Me : now that I got Miss Attitude problem settled down-
Melody : *muffled* she locked me in the closet!
Me : dang it, the gag slipped again! While I go and adjust it - I mean, while I go check on Melody why don't you guys enjoy this chappie? Don't forget to review!
Melody made her way carefully back down the elevator and to the first floor of the jungle. She hadn't gone far went she heard a rustle, a thud and a cry.
Hurrying down one of the many paths, she stopped short.
A little girl who couldn't have been more than five years old had tripped and fallen. She was holding her knee and crying pitifully.
Melody rushed forward. "Are you alright? Let me see."
The little girl looked up and cried out, her eyes wide with fear.
"No, no," Melody said hurriedly. "Don't be scared," she gestured slowly to the girl's knee and smiled. "I just want to help you."
The child whimpered and spoke rapidly in another language.
Melody started to hum softly the first tune that popped in her head. Phil Collin's 'You'll be in My Heart' seemed suitable for this particular case.
When the girl stopped crying, Melody was encouraged and continued humming and moving forward. Soon she was kneeling beside the little child. She was adorable, with long dark brown hair and pretty large brown eyes. The simple dress of soft leather was well-made and the small moccasins fit well.
Melody continued to hum as she examined the girl's knee.
"It's just a scratch," she said. "You'll be okay."
The girl just blinked and stared at her.
"Where is your mommy?"
Blink, blink.
"You don't understand a word I'm saying do you?"
Blink.
Melody sighed. "Okay, let's start with the basics," she pointed to herself. "Melody... Mel... o... dee..."
"Mel-o-dee," the girl sounded out hesitantly.
Melody nodded and pointed to the girl.
The girl blinked a couple more times, but seemed to understand. "Nee-ra."
"Neera?" Melody asked. "If that's your name, it's pretty. Well Neera, how about we get you home alright?" She reached her arms toward the little girl, who imitated her.
Picking the child up, who weighed no more than a sparrow, Melody looked around. "Which way?"
Neera pointed down a path.
Knowing she was probably going to regret it later, Melody set out to take the child home.
The path led up stairs and over a chasm to a gate which led to more steps down into a cave. The walls of the cave were covered with drawings of Gehn feeding villagers to a giant fish.
Melody set her jaw and did her best to ignore them.
The cave opened to the dock that was on the lower level of the village. Down the dock a ways was a woman mending a basket. Neera struggled and Melody set her down. The little girl waved and smiled before hurrying toward the woman. She called to her mother, who looked up in relief then in fear when she spotted Melody. Scooping up her child, the woman ran away and disappeared into one of the circular houses.
Melody sighed. It seemed that everyone in this place either wanted to capture her or was afraid of her. She didn't look that weird. Had these people never seen auburn hair before? Maybe it was her green-grey eyes that freaked them out. Or that she was tall. From what she had seen so far the people of Riven averaged at about 5'5. Melody herself was 5'8.
Something in the water caught her eye. It was some kind of spyglass in the middle of the lagoon. Narrowing her eyes at it, Melody followed the dock around. Beyond the spyglass was another wooden eyeball floating in the water. It was too far for her to make it out, but she figured she would just have to check it out later. Right now she had a mission.
The dock ended at a wooden ladder that led to the upper level of the village. She ended up at a landing that had an oven, an altar and several drums. The meat cooking in the oven made her mouth water, but she forced herself to ignore it.
Off to the side was what looked like a mini metal submarine. Pulling the lever next to it lowered it into the water, but there was no way she could see to get to it from there.
Going back down the ladder and along the dock led her back to the cave. There was another opening she hadn't noticed before. It led out to a natural staircase in the rocks. She followed it down and around to a small beach.
On the rocks in the small tidal pool were two large animals that looked like a cross between a walrus, a whale and a pelican. As she approached, they made a sound like the noise from the second wooden eyeball that she had found. The rock they were sunning themselves on also had a wooden eyeball. Melody noted the symbol and turned it to hear the sound it made.
The strange guttural noise had the animals hooting in alarm. Melody got splashed as they dove into the water and disappeared. Could it have been the noise of the monstrous fish that had scared them?
A path lead away from the beach and around through a tunnel in the rock wall surrounding the lagoon. When it opened up again, Melody found herself on the other side of the village. She wasn't surprised to find another wooden eyeball. This one made the sound of the beetles from the jungle. Out of habit now, she made a note of the symbol on the ball.
One thing she was excited to discover was the little submarine/train had lowered right where she could access it. She spent several minutes eyeing the strange hole in the water above the opening to the sub. She touched the edges gingerly. Her hand went right through into the water. When she pulled it out, her hand was dry. The water remained where it was like it was being drawn by a magnet or something.
Melody shook her head. She wasn't going to question it. For all she knew, the water in Riven had magnetic properties.
She opened the hatch of the small sub/train and climbed inside.
It gave the word cramped a whole new meaning. Either the people were smaller than she'd thought, or this was a one-person mode of transportation. There were two levers. By fiddling with them, she discovered she could turn the sub around or move it forward along the track. She opted to go forward and see where she ended up.
The first place the sub/train stopped was a dock beside a small building. Climbing out, she made her way cautiously inside to find the place empty. It was a fairly large room with rows of benches, two blackboards, a projector like the one she'd seen in the temple and several odds and ends on tables.
It didn't take a genius to figure out it was a school.
Turning the crank on the projector played another video clip of Gehn talking in the D'ni language. Teaching the children from a young age to worship him, no doubt.
The blackboards had a list of symbols she assumed was the D'ni alphabet. It appeared that Gehn wanted the Rivenese people to learn as much about the D'ni culture as possible. He really was obsessed with his ancestry. On a table by the door she discovered what turned out to be a morbid game of double hangman. Two wooden figures were hanging from a gallows over a wooden monster fish with it's mouth open. By pulling a lever, a set of numbers whirled and wherever it landed would be the number of times one of the figures was lowered. The game kept going, switching from one figure to the other, until one was 'eaten' by the monster fish.
It gave her chills to think on it, but the game was useful in helping her learn the D'ni number system 1-10.
The fish wasn't the only monster in Riven, she thought as she left.
It certainly wasn't the most dangerous.
Okay I know this chapter is really short compared to my others but this was the best stopping point I could find for what is coming up next.
Melody : you just like leaving people dangling
Me : how did you get out of the closet?
Melody : ... *glares* are we really going to go there?
Me : not my fault that is where your mind automatically : Actually it is your fault since you created me-
Me : I said hush woman! *smiles are readers* Pretty please review!