Ewar then came up to sit beside me, licking his claws. Finally, he turned to face me, a sorrowful look in his eyes. "I'm--I'm sorry about earlier," he began. "But--you were only causing us trouble. You were pursuing your own interests, and in doing that, you let Lennox run free--yes, Cragger told us about that--and got us worried about the storm. Then you refused to follow your own plan to stop it. If you think you're helping, well--you're not. You're not even helping yourself." Worriz's words came back to me then: you spend so much time with your own thoughts that you only think of yourself. And now Ewar was pointing it out as well, if in a less direct way. I could not deny either of them, nor did I want to; for now I truly saw the extent of my mistakes. Still looking him straight in the eye, I said, "I understand." Ewar clenched his beak for a moment. "You do? Really?" "I shall try my best not to let such a thing happen again," I promised. But it rather looked as if he didn't believe me. A droplet of water landed on my beak from above, and I brushed it away. "I take no offense if you distrust me." Ewar sighed and looked down. "But... I want to trust you." At this, my eye widened and I was rendered almost speechless. I attempted to form words, but they would not come, excepting a simple, "Why?" "Because--you're the only one who seems to respect me," said Ewar. "I'm not usually treated as an equal. And while I do miss the castle and the library, Equila's probably waiting for me to return so he can put me in training to be a guard. It's what every eagle wants to do." I peered more closely at him. "But not you?" "Ewar!" said Laval. "Take up your watch position!" "Alright, alright," returned Ewar, slowly walking towards the cave entrance. I fell asleep shortly after.
My dreams, when they came, were deeply unpleasant. I was walking along, alone, until a hole opened in the ground beneath me, effectively swallowing me. I fell through blackness, two red eyes staring at me the whole way. Then I hit bottom. I sat up (still in the dream, of course), rubbing my back and shaking my head. In the darkness around me, something moved. It sighed. "So you found your way to us. Sorry it has to be like this." Be like what? I wanted to say, but my beak wouldn't open. Then the red eyes came again, spiraling into my vision. I heard a scream of pain, and then a strange wind lifted me up, a great force pushing in upon me from every direction, crushing-- My eye snapped open. I was in the cave, with no wind and no staring red eyes. But, I realized with a start, someone was screaming. Sitting up, I turned and saw Lennox stabbing a knife at Ewar; and though it never once touched him, he was bent double and his screams of agony were terrible to hear. I smacked myself awake and ran over to help, despite not knowing, exactly, how I could help. Half-way there I glanced down at my claws to find that I was holding a weapon (I learned later that it was Laval's Valious). Using both hands, I raised the broadsword above my head as I ran, then brought it crashing downwards onto the knife in Lennox's hand. He howled louder than any wolf, dropping the knife and backing against a wall. The vibrations of the blow rattled me as well, and the sword slipped from my unfeeling grasp. As I collapsed to the cave floor, the others began to wake up.
For a while, I could do nothing but lay in a heap, breathing heavily as the others rubbed their at eyes and peered about the cave to see what was the matter. Once my heart stopped pounding and I could move my arms again, I forced myself to stand. Lennox was staring at me, I knew, even though I faced him not. I also knew that if I did turn to face him, I wouldn't be able to meet that stare. I then heard Ewar moan in the corner, and so I turned and bent down to him. (A foolish action, perhaps, with Lennox behind; but I did it nonetheless.) "Ewar?" I said. When he looked up, his eyes were clouded; when he spoke, his voice croaked like an old, rusty hinge. "It's...that pain again. Rippling." I altered my position so as to keep a closer eye on Lennox. "But the knife," I said. "Did it not get through to you?" "The knife didn't touch me. Seemed like...it couldn't." He let his head drop back down. I looked up at the cave ceiling to think. Not for the first time, I wondered why Lennox appeared to hate Ewar so; and also why his attacks never had any visible effects.... "Rizzo!" came Cragger's voice, and I whirled to find Lennox charging me, the knife in his left paw this time. Anticipating his movements, I caught the knife-holding paw and held it, quivering, next to my head. Then he dug his knee into my stomach and I fell to the floor, cringing in pain and shock. Not taking my narrowed eye away from Lennox, I groped about the surrounding floor, and my claws closed around what felt to be the handle of a blade--the instant it was snatched up by someone else. Then I froze as Lennox plunged the knife down towards my heart; but before it bit, a pair of claws gripped his shoulders and hauled him back.
"That's enough," said Cragger. "I'll throw you out of the cave if I have to, so behave." Lennox gnashed his teeth. "You would not dare," he said. "Or would you...? Your previous actions make me question your loyalty to our cause...perhaps something went awry.... And you--" Struggling in Cragger's grip, he turned his head to me as I sat up. "The next time you get in my way will be your last." "So--so it goes," I said. "But what have you done to Ewar?" Lennox snorted as Cragger wrenched the knife from his grasp and threw it across the cave. "Only what he's done to himself." A tension settled upon us all in the silence that followed, and the air itself seemed to grow thin. Then Gorzan screamed, an ear-splitting shriek that did not suit him in the least, and around the cave beaks were clenched and teeth were gritted. The cave floor rumbled slightly, and then, directly in front of me, there was an explosion of moss, pebbles, and dust. Through it all, I was certain I could see a pair of beady red eyes staring at me. Then the dust settled, and where there had once been a portion of mossy floor, a gaping hole yawned up. I looked down at it, then at Gorzan as he jumped up and ran for the cave entrance. And slowly, I began to realize what was wrong. "Everyone, out!" I said, but I was too late. Gorzan, Eris, and Worriz disappeared into the ground as three more holes were punched through it. The resulting clouds of sediment blinded and choked me, and I stood up at the exact moment the ground gave way beneath me as well; and I felt something snatch my ankles and pull down, down.
I landed roughly on my back in a tunnel below the cave, my beak shutting with a smack as my head hit a sharp rock. The thing let go of my ankles to take my wrists, and, jerking me to my feet, it prodded me forward with an outstretched claw. When I turned to get a good look at it, five others came and turned me back in line by force. Looking out the corner of my eye, the nasty things could be seen everywhere around: wiry figures cloaked in shadow, their eyes glowing in the darkness. The tunnel was packed with them. And as I was marched through areas lit by torches set into the stone walls, I looked upon them for the first time in fascinated horror. The one nearest me was quite short (as they all were), the tops of his pointed ears barely rising past my midsection. Tufts of bristly fur stuck out here and there on his otherwise bald head, his fingers were gnarled, the nails at the tips serrated and black with filth, and a long, whiskered snout protruded from a face disfigured by irregular bulges and wrinkles. So repulsed was I by the appearance of these ugly creatures that it was a while before I noticed any others they were pushing along. "Gorzan!" I called in surprise as I caught sight of him. "Was--was this--?" A nearby creature held my beak shut with its lumpy hand. "Nonono," it said. "No talk t'him." Not wanting that hand near my beak a second longer, I nodded. The creature grinned, allowing a glimpse of jagged, uneven teeth. Then it drew a curved blade, swept a green tongue about the edges of its mouth, and scurried on ahead.
-last edited on Jun 26, 2022 15:20:03 GMT by The J
Post by The J on Jun 26, 2022 15:19:39 GMT
As we continued on through the torch-lit tunnels, I wondered about many things. I tried asking several of the creatures what tribe they belonged to, but every time I did, they would turn a cold eye to me and prod me with their claws. And, after a while, I had the sense to keep silent and think. Where were they taking us? It didn't seem as if they wanted us dead (not yet, anyway), though what use would hostages be to such primitive creatures? I realized I didn't want to know. A loud exhalation sounded on one side, which turned out to be Gorzan passing out in the creatures' grip (I earned a blow to the side of my face for looking). Although they had stopped me in the middle of asking earlier, I was certain that they were what Gorzan had been warning us about. He must have heard them scurrying below-ground when we were settling down in the jungle, and in the cave he had been too terrified to speak because he knew they would come for us. And had they taken all of us into this tunnel? Laval or Razar might have gotten away somehow. Then I thought of Ewar, lying alone in a corner. In pain. Vulnerable. Surely he had been taken. I hated to think that he was being dragged along by the creatures over the rock floor, as was being done to Gorzan. I stumbled forward as something rough thudded into the back of my head. Rubbing where it had hit, I could feel a bruise forming. "Go faster!" the creature behind me said in a rasp. "Or I'll throw more rock atcha!" Walking faster, I grimaced. Apparently, wherever we were headed, it mattered not if the hostages arrived in good condition. The knot of apprehension in my stomach tightened.
In time, we came to a door which led into a small chamber. There the creatures left us, instructing us not to leave. As the door slammed shut and they left, I took a deep breath and looked around. The chamber was completely empty excepting the torch-post in the center, which was lit, and it made the surrounding space feel larger and gloomier than it really was. Also there were two identical doors leading out on opposite walls; I scratched a mark into the one through which we had entered. Then I saw to Gorzan. "Hullo?" I said, waving my claws in front of his face. His eyes fluttered open and focused on me. I sighed with relief. Now, at least, I was not alone. "Gorzan?" I said. But his eyes defocused again and he began to mutter, "Not cool, don' want it," over and over. "Gorzan," I repeated, more forcefully. "Are these the very creatures you were trying to warn us of, and if so--" But I didn't get to finish, for at that moment, the door on the far side of the chamber thundered open to the sound of the creatures screaming and snarling and gnashing their teeth; and Ewar and Worriz tumbled in over each other. "An' don' come out," said one of the creatures, "Or wi'll beatchu good!" Worriz was on his feet in an instant, but fast as he was, the door slammed in his face. He started beating on it with all his might, and I had to pull him away still flailing and swinging. "Let me at 'em!" Said he. "I'll show them a fair fight!" Now that I looked closer, I could see that he was covered in dust and had several scrapes and bruises. One of his eyes was swollen shut. Releasing him, I found that Ewar did not look much better. "What are those nasty things?" I whispered. Worriz humphed. "Really? You don't know a rat when you see one?"
"I know, I know," said Worriz. "You thought they'd be different." I lowered my brow, wondering why it was I had never seen one before.... "You don't know about the rat tribe, do you?" said Ewar, heaving himself up on one elbow. "No," I said quietly. Ewar coughed, but waved Worriz and me off when we moved in to help. "I'm fine," said he, "But do any of you know about the rats?" I glanced at Gorzan. It certainly seemed he did, but at the moment he wouldn't respond to anything. "Just tell us," said Worriz, finally sitting. The torch at the center of the chamber flickered, and I stared into it as Ewar began speaking: "Supposedly, hundreds and hundreds of star cycles ago, before Loradus's time (I think), the rats lived among us. They were nice enough, even if they usually stayed away from most tribes. Then a gorilla tried to offer a gift of flowers--I'm not sure what kind--and it drove the rats to madness. I don't know whether they liked or hated the flowers, but they obsessed over them, taking them instantly; and then they took the gorilla prisoner--he was never seen again." A horrible suspicion gripped me then, and I glanced at Gorzan, who was still muttering to himself, eyes wide. "After that, the rats were exiled, and it was said they hid themselves away in the dark, becoming more nasty and crooked every day." A silence swept over the chamber, and the torch flame leaned far to one side. "How does that help us?" Worriz asked at length. Ewar laid himself back down again, wincing. "Tell me if you know," croaked he. "We could be here a while."
"Perhaps not," I said. "The rats could come back for us yet." Ewar closed his eyes. "Why would they?" he said. I slid my eye over to Gorzan again and back, deciding not to give voice to my fears. But somehow Ewar could tell I was holding back, for he opened an eye and looked into mine. "You know, if you want to say something, you can." "No, no." I sighed. "It is most probably nothing." Ewar grumbled and started to roll over, then felt the rocky floor and apparently thought better of it. "How is it you came to this exact chamber?" I asked Worriz, turning to face him. He shrugged. "The rats dragged us, but they didn't have an easy time; we put up a good fight." I resisted the impulse to say, I can see that. Quite obviously, when these rats had begun to put holes in the cave floor somewhere above, Ewar would not have been able to "put up a fight". Yet still he had gained cuts and bruises. Had the rats beaten him for Worriz's actions? "Why?" I heard myself say. "What?" grunted Worriz. I gathered my thoughts and took a breath. "Why put up a fight?" "To...escape," Worriz said slowly, uncertainly; as if he had no good reason, and was merely defending himself. Then he looked away and would say no more. I turned my head to watch the torch in the center of the chamber as the flame once again began to flicker. Staring into it was rather calming, and my eyelid grew heavy. Earlier, I had gotten close to no sleep before Ewar's screams woke me, and I was now very tired. Therefore, when the torch went out, I neither noticed nor cared until later.
I woke with a jolt in complete and utter blackness. Raising my claws in front of my face, I stared long and hard, but could not see them. "H--hello?" I called out. There was no response. Then a rustling sound came from somewhere to my left. Claws closed around my arm. I shook them off and inhaled sharply before my beak was held shut. "Keep quiet!" came a whisper so low I could scarcely make out what was being said. "It's Ewar. I've gathered all the others around the torch-post so we wouldn't lose each other...come on now." I followed on all fours, and once Ewar told me to stop, I sat, noting the glimmer of light from opposite sides of the chamber. "Did you finally find him?" said a voice. "Yes!" whispered Ewar's voice. "Can you keep quiet? Please?" A sigh. "Oh, alright. But you could've left him..." I couldn't place the voice of the speaker, for it was most certainly not Gorzan or Worriz. "Apologies," I said, "But is--" "While you were asleep, the rats came and brought in Laval and Razar," said Ewar. "They say they know the way out, and it's daytime." "We're planning our escape," came the voice of Laval. I rubbed at my eye blearily. "Daytime," I muttered. "Yeah," said Laval edgily. "This's what it's like underground without light." I ignored him and looked again at the faint glow on either side. And as I did so, a distant rumble entered my hearing, growing louder with every passing moment. The others seemed to take no notice of it, however; and their discussion of underground routes swiftly dissolved into a fierce debate betwixt Worriz and Laval over whose fault it was we were there; but about this I could not have cared less.
For as the volume of the rumble increased, it became clear that it wasn't a rumble at all, but hundreds of simultaneous shrieks and growls. Fear rose up within me, and an orange mist seemed to fill my vision momentarily. When I had calmed myself slightly, I said, "Does anyone hear such a thing as--" "Don't you try and distract us now!" Laval cut me off, only to be silenced by Ewar. And then how I wished there was a light, so that Laval could see the urgency I felt sure was showing on my face. But instead, I sat in the dark as he went back to his debate with Worriz. I clenched my beak and listened to the growing clamor outside, hoping it would pass us by. Then the sliver of yellow light to my left intensified as the door burst open and rats poured into the chamber. Tears leaked out of my eye and I blinked rapidly as they scampered all around and over us, eventually opening the opposite door. I offered no resistance when they pulled at me, knowing the consequences would be painful if I did. Thus I was swept off down the torch-lit tunnel, my eye still weeping and blinking as it grew used to the sudden light. Every now and then, one of the rats would draw a blade and lick the edge, staring at me with a hungry look in its beady eyes. I tried hard to ignore it. Quickly the others were left behind as they attempted to fight back, their yells carrying through the tunnels, then ending abruptly. All around the rats chuckled and grinned, and I dared not imagine what was happening behind. But certainly, I thought, from the excitement the rats were showing, what was ahead could not be any better.
The tunnel wound on and on, and the rats demanded I run ever faster, constantly poking with blades, prodding with claws, and baring their teeth. Such was the giddy anticipation in their eyes that I knew our destination would not be simply another holding room. They even began to sing in high-pitched rasps, about things which made me worry all the more. After what seemed a long while, I wished I could be rid of the vile place; the endless torch-lit tunnels, the loathsome inhabitants, the foul stench, growing stronger by the second.... I was about to cry out when the tunnel opened into a massive chamber, at least four times larger than the one we had been held in for the night. It was larger than the Chi chamber in the lion Temple, most definitely, if one could compare the two. On ropes strung about the place hung ragged scraps of cloth, all bearing the same faded insignia (too faded, in fact, to be recognizable). A large slab of rock protruded from the floor in the center, and quickly I counted two other tunnel openings leading off. But what really drew my attention was a pedestal to the right of the rock slab. For sprouting out of the rock was a glowing yellow flower. And when the rats followed my gaze to where it stood, they hauled me to the ground and and pounded my face against the rock floor until there were chips in my beak and I no longer knew which way was up. Then they pushed me to the other side of the rock slab, chuckling as I stumbled and tripped. But even in my battered state, I could not fail to notice two things: first, that Lennox, Cragger, and Eris were already there; and second, the slab of rock was actually a throne, on which sat the largest, ugliest rat of them all.
Sitting, he was a full head taller than me and tremendously wide, covered with bristly black fur and the expected lumps and sores. His long snout looked bent and twisted, and at the end a shiny black nose constantly twitched and sniffled. In the claws of his right hand, next to which was the glowing flower, he held a short staff of gnarled wood topped with thorns and a staring skull (I knew not what animal it belonged to, nor did I want to); and perched betwixt his pointed ears was a crown fashioned of long-dead tree bark. I took an involuntary step back, but the rats only pushed me forward again. The monstrous rat on the throne passed his red-eyed gaze over me. "A new one, eh? From where did you say these thieves come, again?" said he in a deep, booming voice that echoed about the chamber: altogether different from the other rats' throaty rasps. One of the smaller sort stepped forth and bowed. "We found 'em on th' front porch, O King," he said. "But there're even more. As we speak, they're being brought through th' tunn'ls t' you." "Good," said the rat king. He shifted forward in his throne slightly, eyes narrowed. "You know how I hate to be kept waiting." The rat whom he was addressing backed away slowly, bobbing his head and muttering, "Yessire!" over and over. The king then turned to look at the four "thieves" present. "Now," he said, "Will one of you admit, at last, that you came to steal from me?" I looked at the ground, not knowing how to respond. My head was spinning in seemingly endless circles.
"Still no one?" said the rat king, raising a bristly eyebrow. "Ah, well. Perhaps your fellow conspirators will have an answer for me...." I lifted my head, my gaze landing on the flower to the throne's right. The pain in my head eased, and I let out a breath. But the rat king's expression darkened, and his claws tightened around his staff; so I quickly looked back at the floor, and my head began to throb again. Somewhere behind, Lennox was growling softly, but I paid it no mind. As we waited for the others to be brought in, spots of light swam across my eye and the floor seemed to tilt beneath me. I swayed, looked up at the flower once again, and steadied myself. Could this be the flower (or one of the flowers) Ewar had mentioned when he told of the rats? And why did the sight of it clear my head of pain and dizziness? One thing was certain: this was no Anti-Chi. "What is your interest in the bloom?!" snarled the rat king, making me jump. I closed my eye and swallowed. "None...sir." In the pause that followed, I tried hard not to let myself shudder. Eventually, the silence became so unbearable that I slid my eye open just enough to see the rat king. He was leaning heavily on his staff, a slight smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. "So," he said at last, "You do speak. Come forward." I hesitated, running my claws through the feathers on my head. "You will not be harmed," said the rat king evenly. His eyes, sunken though they were, glinted in the torchlight. I twitched and took a single step; then dozens more rats flooded in with a lion, an eagle, a wolf, a raven, and a gorilla in tow.
All was chaos and confusion for several moments as the rats closed in around us, but soon enough they backed off again. Laval, Worriz, and Razar stood and clutched at bruises; Ewar and Gorzan, however, did not rise from where they had been dumped. "Good, you've come!" said the rat king, spreading his thick arms. "Tell me: why have you trespassed in my caves, attacking my people as you pleased? Hm?" Lennox growled more loudly, and I hoped that trouble wouldn't come of it (thankfully, it didn't). After yet more silence, the rat king dropped all pretenses of friendliness, standing from the throne and advancing on us. "Tell me!" he said, looking over us all one by one. "You've been quiet for far longer than is your right!" "Who told you we were trespassing?" It was Laval who spoke up. The rat king seemed to ignore the question, and continued to look back and forth. Laval pulled his lip back in a snarl. "I said--" The end of the rat king's staff touched against Laval's throat, cutting off further speech. "I heard," said the former softly. "But I didn't ask for more questions. I asked for an answer." He then pulled the staff away, and Laval's paws shot to his own throat as he gasped. When the rat king's eyes fell upon Ewar, he began to chuckle. Then he moved on to Gorzan, and all mirth faded from his features. His eyes burned with animosity, so much so that I averted mine, and merely listened as he let out a most terrible shriek of fear and anger. "Get this one out of my sight!" he roared. I could tell that the surrounding rats were about as confused as I was (though perhaps I was imagining this), but they hurriedly came up to do his bidding, and dragged Gorzan away down a nearby tunnel. "So," said the rat king, turning back to us. "Where was I?"
