"Misk Gods" Saga

Part III: A Better Life Awaits

I woke up to what felt like a furry, damp pillow hitting me lightly on the side of my face. Before I could open my eyes, I knew it was Tiger and I instantly felt like crap. I knew I was covered in vomit and blood that still hadn't dried yet. Every bone in my body was aching, and I was sure Tiger felt the same way. I was surprised I wasn't dead after such a fall, but I must have landed on Tiger's belly or something because though everything hurt, nothing seemed broken. Then again, I hadn't tried moving yet. I opened my eyes painfully and sat up. Sure enough, there was Tiger looking like a completely black panther, and a depressed one at that.

"Sorry if I disturbed any pleasant dreams," Tiger smiled.

I only looked at him in disgust. "How can you even kid about what just happened? He dropped us! We should be dead! And we're covered in blood and barf!"

"Calm down," Tiger laughed, making me even angrier. "I can't die until my one million years are up, remember? Didn't your parents teach you anything about Misk before they died?"

I could have argued, but there was no use. Tiger was the Land God, and though he seemed pretty weird to me, fighting with him wouldn't do me any good. I was far away from my home, after all, and there was practically no way back. I couldn't climb up the plateau, especially since I had no arms.

"I have good news, anyway," Tiger nudged. "I see grass up ahead. Real, green grass. We're home free, buddy. I'll take you home after we wash off, alright? I promise. I can jump back up that plateau just as easy as you can step over a rock!"

I felt immediate relief. "Oh, thank fate! I could kiss the ground!"

Tiger only laughed, picked me blood and vomit-covered body up off the ground, and set me on his equally grotesque back. Before I could even catch a fine grip, he was off like a cheetah. Already I could see that green grass ahead. I hoped we weren't looking at a mirage; that would have been awful. But no, clear as day, there it was. In fact, it was probably the tallest grass I'd ever seen before. The grass that used to grow on Iron Plateau was only a couple inches long, and the grass ahead looked like it could even hide Tiger!

I clung as tightly as I could to Tiger's back, slipping only slightly as he sprinted, until finally he began going a bit slower. I was suddenly feeling very tired (but not sickly or faintish this time), so I closed my eyes and tilted forward. "Are we in the grass yet, Tiger?"

"Yeah, yeah," he responded, sounding very occupied. "I'm trying to find a pond or a stream or something… I can sort of hear running water coming from somewhere, but no water in sight…"

Normally I probably would have stood up on Tiger's head and helped him look, but I was suddenly much too tired. I felt like falling into a dreamless sleep, which is a very awkward feeling if you've ever been drenched in blood and vomit while sitting on something equally coated in blood and vomit. I was so tired I didn't seem to care, though.

"Hey, you!" a tiny voice peeped angrily. That woke me up. I sat up and looked down to the ground where Tiger was also looking. There was another very strange creature I'd never seen before, but this thing didn't look anything like that small family of pudgy eagles that were helping Freedom out. No, this critter was most definitely a rabbit. But not just any rabbit, a black and white striped rabbit! It looked almost like a cross between and rabbit and a zebra. Just looking at it made me smile. There are some things on this earth that were just mean to make us smile, but this bunny didn't seem happy the least bit.

"You're ruining our grass! Go wash off before the others get back, or you'll be sorry! I mean it! I hate it when outsiders like you come from nowhere just so you can freaking… Freaking ruin things for everybody! Were you even invited here by anyone? I don't think so!"

My adrenaline had just about had enough. "Do you even know who you're talking to, little miss?" I shouted back.

"Oh, leave her be, Boo," Tiger spoke with wisdom and power in his voice. "If she wants us to clean up, we'll clean up… May I ask where the nearest watering hole is? We've come strictly in search of one, that's all."

"Oh no you don't!" the rabbit shrieked some more. "There's no way I'm going to let you filthy pieces of crap wash off in our sacred watering hole, that's for drinking only! If you want to wash off, you're going to have to do it under Tragar Waterfall."

"Tragar Waterfall?" I repeated.

"Yeah, yeah, that's the name of the waterfall… It's really close; I'll show you guys. Come on!"

And boy, could that little bunny hop. I was getting really tired of gripping onto the back of Tiger's neck, but I didn't have much of a choice. Besides, I was suddenly awake with excitement. I hadn't seen grass in about a year and I wondered if I'd still be living off of dirt and roots for the rest of my life. I could almost hear a song coming from that running waterfall as we approached it. Finally, the grass stopped and before us was a beautiful waterfall. It wasn't very big, but the water within it looked absolutely amazing, like crystals.

"Just wash off here and then I'll let you drink out of our watering hole," the bunny said rather superior-like. "I'm the only one here right now, but the others - My friends and family, I mean - they'll be here in about an hour and I'm not sure if they'll let you hang around here for much longer."

Tiger seemed to be ignoring what she said. "You first, Boo, go on."

I slid down his blood drenched tail, which still, by the way, hadn't dried off, and stumbled my lazy way to the water, feeling my damp bloody prints being left behind as I made my way. Tiger sort of nudged me and I whipped around to glare at him. I didn't like being rushed, ever.

I found myself unable to step in, however. I hadn't touched water since I was very little, and I guess you could say the thought of diving in made me nervous. Besides, I knew it would be cold. Tiger, once again, seemed to read my mind. Before I had time to say I wasn't read, Tiger picked me up by his tail and threw me in! I could hear the zebra bunny laughing at me, and I could almost feel Tiger's smile even though I could only see water.

Water covered my entire body, was under my feathers, was drowning me. I felt cold right down to the bone, but at the same time I could already feel my body attempting to adjust to the temperature. I opened my eyes as I sunk lower into the water. All around me there was darkness within the clear water: blood mixed with vomit. If I hadn't been under water, I definitely would have thrown up again. I turned to find that the crusted on vomit wasn't washing off as fast, so I did a quick little twirl in a circle to get it to shake off.

Before long, I realized I was having fun. I think I waited about five minutes or so before I finally broke through the surface. "That was awesome!"

Tiger seemed to be laughing to the end of time, but the zebra rabbit only looked shocked. "You mean to tell me that was all blood? But you have no wounds!"

"It wasn't my blood," I smiled. "And there was some throw-up in there, too."

"That's disgusting!" she cried out, and I realized for the first time that she had a slight Spanish accent. It sort of worked for her. Before I had time to move out of the way, Tiger did some sort of giant cannon ball into the water, causing me to go flying out and landing right next to the zebra bunny.

"Whoa!" I looked around dizzily. "Don't do that again, Tiger!"

The zebra bunny looked at me and snickered. "You have a pink chest and mane. That's funny. Pink is a girl's color!"

I glared jokingly. "At least I don't look like my dad was a zebra, thank you very much."

Thankfully, the bunny didn't seem to mind; she only laughed along with me. "My name's Bullet, by the way. What's yours? Boo, did he call you?"

"Yup, that's me," I laughed. "I only just met him about an hour ago or so. It's not like we're good friends or anything."

"Why did his parents name him Tiger?" Bullet laughed. "He's a panther, isn't he? That's such a funny name. His parents must have been envious of the Land God, am I right? Even though the Land God eats just as many land animals as the Sky God eats sky animals, they still have enough dignity to call their son that?"

She looked surprised to find that I wasn't joking along with her. "Actually-"

Right at that moment, Tiger came out from under the water, completely free of blood and smiling happily and Bullet and me. Bullet's ears drooped and her eyes became huge and prey-like. She looked absolutely petrified on the spot, and I found she was shaking and completely unable to move.

"You're Tiger!" she shrieked. "D-don't hurt me!"

I patted her lightly with my foot before she could freak out anymore. "Don't worry, don't worry! Calm down, Bullet, he's a nice guy! You would eat other land creatures if you didn't eat plants and you were hungry, wouldn't you? He's only mean to the eagles… Please don't be afraid. I was at first, but Tiger's a nice guy."

"I'm not going to hurt you," Tiger looked much more serious now. "I've only come this way for water. I'm thirsty, that's all. I promise that right after I drink from your watering hole, I'll leave."

Bullet was apparently easy to convince. A smile spread across her face. "The Land God within my presence, what was I think? This is an honor! I'll show you both to the watering hole right away, it's hardly a ways at all. Just a few yards, actually. Come on, come on!"

As Tiger and I followed, Tiger moving much slower on purpose to stay at the same pace, I realized how cold I was. That water had been cold enough, but now that we were walking and there was a cool breeze, it felt like I was going to shiver my feathers right off! Tiger was laughing at me because of the droopy, unbalanced way my feathers were since I hadn't preened them yet.

"Here we are," Bullet spoke happily. As the grass ended, we looked through it to see a very huge watering hole, the size of a giant pond or a small lake. Tiger was eyeing it hungrily. I hadn't had water in a long, long time, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. As Tiger thanked Bullet and leaned forward, he drank mouthful after mouthful, each gulp looking like it was probably a couple gallons for him. I thanked Bullet as well, since that's the tradition you're supposed to use when one shows you to water, and took tiny sips. Bullet didn't do the same; I guess she wasn't thirsty.

I filled up quickly, but Bullet and I must have sat there laughing for another ten or fifteen minutes before Tiger was finally finished. When he was, the watering hole was much, much lower than it had been starting out. About half of it was gone!

"Oh great, now I'll have to explain this one to my parents," Bullet sighed. "Oh well, no matter. There will be much more water by tomorrow morning. You sure can drink, Tiger!"

Tiger only shook his entire body of the water from Tragar Waterfall in reply, soaking Bullet and me up again. "Hey!" we laughed jokingly.

"I'll take you two to the hot springs now, you must be freezing!" Bullet laughed. "It's pretty close, but you have to climb up steps, so Boo you should get on Tiger, I guess… Unless you can actually jump really high steps like I can."

"And I can't," I laughed while Tiger swept me up and placed me on the back of his neck. I shivered once more, my feathers feeling completely out of place and most definitely uncomfortable.

Bullet led the way as quickly as she could through the grass, and then hopped up some strange crumbly-looking steps. They were definitely too big for me to ever climb, even if I grew arms, but her hind legs were clearly powerful and Tiger gracefully stepped up them, skipping many at a time. They seemed to spiral until we reached this strange crater-looking thing. Bullet immediately hopped into it and I heard a sizzling souond, like a boiling pot of water.

I run up to Tiger's head as he leaned over it. It was even larger than the watering hole, and it sort of scared me, but I decided to take a risk anyway. It was definitely going to be warm as I could already feel the heat it was giving off, no doubt about that, and I was freezing like an icicle. I slid in carelessly to find that I should have stepped in gradually, if there had been a way.

"Yow!" I shrieked. "Ouch, ouch, ouch! Help! I'm boiling! I'm cooking! Help!"

Bullet laughed. "You really should calm down and relax there, Boo! Come in, Tiger, it's fine… Then again, I'm used to it."

Tiger stepped in eagerly, and as soon as he did, I attempted to climb on him to get out of the heated water, but Tiger shook me off. "Get used to it, Boo, it feels nice!"

After a few more minutes of freaking out, I finally decided I was ready to calm down and relax. Bullet swam around in circles and Tiger looked like he was about ready to fall asleep. Bullet looked so silly when she started swimming in a big circle around Tiger.

"So where are you two off to after this?" Bullet broke the silence.

"I'm taking Boo back to his cave and then… I don't know. I'm ready to finally settle down and have a mate, you know? I've been looking for one for the past couple months, but I just can't find any female tigers around here. I just want to get some real relaxation in and try to avoid Freedom for once. I don't like to fight, to be honest, but I don't have much of a choice. It's my way of defense."

Bullet was nodding understandingly, but I could tell she was dying to say something to Tiger. She looked like there was something on her mind she could just barely contain any longer. "Well, Tiger, today must certainly be your lucky day. I know what you mean about the whole fighting thing, you know… I have a brother. He's always shoving me off, you know? Always! And I don't want to argue with him, but when he starts… Oooh, how I hate him! Anyway, anyway, anyway… I must tell you… Oooh I'm so excited to tell you!"

Tiger looked confused, but I already knew what Bullet was about to say. It was instinct. "Just tell me, then! Don't leave me in suspense…" Did Tiger already know what she was about to say, too?

"There is a female tiger who lives in an alcove on the side of Iron Plateau. Her balcony is that hole on the side of it. You can see it from here, see? Anyway, I'm guessing her little lair must take up a lot of Iron Plateau… Underneath the surface, I mean. She never makes a peep or anything, and as far as I know, she hasn't found her mate yet either. Maybe you could introduce yourself?"

Tiger was blushing. Bullet and I laughed; it was a really funny sight to see, after all. I'd never seen a tiger blush before. "Do you think she'd be busy right now? I may as well introduce myself while I'm still in the neighborhood…" His blushing only increased, and Bullet and I were just about dying with laughter.

"I doubt she'd be busy, I haven't seen her come out of that alcove all day," Bullet managed to reply. "Go on now, if you wish. We'll be waiting for your return."

Tiger didn't bother saying anything else for fear of embarrassment. He simply blushed an even darker shade of red and stepped out of the hot spring, making his way to the side of the plateau quickly, though I knew it would still take him a while. It looked close from where we were, but it was pretty far out there.

After we finally got control of our laughing, Bullet spoke. "Boo, I think I should talk to you about Tiger and Freedom."

"What about them? The fighting?" I asked, a little interested.

"Indeed," she nodded solemnly. "I know it's not Tiger's fault, but the fighting is causing all the life on this planet to slowly die, you know? And pretty soon if the fighting keeps up, this little area here is going to be gone and we'll all have to migrate until we find more water, and the others have searched and searched and they just can't find anymore water around here!"

"Do you think Tiger finding a mate will help this at all?" I asked her.

"I really hope so, Boo," she sighed, looking extremely worried. "If it doesn't, who knows what will happen to us. Fate has a strange way of working things out, and a lot of times it's not for the better. I'm afraid. I really am."

We stayed in silence for a very, very long time, neither of us knowing what to say or do. I though Bullet may have fallen asleep after a while, but I wasn't sure. Maybe she was just in a very relaxing mood like I was. All seemed very silent besides the occasional breeze that swept through the grass… And that's when we heard the roar.