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Deet couldn’t understand how the situation could have turned so poorly so quickly. Well, only somewhat comparatively poorly, considering how downhill things had gone for her over the past few weeks. After all, she’d seen one of her best friends violently drained of her life force only for the Skeksis to consume it, seen her other best friend be captured by said Skesis so Deet could escape with evidence of their dark deeds, and was now being subjected to rumors of insanity among her own Clan!
She had wandered from the tunnels after the Grottan had rejected her, not wishing to even give her the time to Dreamfast with them and prove what she was saying was true. At least they hadn’t taken Mira’s essence from her. There had to be someone in Thra who would trust what she was saying about the Skeksis.
Mira… I will find justice for you, I promise.
She’d never thought her life would go this way. She’d always been chipper and friendly with some of the other guards, but also shy and not really one to rock the boat as it were. She would never have imagined in a million trine that she’d end up on the run from the very lords she’d served faithfully most of her life. And now her dear Hup, the Podling guard who had been her first friend in the castle, was their prisoner, or worse, because he’d sacrificed himself so she could escape with the essence.
How am I going to free him??
Compared to the seemingly unending stream of trauma she’d endured over the past few weeks, this situation seemed almost laughable. Deet was trapped up a tree. With her wings, the solution seemed quite within reach… except for the reason she was trapped. Well, the multitude of reasons, all of them quite furry and loud, and with mouths of many sharp teeth. Somehow she’d incurred the wrath of this vicious herd… pack… something… of Fizzgigs which had chased her straight up a gnarled old tree, and based on how excited they were to keep her there, she could easily imagine they’d quickly follow to wherever she landed if she tried to fly away. She would just take off into the air, if not for these blasted trees! How was one supposed to fly among the branches? She had foolishly come to the forest seeking shelter, and now she was essentially trapped. Most animals she liked, but these Fizzgigs were certainly not earning a place on that list. Also, why did she climb so very high? Grottans, even females, were no fans of heights and the ground looked really quite hard and unforgiving from this far up. Not to mention she’d probably be eaten alive if she fell.
“Please leave!” she pleaded politely. They did not like that, jumping around more frantically and worrying at the bark with their claws. Could they climb too?
Suddenly a piercing whistle shot through the cool forest air, scaring birds and insects from the trees around her and silencing the Fizzgigs. In fact, it startled her so badly she nearly fell, grabbing a nearby branch with all four limbs and clinging like a frightened cave-sloth. From a nearby bush, a young Stonewood male emerged, calling to the Fizzgigs. Barking and yelping, the fuzzy terrors rolled towards him, following his signals as he guided them from the tree. He glanced up at her and held up one finger: ‘wait a moment, please.’ Not like she had a choice.
She had at least scrabbled into an upright position by the time he got back. “Well,” he chuckled, brushing his sleeves off, “you must have really done something to get on the entire pack’s bad side.”
Deet tried not to feel paranoid--after all, she’d only been in Domrak a few days ago! There was no way news traveled that fast! “I wasn’t doing anything! Those Fizzgigs are vicious! You should teach them better manners,” she grumped, far from her usually cheerful self. The Stonewood boy seemed unbothered. And rather familiar…
“They keep pests from the crops, actually. Normally they’re quite tame, if you know how to handle them like I do. Are you a pest?” he asked, blue eyes twinkling. He shifted a sack slung over his shoulder. Was he teasing her? Deet blinked, and relaxed slightly. As long as he wasn’t calling the guards to round her up. She, of course, had some combat training, but against several trained Stonewood Gelflings, legendary warriors of Thra, even she wouldn’t be able to do much.
“No, I’m a Grottan. I, uh. My name is Deet!” Hopefully telling him her name wouldn’t be a mistake later. Then she remembered her manners. “Thank you for saving me.”
“Of course. Nice to meet you, Deet. I’m Rian. Won’t you come down from there? I promise I don’t bite.”
Well, now he was just being inappropriate. Deet flushed slightly and nodded, loosening her grip on the branch. Unfortunately, she misjudged where her leg was and overbalanced, toppling right off the branch with the squeak. She desperately tried to open her wings, but there was no time and the ground was rushing up too fast. She closed her eyes--
And gasped as a pair of arms arrested her fall. Deet stared up at Rian, who winced slightly from the impact but still grinned at her. “I didn’t realize you were so excited to meet me.”
She felt her whole face burn and wiggled out of his grasp. “Thank you f-for catching me.” Her eyes widened and she reached around to assure herself the vial of essence was still there. Her heartbeat began to calm when she patted the reassuring weight of it, and sped up again when she met Rian’s curious gaze.
“So, what’s a Grottan castle guard doing on the edge of Stone-in-the-Wood?”
Alarm raced through her. “How did you know I’m a…?”
“Well, you’re wearing the uniform,” he pointed out, looking deeply confused. Oh. So she was. She wished she’d thought to find a change of clothes while back home. What she wouldn’t give to be in her good old Nurloc rump dress…
“I-I was a castle guard, but I’m actually… um… I’m on the run. The Skeksis… they did… some terrible things, and I saw it happen. Now they want me.” She wasn’t sure why she’d confessed, but something about this boy put her at ease.
His eyes widened. “You’re in trouble with the Lords of the Crystal?”
“Yes. They’re not… they’re not what they tell us they are. But why would you believe me? No one else has.” A thought occurred and she placed a hand on the pommel of her obsidian dagger. “You aren’t going to turn me in, are you?” she questioned, using her Castle Guard voice. She didn’t see a weapon on him, but you could never be too careful with Stonewoods.
He held his hands up. “No! Of course not!” “You… aren’t?” “No. You seem like you… OH! I remember now! You’re that Gelfling who crashed into me the other night!” His face brightened. “I guess you don’t remember. It happened so fast, but I thought you looked familiar.”
Deet thought hard for a moment.
The guard hadn’t seen her. So far, so good. She hadn’t realized she’d gotten to the edge of Stonewood territory, but luckily her sharp hearing had detected the presence of other Gelflings nearby. She couldn’t afford to trust anyone yet. Best to keep to the shadows, she thought as she raced further into the woods.
“OOMPH!”
Stars exploded in front of her eyes as she collided hard with someone. Blinking hard, she looked down in shock. Eyes as blue as glowmoss stared back at her in surprised confusion.
“I--” She scrambled back off of him and kept running.
“Oh. I suppose I did.” “That hurt, by the way,” Rian added casually. “You Grottans have hard heads.”
“I’m sorry. I was… running for my life. I should have been more careful.”
“It’s quite all right. You can make it up to me by telling me what’s going on.”
Deet let out a long breath. Maybe it was the grief and exhaustion finally catching up with her, but she had a good feeling about Rian. She supposed if worse came to worst, she could try to knock him out and fly away. “The Skeksis… killed my friend Mira. They… they did something with the Crystal and drained her essence… this is all that’s left.” She gestured to the bottle on her hip. “And then my friend Hup let them take him prisoner to give me time to escape. And the Skeksis have begun spreading rumors about me being mentally sick so my own Clan won’t even Dreamfast with me to learn the truth. I just… I feel so lost. This is all so wrong… they told us they were protecting the Crystal, but what they’re doing with it--”
“Hey. Hey. Easy.” Rian’s hands were on her shoulders, calming her. “You’ve been through a lot. You know, I’m actually on a mission to Ha’rar from my Maudra,” he added, gesturing to his dropped bag. “Something… there’s something happening to the animals. Some kind of force… is making them crazy. Maybe it has something to do with what you saw?”
“Maybe… Wait--you don’t think I’m crazy?” Her wings flicked open slightly.
“No.” Rian shook his head, smiling warmly. “Maybe a week ago I would have, but these animal attacks aren’t normal, and sounds like from what you described, there’s something wrong with the Crystal. I think that’s not a coincidence, right?”
Deet considered. “Yes… maybe you’re right.” For the first time in weeks she felt a bit better. At least she had someone on her side, finally.