by P. L. Smith
Lethan's brows furrowed.
"Very... carefully."
****
"...and what makes you think this is going to work?"
Lethan looked down at the brownish-gray blob that somewhat resembled Jak.
"Firejacks work almost strictly off of scent. The mud should mask our smell, especially since it is stinky pond mud."
"Ahuh, and how did you come across this interesting bit of knowledge?"
"I made the mistake of running through a Firejack nest a while back, and the damn things chased me half way across the swamplands. I was hopping from one stinking wallow to another trying to keep ahead of them. Just about dusk they slowed, and then stopped. They couldn't find me. I wasn't half the distance of the meadow away, and they couldn't see me, because they couldn't smell me. I was covered from head to foot in the foulest muck you have ever come across. It makes our mud smell like dandelions."
"Lovely."
"Don't forget to do your crossbow."
"Not a chance. It won’t work if it's covered in mud."
"They will smell you on it."
Jak stared back at him with steady eyes, the only parts of her that were still distinguishable in the moonlight.
"All right fine, I'll do the stock. It's the only thing I touch that much anyhow."
She squatted down to scoop up some more mud, but the mud coating her body was already beginning to dry and crack where it was the thinnest. She quickly rubbed down the wood stock of her crossbow with a glob of muck. Then she took the glob and applied it to her knees and thighs where the mud had started to dry and flake off.
"We need to hurry. Once this stuff sets, we won't be able to do much moving without losing it all."
"Right. Let's get in, get Dagan, and get out."
"I'm checking out the weapons first."
"No, Dagan first. He's all that matters."
"I came to see the weapons. You don't even know if Dagan is still breathing!"
Lethan's lip curled back into a snarl, but the small mud covered girl stared back, jaw set just as hard as his.
She's a stubborn little runt. I'll give her that.
"All right fine. Look at the weapons first. But we get Dagan, no matter what."
Jak gave a slow nod, and they both set out. They made their way slowly, trying not move too much and crack their mud skins. When they neared the edge of the lake, they were able to climb atop the large granite boulders and silently follow the shore to the encampment.
As they approached, a soft, yet disturbing hum could be heard radiating from the still bodies of the sleeping Firejacks. Lethan passed by the mass of Dagan and was relieved to see his large chest heaving slowly. They crept past the Firejacks, curled into tight black and orange balls. Even while they slept, their rapid little antennae still skittered about picking up scents.
The row of weapons looked like sleeping demons to Lethan and he felt the odd urge to keep his distance. Jak, however, went from weapon to weapon, stooping to examine each one, touching this and twisting that. When she walked back to Lethan, the look on her face was a mix of fascination and dread. But it changed to confusion when she saw the horror on Lethan's face.
"What?"
"I can see your face. The mud is gone!"
Jak's fingers came up to touch her face and the realization struck home.
"Move!" she hissed.
They made haste back to Dagan. As they passed, the antennae of the sleeping Firejacks seemed to move with more intensity. Already they were beginning to stir. Lethan dropped to his haunches and thrust his arms under Dagan lifting him from behind. He hefted him up, but the large Minotaur was easily half again his size.
"Get his legs. I can't carry him by myself."
Jak lifted his legs up to her waist, but Dagan's feet still nearly touched the ground. They moved out of the encampment as quickly as they could manage and headed straight across the meadow towards the tree line. The hum grew with intensity and seemed to get louder the further away they got. Lethan was pacing backwards toward the trees with Jak following behind, when Lethan's eyes grew wide. Jak immediately knew why. The Firejacks were awake.
"Jak, whatever you do, don't turn around."
"Wasn't planning on it, even if I could! How close are they?"
"Getting closer, but they still don't have our scent. Oh... wait. Now they do! Okay time to run."
In mid-step Lethan threw Dagan up into the air, spun and caught him on his back, hefting his weight up onto his shoulders. Lethan's body shrank down, nearly collapsing in the dirt, but he pushed forward, slowly rising up. He managed to kick himself into a lope, and then a full sprint. Jak was still holding Dagan’s legs but had to do little more than keep up. Her ears rang as the humming got louder and louder. She could almost feel the long stingers poking at her back.
As they crashed through the trees, Jak could hear Lethan's labored breathing. He was glancing back and forth looking for a direction.
"To the right! Back to the mud bog!"
Lethan's head dipped in acknowledgment, and they veered to the right. Lethan stumbled, and as he did so, a Firejack flew through the air, its stinger right where his head had been a moment before. Lethan pushed at the ground, pounding his pads into the leafy earth.
Jak screamed, and when Lethan turned he could see a Firejack perched on her shoulder maneuvering its stinger to her neck. Lethan reached down, felt for a rock, and in the instant his fingers felt cold stone, he flung it, striking the Firejack, and knocking it loose from her shoulder. He smiled back at her, but his smile dropped. Three more Firejacks were right behind her.
"Lethan, look out!"
But too late. Lethan turned just in time to see the looming abyss ahead and below as his feet felt air and they fell.
CHAPTER IV
Lethan came up sputtering. The icy mountain runoff was cold, and luckily deep. His arms paddled frantically, as he searched for shore. The water surged him down river.
"Jak!" he yelled.
He listened, but the roar of the water drowned out any other sound. Lethan reached down with his foot to see if he could touch bottom. As his toes touched gravel, a large rock met his knee. Lethan cried out and was flipped headfirst into the water as the current forced him over the rock. When he resurfaced, his burning lungs sucked in a great gasp of air. He looked around again trying to get his bearings. His only thought was to get out of the water before he drowned.
Lethan swam as hard as he could towards the shore. His leg met another rock, and he winced, but despite the pain he managed to keep himself upright. Lethan latched onto a rock. Pushing both legs against it, he exploded upward, leaping for a boulder along the shore. He smacked against the rock hard, hard enough to make him see stars. Fear pumped through his veins as he felt himself slipping. The rock was big, round, and now wet. His hands desperately felt for a hold, but found none. He slid back into the water and felt the current once again tugging at his legs. He hugged the rock as the water pulled him around.
Lethan's hands moved up and down the large boulder, looking for a crack, a ledge, anything to hold on to. The current started pulling him out and away from the rock. With one last surge of energy, he kicked and lunged. This time his fingers found a home, a small protrusion. He clamped down tightly with his claws, pulling himself to the rock, hugging it to escape the current.
Lethan managed to get his feet under him and felt gravel. He cautiously worked his wobbly legs up the bank. As he left the water, he collapsed onto the soggy earth. His chest was heavy, and every muscle in his body was on fire. He felt like sleeping for a very long time. His eyes shuttered closed, and then a noise snapped them open.
"Lethan!"
It was faint, but he heard it. Lethan leapt to his feet, still wobbly. He climbed his saving rock and peered through the darkness.
"Lethan!" He heard again.
"Jak! Where are you?"
Then he saw them, Dagan floating on his back and Jak's spindly arms wrapped around him.
/> "Swim for this rock!" shouted Lethan.
Lethan jumped down to the shore protected by his rock and waded out as far as he dared into the eddy. He looked upstream. They were coming, but they were too far from the shore. He waded out further and felt the strong current. His toes curled under clutching the loose gravel beneath his feet. The shore beneath him dropped off sharply, and he was balancing on the edge. He grasped the rock, the same hold that had saved him. The point where his claws met, his fingers ached.
"Ready? Swim as close as you can to the rock. I'll grab you."
"I can't swim with him! All I can do is hang on."
Lethan stretched out his arm, leaning as far as he could. As Jak's Minotaur raft swept by, Lethan lashed out attempting to grasp Dagan's leg. His fingers met nothing but cold water.
Lethan's heart stood still as his hand scrambled, desperately grasping for anything in the black water. As they floated past, Lethan's claws curled around Dagan's wrist. Lethan squeezed tight and pulled; as he did so, the gravel at his feet gave way, but his hands held.
Lethan pulled with all his might, kicking at the gravel, praying for footing. The muscles on his chest stretched and pulled, burning like fire. All at once his feet found solid ground, and the mass of Dagan swept around into the slow moving eddy. Lethan's legs pressed into the solid ground as he hauled Dagan up out of the water. Jak collapsed next to Lethan, and he felt her hand touch his arm.
"Thanks."
"No... problem." He managed to say.
They lay there, each heaving for breath. Soon, their chests slowed, and not long after they were asleep.
****
"Uh, somebody want to explain to me why I'm soaking wet?"
Lethan and Jak both sprang from their sleep at once. Dagan was propped up on one elbow examining himself. When he turned, his great horns wobbled a bit, and his eyes seemed to have trouble focusing.
"Lethan? Good to see you. Hmm, I don't think I know you, but I could be wrong. I think I took a pretty good hit to the head."
"Dagan, this is Jak. She's a Yuman."
"Yes Lethan, I can see that. It's a pleasure to meet you, Jak. Did we all take a midnight swim together?"
"Well, in a way. Lethan and I rescued you from the Firejacks, but as we were running away, Lethan dropped us into this ravine."
"Ah, the Firejacks. That would explain why I'm partially tied up."
Dagan looked down at the thin cord encircling his body, all except his arm, luckily.
"Uh would anyone mind cutting me free? I would very much like to stand and stretch. My leg feels rather odd."
Jak leapt to her feet and pulled at a knife strapped to her belt. It took a moment for it to pop free from its wet leather sheath. She worked at the cord with her blade, but it wouldn't cut very easily. She kept working at it, finally sawing through the smooth cord with a snap.
"Ah, thank you!"
Dagan unwrapped himself with his free arm and tossed the cord aside. He rolled over, lifting himself to his hands and knees, and then pushing himself to his feet. As he stood, he bellowed and nearly fell. Lethan rushed in and lifted him under his arm.
"I think there's a good possibility I have a broken leg. Help me over to that rock Lethan."
Lethan shuffled him to the rock, so he could prop himself up. Jak bent and picked up the long cord examining it.
"I've never seen anything like this. My knife would barely cut it, and I just sharpened it."
Her fingers ran over the smooth yellowish cord feeling for inconsistencies, but there were none. It was perfect.
"It's hivelace. The Firejacks make it. Don't ask me how, but its nasty stuff. Stinks like Firejacks."
"It might come in handy, especially since we have to make you a splint."
"Oh no, young lady. No splint for me. I'll just have Lethan here, find me a good walking limb, and I'll manage."
"Nonsense. We have to set the bone and attach a splint so it heals. Lethan, go find two strong and straight limbs. They need to be a little shorter than Dagan's leg."
Lethan smirked at Dagan and started toward the trees.
"Hey Lethan, she remind you of anyone?"
Dagan laughed, but then cried out in pain as Jak jerked at his leg, setting the bone. Lethan stared for a moment and then turned back to his task. In truth he hadn't seen it before, but now that he thought about it, Dagan was right. Jak reminded him very much of Lina.
Lethan quickly returned with two limbs, to find Dagan sitting against the rock, moaning. Jak was downstream standing knee deep in water, poised with a stick above her head.
"What do you think you're doing? I just pulled you out of that river!"
Jak's arm came down in that instant, driving the sharpened stick into the water. In disgust, she threw the stick to the shore and kicked water in Lethan's direction.
"I was trying to catch us some breakfast, thank you very much. You ruined my concentration!"
"Oh, well I got your sticks."
Defeated and wet, Jak tromped back to their rock. She went to work quickly, removing limbs and loose bark from the branches. When she was satisfied, she stretched out Dagan's leg, despite his protests, and laid a limb on each side. She retrieved the hivelace and started to wrap the two limbs to his leg.
"You're not going to put that stinky stuff on me are you?!"
"Yes, it'll make a good tight splint. Besides I can't smell it at all. I don't know what you're talking about."
"It takes a forester to be able to smell it. It reeks of a Firejack nest."
"Well, better to stink than to lose your leg."
"Humph."
"Stubborn, isn't she Dagan?"
"Indeed."
But Jak wasn't listening. She was tying the last loop near Dagan's hoof, lost in thought.
"This is the same stuff that was on the weapons. Nearly all of them had it. I didn't recognize it at the time. I'll bet this stuff would make fantastic bow string!"
Jack cut away the excess hivelace with a wrench of her blade.
"Blasted weapons. We didn't stand a chance. Foresters using all manner of claws, teeth, and horn, but to no avail. We were picked off like overripe berries."
"Were there any other survivors?"
"I don't know Lethan, I really don't know. There was still a small force fighting when I got hit, but they were surrounded on all sides. I doubt many escaped-- my entire legion, the best fighters in the land."
Lethan swore and dropped to his haunches rubbing the spot between his ears.
"Lethan, I don't think this is a war we can win, at least not without some help."
"Well, the Yumans aren't going to be much help unless Jak here can be awful convincing."
"I can, when I want to be. But even we aren't going to be much of a match against weapons like that. Do you have any sort of a backup plan?"
"Yeah, run away," replied Lethan.
He stood and walked down the shore, stooping to pick up Jak’s fishing spear. Shaking his head at it, he tossed it further into the trees.
"He's only half joking, and he may be right. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We still have a few options left to explore. There are a number of foresters who have moved on to other lands, other forests. If we could..."
Dagan was interrupted by two large flopping fish landing between him and Jak.
"Breakfast is served," said Lethan, bowing dramatically.
"How did you... you're going to have to teach me how you did that."
"Anytime, young lady, anytime."
"I'll get us a fire going. I'm freezing anyway," said Jak.
Jak disappeared into the forest collecting dry wood. When she returned, she meticulously piled up the wood, striking a bit of dry tinder she collected with a flint from a pouch at her side. Within minutes she had a crackling fire. She began dressing the fish with her knife, slicing open the slick silver bodies from tail to jaw, then worked out the entrails with a crooked finger.
"What are you doing? You're taking out the best
part."
Lethan snatched the half gutted fish from her and shoved the innards into his mouth and began chomping on the head.
"I take it you don't want me to cook it? Right, well Dagan I'll split this one with you."
Dagan chuckled.
"Oh no. No, no. None for me thanks. I see a patch of dewy grass calling my name."
Lethan helped him to his feet. Dagan limped over to a little grove of grass and managed to drop down on all fours and began nibbling and tearing at the grass with his teeth. Jak looked from Dagan to Lethan, both happily eating, and then looked glumly down at her fish slowly cooking on her stick over the fire, and her stomach growled.
****
"The Queen has always been a little strange, a bit eccentric perhaps, but I would never have thought she was capable of this. She'd have to be mad to want to wipe out every creature from the land. If she succeeded, Mo-Na would be unbalanced, and the Firejacks themselves wouldn't be able to survive."
"Has anyone tried to talk with her? Reason with her?" asked Jak.
"I went to plead with her to stop the raids the Firejacks were staging on traveling foresters before the attack on the highlands, and she wouldn't even see me. We weren't exactly friends, but there was always a certain amount of respect between the queen of the Firejacks and the steward of the foresters, you know."
Jak nodded slightly.
The trio had been making their way through the dense forest, slowed by Dagan's broken leg. The thick canopy of the trees blocked the majority of sun. An occasional sliver of light would penetrate the canopy and illuminate the forest floor. Dagan was enjoying his conversation with Jak, who was eager to listen. Lethan, however, was happy to take the lead. The demon in his stomach was beginning to grow restless. The Luna was tonight, and his head was filled with a turmoil of voices.
"Tell me about you all, the foresters. Where did you come from? Why is it that you can talk and other animals can't?"
Dagan chuckled.
"All animals can talk. It's just that the foresters speak the same language as you Yumans. As to where we came from, I couldn't tell you. All my life I've been here. I have no recollection of my mother. She died when I was very young. My father raised me, but he was an old bull, and by the time I had begun to think of asking questions like that, he was gone too.
