"Fucking beasts!" Lee cursed in annoyance.
The three attackers with their shouts that sounded like barking, did resemble angry dogs, and their fangs only accentuated the impression.
Lee managed to avoid the first few smacks, but then stumbled over one of the blobs, and had to roll away to not get hit by the metal rods. As the result he was now completely covered in the gray dirt, his waterskin was torn and the disgusting smelling stew began to ooze out.
He was angry, but still had reservations of hurting the children, no matter how beast-like they were.
He needed a new waterskin, though, thus he threw the current one in the face of one of the attackers, and all three stopped in shock. Throwing away food was probably some kind of taboo, but Lee didn't care. In a blink of an eye he kicked two off their feet, punched the tallest girl in the solar plexus, and deftly relieved her of her waterskin. It wasn't as full as his, but at least it wasn't torn.
It took a while for the three to realize what just transpired, similar to the dozens of other kids who ware staring at Lee in disbelief. He didn't notice when exactly the crowd had gathered, but these were bad news.
And his suspicion was immediately proven to be correct.
After noticing her loss, the girl roared in pain as if Lee had cut off her leg. Then she shouted at the others, and while some didn't react and went back to the blob-poking job, over twenty charged at him with their rods raised up high.
To disable the leader was one of the basics when fighting against a group, but as it turned out Lee had been too merciful. And since he only managed to anger the crowd, there were no other options, but to run.
Running was in Lee's list of exercises from the early childhood, and after Prides's training which was borderline an inquisition, he considered himself to be rather proficient in it.
In few breaths it was clear that, despite the shackles he was wearing, he could outrun everyone here, but if he did, most likely he would have to run as long as he remained in this blob farm.
But to become a target of constant bullying wasn't in Lee's plans.
'In that case … I'm sorry!' He sighed to himself, unexpectedly stopped, and turned around.
His fist flew in the face of the fastest chaser and the four fangs broke along with the flat nose. The kid fell to the ground, unconscious, but unfortunately the sight was not enough to work as deterrent, and instead enraged the little beasts even more. Their eyes turned red and it looked like they lost the last bits of sanity.
Lee rushed away again, cursing his eagerness to establish himself around here. He had long forgotten how hard a human head was, and with that one hit fractured few bones in his left hand.
'I guess I'll need to practice punching people more!' Lee had a bitter laugh, and rushed away again.
There were no geographical spots where he could get any advantage like a cliff or a hole in the ground. The endless field they were on was gray and flat, and the only irregularities were the slowly moving green blobs.
Since there were no other options, while running, Lee, grabbed a handful of the gray sand and stopped again, at the same time throwing it in the faces of the attackers. Afterwards he smacked two of them with the rod, and dashed away, grabbing another handful of sand.
His left hand hurt, but he ignored the pain and threw the sand in the faces of the chasers again, and immediately rewarded them with a couple more smacks.
In this fashion he escaped, defended and attacked at the same time, running in a wide circle, but a short while later realized that the crowd had thinned much more than he expected. Turns out three quarters of the chasers were almost disabled, and not by his rod, but thanks to the sand he threw in their faces.
From what it looked like, the little beasts were hyper sensitive to the powder-like gray soil and kept coughing and sneezing, their red and angry eyes uncontrollably watering up.
This was probably the only chance Lee was about to get. While holding his breath, he went into full offense mode, throwing sand, kicking, smacking with the rod, and then throwing sand again. It took a while, but in the end, apart from the ones who didn't take the part in the brawl, he was the only one left standing, heavily panting, though.
His head hurt and he felt blood ticking over the right eyebrow. The left hand ached even more, and pain in the chest indicated that during the rush he didn't notice several pokes coming through and fracturing his rib or even two.
It was delusional to hope he would get out of this unscathed, especially considering his opponents had practiced poking with the rods for who knows how many years.
Seeing that his new waterskin was torn again, Lee walked over the barely conscious bodies on the ground that currently somewhat resembled the slowly moving blobs they were poking earlier, and looked for a new bag.
But when he was about to pick it up, the big-eyed man appeared from who knows where and grabbed him by the shoulder.
Lee couldn't tell whether he was angry or amused, but it was clear the guy had seen the whole event. Probably with his oversized eyes he could've seen it from a mile away.
"They tore mine!" Lee said, and pointed at his waterskin, "I want to switch it."
The man thought for a moment, then grinned and nodded.
'At least teachers like me …' Lee ridiculed himself, and switched the bags. The unlucky kid whimpered while coughing, but his struggles were ignored.
"Ura wilu nedabaj tan?" The big-eyed man asked.
In return Lee could only shrug. If it went on like this, it'll take him several years to learn the language. But his reaction caused the man to furrow his brows.
The guy pondered a bit, but then patted Lee's shoulder, shouted at the kids still lying on the ground, and pulled Lee away. Lee was ordered to leave the rod behind, and it looked like they both were going back to the main camp.
On the way the man tried to strike a friendly conversation, but in the end gave up, realizing Lee couldn't understand a word. But then he got an idea.
He patted his chest and said, "Butalax!"
Seeing Lee's confused expression, he pointed at the red moon in the sky, and said, "Lunax!"
Then pointed at himself and proudly repeated, "Butalax!"
Lee nodded in understanding and pointed at himself, saying, "Leax!"
It wasn't that hard to think of a name ending with ax, and it had the expected effect.
The man was caught by surprise, but then heartily laughed and, patting Lee's shoulder again, said, "Butalax! Leax! Hahaha!"
The guy was probably impressed by Lee's earlier performance, and as a bonus relieved the newcomer from his duties. Hearing their names sounding similar clearly improved the man's mood, and Lee already began to ponder whether he would take the next step in his carrier and become a guard.
That surely was not the worst option, at least he potentially could have a bit more freedom.
When they arrived back to the main camp, the other locals were surprised to see them return, but when the man told about the event, a heated discussion broke out.
Lee guessed that Butalax was giving praises, and maybe tried to put a word for him, but the others disagreed. They argued for a while, until the one who had been silent up until now, the guy with the bright scales on his face, ended the discussion.
He said something while pointing at Lee, then at the other children he initially arrived with. Then he motioned towards the distance, and then at Lee again, apparently describing him being much taller and older. In the end he decisively said something, and pointed in a completely different direction.
The others gasped in revelation and looked at Lee with shock in their eyes. At least it seemed so. They discussed for a bit longer, then one rushed towards the place with blobs, but Butalax got busy.
He took Lee's half empty waterskin and switched it for a full one. Then took off his shackles, threw them to the side, examined Lee's condition, but other than verifying he was dirty from head to toe, could not find any fault. For some reason he ignored the dried blood on Lee's face and the swelled up left hand.
Then he said something to the others, patted Lee's shoulder and pointed in the distance. For a split moment Lee almost lit up with joy, thinking he was granted freedom, but then Butalax went first, looking after his shoulder, expecting Lee to follow.