I have decided to save everyone the trouble, and migraines of reading as Andaros stutters his head off. As such, I will be "translating" his stuttering in longer sentences. Unfortunately, everyone will have to put up with it in shorter sentences. I have also noticed some discrepancies between what I originally intended to input and what I actually inputted, so I have fixed those errors. The Mroa are not sabertooth tigers, just to let you all know. As for the adjustment for stutters, I will be stating that he did so in the sentences, just to clarify that he still is doing so.

**********

The two headed down the stairs and out the front door together. Reiya led Andaros toward the nearest guardpost as that would be where the goods and supplies were heading from. In the distance they heard roaring, and the sounds of battle between people and beasts.

As they approached the edge of the orchard, Reiya held out an arm and stopped Andaros at around five meters from the outter row of trees.

"It's best if we don't go any further," she told him. "The beasts generally do not reach more than one meter into the orchard before they turn back, but it's safer to stand back here. We can still see what's happening from here without the danger of being attacked, but without weapons continuing forward would be foolhardy."

"O-o-o-okay," Andaros responded, concentrating on looking outward.

Not too far in the distance, a battle was unfolding with the convicts as well as the guards facing off against the beasts of the planet. The beasts were unorganized, but far superior in strength when compared to the humanoids and three or four were facing off against one beast. There was one exception to this general rule, a giant of a man who faced off evenly against three beasts that looked to be similar to the sabertooth tigers of ancient earth.

The humanoids were slowly, but surely losing the fight as they desparately made their way toward the orchard while protecting a number of people who were unarmed, and the carts they were transporting. As they were drawing close, another of the beasts arrived, and the giant of a man drew it to himself while anxiously calling out to the people who appeared to be workmen.

"Hurry! We can't hold them back much longer! Get under the shelter of the trees," he yelled, "they won't follow us more than a meter into the trees!"

The workmen frenziedly pushed their carts and whipped their terrified work-beasts in order to arrive within the safety of the trees. They succeeded in reaching the trees, and pushed their way inside not too far away from the two.

"Damn it, these beast raids are only getting worse," the giant of a man, who was wearing a guardsman's armor complained after they had reached three meters into the orchard. "We lost seven people just getting here, and three of them were outfitted in full armor. Damn, what's with the last month?"

As the man finished speaking, the sabertooth-like beasts backed off, wary of the orchard. While they were leaving, a huge beast resembling a very large tyrranosaur appeared and attacked the group of giant cats, decimating them. One smaller sabertooth, in an attempt to flee from the gigantic lizard, rushed into the orchard.

"Look out," one of the workmen cried out in an attempt to warn Andaros and Reiya of the incoming danger. Unfortunately, he was too late in crying out, as the beast was already in mid air in front of Andaros.

The next thing everyone knew, Andaros appeared to casually swat the beast to the ground in front of him. Reiya was initially just as shocked by this as the others present, until she remembered a bit of one of the stories Andaros told her about the things his mother taught him. His mother had taught him how to redirect force in order to protect himself. This knowledge couldn't be used to harm an opponent without a lot of luck or a great degree of skill and strength, but the situation did permit for such.

"It's terribly light and weak," Andaros said suddenly in his stuttering voice as he looked down curiously at the sabertooth twice his size. "It appears to be malnurished."

"It appears you're right," the giant of a man replied as he looked at the little beast, "but I've never seen someone do something like that to one of the beasts here."

"It was already on it's way down," Andaros stuttered, "I just helped it go down faster. Still, it's in such bad condition I don't think I even had to do anything."

"We should put it down before things become dangerous," one of the men nearby said, "and get away from the outside of the orchard before that thing attacks us."

"No," Andaros replied in his stuttering voice, stepping in between the beast and them, "The beast was not attacking, even in the battle before, and it was sheer coincidence it ran into the orchard at all. I don't think it was attempting an attack just then, it was running from that predator," he explained. "There is also the fact that killing it and spilling it's blood is likely to have a frenzying effect on that big guy out there. It's being held at bay now, but if any more blood is spilled in this direction I'm afraid it will attack, regardless of the orchard's apparent ability to keep them outside."

"Then what do we do," someone asked.

"That's right, we can't just leave such a dangerous creature to roam free."

"I'll take responsibility for it," Andaros stammered, bending down and picking the beast up bt draping it across his shoulders, "but we'd better get out of here before the big guy finishes his meal and thinks of us as a nice after-dinner snack."

"Too late," the giant guardsman said, "it's coming! Run!"

Everyone began running at the big man's warning. Andaros was weighed down by the tiger, but he didn't fret. "Head toward the villa," he stumbled over his words as he yelled to the workers and their protectors, then turned to a divergent direction as he yelled out, "I'll lead it away!"

Andaros felt a strange presence within the orchard and, with the current dillema, he headed toward it, hoping it would not be an enemy. Reiya didn't leave him to head off with the others, but ran alongside him as he ran toward the source of the presence he felt. The two weaved through the orchard, avoiding the attacks of the powerful beast, and it's attempt to eat them.

"Why don't you drop that beast," Reiya asked as they ran, "it'll only slow you down!"

"Look out!"

"Ooph"

Reiya was knocked aside by the giant Andaros had seen before. Being twilight, he thought it was a male due to the dim light and deep voice, but as it turns out, he was a she.

"Concentrate on yourself," the purple skinned giantess yelled while dodging the tail of the enraged beast. The two began running after Andaros once they got out of the dinosaur-like beast's attack range. The beast seemed to be quite slow in the area of acceleration, and as they dodged around, they found it was also horrible at turning quickly while it was up to speed. Using this, the three took a bit of a long route as they headed toward the presence Andaros felt.

"Damn it! This thing just won't given up," the giantess shouted as she dodged around a tree.

Fortunately for her, the big lizard couldn't shift it's center of gravity quickly enough, and ran into the tree she just avoided. It fell over, and while it spent time flailing and bashing into the tree while attempting to get up, they were about to put some distance between it and them.

Andaros noticed the trees increasing in size as they continued to run further into an older section of the orchard. They began to see trees of such size that they dwarfed the dinosaur like beast as they miraculously continued to avoid it's teeth, claws, and tail. Huge roots undulated through the ground, and the three started using them to avoid the beasts's attacks that were increasingly more difficult to dodge. They couldn't spare a moment to rest and continued to run while running through gaps under the massive trees.

Come on, where is it?

-----

The sabertoothed cat awoke to a terrifying roar, and looked back to see a horrifying sight. The Grrrv, as her people called their kind, was hot on their heels, and the young two-legs carrying her was barely managing to stay ahead of it. She was not stupid, in fact her race had the highest level of sentience of any of the native creatures on the planet. She, herself, had a level of IQ equivalent to an average human. It was not the highest in the galaxy by far, but still more than enough to qualify as a sentient creature by galactic standards.

As a result, she was well aware that carrying her was not in the two-legs boy's self-interest. In fact, continuing to carry her was only a hindrance to him, and only served to slow him down and endanger his life, as it limited the gaps in the roots of the trees around him that he could use to avoid the Grrrv's attacks. Her people had recently attempted a raid on the other two-legs, and she had even tried to attack him while fleeing from the Grrrv, hoping to gain enough sustenance to flee without passing out from exhaustion due to a severe lack of food.

Yet as she was jumping to attack, his hand came down, knocking her down and causing her to quickly drift into a slumber she did not expect to awaken from. Thus, she found herself very surprised that she was still alive, and increasingly more grateful to this young two-legs who refused to put her down despite the fact that she had almost become his killer. This boy was willing to save her despite the dangers from both herself and the Grrrv, something no beast on the planet would ever do.

Her race was quite an interesting one. They practiced an old custom in which one who's life has been saved by another belongs to that person, and will pledge their life completely to that being until the day they day. This meant that if this young two-legs were to succeed in saving her life she would have to pledge her life to protect him, which didn't seem so bad considering the fact that he was so insistent on protecting her.

Were he of the same race she would almost certainly insist on bearing his children. Almost every female has two main perogatives in raising a family, first is that her mate is willing to protect her through thick and thin, and second being that she will protect her children even at the cost of her own life. This is unfortunately not true for all females, but in general is an instinctual urge, although it can be ignored.

In this case, the young two-legs had accomplished the first already as he was willing to protect her even despite being hunted down by a Grrrv. There is, of course, another part of choosing a mate, that being he must be of the same race, or at least a similar race that is compatible. This meant that the young two-legs would not normally be considered a candidate for a mate, but she no longer had any of her race to rely on, so her savior was currently the only possible mate she had. Yet that was a matter for the future, they may find more of her race by the time she matured enough to mate, which she believed would probably be for the best.

The Mroa, as her race called themselves, lived in tribes similar to lion prides. These prides did not generally associate with each other, and often would only come together when they had conflicts, or when one, or both, prides were in need of more females. Generally conflicts were resolved through organized combat involving three different males from each pride fighting one on one battles against each other. The winning pride would take the spoils, usually being territory, for therir own. The losing pride would be forced to live in a smaller area, or in some cases move on. No killings were allowed.

Battles for females were different, they were conflicts that decided the fate of a pride. As such, they were most often battles to the death, but could also end with one group leaving their young females and fleeing. Usually the second option caused severe issues for the production of the pride that ran, but there was a chance for the pride to survive rather than be destroyed and have all the females treated only as breeding vessels rather than members of the pride.

She herself was very young by her people's reckoning, being only six months old, but would soon be capable of reproduction. This was a mechanism for survival on this planet. The Mroa grew to adulthood quickly, but once they matured their aging process slowed to a snail's pace. The mature females among the Mroa would go into heat every half a month and could conceive a child and give birh within four months. Their physiology was such that they could also conceive a child for up to 500 years, assuming they did not become pregnant during that time, in which case they would last longer. As far as menopause was concerned, there was no such thing among their race, and they could live for 1,500 years without the issues two-legged women experience during that time. While they do not experience the issues two-legged females do during their periods, they still experience a mildly irritating sensation during the two to three days it lasts and thus males tend to steer clear of females during that time.

One last bit of trivia about the Mroa, they were able to mature so quickly as a result of two kinds of ancestral memory. The pride's ancestral memory included their pride's base language, pride culture, and the major customs their pride followed. The second type is a deeper kind that allows them to instinctually understand how to do all of the things normal animals do, such as walking without being shown how. The pride ancestral memory was passed down by the father, while the more important deep ancestral memory was passed on by the mother.

While the female Mroa, who had yet to receive a name, not yet having matured, watched the deadliest enemy the Mroa faced chase after her and the male two-legs who carried her, he continued to run alongside the two-legged females deeper into the grove all the native creatures located nearby feared, including herself. She would likely be struggling to flee herself if not for her exhaustion, and the gigantic lizard chasing after them.

This particular Grrrv had been stalking her pride for months. Because this creature was hunting them, they couldn't hunt for food, and their pride had dwindled down until there were very few left. Out of desparation, they decided to raid the two-legs for food. They found a group out away from their main holdings, but their attempt failed miserably and they were attacked by the Grrrv before they had a chance to either attmpt another attack, or flee before it caught them. In her confusion she ran into the trees, and ran into the boy, and the rest was history.

-----

Scar was angry! He had been stalking this group of Mroa for months, and had finally pushed them toward death. He had decided to destroy them completely, but now all his plans were in ruins. Just as he was about to close his revenge, this two-legs and his friends had interfered when he was about to finish the last one off. Why was Scar so vindictive?

To understand his motive, one must go back to many years ago. You see, Scar's name derived from an event seventeen years before, an event that would change his status among his kind completely. Still, to understand one must also know a bit more trivia about the planet, information pertaining to the Mroa and Grrrv. The Mroa were not the only sentient beasts on the planet, the Grrrv were equally intelligent, and far more ruthless.

The Mroa were omnivores, despite looking like lions with oversized incisors, the Grrrv on the other hand were carnivores in the truest sense. The Mroa's idea of raising a family was tough, but they were very loving. As for the Grrrv, it was completely different, they were almost completely uncaring of their children. Grrrv females laid a clutch, and then moved on. The Grrrv racial memory was completely biased toward hunting, fighting, and reproduction. They had no racial memory for language, and only had some basic vocal queues that indicated the base emotions.

Once Grrrv children hatched from their eggs they were on their own, and their survival was independant of their parents. Young Grrrv were very vulnerable, and rarely did they survive beyond several months old. When fully grown, they were tyrants who took great pleasure in torturing their victims before they finally killed them. They had a habit of eating their victims alive, in the most horribly slow way imaginable, before finally giving them the death blow. So, other beasts tended to actively kill any young Grrrv they found before they had the chance to grow large enough to be a danger.

While adult Grrrv did congregate, unlike their young, they still hunted solo. Ten years ago, Scar was on a hunt when he spotted a couple of young Mroa out on their own. He attacked the young female, planning on torturing her before the male's eyes. He was proud of his might, and that pride soon became his greatest embarrassment. He captured the female Mroa, intent on torturing her, but unlike he believed would happen, the male Mroa did not sit there in fear while he tortured the female. Against all expectations, that male Mroa attacked when he was about to begin his torture of the female, slashing his left eye and knocking him off of the female Mroa. By the time he managed to get back up, the two Mroa managed to get away without leaving a trace, no amount of searching could reveal their presence. It didn't matter how hard he tried, he could only skulk away and hunt down something else, not daring to play with his next victim.

Unfortunately for him, another adult Grrrv saw what happened, and by the time he returned the story had been spread among all the adult Grrrv. His pride took a huge hit that day, he wasn't able to find the two Mroa, and more importantly he was unable to find who had spread his shame and smeared it all over his face. All he could do was accept the name he received from this event and stew in his own juices. As he could not find out who had spread the events of that day, Scar had been unable to relieve his anger. He swore he would have his vengeance upon the two Mroa and their pride. Yet, he was never able to locate them, that is until six months ago when he came across a pride of Mroa.

It was by chance that he saw them. Out of the corner of his eye, Scar noticed a Mroa couple taking care of their recently born litter of cubs. They seemed familiar, but it took him a while to place where he had seen them. Once he did, Scar began to snarl, and almost rushed out to slaughter them at that moment, but barely managed to hold himself back. Attacking at that time would have been foolhardy as their's was a very large pride. Instead, he had bided his time and looked for ways to dwindle their pride to a managable level.

His first chance came when the young Mroa had been sent out for their first hunt. He stalked their hunting pack and waited for the right timing before taking one of the three cubs of that hated pair. He couldn't toy with his prey, but then he had stopped doing so the day that damnable male Mroa had given him his scar. During that trip he had managed to get another cub from his most hated enemies' litter, but missed out on a third when the female the two-legs was now carrying had managed to run to her pride with Scar in hot pursuit.

The pride had managed to chase him off, much to his own chagrin, and had quickly stopped sending out young ones easily for hunting purposes. This had forced Scar into a bit of a bind, but in the end he decided to begin hunting down and dwindling the numbers of Mroa in the tribe. He decided to destroy the rest of their pride slowly and relish the despair gradually overcome his enemies. Yet, he acted cautiously, and slowly dwindled their numbers, beginning with solo Mroa, and slowly increasing the amounts only when there was no other choice. This was a gamble, but a safer gamble than outright attacking the two and their cubs. His lesser gamble paid off, and the pride slowly began to panic. He savoured the deliciousness of it all, putting off the time he would kill his prey while enjoying their despair.

The Mroa despaired while slowly starving. It was ironic, and he enjoyed the hunt. Yet still, he almost lost his chance at revenge when the remaining Mroa attacked the two-legs hoping to obtain food to feed themselves and get away. He took advantage of the distraction the two-legs provided in order to approach, planning to take them out in one fell swoop, but his attack failed to catch the young female. While he was preoccupied with the mature Mroa, after his initial attack took out the other two young Mroa, she had run into this forest. When he finally chased after her, this two-legged male carried her and ran.

So that lead to the current situation, Scar chased the boy while the female two-legs helped their companion now and then. It was even getting more difficult to prevent them from opening up space between themselves and him. Scar also felt a niggling feeling about this place, but in his rage he completely couldn't think of what it might be that bothered him. Therefore, he continued to chase the boy, unaware of the danger the area represented.

-----

As Andaros continued to run, it became increasingly difficult to weave through the tree roots and avoid the teeth of the gigantic dinosaur-like beast that was chasing him. Many times he was forced to squeeze through a less than optimal space in order to avoid the jaws of the beast, they all were. He had to squeeze under short passages, or through thin passages that were difficult to navigate with the sabertoothed beast on his shoulders. The giantess was having an even more difficult time as she had to climb over, or widen these passages to get through, she generally stuck to climbing over if it was a short passage, and broke open thin paths that weren't too short to quickly widen them.

The good news was that the roots were becoming more and more maze-like, forcing the lizard to slow down at turns, and giving them time to once again enlarge the distance between themselves and it. The only problem was that they were starting to no longer see gaps in the roots. Andaros was aware that the sabertooth was awake, how could he not be when it shifted small amounts when he needed to somehow shift it in order to make it through an area? Still, he could easily tell that she was too weak to run, or even walk, on her own.

She never struggled, or tried to get away, causing Andaros to be a bit convinced that she had some intelligence. She would often make her movements in anticipation, helping him to make it through much easier. As they continued running, he became more and more convinced that she was sentient, and that she understood that he was doing his best to save her. This was not a guaranteed thing, but it was seeming more and more certain to him.

"How much longer do we have to run?!"

"Ask that damn lizard!"

"Why the hell do we even have to do this?!"

"The important question is where we're going!"

"Who cares?! If we just drop that beast, maybe that other beast will stop long enough for us to get away!"

"N-n-n-no! W-w-w-won't d-d-d-do th-th-th-that!"

"Argh! This is so frustrating!"

This was the way the little bit of conversing went as they continued to run. As they rounded a corner in the maze, Reiya howled in frustration at the fact that Andaros wouldn't drop the sabertooth, and the fact that the roots were now so tightly packed that not even the giantess could climb the walls to escape. Thankfully, the maze became harder for the huge lizard to maintain speed within, so they were able to put some distance between themselves and it.

Coming around yet another corner, they ran out into a rather big clearing with a large hill within. Unfortunately, they could see all around the clearing and yet could not find another passage to escape.

"Great! We're gonna die here," Reiya screamed as they continued running, making their way for the only possible source of shelter from the beast that was chasing them.

"We are so f****d," the giantess couldn't help voicing her thoughts under the current circumstances.

*RRRRRROOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!*

The tyranosaur beast rounded the corner of the maze behind them and, with a gigantic roar, began chasing them, excitement evident in it's manner. The three picked up speed, but no amount of effort could allow them to outrun the beast, it was quickly catching up. It was at this moment that things went incredibly wrong. Andaros didn't notice a rock sticking up in his pathway as he had his head turned to see how fast the beat was catching up, and unfortunately his foot collided with the obstacle, causing him to trip. Andaros and the sabertooth rolled haphazardly and ended up sprawled out on the ground.

Andaros took a moment to recover, and looked to see the sabertooth female look his way with what looked to be thankfulness, and regret. In a second, he turned to see massive jaws with row upon row of razorsharp teeth heading his way.

"Oh shi. . ."

-----

A roar rang out in the orchard, a blood curdling heavy roar. All the beasts in the area turned and fled, not daring to stay near such a predator. They already had an instinctual fear of that place, but now their fears reached new heights. Few beasts would dare to brave the area near the orchard in the coming months.