The Hollow Grove: The Companions [Book 2]

[15] The Problem With Bogu

"KEEEE OKEEOK TOK!"

Haygen watched with stoic patience, Otis with kindness and practiced understanding, while Kayla's mouth pressed into a thin smile of acceptance. Wess held his hands behind his back and drove a lockpick into his own hand letting the pain stifle his laughter.

"KEEEE OKEEOK TOK!"

She had been at it for ten minutes.  Anyu cupped her hands to her mouth yet again and sang out.  A bit of rope formed a loop in her hand.

"KEEEE OKEEOK TOK!"

It was late morning and the wind from the ocean was just enough to tug at Kayla's silver locks and billow her robes ever so slightly.  Odd that with the ocean in reach all she could smell was dust and stone.  The crashing of the waves against the cliffs was a soothing sound.  The different shades of the red rocks all around her reflected the sun and made everything bright and colorful.  

There they stood, packed and ready for the long trek north staring out to the red rock formations that surrounded them.  They scavenged every piece of gear they could from Malifax's domain and filled every glass vessel with cleaned seawater.  The only thing missing was food and transportation.  The Ranger was attempting to accomplish the latter.  She tried the call several more times.

Haygen stretched and squatted, priming his muscles.  He brought his hands out into a "Y" and and smiled to the mountains before him.  His stiff leather armor pieces were belted and strapped back on.  The bulk of their supplies were stuffed into the backpack that dug into his shoulders.  Though his belly rumbled, being able to walk on land brought a smile to his face.  He hefted a green, meaty hand to his forehead and looked over the crags and cliffs as if he would be able to see his mother's Druid grove in the near distance.  "I see something moving.  There."

Heat waves in the distance blurred their vision, but something was heading right for them. 

"It's moving awfully fast," noted Otis.  The Dwarf, dressed in his gambeson and worn leather boots, was well rested and eager to be on the move.   

Anyu squinted.  "The beast is being hunted."

Coming into view, now, was a cloud of dust behind a large red lizard that scrambled on all four of its legs.  Its long tail whipped to and fro as it scampered across the rocky terrain.  In its trail of dust was a pack of the same lizards of various color ridden by an odd looking tribe of Men.

"Wastelanders,"  Anyu explained.  "They also ride the Kudaki.  Do not let them take you prisoner...you may not last the night."

The Kudaki finally reached the companions and it lowered its head in submission to the Ranger who stroked its head and sang to it in a strange tongue.  The lizard was the size of a horse, but with stout legs, a pointed head, and thick reptilian skin. 

The four companions made a defensive wall in front of the lizard mount and the Ranger as she worked to befriend the Kukdaki.  As the Wastelanders approached, weapons flew from sheaths and a magic spell was prepared.

The Wastelanders slowed their own Kudaki to a walk as they approached the group.  A quick look at their malformed faces and hands of these Men suggested generations of inbreeding.  They rode their lizard mounts on saddles with saddlebags which showed they were an intelligent tribe.  All of them stowed their capture ropes and replaced them with long spears and curved swords.  The alpha of the hunting party pulled forward and spoke in easternese dialect that only Anyu could fully comprehend.  She barked a reply and the leader began again.

"My Kudaki.  Bogu...first sight."  He pounded his chest and grinned a mouth full of jagged yellow teeth.  He pulsed his spear in the air many times to the grunting approval of his band.