Nairo found herself recounting the journey of her life. Following the many threads and crossroads that led her to the present. She couldn’t help but think just one decision, one different choice and life could have turned out so different for her. But she had chosen how she had chosen. Now she found herself trussed up, hanging upside down from a pole like a prized hog, being carried through the stinking foetid bogs of the Wastelands by gibbering foul little creatures. She craned her neck upwards and could just see Ridley hanging from the pole in front of her. It took six of the wiry little monsters to carry the two of them. They bounced and scraped along the heaps of trash while the rest of the creatures cavorted around them and poked at them with sharpened sticks. Her mask had been ripped from her face in the melee and she was struggling not to vomit from the pungent stenches all around her. Her leg ached and the wound on her hand shot needles of pain all the way up to her shoulder. She let her head hang back miserably, not even caring as her hair dangled through oozing puddles of unidentified liquids. Was this how she would die? Would these little monsters eat her? How would she taste? She almost giggled at that thought, but it would have been the high pitched cackle of a broken mind. Nairo forced herself to focus. She tried to wriggle free of her restraints and was poked viciously in the ribs by one of her guards. The creatures were foul. That was the only way to describe them. They stank and were so greasy and filthy she couldn’t even begin to guess what they were or even what colour they could be. They were short, no more than four feet, and scrawny. They gibbered endlessly and walked barefoot across the piles of trash as sure footed as mountain goats.

After what felt like an eternity of being bounced upside down, they came to a clearing. Nairo and Ridley were dumped unceremoniously on the ground. The filthy little creatures descended upon them again and put collars around their necks. Ridley lashed out and bit one of them and then immediately wretched, vomiting thin bile as they secured his collar. Their hands and feet restraints were cut, and they were dragged like wild animals and tied by their collars to a large post in the middle of the clearing. Nairo sat up and pushed her filthy hair out of her face. She looked around and saw they were in a village of sorts. Instead of buildings or even huts, there were carefully constructed mounds of rubbish. The smell was just as fierce here, but Nairo noticed there was an undercurrent of smoke as if there had been a large bonfire some days before that was still burning itself down. There were dozens and dozens of these mounds and little else. To their left was a large body of urine coloured water.

“The Golden Lake,” Nairo breathed. These must be the bin demons they had been looking for!

There were a few small fires burning around them and she was able to get a better look at the creatures. They looked very much like Oz, but without the oozing. They had wicked hooked noses and dagger-like teeth. Their skin was crusty and of every shade of browny-yellowy-green. Some were covered in thick matted fur and others were naked as a newborn. They danced around the fires chittering and yipping excitedly, thrusting their weapons into the air, and then pointing them at their captives. Some of them danced close to Nairo and jabbed at her with their weapons, while others picked up lumps of dirt or rocks and threw them from a distance.

“Looks like we’ve found the bin demons,” Ridley muttered to Nairo as he dodged a stone. “Any bright ideas how to get out of this one?”

“None so far,” Nairo said, swallowing and trying to breathe through her mouth as much as possible. “Do they speak Forreste?”

“I dunno. Oz does so I assume these lot might.”

“We should try to communicate… ow!” Nairo stumbled back as a little green bin demon jabbed her in the leg with his stick. “Little shit!”

“I no shit!” The bin demon squawked at her. “You bigga shit!”

He jabbed her again and this time Nairo grabbed his stick and yanked it from his grasp. He stumbled towards her and Ridley kicked it hard in the stomach. The bin demon wheezed and doubled over. The surroundings bin demons howled in rage but Nairo noticed none of them came closer, a few even skittered away behind piles of rubbish. Nairo lowered the spear at them and saw them flinch.

“They’re terrified of us,” Nairo murmured to Ridley.

“Good.” He reached out and snatched up the bent over bin demon by his scraggly hair holding him in front of them like a shield. “Enough of this! We have come in peace!” He shook the mewing bin demon for effect. “We came seeking information about one of your kind, that’s all.”

The watching bin demons howled in horror, throwing their hands in the air as if Ridley were about to twist off the bin demon’s head in his hands.

“No hurt! No hurt!” They cried at Ridley.

“We don’t want to hurt!” Ridley shouted back. “We just need information!”

“No know! No have! No hurt!”

“This ain’t getting us anywhere,” Ridley growled to Nairo.

“Do you have a leader? Someone who speaks Forreste? We come from the city! We come in peace!” Nairo nudged Ridley and then looked at the scrawny bin demon in his hand.

Reluctantly, he let the bin demon drop. The creature hit the mud and then slithered away with astonishing speed, making straight for the nearest pile of rubbish, disappearing like a fish in still water.

“You see!” Nairo shouted to the bin demons. “We come in peace.”

“Peace,” the watching bin demons murmured.

“Do you have a leader? Someone who we can speak to?”

“I be the head in charge of this here village!” A strong voice rang out from behind the crowd.

The bin demons parted and looked to the voice expectantly. A figure emerged from within their ranks. This bin demon was still small, but built much more strongly than those around him. He had a wispy white beard and yellow skin. He walked with the aid of a gnarled stick. He too was completely naked and as grubby as the rest, but there was a regal bearing to the way he carried himself.

“I am OckLokk, Chief of the Mushtaris.”

“OckLokk! OckLokk! OckLokk! OckLokk!” the bin demons chanted with their fists raised.

“Mushtaris?” Ridley murmured.

“Who is youse?”

“My name is Sally Nairo and this is Ridley.”

“What are you bigga Humans doing in our Heaps?” OckLokk asked them imperiously.

“We have come searching for your people,” Nairo said. “We seek information.”

“We have no businesses with bigga Humans!”

“No businesses!” The bin demons repeated.

“Please, we believe one of your people is in trouble, we want to help him. His name is Oz.”

The name sent a ripple through the bin demons.

“That creature is not welcome in heres no more!” OckLokk said, his voice thundering across the clearing.

“Look,” Ridley hissed at Nairo, pointing past OckLokk.

Nairo squinted in the darkness and saw there was a huge chunk of one of the larger heaps missing, and around it the earth was scorched and blackened.

“The Diamond?” Nairo whispered to him and Ridley nodded.

“You should not come here!” OckLokk shouted at them.

“Wait!” Nairo said. “We’ve come to help Oz. You know he has a very dangerous creature with him.”

The bin demons began chattering nervously.

“Ozrik is no longer one of the Mushtari!” OckLokk said. “He long time been in city, he forget our ways. Him bring demon with him. If Mushtari ever see him again, he dead creature!”

“Dead creature!” the bin demons cried out.

“Please, all we want to know is where they went and then we will leave you in peace.”

“Ha! There no peace with bigga Humans!” OckLokk cried. “And now, there no leaving for you! Youse will be offerings to the great Moota!”

“Moota!” the bin demons cried out, taking up the chant and dancing wildly.

“The what?” Nairo said to Ridley.

“I dunno, but I don’t like the sound of it,” Ridley said.

“Moota! Moota! Moota! Moota!”

One of the bin demons had snuck around behind Nairo and lunged at her. She didn’t have time to react. He wrestled and clawed at her hand until he ripped her bloody bandage off.

“Hey!” Nairo shouted but he was already gone, scurrying away to the Golden Lake’s edge.

“Great Moota!” OckLokk intoned, facing the Lake. “Rise Moota and accept these tributes!”

The bin demon flung Nairo’s bloody bandage into the river and then the bin demons fled into their trash heaps, little golden eyes staring out expectantly.

“Oh I do not like this,” Ridley said, frantically yanking at his collar.

Nairo looked at the still lake. There was a single ripple pulsing out from the centre. The ripple grew wider as if something large was coming towards them.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Oh shit.” Nairo turned and pressed her boot against the post, yanking at the tethering to her collar.

They both clawed and pulled as hard as they could. The ripples were getting closer.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Ridley scrambled through the many pockets of his coat until finally he pulled out a thin razor blade. He grabbed the rope tethering Nairo and began sawing at it as fast as he could.

Nairo pulled the rope taut, watching the lake. Suddenly golden water exploded, blurring her vision. She saw a shape rise against the moon.

“Ridley!” Nairo screamed.

Standing at least ten feet out of the water was a giant, hissing, albino snake. It was at least as thick as Nairo, its white scales gleaming in the moonlight, its tensile muscles flexed and bowed as it whipped its great head back and forth, tongue flicking out into the night air for its next meal.

“Not another fucking snake!” Ridley roared.

The rope twanged and Nairo jerked back falling free from the post.

“Moota! Moota! Moota! Moota!” The chant echoed all around them.

The giant snake flared the hood around its head, casting darkness across the clearing. Its black, beady eyes focused on Nairo as she stumbled away from the pillar. It opened its jaws wide enough to swallow her whole and lunged. Nairo flung herself to her right, the snake’s strike whipping past her and missing by less than a foot. She scrambled up and began to run. She had to draw the monster away from Ridley, who was standing perfectly still, close enough to the creature that he could have reached out and touched it. But the snake was focused on Nairo. It whipped its muscular body around and hissed as it located Nairo. Its fangs were as long as Nairo’s forearm and she saw the moonlight gleam off the poison dripping from them. It slithered after Nairo, moving impossibly fast. Its body whipped back and forth in an S shape while its head remained perfectly still, tracking its fleeing prey. Its tail finally slithered out of the water as it pursued. Nairo chanced a look over her shoulder. The thing was impossibly big. It had to be thirty feet long and gaining on her fast. She could barely see where she was going in the darkness and it was only a matter of time until she stumbled or tripped over and then it would be on her. She needed a weapon, something to protect herself. She looked left and right until she spotted the fire pit. Head down, arms pumping, she forced herself to run even faster and then cut a sharp left just as Moota struck again. This time it hit her. The hood around its head clipped her shoulder almost knocking her over. The creature smashed through a trash heap. Two bin demons came flying out of the heap. One of them barely had time to scream before Moota snapped it up and swallowed it whole. The other bin demon screamed and fled to the Heaps. Nairo looked back just in time to see the bin demon’s scaly little feet disappear down the snake’s throat. Fear clawed at her chest. She could barely breathe. Nausea overwhelmed her. She wanted to vomit. She wanted to scream. She wanted to curl into a ball and squeeze her eyes shut until this nightmare ended.

She was suddenly in front of the firepit. Reaching in, she grabbed a thick knot of flaming wood. She whipped around just as Moota was ready to strike at her again. She swung the wood like a sword at the snake. It hissed as the flames whipped past its face, singing its searching tongue. The snake reared back and Nairo swung again. The fire dazzled in her vision, blinding her. She kept swinging at the snake, desperately trying to force it back. She knew she was cornered. The Lake was right behind her and the Heaps were to her left. She could try to dart into the Heaps but she knew she wouldn’t last long in that wilderness before she fell and the snake snapped her up. Moota lunged and Nairo threw herself to one side. The flaming branch fell from her hand as she landed hard on the dirt. Moota’s wild lunge had sent it mouth first into the fire pit. The snake hissed and lurched, its body coiling and spasming in pain sending showers of embers everywhere. Nairo was back to her feet and limping away, trying to force her body into a sprint. Moota coiled and hissed, dragging its glistening white body out of the fire pit. Fire had blackened some of its scales and one half of its hood looked badly burned. It searched for Nairo again.

Nairo couldn’t keep running. Her chest burned. Her eyes filled with desperate tears. This was it. She didn’t have anything left in her battered and broken body. She stumbled and looked back. Moota has found her again. It cocked its head for a moment then hissed, opened its jaws, and began slithering towards her. Nairo stumbled again in blind panic, her knee hitting the earth hard.

“No! No! No!” she screamed through clenched teeth.

She heard the snake hiss but this time in pain. Nairo looked over her shoulder. The snake was frantically throwing its head from side to side, rearing its massive body up high as it tossed side to side. In the silhouette of the moon, Moota’s head didn’t look right. It was misshapen, too big and lumpy. As Nairo’s eyes focused she realised what was happening. Ridley was on the snake’s head! He had two fistfuls of its hood, his boots jammed into its mouth behind the deadly fangs. Moota whipped its head back and forth wildly, trying to dislodge him and Ridley clung on for dear life. But there was something else. One of Moota’s eyes looked wrong. There was a giant splinter of wood sticking out of it! Ridley must have got onto its back somehow and stabbed it in the eye. Moota’s flails were becoming weaker and slower. It was tiring! Ridley grabbed the piece of wood and began yanking it savagely back and forth. Moota fell forward, slamming back into the earth, sending Ridley rolling off its back. He hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of himself. Moota, it's one good eye trained on Ridley, lurched back, fangs bared, ready to strike.

“Ridley!” Nairo grabbed a piece of burning wood that the snake had sent flying from the fire pit.

Without thinking, she leapt forward and stabbed into the hissing mouth. The snake’s lunge was so powerful, it ripped her from her feet. The snake and Nairo barreled into Ridley. There was a moment of confusion. Nairo’s arm felt hot and wet. She yanked it backwards and scrambled away, Moota hissed and wretched, its massive body flailing and coiling. There was smoke rising out its mouth. Ridley stumbled away as the snake thrashed its massive body left and right, destroying everything around it. Ridley fell over next to Nairo and they watched the monster’s death throes with open mouthed horror. The shard of burning wood was jammed into the back of its throat, burning and choking it to death at the same time. Slowly, its body went slack, its mighty coils falling loose. It opened its mouth one last time and hissed a cloud of smoke before it went totally limp.

The only sound now was Ridley and Nairo's frantic breathing.

“That was a giant fucking snake,” Nairo said, her eyes wide as she tried to process what had just happened.

“Giant fucking dead snake,” Ridley said.

Nairo began giggling. Her giggles soon turned into panicked sobs as the residual aftershocks of horror pulsed through her broken body. She drew her knees up tight to her chest and buried face. She felt Ridley’s hand touch her shoulder, hesitantly at first. Then his grip strengthened and his whole arm embraced her. They sat like that for a while, until the sound of sizzling coming from the dead snake’s mouth finally stopped. Nairo took a deep breath and raised her head, wiping her eyes on her knees. She looked at Ridley, who’s eyes glistened, his jaw muscles flexing as he fought to keep himself under control.

“We’re alive,” Nairo said to him.

“Still.”

“Good. Where’s OckLokk?” Nairo rose to her feet and helped Ridley up.

They skirted around the snake, trying not to look at the horrifying corpse of the mutilated creature and made straight for the post they had been tethered to. The bin demons were slowly creeping out of their hovels, squeaking in fear and gibbering in their strange tongue.

“Where’s OckLokk?” Ridley demanded.

The bin demons looked around for their leader.

“I am here.” OckLokk appeared out of a pile of trash, his pallid yellow face white with terror. “Where is the great Moota?”

“Cooking to a nice medium rare,” Ridley said, pointing back the way they came.

OckLokk followed his finger, his eyes grew wide, his mouth fell open, and he dropped to his knees.

“The great Moota is slain?”

“Yep. He’ll make a couple dozen nice pairs of loafers.”

OckLokk threw up his hands and the bin demons suddenly broke out into triumphant cheers, pumping their fists and dancing.

“We saved!”

“Moota dead! Moota dead! Moota dead!”

They linked arms and danced around, delirious in their excitement. Some more intrepid bin demons crept close to Moota to see for themselves. One jabbed at it with a stick and then fled, waiting to see if it moved.

“The monster Moota is slain!” OckLokk cried out, raising both his hands to the sky, tears of joy dripping down his face.

“Wait, you wanted it dead?” Ridley asked nonplussed.

“The monster has terrorised us for so long! It eats us. It destroys our homes! This why we must feed it to keep it happy and stop it killing us! But no more! No more! Moota is dead! You great warrior heroes!”

“Heroes of the Mushtar!”

“Heroes! Heroes! Heroes! Heroes!”

Ridley looked at Nairo.

“We’re heroes,” he said with a grin on his face.

“Yeah.” Nairo couldn’t find much more to say. She felt cold and she just wanted to get out of this stinking hell.

“We do anything for great heroes!” OckLokk said to them, tears still flowing down his papery cheeks.

“Tell us what happened with Oz and where he is,” Nairo said.

“Yes of course,” OckLokk bowed his head before raising his hand for silence from his people. He turned and sat down next to a weak fire, indicating to them to do the same. Once they had sat he took a deep breath. “Ozlik has long been lost to us peoples. Some of our young they goes to the big city. They wants to see all the world and they forget our ways. Ozlik sometimes come back with big stories and empty belly. This time, he come back with that monster.” The surrounding bin demons shuddered.

“A Pixie?” Nairo asked.

“Yes, this is what you Humans call it. But it was not right. It mind not whole. It talks in nonsense about fings it sees, fings it thinks happen. Ozlik ask us to shelter the creature. We good creatures so we try. But the monster scare us.”

“Did it have anything with it? A Diamond?” Ridley asked.

“It have big shiny rock,” OckLokk said. “We only see little bit of it. It always talking to it and holding all wrapped up like baby. Then one day something happen, we don’t know, but there was big bang! Three families were killed. The monster did it. Ozlik try and say it was accident, but we know the monster too dangerous to be in our village. We tell Ozlik if he stay, we will feed the monster to Moota. He leave then.”

“Where did he say he was going?”

“Him only say him going and he not come back.”

Ridley cursed under his breath.

“How long ago was this?” Nairo asked.

“Maybe one day.”

“He’d probably be back in the city by now,” Nairo said to Ridley. “How are we going to find him now?”

A small bin demon with green skin and bright red hair came out of the crowd and whispered in OckLokk’s ear. They went back and forth in their tongue before OckLokk turned to them.

“This Hamura, she love friend of Ozlik, she say she know where he go,” OckLokk said.

“Where?”

“She say she only tell if’n you not going to hurt Ozlik.”

“Can’t promise that,” Ridley muttered.

“We don’t want to hurt him,” Nairo said. “We want to help him. The Pixie he is with is dangerous and we want to find it before it hurts anyone else.”

OckLokk translated this to the girl. She chewed her lip with yellow teeth and looked up at Nairo with doleful, pale green eyes. She nodded finally and then whispered to OckLokk again.

“Hamura say him go to him home where the Humans are. Him call it the Three Horse and Nag.”

“The what?” Nairo asked.

“This is all she knows.”

“What is the Three Horse and Nag?”

Ridley had lit a smoke and was worrying to the corner of his lip in thought.

“Does she have any other information? What it looks like? What street it’s on?”

OckLokk questioned the young girl and she shook her head.

“Damn, Ridley what are we…”

“Hold on,” Ridley held up his hand, his face screwed up as he thought.

“The Three Horse and Nag,” Nairo mused while he concentrated. “A stable maybe? But what would Oz be doing around a stable?”

“It’s a pub!” Ridley cried out.

“What?”

“It’s a pub on the West side, on… on… Harty Lane! There’s a fishmonger there!”

“Oz loves fishheads!” Nairo said.

“It is true, him do.” OckLokk said.

“We need to get there as quick as possible,” Nairo said. “OckLokk can you get us back out of the Heaps?”

“Of course,” OckLokk said, bowing his head. “We have secret ways.”

“Good. We need to leave now!”

“Please follow us, great heroes!”