I broke a sweat and looked away to the field beyond us. “Did you sleep well?” I croaked.

She looked over at me then. She awoke with her face still tilted up to the sky and allowed her arms to drop back down to her sides. The leaves from her vines rolled back up and the vines withdrew back down into her fingertips. Even her roots pulled back up from the ground and into her feet. “It is the best sleep I have had in years.” Her honey voice cooed. She took a deep breath, and I watched her chest rise and fall. “Chief Barker?”

I looked up at her with sweat on my brow. I shuffled and looked at the curled bark at her feet. “Would you mind if I had my men collect your shed bark?” I asked as if that had been the reason, I had been standing there all along. I had in fact sat under her shade and watched the hills of grass blow for an hour, pondering what to do next.

“I can collect it for you if you like Chief.” She knelt down and began picking up the thin petals of bark ribbon.

“We need it to start a fire. We have gathered meat but have not found a way to make fire.”

She smiled at me. “Do you wish me to start a fire for camp?”

“Do you know how?”

“I’m Viv of course I know how to make fire Chief. I would be glad to.”

“Well, you can have the first choice of the cuts of meat then.”

“I don’t eat meat.” She answered as she continued plucking up what was once her clothes. “I get most of my nutrients from the soil. I snack sometimes. I like sweets.” Her eyes closed, “cakes and caramels, frosted candy sticks, Chocolate covered raspberries.” Her eyes opened again. “I haven’t had a sweet in a long time.

“I can tell.” I smiled. “Well if you can get a fire started I will see if I can get you some candy.”

“It's already done, Chief.” She walked down the hill toward the grumbling tribe.

I sat a while on that hill until the sun dropped below the horizon. The sky went from violet to a deep purple like a grape. Just enough light crept up from the horizon to keep the sky from going black yet but some of the stars began to peek through the purple sky. It made the green grass so much more vibrant. The blue crescent moon began its climb to the heavens and the smell of cooked steak met my nostrils.

I waited until the laughter started around the fire and climbed to my feet. As I turned back toward my camp I saw another pillar of smoke spiraling in the breeze on the western horizon. Another campfire. Another tribe. They were too far away to see anyone. Just a fleck of light beyond the valley. I watched for some time and my night-sensitive eyes searched the tall grass below but there was no suspicious movement below.

I walked back to the camp. Mia sat and watched the fire as one of the dwarves cooked the meat on a flat stone. Goar spotted me and jumped up to grab a slab of meat from the stone and held it out to me. I looked around the camp as each eye watched me. Then nodded and accepted the meat. I took a bite, it was juicy and warm and terrible. It desperately needed seasoning and had the flavor of liver. I grinned and choked my bite down. “Delicious, everybody eat, please.”

The dwarf cook grinned and pointed at one of his dwarf friends, “I told you.” He said and held his head higher. He had a beard like a long-haired cat and a nose like a rubber ball. His ears tipped down at their points and his belly likely sat on his knees when he sat. I chuckled to myself at his pride, it was enough for me to choke down another bite. His two doubting friends watched me take another bite, then stood and snatched up their own slab of meat.

The falconites were less concerned with pleasantries and just snatched three of the rarest cooked slabs of meat. They scurried off away from the fire and hunkered down sitting on their heels and tearing off nearly raw strips with their sharp beaks.

The centaur took a crispy piece and Mia grabbed a dainty piece as she looked at me. I took another big bight and made a show of stuffing the big wad of meat in my cheek as I chewed. It tasted about like a dead mouse smelled but I kept my face pensive.

Goar made a show of stabbing a slab off the hot stone with his horns and the two old goat women meekly took their pieces. I watched as my tribe each settled into their own spots near the fire. They held their slabs up in the air like a toast to me. All except the falconites. They were already on their third bite with their backs to us. Then the tribe lowered their food and took a bite. All but Goar chewed once and then spat the meat out over their shoulders.

Tootsie and I roared laughter. I dropped my hands on both knees to keep from falling over. I nearly choked on my third bite. The goat women chewed grass to get the taste out of her mouth. One of the elves saw the goat women and tried dragging the grass across his tongue as well only to spit the grass out with a sputter. Mia stood and began an open-mouthed gag like she was choking on a hairball. The two other dwarves smacked the fat one in the back of the head. The falconites scurried further off to eat in the shadows and Goar just chuckled and swallowed down another bite.

I laughed so hard I nearly forgot the other fire on the horizon. I finished my slab in spite of the taste and walked away from the fire to sit in the dark. I watched the stars for a while. There were night birds out there somewhere settling in with their odd twirping song. Shia came over and sat with me. Mia sat down on my other side. “Do you see the glimmer over there?” I pointed. I looked over to see the night shine on Mia’s eyes.

They both nodded. “In an hour we are going to make our way over there and pay them a visit. Mia, I know you have dealt with falconites before so I want you to take them with you and go around to the north. Shia, take the centaur and the elves with you to the south. I will bring the dwarves with me and Goar. Don’t be seen and only do as I do.”

Shia stood and I watched as her scanty thin bark grew dense and covered her over like a jumpsuit with a turtle neck. Only her face was truly exposed, though thick bark grew down to points under her cheekbones. “We will be ready chief.” Her soft voice no longer matched her hard exterior.

“She scares me.” Tootsie whispered as if Shia could hear her.

“Ah quit showing off.” Mia hissed.

It was time to spend some points so I opened my data pad.

Orc

Chief Barker

Pig Face

Level 19

Strength: 22 Hunger 22

Dexterity: 10 Thirst 06

Charisma: 5 Entertainment 5

Intelligence: 18 Concentration 18

Manna: 5 Shelter 0

Constitution: 14 Energy 14

Perception: 14 Hygiene 11

Exp: 19,610

Soul Points: 27

Skills: Furious Feline: cost 2 mana,

Dex: +3, Claws, time: 1 hour

Carapace Skin: +4 Constitution,

Cost: 2 Mana, time: 1 hour

Phantom Cloak: Cover a target area of three square-meters for 7 minutes (Stage 2)

Cost: 2 Mana

Coin:

$0

Gear:

Shade Tail and Spine

World Map

My constitution was lacking and I didn’t want to go back down into the pit easily so I dropped my first nine points there. Three points to dexterity so I could dodge and slip through. I would need to be agile. three points to perception. Then with a chuckle, I dropped nine points into strength.

Tootsie buzzed back over as I hit accept. The drowsiness took me right then. It felt as if every muscle and fiber had been pounded with a meat hammer. My bones hurt like someone had sucked the marrow out of them with a one-inch-thick needle. My eyes burned and the smell of the cooked meat smelled like skunk. I collapsed back into the grass.

“Tootsie?” I moaned like a drunk hugging a commode. “What happened?”

She laughed, “too much, too fast.”

Then it all went black.