Chapter 1
Boom. Boom boom-boom. Tiny creatures flapped hurriedly up from
their roosts into the air on fleshy, semi-transparent wings strewn with twisted
networks of tiny blood vessels. Their piercing
shrieks of fear were swallowed by the thick, fetid air of the jungle as they
soared into the higher reaches of the canopy and out of harm’s way. The ground rumbled ominously; the leaves of
the canopy quivered.
Boom-boom boom-boom! Triangle
ripples spread across the large pools of algae-clogged water that rested in the
deep hollows between the massive tree buttresses as small schools of aquatic
animals sped towards safety. The chatter
of other creatures rose—insects, small furred animals, reptiles—and the thick
tangled mess of ferns and other undergrowth that surrounded the pools rustled
with their frenzied passage. The
wrenching sound of breaking wood suddenly ripped through the air as one of the
massive trees that had stood sentinel for hundreds of years in this forsaken
jungle was torn from the earth by the passage of some unseen animal. Its height gave the illusion of slow-motion
as it keeled and twisted with the grace of a dancer, swaying from side to side,
shedding a screeching cloud of winged snakes into the air like pollen. The tree’s neighbors shuddered and groaned as
it crashed against them, bark, branches, and leaves ripped violently from the
massive trunks as the uprooted tree slid down to the spongy forest floor,
landing with a resounding thud that was heard for miles in all directions. Bright sunlight, flickering as clusters of
bowl-shaped, man-sized leaves spun lazily through it, shafted down through the
empty slot in the thick green canopy hundreds of feet above, illuminating a
small patch of ground below.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!! The thick trunk, its girth so colossal that
several men would be needed to completely encompass it, suddenly shattered
under the force and weight of massive, taloned
feet. The tree buckled, its dense network
of dirt-clogged roots rising into the air and quivering like dying fingers
before crashing back to the ground as the trunk split in half. The sole piece of sunlight in this murky
jungle was momentarily blocked out by the form of a gigantic creature as it
barreled through, plowing down all vegetation in its path and sending a fine
spray of muddy water into the air.
Unaccustomed to the sodden and soggy soil it slipped and stumbled, one
heavily muscled shoulder glancing the trunk of another
tree and driving it reeling to the ground.
Dirt and tangled bits of crushed plant matter were thrown up in a
furious storm at its heels, leaving a vast path in its wake.
A savage,
ululating shriek rose from somewhere close behind the gargantuan beast and a
smaller shadow flitted through the sunlight, hot in pursuit. The remains of the thick undergrowth were
untouched as this creature traveled swiftly through the labyrinthine web of
tree branches. As it approached the
cloud of debris thrown up by its quarry the small, lean figure gave another of
its piercing shrieks. The beast chanced
a look behind it, the row of murky, solid brown eyes arcing across it’s face gleaming fearfully as it caught sight of its
pursuer. A solid wall of trees rose up
ahead and it reeled around and backed up against them. It was cornered, but far short from
defenseless.
The hunter halted and regarded the two
barbed, scaled horns rising from the sides of its prey’s mouth. One solid hit from the broad-side of one of
those would be more than enough to knock the wind from him,
a blow from the pointed ends would probably be enough to kill him. He cocked his head to the side in
thought. He had killed Horn-mouths
before and not had much of a problem, but those unfortunates had either been the
blunt-horned young or sickly elders that were easily separated from the
stampeding herd. Never before had he
attempted to slay a full-grown, robust bull like this before, but then his
appetite had never raged as furiously as it was now. To kill anything smaller and less meaty than
this creature would be unfulfilling and a waste of his time and quickly
dwindling energy. He leapt a few trees
over then back again to the right, sizing up his prey from each direction.
The Horn-mouth tossed his head from side
to side and gave a mighty roar in an attempt to ward off this strange
assailant. Unperturbed and too hungry to
care otherwise, the hunter darted a few trees to the side, took a few steps
back, then leapt from his perch onto the beast’s
back. Agile, sinewy fingers hooked
themselves beneath the armored carapace that protected the Horn-mouth’s
back. A resounding bellow of fear
reverberated from the Horn-mouth as it began to buck and rear wildly in an
attempt to throw this threat from its back.
Lips peeling back from a sharp row of teeth in a fierce grin, the hunter
nimbly clawed his way down the side of his prey to the soft, shaggy belly
beneath. Wrapping his fingers in the
thick, matted, moss-covered fur, he climbed along the underside of the beast to
its neck, taking care not to be cut by one of the jagged talons on its
feet. Its throat was unprotected and his
teeth easily pierced through the flesh.
Blood sprayed in a vast arc from the wound and the beast gave a
painfully loud shriek. Murky brown eyes
rolling wildly in its skull, it collapsed onto its side with a ground-shaking
thump, legs still pedaling weakly in the air.
The spray of blood sputtered, faltered, and subsided to a thick trickle.
Moving with starvation-frenzied speed,
the hunter began to furiously tear away at the thick, fur-coated flesh. A large expanse of purple-tinged muscle
covered in a foamy film of blood was soon visible and he began to feed with
reckless abandon bordering on near mania.
By the time he had satiated himself, the Horn-mouth’s hindquarters were
reduced to little more than the inedible carapace, fur, and bones. The hunter sat back on his rump, panting
loudly. Breath
slowing to normal, he began to scratch idly at the drying blood and bits of fur
that dripped in gob-riddled strands from his face and limbs, dying his skin a
dark maroon. Climbing to all fours, he
began to shake and twist violently, sending the sticky, gory mess flying from
his body to splatter on the trunks of nearby trees. Pushing himself back onto his rear, he lifted
his hands to his head and wrung the excess blood from his hair, which sprang up
instantly into an explosion of black spikes.
His tail was next, and starting at the base and working his way upwards,
he quickly set to work squeegee-ing the excess blood
from the appendage.
When he had finished cleaning himself, he
ripped one of the large leg bones from the carcass and rose to his feet. The bone was as thick as his waist, but he
broke it easily over one knee. Blood
welled and began to dribble from the broken ends and he lifted the two halves
above his head so that it ran into his open mouth. The marrow was next, and he sucked at the
shattered ends of the bone as he idly looked around. The song of a lone bird and few small rustles
from the underbrush signaled the official end to the hunt as the rest of the
forest creatures returned to their daily routine. Engorged and slightly sleepy, he yawned
loudly and threw the femur into the far depths of the forest. The thick fern leaves rustled as scavengers
set upon the bone.
The sun was setting as he emerged from
the stretching shadows of the trees, the remains of his prey in tow. When he finally reached his destination the
waxing crescent of the moon was already high in the sky, its pale light
filtering through the old lava vents that stuck out like horns from the roof of
the small cave he called home. It wasn’t
much—just a hollow space formed eons ago when a flow of lava wrapped around a
large hunk of glacial ice—but it provided him with more than sufficient shelter
from the elements and, when he was younger, large beasts of prey.
Ah, that reminded him. He dropped the Horn-mouth’s carcass and
trotted over to the bushes that surrounded the lava-coated ground around the
vents. Shuffling slowly, he urinated a wavering semicircle around the small
clearing. That would keep away the
opportunistic predators and scavengers from stealing away his prey while he
slept. Now that he had emptied his
bladder and filled his belly he was feeling even sleepier. Staggering slightly, he made his way through
the recesses of the cave towards the lone shaft of blue light in the back. Not pausing at the edge of the large crater
beneath it, he made his way down to the dull, dusty pod that sat fully illuminated
in its center. The plush seating was
still just as soft as it had been when he first landed here over 5 years ago
and he nestled down into it, tail wrapping itself around his waist as he curled
into a small ball.
The glimmer of light off of a small
object hanging from the roof of the pod caught his eye and he reached out and
pulled the metal bracelet from its hook and examined it closely, thumb rubbing
gently over the engraved letters. The
smiling face of a young man with orange skin appeared in his mind. The memories had faded over time, and all he
could remember was the man’s face and the shadows of his gentle voice and
touch. They were pleasant memories, ones
that in the beginning had brought him to fits of tears as he tried to accustom
himself to this planet. The small metal
band had been a great comfort to him then, and even though now he was far too
big for it to fit around his wrist, he still found solace in holding it when he
returned home. A jaw-cracking yawn
issued from his mouth and his eyelids fluttered to a close. Shifting slightly, he settled into a deep
sleep, bracelet entwined in his fingers.
*
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~ *
At the sound of the crash he bolted
upright, cracking his skull against the roof of the pod. A powerful tremor shook the ground, rocking
the pod from side to side and sending chunks of lava rock crashing to the
floor. A few bounced off of the pod and
he crouched down in the vessel, one hand palpitating
the growing bump on his head. When the
coast seemed clear he emerged and walked up to the lip of the crater. Another crash, louder this time, reverberated
through the cave. A second wave of
tremors, more powerful and protracted, shook the cave, and he dove away as a
large chunk of rock from above crashed into the spot where he had just been
standing. Dodging a rain of stones, he
ran out into the clearing. The quake
finally ceased and he twisted his head from side to side, surveying his
surroundings.
It was not yet
morning. The moon was still high in the
sky and the horizon above the forest was tinted with the palest shades of pink
and yellow. His nostrils flared as he
searched the air for an explanation for the rude awakening. Except for the dust stirred up by the fallen
rocks in the cave the air was clear. The
carcass of the Horn-mouth loomed into view before him and he leapt onto its
back, in hopes that a higher altitude would provide him with some more
information. No luck.
His belly rumbled
loudly and he began to rip chunks of flesh from the beast’s back and shoving
them in his mouth, swatting away the small clouds of gnats that had settled on
the carcass overnight. His ears suddenly
perked up; he could hear something in the distance. It was approaching fast, ripping through the
canopy with incredible speed. He leaned
forward, eyes straining to see into the dark depths of the jungle. The noise grew in volume as it approached,
but for all his experience he could not match it to anything he had ever heard
before. It did not belong to any
creature that crawled on the ground, nor any from the
air for that matter. He stood upright,
his head cocked to the side. The tops of
the trees were moving back and forth with a wave-like motion. The color of sky above the forest was
deepening to shades of gold and red. He
glanced at the moon at his back, then at the forest again.
He turned to look
at the moon again and was suddenly swept off his feet as a mighty gust of hot
air tore into the clearing. He didn’t
even have time to cry out in shock as he was sent face first into the dirt,
driving a shallow furrow in the ground with his nose. The heat tore at his naked body, singing the
hairs on his exposed back. Panting
loudly and clutching his bloody nose, he scampered back to the shelter the
carcass provided. The searing wind raged
past the Horn-mouth’s body; the air was soon redolent with the odor of burning
flesh and hair.
As furiously as
it had come in, the wind was gone.
Hesitantly, he peered above the Horn-mouth’s broad back, wrinkling his
nose at the stench of burnt hair. The
jungle was a mess, leaves and branches torn off, tree trunks blasted
black. What manner of beast could do this sort of damage? After a moment’s deliberation, eyes trained
on the edge of the clearing lest another wave of searing heat shoot from it, he
ran into the cave. There were a few
minor cave-ins, but nothing serious.
The pod was safe and so was the small fresh-water spring that was near
it. Falling to hands and knees, he slated
his thirst, then splashed the ice-cold water over the
burns on his back and rear, cringing as it ran over the tender base of his
tail.
He returned to
the edge of the forest after he had finished tending to his injuries. A tall
column of black smoke highlighted in a hellish red was curling up into the air
several miles distant. He studied it
with interest, dark eyes gleaming in the darkness. This was no sunrise. Marking the position of the smoke with the
stars overhead he leapt several feet into the air, landing on a tree
branch. From there he swung from branch
to branch, moving steadily upward into the higher reaches of the canopy and—he hoped—out
of range of another scorching explosion of air.
Brush fires were common in the grassy plains where the Horn-mouths liked
to graze. But in the
water-drenched center of the jungle?
Filled with curiosity and embarrassment at having been caught so off
guard, he made his way towards the source of the disturbance.
*
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~ *
Author’s
Note: Bit of a change of pace, ne? I find it hard
to believe even now that I’m finally getting to this part of the story. It’s a mixture of excitement and
surprise. Surprise because it’s taking an
entirely different direction than I had originally put down in my notes. I had initially imagined Turles being in some
sort of desert, rocky planet with a few plants here and there, but the way I
tied ends in the first part of the story sort of nixed that. Oh well, jungles are much easier and more
interesting to write. Flying snakes….alrighty then.
Anyway, I hope you’re
enjoying the story. Does it still have
that spark that got you reading in the first place (I figure that if you’ve
read this far into the story that there was at least something I did right so
that you kept reading)? Does this older
Turles seem more or less true to his surroundings and character as you see them? Please email me your comments and criticisms. I really appreciate it!
Special Thanks to
With that said, I hope everyone
enjoyed and keep those reviews coming!
--Oritsu