Artefact Hunters: Ikimono's Mirror

     On the fourth day, they found neggs.

     Well, okay, that wasn’t the first thing they found. Or the most important, if Hanso had to be honest.

     Both of those honours belonged to a major road. Up until this point, all of the roads he and Brynn could have followed spent too much time winding around the mountains to be worth it. But this one would lead them more or less right to and through the capital of Shenkuu.

     And, more significantly, it did so by bridge.

     Hanso bolted down the small incline that sloped toward the road, bleating with far more gusto than he’d cared to up until this point. This was the final stretch. No more waterfalls, no more cliffs. With luck, they’d reach the heart of the city before nightfall.

     Brynn followed him down at an only slightly more measured pace. They still had a ways to go before they reached the first of Shenkuu’s famous skybridges, but Hanso could tell his enthusiasm was still infecting her.

     While she caught up, he took a deep breath and looked up and down the road. It was far enough into the day that traffic had picked up, so they couldn’t linger too long out in the open. Still, he wanted to take a good look before they ducked back behind the trees.

     Leaning down, he scratched out the word, “Left?” in the roadside dirt. After reading it, Brynn nodded toward his pack. Good thinking. Best to check the map.

     Hanso shuffled back into the shadowed treeline to keep from attracting attention as he took off his pack and rifled through it. He pulled out and unfolded the map, double-checked the spot they’d found, and squinted up toward the sun to figure out their relative position. It was just starting to peek over the tall treetops, close but not quite above where the road stretched out to the right.

     So that was east, and they needed to head west. Left it was.

     Heading back into the forest took some of the spring out of Hanso’s step, if only because he needed to watch said step out here. Looking into his bag and seeing his and Bynn’s provisions – now supplemented with some fresh bamboo shoots he’d managed to dig up the last time they went foraging – had made him a bit hungry. He’d noticed that Brynn didn’t seem to need as much food as him in the past few days, and he wasn’t sure whether that was a species diet thing or she was just better at hiding her hunger. Regardless, it wasn’t quite “lunch” time yet. And if it meant getting that much closer to the Imperial City that much sooner, he could wait a little while before pestering her to stop.

     Still, thoughts of food lingered in Hanso’s mind long enough to make him pause when he picked up an interesting scent further along the way. It was sweet and savoury and something else that his Nuk nose liked, but his Ixi brain didn’t have a word for, and it only made him hungrier.

     Unable to resist temptation any longer, he drifted further from the road in search of the beckoning smell. Brynn called after him with a low grumble that he’d come to identify as roughly meaning, ‘Wherever you’re going had better not be too much of a distraction.’

     Hanso grunted back and kept going. This wouldn’t be far, he was sure. He spotted another stand of bamboo up ahead, and then slowed a bit when a whiff of unfamiliar Petpet scent drifted by on the wind.

     With Brynn at his side for assurance, he crept close enough to see a round blob of black-and-white that was a bit bigger than even she was. A Pandaphant was sitting on its rear and methodically chewing on a full cane of bamboo. The rotund Petpet spared him and Brynn a lazy look, but kept eating.

     Hanso relaxed. Not a predator, then. But where was the other smell coming from?

     A few more steps gave him his answer, growing in great bushy clusters just to the side of the bamboo.

     ‘Neggs!’ he bleated, darting past the Pandaphant and startling a small family of Pyugi further in the grove. Forget bamboo shoots and old dried fruits. This was the good stuff.

     Brynn trotted up just behind him as he took an indulgent sniff of a ripe Blue Negg. The Pyugis all squealed and ran off at the sight and scent of her, though the nearby Pandaphant continued to more or less ignore them both. Hanso figured that was a good sign. If there’d been any predators of Brynn’s stature around, he doubted they would have seen the Pyugis at all.

     While Brynn sat back on her haunches to watch their surroundings, Hanso returned to his chosen negg and plucked it carefully off of its bush. Then he sat back as well, and dropped the fruit so that it just balanced in the crook of a forehoof. He took an indulgent bite, savouring the juicy, not too sweet, and vaguely egg-like flavour.

     It was nice to sit back and do something that felt normal for a change. The negg’s subtle flavours didn’t overwhelm his Petpet palate the way other fruits tended to, though he had to admit he was already eyeing the bush’s leaves. He’d had them in salads before, but just browsing on them like he’d been doing with the bamboo didn’t feel as… Neopian-like, he guessed, as just sitting upright and feasting on the fruit proper did.

     Of course, if everything went well, it wouldn’t be much longer until things really were normal again. He hoped that, by thinking that, he hadn’t just jinxed himself and Brynn. Hey, at least not being able to talk meant he couldn’t really jinx things by blurting them out.

     …Hanso really needed to get this whole Petpet thing fixed before he got too used to it. But first, negg.

     Brynn’s ears perked at the distant clip-clop of hooves on pavement. Traffic had only been getting heavier as the day went on and she and Hanso got closer to the skybridge, but this wagon sounded like a big one. Travellers headed for the festival, perhaps?

     She looked through the trees to see a sizable Uni-drawn vehicle trundling up the road. It looked like a merchant wagon, shuttered up against the elements for now but ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice. The Uni whistled an aimless tune in beat with his even trot, and she could just see a Quiggle merchant’s head poking through a single window in the front.

     Brynn nudged Hanso with a paw and nodded toward the wagon. They wouldn’t be able to conceal themselves in the forest’s shade for much longer, so they needed another way to blend in. There didn’t seem to be anyone behind this new wagon at the moment, so now could be their best chance.

     As the pair crept closer to the road, they could see more of where it extended up ahead. Up until this point, it had dipped and curved around the narrowing heights of the mountain. But now, just a little further up, Brynn saw it straighten out until it jutted like some great branch far beyond the mountain’s curve.

     The skybridge seemed almost to stretch out into infinity, fading into the haze of low clouds until she could just trace its other end connecting to some unseen road on the next mountain over. It and its siblings, spanning the gaps between the great spires of central Shenkuu through a combination of brilliant engineering and subtle magics, were considered one of the great marvels of Neopian architecture.

     The marvel only increased when she and Hanso crept down to trail a short ways behind their chosen merchant wagon and followed it onto the bridge. In mere moments, the sky opened up around them. A sea of mountain peaks stretched off in every direction, the highest capped with lingering spring snows but most of their girths bursting with greenery. They were dotted with buildings – the Imperial City, which sprawled over several mountains amongst pockets of forest and whose need to keep connected had inspired the bridges’ construction in the first place.

     This bridge, wide enough to fit carriages and wagons passing on either side, swayed gently in the wind. And yet, it held sturdy with what seemed to the naked eye like little more than wood and rope.

     Brynn had experienced the open sky before; she’d flown on Unis and Alkenores alike several times by now. But rarely did they travel this high up. And the sensation of standing and walking on a suspended surface up here was an altogether different kind of dizzying than flight. She was thankful that she wasn’t particularly afraid of heights.

     Off to the side, Hanso let out a soft grunt to get her attention. She glanced over to find him at the edge of the bridge, sticking a hoof between the tight-woven guide ropes and making a face like he’d lost his balance and was about to fall through.

     Brynn gave him as flat a look as she could manage, and he pulled his hoof back onto the bridge with a little huff that she’d come to recognize as a Nuk snicker.

     A wagon passed them on the other side just as he caught back up. The driver glanced their way with a small chuckle, but didn’t otherwise react. Brynn let herself relax a little. They could blend in with the crowds now, so long as they didn’t make a fuss. That would become more and more important the further they got into the Imperial City.

     A great shadow passed overhead, and Brynn looked up. She nearly froze at the sight: a grand flying ship, its countless colourful sails buffeted along by the mountain winds as it crossed some two, three hundred feet over the bridge. Billowing finlike sky-rudders creaked as they turned to angle the ship around the looming mountaintop.

     From somewhere at the front of the wagon came a low whistle. “Look at the size of that one!” one of the merchants said. “It’d sure be nice to have a ship like that.”

     Beside Brynn, Hanso let out a grunt of agreement. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the flying ship as it drifted off between the mountains, and he looked like he was on the verge of drooling over it. Whether that was for the idea of reaching the capital easily and in style, or whether his old thief’s instincts had been triggered by the wealth likely aboard such a vessel, Brynn wasn’t quite sure.

     “Not me,” someone else, maybe the Uni, piped up. “I’d rather stick with something where I have a good chance of walking away from a crash.”

     The chatter continued back and forth while the impromptu group made its way to the far end of the bridge. They seemed to be moving in more or less the same direction as the ship, now disappearing around the curve of the mountain. Like the wagon, there was a decent chance that it was headed for the core of the capital.

     Brynn felt a certain sense of achievement once her paws touched solid ground again. A gate into the Imperial City loomed just up ahead. And while they still needed to get to Kazeriu’s Roost, the tallest of the Misty Spires and the seat of the palace, this road would only need one more skybridge to get them there.

     “Hey, isn’t that problem Biyako supposed to be around this part of town?” someone in the wagon asked.

     Brynn and Hanso shared a concerned look. Brynn had managed to keep most wild Petpets from bothering them so far, but neither of them had forgotten that confrontation with the territorial Biyako several days before. If one was actively causing trouble somewhere on this mountain, they needed a way to shelter themselves and avoid attracting the negative attention.

     Brynn’s tail twitched as she thought. They were so close, and with residents and visitors of the city all around, they couldn’t afford to get into another fight now. Would they have to find another route?

     Hanso snorted and jumped onto the back of the wagon.

     Brynn cringed back at the brazen action. She strained her ears for a few moments, listening for any sign that the wagon’s owners had noticed the sudden stowaway. When none were forthcoming, she pinned her ears back and growled softly at him. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

     Hanso just snorted again, quieter this time, and settled down on the step leading from the wagon’s back end. He looked out for a moment at the forest still surrounding them for the moment, then hunkered in so it was harder to see him from any angle but the back. With a forehoof, he beckoned her to join him.

     Brynn’s tail twitched again. She had to admit, sitting on the wagon would make it easier to blend in. He was probably right about it deterring troublesome wildlife, too. Not to mention that a break from all the walking would be wonderful. If she could just get on without alerting anyone…

     As gently as she could manage, she picked up her walking pace until she was just behind the wagon and hopped up next to Hanso. It shifted a little under her weight, and she thought she heard the Uni let out a confused grunt. After several seconds of remaining completely still while the vehicle continued to trundle on, however, she relaxed.

     Brynn let out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding and settled in, balancing herself on the back step for as much stability as she could manage. It wasn’t the most comfortable ride, but she was hardly about to complain. At least the view was nice.

     Hanso watched the outer parts of the Imperial City pass by with a sense of ease that he hadn’t felt in days. Being among busy people who weren’t trying to capture him or Brynn for ill-gotten gains or imaginary rewards was part of it. But just getting to ride something instead of walking felt almost like a luxury. Hitching a ride on that wagon had been a great idea, if he did say so himself.

     Despite this being the capital of Shenkuu, the whole “spread across multiple mountains” thing meant that most of the dense population centre was concentrated over on Kazeriu’s Roost. There were still plenty of farms, shops, homes and such out here, but the wagon passed between clusters of buildings and swaths of mostly untamed forest with some regularity. He supposed that explained how a wild Biyako could be around causing “problems” in a place like this.

     That said, he and Brynn hadn’t caught sight nor scent of this mystery Petpet. By now, the pockets of wilderness were giving way more and more to urban space as they got closer to the skybridge that would take them to the capital’s heart. He figured they’d probably gotten past its territory by now. Didn’t mean they had to get off, though.

     All in all, it had been a pretty good day.

     The wagon slowed down almost to a stop, and Hanso perked up. Was this just traffic, or had the wagon’s owners reached their stop? He’d overheard the merchants chattering about the festival, and it sounded like they were headed for the main event on Kazeriu’s Roost. But it wasn’t like other parts of the city weren’t preparing for festivities, too.

     He scooted over to the far end of his seat and craned his head to peer around its side. It was indeed traffic, carts and carriages slowing down as they approached a tunnel that he was pretty sure led out to the next skybridge. Fantastic! They were almost there.

     Up near the tunnel’s mouth, a pair of city officials pulled over a full-looking cart for some kind of inspection. One of the merchants in Hanso’s wagon asked, “Are they checking our licenses and wares already? We aren’t even on the mountain yet!”

     The Uni snorted. “Better to get any issues taken care of now than after we’ve crossed the big bridge, I’d imagine.”

     Hanso pulled his head back. This was not fantastic. If the officials saw him and Brynn on the back of the wagon, they’d have questions. Not necessarily bad questions. But ones the merchants wouldn’t be able to answer, considering they weren’t aware of their hitchhikers.

     Brynn had lifted her head from where she’d laid it on her forepaws and was looking at Hanso. He wasn’t sure if she had overheard the conversation or not, but she could tell that he knew something.

     Hanso tapped a hoof on the wagon step, looking around for a place to hide. But there weren’t really any here, especially if people were going to inspect the wagon. Their best bet would be to get underneath, where the officials had little reason to search.

     Turning back toward Brynn, he pointed down beneath the wagon and mimed hunkering down. She cocked her head for a moment, but then nodded and started shifting her paws so that she’d be ready to jump.

     Hanso did the same, and spared a look out behind the wagon as he did. There was another one just behind them, this one Petpet-drawn and with a bored-looking Tuskaninny driver up top. Hanso waited until he was sure the driver was looking at something else, and then gestured for Brynn to follow him and dropped down from the wagon step.

     Together, the two of them crawled under the wagon, bellies almost pressed to the ground. It was still moving, but at a slow enough pace that they could just keep up despite the awkward, shuffling movement. It didn’t sound like the driver behind them had noticed their subterfuge, or perhaps he just didn’t care.

     After an agonising minute or two, the wagon ground to a halt and Hanso could hear the merchants talking with the officials outside the tunnel. Two pairs of feet made their way around the wagon little by little, and Hanso held his breath and kept as still as he could. And here, he’d once thought that his career change into artefact hunting meant no more hiding from officials.

     Finally, mercifully, the pairs of feet left for their next vehicle and the wagon started moving again. Hanso and Brynn crawled along with it until it had gotten well into the tunnel, at which point they let it pass over them and hopped up on the back again. It looked like the wagon behind them was still stopped for its own inspection, so nobody had been witness to their sneaking around. Probably.

     Hanso let out a soft snort and settled back in just as the wagon made it out onto the skybridge. He was tempted to look around the side again, and take in the view of the world stretched out below him and Kazeriu’s Roost up ahead. But he was starting to feel nervous. This close call had kind of impressed on him just what he and Brynn were in for.

     They wouldn’t have the wagon to hide behind for much longer. For better or for worse, they had made it into the bustling heart of Shenkuu.

To be continued…