After their run-in with the water serpent the danger of the situation sank in, and they all proceeded with more caution.
Well, two of us are being cautious.
“Oh come on,” Orseis whined, “it was one giant, floating fish. It caught me by surprise. I bet I could’ve–”
“Nope,” Bel cut her off. “You’re lucky that thing didn’t have your appetite, or it would’ve gobbled you down. Stop thinking with your stomach.”
“But I’m hungry, and there’s hardly anything on the land! The Dark Ravager’s people already ate it all!”
Bel bopped the younger girl on the head.
“Hey–”
Flann followed up with another bop from his cane. “The dead don’t get to eat, young’un.”
“Ugh.”
Orseis rolled her eyes and writhed her tentacles, but there was no way on Olympos Bel or Flann were going to let her back into the water.
“Let’s get walking,” Bel demanded. She wasn’t used to being the leader of a group, but Flann wasn’t acting like he enjoyed leading. Now that she thought of it, Jan had always been the one making plans when she’d travelled with them before.
Orseis trailed behind them as she turned her head from the water and slowly scanned the forest. “Maybe there’s still something tasty out there?” she mused.
Bel grabbed her by the tentacle and tugged her forward. “Don’t even think about it. They were only here for spirits, so they wouldn’t have bothered hunting down the strongest beasts. The stuff they left out here could be worse than the fish.”
“It’s only fourteen strokes to make my nails turn into metal,” she warned the younger girl.
Orseis pouted, but she followed along when Bel shaped her nails into small, threatening claws to improve her grip.
The trail became increasingly treacherous. They stopped at the first couple of geysers to marvel at their violent explosions of water and mist, but soon the novel water entertainment became commonplace. The mist took on a heavy, stifling aura as it thickened around them.
The path – presumably what the Dark Ravager’s people had left behind after passing through the area many times – was leading them onto a section of slippery rocks that formed a winding path through a swampy section of the cavern.
Flann tapped suspiciously at a slippery stone slab before hopping up to it with exceeding caution and peered around. “Looks like the path keeps winding through here,” he remarked.
“Is it still safe?” Bel asked.
“Better than jumpin’ in the water,” the fox replied.
Orseis rolled her eyes and dunked a tentacle into the water at the side of the path. “The water is–ouch!” She yanked her tentacle out and blew on it. “The water is hot!”
Bel and Flann laughed while Orseis glared at them angrily.
“That’s what happens when you show off, young’un!” Flann guffawed, as he grinned widely, revealing all of his small, pointy teeth.
Bel smiled at the other girl. “That was great. Thanks Orseis, we needed a good laugh.”
Orseis harrumphed and pulled her hood over her head.
Bel chuckled. “Oh, come on. Don’t be like–”
Flann stopped her with a tense hand on her arm. “Quiet,” he whispered. “I’m hearin’ somethin’ strange.”
Flann flattened himself against the warm stone, and soon the three of them belly down and out of sight, lined up like snakes warming themselves on the rocks.
Bel peered into the water-saturated air, but she couldn’t see a thing beyond the tiny droplets of water. She assumed that she wasn’t the only one have trouble seeing – Orseis and Flann were also looking about with similar expressions of frustration. Bel was about to suggest crawling off of the rocks when the outline of a figure appeared in the distance.
Bel quickly tapped her companions and pointed at the movement, but Orseis and Flann didn’t seem to see anything. Bel was confused for a moment, but realized that Kjar’s ability was highlighting something wicked, even if she couldn’t quite see what had set off the ability.
Great.
Bel waved her hands, telling everyone to crawl off of the rocks and back into the concealing undergrowth.
Flann scampered ahead of them on his short limbs, but Orseis and Bel had more of a struggle. Nothing attacked them or made a noise of alarm though, so Bel assumed that their efforts had kept them concealed.
From their new vantage point, Bel peered out from behind the leaves of a squat plant, waiting to see if they would be discovered. A couple of tense minutes passed before the threat drifted into view – a large goose with gray and white feathers. Its long neck ended in the head of a dark-haired woman who peered around with a hunter’s vigilance. Her dark eyes were like pools of malice – Bel suppressed a shudder when she caught sight of them. Bel pulled her remaining snakes back instinctively, fearing that their movement would alert the bird-woman of their presence.
The three of them remained frozen while the goose-woman floated in circles. She eventually hopped up onto the rocks and examined them critically before opening her mouth and emitting a head-splittingly loud honk.
Flann grimaced, hands pressed to his sensitive ears, while Orseis and Bel cringed with discomfort. Bel only had to wonder why the woman had honked for a moment though, as two more of the creatures drifted down from the sky and skid to a halt on the water.
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Then proceeded the most painful conversation Bel had every been forced to hear. The ear-splitting noises went on for minutes before one of the woman grew angry at the other two. She lay about her with squawks so thunderously loud that the water near her vaporized. She chased her two companions across the water until they took flight. They were swallowed by the mist, leaving nothing behind but a few feathers and the blessed, wonderful silence.
“The hell was that,” Bel murmured.
“Sirens,” Orseis hissed. “I’ve heard about them but…” She shook her head. “That was terrifying.”
“What?” Flann asked. He pawed at his ears pitifully.
Bel gave him a consoling pat on the back and gestured towards the rocks. “Let’s make a break for it.”
Flann and Orseis didn’t look very excited about the prospect of continuing, but Bel wasn’t ready to give up. Too many people needed their help.
Orseis opened her mouth to say something, but then her eyes widened and she pointed frantically.
Bel’s hand went to her weapon as she turned. It seemed like something else had been hiding from the sirens, and now that they were gone it was going into the open. Bel watched with growing excitement as a small, red lizard thing crawled out of a nearby pile of rocks.
The body looked rocky, but wherever there were cracks and seams on its body it glowed with an inner light, as though its center was molten. It had six legs, two sail like wings on its back, and a head with its jaw put on sideways. Bel would recognize the nonsense body plan anywhere: this was a spirit. A little one, far weaker than what Dutcha had released. She could catch this one and use it make herself whole again, she was sure of it.
Bel licked her lips with anticipation.
Flann put a restraining hand on her elbow. Bel looked at him. She pointed to her head to the spirit and then back to her head. Flann was confused, but Orseis nodded with understanding; she’d been stuck with Bel for plenty of unsuccessful spirit hunts before.
The spirit was waddling towards the stone path on its tiny legs, leaving smoldering footprints in its wake. It seemed deathly afraid of the water, a fact which Bel was going to use to trap it when it walked past. Her four remaining snakes lifted into the air in anticipation.
She ignored Orseis and Flann; the tentacled girl was trying to explain everything with quiet gestured, but the fox wasn’t getting it. As long as they remained quiet it would be okay. Bel would just have to capture the spirit and then she would show him what she was trying to do.
Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated as the awkward lizard neared her position.
When it was at its closest, Bel charged from her cover.
The lizard reacted instantly. A wave a legs formed on its body and it accelerated. The bold spirit was making a straight path towards the rocky path through the water, apparently confident that it could outrun her. Bel grinned and gave chase, her companions hurrying behind her.
The spirit’s extra legs kicked wildly on the slippery surface as the it flopped onto the rocks, Bel just a few strides behind. It grew a new set of eyes and looked back at her, but the extra vision seemed to confuse it because the little creature soon flipped over in a tangle of limbs. A victory cry escaped Bel’s lips as she dove for the spirit. As soon as her hands squeezed around its wriggling body though, she felt her fingers burning from the heat.
Bel ignored the pain and reached for her ability, but she was interrupted by a spray of water as something large breached the surface. Both the young gorgon and the spirit stared in horror as another, larger serpent rose above them, several globes of water hovering at its sides. Bel dove to the side just as it unleashed a spray of water bullets, barely making it out uninjured.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll come along willingly,” Bel snapped as she activated her lesser spirit incorporation ability. Unexpectedly, she got the impression that the spirit actually agreed with her. Bel didn’t waste any time smashing it onto her bald head where she was missing three snakes. A burning sensation crawled up her scalp, followed by a weird feeling of being in two places at once.
Then Bel hopped back to her feet and stared down the serpent. I feel great! And powerful! I’m going to crush this overgrown fish and take over the underworld!
Bel cackled with glee as she squeezed her hands and…what was she doing?
The air was knocked out of her as Orseis tackled her out of the way of a watery scythe that split the air above her. Flann started throwing blazing balls of fire at the serpent, but it washed him back into the forest with a flick of its tail and a tidal wave of water.
“W–what’s going on?” Bel asked.
Orseis’ jaw clenched with frustration, but she pushed Bel away from the serpent. “We need to run, before–”
A deafening thunderclap split the air. Orseis and Bel cowered on the ground, their hands and tentacles pressed into their ears. One of the siren had returned.
The goose-bodied woman fell upon the serpent with a barrage of shouts so loud that the water around its body effervesced into a spray of dense mist. The woman bit into the head of the disoriented fish and screeched.
The head of the serpent burst into a fine, red mist. Its body jerked and fell still, and the siren dragged it back onto the shore.
That was too close for Flann; he came running out of the woods and onto the rocks, trying to get back to Bel and Orseis. Bel looked at his wet, bedraggled fur and burst and wanted to laugh.
“This is great,” she bubbled, “everything is happening all at once! It’s so chaotic!”
Orseis slapped her with a wet tentacle. “Get a hold of yourself, Bel! We need to get out of here!”
“Why?”
Orseis gestured with exasperation at the siren. The bird-woman was busy tearing into the raw flesh of the serpent, but she glared at them as she chewed, jealously guarding her catch.
Bel raised her hand to wave, but Orseis wrapped a tentacle around her waist and dragged her away.
“What’s wrong with ’er?” Flann fretted.
“She stuck the stupid little magma lizard on her head and now she’s gone crazy!” Orseis panted back.
Crazy? I’m not crazy, right?
Bel looked up, and from the corner of her eye she could see the rocky form of her new snake. It glowed with an internal light along its length, giving it a still-molten look, even though Bel didn’t feel like her head was burning.
“Are you making me crazy?” she asked it.
It peered back at her and flicked out its tongue. Bel stared at it with suspicion as she allowed Orseis to guide her to the other side.
When they reached the far side of the rocky path over the water, Orseis shoved her roughly into the foliage.
“What’s going on, Bel?” she demanded.
Bel rubbed her head. “I don’t know. I feel fine. I mean, maybe I feel a little bit weird, but kind of good?”
“Bel! Can you hear me?”
“What?”
Bel spun around, looking for the source of the muffled voice.
“What’s wrong with ’er now?” groaned Flann.
The young gorgon inspected her snakes. Were they suddenly talking?
“Bel, did you forget how to use your phone?” the voice asked. “Pinch it with your fingers. Is everyone okay?”
Bel clicked her tongue. Yes, she’d forgotten about her phone.
She reached up and pinched her earring. “Hey James, I’m here with Flann and Orseis on the second layer. Cleis took his people and ran away a few minutes after we landed. How are things with you?”
Flann threw up his hands. “Ah, all the gods above, she’s completely lost it.”
Orseis patted him on the shoulder. “No, no, this is fine. She’s just talking on the magical rock thing. In English, so she’s probably talking to her brother.”
Flann waved his hands at her angrily. “How can you tell? She’s just wanderin’ around makin’ noises at ’erself!”
Bel glared at them. “Hey, could you two keep it down? I can’t hear what my brother is saying,” she huffed.
“Sorry James, could you repeat that?”
“Cleisthenes is saying that you gave away their position to the scrattes, and then you all turned tail and fled.”
“Yeah, he’s full of shit.”
“Well, we haven’t been able to make contact with you for the past two weeks so he’s been telling his story to everyone who’ll listen. There isn’t anyone to disagree here, so you’ve really let him set the narrative.”
“Really?” Bel’s snakes flicked their tongues. “Two weeks? It’s been that long?”
“Yeah, and now Hanti is organizing a search party. She’s also demanding that you come back and face punishment for – and these are her words, not mine – for your disgraceful behavior. She brings it up at the beginning of every meeting, and it’s driving Beth insane.”