Cinderblock returned late that night, while Hannke was pretending to be sleeping. Wren was curled up beside him, beak under wing, and Charisma was collapsed under a hawthorn bush, panting lightly in her sleep. Jackdaw was definitely awake in his tree, but hardly made a sound.
“Psst, Cinderblock,” He chirped quietly. “Where’s Ochre?”
Cinderblock sighed, looking tired. “Still nowhere to be found,” she mustered.
“I’m beginning to get worried,” Jackdaw said, definitely sounding worried. “What could possibly be keeping him?”
“I thought that maybe he was looking for Labradorite,” Cinderblock admitted.
“But why?” Jackdaw wondered. “She clearly fell off of that cliff. I mean, we now know that she miraculously survived, but he doesn’t,”
Cinderblock shook her head. “Grief can make you do crazy things.”
. . .
“Well, you guys should probably head home now,” Cinderblock told them early the next morning.
“But—what about your friend?” Wren cried.
“Hmm?” Cinderblock asked.
“You know, the one you’ve been looking for?” Wren asked.
“We’ll find him,” Jackdaw interrupted. “You two have more important places to be, right?”
“Well, Guardian is probably worried sick about us,” Hannke pointed out. “Bo and Moonray will be worried about you,”
“True,” Wren sighed. “I just really, really, want to help out.”
“Me too!” Hannke agreed. “It’s just—this is none of our business, right? And like Jackdaw said, we have other places to be,”
“You guys are so sweet, trying to help,” Cinderblock said. “But you really should go home now,”
“Fine,” Wren said, “One more day, at least?”
Jackdaw shrugged. “That’s fine by me,”
Cinderblock closed her eyes and nodded. “Alright,” she sighed.
“Hey,” Charisma called from her perch on a rock. “Have you checked the Desert of Pillars yet? I know it better than you guys and could lead you around,”
“No, I hadn’t thought of that,” Cinderblock’s expression changed to excitement. “Great idea, Charisma!” She exclaimed.
“No problem,” Charisma replied.
“Let’s leave now!” Jackdaw exclaimed.
“I agree!” Wren agreed.
“Wait, stop,” Cinderblock interrupted. “We can’t just run off with no plan!”
“I’ll lead,” Charisma reminded everyone.
“Should we all go, though?” Cinderblock asked. “He could reappear when we’re gone,”
That seems like a good idea, Hannke thought. But no one’s volunteering to stay behind.
“Anyone want to stay back?” Charisma, asked, as if reading his mind.
Silence. No one spoke, not even the leaves rustled, it was as if the forest was holding its breath.
“I’ll do it,” Jackdaw decided, breaking the silence.
“No, Jackdaw, you deserve this,” Cinderblock protested. “I’ll stay!”
“Well, that was easy enough,” Wren remarked, somewhat wryly.
“Let’s go!” Charisma cried excitedly, leaping off of the rock and bounding down the hillside to the cliff. Hannke slithered to catch up with her.
“How do we get down?” Wren asked.
“Easy! You fly!” Charisma cried, before scrambling onto the first rocky ledge. Startled, Hannke half-slithered half-fell down the cliff to join her.
“You can’t fly,” Wren objected. “Neither can Hannke,”
“We can climb,” Charisma explained simply. “I know you’re thinking, ‘since when did wolves climb?’, but I have experience with this sort of thing. I know what I’m doing.”
“Okay, but be careful,” Wren stretched her wings and then took off from the edge of the cliff, with Jackdaw following closely behind. Hannke watched them, suddenly wishing he had wings to follow.
Charisma was proceeding cautiously down the cliffside, taking great care to place her paws on sturdy places. Hannke, being very long, could use a jutting rock or root to wrap his tail around and then drop down to a nearby ledge, thus making him faster than Charisma.
He remembered their previous mad dash up the cliff and made sure to stick to places he knew were secure. Like the previous morning, mist still filled the air, and the bottom of the cliff was invisible. Still, this time Hannke knew there was a bottom, which was reassuring.
Wren had started to soar down closer to the ground, disappearing into the mist, but Jackdaw continued to fly out over the Desert, level to cliff top, perhaps searching the tops of rock formations.
Suddenly the stones lurched, and Charisma was knocking down off of her ledge and onto Hannke. He gasped and frantically reached for something to hold onto, in his panic, Charisma toppled over the edge and rolled into the mist.
Before he could react, Wren let out a screech and dove down after her, disappearing faster than a fish flying through the water. “Charisma!” He cried, slithering down the cliff in panic. How had this happened?
Before long, he took a leap and collapsed onto the ground, but Wren and Charisma were nowhere to be seen. He slithered quickly into the mist, begging the sunshine to arrive and break it. Looking up, he realized he was in the shadow of one of the pillars, which could be one of the reasons for the coolness of the air. He flicked his tongue out to taste it, but all scents were lost to the fog.
“WREN! CHARISMA!” He cried, and answering echoes bounced around the rock formations. Hannke shivered. Where were they?
Now he wished more than ever that he could fly. Where would he even begin to look?
The rustling of feathers beside him announced Jackdaw’s arrival. Before Hannke could greet him, Jackdaw flapped his wings in his face in panic. “What happened?!?” he exclaimed. “Did Charisma fall?”
“Y-yes,” Hannke told him. “Wren flew down after her, and I have no idea where either of them are.”
“Stay here for a moment,” Jackdaw said took off, flying over the rocks. A bit later, he returned. “This mist goes on for ages.” He informed Hannke. “We’re better off looking for them on the ground.”
“I wouldn’t be able to go in the air anyways,” Hannke muttered, but Jackdaw didn’t seem to notice.
“Did you look all around this area?” He asked, shaking his dark gray feathers frantically.
“No,” Hannke replied.
“Then let’s continue past this rock formation,” Jackdaw decided. Without looking back, he darted into the mist at a steady trot, and Hannke slithered quickly to catch up.
“Once we get past this rock, the sun should shine the mist away,” Jackdaw was saying. “Let’s get there quickly,”
They ran (and slithered) alongside the rocks for quite some time. Surely the sun has risen by now, Hannke thought. The air felt just as cool. Perhaps it’s covered by clouds.
He proved to be right. As they left the shadow of the rock, sunshine was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the clouds opened and it began to rain.
. . .
“Well, this is getting nowhere,” Jackdaw grumbled, splashing through another puddle. “We ought to stop and get something to eat,”
“What if Wren and Charisma are in danger? We need to hurry and find them!” Hannke protested.
“Do you think that we’ll be any help to them on empty stomachs?” Jackdaw pointed out.
“I suppose not,” Hannke sighed. “There isn’t much food in a desert, though, right?”
“We’ll have to make something work.” Already Jackdaw was probing the scraggly branches of the few bushes clinging to the pillars, probably looking for insects. “You could hunt something, right?”
“Sorry, what?” Hannke replied, distracted. “Hunt? Oh, I usually don’t bother.”
“Then how do you eat?” Jackdaw asked. Hannke snapped to attention.
“I have some . . . friends who usually cover it for me,” he responded, feeling uncomfortable.
“Is Wren one of these friends?” Jackdaw continued.
“She and a mongoose called Guardian,” Hannke said flatly. “Do we need to continue this?”
“No,” Jackdaw seemed fine by this. “I’m afraid I need to reword my query. Can you hunt?”
“Um, yes?” Hannke tried. “I-I will to survive,”
“Then I recommend doing it,” was Jackdaw's response. He suddenly struck his beak under a leaf and crunched down a caterpillar.
Hannke turned away and tasted the air. He had his views on hunting, but now he had to focus on the flick of his tongue.
In. Out.
Many of the would-be-prominent scents were fading with the pouring rain, but Hannke caught the fresh trail of a desert mouse, and soon found the little creature by the entrance to a tunnel.
He felt for vibrations in the ground. The mouse was tense, ready to bolt, but that wouldn’t be a problem for Hannke. He slithered silently along the ground, but before he could reach striking distance, the mouse scurried into the hole.
Hannke felt a rush of pride. This was where most hunters would give up. Unfortunately for the mouse, it wasn’t safe, even in its den.
He approached the hole, and as silently as he could, slipped inside, guiding himself with his tongue and his bones. It wasn’t long, in fact, his tail-tip was still above ground, when he reached what seemed to be a sleeping chamber. The mouse was curled up facing away, not quite asleep, but not aware at the moment. This was it. Time to strike.
Hannke hesitated. This mouse was still breathing, still living. Of course, it was just a prey animal. It was important to no one. But still, Hannke could feel the hunter inside him, the savage that he was supposed to be, and almost changed his mind. He didn’t want to be like other cobras. He didn’t want to feel satisfaction in taking another animal’s life. This was what separated him from the other king cobras. Other king cobras ate each other, for goodness’s snakes. Hannke was broken. He didn’t listen to the instinct he hatched to follow.
Just then, the mouse pricked its ears, scrambled to its feet, and dashed away up some escape tunnel. Hannke surged after it, out of the tunnel and into the desert. Without thinking, he opened his mouth wide, lunged forward, and sunk his fangs into the mouse’s rump. It didn’t take long before the mouse stopped running. It was as if time slowed down as the mouse slumped and went still. Hannke slithered to it and swallowed it whole.
The rain was easing, and with it were the scents that had been there before it. Hannke had hunted just in time. Fortunately, it wasn’t far back to where Jackdaw perched on a scraggly-bush branch, looking less than satisfied.
“I hate deserts,” Jackdaw grumbled as Hannke approached. “Not a single lake to fish in. I don’t know how Charisma survived out here,”
“Speaking of Charisma,” Hannke announced, “may we continue our search?”
“Of course,” Jackdaw sighed. “I just hope something terrible hasn’t happened.” He flew up and off of the branch, and soared low to the ground, continuing past the large rock. Hannke followed, checking to make sure he could still see the cliff wall. Good.
Jackdaw circled back along the cliffside, scanning the ground from a low spot. Unfortunately, the mist was still as thick as ever, and he soon vanished.
Hannke panicked, but then forced himself to be calm. Jackdaw would be back in a moment. In the meantime, he felt the ground for sounds of life.
There was a distant pitter-patter, as if some four-legged creature was limping along the ground. Hannke froze. It was definitely close. “Jackdaw?” he whisper-yelled. Jackdaw was still soaring.
He slithered to a rock and tried to burrow his way under it, but paused in the process. What if the creature was Charisma? She would need help!
He felt for vibrations again, and the animal sounded about the right size, maybe lighter. He hoped it was Charisma.
Jackdaw returned and landed beside him. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“I can hear an animal approaching,” Hannke informed him. “It could be Charisma!”
“It could be something else,” Jackdaw warned him. “We had better be safe rather than sorry,”
“I started digging a hole,” Hannke offered.
“Don’t be silly. We need to get somewhere high, so we can watch from above.” Jackdaw flew up to a sheltered ledge about a cobra-length up the nearest pillar. Hannke followed, slithering as quickly as he could.
It was harder to hear the creature when not directly exposed to the ground, but Hannke tried to make sense of how close it was. It probably would emerge from the mist any moment now.
He was right. Just then, a cougar stalked out of the mist. It looked just barely older than a cub, and its front left leg was a stump. The cougar paused, twitching their tail. Hannke and Jackdaw ducked back as they swiveled their ears and sniffed the air. “It smells funny here,” Hannke could hear them whispering under their breath. He shivered in fear.
They suddenly turned and leapt up onto the rock. Jackdaw let out a squawk and flapped his wings furiously, knocking Hannke down to the paws of the cougar, who looked delighted.
“Finally, I’m not the only one out here!” they said excitedly. “Who are you guys?!?”
“Dangerous!” Jackdaw said angrily. “Let Hannke go!” He ran down the rocks and barreled into the cougar, who leapt aside at the last moment, sending Jackdaw tumbling down the pillar. He reemerged quickly, with a sour look on his face. The cougar started laughing hard. “This isn’t funny!” Jackdaw snapped.
“I’m Riji!” they said happily.
“I’m Hannke! Nice to meet you!” Hannke tried, attempting to make things less awkward. “Why aren’t there other cougars with you?”
“What do you mean?” Riji asked. “Cougars are solitary animals,”
“Hold on a moment,” Jackdaw interrupted, “how do we know we can trust them? They could be a spy for Katana!”
Riji let out a growl. “I would never,” they hissed.
“So you know her!” Jackdaw cried.
“I hate her,” Riji sniffed. “Then again, I hate pretty much every other cougar she’s manipulated.” They lay down and Hannke slithered out from between their paws.
“Were you kicked out?” Jackdaw asked.
“It’s a long story,” Riji said simply. “I’ve spent pretty much my whole life in this strange desert.”
“Do you know where Charisma is?” Hannke asked suddenly.
Jackdaw squawked “Hannke!” and Riji went “Huh?” simultaneously.
“Sorry,” Hannke muttered.
“Who’s Charisma?” Riji asked.
“Don’t bother,” Jackdaw shook his feathers. “Hannke, we really must be going.”
“Charisma is a gray, brown, and white wolf!” Hannke interrupted him. “Um, with long fur and greenish-yellow eyes. Oh, and she’s a really fast runner and great climber,”
“Hannke!” Jackdaw repeated.
Riji paused to scratch behind their ear, before recognition lit up their eyes. “I think I saw that wolf!” they said in excitement. “Um—Charisma— was being chased by I think it was Score and Ricochet. Before I left the cougars, I thought they both hated Katana, so maybe they were forced to hunt her? I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since then, though,”
“Oh,” Jackdaw sighed, no longer angry. “That’s unfortunate,”
“I can help you look!” Riji offered.
“Thanks, that would be really great!” Hannke exclaimed.
Suddenly, the shadow of a bird was cast over them.
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