By Paw and Sail

Chapter 4: The Well [Silvereyes]

The scale-skins came up the path just like Quirikta claimed they would. But the conflict didn't end like he expected. In fact, there was hardly a battle at all.

"How far are we from the bottom? I've never actually been there before."

"It's probably about half a mile from the wall," Quirikta said. "It takes around fifteen minutes at a walk. It's a pretty steep slope, so it's best to go slow."

"Yeah, it's tiring. I'd rather walk up than down."

"It'll only take a minute after we get around the bend up ahead."

The cloaked cat looked down as he stepped over the sprawled legs of a large lizard. The grey and green bodies of the scale-skins littered the western ramp, from the base of the wall at the top to the valley lake below. There were thousands of them.

Quirikta looked away from their faces. He watched them die as the poison burned their guts out, and that was enough for him. The expressions of agony were frozen on their faces in death.

Thousands of claw marks scored the dirt and rocks along the path down. Many of the scale-skins had crawled around for over an hour before life left them. Some had made it to the fortification, but they did not have the strength to break through the gate.

"They are pathetic creatures, but I'm almost sad for them," the cat said. "They aren't afraid to use power. They aren't scared of it. They have more courage than most Dhoma."

Quirikta didn't respond. He met the cat less than eight hours ago, and was already disgusted by him. The newcomer spoke in a forced, arrogant cadence that made his fur bristle in irritation. 

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine..."

"Does it bother you?"

"It doesn't really matter if it bothers me, does it?"

"No, but I'm curious. I want to hear your thoughts."

The cloaked feline paused to hop over a small corpse. He stumbled forward as he landed on the outstretched hand of another lizard.

I wish he would fall on his face.

"Not everyone is like you Silvereyes," the cat continued. "We can't just force others to tell us anything we want to know, we have to do it the normal way. By asking very nicely!"

 "You seemed to enjoy it," Quirikta said.

"What did YOU feel? If we didn't stop them here, they would have burned their way to the bridge."

"I know."

"They would torture you to death or use you in their rites."

"I know..."

Why do I have to do this?

The morning sun seeped over the edge of the horizon. The soft light illuminated the shore of the great valley lake, which local residents knew as The Well. It was over ten miles across at its widest point. The lake narrowed to the size of a stream at the ends of the plateau, before it trickled further down into the canyon on either side to flow out to the sea.

They scanned the marshy terrain along the shore. All the wooden structures around the northern edge of the lake were destroyed. In all, there were over five hundred homes and dozens of larger buildings. Only a handful of charred stone structures still stood.

"They really made a mess of it."

"Yeah, although no one can live down here for a while anyway," Quirikta said. "When did you poison it?"