Notaku woke up hungry. As wondrous as these caverns were, they were quite short of edibles. A few minutes' search found a stash of dried meats from the previous occupant, but the dampness of the cave ensured that they were quite inedible by this point in time. He did find a salt lick among the human's supplies, and when he had washed the top layer of salt off, it was clean! He wrapped it back in the cloth he had found it in, and stuck it in his pack. Once he was able to hunt some more meat, he could use the salt to preserve it.
Oh well. He had water, he supposed he should be grateful for that. The boy drank for a long time, filling his empty belly with water, and hoping that would satisfy it for now. He wrote a bit on his parchments, then gathered his belongings together. After a moment's consideration, he also snagged the lamp and the oil from the stone shelf. Once he was sure he had everything, including the human's journal. He set off once more.
Notaku was grateful that there were no bats in this cave. It wasn't that he was afraid of bats, but where there were bats, there was guano, and mucking through bat guano would not have been high on his list of things to do. Especially in bare feet!
He sang quietly to himself as he walked through the corridors. He was also thankful that there were not too many twists and turns, and that there were not multiple caverns and passageways. He would have gotten hopelessly lost.
The first part of the day (or was it night?) was highly uneventful, and consisted mostly of walking along the corridor, and drinking from the stream. He did notice that as much as he was drinking, he had to go to the bathroom a lot, and was glad that no one else was around. The cavern was a little short on private privies.
Notaku was not sure how far he should go, before he turned back. The thought occurred that if he were to travel too far, and this ended up in a dead end, that it would be a lot of wasted days of travel. But a moment's thought made him realize that he was not yet finished down here, in the caverns. He had gotten some information, yes, but was no closer to knowing where the gem was, or what he would have to do do gain it. And so, he would continue.
The cavern environment was quite foreign to a cub who was used to trees, and open spaces, and fresh, arid air. Humidity was not something that he encountered often; it was strange. It smelled weird, it felt weird, breathing it in. The dark of the caves, held at bay by the glowing of the crystals; the echoes of the boy's footfalls, and the trickling of the streams. Though fascinating, it was a little intimidating at times.
It happened several hours later, as Notaku was beginning to get a little drowsy, and weary of walking. The crystals were getting fewer, and dimmer, and he stumbled over something that caused him to sprawl painfully on the stone. Growling, he sat up and investigated the damage. It wasn't bad, just a couple of scraped knees and a bruise or two, and a very injured pride.
Annoyed now, the boy brought out his lantern and lit it, to see what it was that he stumbled over. He raised the wick, to increase the light output, and lifted the lantern up to look.
Bones.
Notaku gasped, his eyes widening, suddenly shaking with trepidation. There was a mass of bones lying on the bare stone, lain in the position that Notaku assumed the bone's owner had died in. And the thing was, these were not the bones of an animal; they were the bones of something that walked on two legs. And it was something far larger than Gummies. Even Barbics.
He spent several minutes staring at the skeleton in shock, his eyes taking in the strips of skin and clothing that still clung to it, the sprawled position, the hair that clung to the scalp. It had been an awful surprise for the cub, and for a moment he had to fight the urge to run. "J-just calm down," he told himself. "It can't hurt you, it's dead. It's just...it's just bones." You mean it's a dead body, he thought, and closed his eyes tightly. That was the problem with trying to convince himself that any given situation wasn't as bad as it could be; there was always that little part of his mind that came up with reasons why it was. And that part was usually more persuasive.
But then he thought of what his father would have done in this situation, and was pretty sure that running was not an option he would consider. And so he stayed where he was.
Once he'd gotten hold of his nerves, and he wasn't shaking, he looked at the skeleton once more. Now that he was aware of the skeleton's presence, he could detect a mild smell of decay. Fortunately, most of the flesh had already rotted away, else he'd be throwing up all the water he'd drunk in the last day or so. He wasn't sure what was holding his fascination, why he didn't just walk on, but there was something strange enough about the appearance of this skeleton that he didn't want to move on just yet. For one, what was he? Surely humans were not that big...were they? How had he died, down here in the serene caverns, where a twelve year old boy was having little difficulty surviving? He had not died through lack of water, surely, and food would not be that hard to find. Who was he? The sneaking suspicion that this was indeed a human, and not only that, the human that had stolen the gem, made its way into the boy's mind. But he was still too struck by the size of the skeleton to credit this. To a small-statured Gummi cub, it seemed he was looking at a giant.
Well, a voice said reasonably into his head. Search the clothing, see what you can find. Perhaps the gem will be hidden within the confines of the tunic, or in a pouch, and you'll be able to go home. Notaku did not think that it would be so easy, but there should be no harm in it.
If he was able to force himself to do it.
The initial contact was what took the most courage; simply touching the clothing that belonged to a dead man was not something that most youths had to confront. But there was steel in the boy's spirit, enough that he was able to grasp the tattered tunic. Once he had done that, and nothing horrible happened, it was easier.
Notaku was very glad that he had not given in to his first impulse and run, for while he found no gem, he did find what he had been sent to the caverns to find. In a moldy leather pouch was a thick parchment, strangely new-looking and unmarked by dirt or slime. Intrigued, he pulled it out and looked at it. The script was difficult to read, but to his astonishment, it was written in Barbic! Not just the more commonly-known Gummi language, but the Barbic dialect that his clan used! Surely none of the Valley had written this?
At first, he suspected it might be something one of the mages wrote. The suspicion that the whole thing might have been a set up for his and the others' Tests, but he quickly dismissed the possibility. None of the mages would have sent someone so young on a mission as dangerous as this, unless the need was dire. It drove most cubs nuts, how protective the Barbics were of them. And certainly they would not have lied about having the visions simply so they could put a group of cubs through their Tests of Bearhood. It was fairly arrogant to think it. Still, it was very strange.
It took Notaku a few moments to decipher the ornate script, but when he did, he felt flabbergasted. It read thus:
To he bold enough to find this record, keep this tale in thine heart. This one hath sought riches and power, and hath wrought upon himself destruction. Earth's powers cannot be contained by any one but Earth herself. If thou hath the courage and the hearte to continue thy journey, then seek us where the streams flow clear, and the trees grow green. A fortnight west, and then seven days north, and, and with the courage in thine heart, thy quest shall be complete.Notaku stared at the parchment for several moments, trying to fathom who could have left this here, and when, but no answers came. "A fortnight west...two weeks." Notaku was totally and completely turned around in the caverns, and had no idea where west happened to be. He would need to get out of the caves.
After searching the clothes further and finding nothing more, Notaku stood and tucked the parchment into his duffel. He would follow the passageway a little farther yet, in case there was another way out, but if he could not find one, he would backtrack.
An hour later, the boy felt a cool breeze on his face, and heard the cries of a desert bird. He could not help but grin as he stepped out once more onto desert ground, the caverns finally behind him. It was quite past midday, and the sun shone brightly, but was not quite evening. Notaku's timing had gotten a bit off in the cave, but it could be easily rectified, if he simply pushed on until dawn. He turned and looked at the exit he had just used, and realized that it was quite impossible to see unless one was right on top of it. The human had simply been lucky to stumble upon it.
He stopped only once that night, when the stream from the caves ended in a largish, oasis-type pool. The boy took ten minutes or so to rest, and fill his waterskin as full as it would go. After a moment's consideration, he decided that he would bathe, as well as he could without soap at any rate. He was smelling a little musty from being in the strange, damp caves for so long. And so he stripped down nude and jumped into the water.
He was glad he decided to take a little while to enjoy the cool water. It refreshed his energy, and uplifted his mood. Using the coarse desert sand on his skin, he was able to wash away most of the grit and grime he had accumulated. And his newly-trimmed fur allowed the sand to scrub him fairly clean. He doused his cloak and kilt as well, washing them as thoroughly as he could. He was quite sodden when he was finished, but felt completely invigorated. Notaku took a drink at the pool large enough to make his stomach gurgle, and then continued on his way.
It was not until two days later that he was able to hunt down another jackrabbit. He'd gone without for three days by then, and could scarcely wait until it was cooked enough to eat, much less to preserve. He cut off a good hunk of the beast to eat while the rest cooked enough to salt down with good results. He had been getting scared there for a while, afraid he would not be able to find anything to eat, as he was quite unaccustomed to going without food. The ground cover that the jackrabbits fed on were not good for Gummies to eat, as it made them ill. But for now, he was fed enough that he could deal. It was not enough to be to his liking, but he knew it would be foolish to eat his fill. He did not know how long this meat would have to last.
As before, he slept in the day, and traveled by night. Sometimes he woke having gotten overheated, and felt like he wanted to vomit what he had eaten the night previous. He never did, but at times it was a near thing. He desired nothing more after these searing days than to take what was left in his waterskin and dump it over his head. But of course he did no such thing, for that would condemn him, not to mention his clan, to death.
But it was certainly tempting!
The trek was tedious and unpleasant. The summer was only beginning, and already the sun beat down on the hard-packed earth like an oven on earthenware. Though the bottoms of Notaku's feet were as tough as old leather, the rest of him didn't appreciate the heat so much. And unless he managed to find the dubious shelter of a rock outcropping for when he slept, the ground would get quite hot enough to burn his skin if he lay there too long. By consequence, he sometimes got very little sleep.
A week out from the caverns, he began to see something in the distance. Squinting through the glare the sun placed on his spectacles, he tried to make out what it was. For now, all he could see was a mass of green, shimmering in the heat from the baked ground. "Well that's useful," he grouched.
Notaku was not in a good mood. For the past three days, he had been wakened at least twice by the heat of the ground. Even sleeping on his cloak didn't help, and it exposed his skin to the sun overhead. And beyond that, almost since the caves, he'd been getting the annoying feeling that he was being watched.
But how? Certainly no one from the Valley had followed him, or sending him out here would have been a completely futile gesture. Who else could it be? In the end, he concluded with complete annoyance, that it was his own paranoia. Either that, or some giant creature, that wanted to eat his flesh and bones for its midday snack. That would just figure, he thought churlishly.
That day at dawn, Notaku plopped himself down on the still-hot sand and brought out a piece of his cured rabbit meat. He tore into it with his teeth, taking out his frustrations on his meager meal. He glared at his waterskin, as if it were emptying itself of its own accord, and swallowed the meat.
He did not eat much, and this was as much because he did not have much, as because it was heavily salted. And he could not drink much water. He only ate when the pangs in his belly were too loud to ignore. As it was, Notaku was beginning to worry. His water was more than half gone, and that was on the strictest rationing he could manage without risking death in the arid clime. And again, fear was beginning to worm its way around his mind. It was very distracting!
The boy distracted himself from his griping belly, and his sunburned skin, and parched throat by writing on his parchments. He poured out some of his fear and frustration here, which helped, a little. And as dawn's face appeared over the horizon, he curled up beside a large boulder to sleep.
When the young Gummi bear next awoke, it was not night, as he expected. Nor was it the hot ground that had woken him. The survival instinct that all Barbics possessed had gone off rather loudly, and only his fatigue had kept the boy from waking before now. But when he did, a flash of alarm jolted him to full wakefulness. There was a shadow in front of him on the ground.
And it was not his.