Tryout, tryout... what's better? Answering a the top of the page or at the bottom? Anyway... it's a week this has been written... whatever. Goldenrod asked me some questions about the Ihar. Perfect timing, I had just finished photografing my Ihar-MOCs. They're in my profile now. Yes, kaibasgrlx, (mind if I call you kabs or kabx?) Hoti is there too. I had to use what I had for the faces, or better... what my brother had... . ehm, more explanations on my profile... ahem...
now, to my reviewers:
shadow dragon04: um... he... was... taken? -curses self for writing something I have no idea how to get out of- okay, not really, I know what happened!
Regrem Erutaerc: you know me, I like cliffies, even if I get angry when someone does it to me. :)
bioniclefangirl: yeah... although 500 bionicle stories... freaky idea. 0.0
Goldenrod: now this is great, I remembered before I read your review, and now I forgot! -beats self up- nevermind, here goes the explanation. (by the way, this chapter would have been up a week ago along with the piccys if it hadn't been for that upgrade)
Ihar questions: goldenrod asked me some questions about the Ihar. I think this might interest everybody so I'm posting it here:
Q: Are certain 'tribes' of Ihar a certain kind of animal (e.g. Ta-Iharcanine, Ga-Iharcanine, Po-Iharfeline, Le-Iharfeline, Ko-Iharcanine, and Onu-Iharfeline), or are they a mix of both felines and canines?
A: yes and no to both options.
Q:Are the Ihar biomechanical, like the Toa and Matoran, or fully organic, like us humans (I've seen your drawing for "Heroes of the Past", but that only tells me so much)?
A: biomechanical, though more organic than the Toa for unknown reasons. (they can breed)
Q: How can the black feline-like 'kup' in your latest chapter in "Heroes of the Present", 'Prisoners', be related to Kal? Are Ihar from different packs/prides (or whatever you call their tribes) able to breed (i.e. feline with canine)?
A: they have to. (it's kups, by the way, not kup. Kups sounds better.)
I'm talking in riddles again, I know. The fact is, questions about the Ihar will be answered in the third part of this 'Heroes' trilogy. PM me, or review (review is better, unless it's the last chapter, I always read reviews before I post the chapter, but PMs get lost easily) me or e-mail me or whatever with questions about the Ihar, story and so on, because I have to answer them there. If I'll ever get to writing it. Anyway, enough of the boring stuff.
Disclaimer: no duh, guess what? Bionicle isn't mine.
A Knife of Black Water
The battle had brought them far from the place they had left Takanuva. In their costant wrestling, punching and kicking, they had driven each other down the tunnels, losing completely the sense of direction and ending up in a new side tunnel. A door promptly closed behind them.
Wham! Tahu slammed Kopaka against a wall, pinning him against it. "Take back what you said!" he growled threatingly. Kopaka shot him a highly annoyed look, then kicked him hard in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to stumble back. In a second, Kopaka was at his side and punched him square across the face. Tahu stumbled back again and would've fallen, if he hadn't crashed against a wall.
"You..." he muttered, as fuel was added to the flames of his anger. He pushed himself off the wall and jumped on Kopaka, who fell. His own momentum nearly threw him off the ice Toa's body, and Kopaka seized the chance to react, trying to win the overhand. The two fighters kept rolling on the ground, Tahu trying to get a grip on Kopaka's throat and Kopaka trying to keep Tahu's hands away and get his sword at the same time. All of a sudden, the rolling space was over, and Kopaka found himself pinned in a corner, and one of Tahu's hands finally closed on his throat. Kopaka tried to pull it away, but Tahu's grip was too strong. As the Toa of Fire went for his swords, he saw Tahu's mask, and the deep gash running down its side. With a quick movement, he inserted two fingers in the wound and pulled them apart, ripping the wound open with a sickening sound.
Tahu screamed as an intense pain shot through the right side of his face. He released Kopaka and jumped to his feet, holding the wound that had stopped bleeding barely three hours before, and was now open again. Kopaka calmly got to his feet and checked himself for any fresh wounds. Not that it made any difference, as his body was covered with countless scratches of the Ihar's claws. Tahu stared at him with a hateful look.
"What was... why did you do that?" he asked agrily. His free hand was shaking slightly from the shock that Kopaka would do such a thing.
"It was necessary," said Kopaka coldly.
"It was... what the heck have you got in that head?" shouted Tahu. "First the frozen Ihar, then this... and both times all you can say is 'It was necessary'?"
Kopaka worthed him only of an emotionless glance.
"You're sick!" Tahu spat at him. "What's up with you? Not even Makuta would do such a thing! Not even the Leehar would!"
"But I'm not Makuta," said Kopaka simply. "Nor a Leehar."
"No, you're right," growled Tahu. His anger, for a moment blown away by the shock, had now come back in all it's power. "You're not even worth being compared to them. You're just a cold-hearted idiot who thinks he's the best on this world!"
"If you're trying to hurt me, you're going the wrong way,"
Tahu laughed humorlessly. "You're right. I've been going the wrong way ever since I met you... trying to hurt your feelings and so on..." He shook his head. "I'm a fool... how can I hurt your feelings if you don't have any? How can I break your heart if it's covered with ice and made of stone? You're not a Toa! You're just the shell of one!"
Kopaka didn't answer and didn't look at him, apparently more interested in the wall in front of him. Tahu felt his anger increase, but didn't say anything else. As he had just said, it was no use trying to hurt the feelings of one who didn't have any. Instead, he started looking around to try and find out where they were.
"Great, we even got lost. Not that we knew where we were before..." he muttered. Suddenly, his eyes fixed a spot at the end of the tunnel. He felt Kopaka's gaze on his back, but didn't turn around. His eyes had caught a light, quick movement at the end of the tunnel, a flash of blue that brought up a quick string of memories.
"You!" he shouted, running down the tunnel to chase after the figure. He sped down the tunnel and quickly jumped through a closing door. The being wasn't running fast, he realized, and if he had been at top form, he would've already reached it. But he wasn't. His whole body hurt, covered as it was with the scratches of the Ihar. A particularly annoying one stung his left leg with every step he took, slowing him down though he did his best to ignore it. Another door was closing in front of him, he dove through it and slid into a large, round room.
"Why Tahu, I didn't expect you to come looking for me," said a sweet, female voice. Tahu looked up and saw a Ilag's slim figure standing barely a few feet in front of him. He quickly jumped up and backed away from her.
"I was not looking for you," he said, trying to give his voice a hard tone. Ilag pouted.
"Oh," she said, offended. "Well then, go on looking for what you were searching."
Tahu did his best to ignore her and looked around. The room was even larger than he had thought, and strage symbols were engraved on the floor and on the walls. It was not round, as he had thought at first, but dodecagonal. Every second of the twelve sides was a door, that led to other places of the labyrinth, while all the others were simply walls, were streaks of lightstone were engraved to form strange symbols he couldn't quite recognize. All the time, he could feel the lack of Ilag's gaze, for some strange reason creepier than if she had been staring straight through him.
He turned back to Ilag, who had been staring determinatedly at the ceiling. The moment his gaze rested on her, she turned around to face him.
"Still here?" she asked. Tahu didn't know what to answer, and Ilag went on. "The Matoran aren't here. It's just you and me."
"Where are they?" Tahu asked, suddenly remembering why he was here. Ilag looked at him with an innocent expression.
"Who?"
"The Matoran!" shouted Tahu, taking an angry step towards her. Ilag shrugged.
"Not telling,"
With an angry movement, Tahu jumped up to Ilag and gripped her arm so tightly she flinched in pain. Tahu looked at her, slightly confused, and let go of her arm, feeling sorry he had gripped her so tightly.
"You have a nice grip," murmured Ilag, rubbing her arm. Then she looked at Tahu's scratches. "I bet that were those horrible Ihar, right?"
"They're not horrible," said Tahu angrily, knowing perfectly well what Ilag was trying to do. "And I want to know where the Matoran are!"
Ilag shook her head pityfully. "You must be tired... how long have you been traveling?"
"At least since yesterday morning," answered Tahu, cursing himself a second later for getting off the topic.
"Poor Toa," muttered Ilag softly, stroking the side of Tahu's mask. Her hand passed lightly over the bleeding gash, leaving behind a sense of pleasant coolness that lindered his pain. It also made him aware of how tired he actually was, not having slept for over a day and having spent his time walking around Miko Nui and fending off Ihar attacks.
"I... " he muttered, but his mind wasn't working properly. Although he saw and heard everything, he couldn't really make a sense of what was going on around him. The only thing he was sure of was Ilag's pleasant, cool touch.
XXXXX
"This place looks familiar," said Pohatu suddenly.
"Oh yeah?" asked Lewa, looking around the place. He didn't see anything familiar in it.
"Yes," said Pohatu. "I think I already saw that piece of metal. And I recognize that lightstone. It's the same one I saw in the archives yesterday... and that thing on the ground..."
He stopped, walking down the passage on his right. Lewa, who hadn't been sure if Pohatu had been hinting that they were running in circles or was simply getting bored of the monotone walking, followed him, limping heavily. His ankle had gotten worse, and was now screaming for a rest. Lewa regretted not being able to fly in the passageways. He watched as Pohatu picked up the thing he had spotted and raised it for him to see.
"Hey, Lewa, look," he said. "This is that thing chroniclers use on their journeys!" Pohatu raised a chronicler's writing tool for Lewa to see.
"Hahli was here," said Lewa. "We're on the bestright way." Pohatu nodded.
"She wasn't here as a prisoner, though. She came here by herself, to look for Jaller and the missing Matoran."
"Um... that was obvious as that Le-Koro is hightree," said Lewa, shooting Pohatu his best 'duh' look. Atlhough none of the Toa had said it out loud, he was sure they had all thought the same thing.
"I know," muttered Pohatu, reddening slightly. "But this is proof."
The sir of an opening door caught their attention. Still holding the tool, Pohatu walked back to the main tunnel and looked around. A few bios forward, Onua had crossed a door, which was now closing.
"Brother!" exclaimed Pohatu. Onua turned around in surprise, then smiled in recognizing his brother Toa.
"Pohatu!" he shouted, a hint of relief in his voice. "Looks like I did find you after all!"
"We must've taken the wrong road at that fork... and then we get winded up here! Where are the others?"
"I opened a wall and got split, I have no idea where they are," said Onua. Pohatu laughed.
"Six heroes, one destiny," he said. "If one splits, everyone splits."
Onua smiled, though he had the feeling that Pohatu's words contained more turth than he imagined.
"Which means that if one discoverfinds the others," added Lewa, poking his head from the side tunnel. "Everyone discoverfinds the others. It's just logical. But first, come here and look what I found! I thought I knew where all of them were!"
Onua and Pohatu quickly followed their eager brother down the side-tunnel, to a semi-closed door.
"At first I thought-dreaded it wouldn't open, like all the other heavy-doors that fell-closed behind us, then I realized it had a handle. I sharp-pulled at it... and look at what I discoverfound behind!" said Lewa, pulling the door completely open. Pohatu looked inside. There was a large, round room, and in the middle of it..."
"A Tikohl!" he exclaimed.
"Yes. An originaly, Miko-Nuian Tikohl-transporter," said Lewa. "Neat, huh? Ametal labyrinth with emergency exit."
"This must be the Leehar's underground complex," said Onua. "The one they trapped the Ihar in during the dai war."
"That makes me think..." said Pohatu suddenly. "Do you think they live here?"
"Probably," said Lewa. "It fits them. A perfect sculpture of their minds, and it was their sweet-home, secret-base and dark-prison when the fought against Makuta. I say, they live here."
"Correction," said Onua. "It was Makuta's base and prison. The Leehar only made it their home after they turned over to Makuta."
"Whatever, now let's go."
"I'm gonna try and keep this place in mind," said Onua, as the Toa left the room to look for their brothers. "We might need a quick escape."
"You can actually remember where this place is?" Pohatu asked.
"After spending your life in tunnels and archives, it's not so hard" said Onua. He suddenly paused to let his hand run down the walls. "This place was built by Makuta, the Master of Shadows himself. It's a place full of shadows and of great power, I wonder what else this place can do, or what is in here."
They left the side corridor and walked back to the main tunnel, just in time to see one of the archive creatures slither past them.
XXXXX
Gali wasn't sure where to go. She had managed to free the Rahaga and the kups thanks to Norik's broken staff and her Ilsao, but now that they were out of the room, she realized there was nowhere to go. The door she had come through was undoubtedly still closed, and the one on the side of the tunnel also hadn't opened. The kups and Norik obviously saw a guide in her – at least, the kups did – and she didn't want to disappoint them, but it seemed they had escaped a prison just to be blocked between other doors.
Gali hadn't been able to find out much from Norik and the kups. Just that the Leehar were obviously interested in keeping them alive for reasons Norik ignored. Though he suspected, he had said quietly, so the kups couldn't hear, that it had to do with a sacrifice or ritual of some sort. There was no other reason for the fact that they weren't dead yet. Gali hadn't been able to find another explanation.
When she had freed Norik and the kups, she had been afraid that the door she'd come through had fallen close, but only the first one had. After a moment of hesitation, she had led them through the first door, hoping the one that gave to the main tunnel would open after the first one closed. Luckily, that had been exactly the case.
"Where are you leading us to?" Norik asked, walking down the tunnel nearly casually. He had followed her footsteps, but now that she had stopped walking, he had no reference of where she was. If at first the strange creature had horrified her, now she just felt pity for him.
"I... don't know," she admitted. "All the door that lead away are closed, and..."
All of a sudden, the door to her right opened with a sir. She gave it a short, confused look, then shrugged. "Nevermind, something just opened," she said. "And we might as well go that way."
Norik nodded, then hurried to keep up with her and the kups' pace as he heard her walk away to his right.
They hadn't been going on for long when one of the Ihar kups heard the sound of footsteps coming towards them. Gali immediately signaled them to stop and quietly pulled out her axes, silently moving towards the stranger approaching them. Whoever it was, thanks to the Ihar's ears, she would not be unprepared.
The tunnel was quite straight, though scarcely lit, so she spotted the stranger easily. Unfortunately, he did too, and didn't stop to ask questions. She realized it when she saw the glitter of a sword being pulled out. Istinctly, she stretched her aqua axes before herself and shot a jet of water towards the agressor.
The other reacted quickly, freezing the water that was coming towards him nearly up to her aqua axes before she spotted the danger and stopped the flow.
Akapok! She thought. The Leehar of ice was stronger than her, and could use both of his powers at the same time. She had to be careful and use her brains, or she'd have no chance.
She shot a jet of ater at the ground, as if she wanted to flood the tunnel. Her opposer immediately froze the water, then as if to mock her, started skating over the frozen ground, quickly advancing towards her.
I should have though that, thought Gali as she observed the approaching opposer, who suddenly pointed his sword at her. Gali jumped away a second before the power of that weapon struck the place where he had been standing. Doing so, she accidentally put one of her feet on the ice, skidding on the cold surface and crashing to the ground. Her opposer seized the chance and tried to freeze her again, but he hadn't taken count of Gali's agility. With a quick roll, Gali was back on her feet and away from the dangerous area. Normally, she would've been able to get back on her feet, but the long journey and the time without sleep had weakened her. Worse, her opposer knew it, and slid to a stop to create and ice cage around her.
No! thought Gali, horrified. She pushed herself on the slippery surface and managed to slide out of the cage a second before being trapped in. This time, she got on her feet, though stumbling, and spun around to face her opposer again. These had tried to creep up on her, and in her movement, she hit him hard with her aqua axes, knocking him to the ground. Not expecting the resistance, Gali lost her balance again and fell, straight on her opposer. The blue Shilara around her neck came in contact with the white Heerole around her opposer's neck...
And all of a sudden both Toa were thrown apart by a blast of pure energy, each landing several bios away, on their backs, and with the sudden realization they had beenn fighting against another Toa Nuva.
"Kopaka!" cried Gali, pushing herself up and skidding over the icy surface to reach her brother. "I'm sorry. I thought you were Akapok! I saw you take out your swords and..."
"Attacked me," finished Kopaka for her, while standing up. Gali looked at him with a concerned look on her face.
"Are you alright?" she asked, reaching out to help him up. Kopaka ignored her outtretched hand and stood up on his own.
"I'd feel better if I hadn't been tossed in the air for five bios," he said coldly. "Your attacks didn't do much, but I have to admit you did manage to escape mine well."
Gali looked at the ground. "Sorry," she said again. When she looked up, she noticed Kopaka was staring at a point behind her, suddenly tense. She could guess what he had seen, and her suspects were stated when he raised his sword.
"No!" she shouted, knocking his arm away. The freezing power hit the wall instead of Norik, who had come up along with the kups to see what was happening. "He's of no harm!"
"No, right," said Kopaka sarcastically, staring at the Rahkshi-faced creature before him.
"I swear he isn't," said Gali. "He had all the time to harm me, and didn't! Besides, he was imprisoned along with the kups!"
Kopaka looked down at the small Ihar, as if he noticed them for the first time. "Imprisoned?" he asked.
"Yes, I casually entered the room where they were chained inside, and..."
"You shouldn't have done it," said Kopaka coldly.
"What?"
"They'll only be in the way!" growled Kopaka. Suddenly, Gali wished she had hurt him.
"What should I have done?" she asked angrily. "Left them in that room?"
"Yes," answered Kopaka. "At least until we have found and defeated those behind this."
Gali shook her head, trying to get rid of the anger inside her. "And how was I supposed to find them again?" she asked, and Kopaka was surprised to hear that her voice was nearly as cold as his. "There is no way I could've found that room again in this labyrinth. Besides, I couldn't leave them, if you know what I mean."
Kopaka rolled his eyes, but didn't add anything else. Now that the damage was done, there was little to do about it. They'd have to bring the pups along, no matter what. And that strange, dead-eyed creature.
"What about him?" he asked, nodding towards Norik.
"That's Norik, a Rahaga," said Gali, not bothering to explain what a Rahaga was. "He was blinded by the Leehar."
Kopaka looked down at the creature, studying it. Despite its appearance, he could tell it was not of the same sort as the Rahkshi, and there was wiseness in those empty eyes.
"Where is Tahu?" Gali asked suddenly. "And Takua?"
"We got split up," said Kopaka simply.
"Oh," said Gali, then stayed quiet for a couple of seconds. She suddenly felt very tired, and became aware of how much time the last time had been since she had had some sleep. "Well, let's go on." She said finally, going back the way Kopaka had just taken.
"The door closed after I went through it," Kopaka said.
"Yes, and the one on the other side opened," said Gali. "Then it closed when we passed through it. That one will be open now."
For a while, Gali stayed quiet, keeping an eye on the kups that were having great fun in sliding up and down Kopaka's frozen patch. Two of them had even started a fight that looked awkwardly like the one Gali and Kopaka had just had, but kept finishing in different ways, depending on which kups was faster to dig his or her teeth in the other's neck.
Gali had to laugh as one of the kups lost his footing and landed on his nose. For a second, the stress and the tension dissipated, and she felt amused for the first time since their mission had started.
XXXXX
"Would you like to see where we are, Tahu?" Ilag asked, dragging him to another place in the room. Tahu let himself being dragged along, too tired to react. Some part of his mind was screaming that he was doing exactly her game, but the rest of it was too confused to understand the meaning of those words.
Ilag pointed to the ground and showed what seemed a complicated web of golden strings, with small blobs here and there, and a larger one at their feet. If he had been able to think properly, he would've realized it was a map of miko nui, and that the golden lines represented the tunnels and the rooms. But though he saw everything, though he knew exactly what was happening, he wasn't able to make a sense out of it, nor was he able to make a sense out of the golden lines and dots.
"We're here," Ilag said, pointing to the larger blob at their feet. "You entered here," she continued, dragging him to another place. "Look, every foot between each place represents a day of walk. There are two feet from here to there, yet you managed to take only one day for it."
That made Tahu feel even more tired than he already was. The voice started saying that it was exactly what she wanted, but he could barely har it. Ilag kept dragging him around, showing him where the Matoran were, where another exit was and other things he couldn't understand. The lines began to swim before Tahu's eyes, and he couldn't understand where in the room he was anymore. Ilag was saying something about other prisoners, Ihar and Rahaga. Some part in his mind asked itself what a Rahaga was, but the question was soon forgotten as Ilag proceeded to another part of the complex. Then, suddenly, Ilag stopped and looked at him again.
"Poor, poor Tahu," she said in her sweet, tender voice. "So many people to save, so many things to remember and so many tunnels to walk through. Yet so little time and energy, and so many things in between."
She placed an arm around his shouldesr, and started stroking him with the other, although she had to stand on the tip of her feet to do so.
"So many things in between," she said softly. "Some horrible, other beautiful... like me, like water."
The part in Tahu's mind that was still responding stopped screaming to turn into a huge question mark.
"Water," she whispered, a fascinated look in her eyes. "Isn't water such a wonderful element, Tahu? Beautiful, horrible, dangerous and tender at once. It lulls one in its soft waves, soothing him with its delicate whisper, making him feel safe in its hand, because he feels his tiredness being washed away, the pain of his wounds finally lindered."
Those words were dangerous words, full of hidden meanings, but although Tahu heard them, and understood them, he couldn't make a sense out of them. Ilag let her stroking hand slide down Tahu's back before taking it away, reaching for something hanging at her side.
"Yet beneath its surface," she said, slowly taking out a black, glinting knife, that crackled silently with energy. "It hides a dangerous current, that slowly carries you far away, until you can't see the coast anymore. And when you finally realize what's happening, it's too late."
Tahu stared at the knife, so clearly visible, unable to realize the danger it represented. Then, Ilag pulled him close to her, and he wasn't able to see the knife anymore.
"Isn't water such a beautiful element?" she asked, and her voice was barely more than a whisper. "It can kill you... without needing any kind of violence."
She raised her knife.
"TAHU!" cried a voice, making its way through the fogs of Tahu's ming. Both Toa -- Ilag and Tahu -- turned to face the source of the call. Gali and Kopaka stood in the doorway, open-mouthed, along with a dozen of Ihar pups and a strange creature. But it was their expressions that hit him – an expression of horror, stupor and shock, more visible on Gali's face than on Kopaka's -- finally making him realize where he was and what he was doing. And finally making him understand the sense of Ilag's words.
Yet beneath its surface, it hides a dangerous current, that slowly carries you far away...
No... Tahu turned to Ilag, who was still embracing him with one hand, while holding the knife high in the air with the other. Her eyes were glinting in triumph, and an evil smile lay on her face.
And when you finally realize what's happening, it's too late...
NO!
"Too late," said Ilag. Then she brought down the knife, pointing straight at Tahu's heartlight.