Mermaids are Menacing (Book 2) Complete

58.) Den

I arived back to the den with a second load. The girls were whining and awake wallering and flapping on the hide. Pale tried to shush them gently but it did nothing to calm them. They were hungry.

"Im back." I said coming into the cave.  The girls had soiled themselves inthe time i was gone and needed to be cleaned up. The hide and the floor to were in need of tidying. The stress was begining to gnaw at me.

"Everythings fine." I assured them.

I wrapped another fur around pale and scooped up the girls. I changed there clothes and made a pile of dirty ones outside. Then I sat down to feed them. This little den might not even be enough for the four of us tonight. pale was shivering. The twins didn't act like they were cold but were just a little fussy. Hadn't Cerastes said a life time ago, that the cold would make a baby dragon sleepy? But they were also more than two weeks old and barely crawling. Vee was basically a squirrel at this point, moving everywhere quickly.

The den was dry but still not terribly far from the hut by my standards. There was hope that Gorza and Ortha wouldnt tell anyone about us or that deliberating our case would take so long that by the time they realized we had moved we would already be a long ways off.

I needed to find a better place for us to sleep and prepare a wagon for me to haul the supplies and the girls. Feed and changing the younglings. While also making sure pale didn't get sick.
The stress was making me feel itchy all over. I just wanted to head west  and keep moving. I had to block that desire out and focus on what I needed to do now.  I rubbed my itchy back against the dens rock wall since my hands were full with a Idelia and Aelia. I sighed and saw my breath.

"Are you alright?" I asked Pale.

Nodded her head under the furs.

"Im going to keep looking for a better place for us to stay. I doubt the Orc tribe will send out a search party for us when they are still injured and recovering but I didn't want to risk our safety with a guess." I said looking across the den at her. My feet were next to where she sat. We looked at eachother as we spoke.

"Those monsters are scary." She agreed.

"Anyone can be scary under the right conditions. Right now the Orcs are angry and afriad, Its a dangerous combination."

"But theyre monsters? What do they have to be afraid of? She asked.

"Humans. Suffocating in their sleep. Their family dying. Losing their home. Starving." I listed of the things that came to mind. Maybe these were things not to talk about around children but she had to grow up quickly.  "My family was lost in much the same way."

"There were more with tails and horns like you?" She asked.

"No. Just people like you. Living in a little village like you. I didnt always look like this." I laughed to myself flicking my thick brown scaled tail. "Things change all the time, its the one thing that remains constant. You cant choose the event that happen to you only how you react to it."

Pale wrapped the fur around her tighter.

"Come in closer to my side. Your living up to your name since theres no color in your cheeks." I gestured for her to come sit on my side that was the furthest from the opening. She shuffled over like a mole riggling out of the sunlight, head down. I felt her body lean in to mine, and her rest her head against my arm. We sat in relative silence, other then the occaional sound of mewling babes.

"Thats not why they called me Pail." She said. My hearing picked up her mumbling easily beneth the fur layer and her messy hair.

"Since I was small, it was my job to bring a pail of water from the well. Cooking, drinking, washing, cleaning, it was my job to get the pail and haul the water. When they called for a Pail I responded so thats what im called... Maybe I had another name before I cane to live with them but I dont remember much from when i was little." Pail explained with a sniffle.

"I see." I said.

The wind blew outside. Branches rustled and the heat of our breath made small clouds when we exhailed.

"Would you like a new name?" I asked.

"A new one?" She repeated.

"Yeah, a fresh start. You can pick any name you like and thats what I'll call you and when the girls get bigger they will call you by your name to. You can leave Pail behind with all the bad memories in that villiage." I nodded to myself. "What do you think?"

"Jen." She said without hesitation.

"You already had one picked out?" I laughed to myself.

"Its the one I liked best. I secretly named all the pretty hens Jen. The doll I made was called Jen too. If I ever grew up to have a daughter I planned to call her Jen."  She babbled on. It was the most i had ever heard her talk before. "I guess if I have a girl later on we can both be Jen."

"Its a good name, Jen." I agreed.

The poked her head up and smiled at me. I scrunched my nose playfully at her. After the girls were done eating and burping. I packed and wrapped the twins close to my body. Den hunting might take awhile, so i had better bring them for feeding.

"Do you want to stay here while I look or ride on my back?" I asked Jen.

She looked outside thinking about what to do. It was windy and cold. The cave offered some shelter from the elements but if she stayed she would be alone.

"Ill go with you!" She answered

I crouched down so she could climb up, then bundled us all together in furs.

"Were going to find a great place to stay!" I shouted into the air. Hoping the breath would lead us there.