Otherworld

Part 21

The forest of trees appeared endless. Bridged had never seen so many trees in her life. Not even the Amazon Rain Forest had this many trees. Bridged loved trees, but she was beginning to long for some wide open spaces. She was a Midwestern gal after all.

Blisters formed and broke on Bridged and Arnold's hands from their constant movement through the trees. They ended up having to put some sort of foul smelling salve that the healer, Lenki, had given them. It smelled so foul that it made Bridged's stomach roll uneasily, but it sure helped heal the blisters on their hands. Soon their hands stopped bleeding as calluses were formed.

Bridged couldn't keep her eyes off of Arnold as they traveled. He looked yummy in his loincloth. She still wasn't a fan of having her breasts hanging out for all to see, but it didn't seem to bother anyone else. Arnold loved it since it meant that he could grab an easy handful whenever he wanted to.

Almost a month had passed since they had all set out on their journey. The natives wanted to set a faster pace, but Bridged and Arnold were unable to keep up. They were new to tree travel and they were shorter than the natives were. Everyone had to get used to traveling at a different pace than they normally did.

"I hope we make it in time."

They were making camp for the night when Nakira voiced the words that everyone had been thinking. Bridged nodded. Her gaze moved around their group and she realized that she considered these people hers now.

"We will."

Nakira looked at Bridged. "How can you be sure? We have no way of knowing what's going on."

Arnold shifted beside Bridged. "We know how our people work. They will try to take out as many of your people as they can without endangering any of their own."

"It's happened before." Bridged looked sourly at the campfire. "During the colonization of the country where Arnold and I are from many of the natives were destroyed by the newcomers. More people died of disease than warfare." Bridged looked at Lemki. "I have yet to see that your people are susceptible to the diseases that Arnold and I carry. I hope it means that you are immune to them."

Lenki seemed curious. "What diseases do you speak of?"

"There are many." Arnold said with a shake of his head. "Our people are given medicine from an early age to prevent us from getting sick from these diseases. Our diseases have been known to kill millions of people throughout history."

"We will speak more of this once we finish with our mission. I am curious as to these diseases."

Bridged decided to change the subject. "Any idea how much farther we have to travel?"

Naknaki shrugged. "Not a clue. We will know when we run out of forest."

A wistful sigh escaped Bridged. "I am ready to see something besides trees. I swear that your planet has ten trees for every one tree we have back home. I've never seen this many trees."

"Tell us a story of your world." Sunkie asked.

Bridged blinked in surprise. This was really the first time she had heard Sunkie speak more than two words. Her eyes found Arnold's as she rubbed at her arm.

"What story do you think we should tell them?"

Arnold shrugged before he answered Bridged in English too. "We've told so many stories that I'm not sure." Arnold scratched at his nose. "We have yet to tell any Native American stories."

"Perfect. Give me your knife."

Arnold handed Bridged his knife. Bridged moved forward so that she could begin drawing shapes on the ground.

"The stories that we are going to tell you come from the natives of our country. A close friend of ours told us stories of his people. The shapes that I am drawing are the characters in the story." Bridged paused in drawing Coyote to look at the others. "I am not sure if you have animals that resemble those that I am drawing, but these are common animals in our world."

Bridged finished drawing pictures and handed Arnold back his knife.

"This story is about how Coyote and Eagle stole the Sun and Moon."