The Dark Wars : The Danger [Book Two] Chapter Ten : The Mystery -- The Middle of Nowhere

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Date Posted: 13:47:04 01/27/03 Mon
Author: ME
Subject: The Dark Wars : The Danger [Book Two] Chapter Ten : The Mystery

[Narrator is a female Nickimiss called Jairnay. This is after she and her Infernio friend, Fire Eater (XD) escaped from Equitor's lair with Moneshai's and Mackalla's help. Nickimisses are quadrupedal omnivores with canine heads, saberteeth, long necks, long bodies and limbs, many-jointed legs, bladed tails, Koratian hind paws, and forehooves. Both they and Infernios stand at about 16 feet. Oh, and a league = three miles.]

I awoke after a piddling three hours' worth of exhausted sleep. Rising, I stretched my many-jointed limbs and scanned the area - nothing alarming to be found. With a glance to my snoring companion, I nudged Fire with the flat of my tailblade. He twitched, opened one golden eye, yawned, and mumbled, "Hullo. Time to get going already?"

I shook my canine head. "Not really, but I'm going foraging, and if you could catch us some food..." Fire leapt up with a fierce, eager grin which emphasized his long fangs in a most unnerving way. "Why didn't you tell me that in the first place, Jair'?! I'm off!" With that, the long-bodied feline turned and sprinted away, disappearing into the foliage without hardly a sound.

In turn, I pushed my tired body into a lope in search of non-poisonous naturals, such as fruits, nuts, roots, etc. After a half hour's browsing, I returned with a large, tough-fibered leaf folded in my jaws; in it was several pounds of fresh food. Fire had already returned, two dead Preda Bens awaiting me. Their bodies were dark crimson without any white-grey, indicating that these two were very old beasts.

After we filled our once-empty bellies, Fire Eater began grooming his fire-orange fur clean and setting thin black stripes to order. I, on the other hoof, detached myself from my body and began floating upwards. When I was perhaps two leagues high, I stopped and hovered, taking a good look around. We had come out in a completely unknown area. I couldn't even locate the tunnel from which we had escaped Equitor's foul caverns.

I made a mental map quickly and accurately. To my surprise, I saw no creatures nearby, nor did I sense territory boundaries. Far off in the distance, I saw what might have been a k�sani tree, broad leaves tinted golden-red in the rising sun's light. The Center, if it was one, was directly nuea-ward from where I was. [eastwards] We would head there; perhaps it was the Center-base that had helped rescue us.

I relaxed my concentration and was instantly back in my body. My hearts and lungs started up again, as did my digestive system with a tangible lurch. Fire looked up and muttered through a mouthful of fur, "You know, I wish you'd warn me when you plan to do that. Scared the diamen out of me for a pelash." I merely grinned toothily and informed him of our location, and my thoughts on travel. He agreed whole-heartedly, adding as an afterthought, "When do we leave?" I twisted my muzzle in a shrug.

"How 'bout now?!" Fire suddenly cried, leaping to his paws as the ground began to shake violently. I sprang upright and we both stumbled, though natural grace kept us from falling like a dead branch to the warping earth. I sprang nuea-ward, running with torso low to the shuddering ground; Fire was right behind me, his beautiful golden eyes wide with surprise and wariness. Our speed increased, despite the rocking turf, to about thirty leagues-per-hour. Soon, though, the earth-shake made quick movement impossible. Fire and I crouched low, bewildered; how something like this could happen without our weather-senses warning us was a mystery.

Suddenly, the earth ceased its rollicking movements. I relaxed my tense muscles and stood shakily, and Fire rose unsteadily beside me. He said quietly, rounded ears still flat against his skull, "Jairnay, I don't know about you but I feel like sprinting to that Center. We'd reach it in maybe an hour." I shook my head and Fire raised a brow. "I feel like running as well," I assured, "but going at the speed we were, it would take us about three hours."

"Dyone! How far can you see!?"
"Farther than you, that's for certain."
"Ninety leagues away! Dyone, that's far."
"I feel like sprinting anyways. You?"
"Need you even ask, Jair'?"

With a laugh, Fire bounded away, and I shook my head with a chuckle and followed him. At first, it was hard to keep my front legs from bending this way and that, but soon I had them set and locked, moving only three joints like other creatures do. Having found my rhythm, I kept up with Fire easily enough, though he's an exceptionally fast cat.

Three hours later, we stopped, completely out of breath. I relaxed my forelegs and, to my embarrassment, crumpled bonelessly to the ground. Fire lay down smoothly, tactfully not commenting on my abrupt collapse. I let go of myself and my mind drifted upwards on the warm summer winds. Our sudden halt had stopped us five leagues from the Center, and indeed t'was a Center, not a Center-base. A very large one, at that, with perhaps one thousand adults of many different species, and two hundred chirrlings.

The heat was beginning to rise in intensity as the sun beat down. The generated haze blurred my vision, but I was still reasonably sure that none of our group, nor any of the Madreni I knew, were in the Center. Dyone and diamen. However, I finally recognized our location; the Center at which I gazed was one of the Caostal Centers on Handak... one of the larger ones, if I recalled correctly. I could see the silvery-indigo ocean about ten leagues off. Looking back down at my body and Fire, I noticed him sniffing the air; he must have detected the scent of nearby saltwater. However, something tugged at the back of my mind, and I again turned my far-seeing eyes to the ocean. Then it hit me - of course! The Bleish Sea! Not a very big body of water, larger than most lakes, but it was an inland sea, hence the saltwater-smell. We were directly in the center of Handak, then.

I let myself rise a bit more. In the far distance, danu-ward [northwards], I could make out the Minmon Range, the mountain range from whence Minmons originated. I had never met one of the beasts myself, but they were said to be over a hundred feet high, heavyset quadrupeds with huge teeth and claws, and a tailblade over fifteen feet long! In the other direction, sreki-ward [southwards], there were the plains and rolling hills that characterized sreki-central Handak, leading away to the desert that even I couldn't see from this distance.
From the direction that we had come, jaza-ward [westwards], a single, looming mountain rose above all else. Tren� Jiop it was called, a fire-mountain of great volatility and unpredictability; for the many deaths it caused with its frequent eruptions, it was often called Mount Deathfire. Tren� Jiop's proximity explained the earthshake; it would probably erupt soon. The Center was far enough away from the beastly volcano that those living there probably hadn't felt anything more than a few gentle tremors, and they were safe from the fire and ash it would spew when it exploded.

I fell abruptly back into my body. What the...?! I sprang up, fangs bared and short teal fur bristling. Fire leapt to his paws, a growl building in his throat, inspired by my own reactions. My muzzle swung 'round, searching, searching...

What had knocked me back?!

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