Trek For Survival

"Mom, I think it would be best if you and dad slept in the back of the tent," said Gia, grabbing their bags and moving them to the furthest sleeping platform in the back of the tent.

"What? Why?" asked Carla, gathering the sleeping blankets and rolls up and following her.

"Dad can"t see if we get attacked in the night, so I thought it would be best if Vonn and I slept near the door," she said, thinking fast.

"Keep in mind, young lady, that the two of you aren"t married yet," chided Carla, waving a finger at her after setting the blankets down.

"Carla," said Tom. "Just because we haven"t held some kind of ceremony, doesn"t mean the two can"t claim they"re married. We can still have a ceremony later. I doubt there would be a soul alive who could complain after everything we"ve been through."

Gia watched as her mom nodded thoughtfully at Tom"s words, and sighed inwardly at the change in subject. While it wasn"t what she would have preferred as a change in topic, it would work for her.

Mikey came up to her, holding his Limcheez Sprout in his hands. The tiny green fuzzball was looking around and blinking his eyes curiously.

"Gia! Sprout ate all the food I gave him. Can I have some more? I don"t want him to get hungry!"

"Alright, Mikey. I should have some of my rations still in my bag. I didn"t finish all of it," she said with a smile, heading back over to her bag.

Mikey beat her to it, and set his new pet down to rummage in the bag. Sprout wrapped his long prehensile tail around Mikey"s ankle while he looked around. His two little feet stuck out of his fur, as he twisted and turned to see everything.

Once she had Mikey settled on his own sleeping platform with his new friend, she helped Vonn finish settling their blankets and bedrolls. Her stomach was churning at the thought of starting the night at his side, but she had to agree with her dad. Her and Vonn should start acting like they were married, instead of sleeping apart. The ceremony could wait.

"Are you alright?" he asked, as he lay down and pulled the covers up.

"I"m a little nervous about this," she whispered, not wanting her parents to hear.

Vonn laughed. "Don"t worry, my Giavanna. I"m not going to ravish you here, in the middle of a lizard village. I plan to wait until we have our own bed in our own house. Do you mind?"
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The relief and disappointment that washed over her was very confusing, and seeing her face only made him laugh more.

The next morning came far faster than Gia was expecting. The moment she heard noises of the others starting to stir, she was wide awake and climbing out of the bed. Her mother hadn"t tried anything in the night, and she was very grateful. Hopefully the wild att.i.tude her mother had the other day would stay gone. Gia sincerely hoped it was just a weird reaction to the spell the lizard healer had used.

"The Witch Doctor is ready for you," said a small lizardman, sticking its head in to tell them its message, and then darting away.

"Quickly! Pack everything up so we can head out as soon as this is done!" said Gia, throwing things into her bag.

The others didn"t hesitate, and she could see Tom pacing nervously as he waited the few moments it took to fold the bedrolls. Making their way out of the tent, it was easy to see where they were supposed to go. The lizardman witch doctor had an alter set up near the back of the village. The round plate where a fire was gently burning, looked to have sticks poking out of it, much like a giant bird"s nest. The doctor was moving some of the items near the flames slowly with the scale they had given him.

Gia led them towards the alter, wondering if this was such a good idea, when she saw what the items he was moving were. A human skull, some rib bones, and a large leg bone were being moved slowly around the red coals. Swallowing, she realized the skull was too small to be from a grown man.

"In order for this to work, there is a cost," said the lizard as they approached. "Returning sight requires a sacrifice. I refuse to expend my personal life force to return this ability to you, but if you are willing to give up something of equal worth, your sight can be returned."

"Wait, so you mean his ability to hear or speak?" asked Gia, dread clawing at her stomach and throat.

"Yes, one of those would be satisfactory," said the lizard with a nod.

"What about if I were to give up one of my eyes?" asked Carla softly.

The lizard seemed to think about that, and then shook his head. "The spell would require two eyes to return his sight. Returning sight to only one eye isn"t an option."

"Then I will give an eye," said Gia, stepping forward.

"Giavanna, no," said Carla and Tom together.

"I am old, I do not need both eyes," said Carla, chewing on her lip. "But you are still young. It is important that you not lose one in case something was to happen to your other."

"Yes, that is true," said Tom. "Having lost my sight, I would not wish this on anyone."

"But I won"t let mom lose both her eyes!" said Gia. "We would be gaining nothing!"

"What about my sense of smell and taste?" asked Tom, turning towards the lizard. "Would that be equivalent?"

"For one of my kind, who relies on the sense of smell and taste to hunt our prey, yes, it would. But for you humans, who barely use them to eat, I think something else will need to be paid to offset the cost."

"Then my one eye?" asked Carla, stepping forward beside Gia.

"Yes, I believe that will suffice," said the lizard, turning to sc.r.a.p something up out of a bag.

Gia felt awful, watching her mom stand there as the lizardman witch doctor began drawing strange designs on her face around her left eye. What would the elves think? Would the designs be permanent? Would the people they encountered back home know what they were? All sorts of worries plagued her as the lizard finished with her mom and moved over to start on her dad.

This time the designs were much more intricate. Lines and squiggles ran all over his face, around his eyes, his nose and his mouth. The lizardman kept dipping his sharp claws into the bag and pulling them out, covered in what Gia believed was a red ink. The thought it might not be ink was not an option if she wanted to stay sane.

"Sit here," he said, pushing her mother to the ground at a certain place. "And do not move until this is done."

He pushed his father down at another spot, then moved to the bowl in the middle of the platform. Chanting something in a very reptilian tongue, he picked up more of the red ink from the bag and dribbled it onto the glowing embers with a sharp hiss.

Vonn wrapped his arms around her as she started trembling and Mikey leaned against her side, clutching his pouch to him. Carla was trembling with her entire attention on the waving form of the lizardman before her. Tom sat silently waiting for something to happen. Gia couldn"t remove her eyes from scene before her.

Suddenly there was a loud squelch and her mother fell to the ground, clutching her face, as the lizard finished his chanting. Tom gasped as he looked around, and then he spied Carla on the ground and rushed to her side. The lizard said nothing, so it must have been over. Gia hurried over and was there to see her mother"s face as Tom lifted her up. Her left eye, that the lizardman had drawn lines around, was pale and milky. The lines were gone and so was her sight in that eye.

"My dear, you are just as beautiful now as they day I first laid eyes on you," whispered Tom, pulling her into a hug.

Gia glanced up at her father"s face, and saw his eyes open and seeing for the first time in her life. They were a delightful blue color that she was sure wasn"t natural, but at least the lines on his face were gone as well.

"It is done. I will have one of the shadowborn escort you through the cleft, to the lands beyond our home."

Vonn nodded to him, thanking him softly, as tears streamed down Gia"s face. Her father could see!