Raider of the Sky: Part Three

We were in the Lakelands by morning. Lake Everrest was near the eastern side of them, but the only setback to our mission was this-the lake was guarded by a monster. I was slightly interested, I had never seen a real Monster-besides, hehe, Mothoaron- so I was kind of excited to see the rumored "horrid" thing. It was rumored to be something so vile, so dangerous…the lake was clear? We had just landed, but if the monster was vile and dangerous…that made the lake clear? I stood beside Croshar, who was just as confused as I, and we stared into the clear, blue, depthless Lake Everrest.

      "Ah, well, I guess we ought to look for the treasure," she suggested, and walked over to the banks. It was right at the bottom (I suppose it was the bottom, anyway, the whole thing was sky-blue in color) of the lake, a brownish, polished trunk. The floor of Lake Everrest was blue and smooth. We were both quite shaken.

      Croshar looked to me. "Um, we didn't come all this way for nothing, did we? Maybe I should go get it…"

     Before I could tell her not to, Croshar put one tentative claw into the water. And with that one claw, the whole lake exploded in clear, cold water and thrashing claws.

      The creature that came out of the geyser-like explosion was hideous, just as rumored in the taverns in Lananroam. It had a long, sinewy, scale-covered body, which was dripping and slimy, webbed feet, and it was as blue as the clear sky. It had twisted, warped claws and a blunted snout. Somehow, it resembled a blue mutant Draik, but only its head really went that direction. But that was all the time we had for staring. Croshar and I tried to lift off, found our wings were pinned to our sides, and just ran. The creature crawled onto the land and gave chase. It movements were slower than ours and rather cumbersome, so maybe we could escape…

      We had barely avoided being crushed by one huge, clawed hand when the ground gave way beneath us. Croshar and I stared upward as the trap door closed above. I was panting so hard my lungs burned. I heard the ground shaking as the mutated creature thundered to a stop. Then it spoke, in a deep, guttural voice.

      "Yooou have gottennnn lucky thisssss time, thievesss. Nexxt time I willll have yoooou…" It slithered off somewhere, probably back into the lake. I shuddered.

      Croshar got up and shook her green feathers. "That was convenient. Well, we still have to get the treasure, so I say we follow the light." I got up and shook myself also. "What ligh…oh," for there was indeed some sort of glowing from up ahead. "Er, fine. C'mon." I was really kind of against following glowing lights, but I had nowhere else to go. We started off to follow the strange glowing through the tunnel we were in, some sort cave built into the rock-hard ground.

      About fifteen minutes later, we found ourselves under a lake. No, the lake. Lake Everrest. The top of the cavern was gone, and the lake was just there, up above, not coming down in to the cave, just hovering as if it was trapped in a vacuum, which it probably was. As Croshar and I stared up at in awe, I noticed that, although the treasure was there, the creature was not. An idea formed itself in my mind.

      Croshar rose on her hind legs and touched the water. It just slid off her paw and floated to the floor of the cave. Strange, it just floated downwards lazily instead of falling with the gravitational pull. Croshar's eyes widened. "It's magic. If we could get to the treasure, and swim to the top of the lake, then maybe we could get this over with," she said quietly.

      "That's a very good idea," I commented, "but you did notice we couldn't fly up there. We could get it, but we'd have to come back down here."

      She shook her head. "This is obviously that creature's escape hole, and I think the only time we can't fly is when we're around it. Just try it."

      "We'll only have one chance, but if you think so, I'll do it." I said. That girl and her crazy ideas…

      "Finally." She said. "On the count of three, jump up into the water. One, two…"

     With no less than a sliding noise, we leapt into the water. Once we were in it, though, it turned into regular water. I grabbed the chest with the treasure and motioned Croshar upward, trying to hold my breath long enough to make it up there. She laughed when we got up. "I told you it would work!"

      I grinned. It most certainly had. I climbed out of the lake and shook myself-right in the face of the Draik-creature.

     "Going sssssomewherrre, thievesssss?" it asked, and snorted. "Not annnymorrre. Yooou willlll never esssscape nnnow!"

      I didn't even attempt to fly; I just ran, holding tight to the treasure chest. Croshar ran to side, and I ran straight through its legs, barely avoiding the thrashing tail. Then I thought as hard I could of what is was like to fly, the freedom, the wind in my fur, and willed my wings to work. To my immense relief, they did, but Croshar was still running. I held out my paw to her.

     "Croshar, jump! You can fly, just think about doing it! Jump!"

      She lunged upward, grabbed my paw, beat her wings, and we took off. The creature roared his fury behind us, sending out a spout of pungent water, but we were safe. We set our course to the fort of the Lupe who had employed us to do the job, to safety, and away from any strange, mutated, Draik-like creatures.

****

      We flew over the Strilenough plain lands, towards the fort where Morhoaron lived, which was located near the Garanel Forests by a branch of the Branshlowne River.

      I saw the fort ahead of us, a brown monument on the amber-green plains, and signaled Croshar in that direction.

     "Ah, so you have completed my request at last," Morhoaron the Lupe greeted us. "I trust neither of you were seriously injured?"

      "No." I said flatly.

      "Well, then. Here is your pay, and as you requested, a portion of the treasure of Lake Everrest." The brown Lupe handed us three pounds of the seventeen-pound treasure. I opened the bag he had put it in and weighed in my mind. Morhoaron continued, however, "And here is the 30,000 Neopoints you were promised. You can count it yourself." Croshar accepted it, weighed it like I had the Everrest treasure, and we started to turn away.

      "Wait one minute, you two," Morhoaron said, "I have another thing you could attend to." We both turned back. I looked at Morhoaron warily. His eyes were hard and serious. Hmm. Something dangerous, perhaps? Suitable, the Lupe was always sending us off on the dangerous missions, never any of his other thieves.

      "Before you say anything, listen to me. I already know it's the most dangerous place-to you-in Neopia. No, wait, listen to me," he stopped at our startled expressions, "But please, hear me out. I want you," he motioned to us, "to go to Kranslunar and retrieve the Moon Stone."

****

     I was sure my beak fell open and my tail, which I had held so carefully high, dropped. Croshar's eyes widened and her beak opened slightly.

      "You want us," she said, incredulously, "to go to Kranslunar!"

      I knew the stories of Kranslunar. I knew overall what they did when the caught their thieves. I also knew that they did not bother to associate with anyone from the Valley Kingdoms. There were rumors of a war coming between them and Kranslunar. It would be coming soon, and I had no wish to be caught in the middle of it.

      "Yes, I do," Morhoaron continued, "I have found you two over the years the most amazingly accurate, courageous thieves who have ever worked for me. I have complete confidence in you."

      Croshar shook her head slowly, carefully. "We'll be killed, Morhoaron. The Moon Stone is just as dangerous as those who hold it."

      "No, just listen! I'm willing to pay you 60,000 NP just for that stone. I know the risks, I went there in my travels once before. The only difference," he shrugged, "is that you're thieves."

      I looked to Croshar. She didn't look worried, just determined and ready for the hardest job of her life. I knew her choice immediately. "We'll do it." We said in unison. We would go to the Lunar City take the risks, and hopefully come out in one piece. Of all places, Kranslunar.

      Hopefully…

      Croshar stormed out of Morhoaron's fort ahead of me. I followed after, trying to look calm. She, however, looked ready to explode.

      "I can't believe I just accepted that!" she shouted. I shook my head. "Settle down," I said, trying to calm her, "I'm sure we'll be perfectly safe. I mean, what could go wrong-"

      "Everything, Weatree! You've never been to the Lunar City. I have. You don't want to know what they do if they catch you…" she trailed off and looked at me meaningfully. I understood all too well.

To be continued…