A/N: sob Okay, I only got one review for my last chapter, which made me very sad. cries That was part of the reason I didn't update sooner; though the other part was because I just can't bring myself to start up my laptop lately. ;) (I like Meg Cabot's explanation of this phenomenon, which she provided in her blog: 'Writers will do almost anything to not write.' Lol.)
Chapter Thirty(a): Discoveries
Having splinted the wing, we waited until the filly woke up to explain what we wanted to do. She apparently understood, since she shook and nodded her head at appropriate places.
With her permission and cooperation, we made up a litter that we pulled. At this point, I wished that we had brought Filly and Switchfoot along to help pull the litter (I wouldn't have made Shade pull it, though). But the horses and Killian would have had a heck of a time making it through the thicket, so we hadn't had much choice.
But a hippogryph is about the same size as a horse, even if this was a filly, she was still the same size as a horse foal, and she still weighed the same as a horse foal. Even with Relakk using some wind to help push, Shean and I had a really hard time pulling that thing out of the woods, especially since we had to maneuver around trees.
Due to this, I was actually glad to see the Mog up ahead as we neared the end of the woods. There was a bit of open space where we could detach the hippogryph from the litter and into a hiding place where she should be able to get some food.
"How's she going to get food?" I asked Relakk.
He shrugged. "Why don't you ask her to show you?"
How will you get food? I asked her, hoping she would show me.
She nodded and turned her head towards the forest. She gave a weird trilling, kind of like a combination of a bird of prey's hunting cry and the warble of a song bird. Without warning, a flock of little birds flapped to land in front of her, apparently entranced by the sound. I turned my head, not wanting to watch what I just knew would happen next. I heard the snap of a beak and turned back to see that the birds had scattered and a few feathers were floating near the hippogryph's beak. She looked rather pleased with herself.
I noticed that Relakk looked like he had looked away too, but Shean looked a little green around the gills.
"Yeah, she'll stay fed," he muttered, and nearly threw up. I smothered a grin, then hoisted my pack.
"Well, now that we have made a new discovery, let's get going."
Shean quickly followed me, pulling his own pack up to settle it more comfortably around his shoulders. Relakk followed us at a slightly slower pace.
We made our way through the Mog easily enough, Relakk making good on his promise of a water shield. Not that we got in the way of many of the fire geysers, but I would rather be on the safe side than on the crispy side.
"Is that the Valley of Song?" We were nearly to the end of the Mog, and through the shimmer of Relakk's water shield, I could see an idyllic looking valley. Relakk shaded his eyes.
"I think so. Let's get through the rest of this and see."
We quickly followed Relakk out of the Mog and soon came to the edge of the valley I had seen. I stopped.
"Oh, well, that's… accommodating." There, standing in front of us, in curling script burned into polished hardwood, were the words, 'The Valley of Song'. It was like something from one of those fairy tale parodies. I shrugged. There were plenty of things about my world that I didn't know about, so maybe this was just one.
"Come on, let's go," Shean suggested. We followed as Relakk led us down into the valley.
I soon heard some sort of music that rapidly began to get louder as we drew closer to the bottom of the valley. I saw pools that looked like they didn't have a bottom all around us. I had been trying to find the location of the singers when I realized that I didn't hear Shean making some smart remark about how our band could sing better than that, or something along those lines. I looked around.
To my horror, Shean and Relakk were walking like they were in a trance. Even worse, they were walking straight towards one of those pools! Yelling, I ran towards them and yanked them back just before they fell into the pool. I did my best to drag them out of the valley. Luckily, we hadn't gone too far down, so it wasn't as hard as it might have been.
As soon as we were out of earshot of the singing, I sat them both down on the lip of the valley and collapsed backwards onto the grass, letting my eyelids flop closed.
"Val? Val, are you okay?"
I opened my eyes. "I just dragged two guys who, together, are at least two times as heavy as me, and you ask if I'm okay?" I closed my eyes again with an exasperated snort.
Shean sat down next to me. I sighed and sat up, opening my eyes.
"You did that?" I turned to look at Shean.
"Uh… yah. What, don't you remember?"
Shean shook his head. "I remember walking into the valley a ways, but the next thing I remember is sitting down up here, then looking back to see you falling back onto the grass."
I groaned. "Oh. My. Gosh. I'm so gonna die. I'm gonna be stranded out here with two guys who won't be able to remember anything that happens down there, and who are going to try to drown themselves every time they hear that Sithin' awful singing. Relakk, do you remember anything that happened down there?" He shook his head. I buried my face in my hands. "Yep, we're all gonna die."
"No, we won't die," Shean assured me, sitting down and putting an arm round my waist so I could rest my head on his shoulder.
"Then what do we do?"
"Someone's going to have to go down there."
A/N: Yes, I know this was short, but since I didn't get many reviews on the last chapter, I'm not too worried (plus, now I'll be able to write Discoveries (b) faster, lol). Was it just that the update thing isn't working (the thing that sends you guys emails when I update), or was it just that no one's reading it right now? Since I'm getting fed up with not sending out emails when I delete an A/N and post a chapter, I'm just going to post A/Ns on the blog, so you'll have to check that. The URL is http / solowriting . blogspot . com (just without the spaces).
I'm also going to be putting the first page(s) of the website up (well, if Bravenet ever re-sends me the password. ). I'm not completely satisfied with it, but I'll keep working on it (I'm just using a boring blue background right now. :P Anyone know of a non-copyrighted pic of something like hyperspace or something that looks like it would fit 'fast forward'?). I can't wait till I can have my first Live Chat thing on the site. Would anyone be interested in doing a Live Chat? For those who don't know, it's where I have a scheduled time that I'll be on the Live Chat and you guys can come and ask me questions and talk to me or whatever.
Also, I may just start writing (a) and (b) chapters so that I can just write portions and start updating faster. Does that sound good?
Sorry I had so many questions. Here's a recap, if anyone cares to any some or all: 1) Did not send out the update thing isn't working (the thing that sends you guys emails when I update), or was it just that no one's reading this right now? 2) Would anyone be interested in participating in a Live Chat?3) Does anyone know of a non-copyrighted hyperspace pic or something that looks like it would fit 'fast forward'? Other questions I didn't post above: 4) Does anyone read the blog? (I know at least one person does) 5) Who all had said they would Beta Read? (sorry, I forgot, lol)