Free Boelik by Amy Lehigh Page B

don’t really stick to one place,” Boelik
explained as he tore into his meat, his story finished. It was
getting cold already.
    The two were silent for a while. As the meal
was almost finished, Ryan ventured to say something. “Hey, um,
Boelik?”
    “ Ryan?”
    “ If those townspeople saw
me, and came after me, would you have to kill them?”
    Boelik shook his head. “No. We could both
outrun them in a heartbeat. My mother just knew that those people
would have set the forest ablaze had we run, and she had to protect
it. But that doesn’t mean to be careless,” he added, seeing Ryan
slump a little in relief.
    “ I know that. But I wanted
to know ‘what if’.”
    Boelik nodded and put his clean rod down.
“It’s good to know ‘what if’. But it’s best to just be careful.
People are afraid of what they don’t understand, and they certainly
don’t understand us. At least, the majority don’t.”
    “ There are some who
do?”
    “ Of course,” Boelik exhaled
as he rose, putting his rod on the table. “There are those who
would mate with demons, so naturally there are those who would
tolerate us.”
    Ryan stared at the empty rod in his head.
“Boelik?”
    “ Another question?” Boelik
asked, turning his head. Ryan glanced at Boelik for a moment before
turning his gaze away again.
    “ Is that okay?”
    Boelik shrugged. “I don’t know unless you ask
me.”
    “ Do nomads leave their
friends behind?” Ryan kept his gaze on his rod. Boelik walked over
and put his right hand on Ryan’s head and took the rod with his
other.
    “ No; normally they take
them along.”
    The two spent the rest of the day talking.
Ryan wanted to know more about what Japan was like—Boelik indulged
him, though he was four hundred years out of date. Boelik wanted to
know more about prey animals (and if there were any forests in this country—and there were, much to
his pleasure).
    In the end, they both found themselves more
comfortable in each other’s company. When they were ready to go to
bed, Ryan gestured over to his bed of grass-filled potato sacks.
“You can sleep here,” he offered, and the two shared the bed for
the night.
     
    ***
     
    Boelik woke in darkness. He held still to
listen for whatever had awakened him, and he heard a ticking noise
like claws on wood. He strained his ears more and heard a snuffling
sound and realized that something must have smelled the deer meat.
Beginning to move, he noticed that Ryan was awake and holding his
breath in fear. Boelik put his furred hand on Ryan’s side behind
him in reassurance, and he heard the boy breathe out quietly.
Boelik let his eyes adjust to the dim light as he stared out at the
source of the noise.
    In the slight moonlight filtering through the
solitary window and the door frame, Boelik could make out the dim
form of the creature. It seemed like a big cat, with an even larger
tail. He tapped the wooden floor next to the bed, making it whip
its head around. The muzzle was longer than a normal cat’s, though
just as square.
    The creature turned away from the meat and
began stalking towards the two. As its form passed through the
doorway, the moonlight fully illuminated its silhouette. That made
it clear why its muzzle was so large: it had four canine teeth
protruding like tusks from its jaws.
    It came over to the bed, tail swishing back
and forth. Its tongue crept out of its mouth to lick its lips as it
lowered itself into a pouncing position. Ryan was holding his
breath again, and Boelik thought he felt him trembling. “I don’t
think so,” he said to the cat, shooting up and darting for a spot
near it.
    On all fours now, he shot forward to get
beneath it, twisting onto his back and trying to put his claws
under its chin. However, it had already begun to look down at him
and open its jaws, so instead he found his hand in its mouth.
    The beast saw its chance and took it,
clamping its jaws on Boelik’s hand. “Son of a…!” Boelik shouted
before pulling