Some Other World

Like A Harpy, But Worse

I hissed in annoyance as a scaled tail smacked the back of my head. "Anaarem!"

She made a burbling noise in her chest and ignored me, tail still twitching as she watched the fish in the lake.

"For Gods' sakes," I cringed as I said it, but it was a habit I'd yet to break, "are you going to just sit there or are you actually going to try and catch one?"

"Shhhh. You're scaring them away." She complained.

I snorted. "Yeah right. I'm nowhere near the water and I'm not talking that loudly."

"Shh." I got a distinct impression of annoyance through our mental link, then Anaarem slipped silently into the water.

She was the size of a large dog now, and had begun to communicate with me through actual words, rather than pictures and impressions of emotion. It had taken some getting used to, but at least I had someone I could talk to now, who could actually answer me.

Anareem popped out of the water, a couple of fish tails sticking out of her mouth. I chuckled as she swallowed them down. "Had your fill?"

"Not quite. There's a massive fish over near the far bank that I want to catch."

"Well go for it. And while you're at it, tell me if there's anything in the clearing."

She churred and dove silently into the water again.

I sighed and sat back, waiting for her answer.

"There's a deer."

I sat up. "How big?"

"At least 150 pounds."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

"Perfect." I grabbed a small stone knife I'd carved a couple days before. "I'm coming in."

She didn't answer, and I didn't need her to. I dropped into the water silently and swam over to the far shore. Rising so just my head poked silently from the water, I flicked my eyes around the clearing.

The deer didn't look like any I'd ever seen. It had strange horns, sort of like a mix between a whitetail's and an antelope's. They went up straight from it's head, but once they branched they began to curl every which way.

Shrugging, I slowly raised myself so my arms were above the water. I made sure to keep my movements as slow as possible as I lined up my shot.

The deer's head shot up as the knife slammed into it's neck. It stumbled, then fell.

I got out of the water and walked over to it. "Anareem, help me with this?"

"Do I get some if I do?" Her head popped out of the water.

I gave her an annoyed look. "Why don't you help me, then find out."

Her tail twitched out of the water and I could hear her laughing at me through our connection. She crawled onto the bank and walked over to help.

~Several Hours Later~

I went up to the room I'd found Anareem's egg, several long strips of venison on a flat rock I'd eroded into the shape I wanted. The room seemed to have some strange magical properties, and I was going to see if the heat and sunlight shining down would help me. I set the rock down on the pedestal that the egg had been sitting on.

"Is this where you found me?" I startled, then realized Anareem was next to me.

"How did you get up here?"

"I flew. I've been practicing."

I smiled at her. "Well I'm proud of you. Yes, this is where I found your egg."

She sniffed the pedestal and bobbed her head. "I recognize that smell. This place is familiar."

I chuckled and returned my attention to the food, just in time to see a shadow pass over me. My head shot up and I peered at the glass ceiling, seeing a blurry figure disappear off to one side, towards the falls.

"Strange... I haven't seen anyone out here since that hunter the first day...."

Anareem sniffed the air, then snorted. "The glass blocks their scent. We will have to go down to the other caves, maybe out of the caves completely."

"That doesn't sound overly appealing...." I muttered, but started through the tunnel anyway. I'd worked it with water every day until it was big enough the whole way through for me to stand straight.

We returned to the main cave and I grabbed Riptide before slipping silently into the water.

There was nothing immediately outside the cave, so I went onto the bank and crept into the forest. I could hear something off to the north, and made sure I was approaching it from the west, so my scent wouldn't be caught.

There was a clearing, and two figures stood in it. They looked mostly human, but had strange humps on their backs that gave them hunches. They were bald, and had terrifying features mixed between a bird of prey, a massive insect, and a sickly, starving man.

"What the Hades are those...?" I muttered aloud.

Two bald heads swiveled towards me, revealing black, soulless eyes with no sclera. I froze and stayed silent, crouched where I was.

It took several minutes for their attention to fade, and they went back to having a conversation in a strange tongue I did not understand. I began to back away, using water to muffle my steps.

It took almost a half an hour to get back to the caves. Once I was inside I set Riptide down and looked at my tent.

"So I'm sharing the forest now. Great."

[A/N just a warning I'll be at the youth rally all this week so don't expect any updates until friday at the earliest]