Sidereal Odyssey, Book 1: Zavijah

Untitled Part 7

“Thanks, I grew it myself.” What? Zavijah mentally floundered into consciousness, his eyes fluttering open at the sound of his companions voice. “Yeah, it’s supposed to get even bigger, and fluffier.” Who was Heze talking to? “Oh yeah, those are going to grow even bigger than Zav over there.” At the sound of his name, Zavijah rolled over to get a squinted view of his friend. He saw Heze facing into the forest, his tail swaying comfortably.

“Heze?” Zav muttered. Heze’s head jerked to the side to face Zav, his eyes shining. “Zav!” He cried, bounding over to his friend. “I made a new friend! Come meet her!” Heze nudged Zav with his nose, careful of his horns.

“What do you mean a new friend? There’s no one out here for like, ever.” Zavijah said as he rose to his feet. The breeze suddenly hit him, and he set out to grab his clothes from the nearby branch as Heze continued talking.

“Just come and see!” He said, returning to his spot facing the forest. Zav patiently put his clothes on and followed Heze, expecting to find nothing. “Say hi!” Heze said as Zav pushed away a branch to meet the stranger.

The branch revealed a slimey, bumpy head with wide, unsettling eyes. Zav jumped back in a start, suddenly conscious of his bladder. “Wh-what’s a moonling doing here?!” He cried, heart pumping, “I-I thought-”

“Hush!” Heze interrupted, “This is my new friend. Say hi.” Heze’s eyes told Zav that he knew what he was doing. Zav swallowed and said his greetings. The moonling was twice the size of Zav, with long, slimey legs that connected to what seemed to be a giant head with arms. The hands and toes were thin and webbed, a pale green compared to the toads lime colored body. It’s hands gripped a long, pointed spear carved from a dark brown wood.

Zav eyed it nervously, wondering why it looked so familiar. The toad reached out to touch Heze’s fur. “It really likes my mane and horns. She can’t keep her hands off!” Heze said, nuzzling the toads palm.

“How do you know it’s a girl?” Zav asked.

“She told me. It’s weird, it’s like we can understand each other naturally. She can understand my words and I can understand her… chirps… or mumbles.”

“Can she understand me?” Zav asked. Heze looked at the toad questioningly.

“Nope, or she would have understood that. Must be an animal thing I guess.”

“Of course it is. Well what’s it doing out? And what does it want with us?” Zav asked. Heze repeated his questions to the moonling before turning back to face Zavijah.

“She has no idea.” He said happily. Without warning, the toads bumps started to glow a bright white, then gradually receded. Suddenly, Zav remembered where he had seen it before.

“Uh, can you ask if we can have a moment to ourselves really quick?” Zav asked, eyes suddenly wide and staring. Heze nodded and looked back at the toad.

“Listen girl, me and my boy need to have a quick chat in private, but don’t worry.” He said. “I’ll be back.” Zav wanted to throw up at Heze’s pathetic flirting, and at whom it was directed. They both walked over to the shore of the lake they had nearly died in the night before.

“Dude! That’s from the large Skull and Crossbones section of our book! It’s dangerous!” Zav whispered frantically.

“Hoh yeah, it’s more than dangerous.” Heze nodded towards the far end of the treeline. “That’s the way it came from.” The thick trees were missing entire portions of their trunks, each portion about the size of the toad where the tree had gotten in it’s way. Bark and uprooted bushes were scattered about the shore.

Zav suddenly felt nauseous. “How is that even…”

“Don’t worry,” Heze started, “It’s friendly. If you’re ever going to trust my judgement, let it be now.” His voice held a comforting ring to it, and Zav didn’t know what to think.

“Fine. But what’s it doing here? Why is it out during the day?” Zavijah crossed his arms. Heze looked back at the toad, who was staring blankly at the ground. “I don’t know, but I’ve been learning a lot about it’s kind. Apparently the toads are at war with each other and have separated into three tribes. We hadn’t been talking long whenever you woke up. But for some reason she wants us to follow her, and she can’t really explain why. I don’t know how I feel about that part.”

Zav and Heze stared at the midnight creature, trying to make sense of the situation. Suddenly, she lit up again, except this time it wasn’t her bumps. Her eyes started to shine and her limbs began to twitch. Zav recognized the glitter that seemed to pour from her eyes and had a sudden realization. “What was that all about?” Heze asked. Zav poked at his head to get his attention. “What did Rana teach us about possession magic?”

A bulb went off in Heze’s head. “That little...” He said, recognizing the glitter. Zav sensed his friend start to tense up, and could feel his anger pouring out of him. Just as Heze was about to charge the toad, Zav grabbed his mane and rolled out an idea.

“Maybe it will lead us to the glitterer, then we’ll be able to get the flower back.” He said. Heze processed it, his growling slowly receding. “Follow my lead.” Heze led his friend to the toad. “OK,” He said, “We’ll follow you if you tell us where you’re taking us.”

Zav watched as Heze listened to the toads low, bubbling mumbles. Heze let out a deep breath and turned to Zav. “She doesn’t know. She says it’s a mission from above, but being under possession, she could probably believe anything. And she’s a toad.”

“We have no choice but to follow her. We don’t even have the glitter trail anymore, unless you feel like taking a few days to find another way up that mountain.” Zav said. Heze hesitated, but looked back to the toad warrior and nodded. The toad took a long, uncomfortable looking bow before letting out another wet mumble.

“She says we can leave whenever we’re ready.” Heze said. The boys both walked over to their bags and slung them on. “We should try to learn as much about her and her people as we can.” Zav said. He went for his notebook and writing stick, but remembered that all the information he needed was in his creature book, plus he would need to be on his guard during their trek.

They both walked over to the toad, and Heze nodded that they were ready to follow. The toad did a long stretch with it’s legs, standing straight up. Zav instinctively put his palms toward the ground, but the toad went back down to almost a squat, turned, and took long, angled steps into the forest.

 Heze looked back at Zavijah before following. Zav let out a long sigh and headed after.

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