Gone But Not Forgotten, page 2
part #2 of The Jaxon Grey Chronicles Series
I nodded to Mya genially, but she rolled over to face away from me. Oh well, I thought, nothing to be done about it now. Better to try and get some more sleep before the long day ahead.
Our group rose with the sun a couple of hours later, and I’m not sure I slept at all after waking from the nightmare. I was still very drowsy and physically exhausted, but, nevertheless, we got to our feet and began breaking down the small camp, making sure to cover any traces of us ever having been there.
My rapt was tethered to a nearby tree, and I knew my journal was tucked safely inside one of its saddlebags. I wanted to record the intense nightmare I had dreamt, so I reached into the saddlebag for the journal, but, to my dismay, the journal was somehow gone. I was sure I had put it in the bag just beside the anacari egg, and the egg was still in there, but no journal. I trusted that no one in our group would have stolen it from me, and, to be sure, I asked the rest of the group, but none of them had any idea where it could be. It was just gone, inexplicably gone, and I was very troubled by its disappearance.
I was forced to put the journal from my mind, however, as we needed to finish the preparations for our journey. For the first leg of our trip, Lorthredo and Montaug suggested making a straight shot across the plains towards the southwestern shore of the Sea of Aspuron. At that point, they would try to find us all passage aboard a sailing ship. The Tatoran brothers apparently had connections in the region, so our group wouldn't have to fear being discovered, captured, or even killed on the spot by any outraged Tatorans. Once the ship was procured, we would use the Sea of Aspuron to connect us with the Gnar River, and would ride the river west all the way to the coast. Demtrius said we would need to head north from there, but he was never too specific.
Once on the plains, simple necessities like food and water would be hard to come by, and our current stores were already running low, so we split into groups to restock our supplies. The rapts, of course, were our most important assets, providing a nutritious milk year round in addition to shortening our journey considerably, so Montaug and Demtrius were left to guard the giant, agile lizards. Pharon and Nadina returned to a river we had crossed the day before and replenished our water-skins, while Lorthredo, Mya, and I searched for food. Lorthredo and Montaug had thought to set some traps the night before, so we went to check those first. Even if the traps turned up empty, Lorthredo was extremely knowledgeable of the jungle and was totally confident that we'd find sustenance in short time either way.
We didn't need to venture far from our camp before we happened upon an area lush with berries of various colors. Mya was set to the task of collecting the berries, while Lorthredo and I continued on to check the traps. The traps proved fruitful, and we collected several small birds, or squalm as the Tatorans call them. Our luck continued when Lorthredo uncovered a nest of uht living inside a fallen tree while we were on our way back to the berry patch. Uht are a species of large rodents, and most of them scattered when their nest was disturbed, but Lorthredo and I each managed to catch one. We had done well, but our group was fairly large and the Tatoran brothers alone could devour the paltry meal in one sitting, so we were far from well off.
We made our way back to the field of berries where we had left Mya, expecting to see her with a large collection of the sweet fruit. We looked for her among the berry patches, but she wasn't there anymore. I called her name loudly, but there was no answer. I was beginning to get very worried for her.
Lorthredo and I headed in different directions as we searched the perimeter of the berry patches, but there seemed to be no trace of Mya at all.
"Jaxon, over here!" Lorthredo shouted hurriedly.
"Did you find her?" I asked, running over to him.
"No, but I found these," he replied, pointing to a small pile of berries on the ground. "The tracks lead off into the brush. She might still be close by."
"Mya!" I continued shouting as we followed the tracks away from the berry patches.
"Where could she have gone?" I asked Lorthredo in angst.
"I'm not sure," he said dourly.
Just then, I began to smell a strong but sweet aroma. It was soothing and attractive. "Do you smell that?" I asked.
"Yes," Lorthredo replied, suddenly very excited. "It’s coming from somewhere up ahead!"
"What is it?" I asked curiously, but he was already running off into the foliage.
"Where are you going?” I shouted from behind, running after him.
“Hurry!” he shouted back to me, “before it is too late!"
"Before what is too late?” I thought to myself.
It was hard to keep up, but soon Lorthredo stopped in front of the massive green bud of a flower that looked ready to bloom. “In here!” he shouted, already punching and tearing at the bud, ripping away petals at a furious pace, digging deeper into the plant. Suddenly, the flower began to open, slowly lowering its petals to the ground. As the layers peeled back, I could see there was something in its center. It was Mya! She was somehow trapped inside the plant!
Without further hesitation, I joined Lorthredo in his efforts and started tearing away petals on the other side of the plant. Yellow bile-like fluid began running down the petals, coming from the inner pocket where Mya was imprisoned. We were soon rewarded when a limp arm dropped out, covered in the slimy yellow fluid, and, without wasting anymore time, we pried Mya’s wet body out from within the petals. She was unresponsive, but her pulse was strong and she was still breathing, so Lorthredo laid her gently on the ground.
“She’ll need some time before she will awake,” he said simply.
"How the hell did she get in there?" I asked him.
"The carnatora flower is a carnivorous plant,” he replied. “It produces a luring aroma that draws its victims into its domain, and then, while its prey is taken hold by the pernicious aroma, the plant closes its petals around its quarry and begins to fill with digestive juices. Once inside, it is impossible for you to free yourself, and the petals only squeeze tighter the more you struggle. It is a wicked plant, and if we had taken much longer we might have found Mya already partially digested."
I cringed at the thought, and suddenly remembered what Jotus and Demtrius had once told me when we first started our work in Aanthora's Harvesting District. They spoke of a plant that produced a sleeping serum, which the Aanthorans used in controlled doses to keep their citizens docile at night. It was pumped into every dwelling in the city, and I recalled the overwhelming power of its effects. Those flowers must have been of a similar breed as this deadly carnatora plant, perhaps even a genetically modified version, but I couldn’t be sure. All I knew was that this plant had nearly taken Mya from us, and I’m not sure how I would have dealt with that.
“Thank you,” I said to Lorthredo. “I-We almost lost her.”
Lorthredo nodded in reply.
“Why didn't we get lured in by the carnatora plant like Mya did?” I asked him. “We both smelled the same hypnotizing aroma that she did..”
“The answer is simple,” he replied. “With Mya already being consumed by the plant, it stopped producing the aroma, so what we smelled was only the sparse remnants of its actual lure. Trust me when I say that none of us could withstand the full effects aroma had we smelled it first.”
With that, Lorthredo began collecting the berries that Mya had dropped. I stayed with Mya though, not wanting to let her out of my sight again.
Mya slept for a while, still unresponsive to our attempts to wake her. Lorthredo reassured me that she had been heavily dosed with the plant's alluring aroma, so she would be asleep for some time. When he had finished collecting a considerable amount of berries, he handed the sack to me and then gently picked Mya up and placed her over his shoulder. It was starting to get late, and the others would be waiting for us.
Mya made a small noise as she began to stir back to consciousness. She lay on the ground in our camp, and I knelt down beside her to put my hand on her shoulder.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
She was slow to respond. "I think so," she said softly. "What happened? The last thing I can remember is picking berries, and then..."
"You were almost eaten," I said.
"Eaten?" she asked.
"Yes, by a plant," I answered.
"A plant?” she asked. “How could I have been eaten by a plant?"
"This is Tatora," I said. "Everything is out to get you."
"Thank you, Jaxon,” she said, placing her hand over mine and squeezing tenderly. “You’ve saved me yet again.”
"Don't thank me," I replied. "It was Lorthredo’s quick-thinking that saved you."
Mya turned to Lorthredo, "Thank you. I am forever in your debt."
Lorthredo couldn't understand her words, but he knew what she meant. He simply nodded in affirmation.
With Mya now fully awake, our group could finally start the first leg of our trip across the plains. Our rapts were fully rested, our bellies were full, our water-skins were filled to the brim, and it was already late in the afternoon. Knowing we would be vulnerable to unwanted detection out on the plains, Lorthredo and Montaug suggested we wait until the sun began to set before leaving the relative safety of the forest. We would pile onto the three rapts and ride as fast as we could, traveling primarily at night.
“Without incident,” Lorthredo surmised, “it should take us about a week and a half to make it to our first destination at the southwestern edge of the Sea of Aspuron. We have enough food and water for only a few days, however. We will need to find some way to procure the rest during the journey.”
Since the trip was long and our rapts would be over-burdened from our combined weight, we needed to distribute ourselves as evenly as possible between the three. Nadina and Pharon, the Scynthians, were the tallest and weighed the most, somewhere around three hundred-fifty to four hundred pounds apiece I would surmise. Lorthredo and Montaug, the Tatorans, could not be far behind them, but they were bulkier and would take up more space on the rapts. Mya was easily the smallest among us, and Demtrius and I were roughly the same size, so I was reasonably assured our combined weight could be no more than five hundred to five hundred-fifty pounds. Therefore, Lorthredo and Pharon mounted the first rapt, while Montaug and Nadina saddled atop the second rapt. Demtrius, Mya, and I all piled on to my rapt, with Mya in the rear and Demtrius at the reins. The rapt grunted from the weight, but I knew if the other rapts could carry their burdens, then ours could surely handle the three of us.
Still safely protected inside my saddlebag was the snake egg I had saved. It was rather large, and still remained inside the small sac I had made from its mother's skin, so it fit snuggly into the saddlebag. The journal, however, was still inexplicably missing.
Demtrius leaned back in the saddle, "It's about time we put this jungle behind us.”
"Indeed," I replied in contentment.
Demtrius pulled on the reins and our rapt leapt forward. Mya clutched me around the waist to avoid falling off the back of our mount, nearly pulling me with her, but I grabbed hold of the saddle to steady us.
Mya was unaccustomed to riding atop rapts, and I felt her grip tighten around me as she rested her head against the top of my shoulder. I felt her breath on my neck, and found myself enjoying the way she was pressed up against me. I know you don’t want to hear about that, but Mya’s beauty was captivating, and I am only a man.
We then proceeded onto the plains and sped off toward the Sea of Aspuron.
Chapter Two
Trouble Under Cover
The days and nights went by monotonously as we sped across the plains on our rapts. Here, there seemed to be little wildlife, with very little diversity. Not once did we pass by any farms or Tatorans, and the only view during the day was just the continuous stretch of knee-high grass. We traveled mainly by starlight, since we moved only at night and Tatora had no moon to light our path. It made our progress too slow, however, so it was soon decided that we would move during the day as well, going without much sleep. We still had to travel with the utmost caution and vigilance, but making it to the southwestern edge of the Sea of Aspuron took priority.
On the second morning of travel, I could see two large birds circling high above in the sky over an area off to our right. I pointed them out to Mya so that she could see them as well; figuring that she probably hadn't seen many in her life.
“Thehn,” Lorthredo commented in admiration. “Chiefs of the Sky.”
Suddenly, one of the thehn swooped down, diving beak first with its wings tucked in close to its body. It sped to the ground like a bullet, then, at the last second, opened its wings and turned its body. Like a parachute, the wings nearly stopped the bird in its tracks, allowing it to capture its prey between its razor sharp talons. I noticed how its top feathers were jet black, while its underbelly was a blood-red color. The massive bird immediately took off with a rabbit-like creature hanging from its talons. The other bird, also seeing the easy prey, dove from its high altitude down toward the victorious bird. It showed no signs of slowing down and seemed as if it would collide with its target. With astonishing speed, the victorious bird dropped its lunch and grappled with the challenger. They fought for a few seconds, and then released their hold on each other to avoid crashing to the ground. Neither bird, however, was able to relocate the lucky prey.
That was all that happened those first few days on the plains, but I would soon come to miss the slow, uneventful travel.
"Do you see them all?" I asked Mya, pointing far off on the plains.
"There are so many of them!" she said excitedly. "They move across the ground like waves do over the ocean! What are they?"
"They are Elders," I replied. "On Earth we have an almost identical animal, but we call them deer. Both taste excellent."
"Jaxon, what is it like there?" she asked abruptly. “On Earth.”
"That is a hard question to answer," I replied, and it was, for I had never had to describe Earth to anyone before, let alone trying to explain the countless varieties of people and their individual cultures. "In many aspects,” I said, “it is a lot like Tatora, but Earth has a much larger population compared to what I've seen here. Humans are the dominant species, and we have spread all over the planet. We have buildings that reach hundreds of feet into the sky and cities with millions of people living in them. There are also vast expanses of beautiful nature, but because there are so many of us, the wilderness shrinks by the day and the world is becoming highly polluted. Most humans have lost touch with nature, and, though we would consider ourselves more developed than the Tatorans, I'm not so sure that is true.”
“What do you mean?” she asked with intrigue.
“We are a complicated species,” I answered her. “We are capable of great feats and great kindness, but we are also prone to great atrocities and over-consumption. It seems for every step forward that we make in one area, we take several steps back in other areas. For instance, we have the technology to feed and house everyone on the planet, but there are still countless individuals that go without food and shelter.”
“Why do the humans on Earth not look after their people?” she asked. “On Scynthia, everyone is taken care of, even we humans.”
“I wish I had a good answer for you, but, like I said, humans of Earth are complicated,” I replied. “Earth is vast, and with its enormity comes a multitude of different races and cultures, all with different religions and social norms. A lot of the animosities we have now stem from long-ago conflicts between religions, conflicts between races, feuds over the land and the use of resources, and just general greed for power.”
“I see,” Mya mused.
“It is still a wonderful place,” I said, seeing her disappointment. “There are people every day that fight for our civil liberties and the sustainability of the planet. Compared to two hundred years ago, our species has made tremendous leaps forward all around. We have machines that can carry us on land, in the air, on the sea, and even in the depths of our oceans, all by just the push of a button or lever. We have devices that allow us to communicate over vast distances without any time delay, and other devices that allow us to search for information on almost anything. I’m sure you have similar technologies on Scynthia, but for us Earthlings they are not something to be taken for granted, though most of us do anyway. One thing we do not take for granted are the many avenues of recreation and entertainment. If there is one thing we can be proud of, it is our ability to have a good time.”
“So we do have a lot to be proud of,” she replied, now more content. “When I was younger, Minka and I always hoped we came from a better place than Scynthia. We dreamed of a world where humans were the masters; a place where we could be free to enjoy life’s comforts. A place where we didn’t have any wants or worries.”
Mya may have had innocent desires, but I firmly believed that the humans on Earth, because of the technology and dreams of comfort, had lost sight of what it truly means to be human. I’m not even sure I know what it means, but I’m convinced there is more to life than that which we can touch and see.
“Well,” I began, “with the good comes the bad, but overall I think you would like Earth. Maybe one day you will be able to see it for yourself.”
“I think I would like that,” she said thoughtfully.
“And if not,” I added, “Tatora isn’t such a bad place.”
Mya scoffed loudly.
"What, you don't like Tatora?" I asked.
"Definitely not," she replied without hesitation. "All these Tatorans know how to do is fight and raise crops."
"You have only seen a small portion of Tatora,” I said. “Perhaps there are other places here that you would like.”
"I don't like Tatora, and I doubt I ever will,” she replied coldly. “The only joy I have received from being exiled here is that I am no longer trapped inside the unvarying world of the Scynthians. And I have had the good fortune of meeting you, of course."
