Pages of a Lost Past: Part Three

Kachie and I finally made it to the edge of the canyon about an hour before sunset. We decided to stop here for the night. Kachie helped me look for some wood so we could start a fire. Because of the environment we were in, there wasn't much wood, but we did manage to find a small dead tree. With a little work we were able to rip it out of the ground and break it in to pieces. Within minutes we had a nice fire going. Then I started digging through my bag for some food. I found a couple bars of chocolate and broke off a small piece for my Psimouse. Afterwards I got out my cards and Kachie and I played for a while.

     "You know Kachie, I always thought Eliv Thade's name was an anagram for Evil Death. I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it? Then I read that story in the Neopian Times, Anagram. I would have guessed evil and live. But I never would have guessed veil. Go figure, huh Kachie?"

     Kachie squeaked in reply.

     "Okay I play two threes. Your turn, Kachie." Kachie played a four and then asked me a question... well, squeaked me a question.

     "A four! Darn it... I've got nothing." I picked up the pile. "I'm not sure how far it is, Kachie. Could be a couple days, could be a week."

     Kachie squeaked again, then played two sixes.

     "That's probably a good idea. We'll finish this game first and then go to sleep." I played two sevens.

     * * *

     The sky showed the faintest hint of morning as Sibertiger9, TigerLily, Mysticat, and LuckDragon drifted on the ferry on the lazy tide halfway to the Lost Desert. The Island Techo who owned the ferry paddled with a steady constant motion. None of them had said a word for several hours. The only noises came from the paddle slicing through the clear water and the Island Techo who had been humming since they had left Mystery Island.

     "If you're going to be humming the ENTIRE time, could you at least change the tune every once in a while?" Sibertiger9 said irritably. The Techo seemed not to hear her because he continued humming the same tune. Sibertiger9 took 10NP out of her pocket and chucked it at the Island Techo. The Techo immediately starting humming something a bit brighter. And then Mysticat looked up suddenly.

     "I hear voices," said Mysticat. She pointed all four of her ears in the direction she was looking. The others looked around trying to see anything in the water, but it was difficult to see anything at all in the twilight hours. As the voices grew louder they started to sound familiar. Sibertiger9 decided to take a guess on who it was.

     "Kasey! Is that you?!" she yelled. There was a few seconds of silence and then she got a reply.

     "Yeah! It's me! Who are you?"

     "It's Sibertiger9!"

     "Really? I was just coming to see you! I saw Ruffle earlier!"

     "What?!" yelled Sibertiger9 and her pets in unison. They all leaned toward the edge of their raft against the Island Techo's desperate pleas. The Island Techo struggled to keep the raft from tipping, but his efforts were futile. The raft flipped over, spilling everyone on it into the water.

     * * *

     I woke up just as the sun was starting to rise. Just as I had predicted to Kachie, my Psimouse, I had had another strangely familiar dream and it told me exactly where we needed to go next. Kachie was already awake and waiting for breakfast. I rummaged through my bag and found another bar of chocolate. I broke off a piece for Kachie and shoved the rest in my pocket so I could pack up my stuff and get going. I wanted to get an early start before it got too hot out. Kachie climbed up to my shoulder to sit. I headed toward the path that went around the side of the cliff. It was in the dream I had back home two days ago, and it was in the dream I had last night. Far below, the river I had followed here from the edge of the Lost Desert fell into a canyon and continued on. Once I had started down the path I pulled out the bar of chocolate and broke another piece off for Kachie and I finished off the remainder. We walked in silence, the wind whistling through the canyon, and the roar of the river far below us. I kept running last night's dream through my head so I wouldn't forget where I was supposed to go, and before I knew it the sun was already high in the sky, scorching hot.

     I pulled out a bottle of water and shared it with Kachie. We finished it off quickly for fear of dehydration. Just as I was putting the empty bottle back in my bag I heard a noise. It sounded like footsteps... large footsteps... and something else. I began to panic. I didn't want anyone to see me, because what if they told Sibertiger9 and my siblings where I was? Plus the fact that I was in a completely new area and for all I knew it could be some blood sucking beast coming my way. I frantically looked for a place to hide as the noise quickly grew louder... but why was I kidding myself? "I'm on a path on the side of the cliff! There is nowhere to hide! " So I did the only thing I could do... I jumped.

     * * *

     "So you DID see Ruffle in the Lost Desert? You're ABSOLUTELY sure?" Sibertiger9 asked Kasey for the third time. After Sibertiger9 and her pets 'accidently' tipped their raft over and took a swim, it took a lot of persuasion (and about a couple hundred NP) to get the Island Techo to agree to let them back on the ferry. But she had switched on to Kasey's ferry so she could talk to her about Ruffle. Amaranthela, Kasey's yellow Shoyru fanned her with her wings to dry her off as they talked.

     "Yes, I'm sure I saw her. We stopped to say hi, but she seemed to be in a hurry. She said she was going to see an old friend. Who do you know in the Lost Desert?"

     "We don't know many people in the Lost Desert. We mainly go there to visit Coltzan's shrine. And we definitely don't have any 'old friends' there. Unless she was talking about Coltzan, in which case that would be really weird..." and her voice drifted off as she pondered this possibility.

     "Then where do you think she'd be going?" asked Safaraze (Kasey's blue Zafara and Ruffle's best friend).

     Sibertiger9's mind drifted back to the conversation, "I honestly don't know... Ruffle's been having strange dreams lately... she won't... tell us what they're about but they've really been bothering her... she hasn't told you about her dreams, has she, Safaraze?"

     "Yes, but she merely mentioned them. Nothing more. That's all I know, I'm sorry," the Zafara replied. There was a long pause after this because there really wasn't much more to say. Back on the other raft TigerLily, Mysticat, and LuckDragon were having their own discussion.

     "... yeah, says someone with a split personality."

     "LUCKDRAGON! How many times do I have to tell you?! I DO NOT have a split personality! Just because I'm painted split doesn't mean my mind is too!" the Aisha retaliated.

     "Just keep telling yourself that," LuckDragon replied. Mysticat growled and flicked her tail, not knowing how to respond. Her robot angelpuss however beeped something at the silver Shoyru.

     "You tell him, MysticAngel!" Mysticat growled through a mischievous smile.

     "You know what? I just realized I left CryptoManiac locked in the storage room... shame," TigerLily said with obvious sarcasm and the other two laughed.

     * * *

     Now, hanging on to the side of a cliff with a roaring river about 200 feet below me wasn't exactly my idea of the ideal hiding spot, but hey, it was the best I could do. Kachie wasn't too happy about it either, and trust me, she was letting me know.

     "Kachie, would you be quiet?!" I whispered. The Psimouse squeaked and growled.

     "Well, if we do fall, at least you have an umbrella! Now shut up, you're going to get us caught."

     The footsteps came closer, I could tell they were within 20 feet of me. I hugged the cliff wall as best I could despite the fact that there wasn't really anything to hold on to. The footsteps were right above me now... and then to my horror they stopped. I held my breath so I wouldn't make any noise. Then I heard the sounds of sniffing followed by a man's voice.

     "What is it?... There isn't anything down there, boy, now move along."

     The sniffing creature whimpered but followed its master's command. I peeked my head over the edge to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that had made the noise. It was brown and white and very large, but I couldn't tell you what it was. And hitched onto it was a wooden two-wheeled cart. But I couldn't see who it was that had spoken. After I climbed back onto the path I was scolded by Kachie.

     "I take it you're mad?"

     She jumped up and down, growled a few times, brandished her fists at me, and after her eyes turned red she smacked my ankle with her umbrella.

     "Ow! Fine, ok, I promise never to do that again... without warning you first. Now come on. We still have a long way to go."

     And so we pressed on. I went to take out another bar of chocolate for us to eat but soon realized it was far past the melting point, so I chucked the wrapper over the cliff and me and Kachie just licked the chocolate off my arms. And eventually we drank what was left of the water, but not before coming across a sign. A sign that said:

     Welcome to A Long Way

     Population: 79

     And suddenly something flashed through my head. Now I knew the heat was starting to get to me but there was something familiar about this sign...

     * * *

     Sibertiger9, Kasey, and their pets landed at the Lost Desert at around 9 in the morning. But before they started on the day's search they decided it would be a good idea to get a big breakfast. Afterwards they split up and TigerLily, Mysticat, and Safaraze soon found an old female Bruce wandering the outskirts of town. She walked with a twisted wood cane and wore traditional Lost Desert attire. Safaraze was the first to approach the Bruce.

     "Ex... excuse me? Ma'am?" the Zafara asked tentatively. But apparently the Bruce didn't hear her. Safaraze tried again but got the same response. So TigerLily walked up to the Bruce and put her paw on her shoulder and shouted, "Hey lady!" The Bruce fell backwards and started flailing her limbs slowly, as if swimming on her back, and she wailed.

     "OOOOOOOOHHHHH!!! WWWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! EEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

     TigerLily's jaw dropped and her ears went back. "Oh no... I gave the poor woman a heart attack..." she said. Mysticat and Safaraze looked at her then back at the old Bruce; none of them had a clue what to do. The old Bruce continued her slow motion flailing and her screeches with her eyes tight shut. Mysticat and Safaraze, after several minutes, decided to try and help her up but whenever they touched her she just screamed louder.

     "OOOOOHHHHH DEEEEEAAAAAARRRRR!!! WWEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAOOOOOOO!!!"

     TigerLily just stood there wilting, thinking she had actually given the old Bruce a heart attack and that she would croak any minute.

     "Maybe we should just wait this out?" suggested Safaraze.

     * * *

     It was so hot out... too hot out. We were out of water. It was obvious that Kachie had already been seriously affected by the heat. I took my cloak off, and it helped cool me down a little. I had to find water soon, especially for Kachie. My feet felt like bricks; I could barely pick them up off the ground. I could see waves of heat coming from the ground. I bet the water down in that canyon is nice and cool, I thought to myself. I realized I had been staring at the ground for the past hour so I lifted my head up to see where I was. There was something in the distance. Not much more than a dot. I continued walking toward it. The dot got steadily bigger until I realized it was a well. A well! A well has water! Nice cool water... but my vision was blurring. It was getting harder to keep my head up. I struggled to keep my self going in a straight line, straight towards the well. I was almost there. I reached out my paw... and then everything went black.

To Be Continued...

Questions? Comments? Feel free to neomail me. ~Sibertiger9