It was a long way down from the rafters. I watched in breathless terror as the supposedly flying animal strangled the treetop to an inch of its life to keep itself upright.
The four wings flapped like mad to hold its position, and the trunk bowed heavily under its trendous weight. Then, it spoke, with a voice that was all gravel, and no molasses.
"How-w long g g must you keep us w-waiiiting g g, child?" he bood, like a monsoon asks permission to enter a shelter of reeds and stone; knowing full well that the structure has no recourse but to be subsud in its winds and rain. "I tir-re of these g g gas, and my patience is a ver-ry r-r-rar-re thing g g. I w-wouldn't w-w-waste it, if I w-wer-re you-u."
His voice was so utterly final, as if my entire genetic structure was designed from the ground up to heed his order without any objection.
I felt a miserable sha at the thought; rembering how vast my spirit was enkindled only a few monts ago. The juxtaposition between that state of mind, and my present status was so stark that it bordered on paradoxical. I knew that if those glowing red beacons of fire turned their gaze upon , that I would have folded in seconds; not minutes.
My only salvation was that he had yet to even notice that I was there. My eyes traced over the form of its supine, sardonic, stalwart, silk-skinned snack. They seed to be vaguely bipedal, with their arms and legs splayed out like a star. Its furry coat of tans and brown stripes looked so familiar, like it had stolen the very clothes off of Rilah's back.
If I didn't know better, I'd think that they were Rilah; but that was impossible. The leaves may appeared solid, but it was truly just a thin veneer of fragile leaf coverage supported by twigs and stems. Rilah couldn't hope to float on the surface like that, no matter how clever she was.
Fimbs was a much more experienced climber, so she had to climb down from her scouting perch in order to be within earshot of eachother. We wouldn't dare shout with such a ferocious predator waiting only yards away. Now was only the ti to observe the way he hunted. Maybe it might give us a clue as to where it may have deposited our friend.
"Zoel!" she hissed, pointing to the figure stretched out across the delicate leafy platform. Given the nature of what was at stake, I took the chance to dislodge my hand from the surface of the tree for just long enough to hold a finger to my lips. I absolutely couldn't risk being noticed by that loathso curse.
We were sitting swallows in the limbs like this. She switched her hold, and walked her body around the trunk in a way that allowed her head to swing about to co closer to mine, with her whole body upside down.
'Show off,' I thought to myself; a little astonished, a lesser bit jealous, and a greater part impressed at the acuity with which she scaled the tree. She almost looked like a gecko; clambering up icicles with their non-slip cling pads.
I opened my mouth to whisper sothing teasing to that effect, but she shook her head, and put her lips to my ear. I flushed at the sudden proximity of her face to mine; still not entirely recovered from the ordeal of the smile that she carved into my head, before.
What she said, though, wrenched my eyebrows shut. "Rilah is here! Hurry, she's right there!"
I didn't initially understand the words. I wanted to laugh it off, and point out her mistake, as I had almost mistaken the shape on the surface of the green for a human myself, but a pang in my heart told to look again, first... just to be sure.
It was still difficult to register fine details from the distance we were, but I could clearly see all the hallmarks of a human being. I actively searched for anything that could disqualify her.
Four limbs, in regular proportion, a disheveled mop of honey-golden hair draped over an oblong skull, face-down so that I cannot verify a snout or muzzle, and the tail that I assud had been tucked to the leeward side could even be explained away as a trick of the shadows in the dying sun.
My heartbeat rushed, and I swallowed hard. "R-rilah...?!" It was a plea; a prayer; a hope beyond all sense and rationality.
The scene grew awash and cloudy as my vision swam in a font of tears. I blinked them clear for only a mont's reprieve, before the accursed flood stole the glory of her body away from , again. Tears stread down my face, as I sobbed in desperation; biting my lip in a vain hope to muffle my relieved, and desperate cry.
"No, no no no no!" Fimbs chided, anxiously. "You have to keep it down!"
"I'm sorry..." I whimpered, my words staccato in between the hitching breaths made inconsolable in my exhausted state. "I can't see her clearly, so please. Please, tell if she's okay. Is she breathing?!"
"Calm down, we can't—" she urged, glancing back at the black being that was bigger than the glade's village hall; who was simpering heedlessly into a monologue that seed to confirm our initial projections.
"Ar-rahre you-u w-waitiiing g g for-or-ror soone to co r-rescue you-u? Do you-u r-rurr-reeeally think that anyo-one w-would beeeee so foolish? Not in our-ar ter-erritor-orry. Your-r peeeople ar-rare w-woo-weak. They believe you dead, child. And soon, you-u w-will beee! Unless you-woo co w-woo-with , w-williiingly." he finished, seemingly proud of the bastardization of our language that he had just displayed.
A deep, throaty laugh—one that sounded much like a mortar and pestle as it ground corn into al flour—vibrated the air in my lungs, even from this distance; sending all the canopy residents finally scattering into the shade. It was getting more and more impossible that Rilah was still alive.
"Uwlak, ulak, uwak, uwlak, kwalk, uwak, lauk, lawk." He cawed, the recognizable sound perverted in his fowl voice. "Walk, caulk, ualk, wak." His call forced shivers through my body in a way that I didn't entirely understand; and like a trained hound, I cowed while he boasted.
How was she so impassive? What if she was just unconscious? I ran through the ntal calculations of how I would manage to not only walk on the surface of leaves myself, but with a slumbering child in tow; until I noted movent from the supposed corpse.
Even through the veil of tears, I wouldn't mistake that motion for anything in the world, as she lifted her head in the shallowest of defiant gestures. She shook her head slowly, and said sothing that stopped his celebrations short.
"W-what?!" he shouted, though you could hear the teasing sneer in his voice, even without the benefit of a mouth to curl into a smile. "You-u could not beeeee mor-re pathetic. If I had not the kindness to enter-rtaiiin you-u for-r-or this long g g, you-u w-woo-would have made for-r an easy al. I will not car-rarry you-u ther-rare, child. The choice is to co now, or-r per-rar-ish. I w-will fiiind another-ur, if you-u make ."
She said sothing again, and the feathers along his back visibly ruffled. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. She was negotiating with the creature!
I asked, hopefully, "Wh-what is she saying?! I can't make it out!"
My friend just looked helpless in return. She was just as far away as I was. Then, as if to signify her resolution with the issue, she began the descent to the ground. Janny would have to be inford of the developnts, as he elected not to co in favor of protecting the torch.
Sighing, I understood that she was probably making the right decision at the mont, and was chagrined to follow behind her.
Until, that is, I heard the creature say sothing that stopped in my tracks.
"Zoziii? Was that his na? Lawk, wauk, lauk! He w-woo-would never co for you-u! I saw-augh. He r-rawr-ran off like all the hu-umans alw-ways do-woo w-when in the pr-resence of actu-ual str-rength! I'd bet that he is mour-orning g g you-woo as weee speeea-"
"No!" I bellowed, loud enough to send another scattering of the fauna in the layer in a flurry of fur and feathers. I could endure many things, but I would not let Rilah give up on . "He's wrong, Rilah! I'm here! I'm right HERE!!!"
And in an instant, the stolid form of his incomprehensible girth beca a streak of black stain, as the top of the tree that I was hanging onto was torn from its trunk by a pair of razor sharp talons as wide as the doorway of any ho is tall.
I only barely managed to dodge out of the way, before my entire body was cleaved into gory bits like the solid surface that I was pressed against. Trusting sothing between a theory, and a dream, I leaped for the surface of leaves, as soon as I could work my fingers free of the bark's iron-clad hold.
I crunched through a mass of interlocking twigs and branches, only to find myself captured in a cradle of vines that were clandestinely tangled and knotted underneath.
I was safe, but not for long, as the creature turned around.
Rilah scread aloud, "Zozi!!!!!"
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