Trek For Survival

Vonn leapt over the log he had just helped Tom get over, and pushed Tom to the ground as the thing snapped above their heads. Carla screamed, having fallen to the ground as well. Gia rushed over as the thing turned and started making its way back to the water. Its long flippers pushing deep grooves in the rocky sand as it sc.r.a.ped its way back to the surf.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Gia, helping her mom to her feet and turning to Vonn and her dad.

"I believe so," said Tom. "That will teach me to sit down and rest. Shall we keep going? I suddenly don"t care to remain near here."

"Where"s Mikey?" asked Carla, looking around.

"He was just here a moment ago," said Vonn, looking over near where the boy had been.

"I"ll look for him," said Gia, bounding to her feet and rushing over to the where he was before the attack. All sorts of thoughts crossed her mind as she jumped over several large boulders.

"Gia!" cried Mikey, looking up from a tidepool he was kneeling next to. "Do you see that?"

Sighing in relief as all of the images of his dead body were quickly pushed out of her mind, Gia came over to see what he was watching. In the tide pool was an octopus no bigger than her hand. It must have gotten trapped when the tide went out. Hiding underneath some of the sea gra.s.s, Gia smiled at Mikey.

"It"s really neat, but we need to get away from the water and see how far we can get before it gets dark. Do you still have your basket?" she asked, looking around.

"Oh, it was on the tree next to dad," said Mikey, jumping up and darting over there.

When the beast attacked, and Vonn had all but thrown Tom over the tree trunk, Mikey"s basket was scattered all over the place. He didn"t complain when he saw that, only rushed to pick things up so they could keep going.

"Do you want me to start looking for caves?" he asked, as he caught up with them.

"Sure, just don"t explore them first," said Vonn.

"I won"t. You never know what weird creatures could be in there. What if there"s a beach bear? Or a water goat? Ooh! If we see a goat, can we kill and eat it?" he asked.

"We"ll see. It depends on where we see the goat and what"s going on when we see it. I don"t think I want to stop running from a giant snake or spider to shoot at a goat," said Vonn.

Mikey considered that carefully, then nodded. "Yeah, the monster might eat our goat."
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Gia chuckled at Mikey"s conclusion. The temperature was quickly getting warmer, and they had all shed their cloaks by now. It wouldn"t be long before they needed to look for fresh water, but Gia was just glad they had plenty of rations so they didn"t have to hunt for food.

"Look," said Vonn, pointing up ahead. "It looks like there"s some ship rubble that washed ash.o.r.e. Should we check it out?"

"There"s probably only going to be rubble and trash, but we can," said Gia.

"Watch out for creatures," said Carla. "After the giant fish tried to eat us, and the snake chase you across the beach, I don"t trust anything."

"Don"t worry mom, we will," said Gia.

"Can I come?" asked Mikey. "I have my axe!"

"But you need to protect mom and dad," said Gia. "Besides, it"s not like we"re not all going to walk by it."

"Oh, yeah," said Mikey. "And I don"t want Sprout to get hurt."

"Have you fed Sprout lately?" asked Gia. She didn"t want the little thing to die of starvation because Mikey forgot to feed it.

"Yes! I feed him every time I eat."

"I just hope it doesn"t get fat," laughed Carla.

"Sprout needs all the food he can get, so he can grow big and strong," said Mikey, patting his pouch carefully.

"Hey Gia," said Vonn. "It looks like there"s a huge fish over by the boat. Do you see that tail? Let"s go check it out!"

"Alright," she said, leaving her parents and brother to investigate the boat debris.

When Vonn went around the broken wooden crate, he stopped in his tracks and stared at the fish in shock. Gia hurried to see what startled him so much, and saw that it was not a fish. The tail belonged to a man who had strong fish features all over his body. He still had feet even!

"What do you think it is?" asked Vonn softly.

"Is he still alive?" asked Gia.

"I don"t know, let me check," said Vonn reaching down and touching the man"s face.

The flipper, or fin, that protruded from the sides of the man"s face, fluttered when Vonn touched him, causing him to jerk back quickly.

"What should we do?" asked Gia. "We can"t just leave him here to die. That giant fish creature might eat him if we tried to return him to the water."

"Gia, we don"t know if he"s friendly," said Vonn.

Gia tapped her amulet that still hung around her neck and raised an eyebrow. Vonn sighed and looked around.

"The storm must have caused the ship to crash against the rocks. I wonder if there"s any other survivors, or if that fish thing ate them all," wondered Vonn.

"Even if there are, we need to help this guy first. Let"s get him away from the water, and out of the sun," said Gia.

They lifted the fish man up and dragged him by his arms up to the rock cliff, where Tom, Carla and Mikey were waiting for them. The man was starting to come to, so they sat him up and leaned him against the rock.

"Ugh," gurgled the man, spitting out some water and sand. "I have a splitting headache. What happened?"

"It looks like your ship crashed," said Vonn, scanning the beach for any other survivors.

"The would be my luck," groaned the man. "Are we near the elven forest? I don"t remember seeing humans near here before. You are humans, right?"

"Yes, but we"re a long way from home," said Carla.

"I would imagine. Humans would be killed and eaten if found near here. Don"t you know that the lizard folk live south of this beach?" asked the man, looking at them all as if they were crazy.

"We were told that, yes," said Gia.

"We plan to sneak around them to get through the mountains," said Vonn.

The man started laughing, scanning the beach and the debris around them. "And who told you to go that route?"

"The elves?" said Vonn.

"Of course, they did. Elves hate humans. I"m surprised you made it through their forest!"

"I don"t believe I caught your name," said Tom, frowning in annoyance at the man.

"My name doesn"t matter. I need to get back out at sea and find my brother. He"s waiting for me."

"There"s a giant fish in the water that will eat you if you go near it," said Mikey.

"Really? Sounds like a challenge," said the man, flipping his facial fins around and trying to stand up. "I don"t even know why I"m bothering to talk to you humans. I would normally kill you so I could eat you, but for some reason I don"t feel like it. I don"t like magic being used against me. Let me give you some parting wisdom before I leave. As a type of thanks for not just killing me when you found me. Avoid the lizard folk if at all possible. And if you can"t, be prepared to kill one in a one on one fighting compet.i.tion. If you win, they"ll probably let you live. If you don"t, then they"ll eat you all. Just claim you"re there to prove yourself. They love that stuff."

"How do they fight?" asked Vonn with a frown. He was the most likely to fight if the need arose.

"They normally use spears, but in the compet.i.tion any weapon is allowed that"s not ranged, like a crossbow," he said, glancing over at the one hanging from Vonn"s side.

Vonn nodded thoughtfully, and said, "We"ll deal with that when it comes. There"s no reason for us to look for trouble when we don"t have to."

"Okay, but I thought you would like a heads up," said the man, heading across the beach and on into the water.

No sooner had his head disappeared below the waves, then the giant fish flashed by, throwing water into the air as it dived after him.

"I hope he"s okay," said Mikey.

"Why?" asked Gia. "He was really rude, and threatened to kill and eat us!"

"Because he warned us about the lizard folk," said Mikey. "And he didn"t have to."

"Mikey, we already knew the lizard folk were dangerous," said Vonn. "But you are right. He didn"t have to tell us anything about them. Now we just have to hope what he said isn"t needed."

"Yeah, because we"re going to sneak," said Tom dryly.