A Headstrong Youth
Part 5
“Ah. Whoever told you I was the one who set that trap for you?”
Joren stared impassively at the smirking face. As he mentally reviewed his equipment, he slowly brought one hand to his belt, using the camouflage provided by the stone teeth that held him captive.
“I don’t suppose you might help me out of this bind.”
The other peered at him with an amused expression, the kind with which a cruel child might observe a trapped animal. Without answering, the other took to fiddling with the small skinned carcass of whatever it was he had managed to catch. Joren fingered a rigid cube of leather amidst his gear as he watched the other pull a slender bone from the flesh which he snapped in half, using one piece as a toothpick and discarding the other half.
Expertly ignored, Joren took the cue and retreated away from the tiny cavern’s mouth. Shifting part of his body more completely into the shadows, he removed a small glass globe shaped device from its casing and twisted a metal appendage halfway around, liberating a powder to fall into the liquid below and immediately begin to react. Almost nonchalantly, he threw it towards the entrance where it clinked as it rebounded on the stony ground. Then, he turned and scuttled as far back into the cave as he could, sheltered his head and covered his ears.
The explosion was violent but Joren was ready; he waited for the rocky shower to end and within seconds, he was rushing to exit through the jagged hole that freed him from the stone teeth. He was quickly upright and out of the cavern and, in one hand, he hid another small leather bound vial.
“Impressive,” muttered the other, his smile lost as he emerged from the security of the trees.