All the thinking sent me back to where I started. I knocked my head against my knees a few times to clear my mind. I had been told often not to do that, or else I would get dumber. I didn't believe it at first, but seeing how I kept going in circles now, maybe I should listen more.
"What are you doing here?" A voice made me flinch. The number of male voices I'd heard today was already enough to last me a lifetime.
I quickly scooped up everything and stood facing the door, holding my items close to my chest, "E-eating." I replied, unsure why a male asked this of all questions. Hadn't he just seen me doing exactly that?
"..." He looked me over silently. I didn't dare raise my head to make eye contact with him and stayed hunched instead. I would rather stay small than be cut open like him.
What did her males go through daily to look like they survived hell? He also wore a cloak similar in material to the one in my arms. His upper body was left bare, and there it was. A large scar spread across his abdomen area. Something sharp went through him.
"Follow me," he ordered, turning around to walk down the hall.
I hurried to follow after him, noticing a feather earring dangling from his right ear. Could he be a winged beastman? He turned around, his cold blue eyes landing on me, and I quickly ducked my head, hiding behind my hair as best I could.
I was used to people staring from my days in the circus. Being put on display for the entertainment of others wasn't something I enjoyed, and this felt very familiar.
He sighed before coming to a halt, taking the cloak out of my arms as if I weren't protecting it with all my life.
"Keep it on," he instructed me, and just like his female, he tied the string around my neck as well. "Put your pouch in here," he pointed at the hidden pockets in the cloak.
I quickly did what he told me to, then followed him. He seemed to have some unfinished business with the traders, gathering information on the overlords in charge.
I bit into another blade of grass to silence the gurgling coming from my stomach. He stopped talking abruptly and pulled out some wrapped meat and handed it to me, "Eat."
I accepted the offering cautiously before stuffing half of it into my mouth. My eyes watered at the taste. It was salty and smoky and... bloody. I stuffed the rest into my mouth as well, taking my punishment without complaining.
After our little stop, the male continued to gather information.
I tried to keep up, but my body had other plans. I began swaying on my feet, my stomach revolting against my heart's desires. My vision spun, and nausea climbed up my throat. My legs lost all feeling and buckled beneath me. I clutched at my churning gut, hugging myself to stay together and not puke out my own organs.
His hands caught my arms before I could fall to the ground completely. "What is wrong?" he asked me, bending at the waist so our faces were level. I wasn't sure what he saw, but he quickly lifted my body and jumped out of a window.
His body shifted, changing from a male to an eagle within seconds. His giant talons caged me in, trapping me between them as he took flight high up above.
He landed shortly after on top of a cliffside overlooking the town.
I lay down and curled into myself. My left hand covered my mouth while the other held onto my stomach, keeping my insides... inside, as I trembled and dry-heaved into my palm.
One by one, heads turned. From the males by the fire to the ones sharpening blades, even the ones perched lazily against a stone, tilted their heads; every eye inside the camp shifted to the eagle beastman.
"She was hungry," the male argued in his defense, "She didn't complain."
A female's snort followed, "Trying to kill a female with your food only hours after purchasing her? You need a new hobby, Moyu."