Secret of the Lost Species 8

Secret of the Lost Species (Chapter Eight - Part One)

By the middle of the next morning, the younger members of our expedition were halfway up the slope of the steep, rocky ridge that they had first seen rising out of the forest the previous morning. A pack of drackonacks had seen them as soon as they had became visible on the slopes, and the great beasts were now close behind. They were in a race to reach the lowest of the stone structures on the middle slopes.

“I have a wonderful idea,” Jina declared, panting. “The Lutari could ride the great big moose, and the tiny Meepit can ride the dainty Island Uni.”

“But what would you do without me?” Reve asked.

Jina rolled her eyes, her Uni ears laid back. “Oi!”

Reve was not totally heartless, all rumor to the contrary, and she could see for herself that all bets were on Moosie in this race. She began buzzing her wings, lifting herself from Jina’s back to deposit herself on the much larger moose.

The last hundred yards were the closest. The smaller but faster drackonacks were coming up quickly. The massive stone structure of the Xweetari was looming closer and closer, but Jina glanced back to find herself almost nose to nose with a drackonack that had a glint in its eye that made her feel positively appetizing. The beast snapped at her tail just as she hurtled through a doorway too small for it to follow.

“Jhudora’s Purple Underpants!” Jina exclaimed, then noticed that only the upper half of her tail remained. “Oh, crud!”

“There doesn’t seem to be anyone at home,” Lady Nim observed. The building seemed to consist of a series of empty stone chambers with a single wide passage leading straight back into the mountain before heading up in a flight of seemingly endless stairs.

Just then Parrot arrived, hurtling through the doorway just above the snapping drackonacks and settling lightly onto Moosie’s back. “Not out of trouble yet, guys. The smallest members of the pack will be here soon, and they can fit through that door.”

“Nowhere to go but up,” Nimras decided. “And Jhuodra doesn’t wear underpants.”

“Who told you that?” Jina thought about that briefly and frowned. “Oh, never mind.”

They approached the inner passage and stopped at the base of the steps. A tiny square of dim light could be seen somewhere very far above.

“I smell dead people,” Mango quipped.

Reve sighed. “Why would they send someone like us on this mission anyway?”

                                                           ~ ~ ~

Far away at Defenders Headquaters, Judge Hog was confronted with that same question.

“Why them?” The Aisha Avenger asked.

The Masked Moehog only shrugged. “They’re expendable.”

                                                          ~ ~ ~

Back in the city of the Senya, Jhudora, Ariana and I had been conferring with Queen Tyelauni as we toured the various amusements that the vulpine Neopets had been constructing. The little queen was necessarily very interested to hear our opinions about their plans to be come the next adoptable species.

“Just how much do your people really want to be adopted?” I asked.

“Its not the best of solutions, don’t ‘cha know,” Tyelauni admitted. “The truth is that not many of us are keen to leave our lands, but we just can’t defend ourselves against the giants drackonacks any more.”

Just then the Captain of the Queen’s Guard rushed up.

“My Queen, the drackonacks...” His mask suddenly slammed down, and he pushed it up again. “A large pack of drackonacks is approaching the city and headed straight toward the amusement sector.”

“We can’t afford to lose that, eh?” the Queen mused. “Gather your forces and stand ready. I don’t suppose that you and your apprentice might like to lend a little Dark Faerie magic.”

“I never refuse an invitation to engage in serious mayhem,” Jhudora answered, with that smile of wicked delight I usually see when I’ve offered to cook or give her a neck rub.

“I still have that raygun,” I added. “I just have to get it from my pack.”

“You still have plans for that Boochi Blaster?” Jhudora asked as we hurried back to the palace to prepare for battle.

“I know that it can never be adapted to make me a little younger.”

“What about me?” Ariana demanded. “Am I expected to go into battle wearing a grass skirt and coconuts?”

~ ~ ~

After climbing dark stairs for what seemed like an hour, our young companions had reached another of the abandoned stone edifices. After passing several empty rooms, they stepped out onto a covered platform of some size. Curiously, a channel of fast-moving water cut through the center of the platform, and a number of logs were piled to either side.

“What is this?” Nimras asked herself as she looked around. “This is like a log flume.”

“The flume runs for kilometers to the north,” Jina said, looking out from the open end of the platform, “Straight to some large city to the north. You can see large stone buildings rising above the forest.”

“And some of these logs have been hollowed out, like canoes,” Reve added.

“I think we have bigger concerns,” Mango interrupted them.

Snarling and growling echoed hollowly from the stairway passage, indicating that a fair number of smaller drackonacks would be upon them any moment. Small being a relative value; in size and number they rivaled a pride of lions.

“Trapped.” Nimras remarked. “Push that nearest log into the flume. We’ll ride it out of here.”

“And straight to the Xweetari,” Mango added.

“Lesser of evils,” the white Lupess reminded her. She waited until everyone had climbing into the hollow log, pushing away and jumping in behind.

At the moment heading off down the flume seemed like the best idea, and it probably was. The only real mistake, such as it was, had been placing the moose in the very front with the Island Uni just behind. They were going to be moving along very fast with three-fourths of their combined weight in the front of the log.