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Author's Note: Zajen pronounced SA-shen
Triano the Pepito muttered on his king-sized clam bed,
asleep. The thing was a hideous pink color, but it was the largest the store
had that would fit inside of his tank. A few disgruntled air bubbles drifted
from the clam, and Triano tossed again, knocking his sheets askew. He had a
perfectly good reason for his restless sleep. Naturally, it was a dark and stormy
night, if that cliché can ever be forgiven.
Of course, it was not an ordinary storm.
Oh, no. They're never ordinary storms. This was a storm in the Haunted Woods,
and creepy things come out at night in the Woods, especially during a storm
such as the one that crackled and popped like freshly wet NeoCrunch.
"Outlast!" Triano bellowed, stuffing his
head into the air bubble bowl that projected his orders out of his mansion of
a fish tank. "Go to sleep! We have to take over Neopia tomorrow, and I need
you to…" he muttered and withdrew his head, collapsing on his violet sheets
with a gurgle. He was in desperate need of some evil bedding.
The night was silent for a moment, save
the rain pounding on the roof of the lone Neohome made of discarded silverware.
The monstrosity sat, stainless, of course, in the middle of a bubbling swamp.
A stone bridge was hastily wedged in the sticky mess and led into the blessedly
not-bubbling forest, though it still managed to be at least a little creepy.
A muddy path led off from the bridge,
and split in two not far off. The second, smaller trail was so overgrown that
it would not have been noticed save for a very large wooden sign driven into
the ground with a stake. OUTLAST'S PRUNE GARDEN, the sign read, STAY OUT, SABIN!
Down this path led to, of course, a garden.
Great trees stood in manicured rows in the clearing, their bare branches making
eerie shadows on the wet ground. On the far side, a large brick building reared
up, used for pruning, storing, and experimenting with the plums, and later prunes.
But just outside the garden, a little ways off the path, was a pitiful shed.
Its roof sagged tiredly, and its sides leaned with the effort of maintaining
the exhausted roof. A half-hinged door had been furiously jammed into its frame
and a single cobweb-covered window was open slightly, refusing to budge.
Inside, a Pirate Krawk paced irritably,
unable to sleep, and not just for the rain that made his roof creak dangerously,
or for the cracks of thunder that left the ground trembling. His last harvest
hadn't gone too well, and his trees were unhappy. He could always tell when
they were unhappy.
Outlast the Krawk muttered and grumbled
as he paced, stomping on the broken, cracked wooden floor of the one-room shack
that held a tiny wooden bed crammed into one corner and a counter, cabinets,
and sink jammed into the opposite. A candle flickered on the counter, waving
wildly from the wind that whistled through the half-open window. The silver
hook that took the place of his right claw glistened cruelly in the semi-darkness,
and Outlast's shadow made a horrifying image on the lighted wall.
He turned on his heel after nearing one
wall, and leaped back as another smaller, winged shadow flickered on the same
wall.
"Hi-ya Outlast!" the shadow cried.
The candle winked out just as Gavdrael
the Scorchio entered the plum tree grove. He was naturally dark-colored, though
one wouldn't know it by the deep-hooded black cloak that he was never seen without.
His silver sword was concealed in that cloak, without a scabbard, as those were
too much of an unnecessary hassle for the Atichen guard.
He knew the little buggers were out there.
It was just like them to be prowling about during the night in an awful storm.
As if the thought triggered it, the rain pounded ever harder, feeling like hail
on Gavdrael's hood. A streak of forked lightning crashed into the ground and
seemed to make the rain shake with its force.
A dark shadow with golden eyes crept up
behind Gavdrael, and he turned just in time to meet it.
*
Finally, Triano was roused. Muttering -- as well he could mutter, in that
water-filled tank, he jumped out, and pressed the blue button on his desk that
lowered it back into the floor. So maybe his sleeplessness wasn't Outlast's
fault this time, but he'd be sushi before he apologized to the idiot Krawk.
Still muttering, he jumped off the desk
and flopped awkwardly out the door of his office and down the hall. Lightning
illuminated the Neohome sporadically, and thunder boomed loud enough to keep
Triano jumping. He poked his head in every room for the Krawk or anyone else
up at that hour -- it was nearly 3 AM, after all, but that storm could wake
the dead.
As Triano went past the spiraling steel
staircase that led to Mareni's room on the first floor, he heard a scratching
noise from above. Thinking it to be the green Doglefox, he squeaked, "Mareni?"
The noise stopped, but Triano could hear
soft footsteps coming down. From his spot behind the stairs, he could see nothing.
Terrified, Triano slid around the side of the steps and looked up.
"You're awfully pathetic, fishy boy,"
Capone the Christmas Meepit sneered as she sauntered down the stairs. "Afraid
of the little storm?" Lightning flashed and boomed with Capone's mocking laugh.
"And you want to take over Neopia? Ha! Like you ever will." She stood on the
floor now, tapping her foot and watching in amusement while Triano glared.
"I was not afraid! And how dare you speak
like that to your leader! I'll have you…"
"You are not my leader. Mareni is the
one that pays me. You've barely got a handful of Neopoints, and the only ones
who follow your poor excuse for plots of world domination are too stupid to
matter."
"Are you calling me stupid, Capone? I
would hate to think you were," Mareni's soft, smooth voice hissed down the stairs
and the Doglefox himself followed, with only his gleaming white teeth and glittering
black eyes visible in the darkness between lightning flashes.
Capone gaped, and her large eyes grew
larger for a moment before she quickly regained composure. "I… I didn't mean
you, Mareni! You're far from stupid! Far, far from it!" She gulped and glared
at Triano as if it were his fault she had said it in the first place.
"I didn't think so." Mareni's smile was
venomous at best, but always tinged with keen insanity.
"Trouble sleeping, my friend?" The Doglefox
turned to Triano, and Capone may as well not have existed for the amount of
attention he now paid to her.
"Yes," Triano said warily. He was always
wary around Mareni, as it was best to be. Crazy or not, the Doglefox was smart.
"The storm woke me up, and I was trying to find Outlast."
"I believe he's out in his garden. I saw
that strange Scorchio of Keeta's sneak off in that direction, too. It's best
not to trust that one, you know." Mareni said almost absently.
Triano watched Mareni cautiously. "Gavdrael
is one of the most trustworthy Neopets I know."
Mareni shrugged. "He's too quiet, if you
ask me, but make whatever fool decisions you wish.
"Come, now, Capone. We've got to get going."
Mareni jumped off the last step and started for the door, and Capone jumped
and scurried to follow.
"Where do you think you're going?" Triano
demanded, flopping and sliding in the direction of the door.
"Well, that's no business of yours, now
is it?" Mareni didn't even look back when he said it, and Triano fumed.
The Pepito moved quickly forward as the
two other petpets slipped through the flap at the bottom of the door reserved
for them. When Triano followed them out, they were gone, and he could barely
see through the sheets of white rain pounding down around him, even when the
lightning illumined the stone bridge before him. Muttering once more, he rubbed
his head with a fin. "I shouldn't trust Gavdrael?" Looking up at the black,
cloudy sky, Triano grimaced, "Might as well try and find Outlast while I'm getting
drenched." Reluctantly, he set out across the stone bridge, oblivious to the
fact that he was being carefully observed from the tree line.
To be continued...
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