Uncaged [Sequel to Forever Caged]

A/N: As promised, chapter four today. Enjoy.
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Shinda woke up first. He shoved some luggage into his own leather bag, quickly dressed into some winter-friendly clothes, then went to wake everyone. Once they were all set and fed, he led them to a wagon rental shop. He paid for a large one with a sturdy tarp, as well as two strong orns to pull it. They were both fully grown males bred for labor. Their shaggy pale brown fur was well cared for and soft, and even their stubby black horns were shiny. They had wide heads and long snouts with blunt teeth, large round eyes, long necks that curved down into broad muscular backs and long tails of hair. Their thick legs ended in wide, heavy hooves.

Once everyone was piled into the wagon, Shinda sat on the bench in the front and took the reigns and drove them out of the city.

Lesara was comfortably coiled on his tail, enjoying the ride. Arna thought the cart jostled a bit much, and asked, "Hey Master, how can you stand this and not be able to keep a meal down on a boat?"

Lesara shrugged. "I don't know. Probably because I know if I get sick here, I can't just launch it out the side."

Arna made a face. "Ew."

Kyran was sitting on a short plank of wood that served as a seat along one wall of the wagon, flipping through a thin paper booklet he'd picked up at the market when no one was looking. The uneven road made his hands shake and harder to read the small words, but he wanted to know more about this area without bombarding Lesara or Shinda with questions.

Arna leaned against Kyran, reading over his shoulder. Lesara was quiet, mulling over what he had read the night before and trying to change it so it'd suit him later. He idly wondered about the people they would meet in the next city they stopped at, and decided he missed the small-town feel of his home.

Kyran handed the book to Arna, then looked at Lesara. "Lesara, can I ask you to teach me some of the eleshad's language? If we're going to be dealing with more shad, I'd like to be able to communicate."

Lesara pondered for a moment. "I guess. My skills are a little rocky though. Shinda might know more." He scooted over a little bit to make room on his tail coils for Kyran. "You too, Arna."

Arna groaned. "I'm still having trouble with Kyran's language!" he protested.

Kyran moved and settled on Lesara's coils, and grinned up at Arna. "I can teach you more of my language later, when we're really going to need it."

Arna's cheeks puffed. "Fine." He got up and sat on the other side of Lesara, who had his hand in his purse.

"Hmmm... I think I have a book in here that I never got around to removing... aha!" he pulled it out, and presented it to the boys.

Arna scrunched his face at the letters. "Looks like a bunch of scribbles to me." Lesara whapped him in the back of his head with his tail. "Ow!"

Kyran looked at the book, skimming over it. "It doesn't look too different from my language," he said thoughtfully. "We don't need to learn to read it yet, right? I think we could do with just speech right now."

"Yes, but you'll need to be able to read it to fully understand it. That and our language just doesn't have the same sounds as this, and there's no real way to write it down. Isn't that right, Shinda?" Lesara looked to the driver.

Shinda twisted to peer around the curtain separating his seat from the rest of the wagon. "You're teaching them eleshad right? Just give them the basics for now. It's a simple language, if a little anal."

Lesara huffed. "Alright. It's a very vowel heavy language, so listen carefully." He began teaching the boys introductions, repeating the words till they were said correctly.

Kyran made all sorts of faces as he tried to wrap his tongue around the words. He frowned, and at one point stuck his tongue out in frustration. "I can't believe how hard this is! Mine isn't even this weird!"

Lesara licked Kyran's nose with the tip of his tongue. "For some reason, it helps having an extra few inches here. But yes, it is difficult."

Arna raspberried. "I don't see how. Seems like it'd just get tangled up."

The naga blushed. "It's happened once or twice..."

Kyran flinched back, and a chuckle sounded from the front of the wagon. "You'll get the hang of it," Shinda said. "Just try to remember the vowel sounds, and you'll get it sooner or later."

Kyran wiped his nose off, still frowning. "Well what kind of word is 'ayaeowr' anyway?"

Shinda laughed again. "An old one. It means 'go away.'"

"Old and important," Lesara nodded. "Now, 'loumetah.' Another important word." His finger went up and down with the word's sounds.

"Lo-oo-meh-tah," Kyran repeated slowly. "What's that mean?"

"Very good! It means 'come here.'" Lesara clapped.

Arna struggled with it, getting frustrated. "And I thought learning to kiss properly was hard!"

Kyran blushed a little. "So how do you say 'what is this?'"

Lesara shook his head at Arna. "Kyen ihie," Lesara said slowly. He went on to teaching basic sentence structures, every now and again turning to Shinda for some help. Lesara had to admit that it made the trip go by a little bit faster.

By late day, Shinda pulled off the dusty road and came to a stop. He slid off the seat and tied the animals' reigns to a nearby tree, then entered the wagon from the back. "All right boys, time to teach you how to hunt. We're doing it now because there's no telling how long it'll take, and I'm sure you'll want dinner." He pulled out his bag and reached in, searching for his equipment.

Kyran watched him for a moment. "What are we going to need?"

"That dagger of yours will be perfect, and Lesara, I'd suggest your bow." He pulled a long, curved blade with a hooked tip still in its sheath from his bag and attached it to his belt, then rummaged around some more and came back out with a thin dagger. That, he handed to Arna. "You can hang on to that."

Kyran was busy digging through one of his own bags, and when he found his dagger, he strapped the sheath around his left arm underneath the sleeve, hilt against the inside of his wrist. "What are we looking for?"

"Oh, just small game unless Lesara's real hungry."

Arna looked at the dagger he was handed. He made a funny face at it, then stuck it through his belt loop for later. "Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself," he told Shinda.

Lesara smiled proudly, saying, "That's my Arna."

Arna headed off into the bushes. Lesara turned to Shinda and asked, "Do you need help teaching Kyran to hunt?"

Kyran frowned a little, watching Arna leave. Shinda shrugged. "No, but you can if you want."

"Alright then." The naga went about gathering sticks. "I'll make a quick fire before going off to hunt myself. When Arna gets back, tell him to prepare some steaks for cooking."

Shinda watched for a moment, then headed for the trees. "Come on you. And be quiet."

Kyran followed without a word. Once the wagon was out of sight, he started to look around to try and find Arna. Shinda nudged his shoulder. "Eyes ahead, ears for everything else." They went on for a while in silence, both careful of their steps. The light started to fade as their time in the woods stretched on, and Kyran was starting to grow frustrated that they still hadn't caught anything. Shinda bent into a crouch, pulling Kyran with him. He pointed to small shallow hoof prints in the dirt, and whispered, "Zutren tracks, still fresh. We'll follow these and see if we can't find it."

They walked along the path the animal took, weaving through the dense trees and avoiding brambles here and there. Shinda held up a hand to stop Kyran, then slipped behind a large tree. He looked around it, spotting their prey. He gestured to Kyran to join him. "Fly up this tree," he whispered, "and move along the branches until you're right above it. Drop down on it, and shove your blade through its neck. Make sure you only go for the neck. Anywhere else will ruin the meat."

Kyran frowned, looking at the harmless animal. Its branchlike horns were short, which told him it was a young adult. It was grazing from a patch of bright green grass, all alone. Shinda poked his shoulder. "Don't think about how cute it is. Once it's pissed off it'll do everything it can to ram its horns in your gut. I assure you it's more dangerous than it seems."

Kyran sighed. "Fine." He made his violet-edged black wings emerge, no longer than two feet. He jumped up, and his wings took him higher. He floated to a high, thick branch, and looked down. Shinda nodded at him, then gestured to keep moving. Kyran turned his eyes on their target, and tucked his legs close as he drifted from branch to branch. Occasionally the zutren would look up, long tan ears perking up to listen. It lowered its narrow head back to the ground each time to continue eating. Once Kyran was directly above its back, he floated down until he was underneath the reach of the longest branches, then pulled his blade from its place on his wrist.

He readied himself, then dropped on the animal, throwing his arms around its neck. The frightened animal reared up and squealed, jerking its head back to stab at its attacker. A horn spike caught on Kyran's shoulder, leaving a deep cut behind, but not enough to hinder his movements. He winced at the pain, then flipped his blade and drove it into the zutren's jugular.

It squealed again and bucked, forcing Kyran off. He landed with a thud on the ground, rolling away from the angered animal. It turned on him, and lowered its head to charge. Rich red blood flowed down its neck, and before it could run at Kyran, it collapsed in a heap. Kyran panted, pushing himself to a stand. He approached the dying thing, watching as it struggled to try and get back up. It eventually gave up and lay still on the ground, and Kyran grimaced and looked away.

Shinda was silent as he walked over, looking at the dead zutren. "Good job. Get your dagger and I'll carry it back."

Kyran reached down and yanked his dagger out without a word, trying not to really think of what he was doing. Shinda pointed ahead. "There's a stream a ways down there. Go rinse off and come right back." Kyran turned and left, fighting not to just run. He found the stream Shinda meant, and knelt to clean the blood from his hands and blade.

Arna was a little ways up stream, washing the blood from the dagger Shinda had given him. He had caught a large fowl, and was rather pleased with himself. He saw Kyran emerge to rinse himself off, and waved. "Hey you, come up here! The water's cleaner!"

Kyran looked up, startled. He relaxed when he saw Arna, smiling a little. He rose and strode over, and made a face when he saw the large dead bird. "Looks like we both did pretty good."

Arna smiled, then pointed at Kyran's shoulder. "You got it or it got you?"

Kyran looked at his shoulder, then knelt to rinse it off. "A little of both, though Shinda's dealing with its body."

Arna splashed at Kyran, laughing. "What'ja catch? Something tasty?"

Kyran raised a hand to shield the splash from his face. "Zutren. Don't know how it tastes though, but I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"Oh wow!" Arna got excited. "Zutren meat is the best! Master's collecting some fruit and stuff to make tea out of. Dunno why. I can't stand tea." He made a face. "Want me to wait with you till you're done cleaning?"

Kyran shrugged and stood up. "No, I'm already done." He was a little upset. He'd killed an animal whose name was also the first he'd been able to read, and now Arna had killed a bird. He still remembered the blue birds that had inspired him to run away so long ago, and seeing any bird killed bothered him. He shook his head, forcing a smile. "Let's head back."

"Alright." Arna stood up and wiped his blade off on his jeans. "Let's go. This stuff's gonna take a while to cook." He picked up his kill and led the way back to the campsite, where Lesara was stirring a pot.

Shinda was already there, busy skinning the zutren with his long knife. Kyran grimaced at the sight, and shut his eyes. "I think I'll just sit in the wagon until dinner's ready. I can't watch this."

Shinda turned from his spot on the ground. "You realize you're going to have to learn sooner or later right?"

Kyran frowned. "Later, then."

"Aww, I feel kinda bad," Arna said as Kyran left. He began plucking the feathers off the fowl while Lesara left his pot. "Arna, make sure that doesn't boil over, I'm going to check on Kyran."

Kyran hopped into the wagon, and the first thing he did was bury his dagger inside his bag. He plopped on the seat with a thick book, trying to get his mind off the sickening sight of the zutren's skin being carved and peeled away.

"Kyran? Are you alright?" Lesara poked his head up over the edge of the wagon. "You're going to eat aren't you?"

Kyran looked at Lesara. "I'm fine. I'll eat, but I just can't watch that." He sighed, leaning back. "I don't know why it bothers me as much. I mean...I killed before without any problems." He looked to the floor, frowning. He thought about the demon, Rendell, who had raped and tortured him while Lesara was away so long ago, and how he'd managed to kill the bastard with the help of Shinda and Arna. He shook his head to clear the thoughts. "Bleh."

Lesara got up in the wagon with him. "I know. I probably should have taught you earlier. These are skills that will be necessary to live." He hugged Kyran. "If you don't want to eat meat tonight, I found some nice ripe fruit. Lucky us, eh?"

"No, it's fine. It's just these two animals in particular that I don't really like being killed. But, I need to get over that." Kyran forced a smile. "I'll be alright."

"Alright." His ear twitched, and he laughed. "Hang on, I must rescue your cousin." He slithered out, and went to go talk to Arna.

"Shinda needs rescuing?" Kyran asked before Lesara disappeared completely. He sighed, and just went back to his book.

Shinda grumbled, dumping some chunks of meat into the stew. "Tanning takes days. I'll show you some other time, now quit bugging me."

"But can you at least tell me how?" Arna was picking bones out of his bird. "That skin right there could make a lot of cool things."

Lesara came in on the conversation. "Ohh, it's nasty how one does it. You don't want to be told. Not right before dinner."

"Yeah, and I'm betting Kyran doesn't wanna know about it either." Shinda carved more meat off the zutren, avoiding most of the fat, and dumped it into the stew. He knew Lesara would eat a lot, being a naga, which is why he hunted this animal in the first place. "Ask me again and I won't teach you."

Kyran could smell the food from the wagon, and was compelled to leave. He hopped out and went to the others, glad to see all the skinning and all the other nasty bits were taken care of and the stew looked almost done.

Shinda had left a while ago to get rid of the skin, and was just now returning. "Ah, glad you finally decided to join us. Feeling better?"

"Yeah."

Lesara was sipping some rich, strong tea, and sighed. "Ok, I hope everyone likes arts and crafts, cus I'm driving tomorrow and I'm not going to be nearly as patient as Shinda, so you might want to find something to do."

Kyran sat down near Arna. "What do you mean?"

Arna whispered, "Don't ask."

Lesara's ears folded back. "Oh he has every right to know. I'm a cranky driver, and I don't want to be bothered. I'm pretty sure Shinda's butt's sore from being up there all day, and I have a lot of butt to spare so I'll fare better."

Kyran restrained himself from asking if Lesara could even fit his whole self on the driver's seat. "I'm guessing you're going to have part of your tail in the wagon? Try not to hit us with it," he said with a small grin.

Shinda knelt by the large pot on the fire, picking up the metal ladle to stir it. He was smart and didn't comment.

Lesara gave Kyran a dirty look. "I'll make a special note to get you." He held the look for a couple of seconds before breaking down in a smile. "Alright, well, stuff's almost done. Let's hope Shinda cooks better than Cherry."

"She's not that bad," Shinda said with a smirk.

"Until she's mad," Kyran replied. "I refuse to eat on those nights."

Shinda made a disgusted face. "Oh yeah." He pulled out several spices he'd brought along, and sprinkled them into the mix.

Arna laid down in Kyran's lap, making himself comfortable.

"Oh my, Shinda! What are you putting in there, it smells delicious!" Lesara wagged his tail tip as he was setting the skewered fowl up.

Kyran blushed a little, placing a hand on Arna's head. He stroked the soft hair slowly, fidgeting with the tips each time he reached them. Arna sighed and relaxed.

Shinda grinned at Lesara. "Just a few spices. Really helps the taste of the meat."

Lesara smirked. "I'll bet it does. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist!" He held up his hands when Arna made a noise. "I'll go get some bowls and spoons and what have you. My goodness my humor just isn't appreciated."

It took a moment for Shinda to catch the innuendo. He snarked and dumped in a bit more of one spice when the naga went to get dishes.

Kyran made a face and arched a brow, then smiled and ran his fingertips down Arna's neck.

Arna made a soft noise and tilted his head up at the light touches. "Do we get to learn anything else on this trip?" he asked.

"Yes. After dinner I'm showing you how to use that axe of yours. We're going to train every night until you're able to beat Kyran." Shinda stirred a bit more, then hooked the handle of the ladle onto the metal frame holding up the pot.

Kyran looked up at Shinda. "Why until he beats me?"

"Because it'll teach both of you not to let emotions get the best of you during a dangerous fight."

Arna looked up at Kyran. "Uh... well... I guess so. You ok with that, Kyr?"

Kyran shrugged a little. "As long as you know I'm not just going to let you win."

Arna made a face. "I would hope not. Just don't cry when I get you." He sat up and kissed Kyran's cheek. "Seriously, don't, I don't think I can take it."

Kyran pouted at Arna. "I don't cry so easily."

Arna responded with an ear nibble. "Good."

Lesara returned with some bowls, spoons and a jar of deep red syrup. "Alright, let's eat!"

Shinda took the bowls from Lesara and filled them one at a time. Once everyone was served, he gestured at the jar with his spoon. "What is that?"

"Dessert," the naga said with a smile. "I like sweet things." He took the bowl and dug in merrily. Arna did the same.