Happy Friday everyone! This chapter, several heroes try solve the murder-mystery of an unlucky camel, and one succeeds.
76. A Dry Heat
"You are my sunshine—"
"—my only sunshine!"
"You make me—hrk!" Sun stumbled as both Scarlet and Neptune ganged up on him, half-tackling him to the ground. Yang tried to keep singing, but she was laughing so hard she nearly fell over. When the boys started kicking sand everywhere, she had to grab one of Fang's horns so that she could keep standing.
Her dragon shot her a half-amused, half-annoyed look. Yang patted his nose and, when she finally got her breath back, nudged Sun with one foot. "You still alive down there?"
A shaky thumbs-up.
"Cool. We should probably keep going, then." She glanced at Neptune and Scarlet and smirked. "Since some people obviously aren't a fan of gorgeous weather."
"It's over a hundred degrees," Neptune groaned, his voice muffled into Sun's shoulder.
"It's a dry heat!" Yang and Sun both said, at almost the same time.
"Yang?"
She turned around, still grinning. "Yes Bl—uh...?"
Her teammate was pointing at Weiss. More specifically, the look on her face. Her face, which was red and peeling even through a layer of sunscreen and Specter's wing.
It was not a friendly look.
"...Let's keep moving, shall we?" Sun suggested, from where he was still lying on his back and looking more than a little alarmed. He scrambled to his feet and started walking, keeping his eyes forward. They did not finish their fourth rendition of You are my Sunshine.
Yang heard a muffled snort from somewhere behind her. She turned and let out a theatrical—and silent—sigh of relief. Ruby had to clap a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing and drawing Weiss' attention.
It was the best thing she'd seen all day. Yang slung an arm over her shoulder and ruffled her hair, wincing only a little when sand scattered everywhere. "Traitor."
Ruby stuck her tongue out at her, and it felt like the sun breaking through the clouds... metaphorically. They hadn't seen a real cloud in a while.
It was brief, though. Soon the smile faded, and she glanced up at the sky. "Do you think Winter will be back soon?"
Yang shrugged. "It's only been a day. It probably took at least that long to fly there in the first place, and it's not like she's just gonna trip over an airship she can use."
"I guess..." Ruby frowned. "How much food do we—"
"We've got plenty," Yang said firmly.
"But what if—"
"Nope."
"—we start running out, and—"
"Nope!"
"Yang!"
"What?" She put on an innocent expression. Ruby slugged her arm. "Okay, ow. Someone's getting stronger."
Ruby glanced over her shoulder at Storm. She was preoccupied talking with Fang, their heads leaning close together so that they could chat without the nearby Justice overhearing. "What if we do run out?" she murmured. "You guys are gonna have to fly eventually."
Yang patted her head again. "No we're not."
"You can't just—"
"Yeah. I can." Yang gave her shoulder a squeeze. "And I will. We'll make it work, whatever happens. Plus, it's way too early to start worrying about the airship. Winter's in the military, she'll find something."
"I guess..." Ruby still didn't sound convinced. Considering how bad their luck had been lately, Yang couldn't really blame her.
That didn't mean she wasn't going to use her trump card.
"Who knows? It might even be one of those... what are they called...?"
Ruby narrowed her eyes, as if she suspected this was probably a distraction... but she took the bait anyway. "They're Squad Carriers, Yang. And there's no way she'd be able to find one of those in Vacuo. Unless she can get one from Atlas? But that would take a while, so it'll probably be a normal transport. Or maybe even a shuttle, if it was big enough..."
Yang listened with a small smile. Mission accomplished.
Quiet.
Nimbus felt his ears twitching, and fought to still them. Every muscle in his body coiled up. Ready... and...
The blurry brown blob that was the hare moved. He tried to pounce on it, but missed—it slipped between his paws and took off running. He bolted after it, leaped over a cactus, slipped on the way down, and wound up on his belly.
A flash of red and orange. Huo had been hunting close by, and turned in time to see the hare. By the time Nimbus blinked the sand out of his eyes—so much sand!—it was already burnt to a crisp. His brother sniffed at the animal dubiously.
"This is hardly even a mouthful," he complained. Nimbus huffed, and his breath kicked up another cloud of sand. He groaned and pawed at his eyes.
"Hey... Nymph?" Zircon called out, his voice shaking a little. Huo and Nimbus both took off, and ran into their sister as they went. They all met Zircon in a shallow dip between two dunes, each with dry grasses poking up through the sand. And nestled inside...
"Oh, come on!" Huo burst out. "All I can find is stupid rabbits! How did you even—?"
A dead animal lay in the depression—a big one. Nimbus closed his wandering eye and squinted. Not a dragon, it was too small and there weren't any claws, but it was much taller than Scarlet. Many of the bones were bare, and he was pretty sure something had been eating it, but lots of meat was still there... even if it was all shriveled up.
"I didn't kill it," Zircon said, shuffling his paws nervously. "I just found it."
"How long d'you think it's been dead?" Huo gave it a cautious sniff.
Nymph flicked her tail. "I don't know. It's all dried up, so probably a while." Then, when Huo opened his mouth to bite, she snapped, "Careful! We don't even know what it was!"
"What, are you worried it's a Grimm or something?"
"No, but it might be poisonous."
Huo considered that for a moment, then started eating anyway. After a moment's hesitation, so did Nimbus, and the others followed suit. Zircon hesitated a moment longer, though, his ears twitching anxiously. "What killed it, if it wasn't one of us?"
"Maybe hyenas?" Nymph suggested. "Neptune mentioned hearing them last night."
"Wouldn't they eat the whole thing?"
"Ugh," Huo groaned. The others all jerked back, their ears flattening in alarm, but he only swallowed and licked his chops. "I bet this is what it would be like to eat my saddle."
They didn't get to eat their fill, even though there was a lot of meat. Instead they dragged most of the animal back to the others. It went quickly between so many dragons, even though Huo had been right about it tasting like leather. Little Gigas ate at least half his own body weight in one sitting, then curled up in a ball and fell asleep on the spot.
Nimbus also learned that the large animal was called a camel, and that it was very strange for one to be left lying around long enough for it to dry up like that. A few of their riders gave it suspicious looks. Pyrrha stared at it for a very long time, and the look on her face prompted Twiggy to drape a wing over her.
Team SSSN settled down near the edge of their group. Nimbus lay on his side under one of Zircon's wings, with their riders snug between them. "Why do we even have tents anymore?" Scarlet mumbled, already half asleep. "It's not like anyone is using them."
Sage chuckled softly and shifted so that his head was pillowed on one of Zircon's saddlebags.
Silence, for a while. Then Scarlet sighed and said, "Something doesn't feel right about that camel."
"Mm?"
"The carcass must've been old, to be all dried up like that. But the bones weren't all white."
Sage propped himself up on his elbow.
"That's weird, isn't it? The sun's been murder all day, it should've bleached them by now."
"Zircon?" Sage murmured. "Are you awake?"
"Wake."
"When you found those bones, were they in the shade? Maybe buried under some sand?"
"Nno."
Another silence.
"That is odd," Sage said, his voice still rough with sleep.
"And would a hyena really go after a camel?"
Sage yawned. "I don't know. Not alone. Maybe if a pack was hungry enough?"
"But a pack would have eaten the whole thing."
Sage sighed and wrapped an arm around Scarlet. "It's very strange," he agreed, "but let's worry about it in the morning. If there is some kind of giant camel-eating monster around, Quake and Steel are keeping watch."
"I guess..."
Scarlet still sounded unconvinced, so Sage kissed him and said, "Sleep."
When Pyrrha left the camp that night, no one stopped her.
She hadn't really meant to go out alone again, but the thought of the dead, suspiciously desiccated camel wouldn't let her rest. Part of her knew she should tell one of the adults, but...
They wouldn't let her go alone. And she knew what the hybrid would think, if a dozen or so dragons came looking for her. She was obviously used to being hunted.
One try. Pyrrha didn't think she'd hurt her, not after they'd met twice, and once under much worse circumstances. She walked in a spiral out from their camp, watching the dunes carefully, looking for any shapes that were out of place.
She was mid-step when she heard the familiar rattling hiss behind her. Pyrrha turned, slowly, and knelt with her legs tucked under her, and her palms resting flat against the ground. The hybrid relaxed once she'd taken on a less threatening posture, and stopped hissing. She still eyed her warily, her tail twitching back and forth.
"Hello again," Pyrrha murmured.
Her left ear, the one with the notch in it, flicked acknowledgment.
"It's nice out here, isn't it?" The sky was almost cloudless, and so full of stars that Pyrrha had a hard time looking up without feeling like she was about to fall into it. "Especially for you."
The hybrid snorted, flicked her tail, and made to turn and leave.
"Wait!"
In an instant she tensed, her head whipping around. Ready for the attack. Pyrrha shut her eyes for a moment, to help the hybrid relax. "It's alright. I'm sorry."
A whiff of breath. She opened her eyes again and saw that the dragon was a little further away than she had been, still on her guard.
Pyrrha took a deep breath and said, "You've been following us, then."
Her ears went back. She didn't nod—maybe she hadn't been with her rider long enough to learn how—but the rumbling noise she made sounded affirmative.
"Is... is it because you're lonely?"
The hybrid bared her teeth and snarled. Every spine on her neck stood up, bristling, and her eyes narrowed in to glowing yellow slits.
Pyrrha didn't flinch, but it was a near thing. "I don't think I understand," she said, keeping her voice calm with some effort. "Do you just like the desert? Or are you looking for your—" She cut herself off, a little too late. A growl started deep in the dragon's chest.
Why follow them, if she didn't want company and she didn't want her rider? Surely there had been more food in the forest. Obviously she didn't care for the White Fang, or—
No. That wasn't right at all. She didn't care for the riders in the White Fang.
Pyrrha's eyes widened. "You're here for Gi—" she blurted, before she could catch up with herself. By the time she closed her mouth, the hybrid's irritated growl had stopped. She was coldly silent as she drew herself up, her back legs tensing.
She sprang forward. Pyrrha dove to the side, rolled, tried to get her feet under her. But kneeling had left her vulnerable—that had been the whole point—and she was still on her hands and knees when she said, "We don't want to—"
A blur of motion. She tried to dodge, but couldn't move fast enough from the ground. The hybrid's tail collided with her stomach, knocking her flat on her back and sending her rolling down the side of a dune.
At the bottom she lay still, gasping for air that wouldn't come. She could hear sounds nearby, but couldn't make any sense of them—everything was still spinning. When she finally got her breath back, for a long time all she could do was cough.
Slowly, stiffly, she pushed herself upright. She listened, but couldn't hear anything that might tell her where the dragon had gone. Pyrrha struggled back up the dune, prepared to be pounced on at any second. Jagged shapes in the sand were suddenly everywhere. Every suspicious shadow might be about to aim its claws at her...
But there was nothing. She stopped at the top, scanning her surroundings, but she couldn't see any movement. There was no sound. Only a series of shallow dips in the sand, forming pools of shadow on moonlit dunes—footprints, heading back the way she had come.
Her heart in her throat, Pyrrha started to run.
Okay, so I did some googling and got mixed results as to whether or not hyenas and camels actually live in any of the same places, so I'm going to play the 'it's fiction' card and say that in Vacuo, they do.