The Roselands

Chapter 14

   My heart pounded in my chest and my breath was held in my throat. As I ran behind Sprite and Dusty, I was actually keeping up to the two fleet of foot hybrids. It must've been my worry for Ginger that kept me in place with them. As we arrived at the top of the hill, Blossom and Jeepa were weeping off to the side and Zazil was tearing up the undergrowth with his burly hands. "She's gotta be here."

   As he tore up another bush, two Picklets flew up out of it. A blue one and a red one. I recognized Scarlet as her and Vern came flying towards us. She dove into my shirt pocket and hid there as Vern dove into Sprite's hands. They were both shaken very badly and didn't seem to want to come out. As I stepped forward and took a good look around, I saw nothing except torn up undergrowth for the first ten yards. I looked down and saw two tiny footprints in the dirt. I gestured to Zazil to stop and the Beerth hybrid did as I asked.

   I followed the footprints to a deeper part of the woods before noticing another set. It was a large pair of dog like tracks, but behind them was a wide drug spot which looked to be a tail. I bent and looked closely, seeing how the dog tracks followed Ginger's tracks for a while before Ginger's footprints looked like they'd been swiftly jerked in one direction. I saw no more of her footprints, but the dog tracks darted into the forest, heading south and a touch west. The others had followed me out here and as I stood straight, I heard Sprite come up behind me. "What happened?"

   I licked my lips and sighed, turning to them. "She was kidnapped by a pure Focks. All signs point to him sneaking up on her and then snatching her right off her feet. Did anyone hear screaming?"

   Blossom nodded, wiggling her long ears as she wiped tears from her eyes. "Yah. My ears catch a lot. I hear  her screaming and when we got up here…we found this."

   She held her hand forward and in the palm was a tiny girl Picklet wearing green clothes. It's face was gashed and its poor delicate wings were crumpled. It no longer glowed like a normal Picklet and I saw that one arm and one leg were bent at an odd angle.

   As I neared it, I heard a tiny desperate wail come from my shirt pocket. I reached in and gently pulled Scarlet out. She curled up in my hand and wept, throwing her arms over her head. Vern flew over from Sprite's hand and comforted her, but Scarlet wouldn't be soothed. She looked up at me and cried. "She did not stand a chance. She tried to distract the Focks while the girl ran, but…it crushed her and stole the little girl away!"

   If she had anything else to say, it wad drowned out by her violent sobs. I sighed and placed he  in my pocket, letting Vern fly back to Sprite. I sighed and shook my head. "I know it sounds insane, but we need to go in there and find her. If it was a pure Focks, then he'll take her to the Roselands. Why? I don't know, but whatever he plans to do with her can't be good. Now who's gonna come with me?"

   Zazil stepped up with no hesitation. I will. No myths and legends about hat place are gonna keep me from saving Ginger."

   Blossom and Jeepa followed. Dusty shrugged and stepped forward nonchalantly, but I could see his deer tail flipping like it did when he was nervous. Sprite paused, but then she came up and took my hand. "I'll go wherever you go."

   I nodded and then turned towards where the Focks had gone. "Alright. Let's go then."

   Jeepa suddenly leaped in front of me and shook her head, meowing fervently. I didn't even ask what she was doing. She wouldn't be able to tell me anyway. She grabbed my hand and lured me back to the valley, pointing to the cafeteria. I cocked my head at her and she let out a frustrated hiss. She led us all down to the cafeteria where she communicated with Azar. He cocked his head at her and she explained again in their language. He looked around and then nodded, gesturing us behind the bar.

   He went over to a section of wall before reaching and pulling on a wall hanging. The tapestry pulled down a little before going back up. Noises could be heard behind the wall, like gears clanking or wheels turning and, before our eyes, the wall rotated outward and Azar walked behind it. He came back out with a wad of brown sacks. He said something to the other Olkets and passed out the sacks.

   Each Olket filled each bag with certain types of foods such as biscuits, fruit, vegetables, and a small parcel of meat in each one. Azar went over to the wall and pulled down two or three goat skin jugs. He passed them to me and I felt that they were filled with water. After I'd tucked those in my sack, he passed me a blanket which I gave to Zazil for him to carry. I nodded to Azar in thanks and he nodded back, smiling an Olket smile.

   It was a bit bizarre to see a cat smiling at me, but on the other hand, it away kind of funny the way his lips pulled back over his cat fangs. As I turned, the tiny Olket from the other day who had served dessert handed me one of the sacks. She gave me an Olket smile as well and I nodded at her as well. I looked at Jeepa and shrugged. "So? Is this all you wanted? Or is there anything else?"

   She shook her head and gave me a smile. Sprite nodded at me and gestured to the door. "So we're ready to go?"

   I nodded quickly, but before I could head to the door, something weird happened. Jeepa started to head to the door, but then Azar reached out and grabbed her arm, yanking her back. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to see what happened there in front of me. I thought I had seen just about everything the valley had to display, but apparently I had only just scraped the surface.

   Azar pulled Jeepa to him and bent his head, kissing her sweetly. It was weird to see two cat people making out and as I turned away politely, I saw that everyone else thought so too. Except Sprite.

   She had a smile on her face and her gaze flickered to me, blushing as she remembered how I felt about her. Dusty cocked his head, causing his antlers to jab me in the chest. "Why is everyone doing that?"

   I ruffled his big ears and patted his back. "Don't worry about it. Now let's get moving. We need to follow those tracks as far as we can before they get washed away."