Flashback Canines and Slings

[Riluc Lorrani]

Spring of 506

Riluc lay on his stomach his gaze looking over the edge of the roof at the street below. The young waif had discovered roofs were an excellent place to scout what was going on in streets around an area. Riluc was also the only one who could climb in his pack. It was one of the few benefits of being two legged instead a canine. Today he was contentedly laying on the roof watching a couple of thieves in hiding. The boy regular witnessed muggings and robbers as he lived on the streets of the Sunberth. In all actuality he didn't even know the name of the city he was living in he just thought of it as the city as it was different from the forest. There wasn't really anything different about this mugging then others, and Riluc was rather contented. He and his pack had eaten well during the night after the left over of a feast had been tossed out.

He had climbed up to this particular spot because the roof never got to hot but the feel of the sun on his skin relaxed him, but then he had heard the two thugs crashing around below. Riluc had moved from his perch to lay at the edge of the roof. He was quiet in his humor as he watched the two men. He was fairly sure while dangerous they were amateurs. They moved with none of the grace that the long time thieves or gang members did. No Riluc would guess these were pups just weaned off of their mothers. The street urchin figured he was in for a good show as well.

He didn’t have to wait long before three men came walking down road right into the thieves trap. By the looks of them they weren’t locals. Riluc looked at the first two of the men and figured the thieves, being local, stood a good chance. It was when he looked at the third many following slightly behind that he raised an eyebrow. That man walked with the confidence of someone who is dangerous. He was the key to this fight. If they could surprise and take him then the target would be ripe for the picking but he wouldn’t go easy. Riluc turned his gaze down towards the two thieves. They weren’t paying any attention to the third man, who was the simplest dress of the group. There gaze was focused on the two men in front.

Riluc watched as the thieves sprung the trap and jumped in front of the two men. The thieves screamed like crazy men for the men to put their hands. Riluc watched as the first to reacted instantly, but the third man, who should have been the main focus took his time to raise his hands. Riluc noticed that his hand wasn’t empty. Put was holding some type of rope, and he began to spin the thing. Riluc looked at the man’s companions and watched as they seemed to be cooperating but were expertly stalling. As they stalled a high pitched whine echoed down the path.

It was then that he heard something thumb and watched as one of the thieves collapsed. Riluc gripped the roof even tighter as he watched the thief collapse to the ground. His buddy started in shocking still holding out his knife, but half-heartedly waving it around. As he started the whine began again, but only Riluc seemed to notice as he looked back at the other man who was swinging his arm again. Riluc watch as he seemed to release the string and a moment later he heard the other man thumb to the ground.

[Riluc Lorrani]

The youthful waife stared at the man who had just taken down the two thieves with his piece of leather. Riluc had been watching far more closely the second time around. The warrior and most likely the other men's guard held a long strip of leather in his hand it appear to thicken in the middle. While he had been swinging the thing he had been holding both ends in one hand so that it had been folded in half. Riluc guessed it was in the thick part that held the stone or what ever it was that Riluc had seen flying through the air.

The wild boy was intrigued by weapon, Riluc preferred fighting using his fist nails and teeth. This weapon though set his mind on fire he had thrown rocks plenty of times but this would increase the power in that throw. It also could easily be carried and others might not notice he was carrying it. Riluc decided he wanted to learn more about this weapon. Riluc noticed the two men were searching the bodies of the thieves. The young boy began to move across the roof towards the other side so that they wouldn't see him climbing down from the roof. Riluc lowered himself so that he was hanging from the roofs edge. He slowly moved closer to the front of the building were the stack of crates would allow him to finish climbing down. He could feel his muscles protesting as he moved hand over hand. The boy was glad that he lived a life that made climbing possible. He was glad that he didn't live a soft life like the other boys his size.

Riluc raised his legs up to keep them from kicking the crate that had been stacked near the front of the ally. Once he was firmly over the barrels he lowered his legs again and firmly placed them on the barrel. This was the part where he was most likely to be seen. Luckily the men were still laughing over fallen thieves. Riluc climbed down the rest of the crates down to the bottom. The dirt covered naked boy hide between the crates and the building so that he was in complete shadow. He only had to wait a few moments before they walked by. Riluc's youthful green eyes observed the two men walk by laughing his gaze held them in contempt. They were soft and let others watch for danger.

Riluc focused hard on the third man. He was a warrior even if his weapon wasn't the same as usual. Riluc had seen several of the two leggers using bow and arrows but hadn't ever been able to get his hands on one and besides you had to get new arrows. This thing might not need for him to steel arrows or learn how to make them. Riluc's green eyes watched as the man walked by the ally way. He turned and glanced at the alleyway. Riluc slumped more into the shadow sure that he could easily see him. The man's gaze slid right over Riluc though not seeing the boy in hiding.

Riluc waited a moment after the man had passed before looking out to see which way the man had gone. The wild boy followed after the group then, staying to allies and shadows. Riluc knew the streets well enough that he didn't have to stick to literally following then man but took short cuts to jeep up with him, but also to avoid being to obvious that he was following. It wasn't long before Riluc saw the three of them enter on of the locations were visitors stayed in the city. Riluc smiled. He would have to wait for dark but he might yet get his hands on that weapon yet.

[Riluc Lorrani]

The day progressed as Riluc haunted the visitors house. He wasn't obvious about always moving from one spot to another. At one point one of his brothers came to check on him, but left after he felt sure he was okay. Riluc vigil eventually did pay off. The man carrying the sling actually did leave the visitors loge just as the sun was going down. It was past the eating hour Riluc realized and besides he had smelt food coming out of the visitor's house. The boy wondered what it was that brought the man out.

The waif took up following hoping that there might still be a chance to get his hands on that leather weapon. The trip wasn't particularly far and took them into one of the nicer parts of the town. Riluc didn't hesitate to follow as this was Sunbert and the nicer part of town just ment the hiding places were more ornate but equally as uncomfortable. Riluc was hanging from a well maintained fense when the man finally arived at his destination. The boy pulled himself up with his arm muscles so that hus could lay onnte fense. In the dark he was easily missed because of his still small size.

It was a house, but the man wasn't going into the house but around to the stable behind. Riluc found that more convient as he normally didn't sneak into houses. Stables though were another story. Riluc waited until te man was safely around the corner and then lowered himself off the fense. He dashed across te street to the alley leading behind te house to the stable. The building wasn't particularly large as all it had to house was a wagon and two horses. To Riluc though it looked decently sized.

Riluc avoid the front and instead climbed in through a window near the back. He found himself in one of the stalls. The horse had settled down for the night and didn't notice Riluc as he slipped into its pile of warm hay. There Riluc lay waiting. He had intruded upon a conversation between the man and a women. They were talking about how long it would take someone to come back. Riluc was grateful for his small size as the man looked around. Riluc shrank down until he couldn't see them anymore. He really didn't have to see to know when and if the time would come.

Apparently the two were satisfied because Riluc started to hear noises. He reconized the concept behind them if not the specifics. One didn't live with a pack of canines without learning the facts of life. He suddenly understood. This man was an opertunist. He had seen it before when a lesser male sneaks in while the Alpha is ohterwise occupid. Riluc flinched along with the horse when he heard something smack into the stall door. Riluc wait a moment before looking to see what it might have been. He sent a prayer of thanks up to Caiyha. There was the man's pants and dangaling from the hops around te top was the leather weapon. Riluc figured they man was occupied and so dashed over and pulled the leater from the pants. The stupid tings weren't easily letting go and Riluc had dragged the pants all the way into te stall before he it came free. Not waisting any time Riluc pulled himself up and out of the window seal. Then he ran like a mad dog. He figured it would be best to spend a couple days at the edge of town.

[Riluc Lorrani]

Riluc didn't stop running until he was outside of the town. He was grinning from ear to ear as he came to a stop. He slowed down breathing hard as he walked through area outside of the city. He then took the leather strip into both hands and stretched it to its full length. It was long but not unreasonable long. Riluc could feel the flexibility the leather that would allow it to fold in half for the purpose of the sling. Riluc was also marveling at his own stupidity. He had taken food before and looted dead bodies and drunks on the streets but he hadn't ever truely just stole something.

As he thougt about what he had down he suddenly just sat down the bush next to him leaving faint scratches along his bare skin. He hoped that the man wouldn't be able to track him through the city. Riluc desided that since he had gone to the risk of getting the thing he might as well use it. He turned to te ground and began to look for some rocks to use with it. He happily crawled along the ground in the twilight and looked for stones. He soon had a nice pile of stones.

The first thing that Riluc learned was that not all stones were created equal when it came to slings. The first stone he put in the sling feel right out, and so he went throug his pile and began selected only thoughts that would fit. Once he had a stone that would fit in the sling he began to try and swing it around and around like he had seen the man do. That was turning out to be much harder then he tought it would be. The stone kept falling out of the sling or the sling would smack him in the head. Riluc sighed as he looked down at the leather throng.

Riluc wasn't about to give up tough so he stood up and began again to pratice with the sling. It appeared he would be mastering it today but he was going to. He decided to pratice controling the direction of the swinging. Knocking him self out didn't seem like a good idea. So he took the leather and began to swing it. He at first did it slowlly but then began to go faster and realized that it was eaiser to control as he moved faster it seemed to stay on course. Riluc began to feel more optimistic that he could do this.

[Riluc Lorrani]

Riluc stoppes swinging the sling as he felt that he was gaining some control of just swinging the strap. The young boy flinched as his hand was slapped by the strap as he released it. His green eyes glarred at the strap before he went back to his pile to find a good stone. Riluc picked up each of the rocks. That one would be two large Riluc desided tossing it back. He picked another rock and rejected it. After a few times he found one he thougt would work well. He carefully loaded it into his sling and having learned from his previous experience he started the swing and quickky moved to get it into a full spin.

He noticed that as he spun it faster that stone was staying in place. He then suddenly realized that he hadn't really picked a spot to launch it. He lookes around and saw a tree at the edge of the forest. He adjusted his position and released the sling. He realized the second problem. He could see the stone nore were it went. He suspected that he hadn't launched it far. He frowned realizing he would have to try aiming in te light of day. He might also want a better target.

Riluc couldn't bring himself to quieting though. So he picked up another stone and once again practiced launching another rock. He got it spinning and then launched it again. Rilux did it again two more times before he felt himself growing drowsy, and when he started dropping te rocks again he realized he needed to get some sleep. He wrapped the leather strap around his waist so that, besides a wrape it was all that the young boy was wearing. He began to make his way out of the grasses. He kept a wary eye out for anything unpleasent in the grass. Soon he found his way towards the ruins were his pack lived and slept. Riluc crawled into his was spot and drifted off to sleep.

[Riluc Lorrani]

Riluc awoke curled up in his corner of the ruins where his pack lived. In his hands was tight held the leather sling he had stolen last night. Riluc stretched it out to look at it once again to look it over. His eyes lighted up as he thought about going out and praticing some more today. His young face didn't often show excitement. Life was really focused on survival, and not fun, but Riluc had found yesterdays activities fun. He slowlly crawled out of the corner he lived in and moved to the more open setions of the ruins.

Riluc paused short in the door way staring in horror and shock. The man he had stolen the sling from was currently sitting on a old vlock with his hands resting on his knees. The paxk was sitting around him guarding him. Riluc made a moved to back away when his mother barked at him. Riluc slowlly came back into the room. His eyes defiant and the leather sling held tightly in his hands. He walkes slowlly forward until he was standing on the outter ring of the dogs. Riluc looked over the man. He had a pleasent looking face, not to old, about the age of people who usually had children. His eyes were intriged as he looked Riluc over.

"So this is my little thief." The man said. His voice was more amused more then anything as he looked at the boy who was covered in dirt and wore only a extremly filthy diaper. He watched the determined green eyes.

"No more Thief then you." Riluc countered. "I saw you steeling someone else mate."

Then man througth his head back and laughted. Riluc was very confused. Was this man going to hurt him or just take back his sling. "Yes, yes you did, and used it to your advantage. I have to applaud you." He looked at the leather strap held firmly in Riluc's hands. "I will make you a deal. I will let you keep the sling, even teach you how to use it. In exchange I want you to help me learn things about people when I am in town."

Rilux started blankly at the man confused. He looked at his mother. Her large eyes meet his and te long nosed head nodded. Riluc turned to the man and nodded his head. The man stood up then, as several of te dogs growled. Mother gave a bark and the growling stopped. Then man looked at her and nodded in respect before motioning Riluc to follow. Having been trained by the pack Riluc followed the man out of the ruins.

"Well now that we are out of there what is your name? I am Greogah Jase." The man said as they walked.

"Riluc" I replied. The man nodded and motioned for the boy to follow him. He did leave te town but found another ruin with a long room. The two were silent as they had walked. Neiter seemed to feel the need to file the empty space with talking. Once they had come into the room Greogah turned and looked at Riluc.

"Lets get started. I saw you trying to practice last night. You seemed to be getting the idea but lets clean it up." So Greogah made Riluc hold the sling and adjusted his hold on the sling as their firat lesson started.

[Riluc Lorrani]

The wild boy stood in the room as far from the man name Greogah as possible with out being obvious about it. He still wasn’t sure about the man even though he suspected that one of his pack wasn’t to far away. Green eyes watched as the older man instructed him how to hold the sling. It seemed like he had been basically right, but as he took it in hand Greogah kept making adjustments to his hold. There was apparently a lot of specific hand holding required for this thing.

The specific instructions didn’t stop there. Riluc received an extensive explanation about what type of rock to us. Riluc paid attention to what the man said, mainly because he wasn’t sure that they man wouldn’t hit him for not paying attention, and his pack wouldn’t stop that kind of attack. So Riluc learned about the shape and the weight. Greogah part way through his explaination did change tactics though and had Riluc hold different weight and shapes to help teach him what he was looking for.

”It is actual important to be able to tell with your fingers as you might find yourself in a place were you can’t look. Most people if they don’t know you have a sling don’t think twice about picking up little peddles and playing with them in your hand.” So that is what had had Riluc do. He picked up some pebbles and had to work his way through the pile finding the best ones. Riluc appreciated the feeling the stones as it really did teach him more than just listening. His expression was focused as he felt the stones, and once he was done, a few were rejected but Greogah felt he was getting the idea.

Riluc's lessons continued for another hour as he was instructed how to load and swing the sling. Then he was shown and practiced how to launch the sling rock from the sling. Riluc felt nervous on that last part as he had to let go one leather strap but hold on to the other, and not get smacked up side the head at the same time. Several time he just sent the whole strap flying as he practiced. After these failures Riluc would look nervously at his instructor how just shrugged and indicated for him to pick it up.

Riluc picked up the leather sling again and retrieved the stone. He put it in the pouch spot and then took both ends in his hands, and ignoring the worry about smacking himself began to spin the leather strap fast. He kept spinning in until he felt that he had enough momentum and then let one of the straps slip out of his hand while the strap was on the upwards swing so that the stone would launch forward.

The stone sailed out of the strap and flew across the room towards the opposite wall. It clatter far off to the side and no were near were Riluc was aiming, but it did fly which it had done yet. Riluc felt a smile break out on his face. He looked over at Greogah who was looking at him.

”It’s a start.” He said some satisfaction in his voice. ” I have to get going. My employer will be leaving Sunberth today. I want you to remember though that you own me for the sling and the lessons. I will collect when I return.” He said looking Riluc straight in the eyes.

Riluc returned the look. The man had done as he had promised so Riluc nodded his accent to the man’s statement. He was still larger and Riluc knew far more dangerous, but he could potentially be someone dangerous on Riluc side. After a moment the two understood there agreement and Greogah patted Riluc’s back.

”Keep practicing so that you can actually hit what you aim at.” He said by way of fairwell as he walked out of the room. Riluc watched him for only a moment before finding another stone and loading it into the sling again. Soon the sound of humming could be heard from the ruins as Riluc practiced.

[Konrad Venger]

Hey, Riluc! Once you get back and deduct your Summer 516 Seasonal Expenses, I'll grade this up, no problem. PM me when you get back!