Deceiver

Chapter 8

Maeia

 I don't think I realized that we had no control over where this portal dropped us, and by the time I came to that conclusion, I was already standing on the beach of a continent very far from where I needed to be. Very, very far.

I wasn't entirely sure exactly where we are, but I had a general idea, and from the look on Kapeo's face, it wasn't good. I kept walking away from the surf and away from where we had appeared.

"We packed camping supplies, right?" Kapeo asked softly, I think partially so that Arbille wouldn't here. They heard anyways. I shook my head no, and Arbille piped up.

"I have camping supplies and enough food to last four people several weeks." I turned back to them.

"Thank you. I don't know how I didn't think of that." Kapeo answered as I opened my mouth, and I just nodded.

"Should we just stay here then?" I asked. The desert stretched on as far as the eye could see, and very few scrubby plants were able to scratch out a living. I wasn't sure our tent would survive, but I wasn't sure we had a choice.

"Guess so!" Kapeo said cheerily, throwing their bags down in the sand. Arbille did the same, and I followed, helping Arbille remove the tent from their bag.

"Should I get something to light on fire? I have a feeling that I won't be much help with your tall person tents." I said. Kapeo and Arbille looked at each other briefly before agreeing. I knew they'd also probably want some time to talk about their communal experience of nearly being set on fire by loved ones. In the few days I'd spent with Kapeo, despite their cynicism around everyone besides Aoife, I'd realized I was very lucky to have a support network within my family, even if one member of my support network was a runaway bride of a god trying to kill me.

I picked my way across the desert and sand dunes, pulling up handfuls of dried grass and stuffing them in my pockets as I went. Every so often there would be a bush that I would take sticks from, and I began to accumulate flammable material in my pockets as I got further and further from shore, watching as Kapeo and Arbille became dots on the horizon. I realized that I could just keep going, and that they'd probably be better for it. No one was looking for the goliaths. They were looking for me, and my companions were just collateral damage. And yet, I kept collecting sticks, pockets overflowing. I could see the completed tent in the distance. Maybe I would just keep walking.

I began to pull a small branch out from under a small bush when I heard a growl come from underneath. This bush was as big as I was, and if anything that liked the taste of gnome came out from under it, I was food.

I saw a pair of big brown eyes blink in the middle of the bush, and I jumped back as the rest of the bush began to move towards me and shed its foliage. As it lost its covering, I realized that a baby Jaewways was standing in front of me, and that it did not just have two eyes, it in fact had six, all staring and blinking at me. I scrambled further backwards, but it approached curiously.

Then it pounced on my chest. I took what I thought was my last breath, and then realized that I was being cleaned by a long, thin, sandpapery tongue. It was licking me. I opened my eyes and all six eyes stared back at me from above me.

"Hello." I breathed. Where I came from, the full sized version of these creatures habitually ate gnomes. Seeing a Jaewways was a death sentence. This one, however, seemed almost friendly. I looked around and saw no parents nearby. I felt bad bringing it back to camp, but it would die without me. It didn't habitually eat goliaths, so really I was in the most danger.

I sat up and it slid curled into my lap. I traced the nubs on its back where its exoskeleton would later appear, and it gazed up at me with all six amber brown eyes, blinking slowly.