Chapter Seven: Leopard Tribe
They had just walked a few steps when Wang picked Lin Wan up in a bridal style.
Lin Wan opened her mouth to say something reasonable like excuse me or please put me down or at least a warning would have been nice and then Wang started running.
The intended words evaporated.
The world became a blur. Trees appeared on both sides and rushed past faster than Lin Wan could keep track of. The ground moved beneath Wang's feet at a speed that should not have been possible for a human, but Wang wasn't a human.
Lin Wan wrapped her hands around Wang's shoulder and pressed her face against his neck and held on.
Wang ran like Lin Wan weighed nothing. Like the terrain was flat and the distance was irrelevant and carrying a full grown person while sprinting through a forest was simply a normal activity.
Lin Wan kept her face pressed against his neck and her eyes firmly closed and said absolutely nothing, besides, there was nothing to say that would improve the situation and at least this way she could not see how fast the ground was moving.
Then Wang's speed slowed down before coming to a stop.
Lin Wan waited a full second before she opened her eyes to her surroundings.
A settlement.
Stone structures built into a low rocky rise, solid and thick walled and worn smooth with long use. Wide open ground at the center, packed flat by years of feet moving across it. Fires burning low at the edges. The smell of smoke and animal hide and something green and wild underneath it all.
Lin Wan looked around and saw the females first.
They were easy to spot because of the huge contrast. The males around them were broad and well fed and moved through the settlement like people who had never once had to wonder if they were allowed to take up space. The females were thinner, and quieter. They moved close to the walls and close to the males beside them, wary and curious about the new person.
Lin Wan looked at them and her heart clenched at the sight before her.
Twenty percent of the population. Rare. Protected!.
This was what protected looked like here?.
Lin Wan was still looking when she caught a movement at the corner of her eyes.
A man was standing near the closest stone structure and then he was not a man anymore. The transformation happened in a blink of an eye , and then there was a leopard sitting exactly where the man had been, large and golden eyed and completely unbothered by the shock it just made.
Lin Wan screamed.
The moment what she saw registered in her mind, a scream tore out if Lin wan's throat.
It came out of her entirely without permission. A full genuine scream, loud enough that several heads turned in their direction, and Lin Wan stumbled backward and hit Wang and grabbed his arm with both hands and positioned herself directly behind him because that was where she was going and she was not apologizing for it.
"There is a leopard," Lin Wan said. Her voice had gone an octave higher than normal. "Right there. That is a leopard. It is just sitting there. Why is nobody doing anything about the leopard."
Wang looked at the leopard.
Wang looked at Lin Wan's hands gripping his arm.
Wang looked at Lin Wan's face.
"Yes," Wang said.
"Yes?" Lin Wan repeated. "That is your entire response to the leopard situation? Yes?"
"He is called Duan. He is one of the eastern border guard of the tribe. It seems he is off duty."
Lin Wan stared at the leopard named Duan.
Duan stared back at Lin Wan also surprised at what he may have done to scare the female before him, he was uncertain of what to do next as he had never experienced such.
[Host, beastmen are able to shift freely between their human form and their beast form. Both forms are completely natural to them. This is a Leopard tribe settlement. Most residents are leopard beastmen. What Host is currently seeing is entirely normal.]
Lin Wan absorbed this information.
She looked at Duan.
She looked at the males moving through the settlement in their human forms, some in their beast forms or half beast forms, with furry ears and their tails swaying behind them.
She looked at Wang, her hands still held tightly onto His arm and she did not let go. And Wang did not move away either.
Good enough for her.
Wang led her further into the settlement.
The tribe went quiet when they walked in. The silence spread from person to person and Lin Wan felt every set of eyes that looked at her, then found the marks on her neck, then to Wang's face.
The whispers started at the edges.
"Wang claimed a female."
"He actually marked her."
"What clan is she. I cannot place her scent at all.'
"Look at her. Look at her clothing. It looks strange, She is not from any tribe I know."
A male near the front of the growing group took one step forward and Lin Wan felt Wang's arm tighten slightly under her hands.
The male stopped.
Smart, Lin Wan thought.
Wang walked faster toward his dwelling and Lin Wan matched his pace and did not look back at the crowd watching them go.