Delivering a Warning, with Natalie Kendall – Diary Day 153
Natalie tumbles head over heels through space for an immeasurable period of time. It could be seconds, or days. Perhaps even years. Her wasted body is squeezed and stretched, expanded and contracted in painful, nauseating repetition. Lights streak past – could they be stars? – so fast she has to close her eyes. There is interminable screaming all around, screams of terror and pain. She has to cover her ears. Then, as quickly as it began, everything stops, and she realizes in a daze that she is lying on the ground in a hot, dry place. All she can hear now is her own labored breathing, interspersed with painful, wracking sobs. There is bright light behind her tightly closed eyelids. Then she hears shouts and pounding feet approaching. She opens her eyes to large boots, and slowly looks up and up into a monster's face.
Its skin is green, and from its broad mouth sprout gleaming tusks. The tusks remind her of some of the demons she's seen before, but they didn't look quite like this. Its brow is creased with fury and it shouts at her. It brandishes an axe, and she recoils in fear. Another creature steps into view and grabs the green one by the wrist. This one is even more bizarre, for it has the head of a bull. More brutish green creatures approach Natalie where she cowers on the dusty ground. There is a lot of shouting and pushing; she's surrounded, and they all seem to want a look at her.
I look strange to them, she realizes. Though she still gasps to refill lungs that were squeezed empty in the portal, Nat tries to calm herself. She now sees a differently shaped green creature, smaller than the first one to appear, but nearly as tall. A female of the species, perhaps? Though they are unfathomably strange to her, they all seem to be humanoid. Then she sees something unexpected.
Peeking from between the legs of two green people is an imp, licking its lips hungrily and leering at her. With an instinctive cry, Nat flings sand into its eyes, then kicks it in the face. She scrambles to her feet and tries to flee.
To her surprise, a green one grabs her arm. His grip is painful, and she wimpers. He realizes instantly how thin she is, and relaxes his grip, though he doesn't let go. There is more shouting; one of the green males seems particularly incensed. The one holding Natalie maneuvers himself between her and the offended one, and roars at him. He points at the imp, still shrieking and wiping grit from its eyes. The offended one sneers. Nat's protector makes a fist; she braces herself for the punch that must surely be coming, but instead of taking a swing, he flips his hand open, palm upward in front of him. Natalie is so startled she nearly comes loose from his hold.
In his hand appears a ball of fire larger than her head. Nat can feel the heat; it's not an illusion. He seems to be threatening the offended one with it. There is a stand-off for several moments, the two green males glaring at one another. Then the offended one chuckles snidely and snaps his thick fingers. The imp disappears, leaving behind a puff of smoke and the stench of brimstone. Her protector closes his fist, extinguishing the flames.
The first green male to see her now directs Natalie's protector to a building she hadn't noticed before. The bull creature follows them. Inside the building, out of the sun's glare, Nat finds she can breathe. It's much cooler here. Another bull creature seems to be in charge; the first bull talks to him while her protector leads her to a bed.
The building seems to be a round barracks or inn. There are cots along the walls, a few alcoves dug into the stone wall with lumpy bedding, and some hammocks are strung up. Natalie sits gingerly on a cot and watches her protector warily. He joins the two bull-men and they confer.
Nat finally notices how they are dressed. Her protector wears a knee-length kilt of animal hide with symbols embroidered along the hem. A broad collar of multi-colored beads sits about his neck and shoulders. He wears sandals that lace up his calves. His hair is auburn, like hers used to be, and he is clean-shaven but for a long braided beard that hangs from his chin. She looks at his hands, remembering the tight, painful grip. His hands are huge, and clearly strong. She peels her sleeve up to look at her bicep, and there is a bruise forming. It will likely be very large, and circle her entire arm. She yanks the sleeve down when she sees him returning.
The bull-men are dressed as differently as night and day: the one who assisted her wears a sleeveless robe of animal skins. One of his horns is broken off midway. The other wears a green shirt and dull greyish pants. Both bull-men bear large rings through their noses.
Her attention returns to her protector. In his large hands is a wooden trencher with half a loaf of bread, a slab of meat, and a mug on it. Her protector sits next to her and offers the trencher. Nat is uncertain, but so, so hungry. This is more food than she has seen in many months, certainly more than she could have scrounged in a handful of weeks, and he is giving it to her.
He nods encouragingly, and speaks in a quietly rumbling manner completely unlike his furious shouting at the one who controlled the demon. She finally drags her gaze up, and meets his eyes. Curiously, they seem to be so dark brown as to be almost black, yet they are kind. She gingerly takes the bread.
Natalie has not eaten something so basic as bread for a long time. Before she can stop herself, she is stuffing the entire halfloaf into her mouth, barely chewing. Her protector hastily sets the trencher aside and takes hold of her wrists. His grip is gentler, but firm. He shakes his head, clearly urging her to slow down. She now notices the bull-man standing over them. The two exchange a look between them, but their faces are so unfamiliar, she isn't sure what they are thinking.
"I'm sorry," she tells them, though they don't know her words. "I'm sorry." Nat can't look at them anymore, and stares at the half-eaten bread in her hand. She begins to weep.
Her protector takes the bread and tears smaller chunks from it. He offers her one, again nodding encouragingly. He looks brutish and violent, large and threatening, yet he is patient and kind as well. She lets him feed her. She drinks cool water from the mug. The hard pinch in her stomach relaxes. And then she vomits.
Horrified, Natalie looks from her green protector to the bull-man, trying to convey apology. To her surprise, a very clear told you so expression appears on the bull-man's face. He then returns to his countryman and fetches a fresh trencher. This time, there is only a thin slice of bread, what looks like a plantain, and another mug of water. With his own very large, oddly three-fingered hands, the bull-man tears the bread and peels the plantain for her. He crouches down on what she only now notices are legs shaped like a bull's hind legs. His hooves are as large as dinner plates; she instinctively curls her toes and scoots her vulnerable feet back to avoid being stepped on.
As she eats, the two males confer in low voices. Their words, their language, are wholly unfamiliar. They might be discussing how best to fatten her up for eating, for all she knows. Yet her protector doesn't appear to be thinking about his next meal. Now that she is becoming accustomed to his strange face, she sees lines of worry etched upon his hairless brow. She wants to tell him, to warn him and all his people, of the coming threat, but she is hindered by the language barrier. Does she have time to learn their language before the Legion comes? Or are they already here?
She recalls the imp, forgotten with the offer of food. It seemed to be under the control of the offended one. Her protector showed great animosity toward him, as though they had a long-standing feud. When threats were leveled, her protector chose fire as his weapon, though a hammer with a thick, squarish head hangs from his belt. He commands fire.
Natalie looks at her protector, watches his heavy jaw move as he speaks. She sees how his thick lower lip curls around his mighty tusks. She notes the sharp point of his ear, and the ladder of silver hoops piercing it. Glinting on one tusk is a bronze band. His neck is thick, his shoulders broad. Though he towers over her, his body is stockily proportioned. She notes with embarrassment that he bears the telltale signs of mammalian heritage: nipples and a belly button. His people are not so terribly different, then.
Then her protector stands. He glances at her, then leaves the building. Natalie almost follows, but the bull-man gestures for her to stay put. Soon her protector returns, and offers her a hand up. She rises and follows him out.
Calmer now, she is able to notice the small village she has appeared in. There are several small huts, one with a mill powered by the wind. There is a tower on a hill. More strange people are going about their business, though they stare at her with a mix of curiosity and hostility. She sees thin blue males with angular faces and tusks as long as her forearm. Her protector takes her to another of his kind. There are strange winged creatures on perches behind him.
They speak together for a few moments, then the male takes the reins of one of the creatures and urges it to the ground. Natalie is baffled by this creature's mix of animals. Its head and body are very lionine, yet it has bat wings stretching between its forelegs and shoulders. Her protector gently urges her toward the animal.
It wears a saddle. Does he mean for her to ride it?
That is, apparently, what he wants. Natalie has never even ridden a horse; thankfully, this beast is much lower to the ground. Swallowing nervously, she holds the saddle and swings one leg over. The beast remains docile beneath her. To both her relief and shy discomfort, her protector mounts behind her.
Her body involuntarily compresses as he reaches around in front of her to take the reins. His chest presses against her back, and she stiffens. She is too distracted by the invasion of her personal space by such a strange, brutish creature to prepare herself. When he clucks his tongue and kicks the beast's flanks, she only has a split second to fully realize what is happening, then the beast launches itself straight up into the air. Natalie instinctively grabs hold of the mane with both hands and screams. Its wings unfurl and flap, bobbing its body in a jerking, up and down motion as it gains altitude. The ground falls away below them far too quickly for her comfort.
Her protector speaks soothingly, perhaps telling her it'll be all right. Natalie has her doubts. The beast levels off and begins to fly in a more gentle way, gliding for the most part. Though she tells herself it will only make things worse, Natalie peeks over the male's right arm.
An arid grassland similar to the Serengheti rolls past. She can see familiar animals – zebras and giraffes – grazing below. In the distance on either side, there are small mountains. Are those hyenas and lions? She blinks, thinking she must be imagining things. How could such familiar animals be here, on another world?
Her protector tugs the reins, and the flying beast banks sharply. Panicking, Natalie presses hard into his chest and grips his arm more tightly. She can hear, and feel, him chuckle, but it doesn't seem derisive. More gentle, calming words follow, but Natalie is now growing nauseous. The food they gave her was mild, yet her consistently empty stomach is no longer prepared for more than a few bites at a time. The motion of the beast, the distance of the land below them, the frequent rising and falling with the flapping wings... Natalie begins to convulse.
She feels her protector yanking hard on the reins and shouting. He is urging the beast down, but Natalie doesn't think they'll make it to the ground in time. She makes a mighty effort to keep her gorge down, but the sudden drop in altitude does her in. Her stomach heaves violently, and all she can do is aim over the side.
Natalie is fairly certain she hears an expletive in her protector's next words.
Once they cross a river bordering the grasslands, she is surprised to see a desert land with a somewhat out-of-place floodplain. There is even a large crescent-shaped body of water that probably shouldn't be there. Her protector points ahead, and she sees a great wall with giant spikes. In front of the wall are arrayed siege engines under construction, with many large and small green creatures hammering away. Then the flying beast clears the wall and she realizes they have entered a great city. Directly in front of the main gates stands a huge building something like a keep, yet nothing like she's seen in books of medieval history. The ground below is teaming with people like those she saw in the village. A plateau rises behind the keep, and seems to be their destination.
To Natalie's surprise, the flying beast eases gently to the ground. She expected a rougher landing. Her protector dismounts and is immediately accosted by another green male, yelling at him and pointing furiously at the sick-streaked saddle.
Natalie slowly looks around. A large pen full of flying beasts is nearby. A wooden-slatted walkway connects giant towers at either end of the plateau. Hovering bizarrely next to one tower is what looks like a sea-faring ship suspended below a blimp. Another of those long-tusked people lopes by. Several heads turn curiously in her direction, but none show particular shock. Natalie wonders at that; there seemed to be great confusion in the village where she appeared.
She is distracted by her protector, who has finally freed himself from the angry one. He leads her down the walkway and up a ramp into yet another tower that rises up from the ground below and stands alongside the plateau. A great hole is in the floor. Her protector stops at the edge and waits. Natalie hears a great mechanism grinding loudly, but can't find the source of the noise. Then she sees a platform rising up through the hole.
"An elevator?" she mutters incredulously. Something so simple and familiar surprises her. When the platform stops flush with the floor, he steps onto it, and she follows. Another minute passes, then the platform jerks into motion and descends again.
He leads her out of the bottom of the tower onto a dusty street flanked by cliff walls. Built into the rock on either side, and above along ledges, are what look like shops, for there seem to be many green and blue folk haggling for goods inside. The smell of roasting meat fills her nostrils as they pass, and her mouth waters. Natalie is overwhelmed by the strangeness of this place, and its people; there are so many questions she wants to ask, but no one would understand her. She cranes her neck and turns this way and that, taking in all the sights like a tourist in a foreign land.
Finally, her protector seems to have reached his destination. They have passed through a passageway in another wall similar to the one in front of the keep, and emerged into a large valley. To the left is a pond in which several people are fishing. Many more buildings of varying sizes fill the open space. He guides her along the street to a fork and turns right. Huts for commercial purposes give way to more residential-looking structures built into the rock wall or alongside it. He stops at one and knocks on the doorframe, for there is only a curtain serving as a door.
Another green male draws the curtain aside and emerges. He is dressed the same as her protector, albeit with different jewelry. The two talk for several minutes; her protector gestures at her more than once. The other male looks startled; perhaps the tale of her arrival is shocking.
I wish I knew what they were saying! she laments.
Whatever the topic of their discussion, it seems to have reached a conclusion. The other male joins them, and Natalie must follow. The heat and the stress are beginning to tell; Natalie stumbles behind the two males, squinting in the bright sunlight, her stomach rumbling. Her strength is flagging; she fixates on her protector's heels, but she is otherwise disengaged from what is going on around her. It is all so strange!
The dusty road becomes a stone stairway, and they ascend. Natalie barely acknowledges the increase in the wind, or the winged beasts soaring through the sky. To her surprise, they stop at a hut, and the other male knocks on the doorframe. She expects to see another green person. Her jaw drops when she finds herself face-to-face with a human.
