To Kill a War Leader Pt 10 - Back in My Element

The next morning Shala and I headed into the jungle of Orta'ahn to scout a village of relatively peaceful orcs for an attack they had no idea would come. I really needed to be scouting my way into and out of Na'Guk's hut, but since he decided I shouldn't go alone on this first mission, I guess that'll have to wait. All things considered I guess I could've been stuck in the jungle for a few days with someone much worse than Shala. 
The village we were to recon was a solid two-day hike through the jungle. We packed some dried fruits and meat along with about a gallon of water each. Shala also had a sling that she said would be suspended from a tree to sleep in. I asked her where I should get one. Apparently, it sleeps two. That should be...interesting. I would think it could be difficult to react to danger all wrapped up in a cocoon, but it's worked for them for as long as their history recalls. Who am I to question history?
Valsh met us at the gate on our way out. He gave us some healing salves and gave a blessing on our journey. Whatever. Shala seemed grateful, so I didn't give him any hell about it. He also handed me one of the short swords his tribe carry. On me it was closer to a full-length, two-handed thing. I handed it back and told him that thing would likely get me killed. I was carrying what I know, and that was good enough for me. Besides this is a scouting mission. If we get into a situation where I'd need something like that, shit would have definitely gone nine kinds of pear shaped.
Just before we walked out the gate Valsh took me aside and said, "Take these as well. They are for you. Shala is going to be moving quickly and you will likely be burning more calories than you would should you go alone. These are very potent, so do not eat more than one a day." Then he handed me a few bars of what looked like dried fruit, grains, and some congealed white shit that held the whole thing together. I took them and put them in the pouch at my waist. Then I turned and headed out the gate to join Shala who was waiting just at the edge of the jungle. Once I was there she turned and led us into the underbrush.
"We will need to keep alert," Shala said as she pushed aside some foliage. "Even though we aren't traveling far, the Great Jungle is still a very dangerous place to be. It is probably best that Na'Guk sent me with you. I know you are capable of taking care of yourself in a fight, but surviving the Great Jungle is another thing entirely."
I hadn't had a chance to tell her that I was perfectly at home in the jungle before she stopped walking and turned around," Tole, are even you listening to...what in the frigid depths of the Seven Hells are you doing?"
"Shhh," I scolded. "You'll frighten it." I gently took the leaf viper free from where it had wrapped itself around my arm and set it down on the jungle floor. Once there, it promptly slithered back into the underbrush. I looked up to see Shala staring at me with her mouth hanging open. "You should close your mouth before something dangerous gets in there. What? The snake? Happened all the time when I was out here before. I guess they sense the kindred spirit. Who knows?"
She whispered, "Just when I think I know the world, the gods see fit to remind me that I am really just a babe in a very old place." She finished with a touch of her forehead to mine, and then she turned and, shaking her head, continued our journey to the village of the Green Mountain Tribe.
As we traveled through the jungle on what I can only loosely describe as a path, I began to notice sounds in the underbrush to either side. Mostly it sounded like something running along beside us, but it was occasionally broken by a snarl usually followed by a screech of something dying. Every time that would happen Shala would halt and her head would snap in the direction of the sound. After several hours and the fourth or fifth time we heard something die just off of the path, she stopped and stood up straight.
"What's wrong?" I asked her stepping in close enough that I could smell her.
"I've never gone this far into the Great Jungle without having to defend myself at least once from a predator," she said looking around slowly. "Those sounds usually lead up to an attack, but nothing has happened. I'm more than a little perplexed. It's almost as if something is shadowing us and keeping us from harm. It is very disconcerting."
"Valsh told me he and the jungle have an understanding that lets him travel safely. Maybe some of his juju rubbed off on me while we were at his camp when I first got here. He said your gods brought me here for a purpose. Maybe they're watching me to be sure I finish my mission. Who knows? More importantly, who cares? All that matters to me is having a path relatively free of trouble. Let's keep moving."
Thanks to our unseen guardians we actually made really good time. When it finally got dark enough that Shala signaled a stop for camp we had covered right at three quarters of the distance to our destination. Valsh was right about one thing. Shala was moving fast, and I was spent despite having eaten almost an entire one of his special snack bars. They aren't bad by the way although I have no idea what the white shit is that holds them all together. It's probably best not to ask.
"We will camp away from the path. It would not be good for us to be discovered while we slept," Shala said as she led me through the brush to a small clearing about fifty yards into the jungle. She cleared a patch of earth and started a small fire. Once she was happy that it wasn't going to burn out she stalked off into the underbrush with a small bow in her hand.
She came back about ten minutes later with two small critters about the size of a big rabbit which she set about skinning and cleaning. She pulled a small pouch of what I guess are seasonings out of her small pack along with two long metal skewers. In short order, the little beasts were roasting and dripping fat into the flames which made a little sizzle every time one fell.
Shala sat on her haunches scanning the edge of the clearing like she was expecting an attack at any moment, so I asked her, "What are you watching for? No one knows we're out here, and we haven't seen another orc all day. Relax."
"Relaxing in the Great Jungle is a good way to become food. Besides, it's not what I am hearing that worries me. It's what I don't hear. The jungle is never this quiet. Something is always killing something, so the sounds of predator and prey are almost constant. Not here though. Not around you. It is very unsettling."
She was wrong of course. There were lots of sounds happening all around us. Maybe it was my training as a scout or maybe it was my complete inability to tune out sound (thank you ADHD), but in the time it took her to complete her thought I heard three things die within ten yards of our camp. The only difference was instead of a dying scream, these things died with a small whimper or maybe a quiet yelp like you'd make from getting stung by a bee. I'm guessing my reptilian friends were on guard duty.
I finished my...whatever that was...and settled back on a fallen tree limb. I drank some water and looked at her as she sat there scanning the foliage and cocking her head trying to hear what she was missing. Her braid was laying over her shoulder and was loosely attached to her top to keep it from snagging on random branches and to keep it close in a fight. 
She wasn't beautiful by Terran standards with a wide flat nose and prominent brow plus that green skin, but still there was something about her that I found enticing. Maybe it was that she could snap me like a dry twig if she took a mind to. Whatever it was that caught my attention, I was most definitely smitten. Not love though. I'm never going down that road again. Besides I'm not entirely sure Shala's people viewed it the same way we did back on Terra. You chose a mate by their strength and prowess in battle. There were many in her tribe better suited by that criteria. We enjoyed each other's company, and for now, that was enough.
I had gotten lost in my thoughts and hadn't noticed that she had stopped scanning around and was looking at me just as intently as I was looking at her.
"What are you looking at, Tole?"
"Huh? I was looking at you. You are fascinating to me. You're not like the females on my world at all. I'd be willing to bet you're not quite like the others on your world either. None of them even spoke to me much less had the heart to take me to their bed."
"If you'll recall, we really didn't spend that much time on the bed," she added.
"It's a figure of speech...oh, never mind. I forget that I can be plain spoken here. I'll work on it," I promised.
"Is it so different on your world? Do your women not wish their mates to be mighty and honorable?"
I shook my head and said, "There was a time when it was like that. Now, though, it is very different. It's almost as if the men of my world have surrendered and the women seem to prefer to have men that are cowed and compliant. I find that I am glad to be off of my home world. Don't get me wrong there are still warriors, but they are not the norm."
"Sounds like a very soft place," she said as she rose and came to sit beside me. "So, you're saying that sex on your world is, what, docile? Sounds boring."
"Oh, it's not boring, we just seldom need the skills of a healer afterward to put broken shit back together," I said with a light chuckle.
She just made a sound like she didn't believe a word of it and sat back on the log. We sat there for a good five minutes in silence before she stood and dropped her clothing on the ground and said,          "Show me."
"Here? Wouldn't that be letting our guard down in the 'Great Jungle'?" I asked throwing a little sarcasm in at the last.
"The gods seem to have an interest in keeping you safe. I trust them."
A little while later we were sitting by the fire using her sleeping sling for a blanket and watching the fire burn. She had slid down enough to lay her head on my chest. I could feel her tusk pressing into my pects and her breath blowing across my stomach.
"That was interesting," she said, "but I think I prefer my way. Your way left me with too much pent-up energy!" She ended that by rolling and throwing me to the other side of the clearing and coming up into a fighter's crouch. "Bring it little man!"
"I didn't hear you complaining about my size a short while ago," I yelled as I charged.
The rest of the night was a lot more interesting, and I doubt anything with an ounce of instinct for self-preservation stayed within a hundred yards of our camp until we had fallen asleep.