Page 14

fourteen

Morai

“ T his really wasn’t what I was expecting on our way to the dark flower forest,” Morai said, sitting on the dirt floor covered in grass, sweat beading on her forehead. Her friends were seated nearby, looking exhausted. Even Noa—whom Luka had named—was sleeping next to him. Though, how the creature could sleep in this situation was beyond Morai. Their journey out of Braken was pretty uneventful until they made it into the grasslands of Hevon. That’s where the trouble started: not only was it hot, and the scarce trees around them made it hard to find shelter, but they were also being attacked by Chepi. The lizards were so distressed by the attacks that they refused to move, which Morai found frustrating because they were completely fine when they’d been attacked by the chimera. In the end, the lizards were sent back to Braken, and the group continued on foot. It would take them longer to get to the forest, but since they were already so close, it wouldn't take them too long. That is if the Chepi stopped attacking them.

Chepi were tiny creatures the size of a gnome with green skin, and their hair was made of grass blades that stood up straight in the air. They wouldn’t be such a nuisance if their hair wasn’t sharp like a blade. Though their skin and green clothing helped them blend in, the Chepi hid themselves by either lying down, or digging holes and lying in the soil so the only thing you could see was their hair. An unsuspecting person would take it to be just grass until they got too close and the Chepi attacked. They had tiny arrows and shields made of large leaves, so it wasn’t hard taking care of them. What was difficult was how fast they moved, and that they could trip you off your feet if you tried to outrun them.

“I thought they could be reasoned with,” Luka said, pulling out a tiny arrow from his leg. It left nothing but a speck of blood, but it still hurt. They were like tiny needles.

“They are supposed to be. But they’re also known for pulling pranks too,” Fida said. She’d discarded her metal armor, in favor of a magical invisible one that appeared if she was attacked.

“How do we stop them long enough to talk?” Morai asked. Everyone looked at Noa. So far, he was the only one who could attack them given how small he was.

“So, what’s the plan? Use Noa as a distraction or bait?” Luka asked, petting Noa on the head, he blinked sleepily at Luka.

“They know he can attack them, so they’ve been cautious,” Neoni said; she sighed and looked up at the sky. She was currently sitting next to Tanen, ever since Morai had spoken to her, she’d stopped icing Tanen out. Morai hid a smile and looked over the surrounding area. Nothing but grass and probably a few trees that were too far for her to make out.

“They don’t attack when we’re sitting. Maybe we could speak to them from here,” Morai said.

“You think they’d want to?” Tanen asked, Morai shrugged.

“It’s worth a shot.” Morai shifted into a kneeling position and focused on a tuft of grass.

“Excuse me. We would like to speak with you,” she said, hoping the grass she was focused on was a Chepi and not actual grass. Silence met her, and a breeze blew by causing the grass to sway.

“Maybe a little louder,” Luka said, gaining a glare from Morai.

“How loud could I possibly get? It’s right there,” she said, pointing to the tuft of grass that only stood a few feet away from them.

“Maybe…”

“EXCUSE ME. WE’LL LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU,” Tanan shouted, cutting Luka off, causing him to send a scowl at his brother. Morai grinned. The tuft of grass moved, and slowly, the soil became lumpy, then burst open sending dirt everywhere as the Chepi made themselves known. Their green beady eyes stared at them. One of the Chepi, holding a leaf shield, and had pink flowers in its hair, stepped forward.

“Whatever you give us, we aren’t giving you our mushrooms?” The Chepi’s voice sounded squeaky, and they spoke extremely fast.

“Huh.” Morai blinked. “We don’t want your mushrooms.”

“You don’t?” The Chepi blinked owlishly at her.

“No, we just want to make it past this land,” Morai said.

“Oh,” the Chepi said.

“I told you they might be harmless,” another Chepi said, this one a streak of black on its blades. The Chepi that had spoken first held up a tiny finger to Morai.

“One moment,” it said, then the Chepi converged in a circle, whispering. One of the Chepi poked its head up to look at them, only for its head to be pulled back down by another.

“Can we get up?” Luka asked.

“Not sure. We could try,” Morai said, but before they could get up, one of the Chepi turned to look at them.

“My name is Chenip,” the one with the pink flower said. “Come with us,” Chenip said. Without waiting, the Chepi turned and walked away.

“Huh, do you think that’s a good idea?” Neoni whispered. Morai shrugged. Fida got up first, brimming with excitement. As an adventurer, she was sure enjoying this little detour.

“Wouldn’t it take us longer to get to the dark flower forest if we go after them?” Morai asked, dusting herself as she followed behind Fida, the others trailing behind her.

“Not if we hurry,” Fida said, not even bothering to look back. Morai sighed.

“Does anyone want a healing potion? I have a few left,” she said instead, directing her question to the back. Luka, who was directly behind her, holding a sleeping Noa, shook his head.

“I think we can endure this much pain, we should save it for a more serious injury. What do you think?” Luka said, turning towards Tanen, just in time to see Neoni snatch her hand away from Tanen.

“Yes, that is wise,” she said, her cheeks turning pink. Morai resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and turned back to follow Fida. Luka quickened his pace until he was in step with her.

“What did you tell Neoni? She doesn't seem as cold towards Tanen anymore,” he said, and Morai shrugged.

“Just that our family rivalry shouldn’t stop her from courting your brother.” Luka furrowed his brow at her before turning to look back at his brother.

“Mmm,” he said, before turning his attention back to her.

“Why would our rivalry stop her?”

“Friend loyalty or something like that.” Luka pursed his lips together, his attention now in front of them. Morai tried not to think just how happy she was that he wasn’t trying to bicker with her, though, she wouldn’t mind that either.

“That could be us, you know,” Luka said. Morai frowned up at him.

“Friend loyalty? I highly doubt that.” Luka grinned at her.

“That won’t be bad. But no, I meant we could try dating.” Morai stopped in her tracks. What was he talking about? Luka stopped as well; gone was the grin he’d had. Oh, was he serious? Was this a confirmation that he actually had feelings for her, too?

“What are you trying to say?” Luka inclined his head.

“What does it seem like I’m trying to say?” Irritation coursed through her. Morai resisted the urge to stump her foot. He was teasing her, she was sure of it. Right on cue, Luka grinned again.

“That took you too long to answer so I’ll assume it’s a no to dating.”

“Hmm, guys, come look at this,” Fida called. They’d followed the Chepi all the way across the grassland to the trees Morai had seen in the distance. Within the cluster of trees were more grass so densely packed it would be a chore to wade through it. But they didn’t have to, the clumps of grass formed a hole in the center that disappeared into darkness. The Chepi, without turning to look at them, walked right into the hole. What Luka had said brought more questions, but she’ll have to think about that later. Right now, she had to calm her thumping heart and figure out how they were going to crawl through this space.

“They expect us to go through that?” Morai asked. While the Chepi could walk upright, they would have to crawl into the hole.

“Ladies first,” Luka said. Fida was already on her knees crawling through the hole. Biting back the retort on her tongue, Morai followed Fida, with Neoni behind her. Tanen and then Luka taking up the rear. Morai wasn’t sure how long they crawled through the darkness, but by the time they came out on the other side, her arms and legs were hurting.

“Whoa,” she said once she got out of the hole and straightened. Like everything before, they were surrounded by grass, but there were more Chepi around this time. And the grass that wasn't Chepi had yellow glowing mushrooms everywhere. Tiny huts dotted the grassland, and tall willowy trees that had the same yellow mushrooms on them were everywhere. As the group followed the Chepi, the others unabashedly stared at them as they walked past, some talking and pointing at them. “What is that?” Morai asked, looking up at what looked like a giant moss-covered woman. It looked like a giant next to the Chepi, but was just an average human to Morai.

“This is our queen,” Chenip said, looking fondly at the moss.

“She hasn’t been awake for some time now. We’ve been trying to get help, but every time a human came by it was to get our mushrooms.”

“Why do they need your mushrooms?” Luka asked, and Noa, no longer asleep, was pouncing around sniffing at any Chepi that were bold enough to come close to him. The Chepi in turn seemed curious about him, gesturing with their hands and chattering excitedly.

“We assume they want it because the mushrooms give the queen the power to take care of us.” Morai looked around, the yellow mushrooms glowed around them. Morai was uncertain, but she felt the mushrooms did more than give the queen the power to care for the grasslands.

“So, what’s wrong with your queen?” Morai asked.

“We do not know. Ever since the first human stole our mushrooms, she encased herself in this moss. We have successfully prevented any more stealing, but she refuses to wake.” Morai frowned up at the moss. Feeling a tug at her hand, she turned to Neoni who whispered.

“They don’t expect us to help wake her, do they?” Morai shrugged.

“Only one way to find out,” she said. Turning back to Chenip, she asked,

“What do you want from us?”“If you help us wake our queen, by way of apology, we will give you whatever you need.” Morai hesitated.

“I don’t think we need anything,” Fida said.

“Then we’ll show you an easier way to get to the dark flower forest.”

“There’s an easier way?” Morai asked.

“Yes,” Chenip said without any elaboration.

“And all you know is that she went to sleep when the first mushroom was stolen?” Luka asked.

“Indeed.” As one, they looked up at the moss-covered woman.

“We aren’t sure if we can figure it out,” Morai said, speaking for the group. Chenip nodded.

“That is understandable, but as long as you try, we’ll start from there.” Well, that was very nice of them.

“You must be tired. Please follow me. By the way, I didn’t get your names,” Chenip said as they walked.

“I’m Morai, and that’s Fida, Luka, Neoni, and Tanen,” Morai introduced, pointing at her friends respectively.

“And that’s Noa,” Morai said as Noa ran up to them. Luka picked him up as Chenip nodded in greeting. They came to a stop in front of dense grass that had a hole in it. But this time the hole was big enough for them to stand in. Yellow glowing mushrooms dotted the edges providing light inside. Beds of moss lined the floor.

“You’ll be sleeping here. Please help us and we’ll help you.”

“We’ll try our best,” Morai said. With a nod, Chenip walked away, leaving Morai and her friends.

“We’re taking the one on the left,” Fida announced, going towards the hole. Morai looked around her as her friends split up. Luka put Noa back on the floor as he and Tanen went to inspect where they’d be sleeping. Morai wanted to explore a little bit. Something rubbed against her legs, and she looked down to find Noa there.

“You want to come explore with me?” she asked, picking Noa up.

“I think it would do us some good,” she said, heading back in the direction they’d come from.