A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in so long! Fanfiction.net was down (as you may have noticed), so I couldn't upload anything!
"This is Arrelia," Faycune said casually. "Seeing as she's one of the many Norn herbologists, she's our plant expert."
"Hello. You must be Toomin," she said, gazing at him, then turning to face Doffnall. "And you must be Doffnall. A pleasure to meet you both."
Toomin heard a ringing noise from under the table. Arrelia reached down, and pulled out a small pad. She read what was on the screen with apparent interest, and then said, "Sorry for that interruption. Where were we?"
Before anyone could answer, a faint tremor raced through the table. It stopped. Toomin had a half-second to think "what?" when the vibrating started again, escalating to a wild, chaotic quaking that shook drinks off the tables, and torches from their holsters. Screams and shouts echoed to the domed ceiling, and a roaring noise grew in magnitude until Toomin thought his ears would explode. Through blurry eyes, he saw Doffnall crouching, eyes shut, hands over her ears. Toomin flinched as a blaster was set off by the vibrations, and hit a fat, beaked alien that had on its head an antenna with bulbs running down it.
"Aaaaaahhhhhgggggghh! Ebe!" the alien screamed as it dropped to the floor, while the alien that had given Toomin the mean look earlier yelled, "Bullseye! Me bunke! Noooooooo!"
Suddenly, the vibrations abruptly stopped. A bone-chilling scream was heard from far off, a scream that bore down into his brain and touched Toomin in a way that sent his knees quaking, and made his blood run cold. The last chilling tones cut through the air, leaving an icy feeling in the room, as if the very scream itself had cooled the atmosphere. For the first time since he walked in, there was absolute silence, save for the music that blared on unhindered from the radio.
Slowly, people rose up from their hiding spots beneath tables and chairs. Within minutes, everything was back to normal, it seemed.
"What was that?" Doffnall asked.
"I don't know exactly," Faycune responded. "All I know for sure is that I heard something like it a day and a half ago, right before you came. Rumor has it that it's the call of, you know…'the beast within'."
"Perhaps we should leave?" suggested Arrelia.
"Good idea. We probably should get going, anyway, if we want to find out what that Blade ship was up to." Faycune said.
Toomin shifted the backpack strapped to his chest, then got up as Faycune and Arrelia rose and made their way toward the door. They exited the cool of the bar into the blistering heat of the desert. Toomin blinked furiously, eyes watering in the intense light. He and Doffnall took flight, circling above Faycune.
"Look up!" Doffnall exclaimed. Toomin turned his topmost eyes upward and saw a white figure silhouetted against the cloudless blue sky. The figure came closer, wheeling and diving, and Toomin saw that it was indeed a Norn. Vaguely, he remembered Aftran saying something about Angel Norns. The Norn called out to them, yelling, "Fine flying weather, isn't it?"
"You got that right!" Doffnall yelled back. The Angel Norn flew off. Toomin noted that it had no wings to speak of, but it floated as easily as they did on the breeze.
Toomin realized that Faycune and Arrelia had moved off while they were talking to the Angel Norn, so he and Doffnall flapped hard to catch up. He blew by the temple, and nearly ran smack into a support for a very large bridge. He banked a hard right, then cut his speed and landed. He shuffled over to where Doffnall had landed, albeit much more gracefully. The bridge was too narrow to fly down, so he dragged himself to where Arrelia and Faycune stood consulting a map.
Faycune folded the map, and said, "Up ahead is the Season Tree. The area is known for housing a group of Hebe, Malay, and Alba Norns that despise visitors, especially from Incubatorium. I suggest we stay in a group at all times."
"Okay, but first, can we eat something? I'm starved!" said Doffnall. She reached for some bright purple berries growing on a vine.
"NO! Don't touch them!" Arrelia exclaimed. Doffnall jerked back, then gazed at Arrelia quizzically. "Those berries are poison! They cause hallucinations, and contain a sleep toxin. I think they're called Ledum berries." Arrelia explained. "Here, eat this." She handed Doffnall and Toomin each a hunk of the bright yellow substance, called cheese.
"Let's get moving," Faycune said. "The Nova Subterrians will be less likely to let us in if it's midday."
Toomin munched his cheese as the group moved on, stopping only to gather what Arrelia called 'Bryonia berries'.
After a long and tiring hike, they came to the end of the bridge, where two surly-looking Malay guards stood.
As soon as they came into view, one of the guards snarled, "State your business!"
"We're just passing through; we'll be in and out as quickly as possible." Faycune said curtly.
The guard gave him an ugly look but muttered, "Move along." Doffnall and he took flight, being careful not to run into any posts.
They immediately saw a large tree, with bright green leaves, and gnarled, twisting branches. Toomin even saw a small platform in the central nook of the tree. He looked down, and saw an important-looking scroll hanging at Norn-eye level. It had a picture of a fully leaved tree on it, with a large number three below that. Norns milled to and fro, sometimes stopping at one of the many vendors' stands that lined both sides of the wooden walkway. Doffnall flitted under the large canopy of branches, and Toomin dipped down after her.
Faycune stopped at a lift near the base of the tree, signaling for them to fly down. Arrelia was returning from a vendor's booth, carrying a sack of some small, yellow berries. Toomin went into a gentle stoop, and landed next to Faycune. Doffnall, on the other hand, flared too late, and plowed into Toomin. Dazed, he looked at Doffnall, who had landed on top of him. Strangely reluctantly, Doffnall pulled herself off him. Toomin got up, as a lift came up a shaft next to them.
"We'll take the lift down to the bottom floor hall. At the end of this hall is the entrance to Terra Nornica, which is much friendlier than here. In fact, it's a rather popular vacation spot." Faycune explained to them.
They took the lift down. Soon after, they stopped at a room with a small picnic area in it.
"Let's stop here and rest. The Subterrians won't mind if we're here any longer, will they?" Arrelia asked.
"No. But we had better the stop as brief as possible." Faycune replied.
Arrelia picked the most out-of-the-way table, and then unpacked their meal, which consisted of a small hunk of cheese and a tomato. As Toomin ravenously ate his tomato, Arrelia, who was casually munching her piece of cheese, one-handedly took out a sack from her backpack, and went over to a bush with small red berries hanging from its leafy fronds. Upon finishing her tomato, Arrelia began to pick some of the red berries.
"What're those?" asked Doffnall, between mouthfuls of cheese.
"Pulsatilla berries," responded Arrelia. "We're out of cheese and tomatoes, so I figured we should stock up.
"Ah."
Toomin finished his cheese. Looking at Faycune and Doffnall, he could see that they were done, also. Remembering the sack Arrelia had bought from the vendor, Toomin asked, "What was in that sack you bought?"
Arrelia responded, "Arnica berries. They contain Arnica, the only known cure for Glycotoxin poisoning. They're a valued medicine that only grows on a species of vine that grows on the season tree."
Toomin nodded. Faycune looked at Arrelia, and said, "Well, we'd best be going. We're to hook up with Netogen, a friend of mine. He's an archeologist."
They packed up, and went back to the lift. As their lift settled on the bottom floor, Arrelia exclaimed, "Look! Gelsemium!" while pointing down the hall to their left.
"What's that?" asked Doffnall.
"It's a very valuable medicine. Even more so than the Arnica berries, for the fruit will only survive off the plant for an hour! We must collect some!" Arrelia's eyes were dancing like a child's would in a toy shop.
"Well, make it brief, Arrelia. I'm getting a bad feeling from here." Faycune said nervously.
They quickly moved down the hall. As they passed a giant pillar, Toomin thought he saw something – or someone – move in the shadows. He suddenly got a feeling that something was very, very wrong. He shook off the feeling, mentally shaking himself. 'Get a grip,' he thought to himself. They crossed a wooden board that was laid across the floor, and then proceeded into a small cavern. A strange, twisted plant grew in a moldy, old pot. Arrelia quickly pulled out a bag and began stuffing it full of the bell shaped fruits.
Toomin casually looked around, then glanced over his shoulder. A flash of tan could be seen for a split second, and then it melted into the shadows.
"Uh…guys…" Toomin said fearfully.
Arrelia tied the bag shut, then put it in a pouch in her pack. "Ready."
Faycune led the group out of the cavern. They crossed out onto the wooden board. Once again, Toomin got that sense of wrongness. In about a split second, he realized what he had overseen. But by then, it was too late.
The board gave way, and the entire group went plunging into the darkness.
A/N: Heh heh. Left ya another cliffhanger. Ah, well, it'll all be cleared up in the next chapter. Many thanks to all the readers who have read this far, you are appreciated greatly! Sorry about the slight lag in updates, but I recently went to El Paso, Texas for the Junior Olympic Regional Championship track competition. I placed fifth in the high jump. Oh well, fifth place isn't that bad!!!
