A wildman and a kobold: chapter 4

	Sa'la sat alone in the warmly sun lit cabin.  With Von gone, and for how long she had not a clue, Sa'la now had some time to kill.  She occupied herself a while looking around.  Sadly, the cabin was sparsely furnished.  Save for the bed and the small kitchen area, there wasn't much to look at.  Instead, Sa'la examined the many furs around her.  From small game, which she could see were rabbits, to larger game, like the wolf fur currently providing warmth for her.  Too much warmth.  Sa'la grabbed her covers and tossed them aside.  Doing so, her eyes roamed to the one place she didn't check, the floor.  Before her, a large bear rug.
	'Wow.' Sa'la thought to herself while straining her eyes to get a full picture.  The bear rug was long, showing her how big of creature it actually was while alive.  Brown fur, with brown and gray streaks all throughout.
	'How the hell did he fight that and live?  How...how did he even survive.  That think was huge!' She thought to herself while her hand rubbed her chin.
	'Did he fight it one on one?  No.  No way.  Did he let it chase him until it got tired?  Maybe.  He probably sneaked up on it while it was sleeping.  Yeah, that was probably it.  Though if he did fight it on the bears terms...'  Sa'la's thoughts drifted through different scenarios.  In her mind, she could see Von, under the cover of night and rain finding its den and striking the slumbering bear as thunder tore from the sky.  She saw the bear being sick, or weakened, crawling to safety as Von roared with murderous intent sparing not even the sick.  Sa'la shook that notion out of her mind.  Von didn't seem like someone who could do that as he helped her in her time of need.
	Sa'la thought one more time.  These images, portrayed something completely different than the two.  She saw Von, walking through the forest coming to a small, curved stream.  He bent over, splashing some water on his perspiring face.  Then, from his rear, he heard a low grumbling.  Slowly, he turned around, but with a hand on his machete.  In front of him, a gargantuan bear, hungry from hibernation, and the bear just found its first meal.  Von would have tried to calm the bear, speaking softly and backing up, water from the stream now splashing lightly on his boots.  The bear was not having it.  It was hungry.  Ravenously hungry.  The bear charged at him, but Von deftly dodged to the left, crossing the stream, and readying his machete.  The bear, in a complete state of feral need, missed Von, but turned quicker than a creature of the size should.
	The bear must have gotten on his back feet, rose to its full height, before roaring, but that wouldn't have phased Von.  Unfazed, Von would have have his machete ready to strike.  As the bear came down from his towering stance, it would have left an opening for the man, quickly striking one of the bear's furred arms.  It wouldn't have gone to his head, though, the fight just started.  A furious swipe , another charge, both missing as Von continued to dodge.  The bear, not expecting such a fight, would start to get reckless.  It would continue swiping, but not noticing how close to the slimy rocks from the stream it was.  One wayward step, and the bear would have lost balance and slipped, opening up for Von to make a few cuts.  Wounded, and starting to get scared, the bear would have been much easier to handle.  Each attack would be more telegraphed than the last.  Hungry, bleeding, and impatient, the bear would have no more advantage of size.  In a final ploy, Von would have gotten the chance to strike.  After a failed swipe, he would have rushed forward, bringing the machete down but angling it upward, as he pierced its throat.  As the bear fell back while frantically trying to draw breath, Von let his guard down, just for a second, and in final, desperate swipe, caught Von in his arm, or even a leg.  As the bear lay dying, Von would have yelled up to the heavens, presenting his kill all the while earning himself a scarred badge of honor.
	Sa'la laughed to herself, imaging the whole thing.  'Yeah, that totally what happened!' she thought.  As she laughed, though, a dull pain ached from her leg.  She swore silently at it, but did not wince.  In her life, she was used to pain being a loyal companion.  Sometimes she thought it was a good reminder that she was still alive, and it made her a little happy.  She then noticed the shadows of the furniture had moved a lot.
	'How long was I daydreaming for...'  She thought.  'Not long enough for Von to get back though.'  Realizing it may be quite a while for the man to return, Sa'la remembered he gave her the ball he made, which was actually fun to throw back and forth she though, and picked it up.  Giving it a few bounces, she peered forward.  The way the bed was situated, the front wall to the cabin was actually quite close. She squeezed the ball a few time noting it had a little elasticity to it, but it this didn't work, she knew she would be bored for a while.
	Taking aim, Sa'la threw the ball against the front wall.  She watched at it smacked the side with a 'thunk' before bouncing off and landing near her knees.  Sa'la squeed in delight as her plan worked.  Taking the ball again, she threw it again, but a little harder.  The ball hit the wall, and came right back to her hands.
	“I can work with this.”  She said aloud in her native tongue, the first words since Von had left.  Again and again, Sa'la launched the ball at the wall, each time a with a thunk thunk.  A steady rhythm filled the once quiet cabin.  Sa'la started to get good at tossing and catching the ball to the point.  Going from active to passive attention, Sa'la still threw and caught it.  The rhythm, the sound, and the warmth of her surroundings caused her mind to wander deeply.

	“My baby where are you!”  A crying voice screamed over the sounds of sword, spear, and hand combat.  An older kobold, with tears streaming down her face, frantically searched for her child.  The smell of burning lumber and blood thick in the air.
	“Mama!”  A small kobold cried out.  She was outside of her small hut, and a small village underneath the shadow of a great mountain.
	“Don't worry darling mama's here!”  The older kobold ran as fast as her tiring legs could go.  She ran up to the child, picked her up, and held her close.
	“Mama, you're hurting me...”  The child whined.  As she was picked up, the small child could see much better.  Her village, her whole village was burning.  Smoke rose in great plums from the village center where their meeting hall was.  Licks up red and orange flames danced up into the night, scarily illuminating the dirt pathways, and her mother's tear stricken face.  What worried the child the most, was the look of fear on her mother that she had only seen once before when her brother went missing.
	“They are coming from the north!  Get your spears and come with me!”  Shouted a large kobold, adorned with leathers and holding a long spear with a shiny, sharped tip.  The child remembered him as a nice man who gave her an apple once.  She tried to wave at him, but he didn't see her.
	“We have to go, honey,”  The mother said in exacerbation.  “We might have to run all night.  Can my little fighter do that for mommy?”  The child just nodded to her mother, unsure of what was really going on, but taking after her mother, she started to get scared.
	“Get them out of here!”  Shouted another leather suited kobold warrior.  This one carrying two small knives in each hand.  One was covered in red stuff, which the child thought was strange.  'Why would he be cutting fruit this late at night'. She thought.  Running back towards them, the nice kobold stopped in front of the mother and child.
	“You have to leave.  Get out of here now.  Go south on the trails, then east into the forest.  It will throw them off, understood?  We will hold them off for as long as we can.  Be safe.”  The nice kobold was stern in his speech, but had an underlying affection.  As soon as he came, he turned to rush back towards the fight.
	“Bye Mr. nice kobold!”  The child spoke.  The nice kobold stopped in his tracks and turned around.  He approached the child, still being help by his mother.  With an ash laced hand, he softly patted the small kobold's head, before closing his eyes, and muttering a prayer.  With one final look at the child, the nice kobold turned towards the sounds of fighting.  With his chest puffed out, he ran towards the fire, flame, and bloodshed.  The child never saw the nice kobold again.
	Without hesitation, the mother, without any supplied, rushed south on worn, dirt trails from the city.  Screams and yells that were once close, now faded with each step.  Though out of breath, the mother pushed on through the pain.  Even when she stumbled and smacked her face while protecting the child, she got right back up ran into the night. into the night, never once looking back.
	“We'll be safe my little one.  Soon we will be safe.”  She panted through heavy breaths.
	“Okay mama.  But we are coming back soon, right?  I wanna play with Tilen.”
	“I'm not sure, baby.  I'm...not sure.  But don't worry, alright?  Mama will protect you.  I love you, Sa'la.  I love you my bab-”
	'Thunk'!  The ball, hitting the wall, broke open, falling to the floor.  Sa'la, panting and flushed, looked around the cabin fiercely.  It only took a moment, but she came back to her senses.  She looked down at herself.  Her cloth coverings were damp with sweat, and her breathing was still harsh and sharp.  She put a hand on her chest revealing how fast her heart was pumping.
	It took a bit, but Sa'la calmed down.  She shook her head to rid herself of memories, only to realize that she was alone in the cabin.  Alone and without her ball.  She laid herself back on the bed, and closed her eyes, hoping the images would stop, and that Von would come back soon.