Chapter Fifty Five - Meeting of Kindred Spirits

Zhang Min yawned widely and without covering his mouth.  It was too early for this shit.  He adjusted the strap of the weapon upon his shoulder and followed directly behind Song Jian, not really caring that he was crashing through the forest like one of the forest people's tame stompers.  His best friend glanced back at him, before giving the surrounding area his full attention.  There was a noticeable smug smile upon his lips.

The girl, Xu Lin, was giving them odd looks.  Though it had been evening when they had left the mining site for the forest, evenings on this world seemed to drag on a little, like the sun was too busy admiring the colours it cast into the sky as it made its final descent beyond the horizon, so the thrown together squad had made some progress.  One of the soldiers, a large man who had taken command of the squad had told them to set up camp as the night began to turn inky black.  As there were only three tents, the same soldier had advised them of the sleeping arrangements.  Xu Lin would share with the lone female soldier on the squad, Private Feng Liang. The soldiers Zhang Min and Song Jian would share another and the rest of the men would squeeze in the last.

"Wait," Xu Lin had counted that Han Huan would be sleeping with three other men if they stuck with those arrangements.  "Surely it would be better for one of you to share a tent with them!" She said pointing to the quiet, muscular man and his talkative companion.

"You are right," the sergeant had said.  "Any volunteers?"  As neither of the remaining soldiers had raised their hands, Han Huan chose to abstain.  "Didn't think so."

"But...?"

"Leave it, Xu Lin," Han Huan had urged.  "It's fine."

One of the soldiers had placed his hand upon her shipmates shoulder and said; "Wise choice."  Xu Lin had still found this strange, especially when the sergeant insisted on the two tents shared by the women and the majority of men be placed some distance from the third tent.

If she was honest, she still did not understand what the problem was.  Sure she had heard some odd muffled noises coming from the third tent, but it didn't make sense that the two men were segregated that way.  Their comrades didn't seem to have a problem with them now.  Lost in her own thoughts, it barely registered when the soldiers suddenly armed their weapons and aimed, creeping forward as they did so.  Even the sleepy Zhang Min suddenly became alert.

"It's okay, it's just a boy," the female soldier said aloud.

Zhang Min shuffled forward and was instantly caught by the vivid red hair upon the green forest boy's head. "Ah!" He said, recognising the boy from this one feature. "I remember you, you sometimes travel upon the wagons when your people trade with us."

Naturally, the boy was wary. Outsiders did not usually travel into the forest, aware that it was not only easy to get lost in amongst all the vegetation that looked nearly monotonous to their untrained eyes, the people of the forest did not welcome them inside. However just as Zhang Min had recognised him due to the colour of his hair, he recognised Zhang Min. "You are the son of the large, female Elder," he said in reply.

There was a slightly shocked muffled outburst of laughter. Zhang Min's mother would not like to be considered an 'elder'. Zhang Min rolled his eyes at his comrades in warning. Not that he would share this kids words with his mother, nor their reactions to them. He watched as the boy dragged himself up on weakened legs, before rubbing at his lower back and facing them a little more confidently. Zhang Min instantly felt the sympathy reserved for a kindred spirit.

"Are you alright?" Xu Lin asked in a motherly tone, stepping forward slightly, ready to offer physical assistance to the poor child. Zhang Min held her back by the shoulder, causing her to pause and look at him.

"Allow me," he said and handed his weapon to Song Jian before approaching the boy.

"But..." she argued, though this time it was Song Jian who held her back.

"It's alright," he told her. The sensation of his large, warm palm upon her arm caused her to blush and lower her eyes, but the muscular man failed to notice. Feng Liang shook her head and felt that she ought to have words with the Spacer, less she get her hopes impossibly high.

"Hey Sarge," one of the men suddenly thought aloud as Zhang Min whispered something in the boy's ear then popped out a small jar of medicinal cream from his inside pocket. A rosy glow appeared upon the boy's jade cheeks as he cautiously took the jar. "Don't the cave people sometimes trade with the forest people? So couldn't this boy take us to warn them as well?"

"Well it wouldn't hurt relations between us, that's for sure," the sergeant replied. But before they could put their thoughts into action, the boy vanished behind a tree. "Hold up!"

"It's alright, Sarge," Zhang Min told him. "He'll be back shortly."

"What did you give him?" Xu Lin asked.

"Something to ease the soreness he is feeling, that's all," the sniper replied with a shrug.

"So even forest people fool around that way," the male soldier who had remained silent until that point mused. Zhang Min rolled his eyes again and Song Jian glared unpleasantly, causing the soldier to step back a pace under the pressure.

Xu Lin, not understanding the rise in tension all of a sudden asked; "In what way?"

The sergeant coughed and even a blush appeared on his rough face, whereas Feng Liang began to laugh out loud. "Oh look, he's back," the soldier, who'd caused the fuss said quickly, distracting them all.

Indeed the boy had returned and it seemed that the medicinal cream had been effective, for there was a beaming smile upon his small face. He thanked Zhang Min many times before leaping upward and grasping the trunk of a tree with his claws, planning on heading back to the village. "Wait!" The sergeant called out. "Before you leave, we were wondering if you could help us."

Willow was reluctant, he had been away from the village for sometime and wanted some breakfast. But the outsider had helped him ease the pain a lot and even had gifted him the cream as the man had suspected he would probably need it again. This had caused Willow to blush and deny it, but there was not much conviction to his words. He wriggled back down the tree and jumped to the ground, noting that the ache was not entirely gone. Then he wondered why the pretty female with the dark hair was staring at him with an open mouth.

"Xu Lin, quit staring," the sergeant told her, "they climb trees like squirrels, that's why they are 'forest' people." Xu Lin turned her head away, she had simply been amazed that was all!

"What do you want?" Willow asked.

"We need to give a warning to your people and to the cave people," the sergeant told him. "You see, there's this man who may have headed this way and we are trying to find him."

"Okay, I will tell them," Willow said. If it was just a message, he didn't mind passing it on, but the Outsiders were not ready to let him leave.

"We really need to speak to them ourselves," the Outsider who had asked him for help insisted. "Especially the cave people, it concerns them the most."

Willow was torn, he wanted to help, but he knew that there were no good relations between the cave people and the outsiders. Plus, Slate really didn't like them. "I'm not sure I can help you," he said eventually. "The cave people do not like outsiders, I probably shouldn't trouble them."

"Ah, but the man we are after might," Han Huan piped up. "We believe he might be investigating underground whether there are rich veins of ores to be exploited other than where we already mine." The boy looked a little confused over his words. He knew about mining and ores from Slate, who was once supposed to become a miner himself, but why were they chasing the man who sought to do the same?

"If the cave people find him, they will stop him from mining their ores," Willow said, confidently.

"We are worried that if the man finds what he wants, we might end up in conflict with the cave people over it," Zhang Min told him.

His words clearly shocked Willow. Despite the cold relationship between them, the outsiders never fought with cave people. "The cave people might get hurt?" Slate might get hurt? Zhang Min nodded. Willow didn't want that! He should warn Slate! That was the best idea, to take these people to Slate and he could warn his village. He was a hunter, they would believe him if he said it was true.

And with that, Willow led the Outsiders to the cave by the lake.

Author's note; I need a small opinion. Seeing as the number of chapters and likely extras in this book is going to be fairly high, definitely more than 100, maybe closer to 200, I want to know if I should split it into two or three books. Or should I just carry on and hope people aren't overwhelmed by the final tally?