Page 6 of Orange Town
“We did not stop anywhere, if that’s what you’re asking. He just kept on running too fast. I even slept for some time. When I woke up, we were near this place.”
He became silent after that. Not that it was uncomfortable. It looked as if he was digesting all the information.
He was looking slightly to my left. So I looked closely at him. Aside from him looking more sophisticated than Zirc, I noticed he has a ring, or at least three rings, on his fingers. The rings were made of zinc metal with small studs. The studs looked a bit like gems.
He is built like a swimmer. Unlike Zirc who is more like a professional wrestler. And Zirc is taller.
Again, why am I comparing him to Zirc? I wonder if he will take me to him? My safety net is far away, and I felt compelled to follow Zirc. I just can’t explain this pull inside me that wants me to be near him.
“Sorry,” I interrupted. “Do you know where I can find Zirc?”
And though I am not 100% convinced this guy is a friend, I just want to be near Zirc.
“Why do you want to find him?”
“I’m not sure if I’m safe here. He mentioned before that he was on a mission. The way things turned out recently, I would say it’s a dangerous mission. But I don’t know anyone here. Or at least if there’s a way to communicate with him?”
“Do you know what this place is?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “No. When I woke up one day, he just left. I searched for him but I was afraid I was going to get lost, so I kept coming back here. So far I have seen no one around except for you.”
“How many sun rotations has it been?”
“Sun rotations? Oh, you mean days. About six days.” And a half day. If I had a watch, I would have kept the hour, minute and second of it.
“This place is his sanctuary.”
“Oh, then it means your tribe is near here?” Strange to say the tribe word instead of a village or city.
“No. This is actually very far from where we are. It takes 7 sun rotations for him to reach us. In a scout.”
Not sure if I believe him 100%. Or maybe Zirc is persona non grata in his tribe? And I do not know what a scout is. Is that what they call that horse?
“I find it weird that he will dump you here. In his sanctuary. With nothing to fend for yourself.” He looked skeptical.
“He gave me this.” I felt compelled to defend the brute. I took out the crystal he gave me. I have fashioned the edges to be sharp enough to cut what I call the beef jerky.
Roqs gasped. He tried to rearrange his features, but I can see that it shocked him to see the crystal. I covered it with my hand as if he wanted to snatch it from me.
He did not take the crystal, but he looked at me sharply. “He gave this to you? When?”
“Before we arrived in the village of the Blue Tribe.”
He looked at me. Seconds tick by. Then suddenly he stood up. He stepped out of the lanai and was now pacing in front of it. So the guy likes to pace when he’s thinking. I looked at the crystal in my hand. What is the significance of this crystal?
Oh shoot, is this like a magical thing or a part of Zirc and now I literally abused it with a rock and sharpened the edges?
I stood up and went to the opening of the lanai. Roqs turned and strode towards me. Thunder on his face.
I slowly retraced my steps.
He is suddenly in front of me, his arm outstretched.
“Give that to me.”
I felt like a kid. Of course, my reaction is to close my hand around it and place said hand behind my back. He looked pissed off. Not exactly murderous, so it should be okay.
“Do you have any idea what that crystal is?”
