Chapter 28- report of a disturbing sighting
The other groups of quest-goers for the other ingredients for the exclusive potion for High King Peter had also arrived at their destinations or ports, ready to either begin their final leg of their quests to the ingredients' areas or to travel to their true destinations. The group going to retrieve a Cardinal-Root carrot had arrived in the Northern Kingdom of the White Tigers via the Bifrost Transporter and were ready to go to the field where these exclusive carrots grew, while the Celestial Domain group which included Ahhuayo the Ahuizotl and Teal'c the Kamaitachi had arrived at another part of the Sky Domain, ready to go to the Celestial Domain, the domain of the Star People and other creatures to retrieve a Star Fruit in an exclusive area. Those going to retrieve the ingredients exclusive to the two ocean domains had arrived at an underwater kingdom which was made up of underwater 'bubble-houses' built from Narnia-exclusive materials and enclosed in special water-resistant force fields to allow breathing in those underwater buildings, especially for visitors from above the water such as the land. One group will head out into a kelp forest to gather some silvery sea kelp while the other group to gather some special water from the Abyssal Kingdom of Atlantis will board a submarine to go there but will have to face the guardian of the entrance, the terrifying underwater Humanoid Beast called Cthulu. Among this group was Quark, Teal'c's son and among the group going to retrieve some silvery kelp were Mackerel, Dorado and Perla, the two Mermen and the Sea Fish Person who worked at Cair Paravel and had assisted in the research on the 'Metalberg' and had opted to go along with this group.
The day continued to pass and while the quests for the Nine-Realms Potion ingredients were underway, back at Cair Paravel, other important tasks were in progress such as finding and rescuing the kidnapped victims out in the Eastern Ocean and the prevention of more victims being kidnapped. However, the destination those that had been successfully given to the boatmen by their kidnappers as well as the boatmen themselves, was still yet to have its answer found and it was clear that the boatmen and their kidnapped victims were taken out into the Eastern Ocean. King Edmund and Queen Susan, with Hagrid and Alestomeria's help, continued to organise and send out more search-and-destroy groups to continue to hunt down and destroy any minion of Jadis they found, another important task, while Pteranodon and his group continued to keep in touch with the Sea and Sky spy assistants as they continued to track the boatmen with more kidnapped victims. Among these assistant spy groups were flying creatures from any nearby island, among them scouts from a flock of island-dwelling Deathgleaner Bats, some Seabirds including some Gannetwhales, some Pterosaurs who lived on the Eastern Ocean Islands and some amphibious Mammals like Seals and Pakicetids, and Reptiles like Turtles and Plesiosaurs who sometimes came ashore on those islands' beaches to have their eggs and raise their young. Due to so many assistant spies from three different major areas, there were countless eyes tracking the boatmen as they took their victims out into the Eastern Ocean but despite this, the Boatmen somehow managed to escape the scanning eyeballs using a variety of tricks such as smokescreens which was why the trackers were struggling to find their destination. Additionally, some of the spy teams had attempted to rescue the kidnapped victims by attacking the boatmen against Pteranodon's orders due to how armed they were and for most of them, the result was the same: counterattacks from the boatmen such as the sword, wicked spells or clouds of deadly flesh-eating Umbra-Fleas flaring back at them.
A Sea group, a group of Gannetwhales, Orcas or Killer Whales and Dolphins ended up facing these horrific consequences with some of them even getting captured. Many of the rest in that team ended up either injured or killed, especially by clouds of the deadly Umbra-Fleas. Another group of Sea helpers, a pod of Plesiosaurs, Ichthyosaurs, Mosasaurs and Pliosaurs also faced brutal consequences though one of the Ichthyosaurs had managed to capsize one of the boats, seize one of the boatmen and drag them into the water to drown them while his comrades managed to seize one or two of the kidnapped victims. Another group made up of flying creatures from one of the nearest islands, a group of Ropen (Magical Pterosaurs that had bioluminescent patches and some magical abilities) and Deathgleaner Bats, had managed to sink a complete group of boatmen and rescue all of the kidnapped victims, among them a few kidnapped young Talking Swallows and Pterobats (Anurognathid Pterosaurs) and had taken them to their island to keep them there until rescuers from the mainland would come and get them. But still, some Ropen and Deathgleaners did end up badly injured in the process and several were killed either by weapons or Umbra-Fleas. Pteranodon, though he was pleased and grateful that some of the kidnapped victims had been successfully rescued, had severely warned the assistant spies to NOT touch the boatmen due to what weapons they had on them and some of those weapons were deadly and the last thing Pteranodon wanted was any more lives being lost in daring rescue attempts.
While Pteranodon and his group including Tarzan the Orang-utan continued to keep watch on the boatmen as they continued to ship moiré kidnapped victims out into the Eastern Ocean with the Sea and Sky spies and trackers, the search-and-destroy missions continued. One of the more important jobs was hunting down and capturing of the most wanted creature, the Cartoon Shadow Cat, but that beast was still nowhere to be found. Additionally, the plans on how to rescue the kidnapped victims were in development and the interrogation of any captured minion of Jadis, among them Pettigrew and three of his comrades continued. But getting any answer from these wicked creatures was easier said than done for their interrogators often ran into MASSIVE stone walls of the stubbornness of the creatures and their refusal to answer and/or cooperate. Those interrogating Pettigrew and his three comrades, Chrystós the Gold-Fleeced Ram and company were facing such walls from their four prisoners. Because of this, they had resorted to using brute force to get Pettigrew, the Stinger-Rat, Rokurokubi and the Xenojaw to talk and had increased that force by a level. Ovide and his Platypus squad continued to sting the stubborn Elf Pettigrew with their ankle spurs but had reduced their frequency in jabbing him for if they continued this, their venom would weaken Pettigrew so severely that his life may be reduced to a thread, though Ovide did consider this. For the other three in the other cage, they had been subjected from the electrical shocks from a small group of Impudulu, Roadrunner-like Electric Birds who were better at running than flying unlike their flying relatives, the 'true' Thunderbirds.
The group of Impudulu had been sent for and called in by Chrystós after the Xenojaw had managed to injure General Biter the T-Rex with its inner pharyngeal jaws. The Alien-like creature had tricked the T-Rex into thinking that it will co-operate and when Biter approached its, the Rokurokubi and Stinger-Rat's cage, prepared to interrogate the three, the creature had lashed at the Talking Dinosaur through the bars and had bitten him HARD on the right leg with its retractable pharyngeal jaws, rendering General Biter unable to walk and having to be taken to the medical area for treatment. That was when Chrystós had the group of Impudulu summoned for additional assistance and here they were, electrocuting the trio with their shocks to get them to co-operate. Additionally, the Xenojaw had been SEVERELY punished with a broken leg, inflicted on it by one of the Ankylosaurs who used his club-tail to smash the Alien-like creature's left limb against the cage bars. After this, Chrystós threatened more SEVERE punishments for the three if they did not co-operate.
As the trio of stubborn hideous creatures continued to face zaps from the Electric Roadrunners and Pettigrew writhing in pain from the Platypus venom as well as weakening from it such that Ovide and his group had to limit their jabbing of him with their ankle spurs, Chrystós talked with Puss-In-Boots.
"The Cartoon Shadow Cat is still nowhere to be found, Chrystós," said the bipedal Talking Cat with some Bakeneko in his blood and ancestry, "and as for whoever cast that slashing spell on the two Dome-Headed Dinosaurs, the Velociraptors and RFustie the Babookari had found nothing even though the invisible blade came from the bush they had been searching every area of."
"Does Alcina know who had cast that slashing spell on the Dome-Head Dinosaurs?" asked Chrystós.
"I've asked that Fox over and over again but she keeps denying any involvement," said Puss, "or seeing anything," the walking Talking Cat in boots he was named for then shook his head in frustration, "This is HONESTLY getting as irritatin' as having fleas and," his flashed an enraged look at Pettigrew and three of his comrades in their cages as they continued to shoot down their interrogators' questions with silence or 'I don't know' responses despite the venom and the shocks from the Platypuses and Impudulu, "THOSE uncooperative hobgoblins of the White Witch in our interrogation of them..." he and Chrystós flinched when a screech from a Hag-like creature exploded from the cage containing Pettigrew's comrades. The Rokurokubi had received a NASTY peck to the face from one of the Impudulu when she stretched her neck to project her head through the cage bars to bite the Roadrunner-like Thunderbird. Near her, the Stinger-Rat flinched violently as another Impudulu released a jolt of electricity as a threat as it poised to use its tail stinger against the Electric Bird while the injured Xenojaw struggled to stand. Their interrogators, most of them Dinosaurs, looked on without sympathy.
"We're warnin' ya, you three," growled one of the Tricerotops threateningly, "If you will NOT answer our questions about your boatmen friends and their kidnappings OR behave, we WILL use force, and THAT force will be BRUTAL AND PAINFUL!"
"Even to the point of NEAR-DEATH!" put in a Stegasaur. The Rokurokubi, her head now back with her body in the cage, held her bitten face with her hands and wailed in agony, the Impudulu having inflicted a truly NASTY bite to that area. Chrystós and Puss glared at the three and Pettigrew as he continued to wince and writhe in pain from the Platypus venom as the interrogators continued to ask them questions.
"Those four sure as STUBBORN as diamond-ice," grumbled Puss in irritation. The pair then resumed their conversation.
"As I was saying," continued Puss, "Alcina denies casting that slashing spell on the Dome-Head Dinosaurs or seeing anything."
"Well, someone HAD been in that bush and had inflicted those two Dome-Heads with injury, Puss," said Chrystós, "And as Martian said, there is someone among us and we need to find and catch that culprit and QUICKLY."
Just then, commotion erupted from outside, attracting the attention of the pair and some of the interrogators. Pettigrew and his three comrades also turned their gazes to outside but many of their interrogators barked at them to stay focussed on the questions or else.
"That doesn't sound good," said Puss with worry. Chrystós turned to the interrogators. "You lot keep those four in line and continue to get 'em to answer those important questions even if it means reducing them to near-death. We're gonna go outside and see what's going on."
The interrogators including the Terror Bird named Scimitar nodded and with that, the Gold-Fleeced Ram, the walking Talking Cat and several others left for outside. The Velociraptors and Rustie the Babookari who had been searching the bush thoroughly for the culprit who had cast the slashing spell on the two Dome-Headed Dinosaurs, had also seen the commotion and some of them including Rustie had left the group to investigate.
Chrystós and his small group, together with Rustie and three of the Velociraptors rushed to one of the entrances to Cair Paravel Castle and saw a small group of Pterobats, Archaeobirds, Rhamphorynchoid Pterosaurs or Tailed Pterosaurs, an Owl, an Eagle and some Talking Rats that were another band of Rats separate from Rattus' band who had gone to Asgard Sky City with Kushanku to get some rainbowberries for High King Peter's antidote potion. The group looked severely panicked and several of the members including the Owl looked injured. One of the Pterobats even had a broken and tattered wing and the Owl was holding a clump of moss against his head for there was a bleeding wound present in that spot.
"What's going on?" asked the Gold-Fleeced Ram. Then one of the Rhamphorynchoids wearing a battle helmet that was more elaborate than the other Pterosaurs in his group to show his rank in the group, come forward, a horrified look on his face.
"A village in which a few Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve who had come to live in our country live has just been attacked by a band of some of the surviving minions of Jadis, Chrystós," said he, "and a number of villagers had been captured and carried off, among them several Human children including a couple of grandchildren of Jessie, the Terror Bird Woman."
Then the Eagle came in. He was limping for his leg had been injured. "The pack had largely been Hellhounds, Patasola and Neko-Cabbits but there was one significant creature we believe may have been present while we were fighting against that pack to defend the village."
"What sort of creature was it?" asked Puss.
"While we were helping to defend the village," explained the Rhamphorynchoid, "an explosion had occurred nearby and it caused such a distraction that everything was thrown into chaos, resulting in some of us getting injured and that Hellhound, Patasola and Neko-Cabbit pack making their getaway with their captured victims, among them several of the Human children. We had absolutely no idea of how that explosion occurred but..."
Then an Archaeobird ran in. As she did, she brandished a square sheet.
"One of the human picture-takers had taken a snapshot not too far away from the explosion area using a device brought into our world from his," said she and with that, she handed the sheet to Chrystós, a picture the Extra-Narnian Humans called a photo, who took it and had a look at it with Puss. While the Walking Talking Cat and Gold-Fleeced Ram did this, Rustie and the three Velociraptors helped the injured Owl and Pterobat into Cair Paravel with their comrades. Chrystós and Puss gazed at the picture. It was blurry; black and white for the Human picture-taker had been completely unsteady with his hands while using the device, called a camera, to take the snapshot. However, in the blurry image was a form and Chrystós and Puss managed to make out its shape. As they did, the former, the Gold-Fleeced Ram, put on a sceptical face.
"That thing looks just like a Human," said he, "A Son of Adam to be exact."
"Only Sons of Adam don't have a weird head," said the female Archaeobird. Then Puss gazed harder at the shaky image and managed to make out its facial features. Though it was blurry, the facial features of the creature were just visible in the image. The moment the Walking Cat-in-Boots pieced together what he could from the image in his mind, a look of dread formed on his face.
"I believe this creature could be the very same creature that Goroth the Terror Bird and the grandfather of Neutrophil, Basophil, Eosinophil, Monocyte, Lymphocyte and their cousins, and his group had encountered when they were taking Jessie, the Daughter of Eve Goroth had found and adopted, to that human's village at the Narnia/Archenland border to get her away from Jadis, folks."
The moment the others heard this, they, especially Chrystós, shot Puss a horrified look. There was another extremely dangerous creature, highly loyal to Jadis, that was as dangerous as the Cartoon Shadow Cat and was another creature and minion high up on the most wanted list. This creature looked like a Human male in appearance but had disturbing facial features, and he had a variety of deadly abilities. One such ability was causing explosions to throw everything into chaos and to confuse his foes and another was invisibility. Then Chrystós sprung into action, a VERY serious look on his face.
"We must report this to Queen Susan and King Edmund and also Hagrid, Alestomeria and Martian right away," said the Gold-Fleeced Sheep, his hoof-hand clutching the picture, or photo, of the creature, "Thanks, you three. You go inside and help Rustie help get your injured comrades into the medical centre."
The female Archaeobird, the male Eagle and the male Rhamphorynchoid general nodded and left and rejoined their group. Chrystós and Puss followed.
"I remember Rivier the Mokele-Mbembe telling me how that creature ad caused him and company including Goroth SUCH trouble for them in their journey in getting that orphaned Daughter of Eve Jessie to that human's village in Archenland," said the latter, "And several times, the creature had almost got Goroth and Jessie killed by causing explosions and once, a small rockslide when they were near a mountain."
"Let's just get this picture to our Majesties, Martian and the Kitsune Chroniclers, Puss," Chrystós retorted urgently and with that, the pair hurried into the castle after the Rhamphorynchoids and company. Hearing the news about the creature causing trouble for the search-and-destroy groups and also possibly assisting in the kidnapping of victims, especially Human children, was indeed VERY serious.