The Godsend Backfire: The Beginning by Harold Straugh (best e reader for academics TXT) 📗

to me and him and Yura tended to the fish.  The fire was ready to go, which Yura thanked me for, not Mylicious.  They brought the fish out, then a large, round pan.  He then threw some type of gelatinous mass in, that melted down.  After the gelatinous mass had melted he threw in a lot of the fish.  It wasn’t shortly after that the rest of the pack came in through the main tunnel.

Kallik and Tapeesa were first, followed my Tarkik, Amaruq and Amka.  They were all carrying baskets of fish, then Mila walked in with a smile on her face. She had a basket of her own, but kept it close to her side.  She smiled at me and then, walked up and kissed Mylicious.

“I have something for you!” she said and patted the basket.  Mylicious’s eyes lit up.

“Jorgia berries?” he asked.

She slowly opened the lid and smiled even more, “Yes, my love.”

“I can make my drink!” he smiled even bigger.

“You can, just in time for the full moon,” she had a gleam in her eyes, it was then that I caught a scent coming from her.  I started putting two and two together and figured it had to do with the full moon and finding a mate.

Kallik was quick to give me a hateful glance, if that fool knew what I was capable of, he wouldn’t have, and I was being respectful of Mylicious’s house.  I could have ended that shit right then and there, and I didn’t, but I wish I would have. Kallik, later proved to be a major pain in my ass.

I asked if I could help and was told to grab some more fish, then was told, later I could help clean the fish that the rest of the pack caught.  One thing I will say, the pack stayed busy. They ate quickly, Yura made me a plate of fish, which I thanked her for and sampled.  She did not make Kallik a plate, she just gave him a hateful look when she walked by.

“I know we are not seeing eye to eye brother, but are you still planning on helping me rebuild my boat?” Mylicious asked, scooping up pieces of fish with his fingers and shoving them in his mouth.

“Of course, but can’t we just use one of theirs?”

“No, too small,” he answered, not looking up at me, “We will have to go to another land, get our wood and immediately start building.  With the full moon’s activities upon me it will be three days before we can leave, it’ll take two to build the boat.”

“I can get it done in two, the activities will have no affect on me. So, while you’re doing wolf stuff, I can work on the boat,” I said, a little annoyance in my voice.

Yura looked sad, but there really wasn’t anything for me there in the cold land, at the time.  After the fish was done being consumed, everyone pitched in, even myself and cleaned fish. Most of them looked to be of trout and salmon, and they all looked different back then than what they do now.

Mylicious disappeared briefly and returned with two, small axes and tossed me one, “You ever use one of those?”

“Yes, plenty of times, just as good on trees as they are on people,” I said, and the room fell a little quiet, “Are you going to tell me you’ve never killed another human before? I know you have Mylicious, I never would have been sent here if not.”

The gazes shifted from me to Mylicious, who was the only one staring at me, “Let’s not speak too much of the past my brother,” he said.

I stopped talking about it, “Lead the way!” I said and waited for him to show me where I was heading.

Mylicious threw on a thick, fur coat and offered me one, but I declined. We headed up the tunnel and the temperature drop became apparent about twenty-steps up.  I was starting to regret not taking the coat.  The cold had to be extreme for me to feel it, so I could only imagine what Mylicious had to be feeling at the time, but he was more used to it than I was.

We were staring right at the sun when we exited the tunnel. We walked for miles in silence, before coming to a shoreline, that had a little less snow on it than what I arrived on.  There were two smaller boats, pulled up on land, with rope tied to large logs that were obviously driven into the ground.

“Get in, I’ll kick us off,” Mylicious said and I done as I was instructed.

We were paddling before I knew it.  I could see the next patch of land, just a few hundred yards out, I could have leapt there faster than what we were paddling.  The water though, was a lot smoother than on the way to Mylicious’s.  We paddled around the next island, it was bare, no trees or any visible plants, but Mylicious pointed out that there was stream that ran through there but was only unfrozen for a little throughout the year.

We rounded several more islands, they were small, but with each passing, vegetation was more and more present, and soon I could see a lot of green with some tree off in the distance. We pulled the boat upon the shore in what is now known as Nunavut

“We have to get to those trees, chop them down and get back before the full moon.” Mylicious said to me, but not looking at me.

I said nothing in response, just followed him.  We walked miles and new scents filled my nose.  The grass we walked on had a sort of crunch to it and felt prickly against my toes. It was then I started paying attention to what footwear Mylicous had opposed