Yinglet Squire (CH 2)

All Characters and setting were inspired by the Out of Placers webcomic (OOPS) and world created by Valsalia
http://www.valsalia.com/comic/out-of-placers/oops-35-2/
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/valsalia/
https://www.patreon.com/valsalia
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Yinglet Squire by Teether


Chapter 2


The air rides cool across the ground as the echoes from the surrounding forest spill forth with the chatter of the night’s frogs and insects. A small fire burns on the edge of a dark forest next to a main dirt road. Around the fire sits Cyrillah on a long felled tree, snapping small twigs between her hands and tossing them lazily into the small blaze. A couple feet away sits Vacar roasting two sticks of salted pork over the flames. The air is filled with the smell of melted briny fat and campfire smoke.

“Alright, good enough” says Vacar before standing up from the fire and walking over to Cyrillah.

Cyrillah takes no notice of Vacar standing next to her, instead staring bug eyed at the fire in front of her

“Cyrillah?” says Vacar as the yinglet nearly jumps out of her skin

“What?” she says darting her head all around before settling her gaze back on Vacar

Vacar hands one of the speared chunks of pork to Cyrillah before sitting down on the log next to her, “You know since the sun went down you’ve been real jumpy”

“Jumpy?! I am not jumpy! Nozhing’s bozhering me!” the yinglet blurts out in quick succession as she twirls the stick of meat through her fingers

“Uh huh” mutters Vacar before taking a bite of his pork.

Vacar watches Cyrillah out of the corner of his eyes for the next couple minutes. Every time a wild howl or croak comes up from the woods behind them, Cyrillah jumps and looks over her shoulder. Vacar quickly finishes off his meat before flicking the stick in the fire. He waits for the right moment before stretching his arms over his head. He leans over slightly and taps Cyrillah on her right shoulder. The yinglet screams, jumping away from the log and spinning on her feet as she holds her pork stick over her head like a sword. Vacar chuckles as the yinglet continues to dart her head around.

“Vacar! Zhis forest is haunted!” says Cyrillah with panicked breath

Vacar bursts out laughing even harder as the yinglet slowly lowers her pork stick, drooping her shoulders

“Zhis isn’t funny!” snaps Cyrillah as she flings the pork sticks at Vacar, hitting him square between the eyes with the greasy chunk of meat

Vacar wipes his brow, still chuckling as he holds out the pork stick to Cyrillah, “Oh come on Cyrill, lighten up”

Cyrillah stomps over to Vacar, “I can’t just lighten up! Zhere are zhings out in zhose woods zhat could….” Huffed Cryillah before the hooting of an owl makes her turn around again

Vacar pokes Cyrillah in the side of the stomach with his foot, causing her to jump once again and turn towards him

“Stop zhat! I am being serious!” Cyrillah tries to bark out in her most serious tone.

Vacar’s chuckling dies down as he sees the serious worry ringed under the yinglet’s eyes. A sense of guilt starts to come over Vacar as he straightens up on the log.

“Look I am sorry, I haven’t been much of a teacher. I’ve been teasing you ever since we left town together. Come on” said Vacar patting the spot on the log next to him.

The yinglet gives a short skeptical eye with her arms crossed, “No more poking or ear flicking?”

“No more of that, you have my word” said Vacar tracing an X over his chest.

Cyrillah sighs, walking over to the log and plopping down next to Vacar. Cyrillah takes the pork stick from Vacar’s hand and quickly finishes it off before tossing the stick onto the dirt. Vacar pulls a long scabbard dagger off of his belt and holds it out to Cryillah. Cryillah takes the dagger and looks over its worn scabbard covered in slash marks from other much larger blades. She pulls the handle, exposing the well-kept, beautiful mirror-like blade.

“Wow, zhis must’ve been wizh you for a long time, but what does it have to do wizh me?” said Cryillah pushing the blade back into the well-worn scabbard and holding it out to Vacar.

Vacar pushes the dagger back towards Cyrillah, “It’s yours, that’s what”

Cryillah looks up at Vacar and back down at the blade a couple times, “Mine? But…but….”

“You need a blade to train with if you ever plan to be a soldier some day, seriously, take it” said Vacar

Cyrillah’s eyes become slightly misty before choking out, “…Zhank you…zhis is ze nicest gift anyone’s ever given me”

Vacar rubs the back of his head, the unexpected complement making him feel slightly uncomfortable “ Well…I can teach you some basics with it, besides maybe it’ll help you sleep a little better at night”

“We’re sleeping out here?” says Cyrillah alarmed

“Well…yeah….Where do you think we were going to sleep?” says Vacar

“You know…like an inn or somezhing? Somewhere indoors” says Cyrillah matter-of-factly

Vacar let’s out a short laugh, “You’ve never slept outside have you?”

Cyrillah looks away from Vacar as she fidgets with her toes, “No…no I haven’t. I always slept inside ze walls of ze enclave. I did everyzhing inside zhose walls. I was told zhat if I ever left, zhat I would be met wizh a swift deazh”

Vacar stares at Cyrillah with pity. Understanding that the yinglet probably had no idea what she’s getting herself into.

“Cyrill?” said Vacar

“Yeah?” said Cryillah

“What made you want to become a sellsword?”

“What?”

“Any other yinglet would consider this suicide, why do you want it?

“Didn’t you ask me zhis question already?”

“Yes, but I am talking about the spark…what was the spark that made you want this?”

Cyrillah readjusts herself on the log, “’Ze spark’….I guess you would say is one of my first memories. I don’t remember a whole lot of what happened since I was very young at ze time. All I remember is his beautiful face staring down at me in his strong arms, feeling completely safe and secure. He was a sellsword traveling on ze road to my city. Along ze way he came across an abandoned litter of us, no more zhan new born fluffs. He scooped us up in his arms and took us to ze nearest enclave. Ze matriarch paid ze young man good coin for us, especially since zhree of us were female. I never knew ze man’s name but ever since zhen I zhought about becoming a soldier. When I grew older I’d sneak out to ze city to watch ze sellswords and mercs come zhrough ze gates. I knew zhat one day I wanted to be big, strong, and fearless like zhem. I wanted to be more zhan just some egglayer, I wanted to be unafraid, I wanted to be strong.”

Cyrillah’s hands curl into tiny fists, shaking with frustration, “I know zhat I am just a small, weak, fearful yinglet but dammit I want to be more zhan zhat”

Vacar stands up and looks down at Cryillah, “You are more than that”

“Huh?” says Cyrillah looking up into Vacar's face

“You wish to be stronger but you ignore the fact that you’re already strong”

“But I am not big or muscly or as fearless as you!”

“None of those things matter if your spirit is right”

“But….”

“You can fell even giant foes with enough will, it just depends where and how you hit them. Now pull out that dagger, its time for your first lesson” says Vacar as he gets down on one knee in front of Cyrillah. The female yinglet hesitates for a second but quickly pulls the dagger from the scabbard in her lap.

“Now look, even someone small can hit an enemy in multiple areas for an easy take down, always look for an area of opportunity in soft spots like the neck, eyes, armpits and genitals….” Continues Vacar as the small yinglet eagerly nods her head, absorbing every bit of information as the campfire begins to die.

Vacar continues on with the lesson until nothing but the faint glow of the red coals remains. Cyrillah now renewed with a new sense of security, both turn in for the night. The clouds smother the moon as both lay on opposite ends of the campfire. Cyrillah lays curled up, her body completely cocooned around the old dagger by her chest.

About two hours into her sleep Cyrillah feels a nip on her shoulder. The tired yinglet tries to brush it away.

“Vacar stop…..you promised…” she says sleepily

A set of powerful jaws snap around the yinglet’s shirt, dragging her quickly back from the fire and towards the forest. Cyrillah wakes with a scream as a wolf firmly grips her in his teeth.  Cyrillah tries to wiggle free from her shirt but that only seems to piss off the animal even more as it growls, foam dripping at its jaws.

Cyrillah trembles as she catches a glimpse even further into the woods. Multiple series of hungry eyes glitter from the dark, staring at their soon to be dinner. Cyrillah feels her mind panicking, her thoughts racing in a million different directions before settling on the dagger still clench in her hands.

Cryillah unsheathes the dagger and in one swift move plunges the knife deep into the creature’s right eye. The wolf howls with anger, snapping it jaws left and right. Cyrillah holds tight onto the dagger as the wolf flings her from its head. Cyrillah lands onto the ground before quickly getting back on her feet, holding the gory dagger in her hands like a sword.

The wolf snaps its jaws as it paws at its new gaping wound before charging at the small yinglet.  Cyrillah braces for impact as the heavy canine slams head first into the yinglet, causing her to slam back against a tree. The wolf thrashes and snaps it jaws for a bit before collapsing onto the ground.

Cyrillah pulls the dagger from the wolf’s throat as fresh, hot blood pours out into the dirt. Cyrillah pants heavily, adrenaline coursing through her body as she hears the howls of the other observing wolves. The eyes continue to watch the little yinglet with interest as she steps away from the tree, bloody dagger in hand.

“Come on! You want an easy meal? Come on!” yells Cyrillah as she swipes the dagger from side to side.

A round of whimpers comes up from the other wolfs as one by one they disappear back into the dark. Cyrillah lowers her dagger as she pants heavily, looking down at the giant tear holes in her shirt caused by the wolf’s teeth.

“Woah” says Vacar a couple feet behind Cyrillah, kicking the dead carcass of the wolf

Cyrillah turns around to face Vacar, “You…were you watching ze whole time?”

“Nope, I just woke up, whatever happened here was all your doing Cyrill” said Vacar walking closer to the yinglet, “And by the looks of it I’d say someone just proved themselves to be pretty fearless and strong. More than just a yinglet.”

A look of confusion comes over Cryillah for a second before realizing what Vacar is getting at, “Oh you mean….me?”

“Yup” says Vacar before tugging the tip of Cryillah’s left ear, “My fearless little squire”

Cyrillah lets out a screech as she grabs her ears, “Hey you promised!”

“I only promised no flicking, you didn’t say anything about tugging” said Vacar with a grin, “Now come on my little warrior its time you got some rest, I’ll take watch for anymore wolfs”

Cyrillah lays down back by the now completely snuffed out coals, surrounded by darkness on all sides. Cyrillah holds the dagger close to her chest once more as the feeling of absolute security comes over her. She draws a deep sigh of relief as she looks over at Vacar, sitting upright with his main sword close by. Cyrillah closes her eyes and falls off into the dreamscape. Her mind flitters with images of her all donned in shining armor, with her dagger sword at hand, riding off fearlessly into the adventurous unknown.