Something was poking him from above, a hard and inflexible tendril extending into the water from beyond. It poked furiously until he seized it with his free right hand. The moment he gripped the branch, someone at the other end began pulling. With only a little climbing, and some help, he was finally onto the relative safety of shore. But with those things in the water. What lived on the land of this place? He didn’t have much time to wonder, instead releasing the branch used to help him to safety and rushing over to a tree nearby. The rjkari jumped the small distance he could, both hands wrapping around a branch as he threw his entire weight downward to rip it free of its parent. Tammrit then moved as quickly as he could manage back to the cliff-like shore. His eyes scanned the water, desperately looking for any of his comrades who had made it far enough to need his help. But if anyone was moving, it was by the rolling of the waves or the machinations of creatures beneath the surface. No rjkari swam to shore; chunks of their fungal bodies simply floating among the red waters of ceratogi blood.
Only as the reality of his isolation began to sink in, did the sailor ‘Fortengus’ notice once again a searing pain in his side. His armour-flesh had been sliced open, and air was rushing into the pocket from an angle it was not meant to. Slumping to his knees on the cliffside, Tammrit reached into the pocket and withdrew the small gaspeite blade. Without even thinking about it, the rjkari dropped the branch as he cradled the crystal knife in both hands, slowly lifting the stone to touch its flat to his forehead. “I am sorry to have asked so much of you.” he thought, eyes closed and blade pressed against his forehead.
“You only sought to save lives.” His own voice echoed back in his mind. The rjkari knew this to be the answer of the stone. “Perhaps others do survive?” An image of yellow labradorite flashed in his mind. Pulling the blade away from his forehead, Tammrit nodded. He opened another, undamaged pocket beneath his armour-flesh and stowed the blade safely inside. From the damaged pocket, the rjkari fished the small yellow labradorite. With considerable force, the sailor pressed the Labradorite into the flesh beneath his left eye. Once deep enough, his skin lapped over its edges to hold it in place.
“Show us please” he whispered to it. His vision was filled with pieces. Sections of rj faces, or whole heads, adrift in the sea. Bodies being consumed by monstrous creatures in the water. He could see the burnt husks elders floating in the room surrounding the Mycelium pit, the pit itself a mangled and clearly dead husk. There were no living to find. The only eyes that stared into his mind were the lifeless pieces of his kin and enemies.
It took a moment for the sound of his own screaming to reach his ears. He wasn’t even aware, for what felt like years, that he was clawing at his own face. It was only when he right hand managed to tear out the stone that he realised just how much damage he was causing himself. He felt the air rush past his shoulder as if something had been swung at him but barely missed. He heard the sound of two hard things colliding and then a distant plink of something breaching the water. The rjkari felt his left arm be moved against his will, and a length of wood be laid across his chest. The wood crossed his chest, under his left arm and over his right. With the remnants of the images of the carnage still in his mind, echoing from the sight of the sea, he felt the branch suddenly be pulled backward.
It was only when his body contorted such that the branch slid up his chest to hook across his throat that Tammrit finally reacted. He’d been pulled back a meter before he began struggling. He grabbed the branch, pulling it away from his throat and feeling a small body simultaneously slam into his back. “Are you serious?” He shouted, throwing the branch away as he stood and turned to face the ceratogi. The small rat man had lowered himself onto all fours and stepped back at the anger in the rjkari’s voice. “I save your life and you try to strangle me?”
“Tegang alabestra lo kemmwey” The ceratogi chittered back. Or at least, those were the way the rjkari’s minds understood the sounds the creature made. He assumed it was speech; the creature intentionally manipulating the sounds, but he had never heard this language before. The rjkari could feel the coolness of the gaspeite blade against his flesh and calmed slightly.
“You hit something in front of me.” He moved his arms as if swinging a branch across in front of him. The ceratogi nodded twice before Tammrit turned away to stare back out at the ocean. “Two for one. I saved you once and you returned the favour twice.” The ceratogi had stood once again, moving to stand beside the fellow sailor and stare out at the carnage. “You weren’t strangling me, you were pulling me clear of more attacks.” The rjkari couldn’t bare to look at the bloody water for too long, turning away as he tried to think of what to do next.
“Kebara te alanastin” the ceratogi’s voice seemed hollow, half absent as they too stared out at the water.
“I don’t know what you’re saying.” he sighed, slipping the labradorite into the pocket with the gaspeite. Every time he turned, or stretched his torso in any way, he could feel the cut open and let air into the pocket beyond. He would live, there was very little blood in the armour-flesh, he would simply need to bandage it for a few days.
With a shrug, the rjkari turned away from the ceratogi to instead look up and down the coast. The small cliff continued to wrap around the island with no beach in sight. It was almost as if the entire landmass was cut out of the ocean and simply lifted above the surface. He wasn’t sure why, but something deep in his mind was telling him something was coming. If he stayed where he was, he’d be face to face with something that knows he’d just arrived. He sighed once again before finally setting off. He couldn’t stay within sight of this carnage, as much as he wanted to try and save or salvage something of the ships or crew.
As the rjkari left the landing place, he noticed the ceratogi following only a single stride behind him and slightly to the left. He would eventually come to regret his tone, but he wanted to be left alone for a moment. Just, to be alone. So he rounded on the smaller creature. “Stop following me!” the ceratogi’s head simply tilted as he shouted. “I need space. Don’t you get what just happened? You’re lucky I didn’t kill you because your people caused this.” He hoped it sounded like a threat, as hollow as it might have been. He was looming over the small creature as best he could. rjkari weren’t a naturally tall species, but they were taller than these ceratogis, enough to cast an intimidating shadow.
The ceratogi ducked away from him. Thinking he’d managed to get through to the small creature, Tammrit resumed his walking only for the sound of a second set of feet to reach his earholes from several strides behind. He stopped, shoulders slumping and head tilting back in a sigh before he turned around. The ceratogi was keeping a strange distance, and carrying a large stick. “Of course. It has no idea what I’m saying. I have to make myself stupidly clear.” He turned, striding back to the ceratogi, who did not flinch at his approach as he initially expected. “How do I make this obvious. Okay, let’s try this.” He snapped his fingers a hand’s length away from the rodent’s eyes. “I go this way.” He placed his hand on his own chest, before pointing along the coast behind him in the direction the two were heading. “You-” he placed his hand on the ceratogi’s chest, “- go that way.” He pointed over the creature’s shoulder, moving his arm out of the way only moments before the creature’s snout collided with it. The thing shook its head vigorously at this notion.
Without saying anything, the ceratogi grabbed Tammrit’s pointing hand with its free hand. It moved the rjkari’s hand once again to its chest. It left the hand there for a second or two. The rjkari was too shocked at this thing having the audacity to move his arm to properly react. It then moved his hand to sitting on its head; his palm between its eyes and his fingers on top of the head. When Tammrit removed his hand from the creature’s fur, the ceratogi lifted the stick it was carrying as if to make a point. Grabbing both ends, it snapped the wood with a level of strain while not looking away from the rjkari’s eyes. The strange rodent creature then tapped itself on the chest with one of the halves, and tapped Tammrit with the other before placing the two lengths of wood next to each other. It then spent a good minute vainly attempting to snap both halves of the stick again while they laid alongside each other.
“Listen.” the rjkari shook his head, stepping back and turning away from the ceratogi. “I have no idea what you’re on about. Do what you want.” The coast continued on for several miles, and in all that distance he still couldn’t see a traditional beach. Perhaps his only real option would be to move inland to look for a source of food before anything else. His large feet crushed a plethora of twigs and dead leaves as he crossed the threshold into the woods. It was hard to see into the distance not for the density of the trees themselves, but the thickness of the canopy. The majority of the island was plunged into an almost night darkness from the interweaving of branches in the canopy above. Only occasionally was there space enough for light to trickle in, and inevitably the ground around these fractures of light were peppered with strange plants he didn’t recognise.
It felt good to get out of the sunlight once again, he would not have been surprised if parts of his flesh had burnt in the heat. Now all he had to worry about was the sound of the ceratogi shuffling after him. He could hear the pest snapping small branches off the trees, gathering up scoops of dead leaves and sticks, and whatever else it seemed interested in carrying. He was tempted to turn around each time he heard the ceratogi apparently excitedly sampling the flora. He wanted to snarl at this thing to be quiet, that carrying so much stuff was pointless. But what would be the use? It couldn’t understand him. There was a moment, a moment he wasn’t proud of, whereby Tammrit considered the benefits of if the ceratogi was attacked by some creature in the woods? He could see what passed for a predator on this island. Perhaps get an understanding of where he himself sat in the food chain.
It was only after pushing this thought from his mind that another, more unnerving one took its place; where were all the creatures anyway? The rjkari stopped, eyes sweeping the shadowed branches of the canopy above him; he couldn’t hear, let alone see any birds. Unless a creature could disguise itself as a tree or even the branches of one, he couldn’t imagine that anything was able to hide from them. Yet he couldn’t see anything in the surrounding forest. Nothing shuffled the undergrowth around them but for the ceratogi. It was certainly possible there were no animals on Einode, but it didn’t feel right. It felt like something was watching them. Like everything else was giving one creature a wide berth that it might hunt it’s quarry.
“Hey” He whispered, looking to the ceratogi. The smaller creature’s arms were filled with an assortment of sticks, leaves, small branches, rocks and moss. “Drop that stuff, we might have to run soon.” Understanding only the rjkari’s tone, the ceratogi glanced around nervously, though nothing moved in the shadows of the forest. Forget food. Forget water. His goal was shelter now. Something secure, hidden, safe. Nearby the canopy was breached; sunlight streamed in on a mass of small plants and a fallen log lay across a somewhat large stone. Grabbing the ceratogi, he dragged the rodent with, shoving his small ‘companion’ in under the tree first before scurrying into a the space alongside him. “What’s your problem?” In frustration, the rjkari knocked the pile of things out of the ceratogis arms before returning to looking nervously out of their semi-shelter.
The ceratogi wasn’t looking out into the forest, instead examining the tree they were under and the rock they lay beside. Tammrit’s vigil was disturbed by the rat tapping frantically on his arm. He glanced over in order to watch as the ceratogi held one arm at an angle like the tree branch over its head, while mirroring with its other arm. “House? Oh Shelter? Yeah that’s why we’re here.” he nodded patronisingly. The ceratogi nodded more seriously, pushing the pile of bits it had collected over to the rjkari before setting about clearing the leaves on the ground near them. Grabbing one of the sticks, it began poking holes in the dirt. It seemed very particular about the placement of the holes, looking out into the forest for a strange amount of time before making each one.
The rjkari stopped watching, he was sure they were still being hunted but could see no sign of their stalker. It was definitely out there. It was only when he was being frantically tapped on the shoulder again that he looked away from the darkness. The ceratogi had one finger pressed against it’s mouth before pointing out into the forest at a set of four trees not far away. They looked completely ordinary but perhaps the little rat had seen something he couldn’t. Grabbing some dirt, the ceratogi filled in one of his holes before keeping his head down to draw small lines in the soil. It looked like writing of some kind. As he started to ask what the ceratogi was writing, the rat snapped his fingers and pointed back at the four trees again. Shrugging, he looked back out into the forest. Something seemed off. More off than before, as if his subconcious was seeing something that he just couldn’t place.
Suddenly, the ceratogi seized his arms, piling its collection of sticks, branches, leaves and rocks into them before itself stepping out of the shelter. The ratman was staring out into the forest as it knelt down and picked up a loose stone. It’s eyes never looking at the ground, instead fervently staring out into the lonely woods. “What are you doing? What are you looking at?” the rjkari looked from the ceratogi out into the forest. All he could see were trees, no grouping more than three. The ceratogi was waving almost frantically. Eventually, Tammrit did step out of the little hovel, arms piled with junk for no apparent reason. With its free hand, the ceratogi seized his arm as its other arm pegged the rock into the forest at some random tree.
The moment the rock was in the air, the two were running. He wasn’t sure where, or what exactly the ceratogi had seen, but right now it felt like the right idea to follow. The sprint was almost a straight line, but for weaving around a tree or two on the way. Ahead several steps he could see an arrangement of rocks; five large stones making almost a chimney shape. But it was what was behind that had the rjkari running faster; the sound of breaking leaves rushing up behind the two. Pulling one of the rocks out of the way, the ceratogi ducked in under them, slipping into a passage with just enough space for Tammrit to fall in behind before whatever was coming caught them.
The moment he crossed the threshold; the sound of some alien pursuer ceased. The rjkari glanced back over his shoulder at the lonely forest; nothing moved. No creature stared at them. It was simply an expanse of darkness in the shadow of the trees. Finally turning his attention back to the tunnel, the sailor let his eyes adjust to the near perfect darkness within. They were in a strange downward sloping tunnel with many smaller tunnels branching off as if they were crouched in the hollowed remnants of some massive centipede. “Rahbara te” The ceratogi whispered, sitting in the darkness almost unwilling to move. Tammrit moved a little closer, looking at the rodent’s eyes. The pupils were expanded as much as seemed possible, but the poor thing didn’t react as he moved in front of its face.
The rjkari dumped the collection of junk he had been handed before looking around the strangely carved tunnel a little more. He ignored the sound of the ceratogi frantically attempting to find and pick up everything he had dropped. It was a strange creature, so carefully handling dried leaves, but everyone had their quirks he assumed. There was soot along the ceiling of their passage, and at the mouth of each of the strange legs, they were in some kind of communal chimney. He had seen passages like these in undercities, networks of stone chimney’s connecting to large passages such that only one exit was needed. But that meant there were forges nearby. No smoke rolled past them at the moment, so the forges must have died long ago. “Follow m- actually” He placed a hand on the ceratogi’s shoulder as he began to lower himself down one of the smaller side passages. His blind companion followed, slipping slightly at the change of angle but otherwise keeping pace fairly well.
It didn’t take long for the small downward chute to change from an angle to a direct drop. Not far beneath he could see the floor of a chamber. So the rjkari patted the shoulder of the ceratogi, waiting for the little creature to stop moving before lowering himself into the chamber. There was no forge here, though he landed in a small inset in the floor filled with dirt and ash. Holding his hands above his head and watching the hole in the roof, the rjkari clapped twice. After a couple seconds he heard a voice call back to him. “Lo te Kemmwey?” Unsure what the ceratogi was saying, he clapped twice again. It took a few seconds but eventually he watched the small foot tapping out the edge of the hole and eventually the ceratogi fell through in a somewhat controlled fashion. It was easier to catch the small creature than it was to lift it out of the water, and Tammrit was able to lower his companion to sitting on the floor in the dark. They were in a small room, a stone door stood in one wall and several rectangles were cut into the walls with a large bench or desk of stone occupying the middle of the room.