Part III: Journey through the Caves
The river ran through the wide caverns like a snake through the tall grass, and everywhere the subtle echo of flowing water reverberated amongst the stone. It was a highly familiar scene, but strangely Ruby found it quite calming as she jumped from rock to rock being careful not to slip. The current had carried Kepsla the shell swimmer far ahead as he said it would, so the fastrunner and the gang behind her were forced to catch up as swiftly as they could. The process of navigating treacherous underground caves had become something of a science to them now, with Ruby jumping ahead to see how far it was to the next ledge or rock with Gentry and Cera following shortly after. Thylo was just as eager to attempt long leaps over the river, but after she nearly drowned a few times the group decided it wasn’t such a good idea. Glide was bringing up the rear, and got stuck with the duty of tossing Chomper and Thylo across the gaps too large for them to jump themselves. Both the sharptooth and the spiketail thoroughly enjoyed this part of the trek, but Glide made no attempt to hide his displeasure and often muttered things about ëbabysitting’ or ëhatchlings’ under his breath.
…
A few hours earlier the group had awoken from an undisturbed but uncomfortable sleep to see Kepsla already slipping into the water, ready to guide them onwards for the day.
“It’s kinda rough in this next part,” the shell swimmer commented, “the fast water is going to push me down pretty quick, so you’ll all have to meet me at the bottom.”
“Ugh,” moaned Cera as she dipped her foot testingly, “more fast water…”
“Second that one,” added Gentry with a sigh.
“What’s the matter threehorn,” taunted Glide as he brushed off his wings, “afraid to get a little wet.”
That struck a nerve. Cera still had hard feelings about when the two wingtail kidnappers had tossed her into the lake and shattered her previously untouched ego. As far as she was concerned, this Glide was as good as one of them and his comment set her off.
“I’m not afraid of anything!” shouted Cera back, “and I’m definitely not afraid of you… don’t make me teach you a lesson you won’t forget!”
Glide’s eyes narrowed and he uncrossed his arms, cracking his knuckles.
“Try me.”
“Cera,” interrupted Ruby in an attempt to diffuse the situation, and she directed Cera away from the black wingtail, “maybe we should get going so we can keep going to get out of here.”
Cera pushed her away with her horn.
“What is wrong with you?” the threehorn demanded, “he’s one of them! All he wants is to keep us down here like the rest of those freaks!”
“But then why would he go through all that to rescue us, shera mate?” added Gentry as he poked his finger at her for emphasis.
The threehorn shot him a glare that clearly said ëyou’re next’.
“Well because… because…” Cera stammered, “…because they want to eat us!”
Thylo laughed at the absurdity of the accusation, and she wasn’t the only one. Chomper giggled while Gentry snorted, but covered it up as a cough as he tended to do. Cera rolled her eyes at their response, and for a moment there was silence as they were all reminded about how hungry they were. Sure they had fed on some kinds of cave moss and had lots of water, but every single one of them craved a more sustaining meal. The night before Glide had caught a frog, and Kepsla had gasped in fear and retreated into his shell so he didn’t have to see the wingtail crush it’s bones with his jaw. In an act of unforeseen kindness, the black flyer had given it over to Chomper who was nearly going mad from his hunger. It had been a unique moment at the time.
“I for one think he’s nice,” asserted Chomper as he stuck up for his friend.
Glide smiled at the praise, but only briefly before his face returned once again to his signature neutral expression.
…
Ruby’s remembering of the morning was interrupted by a sudden rush of air. It was not the speed or the intensity of the wind, but the smell that caught her off guard. The scent was fresh and new, just like what one would sense in an open meadow. They were nearing the outside!
“Hey… hey,” called back Ruby to the rest of the group which was lagging slightly behind, “up ahead… I can smell the smell of green food, we’re almost there!”
Along the line there were sighs of relief, and they quickened the pace. After ten minutes there was a shining of light and a notable increase in temperature. Ruby found a solid ledge next to the river and broke into a run, skipping over loose rocks and obstacles with an agility only her kind could hope to achieve. When she finally crested the underground ridge that was the source of the light, it was so bright she had to cover her eyes. Soon the others joined her and faced the same harsh glare.
“Wow,” commented Chomper in wonder, “it’s beautiful.”
The cavern that extended before them was gaping and wide, and resembled more of an enclosed canyon then a cave. In the roof, blue sky was visible and the sun was shining through, reflecting off strange flat rocks and illuminating the entire place brightly. The location was about the size of half a football arena, and everywhere the ground teamed with life. The river they had been following rolled down a brief set of rapids before emptying into a small pond that filled the bottom of the chamber except where brilliant islands of grass and leaves sprouted from it’s waters. Even along the massive canyon walls patches of green flared out all the way to the top. Clearly this was the best they could have hoped for – a near paradise.
Ruby, Cera, Gentry, Chomper, Glide, and Thylo could only gape in wonder at the dream-like quality of where they stood. The spiketail was the first to wiggle free of the spell.
“I can’t believe we found so much green food!” she cried in joy, “And I was so hungry but now there’s so much to eat I’m not sure what to go for first and I…”
Gentry clamped her mouth shut gently with his fingers, and shushed her with his other hand.
“Slowly now… don’t want to go filling our ears again,” the egg-stealer commented with a laugh.
Thylo might have been annoyed, but she was too excited about the new source of food that she just dashed on forward, and ploughed into the nearest bush with enthusiasm. The sounds of her munching soon filled the air around, though nobody could actually see her head.
Glide suddenly spread his wings wide, stretching them out and preparing for flight. One of them clipped Cera on purpose or by accident, and she yipped and jumped out of the way. Before the threehorn could respond, the black wingtail had taken off and was soaring around the cavern looking for prey to catch.
“Oh boy,” urged Chomper eagerly. “come on Ruby lets go get some water swimmers!”
“Maybe later,” answered the fastrunner, and she glanced over where Kepsla was sunning himself on a rock, “…I have something I need to do first.”
“Okay,” sighed Chomper, and he set out towards the river. Hopefully he could catch one on his own.
With the sharptooth’s departure only Ruby, Gentry and Cera remained.
“I gotta craving for some eggs-stuff,” stated Gentry as he licked his lips, “mind… it looks like I’m gonna have to settle with the green stuff.”
Cera suddenly realized that she had missed the big opportunity to lead, and jumped to it.
“Okay everyone,” she said loudly, “let’s all go eat.”
It was a little late though, as Gentry and Ruby were already leaving.
“Hrmm,” grumbled Cera as she looked around and became aware of this fact.
…
Kepsla was laying on a nice hot rock, and his eyes were closed. This must be what shell swimmers did during their spare time, surmised Ruby as she approached. There was a small puddle in her path, and as she stepped lightly in it the splashing sound awoke Kepsla.
“Hi,” said Ruby nervously.
She was never really good at introductions, or at least she was more careful about them now that she had suffered from a bad one.
“Oh hey,” replied Kepsla with a yawn, “I see you guys made it safe and sound… Rozzy would be glad you didn’t get swept up again like last time.”
A cold tingle crept up Ruby’s spine as she suddenly realized exactly where she knew the shell swimmer from. During the Storm Tide, she had been swept up by a rampaging river and she nearly drowned, but thankfully she washed up on shore down the gorge. She had passed out, but not before she called for help from two others who were nearby – Kepsla the shell swimmer and Rozzy the egg stealer. Rozzy was Ozzy and Shira’s son, and he hated his parents enough to detest it when they made him show her around the Dawn Valley… the place where she had landed. What started as a passive resentment turned into friendship, respect, and finally love.
Rozzy had saved her life twice, and Ruby could never forget it. He was kind of mean at times, but he always came around and if he had been a fastrunner they would have been mates for sure. The last time she saw him was as he walked away in the tow of his father, before his image was consumed by the pouring rain. It was the main reason being around Gentry had been strange at first, because his species reminded her so much of her old friend and crush.
“Is he… still around and okay?” managed Ruby awkwardly. She didn’t know what else to ask.
“Oh yeah,” answered Kepsla sincerely, “and he’s in love too… I saw him and his female friend the last time our families visited the Dawn Valley.”
Ruby felt a pang of jealously, and her facial expression betrayed it. Kepsla slipped back into his shell so only his nose was showing.
“Why are you mad?” he peeped, “was it me… did I say something?”
“No,” said Ruby reassuringly as she hid her emotions, “I’m glad he’s okay.”
Clearly Rozzy had moved on, and in that moment Ruby made up her mind to as well.
After all, there were plenty of water swimmers in the lake.
…
Chomper was usually pretty good at finding food, but this place seemed to be getting the better of him. There were no stinging buzzers, or flying insects of any kind amongst the curious plant life living in the canyon. After half an hour of fruitlessly searching, he gave up and tried to catch a water swimmer but found he was terrible at it. As he smacked the surface of the pond in frustration, there was a small thud of landing feet nearby.
“Having trouble?” came the familiar voice of a black wingtail behind him.
The sharptooth didn’t bother turning around, and instead remained concentrated on his task.
“Yeah… these things are too quick to catch,” Chomper remarked as he tried again, “I don’t know how you and Ruby do it.”
“Perhaps you should go after more suitable prey…” Glide suggested thoughtfully.
This time Chomper did turn around, and he was just in time to see the wingtail put on a devilish smile and jerk his head towards Thylo. The spiketail was so engrossed with eating that only her rear end was showing. The sounds of her munching were just loud enough to be distracting.
“I can’t eat them,” said Chomper nervously, “they are my friends.”
“That is until your hunger turns you against them,” replied Glide, “you feel it already now don’t you? The calling of your natural instinct to hunt.”
There was a moment of awkward silence as Chomper looked around to see if anyone else was listening.
“Why are you so mean all the time?” the sharptooth asked neutrally, more out of curiosity then in attack.
Glide crossed his arms and stuck up his nose.
“I’m not being mean, I’m being realistic. Mark my words one day you’re going to wake up and find that water swimmers simply aren’t good enough.”
The black wingtail leaned forward.
“And when that day comes, you will forced to either kill… or die.”
Chomper looked down at the ground, and a tear welled up in his eye.
“I know,” he whimpered.
Glide suddenly felt a rush of guilt. It was one thing to incite an adult but hurting a child was wrong, and it went against what he believed in. As Chomper turned away to hide his emotions, the wingtail thought about taking back what he had said… but he couldn’t. The only thing to do was to apologise and try to set things right, but that kind of thing wasn’t his specialty. As hard as it was he had to give it a try.
The black wingtail took a few steps forward and sat down slowly. He leaned his right arm on his knee, waiting for the right moment to speak. The two of them were right next to the water, and as it calmly flowed by like it didn’t have a care in the world, the intensity of the moment slipped away.
“Sometimes I wish I could change too,” Glide admitted with a sigh.
Chomper sniffed and rubbed his nose.
“W-What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean… I wish I could’ve brought back my parents, and then maybe I could have lived a normal childhood like the others.”
“You lost your parents?” Chomper added with a tone of sorrow.
“I did…”
Glide picked up a stone and tossed it up in the air. When it came back down he caught it handily, and with a scowl he tossed it out into the lake. The stone skipped almost the entire way across before sinking to the bottom.
“…we did… my sister was just a wingling back then and she needed me. I was like a father to her.”
There was a bit of bitterness in Glide’s tone, but nothing overwhelming. It was clear that he didn’t think she thought the same of him now. Chomper opened his mouth to ask another question, but just as he did a large flier swooped into the canyon-like cave from above. He was pretty far away from them, but even from the distance the sharptooth could see that he was a wingtail and that he was a shade of blue.
“Wow,” commented Chomper, ëwho’s that?”
Glide didn’t answer. Instead, he snarled viciously. That wingtail looked an awful lot like another one he knew….
The wingtail did a circle in the air, before curving his wings and diving into a fissure in the canyon walls above.
“Do you think it’s one of them?”
Chomper was referring to Eybron’s wingtails.
“I don’t know,” replied Glide finally, “but I intend to find out.”
“Wait,” interjected the sharptooth, “we should bring the others too… so we can stick together.”
Glide did not take his eyes off the fissure, and nodded his agreement passively. In the next breath, Chomper had gone off to find the rest of the group and get them back together.
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The volcanic ash clouds still blotted out the sun in places, and it was proving very difficult for the Feral Forest to settle back into a normal routine as nobody was getting up on time thanks to the endless darkness. As the first light shined through a gap in the sky, Star met with the other teachers and they made up their mind to start their classes again. The wingtail children who did not suffer a loss in the family had been enjoying their time off, but now their parents were starting to have the urge to get rid of them again during the day. As it would turn out, Star got the duty of teaching the first class in the morning. It was glass-working, her specialty.
“Good morning everyone,” Star said as her thirty students sat and conversed in the trees at the edge of the Coidal Springs, her teaching place.
They all went silent, and waited for her to continue.
“Because of the recent events over at the Black Mountain, I’ve been thinking that we could go today to collect some samples for our work.”
There were strings of whispers that erupted from various parts of the group.
“But isn’t that dangerous?” said a girl wingtail from the back.
“Yeah, my parents don’t want me to go anywhere that death crater,” remarked another.
“That sounds so cool… we could see an entire lake of rock!”
“Children please,” interrupted Star, trying to get them to quiet down, “if you don’t want to go then I understand completely… All I’m saying is that it would be an excellent opportunity for us to learn all about…”
Star trailed off as she noticed something odd. All the students in the front row had backed away from her, some with looks of fright in their eyes. Other young wingtails in the rear had taken off and fled altogether.
“… It’s not that frightening,” she said as reassuringly as she could, confused at her class’s reaction to the suggestion, “really it will only be a short trip, and I promise we will return in time for the afternoon feed.”
“Ah… you certainly have a way with children, don’t you my dear?”
Star whirled around at the sound of the voice, only to come face to face with Eybron. The white wingtail had snuck up on her, and was almost close enough to grab her if he wanted to try. He was quite dirty and unkempt for a wingtail, and there was a glint of insanity in his eyes that she had never seen before. Surprisingly, he was alone. Star concluded that he was the reason the children were so scared.
“It’s over,” declared Star boldly, “you have no more followers or power. I humbly request you leave so I can continue with my duties.”
Eybron took a step closer, and brushed back his frill as if he was preparing for a date. Star was getting nervous now, and backed away.
“I’m warning you Eybron… don’t make me hurt you.”
“So desperate,” remarked the white wingtail poetically, “and so violent. Symptoms of another love lost beneath the… shall we say… burning desires of nature.”
Star stood her ground, and growled as if she was about to lunge at him.
“And yet you continue to refuse my offers of courtship… you fight against the inevitable tide that is my love of you. I demand respect everywhere I go… and I get it. Such it would be for you too if you sat by my side, and stayed with me in my tree. Tell me, why is it that for all I have to give you still refuse?”
Star continued her growling, and glared at him with hate. Eybron could see his speech wasn’t penetrating, so he tried a different tactic.
“This is a wonderful group you have under your care here,” the white wingtail said with a casual glance in the direction of the students, “it would be a real pity if something were to happen to one of them under your watch.”
He was threatening the children… she had to do something.
“You want to know why I don’t want you Eybron?” she said boldly.
“Do tell…” replied Eybron with a devilish grin.
“Because I could never court a BLOODY MURDERER!”
Star charged at him, and aimed a blow directly at his head. He was too fast however and caught both her arms in his iron grip. It was painful, and she winced as he squeezed her wrists. Eybron pulled her in close… so close she felt his hot breathe on her face.
“I always loved a female with a little bit of fight,” he whispered as he licked the side of her face.
“Let go of my niece Eybron, or you will have to deal with me.”
The white wingtail scowled, and let Star fall to the ground.
“Ah Sturgeon,” he remarked snidely, “finally decided to take an interest in your loved ones?”
Star’s uncle Sturgeon had showed up just on time, and he stood not alone but with two of his own friends by his side. The three wingtails had landed on the ground while the exchange between Eybron and Star was taking place, and the brown wingtail looked ready to fight.
“I couldn’t stand by any longer while you tear my family apart Eybron… somebody has to teach you a lesson about good manners.”
“Hah… bring it on old fool,” taunted the white wingtail with disrespect, “you couldn’t hurt a water swimmer.”
The children had for the most part fled, but some remained and watched as the bitter scene played out. So much action was going on in the Feral Forest these days it was tough for the more wary of them to keep up, so it was exciting to see things play out first hand.
The fight had nearly begun when another wingtail swooped in from the air. He had an aura of authority that made all four flyers stop what they were doing to hear what he had to say.
“Are you the one called ëEybron’?” the royal guard said with a bored tone, like he would rather be somewhere else.
“Yes,” answered the white wingtail with annoyance.
“You have been summoned to the council of elders,” the green wingtail said, “they requested you immediately, so do not be late.”
“Of course,” growled Eybron as he waved the guard away like one would a pest.
The green wingtail did not move.
“They have also requested the presence of all teachers,” he continued, looking blankly at Star, “you have also been demanded immediately… do not be late.”
On that note, the royal guard departed. Eybron spread his wings smugly and made haste to follow, as did Star albight a bit more reluctantly.
“This isn’t over Eybron,” remarked Sturgeon bitterly, “I’ll see to it you will pay for what you have done.”
As he flew away and rounded the trees Eybron made a mental note in his mind to kill that wingtail when he had the chance. Sturgeon was an obstacle to his courtship of Star… and just like Sky he would need to be dealt with.
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