~~

Chapter 12

"Wh-what is it?" whimpered Boq. Fiyero pinched his wrist in return. "Ouch!" yelped Boq.

Fiyero turned and glared at him.

"Just in case it has not yet occurred to you…be *quiet* unless you want to enrage it and make it charge sooner than necessary."

Boq grimaced.

"Oh."

The creature had paused a few yards away, and appeared to be surveying the hunting party, as though trying to decide the best way to finish them off. Somehow it was later in the day than any of them had judged, and the sun was alarmingly low in the sky. Fat rain drops began to fall all around them, slowly at first, each one sending up a little puff of dust as it hit the dry ground. One landed on the creature's head, and it let out a low growl. Boq shuddered and took a couple steps backward.

"Back up and try to walk away…slowly," instructed Fiyero, "And don't turn your back on it. Whatever you do, try to keep eye contact. It won't charge if you can intimidate it."

Gerema made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort, then began backing up. The group backed up until the creature was about thirty feet away, then Fiyero put up a hand to stop them.

"You all have your spears," he said, not turning to look at them.

There were various murmurs of agreement from Boq and Gerema.

"We're going to stay here for a while and hope that it gets bored with us and decides to leave."

"And if it doesn't?" asked Boq.

"Then we all charge it at once. And make as much noise as we can."

"And pray for our lives," added Gerema darkly.

"What is it?" Boq asked again, "Have you ever seen one before?"

"A Kalidah. Once. Be quiet before you get us all killed," Fiyero ground through clenched teeth.

Boq clapped a hand over his mouth and tried not to panic. The Kalidah was walking slowly towards them, stalking them like some huge cat. Boq looked down at the point of his spear and noticed how fragile it looked. He wondered whether the point might not simply break off if he tried to attack something that large with it. The rain began to fall harder and there was rumble of thunder off in the distance. The air seemed to crackle with energy around them.

Something whizzed through the air and scraped Boq's ear from behind. He let out a cry of fright and started to run as fast as he can, but collided head on with Gerema. Boq fell to the ground with a loud thud. The Kalidah gave an enraged roar and ran toward the small group with alarming speed.

In a matter of seconds it was on top of Boq, batting at him with those huge paws. He rolled over, tried to get up, realizing an instant too late that he would exposing himself more to the creature. It had claws, nearly an inch long each, and thick. Boq propelled himself backwards with all his might, and managed by some small miracle to keep his face out of the path of the claws. He wasn't lucky enough to escape entirely, however, and the Kalidah caught his right leg under one of the huge paws.

Boq screamed as the claws dug in. It felt like a thousand needles, a million bee stings, a gallon of boiling water had just marred the flesh, and his head began to spin.

Then, by some mercy, the creature was backing away, making a terrible shrieking noise. Boq whipped sweat from his eyes, horrified by the amount of blood on his hands. It took him a moment to comprehend where it was all coming from, but then he nearly passed out again upon catching sight of his injured leg. He heard the others yelling, and looked up in time to see something flying above their heads. It was nearly dark now, and the others were hard to make out. As Boq watched, the creature reared back, pawing at something that was attacking its face from the air. In the same moment, Fiyero and Gerema charged at it and dove their spears into its back.

"Boq, move!" shouted Fiyero

Boq somehow managed to scramble out of the way. The Kalidah fell inches from him, the ground shaking with the impact of its weight. Blood spattered everywhere, and Boq closed his eyes, giving in to unconsciousness.

~~

The wind was howling outside, a hollow, lonely sound, accented by the sound of hail ricocheting of the sides of the tower in all directions. The storm sounded for all the world like a horde of otherworldly creatures trying to break down the strong rock walls of Kiamo Ko. Night had fallen nearly two hours ago, and still the hunting party had not returned.

Elphaba sat on the couch, once again rifling through the Grimmerie.

"What are you looking for?" Glinda asked finally, tearing herself away from the window and going to sit beside Elphaba.

"Nothing…I don't know. I just thought…There was a map in here earlier…"

"And you thought it might show you where the others are," Glinda finished quietly.

Elphaba looked at her sharply, started to deny it, then nodded.

"Do you think they're all right?" asked Glinda finally.

"How should I know?" Elphaba snapped back.

"Well…you know this part of the country much better than I do…I just thought…maybe…"

"You thought maybe I'd be like the rest of the world and give you some sweet little reassurance that could keep you from worrying and allow you to deny the truth of the matter."

"I didn't mean-"

"Yes you did. That's exactly what you meant. I'm not going to give it to you. Here is what I think, since you asked. The Vinkus is a treacherous land, especially after dark. They went out with almost no equipment, later in the day than any of us realized. This is one of the worst storms I have ever seen. If you want my opinion, they lost their way and ran into who knows what. For all we know, they could be dinner for some large animal…or prisoners of the Gale Force."

"Or perfectly fine," said Glinda softly. "Maybe they caught something huge and it's just taking them a long time to get it back here."

As if on cue, there was a knock on the huge wooden door, and both women jumped up. Glinda pushed Elphaba back immediately, earning her an angry glare.

"Not you!" Glinda scolded, "It's raining, for Oz sake!"

Elphaba sniffed her disapproval, but followed several steps behind Glinda.

After several great efforts, Glinda managed to unbar the heavy door and throw it open. She let out a high-pitched scream at what she saw. Fiyero and Gerema stood in the doorway, drenched and exhausted. Behind them lay the enormous carcass of the Kalidah. Gerema was carrying the unconscious Boq on her back, but she looked ready to drop him and leave him behind.

"Behold, the triumphant hunters," muttered Elphaba. "What the hell happened?"

"We, uh, had some close contact with the indigenous wildlife," said Fiyero, dropping his drenched cloak unceremoniously on the hall floor as he walked in.

Glinda watched concernedly as Gerema dumped Boq on the sofa in a similar manner.

"What happened to him?" asked Elphaba as she watched Fiyero attempt to wrap a towel around his still-dripping hair.

Gerema shrugged, and began dragging the Kalidah carcass in behind her. Glinda clapped a hand over her mouth and looked thoroughly disgusted.

"Slight accident." She turned to Fiyero. "You should take him hunting more often. He makes quite good bait."

Everyone glared at Gerema, and there likely would have been a fight if it hadn't been for Chistery, several seconds behind the rest of the party, swooping in through the door. He landed on the floor and shook himself like a wet dog before flitting up to perch on Elphaba's shoulder.

"Our savior," said Fiyero, grinning at Elphaba. "I thought he might be a friend of yours."

Elphaba reached up and stroked the monkey's head.

"Help hunters have heart," he chattered in response, which made everyone laugh.

Fiyero walked over and wrapped his arms around Elphaba's waist from behind. Glinda smiled at them, but remained mercifully silent for once.

"So," said Fiyero thoughtfully, "I guess overall we should call this a success."

"I think Boq would disagree."

"At least we accomplished our task." He gestured to the large, filthy carcass. "Once we clean it, it could last us days. At least until the rain stops."

"That's not all," said Glinda, in a rare moment of thought.

"What?" asked Elphaba.

"As long as it keeps raining, the tiktoks can't find us. They'll rust if they try to go out in this weather. So we're safe, at least for the time being."

Everyone stared at Glinda, amazed at the wisdom behind her words.

~~

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