Story Paws: A Mystical World: Toxics 26

CHAPTER XXVI SIB When they awoke,

The doves had gone.

The leets had been nudged into a narrow inlet where they drifted.

It was the smell of burning that woke Wolfgang and Pippi.

Up,

Up!

They growled,

Leaping out of the leet and rocking the sides.

George bellowed as Sib tipped their boat,

Jumping out.

He tried to balance but fell,

Splintering the leet with his weight.

Well,

We won't be returning,

Said Reuben as George looked dismayed.

He stood up and the water reached his shoulder so he forged through to the rocks that fringed the inlet.

He carried Scrat and Little Green on his back.

Gus bobbed along and the others swam.

What is it,

Reuben?

Asked Little Green.

Reuben stood still,

Shading his eyes from the glaring sun as he stood on the highest rock to look.

Even at this hour the shimmer of heat rose from the ground.

Wolfgang and Pippi have powerful noses.

I can't see what's being burnt but it spreads out in a line.

I suspect the toxics are burning trees or perhaps a small forest,

He said,

Climbing back down.

The Orion eyes were keen.

It had looked horribly as if the trees could be greens.

He blocked his mind.

They had been too tall for the scrubby trees that grew in this barren land.

He fell sick.

Little Green sensed something was terribly wrong.

She looked at the others.

George had his head raised.

He stood tall,

Ready to face his unknown enemy.

Wolfgang and Pippi were growling softly deep in their throats.

And Scrat stood alongside Gus.

Sib's hooded lids were half lowered.

Felicity thought he looked uncomfortable.

He was swallowing rapidly.

It suddenly struck her he was mind-sharing with someone.

She scanned the horizon.

They landed somewhere to the east of the mainland.

But by the heat she knew it was further south than expected.

She tied Reuben's shawl around her waist.

Her curls stuck to her neck and she lifted them trying to fan air upwards.

Follow me,

Reuben said,

And set off running fast.

Felicity hardly had time to close her mouth before Wolfgang's jaws grabbed her and slung her on his back.

Felicity clung on to his coarse fur.

The Lupata were fast,

But George in a charge was matching them.

Little Green and Scrat had legs so long they simply took huge strides and kept pace.

Gus trundled admirably along.

He would have been last but for Sib.

Sib could close a gap in a disconcertingly short time.

Reuben,

She called.

Reuben looked back.

He looked ahead again.

They were heading for a small hill.

He prayed for shelter beyond.

For coming at them from the west was an army.

He didn't want to know how many or what.

It would be large.

Sibbelin mixed with toxics.

He puffed out as he tried to concentrate his mind.

Think!

Think!

Sib and Gus couldn't keep up.

The hill was not attainable if they waited.

He remembered his instructions.

At all costs it must be Little Green.

But he couldn't abandon the stragglers.

Please not yet.

He stopped running and Scrat fell into him.

Little Green,

Scrat,

Go with Pippi and Wolfgang.

I will wait for Gus and Sib.

And I will stay with you,

Reuben,

Said George,

Creating a dust cloud as he skidded to a halt.

No.

Find shelter behind that hill and help Wolfgang defend it.

We have no idea how many toxics there are.

They may have subdivided.

Arras,

Their leader,

Will head straight to the sacred caves.

It would seem a good plan to let Demet destroy us while he tries to destroy the roots.

Reuben's voice faltered as he finished this speech.

He was looking past them.

Felicity spun round.

In the time he'd spoken,

The toxics had reached Sib and Gus.

She watched in horror as the ugly creatures swarmed around their friends like ants.

Go!

Screamed Reuben,

And as Wolfgang carried Felicity away,

She looked back to see Reuben streaking towards Sib and Gus.

He moves like a cat,

She thought,

But saw no more as they rounded the hill.

Here,

Cried Pippi,

She'd found a small hollow at the foot of the hill.

It was not ideal,

But it left them free to run if needed,

And provided temporary cover.

Gorse-type bushes that survived in this hostile terrain partially concealed its entrance from above.

Well,

It will have to do,

Thought Pippi.

The cubs were strong inside her now,

And they kicked and complained as the adrenaline coursed through her body.

Not yet,

She thought,

In an unknown echo of Reuben.

Felicity had dismounted.

She was fighting with Scratt and Little Green,

Who held her firmly.

I want to see,

She wept.

I just want to see what's happening to him.

No,

Felicity,

Said Scratt.

We must obey Reuben.

We fail the others if we're seen.

Felicity,

Said Little Green,

And she expanded her aura and phosphorescence until all of them were bathed in a blue pool.

Her silent words flowed into all their distressed minds.

Calm yourselves.

Think of Gus and the light he's followed all his life,

In spite of toxic shadows.

Think of Reuben,

His courage and conviction.

We are here to heal the scars of the past.

We must defend and change the present.

Be still,

My dear quest companions.

Reuben and Gus will return.

But not Sibb,

Said Georges,

And in the instant his words broke the silence,

They felt the change.

Little Green's light extinguished.

And an unutterable sadness hit Felicity like a wave of pain.

They heard a fiendish cry from the leader,

Demet,

In the toxic's gross new language.

Wolfgang and Georges ran out to see what was happening.

Sibb felt the toxics around him.

It was so dark.

In his blindness,

He heard Gus.

Sibb,

I'm here.

Keep still.

Let me speak to them.

Their spines will hurt,

But try not to move.

Speak to me,

Sibb,

He urged.

Are you there?

I'm here,

Gus,

Said Sibb.

His voice was small.

They don't know what to do without instructions.

Keep listening to me.

I'll try to locate their leader.

It's he they'll follow,

Said Gus.

What will they do?

Asked Sibb.

What do they want?

We want to kill you,

Of course,

Said a terrible voice in the ugly,

Spitting creak and spits of the toxics' new language.

Demet,

Replied Gus in the foul tongue,

I was trying to find you.

Your companions are crowding us.

Silence,

Said Demet.

And the other toxics moaned and hissed and popped as they heard their leader.

Like blind offspring searching for their feed,

Thought Sibb.

He was trying not to cry out,

But the pain was intense.

The spines of the toxics had stabbed him in many places,

And their venomous sting was making him dizzy.

He breathed deeply,

Willing his head to stay clear.

The smell was terrible.

Like rotting food and warm,

Fetid air,

They surrounded and suffocated him.

He tried to look up to the sky,

But they were too tall,

And even lifting his head caused more piercings in his back.

Oh,

He moaned involuntarily.

Demet cackled at his suffering.

Demet,

Listen to me,

Said Gus.

He spoke fast.

Sibb would not survive this onslaught for long.

In these numbers,

The venom of their spines would be fatal.

Gus had to get him out.

As he searched to communicate with Arras' second-in-command,

He couldn't believe how distorted and corrupt Demet's mind felt.

He had to find something of light within this defiled toxic.

They were the same ones,

Thought Gus.

Moving towards the sounds of Sibb's feeble babbling,

He continued.

Arras is misguided.

Do not be misled.

You're strong,

Demet.

I sense it.

You vile sycophant and nurturer of all that's betrayed us,

Screamed Demet.

The old world is finished.

The time of the toxics is here.

Exclusion and disrespect,

Loneliness and isolation.

As Demet ranted,

Gus reached Sibb.

He touched his lowered head and spoke quietly.

I'm here.

Go,

Gus,

Whispered Sibb.

I deserve this.

I knew the sibling were planning to join the toxics.

I knew,

Gus,

He said.

From the beginning,

I knew.

And I said nothing until it was too late.

But you came back,

Sibb.

You came back.

I love the aquatics,

Sibb whispered.

I couldn't let their world be destroyed.

And then his breath exhaled for the last time.

In the jostling,

Spiny space,

Sibb's spirit left and rose to form his sky-trail of departure.

It streaked the blue sky in a divine white crescent.

Gus felt the heaviness of loss.

And he could not afford to grieve yet.

He was going to bring Sibb back to the others.

To the only family Sibb had ever known in the end.

He forged on,

Ignoring the poisonous punctures of the diabolical creatures.

The venom stung,

But could not harm him like Sibb.

Now his eyes had readjusted to the filthy mass and he could see more.

He saw Demet standing at the side.

End him,

He commanded to his mindless mob.

There was a cry of joy as they leapt for Gus.

Their monstrous mouths were black slashes of putrid breath that set the ground hissing and bubbling with their lost spittle.

But Gus had heard the intention before Demet uttered it.

Amongst the dark,

Whispering and bleak,

Hollow spaces of Demet's broken mind,

He had found a thought.

With a huge shove,

Gus broke the lines and ran for freedom.

He scooped Sibb up,

Fear giving him strength.

He sucked in the clean air and felt the energy of the sky give him wings.

Wolfgang and Georges,

Watching from the crest of the hill,

Saw his dash for freedom and they shouted to Little Green.

Gus has broken away.

He carries Sibb's body.

Send him your aura,

Little Green,

Said Felicity.

It's too far,

Little Green replied.

Sibb's departure has drained me.

I'm sorry.

Gus will have to use his own strengths.

Not without me he won't,

Bellowed Georges,

And he pelted across the rapidly closing space to bring the body of their departed member home.