|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 8:25 am
Before Alexandru's eyes, the animal spoke! "No mother," it said.
Alexandru had expected its voice to sound deep and sinister. Instead it sounded almost like him, like a child. His ears pricked up` and he blinked in confusion. His uncertainty drew him out enough to ask a question of it. "What happened to your mother? Are you all alone? What about your father?" Alex didn't have a mother either, but at least he had a father.
"No mother. No father," said the bear.
Alex looked at it with sympathy. It sounded like it was really all alone, even if it was scary.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:14 pm
No parents. Now that Vlad took a closer look, he saw that the baby bear was very thin. He didn't have the layer of baby fat that most predators his age generally did. His parents had obviously died some time ago. The young bear would most likely join them in not too long if he wasn't able to feed himself. It was sad, but it was part of nature.
"Alex," he said. "We should leave it alone. Let it find other bears to give it comfort." With how hungry the little bear was it might attempt to attack Alexandru and Vlad didn't like to think of what the look on Alexandru's face would be if he had to kill it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:22 pm
"But... father..." Alexandru protested and looked backward at Vlad. Vlad ate meat just like bears. He could catch something and feed it to the bear. Alexandru didn't feel bad for the animals that might have to die to feed the bear. He had gotten used to his father's predatory habits and understood that prey dying to feed the predator was a part of life.
He didn't wait to hear his father's response. Instead he turned back to the bear. "May I ask your name? I am known as Alexandru Draculesti." He was very formal with his introduction as he had been taught.
"Name is... Cezar," replied the bear when asked.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:29 pm
Vlad was starting to have an idea where this was going. There was no way that Alex could successfully hunt for Cezar. Maybe in a couple years he could hunt small prey with his hooves but for now the best he could do would be to charm a rabbit into becoming lunch. Vlad would be the one trapped with the chore of feeding the creature if it came into their care.
"Are you ready yet to take a familiar?" he asked his son. "It is a great responsibility. I did not accept Iancu as my familiar until I was an adult." If the bear remained around for too long then it was likely that it would bond with Alex.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:40 pm
Uncertainly, Alexandru looked back at Cezar. The bear watched back, his face unreadable to the soquili. Alex had always imagined that he would take a bat as a familiar when the time came. That was apparently the tradition for Draculestis. Predators were good too, though. Serghei had some sort of panther as a familiar and he remembered hearing of others with vicious animals.
"Would you like to be my familiar?" he asked Cezar.
Cezar tilted his head and then shrugged. "Maybe. Don't know you."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:08 pm
Vlad was starting to feel something a lot like resignation. Alex was still soft hearted and would be heart-broken if the bear cub was left to starve. They were still eying each other warily but that wouldn't matter to the foal. Much as he might be irritated at having to hunt for two, the bear was going to be coming with them.
"Come, Cezar," he addressed the bear. "I vill take you into my protection until you are grown and are able to take care of yourself." The bear watched him with the same frowning expression he'd worn through their meeting thus far. "Alex vill see to your needs as much as he can." He gave his son a pointed look to impress on him the seriousness of that responsibility. "In exchange you vill behave yourself. Understood?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:12 pm
Cezar nodded. "Understood," he said.
Alex felt a rush of relief. They didn't have to leave the poor bear all alone in the forest. He liked the idea of taking care of him. It would be almost like having a little brother, something he had secretly wanted for some time. It would give him someone to play with besides Serghei and his father, both who acted with too much loftiness for Alexandru to really enjoy himself.
"Don't you worry," he told Cezar. "The other members of our herd are very kind. I can teach you how to hunt, too. My father has been teaching me." He smiled with pride up at his father behind him. There was no one in the world who was as good a hunter as his father.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:15 pm
Vlad rumbled a chuckle at the idea of an usdia colt teaching a bear how to hunt. He certainly was an imaginative child. "Come then," he said to the both of them in the kawani language. "Ve vill find no bear-lions tonight. Ve must get your new friend settled in as vell, Alex." He turned to walk back to their herd resting site leaving the two others to follow behind him. This was hardly how he expected their night to end, but it was sometimes the most unexpected of circumstances that brought the best of fortunes...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
