Careless Curiosity

“Oh this is gonna be fun!”, The large hairy man excitedly yells as he pounds his fist into his hand, “We’ve got a big lizard.” I look at the man with a large grin as excitement consumes me. Is it what I think he means!?

“A dinosaur!?”, I cheer excitedly at the thought. I have always wanted to see a live one, who has not? Apparently these two men, they both give me a look of confusion at the word.

“Dino-”, The scrawnier one repeats.

“-Sore?”, The burly one finishes. “No idea what that is.”, He adds.

“Nir, what should we do with her?”, The thinner one asks the burly one as they look at each other. Incredibly rude of them to talk about me as if I am not here. I am probably older than both of them to boot.

Before Nir can answer a loud crashing sound, like a tree falling in the forest, draws our attention.

“Shit!”, Nir mutters loud enough for us to hear. “Tolbin,”, The man looks at the lankier one, all of his cheeriness is gone now, as he speaks, “Get the kid back and I’ll distract it away from us. Clear?”

“Crystal.”, Tolbin responds before scooping me up in his arms. Damn it! I want to see a dinosaur! I did not have to wait long for that though.

A massive reptile steps into view, the top of its skin a mahogany color while its underbelly was white. My eyes go wide and I tremble in Tolbin’s arms as Nir pulls out his bow.

A high pitch whistle sounds followed by a loud thunk against a tree. As I think that would not distract such a creature, I am quickly proven wrong as the dinosaur looks over towards the loud thunk sound.

“Al-”, I stutter quietly aloud as Tolbin tries to hide the two of us as he runs away, “Allosaurus!?” Tolbin ignores what I am saying as he runs. Nir disappears from my sight, I assume he is going to set up a trap or something to catch the large beast. Doubt it will work but how would I know, I am not a slayer like him. Perhaps he will have some amazing anti-dinosaur spray for all I know.

“Just stay calm.”, Tolbin mutters, “Stay calm.” The young man’s words interrupt my thoughts. But I figure he is saying this more to himself. I tighten my grip on the man, trying to let him know we will be okay. “It’ll be alright.”, He mutters once again as he hides behind a tree.

“I don’t think mister Nir is gonna be able to handle an allosaurus alone.”, I say to the young man as I try to hide my own fear. “I can get back without being caught.”, I inform him as I put his head in my hands.

“Not yet.”, He replies as he buries my head into his shoulder once again and begins to run towards the orphanage once more. “Damn it.”, He grumbles as he begins to speed down an incline faster than he intends.

-- -- --

“Alright.”, Tolbin says as he finally lowers me to the ground. “We’re not too far away now.”, He continues as he kneels down and meets me at eye level, “You should be safe from here.” But before I can reply he stands up and scuffles my hair before he turns back around to head off whence we came.

“Finally.”, I mutter as the lanky man leaves my line of sight. “Now to see that allosaurus.”, I state with a smile. It was terrifying to see, but so exhilarating. I have never felt like that before, I used to be just a cog in the capitalist machine after all. I slowly follow Tolbin back. Staying in hiding as best I can to not draw his or, more importantly, the allosaurus’ attention.

-- -- --

I feel a low rumble shake through my little body. Was that the allosaurus? I duck behind a tree to keep out of sight.

“Tolbin!”, Nir’s voice is raspy as he yells. The burly man is holding a hatchet as he enters my field of view. The allosaurus leaps towards Nir, but the man leaps out of the way. Unfortunately for me that means the allosaurus lands very close to my tree. Even worse, it lands without losing all of its momentum and knocks the tree.

“Ahhhhh!”, I involuntarily yell out as the tree leans towards me and I fall to the ground.

The allosaurus collects itself much faster than I thought it would and its large eye opens to meet my gaze. It opens its mouth and bites towards me before quickly giving up and getting back to its feet. Thankfully, I am already running away in a zigzag. I doubt that will work, but maybe it is like an alligator? The dinosaur lowers its head as it begins to properly chase me through the woods. I look back with wild eyes to see the mouth of the monster open and surging towards me, easy prey despite being less than a snack I suppose. This life was even shorter then the last...

“Over here you damn lizard!”, Tolbin’s voice resounds through the forest with a yell full of fury. He leaps into my view from around a tree with a magical spear in hand. The man thrusts the tip of the spear towards the creature and a massive surge of frost encases the allosaurus’ head.

I slow myself down to a stop as I stare at the sight slack jawed. Magic? Was that magic just now?

Tolbin thrusts his frigid spear into the dinosaur’s gut as Nir runs over to the downed beast.

“I’ll deal with you in a moment.”, The thin hunter says to me with an authoritative tone and paralyzing stare. In this moment, I feel like the kid waiting to be called in to see the principal.

“What is the kid still doing here!?”, Nir yells in confusion as he gets closer. Instead of answering, Tolbin continues to open the wound in the creature’s gut. I would answer Nir myself but I am too stunned with fear from the younger man’s gaze. The bear of a man sighs before he looks over at Tolbin, the frost spear now gone, and the kill. “Not the cleanest.”, He states. “But a kill is a kill.”, He adds. He walks over to the lankier man and puts out a fist. “Good job, Journeyman.”, He finishes. The younger man looks at Nir’s face with wide eyes and down at his fist before bumping it with his own.

“Thank you Nir.”, Tolbin finally manages to say with relief.

“If we had known it was something this big or dangerous we would’ve sent more than just a journeyman and an apprentice.”, Nir explains. He turns to look at me as he continues, “You’ve done more than well enough on this job to earn the rank and more from what I’ve seen.” The large man walks over to me and puts one of his large hands around my head, nearly enveloping it, as he speaks to me now in a stern tone, “And you little lady nearly got all of us killed.” He lifts me up with his one arm so that we are at eye level with each other. “I think you might have what it takes to be a Slayer yourself.”, He says with a large grin.

Nir begins to bellow with hardy laughter as he lowers me back to my feet. I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that I am finally truly safe. At least that is until I notice the new journeyman’s petrifying gaze upon me once again.

“Lydia.”, Tolbin says nearly inaudibly as he steps closer to Nir and I. “I told you to head back.”, He continues saying as he stops next to the thawing skull of the allosaurus. “You’re lucky this time.”, He comments as he puts a hand on the ice. A moment later, the ice rapidly thaws.

“Yes she is.”, Nir adds with a nod as he looks at the dinosaur’s thawed skull. “But I also ordered you to take her all the way back.”, He quickly rebukes as he bends down and begins to bury his hatchet into the kill’s mouth.

“But sir.”, Tolbin objects with a look at Nir, “You’d probably be dead if I didn’t come back sooner!”

“Most likely.”, Nir responds as he pulls out a tooth, “Which is why I’m saying we just let the kid off too.” Nir turns to me with a smile and reaches out the tooth towards me. “I think you’ve earned this for helping us out.”, Nir says to me, more as an order than a request.

“I-”, I stammer in surprise as I tentatively walk towards him, “I can, really have it!?” Nir simply nods his head as he puts the large tooth in my small hands. The thing is surprisingly light, I expected it to be quite heavy but it just is not, strange.