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Migratory birds- Chapter 5- Part 1

Foliage

by kodayu

The heart-rending honks echoed over the mist clad water and disappeared into the direction of the horizon where the red glowing sun slowly rose. But the cold mists were still occupying the lake so that none of its uncountable islands was visible, hidden somewhere behind the white cloaks of an early morning.

The figure at the rail, one of the few passengers of the wooden ferry, stood motionlessly. Lost in his thoughts the furr looked out into the foggy twilight. The deck of the ship was just slightly rocking. The Lake's waters were still, just lazily slapping against the sides of the ship, a dreamy, easing sound.

Most of the passengers sat inside the small cabin which had been installed on the deck as the early morning's coldness hadn't disappeared yet. They were still sleepy, the few conversations were quiet and trivial. Nobody was attentive enough to discuss anything of any importance or to be really aware of somebody else's presence. The captain's wife, a slender roe, had made some hot coffee and was busy handing it over to her passengers who were anticipating the warming drink.

The ferry slowly accelerated, cutting through the weak waves. The only sound, the splashing water. The Tide Cruise Ferries made no sound at all, they were drawn by some invisible force, a secret the captains had never revealed to an outsider. Just like Lake Moonfire, its islands and the whole Silver Coast, the ferries were of magical nature, just another strange phenomenon in a strange land. On a lot of the wood covered islands stood remains of a forgotten age, stone circles, monoliths and ruins that extended

deeply into the heart of the islands. People said that there was a huge labyrinth under the Lake that extended from coast to coast and linked the different islands. Somewhere in this labyrinth was hidden an unimaginable treasure, a source of power, wealth or whatever the storyteller was dreaming of. But the ruins were there, with all their unexplored caverns and tunnels, attracting tourists, researchers, adventurers and especially all different kinds of magic users who wanted to grasp some small part of Lake Moonfire's mysteries. Most of it was gossip anyway. After all, few people remained there as Lake Moonfire was certainly a dangerous area where few people were able to resist the forces of nature during fall and winter for a long time. Nevertheless it attracted visitors who wanted to see it and it was the shortest way between Kastania City and the area of Fereau and the Rumainent River.

The ferry would stop at several islands before it would reach the opposite shore. Some of the people aboard wanted to see some of the ruins or just enjoy the peace and tranquillity there before they traveled on. The ferries regularly visited everyone of the larger island. Thus a short visit to one of them was absolutely no problem.

The short dark brown hair of the figure at the rail fluttered in the airflow as it still stood motionlessly, observing the spectacle of the mist slowly raising from the water and vanishing in the sunlight. Thus some of the islands close by got visible. They were small pieces of land, scattered in the water, thickly covered by wood, most of it smaller redwoods, pines and firs. They were so close together that any good swimmer would

have been able to swim from one to another one, just the central part of the huge lake was partly free of them. The sun was now freely floating over the horizon and the coast had disappeared behind an island as the ferry slowly maneuvered in between them.

The figure supported itself, head in its hands, on the rail. It was a lynx, just dressed with ragged shorts and a dirty T-shirt, a backpack stood next to him. Motionlessly he looked to the horizon the ferry was slowly traveling to.

"Nice view, isn't it?" somebody asked.

"Yeah!" the one at the rail said slowly, lazily turning the head.

A muscled young black bear stood on the rail close by, smirking into the direction of the lynx. As most of his kind he was impressively large although he was obviously not fully grown up yet. He was dressed in a leather jacket and blue jeans. His chest was bare, clearly exposing the tight muscles under the dark brown fur. A strange pendant consisting of teeth and a colored feather dangled from two leather straps around his neck. "I'm Rustlan!" the bear said.

The other one was slowly scrutinizing him. "My name's Jid," he presented himself.

"Jid..." the bear said slowly, as if he tried to taste the name.

"Strange name!" he noticed.

The lynx shrugged the shoulders. "Haven't chosen it," he mumbled.

"At least as strange as Rustlan," the bear said and smirked again.

The lynx shrugged the shoulders again and turned to the horizon again.

The bear was seriously observing the other one's reaction and asked: "Where are you coming from."

"Kastania!" the lynx said shortly.

Rustlan nodded, turned towards the water too, lazily leaning on the rail. "Nice city. A little bit boring, but nice..."

"Better borin' than dangerous," Jid answered shortly.

"Oh, a little bit of fun wouldn't be so bad," Rustlan replied and smirked.

"Where're you from?" Jid asked, still looking to the water.

"Ah, we've just crossed the Blue Ridge," the bear said. He lowered his voice and leaned a little closer "But originally I'm from Black Pit."

The lynx was absolutely motionless for a moment.

The bear observed him from the corner of his eyes, still grinning.

There was something happening in the lynx' face: He screwed up his eyes, pressed his lips together and his ears twitched. For a moment the feline seemed to be be just about to do something as the expression was frozen into his face. But just before his mouth might had opened, exposing his sharp teeth, the movement of his face must have stopped and before anything could have happened it changed back to expressionlessness. He shrugged his shoulders. "Everyone's born somewhere," he replied hoarsely. The frantic wagging of his tail went unnoticed.

Rustlan smirked even more. "Well, most certainly," he agreed, then he stretched himself a little bit. "It has been quite a trip from there. And now straight through the mountains!" He sighed. "At least the weather's been good enough but it was quite a challenge, trust me."

The lynx gulped.

"Yeah, we haven't taken the easy way. We've gone straight through the wilderness and that's been quite an adventure," he explained and smirked.

"Yeah, really!" the lynx agreed.

"You don't believe me, do you?" the bear asked.

"No, no!" He shrugged his shoulders. "It's quite the challenge for a group." He was playing around with his fingers.

The bear screwed up his eyes, still smiling and then started laughing.

After he had relaxed again, he stepped a little bit closer, smiling and let his hand drop down on Jid's shoulder. "I like you!" he said and leaned on the rail. "I really like you."

The lynx twitched when the paw touched him, he was instantly tense, glaring at the larger bear from the corner of his narrowed eyes. Then he rose from the railing, shaking off the bear's paw, observing the much bigger male who seemed to be busy looking at the clouds in the now fully illuminated sky.

"Hey, Rustlan! Tell these idiots to let me go!" somebody cried.

The bear and the lynx turned around. A boar went over to them, pulling a desperately struggling girl after him whom he held tightly by her arm.

A fox followed close after them. "She was rummaging in your backpack again," the boar cried as they got closer.

The bear rose himself up to full height, standing motionlessly until the fox and the boar had placed the girl in front of him, the two boys waiting for a reaction of the bear. Slowly the girl rose her head and pushed her long hair aside which had gotten into her face. Although the lynx had already been able to recognize her feline shape it was not until now that he recognized her as a puma.

"You're a bad girl, Sheela!" Rustlan said quietly.

The puma girl turned her head away.

Rustlan violently grabbed her chin and forced her to look into his face. "Do you have understood me, Sheela? I don't want you to look into my backpack," he said coldly.

"Let me go, Rustlan. I've done nothing wrong," the girl begged.

The bear drew her face even closer to his own. "Do you have understood me?" he asked once again.

"You're hurting me!" the girl said and tried to turn away but the boy even enforced his grip.

"Do you have understood me?" he asked once more, glaring at the smaller puma girl.

"Yes!" she said, her voice quivered slightly.

"Good!" the bear said and finally let her go, turned around to Jid and smiled. "I want you to present you some friends of mine! That's Teryne," he said, pointing to the fox. The fox nodded slightly. "The boar's Merron! And this naughty little puma's Sheela!" The boar nodded too, while the puma girl looked away. "That's Jid! He's from Kastania!" Rustlan added.

Jid nodded too, slowly looking at the new arrivals. The gray fox was the smallest of the bunch, his straggly black hair hanging into his face. He was dressed in wide green camouflage military clothes. The boar was just slightly smaller than Rustlan. He was quite slender for a boar, but his face was still typically broad with short brown hair. He wore rough brown leather clothing. The puma girl was the only one remarkable: She was a little bit bigger than Jid but much less muscled than him instead she was rather plump but that just emphasized her pretty appearance with the beautifully shaped breast whose forms were visible under the generously cut sweater she wore. Her legs and the firm backside were hidden beneath blue jeans cloth. She wore her light brown, almost blond hair in a ponytail so that it framed her soft face where her eyes were now visible as serious golden lines. Those eyes were the only thing which was certainly not cute about her in this moment as she slowly eyed the lynx with the same angry seriousness and naiv annoyance she had actually shown for her companions. But nevertheless these eyes shimmered strangely, like two small, golden pearls in their shell underwater.

Rustlan turned around to Jid. "What are you going to do on the lake? You certainly don't just want to cross it?" he asked.

Jid hesitated, eyeing the bear for an instant. "I wanna see Granite Island," he answered slowly.

"Great! We had the same intention!" Rustlan said effusively. "Didn't we?" he asked his friends.

"Yeah, yeah!" the boar mumbled. He and his vulpine friend leaned on the rail too. Just the girl stood a little bit at the side, rubbing the arm where the boar had held her.

"We could travel together!" Rustlan suggested. "Wouldn't that be cool?"

"Maybe," Jid replied hesitatingly.

"Come on, Jid! It would be fun for all of us," Rustlan said. "We're going to walk the same island anyway. So why not travel together?"

Jid nodded without saying anything while looking at the puma from the corner of his eyes but Rustlan seemed to interpret this as an approval.

"Great!" he said. "It'll be fun, you'll see!"

The wolf captain leaned on the rail, observing how the five youngsters walked down the plank. "Remember! There are two other land stages on the island. The first one is south from here and the other one is in the west. We berth there regularly," he shouted to them.

"Alright!" Rustlan yelled and waved his hand.

This was the sign for the captain to retire the plank and slowly the ferry set itself in motion, cutting the waves and the wooden ship left the island's coast.

Jid looked after the disappearing ship, threw away a blade of grass he had disfigured to the point of being unrecognizable by rubbing it in between his fingers and mumbled: "I'm gonna regret this!" and nervously looked around to the others, but none of them had heard him.

Rustlan, Merron, Teryne and Sheela gathered their stuff, stuffing it into their backpacks until they were able to shoulder them.

"Okay! Everyone ready to go?" Rustlan asked, collecting a miserable look from Sheela.

"Yup!" Merron and Teryne nodded.

Rustlan looked over to Jid who stood next to the water that lazily sloshed on the grass covered shore. Jid nodded slowly.

"Let's go then!" he shouted and began walking. Sheela followed him close by, visibly suffering from the weight of her backpack. Next were Merron and Teryne who were engaged in a discussion about the possible drive of the Tide Cruise Ferries. Jid was the last one, carefully setting his bare paws to the grassy but strangely even ground. The whole island appeared just like some kind of park: the grass was short with almost no undergrowth beneath the tall slender trees which grew in a small distance from the lake's shore. The few bushes and rocks seemed to have been consciously placed. The whole inner islands seemed to be covered by the forest while the shore was free from trees, just some rocks here and there.

Rustlan walked quite slowly but nevertheless Sheela and Merron seemed to have problems to follow him at this speed. Jid was almost bored by their slowness but adapted to their capabilities, mostly walking for himself while Rustlan and Teryne fooled around and sometimes joined by Merron when he was able to say anything in between two heavy breaths, they chated about any kind of rubbish such as different weapons or Sheela's measurements. But Sheela wasn't even able to notice that as she fell back constantly as her backpack seemed to be too heavy for her.

Rustlan tried to engage Jid in his conversations as he asked him several times about his opinions but Jid just answered monosyllabically and without any kind of interest. After some time Rustlan gave up and left Jid alone who had began chewing on a short black stick.

Sheela fell back more and more. She panted and it was visible that her feet had started aching as she stepped more and more carefully. She didn't complain, just panted heavily, fixedly walking after the three boys in front her who didn't care about her.

Jid didn't care about his surroundings. He was busy thinking about something, absent-mindedly chewing on his hard stick, unconsciously finding his way by following Sheela's trail. Bitter taste filled his mouth.

The landscape changed as they went on. The grassy shore slowly disappeared, more and more rocks covered the shore. The forest got much more wild, it seemed uncultivated contrary to the parts of the forest where they had landed. The rocks got larger and larger so that they had to find their way in between huge blocks just like this had once been some kind of labyrinth that had been crumbled with the time. They had no problem finding their way by the side of the lake, but nevertheless Merron, Teryne and Rustlan quickly disappeared from Sheela's sight as they were several blocks in front of her.

Jid suddenly woke up from his day-dreams when Sheela stopped. He had followed her, without being aware that Sheela had fallen back. Sheela let her backpack down and rubbed her aching shoulders.

"Shall I carry it for ya?" Jid asked as he came closer.

"What?" Sheela asked, turning around to him, as if she had forgotten about his presence.

"I carry it," Jid said and picked up her backpack, shouldering it on his left shoulder while he placed his own pack on the right one.

"Thanks!" Sheela said instinctively while she was still busy realizing what was about to happen. "Hey, wait!" she yelled as Jid just went on while she had still been looking at him with amazement.

For some time they just walked wordlessly side by side, the only sounds the lazy sloshing of the lake's waters and their steps on the stony ground. It got darker. The sun had long time passed its summit and soon would disappear somewhere behind the horizon.

"You're from Kastania?" Sheela asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Yeah!" Jid nodded, fell silent and asked then: "Where're you comin' from?"

"I'm from Zirkel!" she answered, pausing too. "Rustlan picked me up there," she added.

The lynx nodded.

"I joined Rustlan when he passed through and... Well..." She sighed. "I had already thought about leaving the town and Rustlan seemed to be the right one and... Well, I... Oh, forget it! I just feel so stupid about that."

"It ain't," the lynx reassured her. She looked to him but his face showed no expression.

A smile flitted over Sheela's face. "Thank you! But I guess you would never leave your family for a such a... bear."

Jid nodded, but didn't reply anything so that they fell silent again and wordlessly walked on.

It had gotten almost completely dark. Just a faint ring of light shone down from the distant horizon, hardly illuminating their surroundings so that they had to be careful. Despite the two backpacks Jid wasn't slowing down a bit so that they walked much faster than before. After they had walked around another huge rock, they saw the three boys who had settled down next to the trunks of the first forest trees and already had light a small fire.

"There you are!" Rustlan yelled when they got closer.

"Look! Jid's a real gentleman, carrying the backpack of a poor, weak girl," Merron joked, gathering a violent glare from Sheela. He laughed on nevertheless.

"Come here, Sheela!" Rustlan said and Sheela really walked around the fire and sat down next to him without protest.

Jid let the backpack down, carefully observing Sheela and Rustlan who generously laid his arm on her shoulder though Sheela made no effort to get closer, nor to encourage him in any other way. Then he rubbed his muzzle and finally sat down by the fire opposite Rustlan and Sheela.

"Now let's get something to eat!" Rustlan declared and gave Teryne a sign who stood up and began to rummage around in one of the backpacks. The first thing the fox drew out was a flip-top bottles of beer, followed by a huge water bottle, a loaf of bread, some long dried sausages and a can of beans. He handed over the bottles to Rustlan and the can to Merron who opened it with a small can opener which the boar had found in his pockets. Then he simply placed the opened can on the fire.

Jid observed them in silence.

When the can was about to get warm they took it from the fire, got themselves plates and a piece of bread, started to spread the beans and then started eating.

"Want one?" Rustlan asked and hold out one of the bottles of beer.

"No, thanks!" Jid answered.

"Ale, then?" Rustlan asked and rose the water bottle.

"No!" Jid said, observing the four eating furrs for a moment. All of a sudden he stood up. "I'll get me some water." He cleaned his backside, removed his water bottle from his backpack and went over to the lake's shore.

The others looked after him who disappeared in the darkness.

"Strange guy!" Merron noticed.

"Yeah, a real gossip!" Teryne said laughing.

"Forget it, you idiot!" Sheela intervened. "He's just not such a jerk as you!" she added with emphasis.

"Watch out, Rustlan! Sheela makes eyes at somebody else." Teryne joked.

"Shut up!" Sheela said grimly.

"I like him!" Rustlan mentioned suddenly. "There's something strange about him... but I like him."

As Jid came back, they fell silent again and went on eating.

The lynx got himself an old hard roll from his backpack and something that looked like a rind with a little bit of bacon left. He started chewing on it, breaking the hard roll with his sharp teeth. Curiously Rustlan, Merron, Teryne and Sheela gave him a look from time to time, noticing his unusually large, carnivorous teeth that tore the resistant fabric rind apart that he ate completely.

"Hey, Rustlan, why don't you tell Jid something from your birthplace?" Merron mentioned almost occasionally.

Rustlan grinned. "Well, if it isn't too shocking for him..."

Jid rose one eyebrow.

"Come on, Rustlan," Merron insisted.

"Yeah, why not?" Teryne added.

The lynx looked at the bear. "What's 'bout it?"

The male's grin got even broader. "Well..." he said long drawn-out.

"I don't know if that's the right conversation for dinner."

"Come on!" Merron encouraged him.

The bear inhaled with emphasis. "OK!" He sat up straight and looked

straight at the lynx from below his eyebrows. "As you know: I was born

in the place..." He paused. "...that is closest to hell: Black Pit!"!"

He smirked roguishly.

Dusk had almost completely disappeared by now, there was just a shimmering line of yellowish and bluish brightness left in the west. But beyond this one the night had almost completely taken over the sky by now and the brightest stars had already come out, just like the golden moon which was about to rise above the horizon.

"...when the day had finally risen and we could see something in between the debris of the Inner City we realized that we had finally managed to break through the barrier of the Dark Order. So we climbed out of the sewers and sneaked through the camp. There were guards anywhere but they were all drunk and most of them slept anyway. After all they had had quite the party after they had been convinced that they had taken over our district. I had to go first, after all I was supposed to be the scout and I got us some weapons. You know: One could take them right out of the sleeping monks' arms. And when I brought them back we were finally able to make our way through the camp. We tried to be as sneaky as possible but from time to time we did have to cut a throat or two... But, well... That's the way things work in Black Pit after all. The monks had massacred lots of innocent people and I really had to hold some people back because they wanted payback right the same instant. But we had to get out. Once they would have realized we were gone, they would send all their troops after us and then we had to have found a hideout somewhere in the streets..."The words seemed to flow out of his mouth, he was mimicking his moves and those of the other people. He was telling the story with all of his well trained body. The shine of the small campfire made his muscles stand out and emphasized the wrinkles of his face when he grimaced to show the expression of a some fiend that had haunted the deserted streets of the hellish city that he described.

Having finished their meals in the meantime, Merron and Teryne were now hanging on Rustlan's every word. Contrary to the lynx who did not display anything at all, he was sitting totally expressionlessly, just eating something of the left-overs of his meal. His slanting eyes reflected the flames of the campfire. But sometimes one of his pointed ears twitched because he was listening to Rustlan too after all, although he did not show it. Nobody but Sheela did noticed that. She was yawning from time to time and sometimes eyed the lynx who sat opposite them.

"...then we jumped down from the ruin. First I was sure that we would die the same instant but there was a big heap of dirt in this alley and I fell right into it. However Goldakar was not that lucky and broke his leg when he fell onto the street. As soon as I was up I tried to get him up. But he insisted on leaving him behind as I was the only one who could get help in time. We could hear the noise of the monks battling that creature. The roar of the beast echoed through the cavities of the ruins and all over the black walls of the city. It was hard for me but I did abandon Goldakar. I promised him to be back in no time but when I was running down the street I could already see how those critters attacked him. Of course he did his best but he had no chance while I ran to get help. I knew that I had to get through contaminated territory but..."

It had gotten completely dark, the moons and the stars hid behind the clouds so that the only light was the faint reflections on the water of the lake and their own small fire. The forest was a wall of darkness behind them.

"....so I got my gun. He was begging for mercy but I knew that this was the only way to make him stop once and for all and that's why I did not hesitate to shoot him." He paused and nodded. "But that's the way things work in Black Pit! Of course it did not become a better place afterwards but at least there was one less!"

No one said anything. The faint light of the campfire hardly illuminated the five furrs that sat around it. Rustlan, Merron and Teryne had been drinking beer all the time, having emptied the bottles in no time. Sheela had sipped at the ale while Jid had just drunken some of the water from his own water bottle. Several times Rustlan had tried to pull the puma girl closer, but she had always pushed his hand away whenever he had tried to embrace her. Thus she had also remained silent (like the lynx) unlike Merron who had made quite some comments and the occasional laughter of Teryne. She had stared into the fire, just sometimes she rose her eyelash, eyeing the lynx opposite her who had glared at the three boys with an expressionless face.

All of a sudden Jid stood up. "I'll get some sleep now!" he said and took up his backpack.

Merron, Teryne and Rustlan looked at him with surprise.

"You can't sleep yet!" Rustlan said emphatically, slightly confused by the lynx' intention. "I haven't totally finished the story!"

"I gonna look for a place over there." He pointed at the wood "I don't wanna disturb you!" Jid said while he shouldered his backpack. "See ya!" he added shortly and then walked away, disappeared between the darkness of the trunks, pursued by the eyes of the surprised others.

Merron was the first one to get back his speech. "What a jerk," he stated.

Sheela was still looking after Jid, slowly she turned around, took a huge gulp from her ale, put the top on the bottle and laid it aside.

End of Chapter 5/Part 1.

Copyright 2003 by kodayu. All rights reserved.

Thanks for reading...

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