Blood and Scales

Chapter 9 – The Lost Child

The child’s eyes grew wide in delight at the sight of the glowing bug. She hadn’t yet been named, and it would be several months still until she was given one, and was allowed into the tribe. Her mind was filled with the wonders of the world still and without realizing she followed the tantalizing creature far beyond where she was normally allowed.

How she had managed to slip past every sentry and adult in the village is a complete mystery. In fact, she didn’t even realize that she wasn’t surrounded by the mud and reed huts of the village anymore until her legs started to hurt, and her eyes became heavy. She curled up under the roots of a nearby tree and dreamed of a magical adventure with the strange glowing bug.

She slept undisturbed for many hours before she snapped awake at the sounds of fighting near her. She ran. She looked back periodically to make sure that whatever was happening wasn’t following her.

Before she could react, she found herself tripping over one of the many roots that stuck out of the ground, and landed face first in the mud. More out of habit, than any actual pain, she began to cry.

Looking through tear filled eyes, she finally realized that she was lost, and began sobbing uncontrollably. She cried alone until her eyes were sore, her mouth was dry, and she had no more tears in her. Then she leaned against a nearby tree, exhausted and emotions raw, and she fell asleep. It was a restless sleep and she dreamed of being lost in the trees which slowly grew closer and closer until she was trapped in their rough bark.

She snapped awake with a gasp. It was light out, and she was hungry. Hungrier than she had ever been in her short life. Her throat was raw, her emotions were numb and there wasn’t anything she recognized as food in sight.

Her stomach ached, and if she’d had the energy she would have cried again. She just couldn’t muster the energy for it, so she ambled listlessly through the undergrowth, listening to the deafening cacophony of frogs. She wished she knew where she was, or there was food, or even water.

That was when she spotted something scurry away. Without thinking, she started chasing it through the undergrowth, splashing noisily through puddles. She thought that maybe she could catch it, and eat it. She knew that the hunters in the village did that. How hard could it be?

She chased it into the water, where it started swimming. As she jumped in after it, she finally got a good look at it. The creature had six legs, a fat body, with long slicked back greasy hair, and a long scaly tail.

She was nearly caught up to it, when a long, brown, tooth filled snout leapt out of the water in front of her, and in one bite, swallowed her prey. She screamed, and got a mouth full of water for her trouble, before she swam for the shore as fast as she could.

She was certain with every stroke, that it would be her last, and the big, toothy mouth would gobble her up. When she hit the shore, she heard splashes behind her, and once again found herself running. She managed to find a low enough tree branch that she could just jump and grab, and she scrambled up the tree the best she could manage.

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When she was as high up as she dared go, she looked down. There wasn’t anything down there. She coughed, gasping for air despite her burning lungs, and spent the rest of the day up in the branches of the tree, too scared to climb down.

It was after dark, when she finally felt safe enough to climb her way down out of the tree. Once at the bottom, she snuck her way as far away from the water that had nearly killed her as she could.

She had been wandering through the dark for what felt like forever, when she heard the sound of arguing. She hid behind a tree, listening in. She didn’t want to run into anyone dangerous.

“I think we should talk about this,” said the first voice.

“I don’t know what there is to talk about,” said the second voice.

“What about what just happened?” the first voice asked desperately, “I’m sorry that I sent you away, I just…”

“Look, I understand,” the second voice sighed, “logically, I understand, but I thought we were beginning to trust one another.”

“I do trust you,” the first voice said, plaintively, “but you have to understand that this is something that I’ve been told my whole life was only done between married people.”

“I understand that,” the second voice interrupted, “and I don’t know why it bothers me so much, but it does.”

“It’s also just straight up forbidden, for anyone who isn’t Vanardis!” exclaimed the first voice.

“Which I don’t understand!” the second voice exclaimed even louder, “What is so wrong with not being one of you?”

“Nothing!” the first voice practically shouted.

The two voices had been getting closer, but suddenly stopped.

“I like you, Aelia,” the second voice said, almost under her breath.

“What?” the first voice again, sounding surprised.

“I like you,” the second voice repeated at a normal level, “and when I saw the look in Grunna’s eyes, when he looked at you, it hurt.”

“But, I…,” the first voice started.

“And I thought that with the way your culture views marriage, you wouldn’t be interested in me anymore,” the second voice interrupted.

“I like you, too,” the first voice said, “and I was afraid that you could never have feelings for me, after what I did with Grunna.”

“I don’t care about that,” said the second voice, choking up, “I’d like to share that with you too someday, but what I really care about is you.”

The child couldn’t help but wonder just what sort of soap opera she had stumbled on. They didn’t seem like bad people though, so maybe she could ask them for help. With that she walked from behind the tree, tail in her arms.

“Um, can you help me get home?” the girl asked.

“Oh my gods,” the second voice, which belonged to a beautiful and kind looking lizigoth woman, said under her breath, “we’ve been looking for you.”

“Is that her?” the first voice asked. It belonged to a woman who was pale, and strange, with reeds growing down from her head.

“This is her,” the lizigoth woman said to the strange woman, and she picked the child up into a warm embrace.

“I’m hungry,” the child said, “do you have any food?”

“We do, but let’s get you somewhere safer before you eat.” the lizigoth woman laughed.

The little girl was finally with someone she trusted, safely snuggled up in the arms of Ardera. However, both Ardera and Aelia knew that she was far from being safe.