Jamie's Story Chapter III

Chapter III

The next morning Jamie still hadn't quite worked through what he had done the day before. He had put his life in danger by helping an animal which could have just killed and eaten him. It had been pure luck that the Raptor had run away, possibly too shocked to see Jamie as prey at that moment. He rubbed uneasily over his left arm.
He had to pull himself together. Nothing had happened and he had helped a creature, which otherwise would surely have died in this trap, and he now had wire and plug, which might be helpful one day.
Jamie's stomach growled loudly, which made him realize again that he urgently needed something other than berries to eat. So Jamie had no choice but to try his luck with the fish again. He slowly got up. The muscles hurt from his trip yesterday and he felt stiff. "Oh God," he mumbled quietly. "The worst muscle-ache of my life.
With the spear in his hand he went down to the river, to the place where he had almost caught one of the fish before. He washed himself thoroughly before he squatted on the stone again and waited until the silver shadows returned in the water. It was hard for him to concentrate, as the images of his experience the day before kept popping up in his mind.

Jamie watched the fish swimming lazily through the water, darting to the surface to catch one of the little flies that circled near the surface. The soft humming of insects filled the air, which was already warm again even in the morning. The soft sound of the water had a calming effect on the young man, so that the events of the day before faded for the time being. Jamie waited patiently until finally one of the clumsy looking fish swam close enough to the stone. It was a great representative of its kind, trying to catch a fly humming just above the surface. Jamie saw his chance come and stabbed, even struck the fat fish. The wooden spear drilled deep into the flesh. Unfortunately, Jamie hadn't considered the animal's weight and was dragged into the river by the wriggling creature. He crashed into the cool water, arms rowing. Swearing and coughing, Jamie dragged himself to the shore. Now his spear was gone along with the fish. He pushed himself upwards and wanted to go to his cave, frustrated, when he saw that his spear had become entangled in some stones the fish still impaled on it. The fish wriggled in agony, but could not escape. Jamie ran to the spear and could hardly believe his luck. It took a while until Jamie had managed to get the fish and spear out of there, but in the end he lay breathing heavily, the fish next to him on the riverbank.

Jamie looked at the big fish next to him and sat up. Now he had to do the rather unsightly part, gutting the fish. He made a face, but had little choice. He pulled the knife out of the sheath on his leg and started to cut the fish's stomach open. He shuddered, but continued until the entrails of the fish poured out.
"Oh man... it's disgusting." he hummed quietly to himself and started to scratch the whole thing out with his hands and the knife. Then he cut off the head. He would have to throw the fish offal into the river to avoid predators. But first he decided to wash the fish in the water, just like his hands.
With his hands still in the water, Jamie suddenly felt like he was being watched. He looked carefully back over his shoulder, but could not see anything, and apart from the soft noise of the water and the typical sounds of the forest, nothing could be heard.
Jamie slowly took the big fish before he slowly went to the shore, without losing sight of the edge of the forest from which something or someone seemed to observed him. The young man breathed deeply. The uncomfortable feeling that it was the little beasts that had already badly hurt him once overcame him and he began to tremble slightly. He was afraid, because the memory of the event came up again. Only luck had ensured that he was still alive.
Jamie slowly withdrew, but suddenly stopped when he could see a shadow under one of the bushy trees. Yellow eyes watched him, seeming to wait and watch what Jamie did. As if paralyzed, Jamie stood there staring at the creature. By its size it was a Utha Raptor and Jamie already knew which animal was standing there. His suspicion was confirmed when the black animal slowly came out of the bushes. It was limping and carefully approached the fish remains, which were only a few meters away from Jamie. The animal did not let Jamie out of its sight.

Even in this condition, it would be easy for the Raptor to overpower and kill Jamie. The young man would be an easy prey for the animal to feed on. Instead, it continued to approach the remains and had no interest in attacking Jamie. Rather, it feared that Jamie could drive it away. Still frozen in fear, he just watched. His legs just didn't want to move, although everything in him screamed to run away. The black Raptor, finally at the fish remains, looked again at Jamie, before it swallowed the remains in several bites and then quickly disappeared into the forest.
Jamie's hands trembled uncontrollably and it was hard for him to hold fish the fish. He swallowed several times and forced his legs to move. The shock and fear sat deep in his bones as he went back to his cave. Once he reached the top, he took a deep breath. He had to calm down. The animal had done nothing to him, although it could have, almost as if it remembered exactly the person who helped it. To distract himself, Jamie began to light a fire . Only a few minutes later, he had started a crackling fire and added enough wood to give him time to look for a suitable stick to use to fry the fish. But he would have to go down again. The thought of that made his stomach hurt.

His search didn't last long and everything remained calm. He returned to his fire and sharpened the stick he had found before impaling the fish on it. He waited until only glowing coals were left before he laid the fish over it. He had often barbecued with his foster parents, so he knew that a burning fire would only burn everything and the heat of the coals would be sufficient to slowly cook the fish. The smell of the grilled fish rose into his nose and his stomach began to growl loudly. Jamie would have liked to eat the fish immediately, but held back. The young man waited patiently. He didn't want to eat any of it until it was completely cooked.
When the fish was finally ready it tasted godly. Jamie had trouble not to devour the whole thing and had to muster all his willpower to eat slowly. The tender meat tasted wonderful and every bite seemed to give Jamie a little strength back. He ate almost half the fish before leaning back full and content. He yawned and wrapped the rest of the fish in a few large leaves. He would save that for tomorrow. Sleepy from the food he cuddled into the blanket next to the fire and fell asleep.

For the next two days Jamie was less successful, but slowly got an eye for how to hunt so the fish wouldn't get away from him. On the third day he managed to catch one of the big fish again. He put aside after it had breathed out his life to possibly catch another one. It was still early in the day and he had enough time. He squatted as so often lately on the rock he had chosen as his hunting ground and waited until the fish recovered from their shock and slowly came back. But with the fish came the feeling of being watched again. Jamie slowly looked around and watched the edge of the forest, this time looking for the dark scheme of the raptor. It hadn't appeared in the last two days but today Jamie could feel that the animal was nearby. The trees cast treacherous shadows in which it was difficult to see anything.
He climbed from the rock into the water and walked towards his fish, which lay on a rock at the edge of the river.

Jamie took the fish carefully as the black Raptor peeled out of the shadows and slowly trotted to the edge of the lake. He was still limping as he approached the water for a drink. He was about to look in Jamie's direction, knowing fully well that the young man was standing there.
The fur-like feathers shimmered bluish in the sunlight and moved slightly in the gentle breeze. Jamie watched marvelous creature in silence. He was still afraid, but not to the same extent as a few days ago. He approached carefully and took a look at his fish, breathed deeply and laid it visibly on the ground before taking a few steps back.
The Raptor paused drinking and observed what the man was doing. That the animal was weighing whether he meant well or wanted to trap it.
Jamie squatted down to look less threatening and although his heart was beating up to his throat, curiosity was greater. He wanted to know how the Raptor would react to the whole thing. Surely it was hard for the animal with the injured leg to hunt.

Jamie retreated even further as the Raptor still hesitated. The creature tilted its head slightly before slowly approaching without letting Jamie out of its sight. The Raptor sniffed audibly at the fish before grabbing it and disappearing into the undergrowth of the forest in a flash. Jamie looked at the place where the Raptor had disappeared into the forest for a long time.
"There goes my food..." he said quietly to himself and went back to the rock. Maybe he was lucky again and was able to catch something for himself. Unfortunately he remained unsuccessful and gathered some berries in the late evening. He sat thoughtfully by his little fire for a long time and tried to process what had happened today before he retreated into the small cave to sleep.

More to come soon..

This one still needs beta reading. Sadly I am no native speaker so some stuff may sound wired for a native speaker.

Jamie's Story Chapter II

Chapter II

The day was hot again and the sun was high in the sky, while Jamie trotted along the beach, which became more tiring with every passing hour. He had passed the little Dodo colony long ago and now stood in front of a ragged cliff, which led steeply upwards and ended the long sandy beach abruptly. He looked up, it was clear that he could never climb up, it was much too high and his strength was dwindling. He was not used to long walks, not to mention the heat. There were only two choices: going back or he would have to venture into the forest. He only had to take a short route back, where he had seen a kind of natural trail. Maybe from a red deer or something. Inland, he would certainly find some water. The pitiful remnant in the flask had been drunk some time ago. Jamie decided to go back to the path he luckily found quickly. It led up in a gentle slope and disappeared behind a wooded hilltop. It was impossible for a deer to make a trail such as this one.

The soft rustle of leaves made Jamie jump. Realizing it was only the wind, he briefly closed his eyes to gather strength, then made his way up. The chubby man walked slowly and cautiously, jumping with every little sound. It seemed that apart from a few smaller forest dwellers, there was nothing to fear. From time to time he could hear the chirping of a little bird. Jamie swallowed hard and continued dragging himself up the path that did not look as steep as it felt. Each step exhausted him more and when he finally reached the top, he was completely out of breath and sat down for a moment to rest.

Jamie must have dozed off, because when he opened his eyes, it was dark. Moonlight broke through the green canopy and bathed parts of the forest floor in silver light. The wind had picked up and the constant rustling of the treetops made it hard to hear other sounds coming out of the forest. He felt very unexperienced. He stared hard into the forest, but the dark shadows made it almost impossible. He felt lost, and he was terribly thirsty. To find water he was supposed to go on, but if he lost the path in the dark, he’d never get back. Jamie swallowed the lump that started to build in his throat and decided to go a little bit further. He was grateful for the cool nighttime air.
Branches brushed Jamie's arms and his face from time to time, scratching his soft skin. Once he even stumbled over a root and hit his knees hard. A branch gave him a long scratch on the cheek. He slowly touched the cut and felt something warm and sticky running down, blood. He sniffed and stood back up, stumbling awkwardly through the darkness until he heard a faint rippling sound. Jamie paused and listened. It sounded like the little stream he used to play at in his childhood. He and his foster father had carved bark boats. They had put them in the water so they could swim down the creek. Strange that he now remembered that detail so clearly where the rest of his memories were like a moth-eaten carpet.

Jamie noticed that the steep climb had given way, he was now trotting downhill. The sound of a trickling stream caught his attention. Relieved, he crouched down to drink some of the refreshing water, which soothed his throat. He then washed his face, sitting down on the edge which he easily could make out by the moonlight. Exhausted, he curled up and fell asleep.

When he woke up the next day, it was still early. He was suddenly woken by the noise of strange chattering, he groaned, he would have liked to have slept a little longer. He sat up, slowly and noticed small creature nearby. It looked almost like a very small Raptor. It was partially feathered, especially noticeable was the little feather comb which the little creature had set up while it watched Jamie curiously. The small, long snout was peppered with tiny sharp teeth, protruding slightly from its mouth. The creature looked harmless enough. Jamie tried to place the beast, but had no idea what it could be.
The creature tilted its head slightly to the side and again made a soft chittering noise, whereupon another answered, a rustle in the leaves revealed that it was approaching as well. Jamie felt uncomfortable, and reached for his backpack, staring into the bushes to try to make out the second creature. It was not easy, the brownish color camouflaging it in in the undergrowth.

Without hesitating, Jamie clutched his backpack against his chest and he slowly stood. Before he knew it, a pair of these dinosaurs were standing nearby. One of the them aggressively hissed at Jamie. The young man flinched and could hear further rustling to his left. His head jerked in its direction. The little creatures no longer felt the necessity to hide and Jamie could count a little more than half a dozen of them. He walked slowly backwards toward the creek. He had not seen any there after all, he broke into a run but promptly stumbled over a branch, hitting the floor. The fall knocked the air out of his lungs. Gasping for breath, he tried to stand, but one of the little monsters seized the opportunity and sank its teeth into Jamie's arm. He screamed in pain. The small razor-sharp teeth burned like fire. In a panic, Jamie crawled to the river managed to scramble to his feet. He hit the creature with his backpack, causing it to let go with a furious squeal. Jamie started running, as the other creatures jumped from the bushes.

He ran as fast as he could, the little beasts close behind. He heard their aggressive hisses and squeals behind him. One of them tried to jump at him, landing hard on the ground behind him, knocking one of his pack members down with it. His lungs burned, his breath became painful and heavy. His bleeding arm burned painfully. He knew that he could not run much longer and the little monsters behind him were persistent. Jamie had no choice, he had to keep running despite being exhausted. Somehow, he had to shake the beasts off. He ran on, panting, towards one of the trees. The sight of the big tree was like a flash of light. He did not even have to climb high, just enough to be out of reach. He used the last of his strength to climb the tree. He slipped off several times, one of the animals locked its jaws onto Jamie's pants.
Desperation pushed him higher into the tree, as he finally manages to get to climb onto a thick branch. The little dinosaur still clung to his pants like a little bulldog. He found a rage inside of himself that he didn’t know, reaching for the knife in the backpack, stabbing the little creature. All of the anger that was building inside him was spent on that little creature, his anger overwhelmed him. He remembered the people that treated him like shit with no care of his suffering.
The creature cried pitifully, its painful squeals reached Jamie’s ears. Bleeding and mortally wounded, the beast let go. It fell out of the tree, screeching as it did, and without a second thought the other creatures consumed the poor thing. Jamie began to cry, as he stared at the bloody knife. His body trembled, and with a grunt he chucked the knife into a bush beneath him. He clung to the thick branch and wept.

After some time, he wiped his eyes with his uninjured arm and looked down. He was a little dizzy and his arm was still throbbing with pain, although it had stopped bleeding. The little beasts had disappeared. Either they had given up or the meat of the dead had filled them for the time being. It was probably time to climb down and find the knife, which he now regretted tossing away. It was a wonder he’d managed to climb this high up, he had never been the best climber. About three meters separated him and the ground, how in the world would he get down now? He moved slowly backwards towards the tree trunk, maybe shimming down would be easiest. His arm burned and throbbed, and he lost his grip.

He clumsily crashed to the ground, falling on his back. The fall forced the air out of his lungs and Jamie coughed and tried to breathe again. He whimpered briefly, it hurt, but he was thankful he could still move. He stood up slowly, swaying slightly and began to look for the knife, feeling dizzy. Jamie picked up the bloodied knife and decided to clean it later, as he put it in his backpack. Unaware of where to go now, he looked around and decided to continue in the direction he had run. It made no difference in the end. No matter where he went, he would not know where the path would lead him.

He had completely lost any sense of time, and had the worst headache of his life. His arm throbbed, and he also noticed the dizziness had gotten worse. A large river lay before him, kneeling down in the damp grass he placed his arm in the water, in the hope that this would ease the pain a little. Although his arm ached, it wasn’t swollen and didn’t look like it was infected. The coolness of the water felt good on his sore body, he also decided to fill his canteen. The river was too dangerous to swim across, so there was only one path to follow. How he would have liked to just lie down and sleep, but his fear that those creatures may be following him was too great. He didn’t dare close his eyes.

Jamie stood up shakily, deciding to follow the river in the opposite direction. He had to find a secure place where he could relax. A small cave or a rocky outcrop would be enough.

Another hour passed, his feet dragged across the surface of the forest floor. Dawn was rising when he found a small cave. It was a little higher and nestled in the wall next to a small waterfall and a small ledge in the rock behind the led to it. It offered a good overview and at least a little safety. He dragged himself up the ledge, almost slipping on the wet rocks as he tried to steady his shaky legs. He collapsed in the small cave in exhaustion, unable to even notice the hardness of the ground under his tired body.

The next morning Jamie felt like his whole body was on fire, but he was freezing at the same time. He was sure he had a fever, a high fever. He felt sick, the world spun around him as he just managed to crawl out on all fours before throwing up on the rocks. He vomited until his stomach was empty. He crawled back into the cave, wrapping himself into the blanket in an effort to fall asleep. His head hammered as if a whole herd of elephants were dancing on it. He had never felt so ill. The burning in his arm had subsided, but he was sure that there was something more to that little creature’s bite.

The next few days Jamie was delirious. Drinking was the sole occupation in his day, the memory of how he had done it faded into a feverish dream in which he was repeatedly attacked by the little creatures. In his dream they always caught him, eating him alive. He often screamed out while dreaming, the sound of his voice echoed in the tiny cave, unheard by human ears.

The fever remained consistently high for more than two weeks and his body fought against an invisible enemy, he was more dead than alive. Jamie was not even able to stand, let alone hunt or gather food. He hardly noticed his surroundings, finding the way to the water and back only by instinct. On the 16th day, his fever started slowly to break, Jamie’s mind seemed to clear. His body ached, but he could feel his strength returning to him. He sat up with much difficulty, and leaned against the cool wall of the cave, wrapping the blanket around him. He noticed his stomach was empty, but in his present condition, he knew better than to go outside. Lost in his thoughts, he managed to nod off again, this time so exhausted that he did not even dream.

Jamie had curled up against the wall and woke up the next afternoon. With the hunger there also came the thirst and so the young man had no choice but to get up. It was hard for him and he had to lean against the wall, but he could stand. The pants he was wearing started to slip and the shirt was too loose. Jamie even had to hold the pants. He walked slowly to the backpack and searched for the belt he had seen days ago or weeks ago ? Jamie had no idea how much days had passed. He found the belt. It was a plain army belt that Jamie tried to thread into his pants. His hands were shacking and he needed several attempts.

Surprisingly, he could pull it closer than expected. He was not really aware that he had not eaten anything the whole time, only when his stomach growled and his generally weak condition made it clear he needed something to avoid getting sick again. He took a deep breath and slowly made his way to the waterfall to have a drink. At least he was able to quench his thirst and at least feel a little better. Washing would be a good thing to do as well. His own smell was pathetic. But that would have to wait. He looked over the small lake and could see at the edge of low bushes, which resembled those he had already seen with the Dodos. With luck, he could find those blue berries there. It would not be the most nutritious food, but at least a start.

It felt like an eternity before he got there. It was exhausting in his dull condition and he had to watch every step. He was lucky. The small bushes were full of berries and so he decided to sit down and picked some of them to eat them slowly, even if he would like to have to gulp them all down. His instinct, however, told him that it would had overwhelm his stomach. Even though they were just berries, Jamie felt better after eating some of them he stayed sitting for a while. He looked around, grateful that it was calm here. Insects hummed softly over the bushes and small flowers that grew along the river's edge, birds chirping in the trees. Jamie ate some more berries and slowly got up. He walked slowly to the small lake, where he shakily took off his clothes. He sniffed it and grimaced in disgust. He never thought he would ever stink like that and sat down in the water. He sighed, because the cool wet was good, even it made him shiver again. He pulled his pants and shirt to him and began to clean the whole clothes slowly bevor he started to wash himself. He saw small fish in the water and their scales sparkled in the sun as they shot past. Jamie wondered if he could catch any of them, but without a fishing rod it would be difficult. He did not even have a spear or anything like that. He looked sadly at the water before he remembered that he had the knife. He could use it to sharpen a stick to hunt the fish. He smiled slightly.

He sat for a moment, then pulled himself up and walked slowly back to the small cave. He put the wet clothes over the rocks to dry in the sun and wrapped himself in the blanket. From the little trip he was completely exhausted again. At least now he had something in his stomach, even it was not much. He curled against the cave wall to fall asleep. His sleep was restful for the first time since his illness and no nightmares plagued him. He slept quietly into the next morning.

Jamie spent another two days resting feeding on the berries growing in the area. The fever had stopped in the meantime and this morning the young man felt steadier on his feet and decided to gather a some wood to start a small fire. While doing so he was looking for a stick from which he could carve a spear. Jamie did not venture far into the woods, fearing that some of these little dinosaurs would reappear, but still he found enough wood to bring back to the small cave. He laid it down at the edge and piled some of it. He stuffed a few dry leaves underneath and tried lighting it with the flint and steel. It took him some time, but after a few minutes the leaves caught fire and he managed to set up a small fire. He fired it with some more wood before he went downstairs again. This time he took the knife with him. He had decided that one of the small trees might be best suited for carving a spear with which he could hunt fish. It did not take long until Jamie found a suitable tree. He cut it down which was more exhausting than expected. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, breathing hard, after he finally made it.
The young man had lost a lot of weight in the weeks passed and now the formerly chubby man looked almost haggard. The illness had scared his body, as well as the lack of food and the pants were now too loose around his hips and was only held by the belt. His finding in his hand, Jamie went back to the cave and was about to climb the path again when a soft rustle made him stop. He tensed, fearing that those little monsters had found him and returned, but none of them appeared and he could not hear the typical buzzing and jarring sounds.

He let his eyes wander, but he saw nothing that could have caused the noise. Maybe it had just been a harmless animal or tree branch that fell to the ground. Maybe Jamie was just too scared. He decided to go back to the cave and since nothing else happened, he quickly forgot all about it. He sat down at his little fire and began to carve a spear.

Jamie looked at his work from time to time, improved something here and there and when he was satisfied with it, he put the sharpened stick aside. Tomorrow he would try to hunt a fish with it. The sun was already low in the sky and it began to dawn. Jamie added a little more wood to the fire and snuggled into his blanket to sleep.

The next morning Jamie woke up early. The sun was just rising and bathed the little lake in golden morning light. The grass swung gently in a light breeze and the leaves rustled softly. Jamie just put on his pants, left the shirt and took spear and knife with him. He was able to gather a few berries down by the river while looking for a place where he could try his luck at fishing. Fortunately, he didn't have to go far until he found what he thought was a good place. He didn't want to go too far from the little cave either. Carefully, Jamie stepped into the cold water to get to one of the shallower stones sticking out of the water scaring away the fish that were swimming lazily in the water. The young man would have to be very patient if he wanted to catch a fish at all. Jamie positioned at on the stones, the spear in his hand and looked into the water. After all, it would be a warm day again, so being near the water brought at least a little cooling. Jamie waited and tried to move as little as possible not to frighten the fish that dared to come back.

The sun was burning hot on Jamie's back and he waited patiently until one of the fish approached far enough to reach him. Unfortunately Jamie hadn't taken the refraction of light into account. He missed the fish when he plunged into the water and only made sure that the fish darted away. He sighed softly. To be honest, he had not expected that he would make it immediately. He spent some time fishing and after many failures, Jamie finally managed to catch a fish, which however, although deadly hit still fiercely fought back and slipped to Jamie's great disappointment from the spear and swam down the river. Jamie sat down on the stone and looked into the water, disappointed.
He took a deep breath and stood up. He would probably have to settle for berries today and try again tomorrow. His stomach growled clearly as he walked along the river. A soft rustling sound made him look up and reminded him of the sound he had already heard yesterday. Jamie looked around and his grip tightened round the wooden spear. He stayed on the spot and tried to spot where the sound had come from, but it remained silent and only the soft wind could be heard. Jamie walked slowly and carefully. His heart was pounding in his throat. The young man was afraid.

Jamie flinched, because a crash in the undergrowth announced that something was coming towards him. Followed by the rustling of leaves and a strange, panic-sounding rumble, suddenly a chubby, monitor lizard-like creature broke out of the thicket next to Jamie. Obviously, the animal fled something. Jamie tightened his wooden spear. Something fast and black shot at the fleeing creature. Jamie just managed to find cover behind one of the trees. The chubby lizard hissed and screamed in agony, without a chance against the being, which squatted on him and bit into its throat. Through his studies, Jamie knew exactly what this was. It was a black Utharaptor whose furry plumage shimmered bluish in the sunlight, similar to that of a raven. Fear and fascination left Jamie standing on the tree as if frozen. He never had dared to dream that he would see such a creature alive. Despite all the fear he felt with this predator, he could still admire its beauty.
The Raptor slowly looked up and turned its head in Jamie's direction, who had begun to hold his breath, in the hope that the black Utha did not notice him. But it stared exactly at the spot where Jamie was standing. Jamie knew he was being watched. Maybe the Raptor was afraid Jamie was after his prey. He had to retreat, slowly, not run at all, because that would only trigger the hunting instinct in the creature, even with the beaten prey at its feet.

It did cost Jamie all his effort to get out of his rigidity and the fear he felt did not make it easy, especially since he could almost physically feel the raptor's gaze. He crouched besides the tree, the spear in front of him without turning his back on the creature. He took a step backwards, forcing his muscles stiff of fear to move. The Raptor didn't let Jamie out of sight until Jamie moved further away. When it no longer saw him as a danger to his prey it gave a short, rough bark. Only a short time later Jamie could see two more Raptors peeling out of the bushes rushing at the dead Lizard, starting to feed.
It wasn't until Jamie was out of sight of the creatures that he started running. He ran as fast as he could back to the small cave to hide in the back corner. He clung to his blanket and buried his face in it. Relieved having escaped alive, he began to cry softly until he finally fell asleep.

Jamie had pressed tightly against the rock wall in his sleep so that his back felt cold and stiff the next morning. His stomach growled noticeable while he was still rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He was alive after all and hunger was drilling painfully into his stomach. Jamie needed something different than berries. They kept him alive, but he would need meat to keep his strength up. Sighing softly, he rose and took the spear and the combat knife and went outside. He had completely disregarded the fire in his fear and it was now completely burnt down except for a few coals. He would take care of it later. His gaze wandered to the river. He would try his luck again with fish but first he wanted to see if there might be bird nests from which he could steal some eggs. He would have to be careful because the Raptors were still in the area and they could kill Jamie with ease. Alone with this thought his stomach cramped, but he had no choice.
Right now everything was quiet except the usual sounds of the forest. That was a good sign, after all. Jamie decided to explore the area above the waterfall today. There he could see smaller rocky slopes with crooked trees clawing into them. He should have a good view of the surroundings from up there.

An hour later Jamie finally found a way to the top of the waterfall. It had been a big detour, but still better than trying to climb and break his neck cause of the slippery stones. He now stood several meters above the cave in which he now lived and looked along the river that meandered through the forest that slowly fainted into a green plain. In the distance Jamie could make out a mountain range with snow on its tops. It would take days to get there. He turned around and decided to follow the river in the opposite direction. At least he'd find his way back. The forest began to become a little lighter here.

The spear in his hand, Jamie walked along the river, which was also rich on fish here, which kept darting away because they felt the slight shock of Jamie's steps. The forest was filled with the buzzing of insects, birds were chirping in the treetops and from time to time a loud sound could be heard in the distance, which Jamie could not assign. Jamie walked on until a strangely large tree trunk blocked his way. He would either have to swim through the water or bypass it. Jamie looked at the thick bushes next to him. They didn't seem very inviting. He was still wondering which option was the better one when the log suddenly lifted to take a step forward. Jamie flinched because he hadn't expected it at all. He looked up scared and only now did he realize that it was not a tree trunk but the leg of a giant sauropod that was about to eat the young leaves from the treetops. Jamie was fascinated by the animal, against which even an elephant looked like a lapdog. How did all these dinosaurs get here? Where was he and who had managed to bring these animals back to life? Jamie was completely confused. What was he doing here? Was this all a bad joke? Jamie just couldn't find an explanation. The great sauropod went on leisurely and ate again before taking the next step, as if there was nothing to fear. The long tail swung slowly back and forth. The direction from which the animal came was sparsely wooded and on its way here it had knocked down one or two smaller trees.

It was tempting to follow this path, but Jamie was too afraid to get lost and stayed by the river he had followed in the hope of finding something to eat. Except for a few berries, Jamie's search was unsuccessful and he turned back. Bummed, he made his way back. He would use the remaining evening hours to fish. Maybe he had better luck today. Jamie trotted along the river disappointed as he was startled by an angry growl. Jamie looked around and after a moment he heard it again. He was almost sure it sounded angry. His stomach cramped in fear and he kept listening as he ducked into one of the bushes. Again and again something hissed and growled, but didn't come closer. Despite the fear, Jamie's curiosity was now aroused and he slowly sneaked towards the direction from which the sound came. It had to be above the waterfall that Jamie could hear rushing in the distance.

The closer Jamie got, the louder the growling became, which more and more resembled a whining. Whatever it was, it was obviously in pain. Curiosity drove Jamie on until a big log blocked his way. This one was huge and reminded Jamie of one of the redwoods he had seen in pictures of American forests. The trunk must have been laying here for a long time, because it was partly overgrown with moss and the lower half had already sunk into the ground. The whining creature had to be behind it by the sounds. To save time, Jamie decided to climb onto the log. It wasn't too high and he could see better up there and he would avoid running directly into the creature.

Jamie unexpectedly managed to climb up the log. It exerted him a lot because of his still somewhat weak condition, but because he lost some weight it was much easier for him to pull his body upwards. Breathing heavily, he lay on the overturned trunk and crawled carefully forward to look down, where he suspected the being, which audibly bit on something. What he saw first frightened him. It was the black Utha Raptor, which he had already seen down at the river. He just bit on something that Jamie could recognize as some kind of wire. Something reminded him that he had seen this kind of wire before. It had been a long time and the memory of the event in which Jamie came into contact with such a wire came back slowly. Hunters used this wire to build traps. Clint's father had been a hunter and had used this cruel method to catch animals in the forest. Jamie couldn't quite remember how long ago that was, but he had been little. Jamie had a dog back then, a little half-breed. He was a gift from his foster parents who wanted Jamie to learn to take responsibility for another being.
The young man, at that time still a child had loved this dog, because except the dog Jamie already had no friends at that time. With every moment that Jamie looked at the Raptor, the memory became clearer and also the anger and sadness that Jamie had felt then. Clint had picked on Jamie with his older brother as so often. They had laughed at him and threatened that they would catch his little dog, beat him to death and hang him from a tree. They had laughed and pulled their finger over their throat in a gesture only to point to the dog afterwards.
Jamie had walked home as fast as he could with his furry friend, afraid it would really come to that. Days passed in which nothing happened and Jamie had already forgotten everything after his foster parents assured him that it were just empty threats and that they just wanted to frighten him. Unfortunately, his parents were wrong.
Clint and his brother had set two traps where Jamie often played with his dog and one of these traps became the dog's fate. Jamie's parents had tried to save the dog, but he had been too badly injured and in the end the poor animal had to be put to sleep.

The memory of all this drove tears into Jamie's eyes, which he wiped away angrily with his arm. He wouldn't cry now. He swallowed his tears and looked at the raptor desperately trying to get out of the trap. He must have stepped into it in another place, because Jamie could see that the plug with which it had been fixed in the ground had been torn out and was now stuck between two rocks. The noose itself had pulled tightly around the raptor's leg and with each attempt to free itself the noose tightened and the wire began to eat into its flesh. Jamie took all his courage and climbed down the tree trunk at a safer distance. But he made sure that the animal could see him. He had to help him, because if he didn't, the Raptor would be sentenced to death.

The black head immediately jerked around to the sound source, which now stood a few meters away between the bushes. A deep growl made it clear that the Raptor was not very pleased about Jamie's presence. The yellow eyes were fixed on the young man, who approached carefully.
Jamie slowly placed the spear beside him, fearing that it would only make the Raptor feel more threatened. The feather comb was ruffled up while the animal was bareing its teeth. Jamie had to get close enough to release the plug that was stuck between the stones and he had to manage to release the wire, otherwise it would only be a matter of time before it got caught again. Jamie swallowed heavily and his hands trembled. He was afraid that the animal would simply bite him to death, even so trapped it would be an easy thing for the great Raptor to kill Jamie.
"Hey... all right. I'm just trying to help you." He began to talk quietly and calmly to the animal in the hope that his voice calmed the being before him. He had always been able to build up a good bond with animals. Maybe it worked here, too. Despite his fear, Jamie continued to approach. He simply could not allow the animal to suffer, not even such a dangerous creature. That he just risked his life was completely forgotten.

Jamie moved slowly around the Raptor without letting it out of his sight, who also kept an eye on him and growled. "I won't hurt you." Jamie kept on talking quietly, much calmer than he felt. He slowly approached the stake and thus also the Utha in front of him. The growling had died down a little, but the beast's gaze followed every little movement Jamie made. Jamie's hands were clearly shaking as he tampered with the stake. The plug was out of metal and at the end it had barbs that made it hard to pull it out of the ground. Jamie was surprised that the Raptor had managed to do this, because it must have needed enormous strength.
The barbs didn't make it easy, but after several attempts Jamie finally managed to undo the plug. He kept looking at the animal that was watching him, almost as if he knew exactly what he was doing. Now he only had to remove the noose from the foot of the animal. It was still on the ground, but slowly seemed to realize that it was no longer trapped. Jamie knew he didn't have much time and so he approached the injured leg. The wire had already eaten deep into the flesh.

Jamie approached without hesitation, making the Raptor growl again. The young man looked directly at the animal. He was so close that it would have been an easy thing to kill him, but the black Utha didn't. The yellow eyes fixed Jamie, who was now kneeling directly on the leg of the animal. "I'm just gonna take this off..." He made a cautious movement towards the leg, causing the Raptor to tense significantly and the large sickle claw on the foot twitched briefly. Jamie took all the courage he could find and simply grabbed it. He loosened the wire as quickly as he could and pulled the loop over the foot, which led to the black raptor barking up furiously for a moment. After that all went quickly and Jamie did not understand what had really happened. He only remembered that the Raptor had jumped up, hissed briefly and then disappeared.

Jamie was still kneeling in the same place trying to process what had just happened. He breathed quickly and trembled all over his body. In the end he realized what he had just done. He got up shaking and picked up the spear again, picked the metal plug with the wire loop up and started running. He did not stop until he was back down by the lake where his cave was. Panting he went to his knees and tried to catch breathe again.

More in Chapter III.

Jamie's Story Chapter I

I will open Chapter I with some great art Sara Biddle did for me based on the art I did of Jamie. She did a great job and I really love how he captured him. Her art can be found HERE .



Story:

Chapter I

Everything was dark, only the soft sound of waves tickled Jamie’s ear. He felt warm sand beneath him, as well as water lapping his bare feet. It surprised him. He vaguely remembered that he had never lived by the sea, even if the memories were strangely blurry and tattered. Almost like a large puzzle where only the ragged edges are left. He tried to open his eyes, but a blinding brightness dazed him.

He felt a throbbing pain in his head and the light made it worse. Jamie closed his eyes again. He could make out soft voices he barely recognized in the distance, something felt strange about them. He opened his eyes slowly this time, to protect them from the bright light.
His head pounded, but he could make out distant silhouettes of what looked like rocks. In the distance, a darkness, perhaps the edge of a forest. The young man took a deep breath and tried to sit up slowly, a stabbing pain shot through his head. He moaned softly and touched his temples before looking down, horrified to find out he was naked.

Jamie desperately tried to cover up his bareness, ashamed of his weight. Much to his chagrin, while still trying to cover himself, he heard a man’s laughter. It was a familiar laugh, one that he had heard a lot in his life.
"Oh look, Fatty finally woke up." Someone else joined in the laughter, this time a female voice he knew as well.
"We are in the middle of nowhere, why is that jerk with us, too? He’ll only eat all the shit they left us. This isn’t going to be any fun." The women was bitching around like she often did when things did not work out the way she wanted.
Jamie looked in their direction, feeling totally daunted, wishing the ground would swallow him up.
"I don’t even think there are enough clothes to cover his fat body.” bitched the female voice, Peggy, Jamie suddenly remembered … she had made it a passion to pick on Jamie, because he did not fit into their picture of an ‘ideal’ world.
"Leave him, guys, it’s not his fault, he’s stranded here just like the rest of us.", sighed a rather calm woman's voice that Jamie could not place. It belonged to a young, rather inconspicuous, dark-haired woman who had a red trekking backpack beside her. She searched through it, only taking a moment to come up with a pair of pants and shirt that she thought suited the young, chubby man.

The woman stood up with the small bundle of clothes in her arms. She walked over to Jamie, whose face turned the color of a ripe tomato the reason not being the prevailing heat, which he was suddenly aware of.
She handed the bundle to him, he thanked her in a pitiful way and took the clothes awkwardly with one hand, covering his body with the other. Upon closer inspection, he found she’d handed him a pair of cargo pants and a simple T-shirt, which at least seemed to fit. Jamie clumsily slipped the clothes on, which looked strange, as he tried to hide his nakedness, the group roared with laughter. Only the kind, unknown woman did not laugh.
When Jamie finally got into his clothes he observed the group, who’d lost interest in mocking him, sitting a few yards away. There were a total of 6 people, two women, one being Peggy. He also recognized Peggy’s, boyfriend Clint, who plays in the University's Rugby team. His two cronies Brian and Kevin were also there, sitting nearby. All were popular and good looking, not a geek like him, he thought. It was strange that he remembered all of these details, while the rest of his memories just were a blurry mess in his head. The fourth man was unfamiliar to Jamie, this man was also handsome but seemed rather arrogant. Jamie suddenly felt like a fat little duck, surrounded by swans.

Jamie felt his upper arm start to itch while still sitting in the sand, drawing his attention away from the group. He peered under the sleeve of his shirt, a tattoo appeared. He’d never had any tattoos. Where did the damn thing come from? Why did he not notice that right away? Why did it itch it so miserably? He fought off the need to scratch, not wanting to draw attention, he’d already done that enough. He pulled down his sleeve and fought the urge to scratch. While he was still pondering, he suddenly felt a painful kick in his side. He immediately flinched and held his side.
"Ow," he wailed softly.
"Move your fat ass and get some wood ... or are you afraid to get stuck between the trees, Fatty?" Kevin grinned.
"I .. without shoes?" Jamie asked cautiously, which only made the man roll his eyes.
"Without shoes ...." mocked Kevin Jamie and laughed again. "Yes, without shoes you geek." Kevin growled and kicked him again to make his annoyance clear.

Jamie scrambled to his feet and looked at the woods, then back to the others, none of them tried to help him. The young man carefully walked to the edge of the forest. He was scared. Jamie knew nothing about this place, maybe it wasn’t safe. He spotted some driftwood on the beach, which he decided to collect, allowing him to avoid the forest. He felt hostile looks dart from the group as he did. A trilobite caught his attention as it scrambled away from him. Strange, Jamie thought, he knew that this creature had gone extinct a long time ago. He frowned in confusion, tapping one with a stick, causing them to flee quickly into the water.

Jamie watched the creature disappear in the shallow waves. He collected a few branches of driftwood, and brought it back to the group. "That's not enough ... go get more, Fat cheeks." Kevin laughed again as he tried to start a fire.
"This time, run.” He laughed, “Oh, and I want to have a stack that goes up to my shoulders." He pointed to his shoulder and made a scolding gesture. Jamie trotted off, aware that they were just sending him away to be rid of him. He did not fit in, he was not slim and fit, he did not play rugby team or have rich parents. A vague memory reminded him that he was adopted, and did not even know his biological parents.
He continued to collect wood and noticed strange lights in the sky, which flashed now in then in the blue sky. It was hard to tell if they were airplanes or something else.

Towards evening, the young man's back and arms ached and the tattoo had started to itch again. It felt like a swarm of ants were constantly biting into it his shoulder. The left side of his back felt the same and Jamie could not explain why. Meanwhile, the group had managed to start a fire and warmed up one of the cans they had found in their backpack. To Jamie's grief, they had not even left a spoonful for him. Clint ate the last drop slowly in front of him.

"You are fat enough." Clint said smugly, sprawling out beside the fire. They made sure they left no room for Jamie, so he curled up in the sand, in front of an old tree trunk a few yards away. He looked sadly at the water, feeling rejected. He wanted to leave, yet he knew that without the group he’d never survive, or find his way back home, wherever they were. He could hear the group’s soft murmurings. They obviously didn’t want Jamie to understand. Sometimes he could hear laughter, he suspected, at his expense.

Jamie tried to ignore them, but it wasn’t easy. He felt hurt and had trouble holding back the tears that luckily the others could not see. He just wanted to go home. Being stranded with a group of people who only saw him as a pile of dirt was a horrible feeling. Why were they here? Why was HE here? The ground was hard and uncomfortable, and after tossing and turning a while he finally passed out from pure exhaustion.

Jamie felt a rough kick, waking him abruptly. His headache had returned, but seemed a little weaker than the day before, he felt as if he’d been hit by a truck. Everything ached from carrying the wood the day before, his back and shoulder itched terribly. He felt sticky and would have liked a shower or at least to rinse off. He blinked into the bright sunlight and could see Kevin standing above him.
"Gonna sleep all day?" he asked directly.
Kevin seemed to be in a bad mood and apparently had not slept much.
"If you want to eat something, take care for wood you little asshole. None of us needs a fat sea cow sun bathing on the beach."
The fact that the others did not do anything did not seem to bother Kevin. Brian, Peggy and Clint had apparently decided to go swimming in the ocean. Kevin himself seemed to enjoy commanding Jamie around while the guy Jamie did not know was eating some of the canned food. Only the young woman, Kira, Jamie had overheard, was trying to carve a spear. Jamie sat up before slowly standing, which made Kevin kick him again.
"Faster .. I want some hot food today." he snapped, causing Jamie to stumble back.
Jamie decided to walk down the beach, hoping to find something to eat there. There were a lot of unknown sounds to him here: birds cried overhead, strange, smaller animals squeaked and ran into the forest before he could get a good look at them. The loudest noise, though was a weird gurgle, which came from some very ugly birds, that he discovered about a mile down the beach. Dodos, he recognized quickly. Funny that he had kept that knowledge, where he could barely remember simple things like his parents. He took a deep breath and tried to remember what he knew about the birds, at least they were a harmless, extinct species. Seeing them here was as inexplicable as the trilobites.

Just one of the large birds would be enough to feed the whole bunch, but Jamie would never have the heart to kill one. He watched the Dodos for a while, until he noticed they were picking at a blueberry bush. He carefully approached one, and plucked one of the remaining berries looking it over before putting it in his mouth. The berries were slightly sweet, Jamie waited a bit until he ate another, they seemed edible so he gobbled down a few more. They did not really sate him, but were better than nothing.

Jamie sighed, the hot sun beating down on him. He looked out across the sea, where the morning sun mirrored at the surface of the water. Maybe he could sneak in a swim, to refresh himself and above all to wash away the sweat. He just had to walk little further, then he would be out of sight. He hurried a little along the beach, away from the group. Big boulders stuck out of the sand, casting a little shade which some of the dodos had made themselves comfortable in.

Since Jamie was not wearing shoes, he strolled closer to the water to let the shallow waves wash over his feet. The water was cool and refreshing and felt good, though it took him a while to regain the courage to remove his clothes. He waded deeper into the water, where he could see smaller fish darting away in all directions. If everything hadn’t have been so confusing, he would have described it as beautiful. The water was crystal clear, revealing coral reefs deeper in the water. Jamie sat down and began to wash himself, while a few smaller fish bravely approached. They swam around the young man to survey the strange creature in their habitat. Jamie leaned back, so that some water touched his back, which immediately started to burn on his left side. He jumped and tried to catch a glimpse of his back. Did he hurt himself or did he have a rash? At least that would explain the itching, which still occurred from time to time. With a couple maneuvers, he managed to catch a small glimpse, and what he saw made him flinch. Someone had tattooed the entire left half, and only recently, it was still red and healing. How could he not have noticed? Jamie swallowed hard and started shaking. Something was really wrong.

Jamie stood up, and carefully put his clothes on. He would have liked to ask someone about the tattoos. He could hardly see the one on his back, but on his arm he clearly recognized a Utharaptor. It was an extremely delicate tattoo, he couldn’t help admire the artistry. He didn’t understand why someone had tattooed him, what did it mean? He shook his head and went on, lost in his thoughts. His stomach pushing him to find something more to eat. There was nothing apart from the dodos, some gull-like birds and fish. The berries were useless, as long as he had nothing to collect them in and catching fish without a rod was impossible.

Jamie made his way back. Only now did he realize how far he had gone, it took him almost two hours to get back. Kevin was waiting for him, his eyes growing darker when he saw that Jamie had brought nothing.
"How dare you come back empty handed!?" Kevin snapped. "You little fat jerk, you didn’t bring anything?" Jamie looked to the ground, stammering for words.
"I .. I .. there are berries .. and fish .. but .. but I had nothing to transport them or to catch the fish .. with the knife .. you could make spears."
Jamie glanced at Kevin, who became significantly angrier, and without warning punched Jamie into the stomach. The young man writhed, whimpered and collapsed on the sand.
"You're as useless as a sack of shit." Kevin growled, leaving Jaime on the ground.
"Weakling .." Jamie could still hear softly as Kevin walked away, back to the others.
He rolled on his side. The blow hurt badly and Jamie felt like throwing up. He crawled back to the tree trunk where he had slept yesterday, curling up into a ball. He could not understand what he did wrong, he blinked several times while listening to the others argue.
"Just be glad he found something, you could stop being so hard on him and do shit for yourself." Kira yelled angrily. "Make your own damn spear to catch fish!" she growled at one of the others.
“I'm not your monkey .. Fatty needs to make himself useful, otherwise we could just leave him. He’ll only eat all our stuff, leaving nothing for us! "
"Idiot." was the last thing Jamie heard from Kira before she stomped off.

Jamie fell asleep from pure exhaustion and stress, he slept until late morning, waking only from the beating sun shining on him. Kevin had let him sleep in today. Maybe he decided to look for something to eat himself. Jamie took the chance and layed a moment before he sat up. It was already hot again and only the shadow of the tree trunk had saved Jamie from an even worse sunburn. He looked around and wondered why he could not hear the others. He leaned against the trunk of the tree and only then realized that one of the combat knives was stuck in it. There was also a blanket next to him, as well as a backpack. He carefully opened it, but it was light and he knew there wasn’t much to be found inside. Some flint, steel, a second shirt, as well as a belt and a can were all that was left. The strangest part however, was a pencil and a small book that contained mostly blank pages. The first page had "I'm sorry." written on it in beautifully curved letters.

Jamie was confused, the note made no sense to him. Why should someone apologize? He shook his head and got up slowly. He looked again at the place where the group usually sat, no one was there. The fireplace was deserted, empty cans were strewn about. He stared at the extinguished fire for a while before it dawned on him: he was alone. Dazed, he took the backpack and the knife, following some tracks that led to the edge of the woods. He stopped, realizing that he would never find them again, even if he did, he was sure they would just chase him off. He wiped his eyes that stung with angry tears.
He turned back towards the beach, walking aimlessly. The small canteen from the backpack was nearly empty, so he turned his attention from his loneliness and onto surviving, his first task was to find water.

More in Chapter II.

Jamie Art

Jamie is my most loved character at the moment and was inspired by the games Ark Survival Evolved, the isle and in some minor parts by Greek mythology and modern KIs. I will post art I did of him in this blog.
All art I did shows him when allready some time has passed on the island but I am planning also to do at least one picture of him while he is still chubby.

General Information:

Jamie is a young man stranded on a strange island together with a small group of others who seem to be of same age. The group is stranded on their own with only two backpacks containing a few rations, a pair of combat knives, blankets, flint and tinder. Nobody remembers how they landed on the island. They seem to know each other, despite the fact that most of their memories were purged. Jamie quickly realizes that the others do not really like him and want to be rid of him, so he keeps his distance while also depending on them for survival. He keeps quiet about the strange tattoos suddenly appearing on his right arm and back, something he's sure he did not have before, so as not to alert the group.

In contrast to the others, Jamie is not very sporty and a bit chubby. He is a nuisance to the rest of the group, who are all athletic, and in Jamie’s eyes, beautiful. Kira is the only one who takes pity on him and decides to leave him a knife when the rest of the group decides to sneak away.

Jamie has to learn to survive on his own, in an unfamiliar environment, populated by creatures that have long been extinct. He has no choice but to fight for his survival. The chubby young man becomes, through illness and lack of food, a thin, sinewy fighter who learns to withstand the hostile environment. This comes to a surprise to the group, who had believed that he died when they abandoned him.

Although the young man had most of his memory erased, he still remembers that he was not raised by his birth parents. Unfortunately, he no longer remembers from whom. He also remembers that his mother is dead and that his father still lives although he never has met him. But this, his name and the feeling of always being an outsider is all he can remember in the beginning. Any other information is like a black hole that has been torn into his memories. In his dreams he sometimes has flashbacks of his past.

Jamie is a very empathic person and has always had a good relationship with animals. Over time he gains the trust of a black Utha Raptor and befriends her. He names her Willow.

His story will follow in the next blog.

My first concept I did of him:

I really like it but drew a new version of the picture cause some things still bothered me and this was the result (which still needs coloring):


My second concept:

He looks a bit to old here sadly so I still kept it to show an older more mature Jamie.

Full Body:

Full body of him to show at least part of his tattoos. Had to use references here to get the anatomy right.

Another side view of him:

I am really pleased with this one, so ist still needs coloring.

Jamie is (c) by Vahilor

Réynaud

Still needs coloring.



Human Death Knight of the Ebon Blade. Arrogant, smug & Cynical bastard is what describes him best and what he wants others to see in him; a mask he hides his true feelings behind.

His true self is well hidden behind his mask of arrogance and his solution to keep people at a distance. Deep inside he is a very hurt and broken individual cause of the cruel things he had to do under the control of the Lich King, which climaxed in killing his best friend and his whole family. He was fully aware what he did but unable to stop himself. This is one of the rare things he remembers and a lot of his past still is lost. He only remembers small pieces of his past from time to time after his will was freed from the controll of the Lich king at Lights Hope Chapel.

“I am broken. Broken by my past, broken by what I was forced to do, broken by the things I can’t remember. My memories are like the wings of an undead dragon - full of holes, ripped into pieces.”
- Reynaud De Sauveterre, Death Knight of the Ebon Blade

The Great Cold, Day 21, 619 K.C.
Howling Fjord

"You are an ass, you know! A big one!” Kitai growled at Reynaud who was standing in front of her, looking at her with his piercing blue eyes. He had his arms crossed over his chest, standing aloof in his black armor, seemingly untouched by her words. A slight smirk played around his Lips. Kitai hated him for that and worse of all, he knew exactly what effect he was having on her and that made her more furious.

Reynaud enjoyed Kitai’s anger and the self-satisfied look on his face made it obvious. “I only told the truth and if you can’t handle it you should not have asked me.” His voice had once again assumed an arrogant undertone.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion ! “ Kitai had this deep urge to slap Reynaud right now. He had the talent to make her want to kill him, even though she knew she would never stand a chance against the Death Knight. Also she was not the kind of person who enjoyed killing others. She didn’t ask Reynauld for his opinion. She was simply talking to the tavern keeper about some recent events near the small town, telling him what she thhought about the matter. It was just her luck that Reynaud overheard the conversation as he always did like to to tear her opinion into shreds making her look stupid in front of others, like the inn keeper.
She hated him but had no choice since her Master had told her how essential her cooperation with the Ebon blade would be. She simply didn't expect that they would send her such an arrogant idiot who made everything that much harder.

“Then you should be thankful I was so generous and gave it so freely.” Reynaud looked at the redhead in front of him and smiled, knowing that would anger her even more. He enjoyed upsetting the otherwise quiet woman. He always did love to make people hate him. It was easy and kept them at distance. Reynaud didn’t want friends, he did not want sympathy and most of all, he did not want the past to repeat. Without friends there would be no chance for the horrible things he did in the past to happen again.

Kitai wanted to slap that arrogant smile off his face, almost as badly as she wanted to tell him that he should keep his smug comments to himself. Instead she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “De Sauveterre I did not want your opinion. No one asked for it. Keep it to yourself and shut up.” She explained calmly, using his last name on purpose. She always did, when she was really angry, something Reynaud knew too well. His smile turned into a satisfied grin.
“Why are you using my last name again ?” he asked innocently, although he knew the reason.

Kitai stared at him, her lips pressed together. She wanted to scream but doing so would not be wise, not in front of the inn keeper. It would make her look like a hysterical fury, something Reynaud intended for sure. She attempted to cut Reynaud with a scathing reply but he got in first.

“I am sorry but Kitai sometimes loses her temper. We should discuss the matter when she has calmed down a bit,” Reynaud explained to the keeper who slowly nodded. Kitai felt as if a fist had struck her face, and was unable to utter a word.

“I will bring you something to eat, please take a seat.” The keeper pointed at a table in a far corner of the room. He felt uncomfortable in the presence of the Death Knight and wanted him somewhere far away but also could not simply throw him out of his inn as the intimidating Reynaud had given him no reason to do so.

Reynaud nodded and walked to the table the keeper indicated and sat down on the wooden corner seat. All his movements reflected the arrogance of the Death Knight, even sitting down. Kitai watched him and if she had the ability to stare him to death, he would have burned into a pile of ashes immediately. The young woman followed him and sat down of one of the chairs opposite of him.
“Do you enjoy it ?” she asked without hesitation.
“What are you talking about ?” Reynaud looked at her as if he had done nothing wrong even though he knew exactly what she was hinting at.
“Don’t pretend you do not know. You are very well aware what I am talking about, De Sauveterre.” Kitai was angry, really angry. Reynaud could see it but she was hurt as well. She tried to hide it, but Reynaud knew that look on her face. It was not the first time he saw it.
He had blamed her in front of the keeper, willfully and she knew it. This circumstance seemed to hurt her more than what he had said.
“You take things I say a way too seriously.” He said dryly. “With your bitchy behavior you look like an immature child, no one will respect you.”

Kitai looked at Reynaud in disbelief. She was so struck by his words that she did not know what to say.

More to come soon…

Remorse

Howling Fjord, (no spec. Date atm. Will add later)

Reynaud had stopped his big horse on the top of a snowy hill and watched the small village which nestled in a cozy valley beneath him. A creek passed on the western side of the Inn, which was near the center of the little settlement, that counted not more than twenty houses, all covered in snow which was not unusual for this time of the year.

Reynaud hated places like that. People who lived in such places were full of prejudices against him, against his kind but nonetheless he had to come because that is, where Kitai must have gone. He had not seen her for days now after she ran off, after he had behaved like the biggest asshole on all Azeroth. He finally had achieved what he wanted and driven her away even without violating the orders Mograine has given him. He should have been happy. No one, who tries to tell him what to do. No one, who tries to befriend him. But why did he feel so bad about it?

He growled, angry with himself for starting to worry about her shortly after she disappeared. She was all alone only accompanied by her wolf which he had gifted her in a fit of sentimentality some month ago. Kitai was no child and she knew how to master the land she grew up in. He did not doubt her abilities, not at all but he had this bad feeling that something was totally wrong. This feeling had driven him here, at a place he usually would have avoided.

Reynaud focused back on the village, which lay still before him, unnaturally quiet. Normally, at least a few people would have had to do their daily work, despite the cold, but Reynaud saw no one, something he should have recognized earlier. He softly kicked his horse into motion which started to trot down the hill, churning up the snow covering the ground. The snow swallowed most of the big beast's sounds and only its soft snorting and the gentle creaking of leathers could be heard. The Death Knight did not care. His black form could be seen from afar, long before someone could hear him. But there was no reaction. No one closed the shutters, no one who was watching him mistrustfully, no insults, no mothers dragging their children back into the house. The village was like dead.

Near the outskirts Reynaud restrained his horse and slowly dismounted. He could now see why nothing in the village stirred anymore. Someone had killed the inhabitants, but killing was not the right word for what the Death Knight saw. Someone had slaughtered most of them. Some others had been tormented and nailed alive to their own front doors, where they had slowly died. He patted the neck of his horse and walked to one of the doors were an older man had found his death. He must have suffered long before he finally was allowed to die. Reynaud carefully closed the dead eyes, that stared at him with his armored hand.
His stomach clenched and Reynaud was glad that his condition made it impossible to vomit. The sight did not even leave the death knight cold, which many would be surprised about. Many believed he and his people were cold, heartless monsters, but Reynaud knew better.

A lot of the Ebon Blade are broken individuals who try to find a place after all the suffering they had to endure, all the things they had to do. A hard task cause his kind was not well liked and only tolerated, not accepted. Reynaud could even understand the prejudices, at least to some extent but that a lot not even wanted to give his people a chance was something he could not accept.

Reynaud took a deep breath, more out of habit not because he had too and slowly surrounded the house, looking for a window to take a look inside. He simply could have opened the door but something had stopped him. Probably the dead body nailed to it or his instincts telling him, that something was not right, Reynaud could not tell.

At the back of the house he found, what he was looking for and carefully peered into a small dark room, the kitchen as he could tell by the look of it. Nothing seemed unusual in there and he suggested that they must have gotten the poor old fellow in the living room which had to be located behind the passage to the kitchen. Reynaud smashed in the thick uneven glass with his armored fist and squeezed through the small window, which turned out to be not so easy. It took a moment to finally make it through, but in the end he stood in the dimly lit room.

Reynaud waited until his eyes had adjusted to the dusk, before slowly making his way to the narrow passage that led to the large living room. In contrast to the small kitchen chaos dominated the room. You could clearly see, that someone had raged in here.
The simple furniture had been overturned or destroyed, blood stained one of the walls like somone had been slaugthered. Looking closer he could see the curved shape of an old woman, obviously dead. One of her hands was missing and a big blood stain bloomed like a red flower on her chest.

The Death Knight approached the corpse and as he already did with the old man outside carefully closed her eyes with an armored hand. “I will make them pay.” He promised, his voice hushed and made his way to the narrow staircase, which nestled against the east wall of the small house. Reynaud was glad his armor was not as bulky as the ones most of his brethren wore and therefore had no trouble getting upstairs. The Staircase was tight and even the pauldrons of his armor scraped slightly along the wall. The wood creaked under his heavy footsteps and almost swallowed the short, soft whimpering. Reynaud stopped at once. Silence.

Reynaud did not move and stood there like a statue. Only his eyes moved, searching the small corridor that lay before him which ended in a door. The door hung awkwardly in its hinges, as if someone had kicked it in and closed afterwards. It was strange. No one who ravages a village and slaughters its inhabitants would care and close a door.
The death knight went on cautiously to avoid any noise possible, yet the leather of his armor creaked softly and parts of his chain mail collided with a slight metallic scratching. He unsheathed one of his swords, which he carried on his back, and used his free hand to push the door open, slowly. The door squeaked in protest, but swung open easily, until it got stuck on a fallen chest of drawers.
A double bed stood at one of the walls. Opposite had been the wardrobe, now it lay overturned on the floor and some of the clothes were distributed in the room. Here one had not expected to find anything and caused destruction just for the sake of it. And that's what saved the little whimpering life. Reynaud could hear it again and now he could also tell where it came from. He walked over to the bed and kneeled down so he could peek under it.

Huddled under the bed was a small figure, visibly trembling, staring at Reynaud with large fear-filled eyes. Reynaud was staggered by what he saw, a little boy maybe four or five winters old. The Death knight didn’t expect that and at first did not know what to do. He hated children. These little monsters annoyed him and always asked stupid questions, nonetheless he felt sorry for the child whose family must have been slaughtered like the other inhabitants of the village. The boy must have been very lucky that nobody found him here, because only a simple look under the bed would have been enough to find him.
The little boy whimpered again softly and pressed himself against the wall in fear. The boy already annoyed Reynaud and he was only hindering him, but he could not just leave him alone. He took a deep breath and removed his helmet so as not to scare the child any further. Hopefully a normal human face would help to get him out under the bed.

“It’s all right.” The Death Knight spoke to the child in a calm voice. “You can come out. They are gone. I am none of them and I can bring you home.”
“There is no more home.” The boy was sobbing so softly that you could barely hear it. “They broke everything, even mommy and daddy.” He shivered again, as if he remembered what was done to his parents. Tears started to run down his face.

“You can’t stay here alone.” Reynaud watched the boy cowering under the bed. He carefully held out an armored hand. “I can bring you somewhere safe, somewhere warm.”
“I.. I am not allowed to go with strangers.” The little boy wiped his tear-wet eyes with his sleeve. It felt strange that after all what must have happened to the boy, he still insisted on something so banal he had learned.
Reynaud suppressed a sigh. He had no time for such silly games but he also could not leave the boy behind. He would stand no chance and starve or freeze to death.
“When I tell you my name and you give me yours, then we are no longer strangers.” Reynaud still hold out his hand. “I am Reynaud and I will bring you somewhere safe, I promise.” The Death Knight forced a narrow smile.
The boy hesitated for a moment before placing his hand carefully in the man's much larger one. “I am Arik.” The boy stated with his tiny voice tear-chocked voice.
Reynaud softly pulled Arik out from under the bed. Arik was extremely thin and the dirty clothes he was wearing seemed way too big for his tiny figure. He would need something to hold him warm otherwise he would not survive the ride to the Ebon Blade Outpost. Reynaud stood up and pulled the small boy to his feet who had started to sob again.
“We need… “ Reynaud started to explain, when the boy clung tightly to the much larger man. Arik was shaking all over and his soft sobbing passed into a heart-melting weeping.

More to come soon…

Réynaud is (c) by Vahilor

World of Warcraft World Setting © by Blizzard

Kitai

Her picture still needs coloring.

Story:

Kitai is a young huntress. She is one of the main characters that will take part in Reynauds story. Kitai is a very friendly and calm person but Reynaud is able to break that calmness very fast and seems to enjoy doing so. Kitai knows that he is doing it on pourpose, but even with that knowlege, she can't stay calm in his presence.

Kitai is not classically beautiful but her charm and natural behavior makes her beautiful in her own way.

Kitai is a World of Warcraft of mine (Named Kitiana ingame cause Kitai was taken).

"People told me the Knights of the Ebon Blade are heartless, cold, brutal. That they know no feelings besides rage and hate, no mercy, no sympathy. That they don't know the meaning of honor, or friendship. I first I believed that of them, only to be proven how wrong others are, how wrong I was and how little others really know."
-Kitai

Time of Frost, Day 12, 619 K.C.
Grizzly Hills .

Kitai looked at Reynauds back, who was gazing at the frozen lake in front of him. The little lake was bordered by pine trees, heavy with snow. Everything looked peaceful as small snowflakes circled through the dark sky. The silence that prevailed here was almost tangible.
It was cold and Kitai started to shiver. Not even the thick wolfs pelt cloak could stop the cold. She wished she had stayed at the fire, where she had warmed her freezing body only moments ago. Northrend was a cold land, most of its parts covered in snow but she loved it. Even freezing, she liked the cold snowy plains and forests with the big pine trees so typical for this region. She could wander there for days without meeting a living soul.

She sighted silently, her breath building small puffy clouds in the cold air. Reynaud still hadn’t moved. The Death Knight seemed lost, lonely, almost sad, as he stood there. It was more a feeling, because she could not see his face and Reynaud hid his feelings well.
Kitai could not help it and approached him slowly, avoiding every noise, but still the snow creaked softly under her boots.
Reynaud did not appear to have noticed her. He seemed to be frozen in place. No movement, no snarky comment, which was strange. Usually he used any chance to show her how much he disliked the company of others. He must have heard her coming, so Kitai wondered why he did nothing to drive her away.

“Why are you following me ?” Reynauds calm words interrupted her thoughts and she realized that she stood close behind him now. She took a step back, away from the armored man.
“I was worried.” She admitted freely. It was the truth and the reason she left the warm crackling fire.
“You seemed…” She stopped and did not know how she could tell him the truth without offending him. The man in front of her was easy to anger and pointing out that he behaved strange, strange compared how he usually did could be one of the things that make him furious again.

“I seem…?” repeating her words he turned around, his eyes focused on hers. Kitai sagged a little but did not look away. After taking a deep breath she decided to tell him.
“Like something is troubling you.” She watched him, looking for any hints of anger but found nothing. More surprising even was the short flare of pain in his eyes, eyes that often were so cold and unfeeling. Reynaud remained silent, even closed his eyes for a short moment and shook his head softly.

“Nothing that needs to concern you.” Reynaud did not want to talk about it. He did not want her to know about the atrocities he had committed, not about the people he had murdered, the joy he had felt. He had lost so much of his memories, but this one he remembered to well. He was under the control of the Lich King at that time, but he felt guilty, guilty not being strong enough to resist. That there had been no way to break that control did not justify anything he had done. Even the joy had not been his own, it was the joy they had forced into him, like a drug and the addiction that came with it, made him kill only to feel that joy again. Thanks to the light it was gone after he was freed of that control.

Kitai watched Reynaud closely. He seemed so lost it worried her. The pain she had seen in his eyes, she could almost feel it.
Why? Kitai could not say.
People had told her, that the Knights of the Ebon Blade were cold hearted monsters only able to feel anger and hate. She often had wondered how much truth could be found in these rumors and at first had believed in them, especially after she had met Reynaud. The first weeks he had done everything to keep her at a distance. His arrogance was annoying, his sarcasm made her furious, he showed no sympathy for her and he made no secret that he thought she was a millstone around his neck. But now she felt sorry for him, sorry for someone who disliked her so much.

Unconsciously Kitai moved closer and slowly raised her hand to touch his cheek. He would not like it, she was certain about that but she could not stop. What surprised her more though, was that he did nothing but watch her hand. His skin felt surprisingly warm. Everybody had told her, that the skin of a Death Knight was freezing cold, but his was warm like her own. It puzzled her.

The bemused look on her face told Reynaud everything.
“Not what you expected.” He stated softly.
He could not deny that her touch was comforting but he never would have admitted it. He cautiously covered her wrist with his armored hand and gently took hers away. A deep sadness made its way upwards, which he convulsively tried to suppress.

Kitai was not surprised that he took her hand away, rather about how gentle he was. She stared at him, confused by his behavior, the warmth she had felt. Everything felt out of place and it was nothing like the rumors she had heard, what people had told her. He was a Death Knight for sure but he was not what people had told her about them. Now, he wasn’t even that arrogant, dismissive idiot she had learned to know, which unsettled her most.

More to come soon.

Kitai is (c) by Vahilor

World of Warcraft World Setting © by Blizzard

Some Dinosaur art

Some dinosaur art I did for fun =).

Mosasaurus

Allosaurus

Carnotaurus Icon
Carnotaurus Icon 2 WIP

Willow (Fluffy Utha Raptor) WIP

T-Rex WIP