Using the bedroll and some rope, Nakoda made a makeshift stretcher for Alton and hitched it to my saddle. Neither Lilian nor Belkross helped, but they didn’t argue against bringing the sickly first mate along either. Paco grumbled the entire time, but at least he helped Nakoda with securing Alton tightly enough so that he wouldn’t be jostled out of the stretcher. Belkross took the lead, sword drawn, as we finally entered the jungle. Carrying both Nakoda on my back and dragging Alton, plus the thick brush, slowed me down. It left me a few paces at the rear of the group. The trees clustered together, their leaves obscuring the sky and casting everything in shadow. It was different than home. Hotter, wetter, and without a Guardian’s touch.
Nakoda, being Nakoda, tried to make conversation. With Belkross of all people.
“So, being a mercenary,” he called out, “what’s the weirdest thing you’ve killed?”
Belkross did not answer right away, but finally he said, his response slow and measured, “There isn’t a word for it in a language that you would know.”
“Oh,” Nakoda said, looking disappointed. “…Well, does of any of the things you killed, uh, wear robes made of skin, or throw fire at people and innocent animals.”
Ah. He was trying to see whether or not Belkross had run across the Monstrosity’s henchmen. Good, Nakoda!
“I have fought many things that use fire magic,” was the mercenary’s answer.
“Are you looking for people who burn rabbits and squirrels for a living?” Paco asked, looking over his shoulder. As usual, he was riding atop Turtle.
“Um, I honestly-I mean we don’t really know what we’re looking for,” Nakoda said, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. “Not exactly-”
“But they use fire magic,” Paco pressed.
“…I…Um…So what do you do for a living, Paco?” Nakoda asked hurriedly, unable to meet the gunslinger’s eye.
Paco shrugged, turning around to face forward again. “Y’know, go around.”
“Around?”
“Around.”
“Just around?” Nakoda frowned thoughtfully. “I bet you end up going to the same places a lot since you keep going in circles.”
Paco actually chuckled at that. “You’d be surprised,” he said. “It’s a big world after all.”
“What about you, Lilian?” Nakoda asked. He immediately began to blush. Talking to female humanoid’s almost always makes him nervous. “..What…do you…do?”
Lilian had been concentrating on keeping the hem of her red coat up so that it wouldn’t be stained too badly by the muddy ground. “Oh? You know what it’s like being the youngest child in a well-off family. Decided to set off to see if I could make a name for myself. Make my own fortune.” She tried to blow a strand of white-blonde hair out of her face, but it was stuck to her brow thanks to the sweat trickling across her face. “But then we got stuck on this stupid island.” She then added under her breath, “We’re all probably going to die here.”
Hearing that, Nakoda straightened up in my saddle. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m gonna,” he glanced down at me, “I mean, we’re…” He took a deep breath and then tried to say with as much reassurance as possible, “Everything is going to be o-”
SQUAWK!
A red shadow burst through the high branches of a nearby tree, bat-like wings outstretched, talons at the ready. Its body was covered in red scales with black plumage that matched its beady eyes. It released another squawk from its scarlet beak as it swooped in and snapped at Belkross. The mercenary managed to recover from the shock (if he’d felt any) and easily sidestepped the flying lizard. He swiped at the creature with his sword, but it swerved in and around, past both him and Lilian. It squawked again and three more flying lizards appeared, flying around us, circling us like demon buzzards.
“Mistress,” Belkross barked over at Lilian, “a buffer might prove useful.”
Lilian extended a hand towards him, sparks forming around her fingertips. Yet a lizard flew close and snapped at her arm, making her flinch and interrupting whatever spell she was about to cast.
Thankfully, Paco didn’t need to rely on magic to shoot. While Nakoda and I hung back, focused on protecting Alton, he aimed and waited for one of the lizards to choose him as their target. He didn’t have to wait long. The stupid creature dove, talons up. Unfazed, Paco exhaled and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the lizard in the wing, making it spin through the air and crash sideways into the trunk of a nearby tree.
Spooked by the shot, the two not attacking Lilian and Belkross instead turned their attention to me, Nakoda, and especially Alton. Seemingly feeling their hungry glares, Nakoda called over to Alton, “I’m really sorry if this gets uncomfortable, man!” and readied his lance. He kicked my side lightly, the signal that it was time to go on the offensive. I stomped a few feet forward. The motion dragged Alton across the ground, but it also gave Nakoda the reach he needed to stab at one of the lizards. He managed to clip the lizard in the leg, mangling its thigh, but it pulled away, dripping blood over us as it flew overhead.
Meanwhile, the first lizard was now targeting Lilian, with Belkross trying to ward it off. His sword became a silver blur as he slashed it across the lizard’s chest, spraying the air with blood. It shrieked with rage. Its bloodlust was contagious. I could feel it in the air, spurring the other lizards to fight. The bloodlust was so strong that Belkross’ opponent pushed against the blade and chomped its beak down across the mercenary’s arm, knocking him down to one knee.
Seeing this, Lilian took a step back, closed her eyes, and brought her hands together. This time, with no interruption, the magic was allowed to manifest. A black-colored flame formed between her palms. When she opened her eyes, they were the same shade of black. She screamed a word in a language I didn’t understand, thrusting her hands outward. The flame became a cone of black energy. It slammed against Belkross’ attacker. It also hit the lizard who Paco had shot, who had been writhing in pain against the tree stump. The lizards howled in pain as the fire devoured them. And then the screaming stopped. Mostly because by then their vocal cords had been reduced to ash.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Gunshots cracked through the air, gaining my attention. Paco was shooting at the fourth lizard, who had yet to take any damage. It had been in the process of circling around me and Nakoda, going for Alton.
I neighed and turned sharply. I reared up and slammed my front hoof against the lizard’s face, knocking it back. But because of this, Nakoda, who’d been in the process of attacking, missed piercing its heart with his lance. Using the momentum from the hit, the lizard ducked down, landed on top of Alton, and dug its talons into both of the first mate’s shoulders. Alton whimpered in pain. “…N-no! Why are you…d-doing…this…?!”
It’s…difficult to really explain what happened next. Maybe I’d been infected by the lizards’ bloodlust. A pang of rage rippled through my body. No, my soul. And it wasn’t just…anger for the sake of being angry, or some kind of hunger for violence. This rage was different. Righteous.
Built on a promise.
Nakoda and I had taken custody of Alton because Lilian, Belkross, and Paco didn’t give a damn if the first mate died. That much was obvious. Without Nakoda, Alton would have died on that ship. And here he was, in danger again, about to be clawed to death by this demonic-looking lizard. He couldn’t defend himself.
Couldn’t save himself.
“NO,” I neighed, “WE ARE THE RIDERS OF THE WING! WE SAVE THOSE WHO CANNOT SAVE THEMSELVES!”
The rage manifested around my body, becoming blazing, ivory light. And not just mine. It poured into Nakoda.
Into his lance.
He screamed with that same righteous rage as he drove the glowing lance into the lizard’s mouth and out through the back of its head. Like Lilian’s fire, the magic light crackled and ate at the creature’s flesh and burned out its eyes. With a grunt of effort, Nakoda yanked the weapon free, and the eyeless husk fell off Alton.
Another gunshot cracked through the air and the last lizard fell dead to the ground, but it barely registered. The light receded from Nakoda, back into my body, into horn. My legs wobbled and my breath came out in ragged puffs as I struggled to remain standing.
…Wait…I…I’m…
As if reading my mind, Nakoda leaned forward and hugged my neck. “Way to go, Don! I knew you were magic!” he laughed.
“Well…that explains a lot,” Paco suddenly called out, but he wasn’t looking at me. He was pointing straight up. There was a sizable nest in one of the trees.
Whatever righteousness I’d been feeling immediately vanished, replaced by shame. The lizards had been protecting themselves. We were the aggressors marching into their territory. The bad guys…
Seemingly not attuned to my guilt, Nakoda hopped off my saddle and started excitedly climbing the tree. He eventually reached the nest and climbed in. He then popped out, holding up a sizable, pink-speckled egg.
“Don’t drop it!” Paco immediately cried.
“I’m not gonna-!”
Splat.
#
My legs ached as we pushed forward, leaving Lizard Territory behind before more decided to show up. Four eggs were tucked into one of my saddlebags to be used as emergency rations. Alton remained asleep, having suffered only mild injuries to his shoulders from the lizard’s claws. I noticed that Belkross’ arm had begun to swell thanks to the first lizard’s bite. Lilian vehemently assured everyone that the mercenary would be fine, to which he merely grunted an affirmative. And Paco was taking a nap atop Turtle, per usual. The lizard was having an easier time traversing through the jungle than I was, but then again he was carrying way less than me. And probably not also in the middle of an identity crisis.
I’m magic, I thought. I’m like Mom after all. I got more than just this horn. Nakoda and I saved Alton-
But you were useless when it mattered most, another voice sneered in my head. If you had magic then you could have stayed and fought. Could have saved Mom and Nakoda’s father. Beaten the Monstrosity.
“Hey, Don.” Nakoda’s words pushed away the voice. “You okay?”
I lied and snorted once.
He was quiet for a moment before then telling me, “One step at a time, bro. I didn’t learn how to use this lance in a day. Had to practice. Same with your magic.” He then chuckled, “The other Riders are gonna be so jealous that I’m your friend!…Huh? What’s up with all the spiky red?”
I glanced at our surroundings. The trees were the same type as before, but their coloring was becoming…infected. Barbed, scarlet vines were twisting around and ingraining themselves into the trees’ trunks, like parasitic worms. The farther we walked, the more the green became replaced with red. Eventually every tree was covered in the vines, leaving us walking in a scarlet jungle straight out of Hell. Thanks to the thorns, I had to go extra slow to avoid knocking Alton sideways into them. Lilan kept glancing over her shoulder at us, looking impatient. I couldn’t blame her. At this rate, dark would fall before we managed to get far, let alone find water.
She glanced back one more time, and I saw her eyes widen. “Nakoda!” she began to cry, but too late. There was a hiss and then the tiny Rider screamed in surprise as a skinny, red snake-the same shade of red as the vines-jumped from a nearby cluster of vines. The snake sank its fangs into Nakoda’s neck.
“Aaaaaaaah!” he screamed. He instinctively reached out, grabbed the snake, and ripped it off. But the damage was already done. Red rash flowed outward from the bite and made his face start to balloon. “G-Guys,” he whimpered through bloated, chipmunk-like cheeks, “I…I don’t feel so good.”
The snake who’d bit him landed near Turtle. The lizard swung at it with its tail, but the snake slithered back, avoiding the blow. But it had only prolonged its life by a few seconds. Paco’s gun went off, blowing the snake’s head clean off.
And yet the hissing continued. Two more snakes were slithering out of the trees, towards Belkross and Lilian. One of them snapped at Belkross, but he managed to jump back, pushing Lilian away as he did so. The snake then jumped at him. Belkross swung his sword upward, cleaving the snake straight in half. The two hands collided against the mercenary’s front, splattering it.
Meanwhile, Lilian threw more fire at the other snake. This time the magic came out more as a ball than a beam. It knocked the snake back through the air.
At me.
I panicked. My vision went blurry, and my body went into “TRAMPLE! TRAMPLE! TRAMPLE!” mode. I’m not sure how long it lasted, but I eventually regained control of my body and found myself with my front hooves covered in scales and guts and gore. On top of me, Nakoda had collapsed onto my neck. And then a dribble of vomit sputtered out of his swollen chips. “…I think…I can taste my brain…”
Belkross and Paco kept an eye out for more snakes while Lilian hurried over and gently pressed a hand to Nakoda’s swollen throat. He was managing to breathe, but it sounded painful. “Nakoda,” she said, shaking him.
“…Y-yeah, pretty lady?”
“I may be able to help you. How do you feel about puppies?”
What? I thought, eyeing her suspiciously. Dark-tinted energy was rippling across her fingers as she held her hand just above Nakoda’s sweaty brow.
“…Puppies?” Nakoda asked deliriously. “…Save ‘em! Save all the p-puppies!”
Lilian sighed and withdrew her hand. “You’re clearly a good person,” she said judgmentally. “My negative magic will only hurt you, not heal you.” She took a step back and almost looked apologetic. She then glanced up. It was getting dark. “It’s up to you to shake the poison off, little man.” She glanced down and narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing?”
“What’s it look like?” Paco retorted. He yanked a fang out of a dead snake’s mouth. He had four more in his other hand. “These could come handy.”
Lilian shook her head. “Very well. Come on. We better get out of here.”
And so, with my foster brother maybe dying on top of me, I chugged along. We eventually, and very carefully, exited the red section of the jungle and ended up back out on the beach, likely on the other side. Lilian didn’t bother hiding her frustration. This part of the beach was more of a rocky terrain covered in short grass that led into the water. I spotted red vines here and there, popping out of the ground. That put me on edge. We’d have to keep an eye out for more of those red snakes. Now, with the clear sky in view, I saw that it had gone completely grey. The smell of rain was heavy in the air.
A sharp whistle pierced the air. It was Belkross. He’d ventured farther down the beach and was hunkered down. The rest of us hurried over to him. Someone else had been here already. Three burnt logs were stacked on top of each other. Belkross pressed his hands to the one on the very bottom and then told Lilian, “Just barely warm. Whoever camped here has a decent head start on us.”
He then reached past the logs, into something half buried in the ground. “And now we know who,” Lilian said. It was Captain Kovack’s hat.
“And not just him,” Paco said, pointing towards the water. Tangled in vines sticking partly out of the waves was multicolored scarf. It took me a moment to recognize it. The woman who’d been talking to the Captain and Alton had been wearing it. Had she and the captain planned all of this? Had they purposely rammed the ship into this island, potentially dooming everyone on board? And for what? And where was the rest of the crew and the other passengers? Besides Alton and the dead cook, there hadn’t been any sign of any of them on either the island or on the ship.
Until now at least.
“Weathers gonna get bad,” Paco said after Turtle had lumbered over to retrieve the scarf. He tipped his hat back so as to get a better look at the looming clouds above. “No point chasing after ghosts if we can’t see two feet in front of us because of the rain. Best we set camp here.”
Lilian grimaced. She and Belkross exchanged a look before she sighed. “Fine.” She glanced around at everyone else. “I’ve got a tent. I don’t know what all of you are using for shelter, though.”
Paco shrugged at that. “I’ve got a Turtle.” He turned to me. “How’s the little man looking?” He craned his neck to get a better look at Nakoda. “Swelling’s going down. Looks like he’s sleeping it off.” He looked past Nakoda, eyeing Alton. “Both of them.”
He yawned and then said, looking like he really didn’t want to, “I could make some basic shelter for them using sticks and stuff. Nothing fancy.”
I hee-hawed appreciatively at that.
And so the sleepy gunslinger went to work. He built a fire while Lilian and Belkross set up a tent nearby. It was a big one. I didn’t know why she couldn’t just share it with Nakoda and Alton. Maybe she thought they were both just pretending and would attack her in her sleep? If so, that was stupidly paranoid. Nakoda was probably more afraid of her than she could ever be of him. Though, to be fair, I couldn’t vouch for Alton. He’d stir here and there, murmuring to himself, but he’d yet to fully wake up. Belkross had helped Nakoda out of my saddle and set the little Rider down on the bedroll next to Alton. He and Alton were now cuddling. Nakoda’s face had returned to its normal size, though his chin was covered in flecks of dried vomit. I went over, nudged his head affectionately with my snout, and then went over to talk to Turtle.
The lizard stood back, watching Paco get to work on the fire. “Hey,” I said, walking over to him. Turtle turned his eyes up towards me, looking characteristically sleepy. “You did good back there.”
He just yawned at that.
I shifted nervously in place. “So…how long have you and Paco been together?”
He didn’t answer right away, but finally he said, his words low and drawn out, “A long time.”
“…What are you guys after?”
“After?”
“Er, well, what do you want?”
He stopped to consider the question. “…I’m hungry.”
This wasn’t how I had envisioned this conversation going at all. But it was also a refreshing change of pace to be ablet to talk to a non-human. Another animal who could actually understand me. So I decided to take a shot in the dark. “Hey, weird question, but you wouldn’t happen to know anyone or anything out there willing to kidnap unicorns, would you?”
Turtle stared off pensively, eyes narrowed slightly.
“…What’s a unicorn?”
I couldn’t keep my body from deflating a little. But it had been a long shot, so the disappointment didn’t hurt too badly. I hesitated before then asking, “So, since you’re the only one I can really talk to here, do you wanna be friends? Look out for each other?”
“…Sure,” Turtle said through another yawn.
“Cool!”
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