Spear said to Knife something untiuntelligible. She wasn’t wearing the translation ring and wasn’t going to fiddle for it at this moment. There was a response, and both creatures looked in the direction of the noise for half a minute, standing so silently that they disappeared into the background foliage. Then with out so much of a word, they jumped back into the stream and splashed upstream until their footsteps could no longer be heard.
“Did you see that?” Pool said from behind her. Etelka let out a startled[squea] and rolled over to look at him, her garments flaring. Pool had the rifle shouldered and a bundle of twigs and sticks under his arm.
“Baroness, do you not think that now is not the right time to be pursuing these creatures into their den, or, as you keep saying, their camp?”
“Constable Pool,” Etelka said with mostly animated irritation, “they…the creatures as you call them, act no differently as humans throughout the ages.”
“I didn’t mean it that way, or to extend the coversation away from what moves the story along.” Pool dropped his bundle of wood in the prepared circle of stones.
An hour later the little light that penetrated the canopy had diminished and they had resorted to using the light of embers to prop up the tent. The bowl between the trees was sheltered and protected, but not suited for sleeping rough on the ground under a canvas tent.
Pool was adrift in fantasy, thinking of days on the airship, days with his Baroness, when he came suddenly awoke.
He reached for the rifle at his side, his fingers clutched the ancient—recent fabrications of “ancient”—carvings in walrus ivory of its stock. Pool tried to pull it toward him. It was stuck on something.
Not so much as stuck, but grasped by something.
“Baroness,” Pool said in barely a whisper. “My rifle is stuck. Your rifle…”
“The rifle, Pool. For Gods’ sakes.” Responded Etelka.
Interrupting Pool, Etelka said, rather whispered, “There is a …smell outside of the tent.”
Work in progress. Mistakes and misspellings are present. This is a very rough draft. Copyright 2021 Ion Fyr ionfyr.net
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Ion Fyr 