Thicker Than Blood: Part Three

by shadowphoenix

Vengeance
I can’t make him feel better, SunTalon thought to himself as David sat on the couch in silence. SunTalon stood from the chair he had taken and went to David’s side, placing a small hand on David’s shoulder.

“They’ll be back soon. I’m sure that we just_” Loud footsteps halted SunTalon’s sentence, and he turned to the door with both anticipation and worry. The burst open, and a rush of life came in with a little bit of chill. David stood quickly and ran to the door.

“Silver! Narc!”

“And Sundial…” SunTalon noted the calm entrance of his twin sister through the doorway. He glared at her, and she smiled sweetly at him in return.

“Yeah, look who we found out there in the cold! She was trudging back here when we reached the tower, and so I picked her up. We’re all here!” Narcissus glanced back at Sundial and grinned, and she shivered some weak smile in return. David brought Sundial a blanket and picked her up, and all of them headed nearer to the fireplace in the living room.

SunTalon turned to face her brother, and slyly inquired, “Did you miss me, bro?”

“Sure…of course I missed you.” SunTalon had no idea why he was so afraid of his sister, whom was normally so isolated and indifferent. Now she seemed brimming with emotion, be it good or bad, and quite indulged with activity.

“Then…we’re cool? So then let’s find out what was chasing these two!” exclaimed Sundial, gesturing towards the Peophin and Kougra.

“Wait, we…” began Silverwatcher. “We didn’t tell you anything about the…how’d you know something was chasing--”

“I saw you! Yeah, it was a bit too big to miss, even from where I was. I saw the thing chasing you.” SunTalon said to Sundial, realizing that she had slipped up by the anxiety in her interruption. He began to wonder if she had anything to do with the story that Narcissus and Silverwatcher had yet to tell him.

David suggested they all warm up before heading anywhere, and the two young females quickly obliged and fell into comforting sleep. SunTalon and Narcissus went with David into the den, and Narcissus began to tell them both of his meeting the Jetsam mutant. Narcissus chronicled everything, from his encounter at the Light Tower to his chase with a Kougra passenger.

“So, what does it mean, Narc?” SunTalon asked once his best friend had completed his story.

“I…well, as I told Silver, something’s arrived. I can’t be sure what yet, but it has something to do with the Forsaken Ice Field, and we can’t handle it alone.”

“Handle the threat? I don’t think we can handle the Forsaken!” SunTalon pointed out, referring to the horde of beasts that lived on the ice field beyond the woods.

“Yes,” conceded David, “but I have strong enough friends on the Ice Field, and…whatever’s arrived that we have to face, they’ll be game.”

“I hope so, because if they aren’t…” Narcissus turned and glanced out of the window, reacting to a sound he believed he had heard from below. He saw nothing, but still felt uneasy. “Did anyone else hear that?”

“No, but I sure felt something!” yelled SunTalon as he stumbled to the floor. All ran to see what the commotion was, and gasped. The girls screamed in the other room, and dinnerware and tapestries fell from the cabinets and walls. The three whom were in the den ran to meet the girls, and saw a horrifying and unexpected sight.

Where the east wall used to be, was a gaping hole through which Silverwatcher had fallen. Sundial was holding onto the Kougra’s paw and desperately calling out for assistance over the loud crumbling of the penthouse-style tower. SunTalon bounded over to his twin to help, and they begin to hoist Silverwatcher from the large break in the wall. Sharply, something grappled at SunTalon’s foot and toppled his already wavering balance. He began to slide toward the spiny edge, and slid headlong into Silverwatcher. They both began to plummet from the failing grasp of Sundial, and into a whirling kaleidoscope of fear and landscape. Another such piece of the landscape below caught SunTalon’s eye, but was lost as his fall (and that of Silverwatcher) ceased suddenly. Narcissus had lunged out through the fissure and caught hold of SunTalon with his mouth, and Silverwatcher he wrapped around with his hooves. The blue Peophin seemed to glow as he graciously yet desperately flung his two captives back into the home tower, and he himself dived toward the darkness that had caught SunTalon’s eye before.

The young Shoyru was now more aware of what he’d seen, and assessed that this was indeed the creature that Narcissus had warned them about earlier. It was as large as he had imagined if not more so. Its skin seemed to carapace, or armor, like that of an armadillo. He noticed it had no eyes, as he had heard, but the sight of such a large beast without them, and the concept of how such a large beast might not need them, was all more frightening than SunTalon had expected.

“Wait!” cried out Silverwatcher, whom was soon kicked in the side by some unseen assailant. “Ouch! Wait, is there someone el-oww!” The Kougra, quite conspicuously, flew from the floor to the north wall, beside the door. There she stayed, and lay still.

SunTalon turned to ask his sister why she hadn’t helped, but found her nowhere near. “Sundial! Where are_” SunTalon was fiercely chopped in between his wing arch (shoulder blades, for those ignorant of draconic anatomy), and then kicked in the lower back. He fell forward into an invisible fist, which rose left across his chin. Another fist dashed into his left cheek, and he was again thrown from the wobbling structure. Instead of the much hoped for Peophin rescue, SunTalon collided with solid ice and began to convulse in pain.

“WHERE ARE YOU?!?” David cried out in distress. His arm was teased, as if floating in air, and then lifted as he was smacked severely under his left rib. He felt a rush of wind pass him toward his right, and quickly grabbed out for it. His hand caught hold of a tough, sharp spike and leathery skin. It felt moist, as if he was reaching through water to touch this creature.

“You…a Bubble Mote! Sundial!” David flung the small heap of invisibility through the tear in the east wall, and ran to grab up Silverwatcher as the entire structure begin to lean toward the damaged side of the tower. David leapt from the hole, not giving heed to the fifty-foot drop, and curled himself around Silverwatcher to cushion the fall. He landed quite roughly, and rolled several times before releasing his hold on Silverwatcher. The Kougra rushed to her moaning owner and began licking his face, then bit down on his jacket and began to run as fast as she could. Tears of desperation streamed down her face as Silverwatcher dodged left and right, narrowly avoiding the shrapnel rain from the falling tower. The failing supports crashed into the ice behind Silverwatcher, sending her reeling across the slick, frozen water with David tight in her jaws. Sharp shards of ice whizzed past the small Kougra’s face, and rattled onto the surface of ice around her. She was stunned from the noise of the crash, but was still conscious enough to notice a massively large form rushing towards her through the ice, and could hear faint screams from Narcissus and SunTalon. She shook her head and her sight cleared, revealing to her the swift approach of the Jetsam beast in front of her. His jaws lurched open in sweet anticipation, and its teeth glistened in the dim, overcast sunlight. It slowed to a stop just before Silverwatcher, and rose to its full height. Intimidation flooded over Silverwatcher as the beast assured her that he was to descend on her very soon, but…then, it didn’t. It paused, and with as much confusion as Silverwatcher and the others had. Then, the air between his second and third dorsal fin begin to shimmer as air does when heated. The glimmering gas began to take form, and that form clarified into that of a certain Shoyru.

“Listen!” Everyone was silenced in their whimpering, moaning, or grumbling as Sundial continued. “This past week has given me the chance to seriously reflect on my mother’s demise. Before now, I was forced to forgive, but now I have a choice. Now, I have power to dispense mercy or wrath. And in ending my reflection, I have come to the conclusion that there can be NO MERCY!!! Vengeance is the only solution, and my victory is the only outcome!” Sundial reared up on the large beast, and it turned to retreat, but not before smashing a large ice sheet and hurtling more threatening shards towards Silverwatcher. The Jetsam pushed through the rigid ice with ease and raced off toward the forest barrier to the Forbidden Ice Fields. When passing Narcissus, it mockingly snapped at the Peophin’s wing. Narcissus huffed.

“So…what are we going to do?” SunTalon was regaining his nerve to stand, even though the ice still tottered from its previous damage. He walked over to Narcissus, and Silverwatcher dragged David over as well, seeing as that he was still barely conscious.

Glancing at his owner, Narcissus responded “We do what David said we should, what I believe we must…we’re going into the Forbidden Ice Field…

To be continued...