Page 19 of Bred By Zyros
Bright yellow lights on his back flare in little bulbous-looking growths on his back, trailing a line up its neck to its squished, flat head and buggy, dopey-looking eyes.
“You’re actually kinda cute.” I chuckle, calming myself now that I know it won’t come at me. I still flinch when four others burst from the water to watch. All about the size of my torso.
One makes an odd yawning gesture, opening up a maw of razor-sharp teeth.
Never mind about the cute thing.
I stare at the water behind them as they hop around my barrier, scanning their bizarre, blueish, translucent-looking flesh. Like slime, in a way, but hardened.
“Don’t try it,” I warn them. “I’m with the scary guy in the water.” Jabbing my finger at it for good measure, transfixed by the way they seem to regard what I’m saying, clicking and hissing amongst themselves for a moment. The next time something bursts from the water, I do scream for real. Zyros crashes through the perfect lapping waves like death incarnate, a soaking wet sea god. He hisses at the not so little,little guys. Palming one in his large hand before smashing it into the bank. It makes a terrible little quacking sound but seems…fine?
The others don’t take too kindly to Zyros messing with their buddy, though. I’m gawking in downright horror as they ratchet back their odd little skulls at almost a ninety-degree angle and hack out one of their teeth at the giant male. He only lobs the one he’d had in his hand back to the water, cursing and hissing at the skittering creatures as they follow their friend. My shocked eyes meet his furious glare. Realizing they didn’t need to cross the barrier to shoot their damn teeth spikes at me! When the silence drags on, I just gesture absently at the water.
He huffs, his teal hair hanging, dripping in his face. “Thryss. They are nearly indestructible; do not feel bad for them. Very annoying creatures.”
I get to my feet, brushing off my makeshift shorts. “They shot you with their teeth!”
He looks down at his stomach and chest, littered with finger-lengthteethbarbs. He picks them out as if they’re nothing more than a splinter. “They’re mostly harmless.”
“Mostly?”
“They only attack Vrirciks, but they can be highly toxic to touch for most everything else. When it suits them.” He grips the edge of the overloaded bags hanging off him and gives them a shake as if that’ll explain anything. When I just raise a brow, he hisses and opens up one of the bags, showing off some of the most stunning crystals I’ve ever seen.
My breath leaves me all at once as I stare. “Oh, they protect the crystals?”
“They protect their homes, the cavesthesegrow in. They don’t care about the crystals themselves,” he explains, setting the bags inside my enclosure and grabbing more.
“They don’t like the vines.” I muse.
“No, they do not. I believe the smell is unpleasant to them.”
When he turns to head back into the water, a guttural laugh bursts from my chest. His back, nearly shoulder blade to the base of his tail, is covered with the spikes. I laugh so hard my chest aches as he glares at me over his shoulder before slipping back into the water.
So, the little guyswereattacking Zyros.
I’m still laughing when the same gaggle ofThrysspokes their heads out of the water before crawling onto the bank to stare, hop, and chitter at me some more.
eleven
Melody
Another three solars pass, the same long trek through the jungle on Zyros’ back to the water's edge. Three more days spending my time scanning the crystals he brings up and being chittered at by Thryss. It seems the little dudes are highly intelligent, maybe not intellectually, but in awareness. They’re kind of dumb, actually. Zyros explained it's why they’re probably nearly indestructible. They’d be extinct otherwise. Sometimes I point and toss pebbles at a certain plant, and after a few times, they either go get it for me, which is the intended response, or they eat it, which is kind of annoying.
When we set out for day four, I’m more than a little eager. Zyros stayed up most of the night, helping me weave baskets to gather my plants in. A concept that had disgusted him at first. He said it was what prey ate and then slipped off deeper into the cave to brood about it, no doubt. On solar three, when he rose from the water with his last few bags, he’d nearly lost his mindas he watched a little dude hand over a leaf and me promptly pop it in my mouth, after breaking off a piece to give back to the Thryss, of course. I don’t think they normally eat the leaves, considering they usually just hack it up soon after, but it’s the system we worked out, and so far, it works.
Quid pro quo, I suppose.
The others seem hilariously appalled by the hacking; they chitter and hop around like crazy before they settle, then do it all over again next time. I’m not sure if I or the Thryss know what it all means, but we’re definitely bonding.
When I ate the leaf, Zyros had panicked, ordering me to throw it up immediately before threatening to retrieve it from my throat. He’d declined to help me find plants to eat since, but I’m doing pretty well on my own. He stays in the water for a while, so the Thryss and I venture off a bit but not far, and we haven’t been caught yet. Today, as I slip off Zyros’ back, a loud roaring boom from the darkened sky makes me slam right back into him. My wide, panicked eyes find his. Heavy, dark green clouds gather, looming and swirling far off in the distance, only seen in brief breaks in the canopy.
He makes a sound that seems suspiciously like a chuckle before peeling me from him. “It is the storms. They’re getting close now. It will be a matter of days before they take hold.”
“Oh, that means no more trips to the water, huh?” I don’t hide the disappointment in my voice. The last two weeks have been…nice, if not a little odd. We talk, well, I talk, and Zyros listens dutifully while I ramble. He acts annoyed, but when I stop, he asks another question to get me going again.
“Not for a while,Sssaryth. It is why the caves go deep.”
Sssaryth.
