A Human, a Slain
and an Argenop.
For hours they slog
through pathless woods.
Even with the help of the staff,
the Slain is exhausted.
They camp
along the shore of The Churn,
near the edge of the wood.
Removed from The Churn damp.
Sheltered from The Churn wind.
Safety of The Churn rocks.
As evening comes,
slag-fern stew
simmers in the crummnel
and they list their favorite foods.
Wen-le-gone yearns
for zill and marl
drowning in grell butter.
The Slain shrugs.
Odymn murmurs,
"Chocolate."
And the Slain smiles.
"Chocolate?"
says Wen-le-gone.
Odymn points to
the spackle of stars
they call Baltella.
One of the seven
rumoured to be Sol.
"All the chocolate
in the universe
is gathered there,"
says Odymn.
"On Earth, the planet
I once called home."
Her eyes linger
on the tiny sparks.
Thinks about the chocolate cake
her mom made
for her eighteenth birthday.
The chocolate-covered raisins
they smuggled round math class
under the teacher's nose.
"Most hated food,"
says Odymn.
"The spenel cake
made by my 17th wife,"
says Wen-le-gone.
Even the Slain chuckles.
"Anything that once walked,"
says Odymn.
The Slain is silent.
"You didn't like my stew,"
says Odymn.
"You spit it out."
"The ransindyne,"
says the Slain.
"Eight one-suns
in training.
Ate nothing
but mashed ransindyne."
Wen-le-gone rolls to his feet.
"What is that?"
he says.
Gestures towards
a cluster of trees
deep in the woods.
Odymn follows his gaze.
Pin-points of light
dazzle as stars.
Odymn and Wen-le-gone
creep through the woods,
to find the cause.
A web, strung between two trees.
Metallic barbs
suspended
reflect the light
of the rising moons.
Wen-le-gone holds Odymn back.
"A dangle web,"
he says.
"Uth-whan, ben'nen.
Very dangerous.
"Spiral barbs,
tipped in poison,
embed and twist,
invade the skin.
"Slow and painful death."
YOU ARE READING
Meniscus: One Point Five - Forty Missing Days
Science FictionAfter the Slain is shot, Odymn and an Argenop elder work together to try and return him to good health. As they journey towards the Themble, survival is a challenge. Odymn must add to her foraging skills and survive an attack by the vicious kotildi...
