Caidoz

Chapter 14

       I wake up to a bitter Autumn chill that froze my body to my very soul. My eyes open to see a furry, gray snout with a large, black nose. We seemed to be breathing in perfect sync with one another. I got up quickly, hissing with irritation as I used my hands to push off. The movement woke the dog, and he looked at me angrily. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." He stretched, then sat down and continued to glare. Is that natural for a dog to look so angry? 
   "What's with that look?"
   He came up to me and nosed my wrists, appearing to scowl more. "I know, I know, I just forgot." He snorted and chomped down on his satchel with his clothes. The big, gray dog then walked behind a large tree. I turned my back for extra precautions. The sound of gruesome torture is heard for a while, but soon they stop. I next heard the sound of ruffling clothes before, finally, Procyon comes out fully dressed with his satchel over his chest."You're a horrible patient." 
   "Again, I forgot!"
   "We should start heading to town," He said, ignoring my apology. But I mentally thank him for dropping the subject.
    "Where do we head?"
   "I had never walked this particular path before, the bridge was always destroyed. However, I think we just need to follow this trail." Procyon pointed to the ground beneath us, and I see the faded marks of an abandoned path.  "Are you ready Ali?"
   "My name is Cancer."
   "Not anymore. Your nickname is now Alien. This is because you freaked me out yesterday. You have magical abilities that I have never seen before. You even fell from the sky and created a very alien-like space crater on Simeh. You even admitted it yourself."
   "I didn't mean it like that!" I rolled my eyes. "What I really meant was-"
   "Let's go, Ali. We have a long journey ahead. Who knows what we will face today?"
   I clench my teeth in a slight frustration. 

We begin to walk the marked old road that continued on for a long distance. I couldn't even see the traces of any civilization.  I regarded him. "Wait a minute, how many people to used this way in the past?" I asked
  "Thousands, if I remember my history correctly."
   "Then why did they not fix the bridge when they saw it broken? Surely one decided to fix the bridge, they couldn't be that lazy."
   Procyon rolled his eyes.
   "I'm impressed that you would ever doubt my race of laziness. Of course, they all chose to take the mountains over repairing a bridge! You've got a lot to learn, Cancer."

   Maybe they could be that lazy. I stopped talking and found it easy to walk, lost in my own thoughts. My mind scanned a variety of topics to think about, but soon it stopped at yesterday's conversation. Acubens... didn't want me home? It simply made no sense. I thought about his previous words. '{No! Stay! ...Castle... Leo... hide there!}'

   Castle? Leo? I didn't recall telling Acubens about my father's problems with Leo. How on Caidoz did he know the renegade' s name? Unless... No! It couldn't be possible!
   {Acubens! Acubens!}
   There was no reply. I felt a dread spread over me. My head finished the thought. Unless Leo has taken the castle. I furiously shook my head. The castle was well protected with force fields, Draco and his guards, and ancient Caidozian energy. There was no way that had occurred. They managed to break in at the party, said a voice in my head. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, but the more I tried to forget, the more I heard the idea.
   "Princess, how are holding up?"
   I glanced up, happily accepting the distraction. I found I enjoyed the fact that he called me by the status I hadn't been called for a long time.

   "I'm holding. This path is pretty long," I replied.
   "How your, you know, energy flow?" He asked, in a way that seemed like it was embarrassing.  I took a deep breath, like peeking at disgusting wound under a bandage. I closed my eyes, standing completely still. I reached out and felt the energy I had left. My eyes flung open, and I stared straight ahead, my heart pounding.
   "What's wrong?" Procyon asked.
   "I'm awfully curious about what this town is like, let's continue."
   He growled for he seemed to have realized I didn't mind his behavior and blocked my path.
   "Ali... what's wrong?"
   "... I can barely tell I have any energy. I'm actually quite shocked I'm still conscious," I laughed a little, terrified. My power was somewhat like strips of a flowing blue, similar to waves on a blue storm night. Beautiful but powerful and mighty. I knew that I was very close to falling into a CC, a very long one at it. He looked at me oddly. "Would it not do you good to have a CC?" He inquired cautiously.
   "Are you kidding? I don't want to have a coma! That would be extremely scary for me! Besides, I.., don't know how to fall into it naturally. I only know that I will have one if I run out of energy."
   "It doesn't seem too bad, perhaps it's nice-"
   "Maybe," I replied, firmly cutting him off. "Or maybe you don't know what you're talking about. This is a CC, a Caidozian Coma! I will not force my body into it!"
   "You will have your full power the minute you wake up --"
   "I told you, I don't know how to do it forcefully, I never had one."
   "You know what, whatever," Procyon said, exhaling heavily. He glanced at me. "You're exhausting sometimes. But I think that, despite what you want, your body may have other plans. Just saying."

   "Maybe so." After that, I refused to talk, which did not make much of a difference to Procyon, being as anti-conversational as he naturally was. The path soon took to going up and down slender hills which helped explain why the town was not seen straight on. The cold became worse, and I did my best to ignore it before gnawed away at my uncovered arms and legs and I had to ask Procyon for the blanket. A bit later, I then squinted into the distance. The sight had distracted me and studying the blue horizon I saw what appeared to be a sharp silver point. "What's that over there?" I asked.
   "Proof of the existence of Simehians. We should be getting closer."
   I nodded, interested in how Procyon's world lived and grew. I sneaked glances at him, trying to infer information about his town from his attitude. I, unfortunately, was not as good as he with unnoticed peeks. "Something wrong with me?" He kept walking without turning to me.
   "What?! No of course not!"
   He lifted an eyebrow. "What do you need?" Procyon asked, a whine audible in his tone.
   "Now I can't be curious!"
   "About what?!"
   "Whatever I please," I said.
   "And what is that?!"
   "I already said if you listened!" I hissed.
 
   "Move out of the way!" A voice yelled up ahead. I jumped out of my skin again and Procyon pulled me quickly to the side as a large metal machine crashed into the dirt where I had stood. A tan man with a brown scarf and chestnut blonde medium length hair that, like Procyon, contained aviators goggles. He ran up only to pass us. "NO, no, no! My metal bird!"
   I shrugged off Procyon's grip.
   "Is everything alright sir?" The man smelled of an ancient smell. I struggled to remember as the memory came to mind. Oil. In Caidoz, our ancestors had stopped using the harmful substance long ago, seeing the trouble it could cause. His hands were cracked and his clothes were dirty. He ignored me and picked up the broken contraption. Looking closely,  I saw a machinery of small turning gears and parts all moved together in the structure of a large falcon. The iron beak opened and warbled a weak cry. The glowing red eyes blinked with a flash of silver and a squeak. Finally, they faded to black pits."Well isn't this just peachy?!" The man roared in frustration.  Proycon grabbed me by the shoulders and snagged me away to the farthest part of the road. I did not resist. There was obviously something strange about this stranger. He then saw us. "Did you do this to my Falcon?! Did you launch it down somehow?!"
   We both shook our heads.
   He glowered at us with a gleam in his eyes. "Well, of course, you say no. Are you lost?"
   Again we shook our heads.

   "I suggest you do so!"

   The man suddenly leaned down to me, his breath smelling of strong black coffee. "WHAT do we have here? You, girl, are obviously not from this town. Your sense of fashion is like a piece of rusted clockwork."
   Procyon stepped closer to my side and shot daggers with his eyes into him. It seemed that I had just been insulted. I realized if I didn't comment back, the man would really realize something was off. I opened my mouth but my companion's eyes widened and he spoke before me.
   "Please excuse my.... sister. She has been sick for a long time staying with a doctor far away. She is not used to our... ahem language." He spat the last word. The man somewhat tightened his hold on the broken metal bird.
    "You look awfully different to be relatives."
   "Ah well, look we have the same... uh... teeth shape! Yeah, smile for him Ali." We smiled at the man together, showing him the only thing we had  in common. He gasped, gawking at us. I kept my smile frozen in place, as after a time being the princess you learn to do so, but my eyes glance to Procyon. Why is he staring? My friend's words then entered my mind as the man said "Lycans! Vampires! AAHHHH!" He ran off screaming with the metal bird squeezed in his fists.
   "Oops! Dog it, I forgot about that," My companion said.
   "It might've been a better idea to let me do the talking."
   "You least of all! You shouldn't talk in front of anyone but me."
   "Why not?! I believe I speak when I please."
   "You have an accent, Cancer." He said. I recalled him saying something similar to this when I first encountered him. My shoulders slumped forward and my head rested against my chest.
   "Look on the bright side," Procyon said, his gaze resting in the direction in which the man had run off. "If that man was able to run to this point just for a bird, the town must not be far."