Read Online Children of Bast by Frederick Fuller - Free Book Online Page B

I-pity-you look. “I hate to break it to you, Gaylord, but toms are of limited use.”
    ~ ~ ~ ~
    We smelled them before they jumped us. Thain, like sack of khara tossed from the dumpster, pounced on us growling, yellow eyes blazing, faraawi blown up like a thistle, mouth open ready for combat. Raeed was a dark cloud that fell on us like a bucket of vomit, his face warped with rage.
    Adele instantly swelled and geared up for a fight. I swelled up, too, but didn’t have a clue what I should do next. So, I bared my teeth and hissed.
    “Told you I’d be back,” Thain screamed.
    Adele screamed back, “Yeah, you pile of puke, with Raeed to do your fighting. Why don’t you try me yourself? I’ll be the very last thing you try.”
    Raeed, his eyes like headlights and muscles that rippled over his entire scared body, lashed his thin tail and laughed like a demented kilaab. He yelled at us both but focused on Adele. “What fun would that be for me? I gonna rip you to little pieces, Adele, and throw ‘em all over town. Little piece of Adele here, nuther piece there, and one for me and one for Thain.” He cackled and screamed. “Wait! We ain’t gonna have no room for Adele’s little pieces. I forgot. Cuz, Thain and me gonna eat your mouse hearted friend, here. Right Thain?”
    “You betcha.” He glared at me. “He looks so nice and sweet and fat, hey, like the spoiled house amait he is.”
    For the first time in my short life, I felt deep hatred for something, but I was so scared I shook.
    Raeed sat down and grinned at Adele. She strolled toward him, grinning, also, but she never took her eyes of him. She sat down right in front of him and touched her nose to his. Raeed stopped grinning and watched her. Like a flash of lightning, she grabbed his muzzle up to his eyes and—I do not to this day know how she did it, Chubby—flipped that sack of garbage over and back-clawed his throat until I thought she was going to rip it open. Thain froze and gawked. His mouth clamped, Raeed couldn’t make a sound. He gurgled like he was choked. Finally, he managed to wrench his face out of her grip and ran, instantly becoming a dot in the distance. I caught a glimpse of his face when he whizzed by me, and it resembled a mass of bloody worms, and his throat was bleeding. She turned on Thain. He disappeared as quick as the lightning’s flash.
    Adele looked at me and smiled, then sat and very calmly washed her face. “That’s how you do it, My Love, if you want to survive out here.”
    I was so stunned I had no voice.
    ~ ~ ~ ~
    “Chubby, you know I’ve become a rather good fighter since I’ve been out here, but Adele was terrifying.”
    “No amait in his right mind ever wanted to tangle with Adele, I assure you.” Chubby looked off a moment watching memories. “I taught her, Gaylord. I taught her that trick: be calm, take things easy, and then attack fast and without mercy. You know that now, of course, but Adele, remember, was once as green as you were. So, I became her fight trainer, and from what you saw, she was a very good student.”
    “That’s for sure. Never on my best day would I contend with her. You did an excellent job, Old Teacher.
    Chubby grinned and looked at me. “Let’s get something to eat.”
    “Fine with me. Where to this time? Back to Smokey’s or the mollie bašar?”
    “Neither. I’ll take you to a bašar food store and we’ll hang around the back. There’s a bašar named Clyde who loves amai and gives us fresh fish. Ever eat fresh fish?” I shook my head. “Sweet like sugar. Nothing like it.”
    Clyde was there, we got fresh fish and Chubby was right: almost too sweet but so delicious. We napped for a while when we got back to the shack. When End of Light came, I continued my story.
    ~ ~ ~ ~
    For the next few days I thought a lot about what Adele had said concerning taking care of myself first, especially after the fight with Raeed and Thain. Caring for myself had never been a problem because I