I followed the tik around a corner to the right, then back to the left, then right, then straight ahead at a breakneck pace.
I was so intent on following that I failed to pay attention to my surroundings at first.
However, this became increasingly impossible to do.
For one thing, I began to notice I wasn’t running in darkness.
Think about that for a moment.
After all that running, all those twists and turns, I must be deep inside the walls of a hanuk dwelling, far away from any light whatsoever.
Instead, it got brighter and brighter as I continue running deeper and deeper.
We bore right once more, and the light became intensely bright.
It filled my vision, making me blink in surprise as I stopped running and tried to get my bearings.
After a moment, my eyes adjusted to the change in light, and I was able to look in front of me again.
I saw the silhouette of the tikmo standing in front of a brightly lit circular entryway, mysteriously hacked out of the surrounding materials. The entryway was massive. It dwarfed the tikmo and me, and it must have taken ages to create.
The tik walked slowly back towards me, moving until he was out of the strongest part of the glare, so I could make out his features more easily.
He pointed at his furry chest and thumped it with his paw.
“Eshak.” He said.
I looked blankly at him for a moment.
“Pinky, I’m grateful you saved me from a fela feeding, truly I am, but I still don’t know what the fas-”
“ESHAK.” He said in a louder tone, striking his chest and then waving his paw from the top of his head to the end of his long brown tail.
“Oh…1” It took me way too long, but I finally got the picture.
I hit my chest, and in a big, brave voice, said “Grig!”
I waved my hand from my head to my feet like Eshak just did, and repeated my name.
Eshak moved a little closer to me and tentatively sniffed me all over.
“Gah-reeg?” He said cautiously.
I nodded up and down vigorously.
“That’s right, Grig.” I pointed at my chest and then pointed at his. “Eshak.”
He blinked twice and attempted to nod the way I did. For the record, a nodding tikmo looks kind of goofy, especially when he’s also trying to copy your facial expressions.
Eshak stepped back from me for a moment. Then he pointed to the big entrance behind him.
“Ba intus2,” he said, pointing at himself and then back at the entrance. This time, it didn’t take me as long to figure out what he was saying.
I nodded up and down.
Eshak turned around and ran through the opening. I paused for a moment and then ran after him.
I stopped again when I made it through the entryway.
A movement above me caught my eye, and I looked up.
A fat, irregular column of packed dirt, mud and other unidentified items rose in front of me as high as my eyes could see. It looked like it went even farther than that.
The ground right in front of me had a grooved appearance, and it took me a moment to realize that it was a crude road carved out of the packed earth. The road joined up with the column, and I could see it circling around and around. Circular entrances like tiny caves covered the surface of the column. There were too many for me to count, and light streamed out of every single one of them.
Eshak looked up at the column, and then back at me. I noticed he stood up straighter than he had in the hanuk’s room. This was his turf.
“Mawroi3,” he said, gesturing at the massive column. We both walked a few steps closer to it, and I could see the shadows of countless tikmi moving in and out of the glowing openings.
Eshak pointed at the grooved road and then started to run up it.
I ran after him.
As I huffed and puffed, I decided I need to learn how to understand this mouse language as soon as I can. This blind following business was getting old in a hurry.
I’ll be the first to admit I’m a little slow on the uptake sometimes. Just ask my brother Faslo. I wish he was here right now.
Translated from Bachit, the language of the Bacha, an advanced race of mice. Ba intus means come inside.
The hidden city of the Bacha mouse tribe.