Chapter 11

Raph charged and uppercutted one of the members of a tozomid clan. When the clan members noticed him a lot of them ran away, not wanting to bother trying to fight one of the heroes of Ezdic. Casey thought that was disappointing, but that didn't stop him from happily fighting off the remaining ones with his trusty baseball bat. The ones that they weren't busy with were promptly handled by Raph's lakra, Rocsi. Casey knocked out the last one with a good wack from his baseball bat. "Goongala!" he shouted as they ran off. "Yeah, gimme more of those guys!"

"There's plenty more. The deeper you go, the more you'll find." Raph said before turning his attention to something else.

"Well then, let's go."

"Hold up, Case. Someone's in trouble. That way." he pointed off in a different direction and climbed onto Rocsi's back. "Come on." Casey climbed up behind his friend and they took off through the forest.

"Where we headed?"

"To the Plains."

It was a long way, but they got there in time to see a young kid being chased by a herd of very upset rysyph. The kid was just barely staying ahead of them, but the herd was gaining fast. "Let's go, Rocsi." Raph ordered.

Raph and Casey rode on Rocsi's back, moving as fast as she could alongside the stampeding rysyph. The rysyph were easily agitated creatures with large, tough brown and gray bodies, six, thick legs and hammerhead shark shaped head. One dark eye on each end. And they were ticked.

"When we get ahead of them, grab the kid." Raph said.

"Got it." Casey said. Rocsi was able to get to the front of the stampede where the young kid was running for his life. He reached down. "Grab on." the terrified kid grabbed his hand and Casey pulled him up to sit in between him and Raph. Rocsi turned away, heading back toward the forest. Raph knew that they didn't like enclosed areas like the forest, preferring to be out in wide open spaces. Rocsi jumped over a log as she made it back to the dense forest. The stampede stopped right at the forest's edge, choosing not to go any further. With an angry bellow the herd ran off in the opposite direction.

Rocsi slowed to a stop. "Atta girl, Rocsi." Raph praised with a good pat on the neck. He climbed off of her back as did Casey with the kid in his arms. The child was too scared to let go. He was almost trampled after all. Raph looked the kid over, checking for any injuries. Aside from some minor scrapes, he looked to be okay. "Hey kid, which village are you from?"

The crying child wiped away his tears as he tried to speak. "T-Tarrin."

"Don't worry okay. We'll get you home. Just stay close to us alright." Raph ordered in a gentle tone.

The child nodded and Casey put him down so he could walk beside them. "Come on, let's get this kid back home."


It had been hours since Don fell asleep. The sun was beginning to set, and it was getting considerably cooler which was nice. In all of the stress, April decided to lay down too and was soon asleep. The only thing that woke her up was the sound of a monapi call overhead.

April was startled awake just as the monapi landed at the cave entrance. Don didn't wake up, probably still exhausted and fighting off the poison. April approached the bird and noticed something strapped to its leg. She untied it and read it... or at least she tried to. It was written in a different language. It seemed like she was going to have to wake Don after all. She gently shook Don awake. "Don, hey Donnie."

He slowly woke from his nap. He felt a lot better. His breathing was normal, but he still did feel tired and weak. "What is it?"

"Um, this bird showed up with a note tied to its leg." April handed the note off to him.

Don recognized the monapi. "Hey Fuina." he greeted. The monapi made its way closer to him and nuzzled against Don's outstretched hand, cooing softly. "Let's see what you got here." he opened the note and read it.

"What's it say?" April asked.

"It's Beloose. He just wants an update on how far we've gotten." Don said. "Can you find me a stick to write with?"

"You're going to write with a stick?"

"I didn't bring any sort of writing utensil with me, so yes." the look he gave said 'don't start.'

She shrugged. "Okay." she left the cave and almost immediately found a random stick on the floor and picked it up to bring back.

He sharpened the end with his dagger and flipped the note to the other side. He began writing while April just watched him. Just like any old pen he wrote down his own note. From what April could see, in order to write, he was essentially scraping off the top, light green layer, revealing the dark green layer underneath. "What are you saying back?"

"That we've fallen behind schedule and we should be in Azbani Territory within the next couple of days."

"You're not going to tell them what happened?"

"There's no need." he finished his note and re-tied it to Fuina's leg and watched as she flew away back toward the palace. He then tried to stand up. "We should probably get going."

"Now? Are you well enough?"

"No, not yet, but we've wasted enough time." he managed to stumble to his feet. Luna used her body to support him.

"Maybe you really shouldn't be moving around so much." April suggested.

"I'll be fine." he pulled himself up onto Luna's back. "Let's go."

After what felt like forever, they were finally able to continue their journey.


This chapter seemed pretty short. Oh well...