Chapter 10 in almost record time. Sure I know it's shorter than usual but why bother stretching things when there's no need? I hope however many of you still read this despite my atrocious lack of punctuality find it enjoyable, and as always feel free to hurl some criticism my way. Healthy, well thought out, reasoned and justified criticism, preferably with a couple of pointers on how I could remedy the issue.
Chapter 10
Above and Below
Sitting alone atop his sister's shoulders Eddie couldn't help but dwell tirelessly on what had happened. It had been almost a week and many miles of travel since Sarah, Crash and Diego had fallen down into the underground. He tried as hard as he could to remain optimistic about their chances, but with there being neither sight nor sound of any of them it was getting harder and harder to remain hopeful for their safe return.
Although he'd never really liked Diego all that much, Sarah had been one of only a very few females in Eddie's life who had let him come anywhere near her without cringing and slapping him if he had the audacity to so much as accidentally brush past her. What this said about her exactly was something that had never really occurred to him, like a great many things in his life he was perfectly happy with whatever he could get his paws on.
Unfortunately this in no way resembled how he felt toward Crash. Even the mere thought of never seeing him again gave Eddie a terrible sinking feeling unlike any he had ever experienced in his life. Crash wasn't just a brother. He wasn't just a wingman. Even best friend in the entire world didn't qualify. Put simply there was nothing else in the world that he could think of to describe what it was like to have someone in his life who had quite literally been there with him right from the very beginning. Sure he'd been told it was nothing more than simply being littermates but Eddie disagreed; all his life there had only ever been Crash. Without a Crash there might as well not be an Eddie.
Sure he loved his sister and his niece more than words alone could convey, and abandoning them to the boring safety and familiarity of Manny-world was the last thing he wanted to do, but if Crash was dead he'd rather be flash-fried by the volcano than spend the rest of his life moping about what used to be.
On the plus side Peaches had finally started to attempt something vaguely resembling speech. Of course most of it consisted of random syllables squeezed together into one long sentence of baby-gibberish but she'd so far managed two complete words, 'momma' and 'bubble', as well as something beginning with an 'ah' sound that was either 'ugly' or 'uncky'. Honestly it could have been both considering that she had been looking toward Sid at the time. Predictably Manny had since been focusing much of his spare time trying to teach her 'dadda', but the results had been disappointing to say the least.
The journey had so far been rather uneventful, and the persistently cold, snowy weather wasn't exactly helping to lift Eddie's mood since without Crash and Sarah, he had little else to do except hang around his sister and avoid talking to Aldora. Ever since the hawk had made clear her complete and utter apathy toward Crash, Sarah and Diego's misfortune Eddie's attitude toward her had become incredibly confusing. He felt so very sure that he should hate her for what she had said, but in reality it had left him with no idea what to feel about her or whether a simple sense of obligation really was the only reason she even wanted to help him anymore.
"Hmm guess that's just how it is without a herd," Eddie mused to himself in a whisper. "Maybe she just doesn't care because she can't care anymore. She never got another family again, that's for sure. I wonder if she even tried? I bet it hurts a lot to lose your entire family, especially if it's all in just one day; maybe she couldn't chance it again. Maybe that's why she doesn't really care about me anymore, because if she did and I still died even with her help… I don't even know what she'd feel, but I sure know I don't wanna feel like that."
"I'm sure you won't Eddie," Ellie suddenly spoke up, causing Eddie to jump a little in surprise. "Oh c'mon you're sittin' right next to my ears up there, how could I not here you?"
"Oh, erm, sorry Ellie," said Eddie.
"Don't be. I can see where your commin' from even if I've never really been there myself. I mean I know about my family thing but it's hard to miss what you never had, you know. Anyway I'm sure it'll turn out okay, for all of us. After all we've been through a flood, sea monsters, warming, freezing, dinosaurs and you two. After all that this volcano ought to be a pushover."
"But we've always been together," said Eddie. "We always knew what was going on when bad stuff was going down. Now we've only got half the herd up here and half down there, and we don't even know if they're okay."
"Well yeah that is a bit of a problem, but I don't think you need to worry about it that much. I know you and Crash don't exactly have what you'd call a smooth relationship with Diego but if that tiger's still kickin' there's no way he'd let anything happen to Crash or Sarah, and with Buck down there too I'd say any dinos that mess with that bunch are in for some serious trouble."
Eddie couldn't help smiling a little."I guess so."
"See, when you put things into perspective it doesn't really seem that bad does it? And to think, all we gotta do is make sure we get our own butts up and over those mountains so we can be there to meet 'em."
A small silence followed, in which Eddie was able to hear the sound of both Sid and Manny squabbling loudly several feet ahead of them. Apparently Sid had thrown yet another snowball into Manny's rump, the powdery white residue of which he could still make out on the upper left of the mammoth's backside. From her babyish giggling, Peaches appeared to find the whole thing quite amusing but unfortunately for Sid, Manny really didn't see it the same way.
To be honest it brought to mind something Eddie hadn't really thought about that much, mostly because of the questionable survival of those concerned, but he now found himself considering the ramifications of the fact that it had been him who threw the snowball which had sparked the whole catastrophe.
"Hey El'," he finally asked, while all the time wondering why this hadn't occurred to him sooner. "You think Sarah's gonna dump me for throwing the snowball."
Ellie chuckled before answering, "Well if she's anything like me I'm sure that'd be the least of your problems."
"Great the moment I get out of this place I am so dumped,' Sarah thought, as she scratched savagely at the multiple flea bites that had literally sprung up overnight and were now concentrating on some of her most sensitive areas, especially behind her ears and on her rump. 'If there's one thing I know for sure itchy skin parasites are not sexy.'
By the look of things Crash seemed pretty much more of the same, even going as far as to start gnawing at his own arms all the while snarling and cursing in frustration.
Both of them had pleaded to Buck to tell them if there was some kind of plant down here that cured fleas, but unfortunately and rather disturbingly, the weasel's only answer was that it was just part of tropical living and after a good long while they were sure to get used to it, and he had said it with a smile on his face!
If it was bothering Diego at all the he had made it pretty clear he had decided to suffer in silence. The tiger hadn't even scratched once nor made a comment on the possum's predicament. Although given the circumstances he probably had a lot more on his mind. As if being trailed by a bunch of angry panthers was bad enough, a painful infection from one of the bites on his already injured shoulder was certainly no small itch either. All that could be done for him was liberal application of the weird numbing plant and an occasional prick and squeeze.
The way he still managed to put on a brave face about it was all the more impressive, often being the one to continue urging the group to march on when they were tired since they couldn't afford to rest for very long. Even at night the sleep breaks couldn't last more than one hour for every two they spent on the move because according to both Buck and Diego there was no better time for an ambush than when you catch your prey sleeping. Fortunately Diego did actually take the time to grab some much needed shut-eye during their breaks, with Buck offering to take up watch just about every single time. Not that she was complaining or anything but Sarah was seriously beginning to wonder whether that weasel ever slept at all.
Ever since the first encounter with those panthers, trudging through the seemingly endless expanse of brown, green and yellow had become less of a boring monotony and more of an exercise in anxiety and paranoia. Where both Buck and Mikey seemed perfectly happy to march along ahead of everybody else, with so much concealing vegetation pressed in close on all sides both Sarah and Crash had chosen to stick very closely to Diego, trying as hard as they could to put as much distance between themselves and the surrounding bushes as possible.
"…so ya' see, when I found him an' Terry together right there in the old gum, I was just 'that's it I'm outa here' and to hell with all ya' stupid gifts." Mikey proclaimed loudly, to which Buck responded with a hearty laugh. Sarah could only guess why since she hadn't really been listening having been far too distracted by her flea problem.
"So even you fella's have 'em too eh?" Buck asked.
"Far more than I'd like," Mikey replied cheerfully.
"Ya' hearin' that boys?" Buck asked, to whom was anyone's guess, and after a few seconds he continued to Mikey who seemed far less bemused than he should've been. "Those trees aint said a word to me since you fella's showed up. I think it's coz their jealous. Pretty strange considerin' they don't give a jot about me pineapple leavin' me for some uptown potato snob. Mammals have feelings too ya' smug jerks!"
"Would never have worked out anyway I'm sure," Mikey replied. "Weasels and tropical fruit just weren't meant to be mate."
Buck sighed. "Well what about you, how's thing's goin' with the possum over there?"
Sarah's eyes almost rolled right out of her head at that. If this kind of thing was going to keep happening she was probably going to have to make 'he's not my boyfriend' the first words out of her mouth whenever she and Mikey were mentioned in the same sentence.
Mikey laughed. "Nah he's just one of Sarah's mates, uh friends I mean."
'He!' Sarah sent a strange gaze in Mikey's direction, but the glider was too busy talking with Buck to notice.
"His brother's the only looker in the bunch and he's shacked up with Sarah, that's how we got to be part of the herd and part of how we wound up down here," the glider continued.
"Hmm, and here I had 'em picked for one of your type," Buck remarked amusedly. "Ya' learn something new every day, eh."
"And this commin' from a guy who recently broke up with a fruit," Mikey replied finally looking back at Sarah who despite the itching was still staring at him. "Them fleas given ya' trouble there love?"
"No, I just like scratching all my fur out for laughs," Sarah replied sarcastically.
"Ya' know if they're really bothering ya' that much you could try taking a dip in a pond or something. It always worked for me," said Buck.
"Where? There aren't any ponds around here," asked Crash.
"Now that's where ya' wrong," Buck answered. "And I can show ya' if ya' wanna follow."
"Not if it goes too far out of the way we're not," said Diego.
"Actually it should be just ahead give or take a couple hundred feet or so, besides we're about due for a breather anyway," Buck replied.
"C'mon Diego, I can't stand these things," Crash begged while still scratching furiously. "Besides, I'm thirsty and the only water we've had today was that hurl-a-rific juice from those weird blue things."
"Alright, fine," Diego finally conceded.
Despite previous experiences with Mikey's horrible sense of distance and direction, Buck's estimate of a couple hundred feet out of the way turned out to be more or less on the money. After leaving the trail, it only took the group a few minutes of uphill trekking through the undergrowth before they came upon a large rocky pond situated at the base of cliff edge. Over the cliff poured a small waterfall which served to feed the miniature body of water just as it was drained by a small creek on the far shore. Apparently it flowed further into the jungle as one of many small watercourses that joined up toward the centre to create a series of large underground lakes. At least that was how Buck described it before the possums both sprinted over to the shore to dive in, followed closely by the weasel himself with Mikey and Diego choosing instead to lie down and watch from the bank.
The water itself actually turned out to be quite cold, as Sarah immediately and painfully discovered when her body plunged beneath the frigid depths. Because of this she and Crash only remained in for just as long as it took to give themselves a good scrub down before returning quickly to the bank. Buck returned soon after they did and while the two possums chose the more traditional four-legged body shake method of drying fur, the weasel proceeded to wring himself out in a manner that looked more like a nasty spinal injury waiting to happen.
"Ah nothin' like a quick dip," the weasel exclaimed happily. "Not goin' for a swim Mike?"
"I'd rather watch," Mikey replied with a cheerful wink.
Buck chuckled loudly as he wrung himself out a second time and then walked over to where he'd thrown down his knife, picking up both it and a nearby stone before sitting down alone against a tree where he began to grind the knife's edge at an angle against the flat side of the stone, presumably with the intention of sharpening it.
At first Sarah had been rather confused as to where it had come from and how Buck had been able to produce it in such a timely manner during the fight with the panthers. She was surprised to find out that the knife had apparently been fashioned from one of Rudy's teeth which Buck had knocked out of the dinosaur's mouth during their initial confrontation. When Crash had asked him about why he'd been going without it, Buck had told them that he'd deliberately set it down by Rudy's body as a sign of respect for his long time rival after the dinosaur was killed. At first he'd managed to get along quite alright without it, but when the panther's came after him he'd been more or less blindsided without a weapon, only barely escaping with his life, losing only a couple of teeth and most of the middle digit of his right fore-paw. Although he happily pointed out that he hadn't lost an eye this time.
It was a good thing he and Mikey had finally separated having been practically glued to one another for the past two days. Probably something you'd expect from two old friends who had finally gotten the opportunity to bring each other up to speed and no one else seemed to mind it, but Buck's incredibly self-aggrandising nature was beginning to grate on Sarah's nerves. Not that she hated him or anything, he was still pretty alright in her books, but he did strike her as being quite arrogant. A larger than life attitude just didn't really fly with her, probably owing to the general consensus among possums that bravery was simply a fancier form stupidity. This didn't seem to bother Crash much though.
"How's the shoulder?" she asked as she sat down next to Diego and Crash who was busy fiddling with what looked like a piece from one of the thick, ropy vines that grew all over the jungle. Mikey was lying down in the leaves just a few feet away, and given the loud snoring emanating from his direction, it seemed glider had taken advantage of the break to catch some shuteye.
"It's been better," the tiger replied. "Did the water take care of those fleas? I don't want you two whining about it all the way back."
"I always thought we were going forward," said Sarah. "But yeah I think I'm all good now, at least for a couple of days."
"Well a couple of days is about all we've got."
"You sure? There haven't been any earthquakes for a couple of days now. Don't you think that's a little weird for a volcano that's supposed to be blowing its top any day soon?"
"I wouldn't know, I'm no volcano expert," Diego replied with a shrug. "But I do know that if we don't get out of here soon those panthers are gonna have a couple more trophies for their caves."
A short silence followed, but it was soon broken by Crash who had apparently not been listening to previous line of conversation.
"You think the other's are doing alright up there without us? Eddie's gonna be pretty torn up with me and Sarah being stuck way down here while he's gotta live with Manny no-fun and that stinking sloth."
"What about Ellie?"Sarah asked.
"She's no fun either; I think Manny's starting to rub off on her."
"If you'd known Manny for as long as I have you'd know he's actually come quite a long way in the fun department," said Diego. "And besides, what does all that make me anyway?"
"You're alright," Crash replied simply. "I mean what other possums do you know can say they're friends with a saber-tooth? And you don't try to stop us from doing stuff."
Although the tiger tried to hide it, Sarah could have sworn she saw the beginnings of smile forming at the edge of his mouth. Before he could say anything however, there attentions were called by the gruff tones of an approaching Buck who had apparently finished whatever he was doing with his knife .
"You know I don't think I've told you fella's where we're goin' yet have I?" the weasel began in a voice that was either thoughtfully amused or amusingly thoughtful.
"I noticed," Diego replied.
"I suppose you boys already know about the Jungle of Misery, Chasm of Death and all those other lovely places?" Everybody except Sarah nodded unhappily. "Well we aren't goin' that way. Instead we're gonna to be heading west into the land beyond. I think it's supposed to lead somewhere underneath those mountains ya' said ya' friends were headed for."
"The land beyond what?" Crash asked.
"This," Buck answered spreading his arms wide. "Whatever's out west lies on the other side of the Great Chasm of Mist. Nothin' ever crosses it, not even the flying dinos."
"Do you have any idea what we'll run into over there?" Diego asked with a clear level of concern.
Buck shrugged. "Not the slightest, but that's all part of the fun isn't it?"
"I guess that depends on your definition of fun, besides why can't we just go back the same way we did last t-?" Diego suddenly paused, his eyes narrowing angrily as they for some reason became solely fixed on Buck.
The weasel seemed to respond to this with a momentary cringe of embarrassment. Presumably this had something to do with yet another piece of the herd's history Sarah was not savvy to, and she couldn't help but frown. It was weird the way she could know so much about them but still know so very little, not to mention extremely worrying when her very life had become dependent on said history.
"So, uh, how big is this Great Chasm?" Crash asked. "It isn't full of weird happy gas like the other one is it?"
"I dunno to be honest; all the swirl'n grey mist tends to get in the way," the weasel replied. "Guess we'll have to find out when we get there."
"Well that's just great," Diego remarked dryly.
"Hey look at it this way, at least those leopard boys'll have a heck of time tryin' to find us down there. Oh and before we get this show on the road you all might wanna check yourselves for leeches, I just caught a couple nestin' in behind my ears." Buck suddenly continued, and upon Crash's asking what a leech was exactly he replied, "Well they're small grey-black wormy things that like to dig into ya' skin and suck on ya' blood. I dunno how they do it but ya' can't feel 'em when they bite so half the time ya' won't notice 'em till they've blown up to the size of ya' thumb."
As if fleas weren't bad enough. Just the thought of some gross, black wormy thing burrowing into-who-knows where and growing fat on her precious blood left Sarah feeling just a little sick.
"If ya' need any help checking ya' tail end I'm right here," Buck remarked as he watched the two possums begin diligently combing through their fur. "An' ya' might wanna be extra careful 'round ya' armpits coz they really like small, dark places like that. The good old wedding tackle tends to be a real favourite of theirs too, more on males than the girlies though."
"And what the heck are we supposed to do if we find one?" Sarah asked.
"Nothin' unless ya' got a pawful of salt handy," Buck replied. "If ya' try to pull 'em off you'll probably just wind up with half of it still stuck in ya', which can get pretty nasty I can tell you. Don't tell wet-tail over there, but the poor guy wound up with two of the nasty little blighters stuck to his butt for two and a half days. Not a pretty tale I can tell you."
"And on that note I guess we'd better get going," Diego remarked. "When you two are finally done dealing with you parasite problems, one of you might wanna wake up the Mikey, unless you want to use him as bait to slow those panthers down. He might actually be useful then."
As true as that last comment may have been, Sarah still took the time to rouse Mikey before the group set off again. After all, he had made it his business to try to save them even if he wasn't very good at it so he earned some respect if only for the effort.
By the way to all those budding authors out there, reading your work aloud does help quite a lot when it comes to editing. It slows you down and really gives a clear feel of how your sentences flow. In case you're wondering yes that is exactly what I did, and shall keep doing from this chapter onward so let me know if you notice any marked improvement or, God forbid, decline.