Chapter 21: Dread

When Amai jerked awake it took a minute to remember where she was and realize that it was still night. She was heading through the mountains with Teresa following a hunch that the Freelancers and their plan to capture a tigrex were the cause of the problems her tribe was having with the gammoth herd. They had been following the Freelancer's trail for a week now and they were both starting to suspect that the group had set up a base camp in White God's Spine. From there they could reach a wide area in little time. Problem was that it was forbidden territory even to the native tribes, much less an outsider like Teresa. Heading there was making Amai deeply uneasy.

Straightening up, Amai spat out some of Raiden's fur that had gotten in her mouth while she slept. He rumbled against her back and fell back into a deeper sleep again. It took a second of staring to realize that there was a fire going. Rubbing her eyes, Amai stretched and saw Teresa sitting and staring at the fire quietly. She sniffled and Amai could see that she was upset. Jade was awake as well but she was staring out towards the cave entrance. Stretching the kinks out of her joints, Amai pushed her blanket aside and scooted closer to the fire.

"Bad dream?" Amai asked. Teresa merely nodded, her hands picking at the blanket around her shoulders. When she didn't answer Amai got up and walked around the fire to sit down next to her. Teresa sighed lightly and relaxed a bit but didn't say anything.

"Did you want to talk about it?" Amai said gently. Teresa seemed to curl in on herself at that question.

"Its not... something we really talk about with outsiders or even outside of families," Teresa confessed.

For Amai's people dreams could be important but generally didn't mean much by themselves. However Teresa's people could put a lot of faith in dreams viewing them as a sign from their guardian beast toa tesukatora. To her it was just a dream but for Teresa it was clearly important enough to keep her up at night. Whether Amai believed it was important or not it would be rude to just dismiss Teresa's worries and go back to sleep.

"I'll try not to pry then but do you think it will affect our mission?" Amai asked carefully. Teresa hesitated chewing on a piece of her hair before sighing and looking out towards the cave opening.

"I've seen part of the White God's Spine in my dreams. I know its marked off as forbidden territory even by the native nations who live in the area and certainly off limits to outsiders like me. But... my dream started off by drawing me to it. To one mountain in particular," Teresa explained. The way she phrased those words made it clear there was far more to what she had seen but Amai had promised not to pry. Besides she knew White God's Spine like every other nation here did. It was rumored to be the sleeping place of Ukanlos.

"Maybe its a possibility and not a foregone conclusion," Amai offered trying to be helpful although it still sent a shiver down her spine. Teresa pulled the blanket around her shoulders a bit tighter.

"Maybe," she mumbled casting a worried look over at Jade who was now watching them with a sleepy gaze.

Amai wrestled with what to say until she finally decided on a harmless, "You should go back to sleep and save your energy." When Teresa looked at her ready to protest she added, "Both of us know that Jade can't sleep well without you next to her. She worries there's danger out there that she can't hear." That was true actually and Teresa looked guilty for a moment as her eyes darted back to Jade who was currently yawning.

"Fine but if my dream is true then..." Teresa trailed off and didn't finish. Instead she stood up and walked back to Jade settling down next to her. Jade sighed and folded a wing over her protectively before closing her eyes again.

Granted their problems were vastly different but still when Amai explained the situation with her adulthood rites and how she needed to stay and solve the problem with the gammoth herd Teresa hadn't laughed or mocked her. She hadn't even batted an eye. Just said she would sign the contract as well and take it to Guild Leader Rashana to have to stamped and officiated so they could get started. The least Amai could do now was not tell Teresa that it was "just" a dream even if that's what was going through her mind right now.

At least that's what Amai hoped. If they did end up trespassing on the mountains of White God's Spine and woke Ukanlos there would be no one to blame but themselves. Amai shivered and scurried back to Raiden's side, pulling her blanket up around her shoulders again. It was just a dream. Nothing at all to worry about.

Akairo hissed as he peered into the ravaged nest. It was hidden well enough that it had taken both of them four passes before noticing it. It was easy to miss built into the side of a muddy wall rising up above the river. A large opening in the dirt and mud along with broken tree roots were the only giveaway that something was there. Or had been there at least.

"Shurika's nest," Ginouji said softly as he too sniffed the opening of the den. The walls had been dug out and most of the eggs that were inside had been removed. Some broken ones remained their soft shells ripped open. The nest was recent and the eggs even more so. Ten suns ago maybe.

"Bad humans, like past time," Akairo rumbled. The mud dug out, the smell, the missing eggs, it was no monster that did this.

Rain had told them that Shurika had eggs before but humans had found her next and taken the eggs. Now it seemed that they had come again. There's no way Shurika would have let that go. She must have gone after them or they had taken her eggs knowing that she would come for them and were planning a trap.

Ginouji looked down the river and hummed. He squinted and fanned his wings before giving the deep rumble that was Shurika's name. Akairo hummed lightly in agreement. Shurika had found her nest like this and gone to find the humans who did it. Seiva would have gone after her the moment he found out if only to keep his sister safe.

Akairo hissed and slapped the water with his tail. He spread his wings and nudged Ginouji's side. His brother huffed and looked back towards home before humming in agreement with his decision. They would keep moving, following the river which would be the fastest way for the humans to make their escape. Most importantly they would stick together. No splitting up.

Akairo stepped away and launched himself in to the air rising up until he was clear of the trees. As he swept forward to follow the river he could hear Ginouji behind him and then just beside him. They would find Seiva and Shurika and bring them back home to mother and Rain. They wouldn't let the bad humans hurt them like they hurt Jasper.

Amai lifted her eyes and watched Teresa carefully. She hadn't flagged a bit all day but at the same time it was clear she hadn't gotten much sleep last night. They were taking a break now to eat and rest a bit before continuing on. Sunlight was getting scarcer at this time of year and they didn't want to waste what they had.

Instead of making a simple meal of meat carved off Raiden or Jade's kill for the day she had decided to bring out the cooking pot she always carried around, forage a bit for wild vegetables, and make a hearty stew. She tasted it and grabbed some spices and dried herb leaves from her satchel. Her father always said that getting food from the earth was one thing but letting it taste like it was another. She stirred the herbs and spices in and put the top back on to let it simmer. Amai grabbed a small loaf of bread from their rations and wrapped it up tightly before sticking it by the coals to heat up.

"Have you ever lost a partner?" Teresa said suddenly. Amai raised her eyebrows at that but Teresa had turned her head to stare at Jade who had torn off a large part of the popo she had brought down and was eating it a short distance away from Raiden who was happily picking his teeth on one of the tusks.

"We lost several of our halk once. The small mammals we fed them had been eating poisonous mushrooms that sprouted during an early spring one year. I'll never forget walking in to feed Yuki and finding her dead. Took days to find out what was happening and we nearly lost three more," Amai confessed. Teresa was quiet for a while before drawing her knees up to her chest and sighing heavily.

"Jade isn't young anymore," Teresa confessed. "Honestly she wasn't exactly young when I first saw her. Our people have been taming monsters for generations and its an old art brought over from our former homeland. Problem is Jade was a wild rathian. They estimated that she was already over 150 years old by the time they found her. She saw some of our younger rathian riders flying along with a transport ship while they were docked in a cove along the western coast of the mainland. It was their first mission," she paused and looked over at Jade with clear affection in her eyes.

"She still should have had a mate or at least grown offspring living in same the area but the sailors say she was all alone," Teresa said. "They think she was lonely because she followed them all the way back up here. She mostly just stayed around the young rathalos and they all seemed to take to her well. They were just going to let her stay at the breeding and training grounds as long as she didn't cause trouble but I was convinced that I could get her to accept a rider. No one believed it was possible of course," she added with a weak smile.

"It was clear that she was deaf, or mostly anyway, and the healers said that she was likely that way from birth or at least most of her life considering that her hunting and behavior was clearly well adapted to living without hearing. We've had riders that were deaf as well as mounts but they both started learning to work together at a younger age. Teens for the riders and under three years for the rathalos and rathian. There's only one other instance in our history of a rider teaching an adult to accept a rider and that was a fifty year old rathalos. Jade was three times that age and I was 14, just old enough to finally be able to lift a riding saddle without hurting myself," Teresa said reminiscing.

Amai silently did some mental math. Teresa was going to be 31 in a few months that would make 17 years since she had met Jade making the rathian at least 167 but possibly older. The average natural life span for rathalos and rathian was around 200. Teresa must have seen her look because she nodded heavily and let her legs stretch out before the fire.

"Jade was past retirement age when she first got here but now? I wasn't..." Teresa stopped and cleared her throat, "I wasn't planning on going to go back to the Guild School with her. I was going to request a new partner and leave her up here to retire for good," she said softly.

Amai nodded sympathetically but she wasn't exactly sure where this conversation was supposed to be going. Then it hit her. The bad dreams Teresa had been having, the extra attention she had been giving Jade, her unusual silence when they stopped to rest.

"You think you're going to lose Jade? Is that what your dreams have been about?" Amai pressed her. Teresa squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. What could she say to that? "Its just a dream" wouldn't offer any comfort because that wasn't what Teresa believed. "Maybe things will be different" could easily just come off as wishful thinking from someone who didn't understand, which to be fair Amai didn't.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Amai finally settled on.

"We need to hurry. I know that much for sure from my dreams. White God's Spine, the Freelancers, the tigrex they want to capture, the gammoth, its all connected. We need to get there and find those Freelancers before..." Teresa stopped and turned to stare at the mountains with concern.

"Before what?" Amai urged her. She could see Teresa hesitate wrestling with herself over whether or not to say more about her dream.

"'Stop them before they wake the Mountain or more then just the one you love will be lost.' I heard a voice say that in the dream I've been having," Teresa finally confessed. "I... I don't know that I can save Jade, but I might be able to save other people and other monsters. She's lived a long life even if I haven't had as much time with her as I would like. If this is how she goes... then I want it to be helping someone else," she said but her wavering voice said that she didn't quite believe that as much as she was trying to show.

"We'll rest for one hour and then we'll get going. That will give Raiden and Jade some time to finish eating and settle their stomachs before we leave. We'll have to push ourselves but we can make it to White God's Spine tonight. The skies should be clear with a full moon," Amai told her.

She didn't bring up that they would have to stop before entering the forbidden territory so she could offer prayers asking forgiveness and protection. Ukanlos was known not just as the White God but also sometimes as simply The Mountain. He was a protector of the land not necessarily the people on it. If he was awakened they would have far more then some angry Freelancers and a herd of gammoth to worry about.

Ginouji snarled to himself as he trudged through the mud. Jasper had always warned them not to fly in storms so they were walking beside the river instead. It had been eight suns since they left home and they were still trying to find Shurika. The only good thing about all this rain was that they could eat without having to stop. He paused and snatched up a large fish that was trying to fight the rising river. He ate half in one bite and the other half in another.

They had found tracks, cold fires, bones covered in dirt from where the humans had eaten, trash floating along the river, and spots where a large boat had been tied up. Ginouji remembered Rain showing them how she did it or how she dropped a heavy chain down into the lake so her boat didn't float away while she was swimming underwater. But no sign of the humans so far. They couldn't stop searching, not until they found her. Not until they knew Shurika was okay and could bring her back home. Rain was counting on them and mother too.

Ahead of him Akairo stopped suddenly and froze before crouching down slightly his head lowering to the ground. Ginouji imitated him, walking up quietly beside his brother to see what was going on. With their eyesight it was easy to see what was going on even from this distance. A group of humans were facing each other and both sides looked ready to fight. Two on one side and five on the other. But the two humans also had monsters standing with them. One was a large flying monster with deep blue feathers and next to it was a female with black hair wrapped together. The other was long and pink with fur in some places and there was a man with long white hair next to it.

"We aren't going to ask you again. Where is the lagiacrus?" the white haired male next to the pink monster demanded, his voice carrying clearly over the pouring sky water.

"And we already told you we ain't seen no lagiacrus. Specially not no black one with glowing spines. Would be kinda hard to miss it if we did," a male opposite of them sneered.

"You know we were trying to mind our own business. Just travelling back to the Guild School when people saw our badges and started voicing their concerns. See we've already had quite a few people approach us saying they saw a barge carrying an abyssal lagiacrus down this river. Strange since the only one they know of belongs to a woman in Yukumo village who is married to a former monster hunter," the white haired male said.

Akairo hissed at those words and Ginouji tensed up as well. These humans were trying to find Shurika as well. Did they know where she was? Had the humans they were arguing with taken her?

Now the angry humans were pulling out weapons and one was reaching into a pouch at his side. Ginouij recognized the color and shape even from here. It was an irritating powder that made even the biggest monsters choke and burned their eyes until they had to run away. Akairo and Ginouji had learned that during their training. They also learned that fire could clear it away very effectively. The rain would keep it from spreading but not if they hit one of the monsters right in the face or chest. They were going to try and run away.

"We already told you Guild dogs that we haven't seen anything. Maybe we'll have to convince you through other means."

"Perhaps you'll be more compliant once the Guild knights have a chance to speak to you," the white haired male said.

The female with him let out a sharp whistle and the flying monster spread its wings before letting out a wave of sound. The other humans didn't even get a chance to raise their weapons before they started dropping to the ground. Akairo snorted in surprise and took a step back even though they were a fair distance away.

"Strong monster," Akairo rumbled, impressed.

"Put to sleep fast. Even fire not quick enough," Ginouji quietly agreed. Whatever that sound was it had put all the humans to sleep in seconds without killing them. A powerful monster indeed and one worthy of caution.

"So what now? The only methods that might convince them aren't ones I'm willing to use and we already know the barge is still heading downriver. The Guild would want this to take precedence over returning to the Guild School. Even if they didn't we're at a rank now where we can decide what jobs to take for ourselves," the male said.

"Agreed. No point in being a Guild Scout if we don't see this current problem through. However we need to know where is the barge going. This river ends at the ocean and from there they can get almost anywhere in the world if they have a ship big enough to carry a lagiacrus. Research vessels for the Guild do it frequently. All they would need are fishing nets so they could feed her along the way. With the lead they have on us we might not be able to catch up to them before they get to the ocean even if we push ourselves. We have to know what their destination is," the female said.

Ginouji narrowed his eyes at that. He didn't understand everything they said but he understood the ocean and ships and he knew the water was big, bigger then they could imagine. If bad humans had captured Shurika and managed to get to the ocean they could put her on a ship and they might never see her again.

"Humans and monsters try to help. Help find Shurika. Work together. Find faster?" Akairo suggested. Ginouji hummed in agreement. Humans had already gone to these two and their monsters for help when they saw Shurika and they had been willing to fight in order to find out where she was.

"We get humans to talk. Find where Shurika going," Akairo said baring his teeth. Ginouji did the same and stalked forward loudly so the humans would know they were coming. Both monsters turned around ready to attack if necessary but Ginouji ignored them. Akairo gave the male and female a long stare as they quickly backed out of the way.

"Are those the rathalos the villagers mentioned? The ones belonging to the retired hunter in Yukumo?" the male asked as the pink monster curled around him and hissed at Akairo.

"They have to be. See those gold chains around their necks? No one puts something that fancy on a wild monster," the female answered. Both of them stayed back as Akairo and Ginouji went over to the humans.

"Should we stop them?" the male said urgently.

"Just wait and see what they do first. They aren't acting aggressive so they might not kill them," the female answered calmly.

Ginouji walked over and checked the sleeping human who had been talking before and then lifted his foot and pressed down on the male making sure his talons dug in sharply. Almost immediately the human woke up screaming and trying to get away. The other started to stir from the noise but just a quickly started to panic when they saw Akairo's snarling fangs over their heads.

The male squirmed and cried out again as Ginouji flexed his talons just enough to break the skin. He could easily send them straight through the man and crush his bones if he wanted but he had never killed a human before and didn't care to start now. Just scaring them should work. So he waited until the man was fully awake and was staring up at him with wide, terrified eyes. Then he leaned down until his beak was nearly touching the man and stared at him.

"You know..." the female began slowly, "We were told by the villagers that the same couple who is missing their lagiacrus also has two very, very intelligent rathalos who live in this area. Now they said that there have never been any problems with them and they even helped save some people on a lake near Yukumo. Now I'm sure that normally they would never hurt anyone unprovoked but right now they look pretty angry to me. You just never know what an angry monster might be capable of," she added as she walked over despite the protests of the male with her and looked up at Ginouji.

"Maybe they would be less angry if they knew where this lagiacrus was going. Even monsters have friends and I'm sure they miss her very much," she said reasonably. Akairo's chuffing said he was amused by this. This female was smart and Ginouji made sure to bare his teeth extra wide at the male under his talons to emphasize her words.

"The far east! The far east!" the male shrieked at them now seeming all too eager to talk. "The lands far south of Fonlon where all the Eastern merchants come from. A port known as Reaper's Cove! The Guild barely has any outposts there yet and the lords of Fonlon don't have any influence there. Local barons control everything. People there have never seen monsters like the ones we have over here and they pay incredible amounts of money to watch them fight. They took the eggs of the Abyssal Lagiacrus and then captured her when she came after them!" he screamed frantically.

Now Ginouji removed his foot and let the man crawl off. Akairo snapped and huffed flames at the others to get them moving faster and one nearly tripped on his feet trying to get away.

"That actually worked," the female said in surprise. Ginouji lowered his head to look at her better. He was hesitant to speak to her though. He didn't like talking to strangers.

"We've been told you two are smart enough to understand some human speech. My name is Kurohana and this is my brother Shirakawa. We're from the Guild. Would you be interested in working together? We can try and find this missing lagiacrus together," she suggested.

Ginouji looked over at Akairo who nodded. Humans could do things they couldn't and get information they couldn't ask for. Not without scaring people or putting themselves in danger.

"Shurika," Akairo said softly making both humans jump in surprise. "Her name is Shurika," he emphasized.

"Shurika. We'll find her and bring her back okay? That's what we do for the Guild. We find those who are missing and bring them home again," Kurohana said with a gentle smile.

Home. Ginouji's heart ached at the word. How were mother and Rain doing? Where was Seiva? How were they treating Shurika? He wished he could go home. He had never been so far away before, not for so long, but they had to do this. They had to find Shurika and bring her home again. They wouldn't leave her behind. Not ever.