Ortai Legacy: Descent

7.2 - Grassland (L)

Mar'kost's green feline face appeared in the door hole without so much as a padding footstep to foretell his appearance. I jumped and fought to slow my racing heart. As he slipped inside, I scanned him for any injuries. There might've been something under his thick fur, but there wasn't any visible blood.

"Are you okay?"

He spat a flask onto the table but didn't reply. Was something wrong? Had Weylan turned off my Polyglot Skill again?

"Mar'kost Vek Tivom is attempting to contact you," Weylan piped up.

Oh, right. "Unsilence our bond."

"In future, you can do so using 'triwis elest.'"

The warmth of Mar'kost's mind rushed in all at once, making my knees weak. I wanted to throw my arms around his furry neck, but that would've been too much. Most of the time, he didn't like being touched any more than I did.

[Are you well?] he asked.

I nodded. "Nothing really happened. I was just waiting." On the edge of my seat, of course. I took his flask, filled it with arka, and stored it in my weapon's inventory. Turning to Butcher, I said, "We're going to leave now. We'll be back in a couple of days. I'd like you to be here when we come back, but you can do whatever until then. Uh, try to be careful and stay out of fights if you can. Maybe clean up or something."

"Yes." His gravely voice still made me shiver.

"Ookay." I moved to Mar'kost's side. "Let's go."

He slipped out into the hall and crouched. [Climb on.]

I was pretty sure he'd told me he would never let someone ride him, no matter his form. "Are you sure?"

[Certainly. We won't escape unharmed otherwise.] His ears flicked back. [I highly suggest moving quickly. A remipede is coming.]

Not wanting to find out what a remipede was, I clambered onto his back. My polearm's ring nearly poked him in the face. Even though it was still dulled, I didn't feel comfortable riding with it distracting him like this. [Hey, Weylan, if I have the graxi hold my polearm for a while, will they eat it?]

"No, Wedol is well-enchanted. It and its inventory will remain intact."

"Great." I stored my weapon in the graxi's Void, and the 'light' Weylan had been projecting disappeared, plunging me into darkness. I clutched Mar'kost's fur.

He must've sensed my readiness, because he jumped to his feet with a low grunt and took off running. His footsteps clanged on the metal floor. The darkness was a relief, as it meant I didn't have to see whatever monsters were out there.

Before long, Mar'kost was breathing heavily, and I worried we might not reach the exit after all. His current form obviously wasn't made for carrying a passenger. Was this it? Were we both about to be skewered by a reaver?

Mar'kost paused, and I squinted into the darkness. The faintest of lights came from a hole in the ceiling, illuminating a ladder attached to the side of what looked like an elevator shaft. Claw marks criss-crossed the rungs, revealing bare metal beneath the rust.

[Give me a moment.] Mar'kost knelt, still panting.

I slipped from his back. Legs shaky from fear, I nearly fell over. Shivering, I started up the ladder. Creaks echoed from the rusted metal.

[Wait-] He sighed. [I can carry you up.]

[Don't worry about it.] I was practically racing up the ladder to escape any potential pursuers—and to avoid falling when rungs snapped beneath my feet. It was a wonder Mar'kost had ever managed to get up this ladder without breaking it; every other rung threatened to shatter me on the floor below. My graxi, thankfully, provided a safety net by wrapping a pair of tendrils around the side rails of the ladder.