188) The Salvation of Eden, Chapter 23 -- The Unintentionally Flying Squirrel

Finally, the cat left. One moment it was there, and the next it was gone.

         Everybody, except Dominic, hobbled to their feet, stiff and cramped, blinking, wiping their eyes. Kohra realized she was not the only one who had quietly wept.

         Dominic sat up slowly, hunkered in the muddy leaves. He looked destroyed, refusing to meet her eyes, or anyone’s. “I’m sorry.” His voice cracked like a burnt log collapsing into ash. “It’s my fault. I never should —”

         Then Gorb’s hand was on Dominic’s chin, holding his face upwards. The old LightSinger’s eyes were wet, blinking repeatedly, his voice also a mere whisper. “‘Tisn’t yer fault, son.” He rested his broad hand on Dominic’s shoulder and together, they stared at nothing.

         Lenny was already making her way into the forest, peering around at the ground. She turned back, waving. “She left us a trail. She’s dragging her feet over here, breaking sticks, scuffling the leaves. She’s fighting. She’s…doing what she can.” She punched her fist into her palm. “You get him, Dev.” Her voice sounded oddly high-pitched and tight as she turned away, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. 

         Squirrelly jumped off Lenny’s shoulder and ran towards Gorb and Dominic, chittering like nobody has ever seen a squirrel chitter.

         Gorb patted the little critter on the head, absently. He was trying to collect his thoughts, to figure out what to say, what to do. The others needed him. They needed leadership. They needed solutions. They needed a course of action. Right now.

         Squirrelly ran up Gorb’s leg, hopped onto the top of his shield, and stood in front of his face, jumping up and down, shaking her little fist, chittering.

         “Not now, squirrrrrel!” Gorb growled, picking Squirrelly up and placing her on the ground.

         He tried to think. But Squirrelly was right there, damned thing, standing on his shield again, leaping around, screeching.

         “Not NOW, squirrrrel!” Grob growled, more threateningly, setting her back on the ground again.

         A moment later, Squirrelly was on his shield, right in his face.

         “Why don’t you listen to Squirrelly?” Lenny suggested. “She’s really smart.”

         An animal snarl tore loose from somewhere inside Gorb. In one quick motion, he grabbed Squirrelly and threw her, like a ball, with all his strength, high up, right over the trees. Kohra gasped, Lenny shouted “NOOO!!” and lunged at Gorb like she was going to bite his eyes out, but he raised his shield and she slammed into it, hard, falling to her knees, the wind knocked out of her.

         “ENOUGH!” Gorb roared like a commander on the battlefield. “We ARE RRRRESCUIN’ DEVONA. NOW!”

         Lenny glared, standing back up, regaining her breath in laboured gasps, facing him like it was round two and she intended to come out swinging. “You better pray Squirrelly’s okay.”

         Gorb balled his hands into fists and stepped forward. Lenny smirked, raising one hand and pointing at his face.

         “STOP IT!” Kohra rammed herself between the two of them. “Lenny! Not now!”

         Gorb started to say something but Kohra spun around, smacking him right across the face. “And YOU! You are answering to ALL OF US for what you did! You understand me?”

         Gorb nodded slowly, then looked down, his shoulders slumping as the anger drained out of him.

         Lenny looked at Kohra in a way she had never quite before. Like she had found new respect for her.

         “We’re getting her back.” Lenny stated it like a foregone conclusion. Kohra nodded, although she wasn’t entirely sure whether Lenny was talking about Dev, or Squirrelly.

         Dominic stood up suddenly, like a spring released from the catch that was holding it back. “I’m gonna kill him. Send his Fernal soul to the Hells.”

         Lenny turned towards Gorb, who flinched and stepped back, raising his hands defensively.

         “Hey man.” She grabbed one of his hands in a Klliik handshake, holding it firmly until he looked into her eyes. “You and me, we’re gonna have it out later over Squirrelly. But right now, Dev is what matters.”

         “Aye.” The old Klliik’s head hung low. “I’m sorrrry, Lenny.” He put his other hand on hers, but she pulled it away. He looked at the others, then looked down at the ground.

          Dominic stepped into the lull of the moment. “We need a plan. I can track them, easy, but we need to take care of that cat.”

         “He said he’d know though!” Kohra spoke up. “Like, the forest would tell him or something. Maybe he’s…I don’t know. Maybe he’s got the animals of the forest all working for him. Like, maybe it’s not just the cat. Maybe it’s everything!”

         “’Ee’s not some forrrest mystic,” Gorb stated firmly. “‘Ee’s just a crrrazy old ‘ermit.”

         Lenny picked up a thick club from the forest and smacked it against a rock. “You track him, Dom.” She looked over at Kohra. “We’re getting her back.”

         Kohra nodded, but she couldn’t manage even a brave smile.

         Gorb was shaking his head. “I kinna see ‘ow we can ambush ‘im. In two seconds, ‘ee can slit ‘er thrrroat.” He looked down at the ground, muttering “’Tis trrrue,” apologetically, like it was his fault for pointing out the obvious.

         Lenny smacked her club against another rock, and it shattered into three pieces. “Damn!” She chucked them into the forest and started looking for another club. “I can warn her,” she muttered almost absentmindedly.

         “What?” Dominic asked. “Did you say you can warn her? What?”

         She paused in her searching, looking up. “If we can get close enough, I can tell her to create a distraction or something.”

         “What?” Kohra asked. “How?”

         Lenny looked into her eyes for a second, intensely, almost like she was angry. “If we can get close enough, I can tell her to create a distraction or something,”Lenny’s voice “spoke” directly into Kohra’s mind.

         Kohra gasped, stepping back in shock. “What? Whoa! What the Hells, Lenny!  That’s amazing!”

         Lenny shrugged. “Anyway, so we can let her know we’re about to ambush them somehow and…yeah. We need weapons.” She looked down, picked up another stout-looking stick, and smacked it on the ground. It also snapped, rotten.

         “Hey, we still have these.” Dominic pulled three hand crossbows out of his backpack, handing one to Kohra, one to Gorb, and keeping the third for himself. “Part of my traps equipment. These should take out the old man, if we can get close enough.” He felt around in the bag, pulling out a handful of bolts. “Two shots each.”

         By this time, Lenny had found herself a solid, knotted club and was holding it like a hammer, hefting a grapefruit-sized rock in her other hand. She was loaded for Hermit.

         “And the cat?” Kohra reminded them. “How in the Hells are we going to fight it?” She paused, looking at the ground, then taking a deep breath and looking back up. “Seriously. It’s going to kill us.”

         Dominic nodded grimly, picking up a club for himself and testing its strength against the ground. “Look, there’s only one way this is going to work. The cat is my job. I’ll keep it busy while you all rush the old man. Then, come and help me.”

         He frowned, looking at the ground. Dominic was being brave, Kohra knew. There was no way he was going to “keep it busy” with a hand-crossbow and a club.          

         “I can take care of the cat, as long as you don’t throw me into a tree again.”

         The disembodied voice floated out of the forest. A young girl’s voice.

         Kohra saw her first, striding out of the trees, rubbing her head gingerly with one hand and holding the end of a rope of sausage links that hung around her neck, with the other, smiling that shy-yet-confident, adorable smile that Reilly often had when she found herself the center of attention. She looked up, laughing as she met Kohra’s gaze, and started to run, sausage-links bouncing along with her hair. 

         Kohra rubbed her eyes. This is not real. I am dreaming.

         But it was real, very much real. Reilly rushed straight into Lenny’s arms, hugging, laughing, grabbing Kohra and pulling her in. Dominic crashed into the three of them, gibbering. Gorb stood beaming, his deep-throated chuckle accompanying them, although he had no clue what was happening. How did this little girl suddenly appear in the forest?

         Suddenly Lenny laughed even harder, slapping her thighs with loud smacks. “Squirrelly was you!” Reilly nodded, beaming with pride. “All this time!” Lenny chortled, forgetting for a brief, insane moment the seriousness of the situation.

         Kohra and Dominic gasped in unison. “Whaaaat??”

         Reilly stepped back, curtsying. “Squirrelly, of the famous Squirrelly and Snakey show, at your service.”

         Lenny interrupted, snorting and gasping, her face beet red, tears streaming down her cheeks, back on her feet now, her legs spread far apart for balance. She held one hand on her knee like she had just run a marathon and needed the extra support for her exhausted torso. Her other hand waved in front of her, capturing their attention like she was about to say something important, but she was having such a difficult time simply breathing in that moment that she was unable to get the words out. Finally, she gathered her strength, her eyes flowing freely with tears, and burst out, “You sat on my…,” inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, “shoulder while I…,” inhale. She hung her head, shoulders shaking with laughter then finally blurted out, “WHILE I POOED! HA HA HA HA HA!! REILLY, THAT’S DISGUSTING!” And then she did fall over, holding her stomach like she was never going to stop laughing.

         Kohra hugged Reilly like she was a long-lost sister. “I’m SO happy you made it Reilly! I was so worried! I —”

         Reilly cut her short, “Thanks Kohra, I missed you too. And yeah Lenny, you stink. But we have to rescue Devona! We have no time!” She paused for a breath, then raised her hands like she had the most important thing to say and they’d all better listen.

         “So listen everybody, this is important.” Weirdly, she beamed, like a child who just successfully lit their first house on fire. “I can take care of the cat. It’s a simple Druid, uh, thing. But it’ll work! And, I have sausages!”

         She smiled confidently. If it was false bravado, it was excellent false bravado, Kohra thought.

         “Why DO you have sausages?” Lenny felt the links with one hand, sticking her nose close enough to smell them. “They’re fresh. How did you…?” She stopped. “You know, Druid stuff or whatever. That’s cool. But if you can make sausages at will, you’re teaching me how to do that when this is over.”

* * * * *

         Dominic hurried them along the obvious trail Devona had left. Kohra followed, crossbow loaded and ready. She was terrified, half-fearing she would panic and shoot the wrong person.

         How are we going to sneak up on that cat anyway? This is so hopeless.

         “Wait.” Everybody stopped to look at Kohra. “I, guys, we CANNOT make a mistake with this. I just, I think we need to think more carefully about our plan.”

         “Come on, Kohra!” snapped Reilly. “We’ve already taken FOREVER!”

         “But I….” Kohra stumbled over her words, not sure what she wanted to say. “This just doesn’t feel right. If he gets one whiff of us….”

         “You’re right,” Dominic agreed, looking around at the others. “Yeah, Kohra’s right; we’re being stupid. We’re going to end up getting Dev killed.”

         Reilly raised her voice. “What if she’s in danger?!”

         “Reilly! You HAVE TO be quiet!” Kohra whispered in the angriest whisper she could manage. Reilly stomped on the ground and glared, but stayed quiet.

         “Everybody, listen.” Dominic spoke quietly, but intensely, commanding their attention. “We have to think like hunters. Like they are our prey.” He thought for a moment.

         “First, we need to separate. Let me go ahead and scout it out, find where they are, and then I’ll double back and meet up with you.”

         “But—” Kohra began, but he cut her off.

         “Nothing’s going to happen to you out here. He’s going to be holed up in his lair, and that cat will be standing guard somewhere nearby.” He paused, looking at each person, finger to his lips. “But you have to be quieter. Like, absolutely silent. Move really, really slowly, and watch where you are placing your feet. If you can hear each other, at all, then you’re too loud. Remember, that cat’s hearing is far better than yours. Ok?”

         He looked around again. Everybody nodded.

         “Lenny, you said you needed to be close to send your mind message thing? How close?”

         Lenny paused, hefting something imaginary in her hand. “About as far as you can throw a coconut.”

         Nobody spoke for a moment, each person privately wondering what a coconut was, but not wanting to admit it.

         “Uh, like a stone?” Dominic tried.

         Lenny shook her head. “Maybe a third of that. Coconuts are much bigger.”

         “Why didn’t you just say ‘A third as far as you can throw a stone?’”

         “Why didn’t I say ‘As far as you can run in 8 seconds?’” Lenny retorted. “Or, from here to that maple tree over there? Or, about 30 horses, end to end? Or any other of the INFINITE ways a person can describe distance?” Rolling her eyes, she huffed, “Gods! Haven’t you ever thrown a coconut before?”

         Gorb interrupted the argument, and they both seemed relieved. “’Ere’s de plan – Dominic finds de cat an’ comes back. Rrreilly sneaks up, works ‘errr Drrruid trrrick, an’ we sneak in an’ rrrush d’old man.”

         Dominic nodded. “We’ll have to come in from downwind.” He paused. “Reilly, are you sure you can do this? Did you, when you were a squirrel, did you see how big that thing was?”
        
She cocked one eyebrow, smirking in a manner quite similar to Lenny. “If it looks big to you, imagine how big it looks to a squirrel.” She shrugged, looking absurdly confident. “I’ve got it.”

         Dominic frowned. “We need a Plan B, too.”

         Lenny raised her hand, like a kid in school wanting to ask a question. He nodded toward her.

         “What was B1?”

         “B1?” Dominic looked puzzled. “There is no B1.”

         “Then why do we need a Plan B2? Why not just make it Plan B1?” Lenny looked even more puzzled. “Or just B? That’d be a lot easier.”

         Dominic stared at her, his face blank, not understanding what she was talking about, but also not wanting to look like he thought she was an idiot, even if he did think she was an idiot right now. “Uhhh, ok Lenny, whatever. Plan B! Let’s just make this plan already!”

         Lenny furrowed her brow and crossed her arms. “I need to know what plan we are making. Why are you making this so complicated?”

         Dominic ignored her. “If the cat attacks and you have to shoot at it, shoot for the body, all right? You’re not going to seriously hurt it, but it’s more likely you’ll hit it at least. Hopefully distract it.”

         “Guys, let’s go!” Reilly tried to break into the conversation.

         “How is one of these little crossbows going to take out that cat?” Kohra asked, shaking her head.

         “Come ON already!” Reilly interrupted again.

         “They’re not going to kill it out, Kohra. Kill it! The cat. Kill the cat! Damn!” Dominic stomped the ground with his foot.  “Just distract it, will you?”

         Reilly raised her voice. “AAAAGGGHHHH!!”

         Dominic squinted, concentrating. “Be absolutely clear, if we fight this cat—”

         “DOM, come ONNN!” Reilly whined.

         He struggled to remember what he’d been saying. “So, uh, wild animals aren’t looking for a fight. They want an easy meal. We just have to convince him that eating us—”

         “Dommmm…” Reilly whined.      

         “He’s not a wild animal,” Lenny interjected. “He’s a guard-cat.”

         “Well if you have a better idea, don’t hold back!” Dominic shouted (completely forgetting to be quiet).

         “I WON’T!” Lenny yelled back even louder.

         “We have to gooooo!” Reilly whined.

         “SHUT UP!!! EVERYBODY SHUT UP!!!” Kohra’s scream abruptly silenced them. For a moment.

         “So much for being quiet,” Reilly muttered, scowling at the ground.

         Kohra glared at her, pointing into the forest. “Walk! Now!”            

Looking up to the sky, Gorb placed his hand on his heart. “May d’Light be wit’ us.”