Chapter 2: Chapter 2
He closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of the jungle. Then he remembered. The men. He sat up on one elbow, squinting against the stabbing pain in his head. He couldn’t hear them. Perhaps they had gone past, not noticing him in the leaf litter, hidden by the ferns and shrubs surrounding him. He knew they wouldn’t have given up. Not yet. Not when so much was at stake.
His sole desire at that moment was to sleep. His reserves of energy were depleted, and there wasn’t a muscle in his toned, athletic body that didn’t ache. He lay down and once again closed his eyes.
Just for a moment.
He drifted in and out of sleep for a while longer before he felt able to get up. He opened his eyes, astonished to see a face smiling down at him. A surge of adrenalin soon had him sitting upright, better positioned to inspect the ring of five men standing in a loose circle around him.
“Got ya,” said the solid, muscular man standing before him.
Jahl knew it was useless to try and escape, not the least reason being his fragile state. But if he had to go with these men, these demons, he would stay alert for opportunities to escape. Yes, they could grin like idiots. For the moment. He, however, had no plans to go with them easily.
A stocky, dark-haired male bent down and, with his dagger, cut through the leather strap holding Jahl’s loincloth in place.
“Ya won’t be needing that,” growled the man with devilish delight.
Naked before the five men, each of whom was dressed in garments of leather and fur, he refused to feel humiliated or vulnerable. Proud and noble, he looked the leader in the eye. If they had meant his nakedness to weaken him in some way, they were greatly mistaken. Jahl had a slender, athletic body, tanned and hairless but for a small patch of pubic hair above his cock. Why should he feel ashamed? It was these men, with their bulk and their bellies, who should be embarrassed.
“Come on,” said the leader. “Get up.” With the help of one his gang, he lifted Jahl to his feet.
Immediately, the throbbing at the back of Jahl’s head intensified and he squinted against the pain.
“Go on. Start walking,” said the leader. “We’ve got a long way to go.”
The men burst into laughter. Jahl didn’t understand why, but he suspected it was at his expense. Let them laugh. He would keep his head held high no matter what befell him. If their intention was to demean him, he wouldn’t allow them the satisfaction. They could take almost anything from him, but never his pride. He knew who he was and where he came from, and this knowledge gave him a solid foundation for everything else in his life.
No demon from the land of men was going to rob him of it. 2
Over the next few hours, Jahl discovered the name of the leader was Dank and the man who had cut his loincloth free was Garth. There was a tall, willowy man called Bede, and the stockiest man was Keng. He had yet to hear the name of the fifth man.
They returned across the grasslands, and as they walked, Jahl kept his eyes to the front, though when he sensed no gaze upon him, he glanced into the trees, where somewhere his parents and the rest of his family were going about their business, unware he had been captured. Only later that afternoon, as the sky turned from brilliant blue to burnt orange with flecks of gold, would they eventually realise something had happened. They would certainly send men to search for him, but by that time, he’d be long gone.
Sadness filled his heart as he thought about his mother and how losing him would break hers. They’d soon realise what had happened, as men and women had been taken from their village before. It was one of the dangers of going out alone, so far from the protection of the village. Had it not been for the wounded antelope he had speared, he wouldn’t have made himself so vulnerable. It had been a stupid mistake, and one he would pay dearly for making.
And while he walked with his shoulders back and his chin up, a proud, defiant representative of the Hamica people, his soul felt heavy inside his skin. It knew that only misery and ill-fortune lay ahead. It understood that unless he could escape, flee his captors and return to his village, there would be no more days of happiness.
They returned to the jungle with Dank in the lead, and Garth just behind Jahl, prodding him every now and again despite the fact he was walking as fast as everyone else.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone