"Fecabre!"
Chrissy stumbled for a few steps after letting go. She reached for the walls of the cave for balance, finding it after a second of scramble. After a moment, she was able to see her shadow from the light of a torch behind her. Chrissy turned around, now able to see Lanon's wiry frame in the fire light. She could see the outline of his ribs as he effortlessly laid the fish on a waist high rock. Lanon handed Chrissy the torch before turning back towards where Travlack was.
"I'll b-be right back."
Lanon's feathers buzzed violently. In the next moment, he was gone across the dark. Small feathers fluttered to the ground in his wake. Chrissy picked one up and inspected its verdancy in the light of the torch.
A frayed green with yellow streaks. She moved her hand down to the base and–
It was wet.
She rolled the tip of the quill of the feather in her fingers. A small line of blood rolled onto her palm.
"Didn't know it was molting season already," she muttered.
A rush of air blew the feather out of her hand. She wiped the blood on her pants and raised the torch. Lanon was back with Travlack, who walked off the trip without a hint of disorientation. Chrissy noticed him staring intently at Lanon working a shiver down his body. With every quiver feathers drifted towards the ground. Chrissy and Travlack took a step back to avoid the feathers drifting towards them.
"S-sorry for the mess," he said. "It t-takes a lot out of me to m-move that fast."
"No need to apologize. We owe you one, after all."
Lanon exhaled and shook his head. He then turned to where he had laid the fish and slung it back over his shoulder. He turned his head towards Chrissy and nodded his head in the direction of the path.
"Th-this way. Just two lefts a-and a right."
Chrissy led the way with the torch. The path was much more even than the trail she traversed earlier. She walked without fear of stubbing her bare toes or slipping in the slime of a glow grub. Following his instructions, they were soon at a dead end in the cavern.
"M-may I have the torch?"
Lanon extended a hand to her. He walked towards the center of the room when she handed it off. He dipped the torch down into a small pit, and the room softly illuminated in response. He shook the torch rapidly, extinguishing its flames before placing it against a wall. Hauling the fish towards the firepit, Chrissy looked around to see supplies organized in a corner. Carved from the cave walls were hollowed shelves which held an assortment of items one could find in a regular home.
Chrissy laid the fish near the fire and sat down next to it. Even though Lanon's incredible flight speed had helped, she was still dripping from her fishing attempt. Sighing in relief, she let her shoulders relax with the warmth of the fire.
Her stomach growling interrupted the serenity of the moment.
"Right. Breakfast."
Chrissy oriented the fish towards a cutting position and pulled her knife. The blade punctured the fish well enough, but cutting was becoming a problem. It became clear that her knife was not long enough to make proper cuts.
"T-try this?"
Chrissy turned to see Lanon offering a proper cooking knife. She sheathed her knife and took his, holding it in the light of the fire.
"Now this is something," she marveled. "Where did you get this in a cave?"
As she looked up to meet his eyes, she saw Travlack release the grip of his mace.
"F-foraging. People leave things e-everywhere."
Chrissy chuckled. "You wouldn't happen to have anything to help me cook over the fire, would you?"
Lanon tapped his chin with his finger, walking back to the pile. Chrissy descaled the fish and kept watching Lanon dig through his wares. Each reflective green and blue scale scattered onto the floor, creating an array of shimmering dots by the fire. By the time she had finished both sides he was coming back with a metal stand and pan. He excitedly placed it over the fire and stepped back, looking to Chrissy for approval.
"G-good?"
Chrissy blinked in disbelief.
"Yeah. More than good. You wouldn't also happen to have any seasonings, would you?"
Lanon laughed wearily and shook his head. What he did do was grab a broom from the wall. With it he herded all the fallen scales from the ground into the fire. Content with his work, he sat across from Chrissy. Eagerly watching her work on the fish.
Chrissy made an incision just behind the gills until she could feel it hit the backbone. The aroma from the cut drifted towards Chrissy's nose. She immediately perked up, her body having fully registered its hearty scent. Strength returned to her hand as the promise of nourishment came forth.
Slowly, she turned the knife horizontal and cut through until she reached the tail. One perfect segment was freed from the spine. After cutting it into 5 segments, she was ready to lay each one on the griddle. Each time the raw fish and the heated pan met, a hiss would roar from the union. This was more than enough for her.
Flipping the fish over she repeated the procedure. Soon after, she had another perfect segment in her hands. Before she could separate it into segments her hand paused above the filet.
She set the knife down.
Holding it with both hands, she presented the other half to Lanon, who blinked in surprise.
"What's on the fire is more than enough for me to take back," she said. "This is my way of saying thank you for the help back there."
Lanon slowly extended his arms in response to her generosity, receiving the fish.
"Th-Thank you."
"Now," she started, "I don't know if you have a way to preserve that down here or anything, but–"
Lanon bit into the raw filet and tore it apart, silencing Chrissy. She whipped around, confirming that Travlack is seeing the same thing she is. His ears were standing at attention, completely stiff while he stared. Chrissy turned around to see Lanon polishing off the last of the entire filet.
With the last gulp, Lanon realized that there were eyes on him. Chrissy noticed how he panted, staring back at them. Licking the rest of the juices off of his hands, Lanon looked between Chrissy and Travlack. The only sounds between the three of them were Lanon's feathers adjusting and the simmer of the fish. Chrissy noticed his pupils contracting back to their normal size while he assessed the two.
He spoke.
"Is there s-something on my face?"
Before she responded the smell of the cooking fish had hit. She flipped them over before responding to Lanon.
"No, you got all of it. I didn't think you were going to eat an entire side in one sitting. More so, raw. Even more so, in the way you did."
Lanon tilted his head.
"In what way–oh."
He looked at his hands, surprised to see only the proof of devourment in his lap, but not a fish. He looked up again to address them.
"It's m-my Therian half. Takes over when I-I'm eating food."
Chrissy nodded. On her left side, Travlack sat down next to her. Once again, the sounds of cooking fish filled the lapse in conversation until Lanon got up. He went to the wall and grabbed a couple of plates and forks, coming back momentarily to return to the supplies on the wall. When he came back a second time he had a stack of dark wrinkled paper and a small leather bag in hand.
"For wh-when you leave," he said. "The wrapping it in th-this should work fine."
Chrissy worked to take the fish off of the pan and onto a plate. Of the five sections she put on, she opted to only keep two of the smaller segments on her plate. As for the other three, she worked to wrap them in paper and stack them inside the leather bag.
Finally, it was time for her to eat. She did not wait for the fish to cool down, opting instead to cut into it immediately with her fork and take a bit.
Though the inside of her mouth was burning, she was more grateful to not be hungry anymore. The moment the fish hit her stomach, she exhaled with a wide smile on her face. She laughed the next couple of words, smoke escaping her mouth with each chuckle.
"Cinepi, taesuli cinepi…"
Chrissy swayed lightly back and forth, enjoying her meal. For a moment, nothing else existed but her and her plate. The sound of a case hitting the floor brought her back into reality. She looked to see where the sound had come from.
On the other side of the room stood Lanon picking up a dark case. He was shivering fervently while putting the items from the floor back into the case. From her place near the firepit she could make out the reflection of a glass object. Without hesitating, Lanon drank the vial and set it to rest. The moment he put it down all of his shuddering halted.
"...You okay over there?" Chrissy spoke with a mouthful of fish.
"J-just sick. Medicine h-helps every once in a wh-while."
Chrissy turned to Travlack and then quickly back to Lanon.
"You're not uh…infectious…are you?"
"N-not to you, no. Th-Therian disease. You will b-be fine. I p-promise."
Chrissy once again swiveled to Travlack, who was staring past her and at Lanon. His ears were rotating furiously before coming to a stop. Travlack stood up and made eye contact with Chrissy.
"Chrissy. I hear it."
Chrissy's mouth remained stuffed with fish. She looked blankly at Travlack walking out of Lanon's cavern.
"Heard what?" she said between bites.
"The bat. Neville."
"My son-? NEVILLE! Fecabre, You hear him?!"
Chrissy stuffed the rest of the fish into her mouth and scrambled to join Travlack. She checked her pockets and straps, ensuring all her tools were in the right place.
"Lanon," she called. "Are you joining us?"
Chrissy turned to see Lanon deep in thought. He raised a finger to his chest, pondering the shelves. She followed his eyes to the wall, where she counted several small empty vials. Lanon walked to the vials and placed them delicately into a small briefcase.
"I w-will join. I have to l-leave as well. After I h-help you with your bat, I have to g-go."
He closed the briefcase and grabbed the torch from earlier, lighting it with flames from the pit. With a soft smile he handed the case to Chrissy, who matched his smile with a grin of her own. She turned to Travlack, who was staring into the path of the cave. His entire body was motionless save for the rapid configuration of his ears. A moment later, Travlack shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
"More than Neville. Something big. Unmoving."
"Then let's make this quick," said Chrissy, walking forward. "Which way are we headed?"
Travlack guided them towards where he claimed to hear Neville. Minutes later after tight crawlspaces, stalagmite clusters, and glow grub goo, they reached another sharp ledge of the cave.
Below them were a cluster of cave argias, fluttering their wings slowly while they rested on the ground. A garden of wispy tails and translucent wings lay on the various clumps of matter on the floor. They dimly lit the arena below, revealing it to only be a minor drop down.
Suddenly, quick wings of gold broke through the tranquility.
A bat.
A bat determined to stuff his face with delicious and beautiful argia thoraces.
Chrissy wasted no time jumping down.
"NEVILLE FAIRFIELD TANIEL!"
She hit the ground and began chasing after him, swatting all the small argia out of the way. Though barefoot, she was dancing between the bones on the floor with–
Bones on the floor.
Chrissy stopped in her tracks and immediately took out one of her hooks. Small hard shells softly reflected the light from the garden of argia. They bumped and scraped against each other as they scuttled across the walls, visibly disturbed.
A loud squeak brought her back to focus. Neville scrambled through the air still hunting the luminescent bugs. Chrissy now spoke in a hushed yell, desperately trying to remain quiet.
"Neville! Nevvy! Stop! You need to-!"
Neville scraped against a wall in pursuit of an argia, but a dark lump pushed him off. A beetle from the wall flew into Neville's side, knocking him to the ground. He rolled over on the ground and screeched at the flying bug, raising his wings and baring his fangs.
Finally, Chrissy had reached him. She swiftly smacked him across the head with her free hand.
Neville chittered softly, holding his head with his paws. Chrissy picked him and held him in her arms. His dilated eyes slowly returned back to normal as he recognized who was holding him.
"Neville Fairfield Taniel," she started. "You were raised in a house! You're potty trained! Why are you trying to be an outside bat?"
Neville chittered incessantly for a couple of seconds, waving his wings around to explain himself.
"A rock from the cave in? You getting hit on your head is no excuse to go AWOL, Neville. And now-"
A low hum from behind her interrupted her sentence. She turned to see a fully grown goliath beetle slowly moving toward them. Chrissy stayed perfectly still as Neville scrambled to her back, taking his place between her straps once more.
Chrissy raised her hands, slowly backing away. This beetle was at least three times her size, and lumbered with curiosity of what had fallen in its den.
"Hello there–,"
Chrissy quickly counted the number of horns it had.
"Five…six…seven…eight…nine - nine! Odd! Female! Ms. Goliath beetle! I'm sorry my son disturbed your children! I'm a mother too– this is Neville – so I'll be gone if you let me!"
The large beetle remained motionless.
Chrissy started to rotate back toward the wall where Travlack and Lanon were. The beetle rotated with her, each motion rumbling the ground beneath her. When Chrissy's back faced where her allies were she backed up.
Slowly.
Intentionally.
Carefully.
"Good! I'm not a threat, I'm not a threat, I'm not–"
The elytra of the goliath beetle popped open. Its exposed wings glowed with resilient blue before they started to slow stir.
"FECABRE–!!!"
Vrm.
Chrissy turned and sprinted towards the wall, unsheathing her hooks along the way. She was swimming through the argia trying to not get tripped up on the wastes that peppered the ground.
Vrm. VRM. VRM.
The rumbling grew in volume and intensity. If Travlack or Lanon were speaking, she could not hear them. Her steps became unbalanced as the floor shook with each beat of the goliath beetle's wings.
VRM. VRM. VRM. VRM. VRM-
Suddenly the floor ceased rumbling, but the noise only grew louder. Neville dug his paws into Chrissy's neck and forced her to turn around.
Her eyes widened.
The goliath beetle was in flight, charging right at her.
A streak of green and yellow feathers tackled her out of the way just before the beetle made contact with the wall. The impact echoed throughout the cave with a terrible crack.
Chrissy could barely hear Lanon. He took her wrist, leading her toward the other side of the arena. From behind a stalagmite, she saw Travlack drop down on top of the beetle and pull a tool white it recovered from the charge.
A blade.
Chrissy instantly regained herself. She ran from behind cover to make sure Travlack could hear her shout.
"Travlack! You can't kill it! It's a rot eater! It's a protected life form!"
Travlack's ears perked up. He had received the message. Complying, Travlack switched his sword for his mace. Stabilizing himself by grabbing one of its nine horns, he swatted at the head of the goliath beetle stumbling into nearby walls.
"It has a soft belly!" she shouted, waving her hands. "We gotta get it on its side or back!"
Before Travlack could respond, the elytra popped open again.
Vrm. Vrm. VRM.
Chrissy realized what was happening. She ran to Lanon and did her best to scream over the noise.
"LANON! IT'S — — UP! THE TIME BETWEEN — — IS LESS! YOU GOTTA — — TRAVLACK!"
From his face, it looked like Lanon parsed what Chrissy was trying to say. He flew into action, making a beeline towards Travlack.
VRM. VRM. VRM. VRM-
Lanon just missed him. Travlack rode the beetle into a wall, knocking itself onto its back. Travlack ricocheted off the wall and into the arms of Lanon, who pivoted midair to catch him. The force of his catch sent him into a stalactite, taking him out of the fight. Travlack's extended mace clattered on the ground in front of Chrissy, who picked it up immediately.
As she picked it up–
Heavy.
How did Travlack make this look wieldy?
She picked up the mace and steadied her breathing, forcing her resonance levels to climb. The mace became lighter with each focused breath. The goliath beetle steadied itself as well, now focused on Chrissy.
"Sorry in advance, mama beetle."
Chrissy charged towards the goliath beetle with incredible speed. She dragged Travlack's mace behind with every intention for a powerful and controlled strike to the head. She baited a movement to the left and stepped right, but the goliath beetle did not buy her feint. It reared back, preparing to meet Chrissy's blow with one of its own. Anchoring her right foot to the ground, Chrissy swung with all she had.
The goliath beetle met the blow, unphased by her effort.
The force of the mace recoiled back into her arms, sending Chrissy spinning through the air and into a wall. The world doubled–then tripled. Time slowed down. She forced herself upright, leaning on the mace.
The goliath beetle prepared its response.
Vrm. —rm. V—m.
The ringing in her ears increased, drowning the sound of the beetle's cadence. The view of the world multiplied further, regardless of her attempt to regain herself.
V—. —. —.
Chrissy closed her eyes.
Time came to a crawl.
With a deliberate breath, the crimson pattern that peppered Chrissy's neck lost its color.
All that remained were speckles as white as snow.
Everything snapped back into place.
VRM. VRM. VRM. VRM. VRM-
Chrissy managed to jump in the nick of time, hovering just above the horns of the goliath beetle.
Just like last time, the charge caused it to rebound off the wall, facing belly up towards Chrissy. She raised the mace and concentrated the resonance into her arms, gripping with all the strength she could muster.
The first impact she remembered was the goliath beetle hitting the ground.
The second impact was the smooth headed mace striking the belly.
A frantic buzz emanated from the beetle. It threw Chrissy off its belly and rolled on its legs, scuttling away. She hit the ground, rolling onto the decaying matter of the cave floor.
"I hope I didn't…overdo it…mama beetle…"
The sounds of Neville squeaking were the last things she heard before her vision faded to black.
…
Chrissy opened her eyes.
She was moving, albeit her line of sight was lower to the ground than it usually remembered it being. She had no feelings in her arms, but saw them wrapped around the shoulders of someone keeping a constant steady pace.
A stray ear smacked her nose. A stone blue ear.
Travlack's ear?
"Travlack? Where are we?"
"Out of cave," he said without turning around. "You passed out."
"I remember that. But I remember you bounced off a wall! How are you walking?"
"Tough. It hurt."
Chrissy heard chitters and squeaks of considerable effort. She was not able to feel that her feet were dragging across the ground this entire time. Neville was doing his best to raise them above rocks and twigs. She craned her neck toward him slowly.
"Neville."
Neville's ears drooped. He looked to brace himself against any incoming verbal punishment.
"I'm just glad you're safe."
Neville's ears perked up. Keeping pace with Travlack, he raised them above his head and balanced her ankles on top of his head.
Chrissy turned her head back to Travlack, addressing him.
"Where did Lanon go?"
"Gone," he responded. "Had things to do."
Chrissy sighed. She managed to twitch a finger hanging from Travlack's arms.
"That was fun," Chrissy chuckled. "I hope Ava and Nathaniel haven't had too much trouble without us."
___
Language Translation:
Cinepi - Fish
Taesuil - Tasty, flavorful