Queen's Notes- This story was co-authered with In The Light and myself, it is the sequel to our story 'Hordika under the Bed', however there is only going to be these set of chapters [9 in total] and ends where we left off. This story on HOLD until\if Light comes back.
I still do not know where she is, or if she will come back under the same name. I dearly hope and pray that she's alright, where ever she is.
Cubs On The Bed
A jet black canine that had successfully run off from her owner and was bounding through brush and trees, obviously ignoring the yells behind her. The dog knew something was in here, and it wanted to find out.
A sneeze came from under one of the shrubs, followed by a chirp. There was a familiar smell around the bush, only this time there was a slightly more defenseless-ness and younger edge to it. Two sets of dimly glowing eyes peeked out and ducked back in.
The black Labrador sniffed the air with a small questioning whine, moving forward to the shrubs as she sniffed along the ground at the new, interesting smell. The dog pushed at the shrubs slightly with her muzzle with a little whine.
A hiss, not like any cat, came from within the bush and a small paw with little needle claws took a swipe at the bigger muzzle. The hiss had a near frantic tone to it and echoed by a second voice.
The canine jerked back a bit with a small surprised cry, alerting her owner as to where she was; Abby could hear her coming now. But this scent seemed oddly familiar to the dog. She sat and panted, watching the shrubs and wiggling with small excitement at the memory that came with the scent.
Soft chirps and chittering came from under the shrub, and cut off as the human came over, but not in time to not be heard. There was some rustling and then all movement stopped as whatever was in the bush froze.
Abby gave a half-bark and stood on all fours as the female human came to a stop, but no longer planning on scolding her dog. Instead she stared at the shrubs with a perplexed look, tipping her head softly as a cold wind rustled the trees. "What... What did you find, Abs?"
Nothing, not sound or movement came from the bush, but there had been that odd chittering not a minute before... Then something sneezed again in there.
Mic blinked with a small gasp of surprise. The sneeze didn't sound like a dog's sneeze as far as she knew. The girl got down on her knees in the ground and reached a hand to part some of the bushes, curiously.
Alarmed chirping was the result and two slender seeming forms that were huddling against the 'trunk' of the shrub. Two wedged shaped heads swiveled around to blink up at Mic, one set of eyes were red the other red and blue
"Wuh tha-?" Mic bounced back for a moment, startled. She had been expecting something like a cat, not... what? Abby watched as the human went forward again to take another look.
One of the two creatures jumped forward, hissing and humping up it's back, the blunted muzzle opening to show off tiny needle fangs that unfolded from the roof of the mouth, the normal teeth small with a few missing here and there. It's body was a rusty red with darker strips and a half formed spinner patch between the shoulder blades. Red and orange eyes glared as this tiny reptile form stood defensively in front of the paler form that was crouched lower.
However despite the hissing, the little red thing had its tail down and shacking on his paws.
Mic jerked back a bit, startled at this... thing? Creature? She tried to come up with a word for it as Abby barked a few times, coming forward before she pushed her back again. That's when it hit her. They looked like mini... hordika?
"Oh my gosh, it can't be... Vakama?"
The hissing stopped mid sound, the creature- the (relatively) tiny hordika backed up and eyed Mic. His tail wrapping up with the other farther in the bush, the result was twin chirps as the two got tangled up and fell on top of each other.
The human giggled quietly, even though she was still trying to understand what they were... they were so small! She moved forward slowly to try and keep from appearing to be a threat, reaching a hand forward cautiously. "Hey," she murmured, ignoring the dog behind her.
Two heads popped up, one red the other white, they eyed the offered hand before the more daring red one, Vakama, slowly extended his neck to sniff at Mic's finger tips. He tilted his head and chirped.
She quirked a tiny smile at the hordika cub, "I'm not gonna hurt you two... but where the heck did you...? And why are you so small?" she seemed to be asking these questions to herself.
The white cub chittered at her in response as if answering, his half formed spined sale lifting up as he did so.
'Nuju,' Mic thought watching him. She reached forward a hand before stopping and turning it palm-side up instead of before.
The two cubs eyed her again, leaning back at the approach of the hand before sniffing at her fingers again, their bodies still tense as if expecting trouble. When a muzzle brushed against the human's skin it was cool, almost cold and nothing like the warmth of the last time Mic had met the hordika.
Mic frowned slightly at the temperature she felt from them. "You guys must be cold out here," she said, softly giving Nuju's head a gentle stroke.
The little hordika hesitated before leaning into the touch, and then more as he realized how warm her fingers were. Nuju gave a soft murring sound and reached up to grasp at her wrist... and then gave as pitiful sound as any Mic had ever head. Vakama picked up the sound with a pleading edge.
"Alright, don't worry," Mic said quickly, slipping off her jacket. "You two are coming back to my place. Get you warmed up and something to eat... Abby! Stop chasing the lizards!" She set the jacket down on the ground and gently motioned Nuju to get on it. "C'mon, it's okay."
The two cubs blinked at her, Nuju suddenly looking up as a crow sounded off. With a fearful cheep he ducked down lower to the ground, sale flattening as Vakama started to hiss again, but up wards.
"It's just a bird, don't worry," Mic told them, moving to carefully pick Nuju up and set him on the jacket, intending to wrap them both up in it for the walk back home to keep them warm and (mostly) out of sight just in case.
Nuju meeped, startled, and the sound was echoed by Vakama as he was placed beside his brother. The two huddled together, no longer so sure out of the safety of the bush.
"Alright," Mic said, wrapping the piece of clothing around them securely. "That should help out 'till we four get home." Whistling for Abby, Mic lifted the bundled hordika up against herself and stood, offering them a small smile. "You guys alright?"
Vakama poked his head out of her jacking, Nuju's nose creeping out before both ducked back down and squirming until they were more comfortable. They didn't protest but were pressing closer to Mic's body in an attempt to heat leach.
Mic held them tightly as she started through the trees and onto the track of the park nearby, deciding she could pass them off as pups or something if asked by anybody, which hopefully wouldn't happen. Abby trotted alongside her owner, looking up at the bundle with a small whine, knowing what it was hiding.
A meep answered the dog's whine, and after a moment Nuju peeked out, his sale lifting a bit as he looked around. He would have seen a strange-looking area of multi-colored structures with things swinging back and forth in the wind, creaking slightly as the human walked past. The hordika cub gave a sneeze, thankfully nothing seemed to come out before he squirmed back down so only his nose was poking out
Mic smiled slightly, holding the hordika-bundle protectively with a shudder at the cool wind. "Thankfully the house isn't too far from here," she murmured. A thought came to her, wondering if the other hordika might be around as well... if that was the case, she hoped she'd find them before anyone else did.
The pearly white hordika cub suddenly popped his head and neck out again sniffing and then letting out a trill, squirming in a different way now. Vakama protested in the jacket as Nuju slid out and half on Mic's shoulder, one paw scrambling to get caught in her hair.
"Oy! Nuju!" Mic protested. Luckily she had stopped behind a small tree facing away from neighborhood homes. She moved and arm to try and get him back in, also noticing that Abby had grown a little alert.
Nuju seemed bound and determined to get on top of the human's head, his long tail flicking to keep balance as he jumped to land on a not in the tree's trunk. His little claws sunk in and hanging on, now eye level with Mic. The cub chirped at her and Vakama, who was looking at his brother like he was nuts.
Mic gave the little white hordika a look as well. "What the heck are you doing, Nuju?" By now Abby had jumped and placed her paws on the tree, giving a bark... at Nuju, right?
A chirp answered the bark...but neither Nuju or Vakama had made it. In fact Nuju, wavering in his balance looked up and started to chitter, echoed from within the branches of the tree. Reaching with one arm to help steady and try to grab Nuju as well, Mic tilted her head and looked up as Abby whined back at the chirp.
A pair of orange eyes were warily peeking out from the dim branches, watching as Nuju was picked up again.
"Oh no," Mic stared up at the green hordika cub looking downward as she tucked Nuju back with Vakama. "Matau..."
The orange eyes blinked and the cub chirped again at his name. Though he showed no signs of being overly wary, or aggressive like Vakama had been, he also wasn't getting down let alone moving other then tilted his head the other way.
"Oh for crying out loud," the human muttered, hand to her fore head before stooping and setting the two hordika and their jacket down on the ground. She sent a tiny glare Matau's way with a small shiver. "You're not gonna come down by yourself, are you?"
Matau meeped at her and drew back a little.
On the ground Nuju and Vakama were craning their necks back to look up at their green and red striped brother. Abby stood near the cubs as Mic sighed and reached, grasping a tree branch and grunting as she pulled herself up, climbing into the tree. Vakama turned his attention to the canine, a little wary but giving the lab a hesitant murmer as Nuju sniffed at her nearer paw. Abby leaned down and lightly sniffed Nuju's back, tail wagging slightly before the dog looked up on hearing another grunt. Mic had made it to the thickest branch that could support her.
She looked at Matau. "Can you at least come over to me, then I'll get us both down?"
Matau gave a soft snort, or so it sounded like a snort and he ducked his head, closing the inner lids to mostly block the glow of his eyes. Mic blinked at him and shifted her weight slightly, grasping the branch a little nervously, obviously not a very good tree climber.
"Matau..." she muttered.
She got a chirp again, but as soon as Mic came even with the cub it made sense why he wasn't moving. Almost the whole outer side of Matau's back right leg, or at the very least his thigh looked scabbed over. He had been hurt and managed to get to the only safe place he could think of: up.
Mic grimaced on seeing it, now understanding why the hordika was up here and not making any moves to get down without help. Holding one branch for balance, she reached over and slowly grabbed him, murmuring to try and keep him calm, and maybe herself too. The cub gave a whine, but didn't really struggle in her grasp, seeming to go limp instead. Like his brothers, Matau seemed to be too cold as well, but the wood of the tree had insolated him a bit better then the ground had.
Mic now had the task of getting down with only one hand, using the other to hold Matau. Keeping him close to her chest, she began to 'climb' back down again, the muscles in her legs beginning to strain. Thankfully it didn't take very long, even though she ended up falling/sliding down the rest of the way at a point
Matau of course was complaining during this, and at seeing Abby he started to struggle. Hissing turned to a high whine of panic that had Vakama and Nuju chattering in response.
Panting slightly, the human pushed Abby's curious nose away and gave Matau's back a light stroking to calm him down. "It's alright, she's not gonna hurt you..."
What she got was a squirming hordika cub that somehow got into Mic's shirt, pressing against her skin and essentially hiding there as he trembled. Blinking, slightly going red in the face, Mic let out a sigh. "O-Okay... he's scared of dogs." She decided that the sooner they got home the better, and moved to gather up the two other hordika and quickly start walking again.