An Understanding

Eventually, a small pile of cloth strips were gathered beside Fawn, and she was happy with the state they were now in. Using one of the other shirts that she had been given, she was able to wear it like a dress, binding it to her body using the cloth strips she had made.

With patience, she used some of them to attach a component of the armor to the torso which kept it in place fairly well.

It won’t save me from everything, but it might help.

She stood up to put on her new handy work. This time, the Veil simply leaned back to make space for her. It made no sudden movements or reactions—there seemed to be a steadiness growing between the two most unlikely of compatriots.

Feeling proud of herself for what she had made to wear, she walked around in the darkness of the cave, as though someone were watching her perform in a new dancing outfit.

The Veil sat watching her move around, like a bear watching a cub at play.

It was hard for Fawn to truly grasp what had created her situation, but it was becoming more and more evident that this was a stronger position to be in than any she had experienced.

Deciding her new clothing was sufficient, she picked up the last of her dried food and ate it surprisingly fast.

The Veil moved itself over to where she was standing and reached its hand toward her.

“I’m just hungry.”

She spoke to it as if it were able to respond.

Staring at her hand and looking around the floor, it moved back over to the entrance and picked up a piece of leather which had come from one of its previous feedings.

Holding the leather, it slid its claw through it, making a narrow strip and took it over to where Fawn was standing. As it drew closer, it stretched out its arm and presented the strip of leather to her.

Turning to look at what she was being offered, Fawn reached into the palm of the Veil’s hand and took the small strip.

“Umm, thank you.”

Holding the strip in her hand, she looked up at her host. It looked back at her and made a perfunctory movement with the area around its teeth.

“Oh ... food? I ... umm, I can’t eat this though.”

The Veil seemed irritated. It motioned to her face, making a slight clicking sound.

“I know, thank you. I just can’t eat this.”

Fawn lifted her hand to her face and attempted to chew some of the leather that it had brought her, but the thick tarnish of blood made her feel ill as it neared her nose.

“Ew ... oh Gods, I can’t ... ”

Seeing more of her reactions, the Veil seemed to grasp her situation. It moved its head down and away from her. Looking around, it took itself to a far corner of the cavern and began to search very slowly through what looked to Fawn like another pile of skins and bones.

Not sure what to do next, Fawn just watched—the movements it made seemed too detailed and intricate for such a large animal.

After a while the Veil settled into a moment of stillness, followed by a sudden extraction with its hand. It became clear that it had removed something from the pile, and that for whatever reason it had required some force to do so.

After it finished making the sudden withdrawal, it seemed to slump down onto its haunches.

There was a sound coming from it that Fawn had not heard before, like a humming tone passing in and out with its breathing. Curiosity took control of her and she moved toward the creature. As she got closer, she saw that the pile from which it had drawn the item was closer in density to the creature itself, than it was to the human remains that had been previously scattered about the cave.

Finally, she was close enough to make out some details. It wasn’t a pile of flesh and bone as she had assumed, but rather a corpse of the same dark skin as her host, only somewhat smaller.

“Clunk ... clunk ... clunk.”

The Veil started to make the sound that she had come to recognize as warning.

She stopped where she was.

“Sorry ... I was just—”

It turned quickly toward her and moved across the distance between them faster than it had before.

She froze.

It came close and sat in front of her. It seemed irritable and undecided. Suddenly, it thrust its hand downward against the stone floor.

The quick movement caused her to jump, but this time she kept composure. It then removed its hand from the spot it had impacted and Fawn could see the result.

Embedded in the solid stone was a dark, glassy-looking item. The Veil pulled its hand and arm back away from it and she was able to bend forward to look more closely.

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Her breath was taken for a moment ... it was clearly a Veil claw, only it was smaller, not more than the size of a large knife. There was a dark, oil-like substance coagulating from the base down to the point where it was stuck into the stone.

“Oh, this is ... ”

She wondered how to react to what she was seeing. A big, black hand dragged across the floor to gesture toward her.

“You want me to have it?”

She stood still, hoping she was not about to anger her host. The big hand stayed as it was.

She reached down carefully and grasped at the reverse side of the smooth, disembodied gift she had been granted. Pulling with both hands against the claw, she wasn’t able to make it move. She began trying to loosen it by opposing her forces. Left, right, left, right ... but nothing. It might as well have been part of the cave floor itself.

The Veil made a noise, pressing air out of its nose.

“Shiff ... shiff.”

She fell backwards from the attempt to break the claw loose.

“I ... umm. I can’t move it.”

She tried again and fell backwards, her new armored dress falling back over her face from the momentum.

“Shiff ... shiff ... shiff.”

The Veil made the noise again.

She was trying with great focus now, forcing in every direction to see if it would move.

“Oh, I really can’t move this ... what do you want me to do with it?”

Making one more concerted effort, she pulled against it, and this time slipped and fell straight down on her behind.

“Ow!”

“Shiiifff ... shiiifff shifff ... shifff.”

The noise came so consistently from the creature that it took her attention. Its body was moving as well.

“Wait ... are you laughing at me?!” she said with indignance.

“Shiff ... shiiiff.”

“You are laughing at me.”

There was a hurt tone to her voice at first, but then for the first time in so long she began to laugh.

“Well, I can’t move it!”

“Shifff shiff ... ”

“Stop laughing. I can’t do it.”

She sat down and continued to chuckle.

“Maybe you can help?”

She tapped the embedded claw, sat with her arms folded, and made the noise she could remember making when she wanted Eris to make her food.

“Himph.”

She sat still and did her best to look defeated.

The Veil, still sniggering, reached its finger under the claw and lifted it out with no more effort than one might remove a knife from soft food. The claw made a familiar shearing sound as it left the stone and fell to the side with a clink.

Fawn reached over to where it lay and collected it. Once again, only with more assurance, she placed her other hand on its arm.

“Thank you.”

The Veil did not recoil this time. It simply sat still and watched her hold the claw.

Taking a piece of cloth from her collection, Fawn wiped the oil-like substance from the root of the claw and then cleaned the whole thing off. It felt like the right thing to do with something that she suspected was a unique gift.

As she cleaned, she could see the ultrafine edge that allowed it to cleave stone with such ease—it was as though the whole thing was made of a hardened crystal—a lattice material that would sharpen itself by shedding layers as soon as required. Looking so closely at this incredible item it was easy to see why people had always feared these creatures.

Their claws were of a sharpness and density that would rival even the swords of the Cast Soldiers.

Now she held one as if it were a tool—an item granted to her by the greatest destructive power she had ever witnessed. She could feel her skin rise and fall with anticipation as she moved it in her hands, aware that one mistake would see her lose a finger, or worse.

Holding her new treasure, she looked up at the Veil.

“What do I do with it though?”

The creature simply looked at her and blinked slowly.

Standing up with the claw in hand, she made her way to where the cloth pieces were lying and picked one up. Dangling the strip from her hand, she made a half gesture towards it with the claw, slitting the coarse cloth without effort.

The efficacy of the cut was so pronounced she felt her skin crawl and teeth clench. She would need to be more careful with this than anything she had ever handled before.

All at once, she felt like a child who had been given an adult tool of the highest quality, and left unsupervised with it. It was a feeling of great importance, and intense nervousness.

Seeing her slicing up pieces of cloth with the gift it had given her, the Veil made an indignant series of movements culminating in its arrival at her side. Fawn froze and looked up to hear the now familiar.

“Clunk ... clunk.”

“Ok, ok. I was just umm ... testing it.”

The Veil stopped its sounds and reached its hand down to where she was, starting to grasp at her.

“Ee!”

She let out a sound as its claws came close. It stopped and turned its hand over, nudging her onto the back of its hand.

“Ok, umm ... ”

Lying on the back of its hand, she gathered herself to keep from sliding off.

“Now ... what?”

The creature stopped and lifted her to its underside, passing its hand slowly back and forth under its belly.

Fawn reached her hands out and gingerly ran her little soft fingers against its skin, feeling the distinct texture with her fingertips. It was like she was touching the ground but it was moving.

It was flexible, yet as hard and tough as anything she had felt. Feeling her touch its skin but gain no purchase, it then lifted its hand up past its head and behind its neck.

Fawn could see a series of plates across the back of its head that seemed to have a movement to them, but not very much. They were placed almost like gills but did not appear soft or flexible. She found herself puzzling on it for longer than the creature was willing to hold her there, as it eventually flicked its wrist and placed her across its neck.

“Oh, you want me to hold on?”

She reached for the outer edges of the plates and held on to them. Soon after, she saw it pick up the claw it had given her and a few fragments of cloth, lifting them within her range. She reached down and retrieved the cloth first, making a loop of it. Then, gathering the claw, she fastened the root of it with the loop. Giving herself something to hold, she then wrapped the claw with cloth, carefully covering the length of its cutting edge.

Just as she placed the claw down behind one of the plates, she felt the creature’s immense muscular frame lift up.

“Whoa!.. Ah!”

She felt herself start to slide, so gripped on as best she could. Legs spread wide to span its neck, she was able to hold on with a combination of her feet, knees and thighs. Fawn was grateful that she had something to hold with her hands, but it was clearly going to be the work of her legs to keep her from an inglorious dismount.

In a few quick strides the incredible creature was already across the cavern and heading over the wall––a threshold she had not crossed since meeting her deadly savior.

Passing over the wall as it had before, the Veil started to head back along the natural corridors that weaved and spiraled on for a great distance. It traveled more slowly and carefully than usual, keeping itself steady and limiting its path to the floors and walls.

Fawn was caught up in wonder and amazement as she felt herself travel along these unfamiliar corridors and caverns with ease.

The creature itself seemed to move with little effort, and she certainly represented no burden for it. As she felt its muscles move beneath her, she was taken with how capable it was. It felt like it was moving the world around her—not that she was simply being moved through it. To her, she was astride the most powerful arbiter of life and death that had ever existed.