Cloaks

Chapter 15: A Tryst

After about an hour, the team came to a large ravine, traversed with a rope bridge which was, to their relief, in excellent repair. As they started to cross, however, they heard a cry from the bottom, about one hundred feet down.

"HELP!" It screamed.

"It can never be that easy, huh?" Deruque asked. "We get to a rope bridge and find there's little risk of falling, but instead of being able to cross and be on our way, we gotta deal with something else."

"Smells like a trap," Malakos mused. "But...if it's not..."

"Who's down there?!" Bardy shouted.

"ME! I'M DOWN HERE! PLEASE HELLLLP!"

The team leaned over the edge and looked. There was a figure that appeared to be stuck in the mud, surrounded by rocks. Echoing off the cavern walls were loud snapping noises, but nobody could discern where they were coming from.

"Sounds like it's really a person in danger," Malakos conceded. "So if it's a trap, at least they've put some effort into it. Alright, how are we getting down there?"

"I have rope!" Bardy offered. "Fifty feet of it! And I can featherfall us the rest of the way."

"That means we won't have a way back up," Malakos pointed out.

"I have some rope, too," Deruque pulled out another fifty feet of rope.

"Great. So if we tie it together, and then swing from the bridge, we can–"

"HEEEEELLLLLP!" The voice cried, panic raising it to a higher pitch as the snapping noises got louder.

"Okay, great, let's do a little more planning on our feet," Ruby said, taking both ropes and tying them together as she ran to the middle of the bridge. After securing one end there, the party members each grabbed a place on the rope and jumped as one into the ravine. They swung forward and tried to grab their target, but he appeared to be stuck fast in the mud. Now that they were closer, the team could see that the snapping noises were emanating from the rocks that surrounded the victim. The rocks–rockodiles, actually, and large ones at that–wriggled closer to the screaming ranger, snapping their jaws in anticipation.

Everyone landed on the ground, slipping a little in the slick mud, but quickly finding their balance. The rockodiles looked at them for a moment, before turning back to their prey.

"HEY!" Ruby called to one. "Get away from him!"

The rockodile looked at her curiously. "Food?" It said, but, disappointed to see that it was not being offered food, it turned back.

Ruby turned to the others. "They want food!"

"No kidding!" Bardy quipped, as he jumped away from a set of snapping jaws. "Maybe I can just, uh, put them to sleep!" He tried out a tune on his lute, but his fingers were shaking too much from his close encounter, and the tune twanged off-key.

Ruby turned back to the rockodile nearest her and fished around in her bag until she felt something soft. "Got it!" She cried. "Hey you!"

The rockodile turned to her again. "Food?"

"Yeah, food. Check this out–savory and delicious, unlike that–" she wrinkled her nose at the screaming victim. "--mud-caked howler. You want?"

The rockodile turned attentively to her, and raced in a reptilian wiggle after the package she flung as far as she could.

"Guys!" Ruby called out. "Our rations! Quick!"

"No thanks," Deruque said. "I'm gonna outthink them."