At The Heart of Tale Kingdoms (COMPLETED)

12.2 NERTI

All the six jaguars where back when she woke at dawn. Kaduri and Qix Ix were still in a light slumber, she noticed as she sat up. She looked around being sure something had woken her. She had heard steps move around them but when she opened her eyes there was nothing there. The horses and the jaguars were all asleep and the water stream was comely crossing the land.

She remembered the cage and looked around to the branch that she hung it. The enclosure was there but the bird was nowhere to be seen. She stood and rushed to it, to find the little door open and her colorful treasure gone. Someone must have stolen him. She remembered securing the door herself.

The realization scared her. Someone had watched them and had been able to walk around them without waking them or the animals. She felt a chill travel down her spine.

Nerti went back to wake Kaduri. She woke quietly and saw the familiar quiet fingers on Nerti's lips.

"There is something watching us and it's not an animal, it can open small doors. My golden pheasant is gone" she spoke softly to her friend's ears, to not wake the young emperor. Kaduri sat up and looked at the cage.

"Do you think it's a Qxlong hunting party from Aset?" she whispered back.

"No, they would have just killed us. And they would have been loud enough to wake the animals." Nerti saw the uncertainty pass through her fearless friend.

"Should we go and try to find them, whoever they are?"

"No, we will get lost. We are not in our territory now and we can't leave the boy." Nerti tried to think.

"Don't tell the boy when he wakes. I will tell him I set the bird free. But we need to hurry and cross this jungle, the longer we stay, the bolder our hosts will get." They heard a nightingale chirp.

"Come on, lets pack."

They covered another ten leagues that day, but an end wasn't in sight as they delved deeper into the misty wild. The steeds did not stray far from the stream that travelled further north. Kaduri walked ahead with the boy in the middle and Nerti at the rear. The paths were too rough and narrow for them to crowd together or for the horses to trot so they strolled at a snail's pace. Her black companions travelled with them sensing Nerti's fear.

In their trek, they saw large yellow snakes hanging from trees, frightful giant lizards and enormous spiders cross the path before them. Though the creatures looked at them, none stopped to harm them.

"Do you think there are crocodiles in the river?" Qix Ix asked her. He was the first to speak having instinctively chosen to stay quiet.

"I don't think so, the water was too shallow." The boy was still clutching onto the cage. His yellow wristlet was tied to the belt of his pants as his wrists were still too small.

Occasionally, Nerti and Kaduri trekked on foot but didn't let the young emperor come down his horse. They didn't stop to eat preferring to chew on the left overs of their previous meal so they could cover more distance. They only stopped once to let the horses drink from the stream. Though they pretended to be calm, the boy must have sensed that Nerti and Kaduri were acutely unease.

"Is there something wrong? Why do you keep looking around like that?" he asked when they were at the stream.

"We are just trying to make sure, nobody is following us." Nerti answered. Qix Ix nodded stroking two of the jaguars that had grown used to his presence. Nerti and Kaduri took the chance to wash their faces.