Chapter 9-6

Eating and resting felt good. In fact, it felt like maybe they shouldn't bother continuing on until the next day. After the terror and flight of the morning, all of them were rather exhausted. Even the normally energetic Zakhin'Dakh seemed to be drooping a bit. And thus, they decided to camp for the night, even though sunset was still hours away.

Soon Garkhen and Zakhin'Dakh fell asleep... but Almonihah forced himself to stay awake. They were, he reasoned, in a likely hostile locale where who-knows-what might be prowling the night. One of them, at least, had to stay awake and keep watch, and if the other two were too tired to do it, well, he'd have to. Maybe he'd wake Garkhen later in the night. But for now, he would pace about to keep himself awake, looking warily into the jungle with its noisy creatures as the last light of day faded from the sky.

He awoke with a start the next morning. At some point he'd given in to the desire to sit down for a moment... and fallen asleep himself. Almonihah stood up abruptly and looked over their little campsite. Zakhin'Dakh and Garkhen were still asleep... he checked his pouches. Everything seemed to still be in place.

Still wary, he walked the perimeter of their camp again, but still saw no signs of nighttime intrusions. He was just about to relax slightly when his sharp ears picked up something that didn't blend in with the bird calls and other sounds of the jungle around him.

Voices in the distance.

He ran over to Garkhen and rapped on his armor (he'd slept in it!), urgently whispering, “Get up!”

While his fellow half-dragon awoke, Almonihah hustled over to his griffon friend and similarly woke him. In a few moments, the three were all awake, huddled together at the center of the clearing.

“People coming. Should get away from here,” Almonihah stated.

“Because they are likely pirates?” Garkhen surmised, then sighed. “We cannot evade them forever if we wish to get off this island.”

“Still not a good time t' meet them,” Almonihah asserted.

What those? Zakhin'Dakh interjected inquisitively.

“Pirates are... bad people. Who kill other people t' take their stuff,” Almonihah replied, after a moment's thought.

The big griffon growled deep in his chest. Not kill you. Me kill if try.

“Going t' fly away for now,” Almonihah stated, as he started getting Zakhin'Dakh's saddle ready. “Don't know 'f there are too many t' fight, and don't want to.”

“But at some point, we shall have to,” Garkhen added.

It took only a few minutes to break camp, and they were soon airborne again. Behind them they heard shouts of alarm, but they soon faded behind them as Zakhin'Dakh sped away. 

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Yeah, neither Almonihah nor Zakhin'Dakh know the Great Eagle word for 'pirate'. :D

Hope everyone had a good Christmas! I should figure out Draezolnian religious festivals sometime. Hmmm...