Chapter 35
Benny
They had walked for hours after, quickly losing sight of the path they were on, until finally giving up and resting on the cold, hard ground without a fire to warm them. Benny opened his puffy eyes to amber moonlight and sat up, seeing that the others were still asleep.
He quickly looked around in the darkness, searching for any signs of Jotnar nearby.
He heard a rustling behind him and jumped, fearing the worst. But when he hesitantly looked around, he saw a small, furry creature with a long neck sniffing at one of their backpacks. A sigh of relief escaped him.
It had a twisted, chrome horn that seemed to melt into the center of its forehead. Its fluffy coat was an inky, deep blue, and the creature’s poofy tail wagged back and forth. Scattered across its chest, as if embedded, were patterns of silver colored flowers.
The creature was small, no taller than Benny’s hip while standing, and Benny was reasonably short. It saw Benny shift and skittered into the bushes behind where they lay, nervously peering around at him.
Benny slowly stood and reached into his pocket, pulling out an old cracker and offering it to the animal. “Here you go, I won’t hurt you.”
The animal slowly stepped out and hesitantly walked over to Benny, sniffing the cracker within his hand.
It moved its lips over Benny’s palm and munched on the offering, its chrome colored eyes shifting up to meet his.
When the animal finished chewing, it nudged Benny’s palm once more, asking for another treat.
Benny reached into his pocket, pulled out another cracker, and offered it to the small animal.
“A baby Unipaca. How rare to see,” Vira said in awe while lying on the ground.
The baby Unipaca startled and jumped back into the bushes, but it didn’t run away.
Benny stepped closer and peered around. He slowly reached out and ran his hand down the Unipaca’s back. It huffed and nudged the side of its head into Benny’s hip.
“We won’t hurt you, little one,” he said. “Come out. I promise you’re safe with us.”
The little Unipaca took a hesitant step forward, walked over to the backpack it had been sniffing before, and nudged it. Benny picked up the sack and looked inside.
“You must want these,” he said of Askold’s apples and carrots within. He pulled an apple out and offered it to the baby, who quickly bit into it and yanked it away from Benny, chewing loudly and smacking its lips.
It let out a gentle humming sound and shook its head back and forth, stamping its foot.
“Whoa…” Askold said as he sat up. “She’s a cutie.”
“She?” Benny asked.
Askold looked at him as if he were an idiot. “Of course, it’s a she. I can tell.”
“Why do you think she’s here? Where are her parents?” Benny looked at both the Corvids, who were both now awake and watching the exchange.
“Perhaps her family was in that fight last night with the Jotnar. Maybe she ran away?” Sephyr suggested.
“We should get moving,” Vira interrupted as she looked up at the massive moon and the wall highlighted in an amber glow in the distance.
Benny reached into the pack and held out another apple for the Unipaca as a parting gift. She gleefully accepted it, swishing her tail back and forth, and crunched into its red skin.
“How long were we asleep?” he asked the others. The moon, before they had fallen asleep, had been crescent-shaped, but the moon above them now was full and glowing brightly.
“Not sure. Must not have been that long,” Askold groaned. “I can use a few more hours.”
“No, we need to move,” Vira reiterated.
They packed up what little belongings they had taken out and began walking away. Benny glanced back at the Unipaca and saw that she was trailing behind them. He turned around. “You need to go find your family, little one. We’re going past that wall, and your family is the other direction.”
She shook her head at him and hurried over, stamping her foot again once she reached his side.
“She wants to stay with you.” Sephyr smiled.
“That’s what you get for feeding wild animals,” Askold complained. “She’s going to eat all my food.”
The baby Unipaca stamped her foot repeatedly on the ground, releasing a huffing sound from flared nostrils, and narrowed her molten eyes at Askold.
“Do you think she can understand us?” Benny asked.
The Unipaca nodded at them, and Benny laughed. “She can understand you, asshole. You’d better stop being a dick, or else she’ll stab you with that horn of hers.”
The Unipaca let out a wheezing sound, almost like a laugh.
“If you come with us, you need to be very quiet. We’re trying to avoid those giant beasts you ran into. We don’t have the manpower to fight them.”
The Unipaca nodded again and nibbled at the sack at Benny’s side. Benny reached in and pulled out a carrot this time. She hummed and jumped up and down.
“What should we call you?” he asked her.
“What about Bluebell?” Askold suggested. “She has flowers on her chest, and she’s blue.”
The Unipaca glanced up at Askold and narrowed her metallic eyes once more.
“Don’t like that name, I take it?” Benny asked as he laughed. “What about Aurora? That’s a pretty name for a pretty girl.”
She nudged him lovingly, and Vira said, “I think any name you said she would’ve taken. I don’t think she likes Askold much.”
They laughed, and Askold grumbled, “Of course not. Just wants to eat all my apples. I packed those for myself, ya know.”
Aurora pranced over to Askold and quickly bit his thigh, leaving a hole in his pants. He yelped out in pain and jumped away from her. “Ouch! You heathen!”
She spat at him, and it landed directly where she had bitten.
The others laughed again, but Benny lightly scolded, “Okay, Aurora, you proved your point. But he’s our friend, and we don’t bite or spit at friends.”
She huffed in response and made her way back to Benny, flicking her tail back and forth.
“She won’t be small for long,” Vira said. “They’re only babies for a couple of days. She must have just been born.”
“How’s that possible?” Askold asked, rubbing his thigh. “I don’t think my leg can handle this attitude when she’s bigger.”
“Probably not. You’d better get on her good side,” Benny chuckled as he began walking once more, Aurora following his every step.
They walked for another hour as they approached the tall, stone wall. Sephyr was in her Corvid form, flying above, peering over, and watching for any movement on the other side.
“How do we get over it?” Benny looked to Vira before peering up at the hundred feet of stone face that blocked their path into the Lycanthrope realm.
“Please don’t say we have to climb,” Askold groaned. “We had to climb that damn mountain to get to the Wisps, and I never want to do that again.”
Vira chuckled. “There’s a door here somewhere, and I assume part of the wall is down too, considering the Jotnar are now on this side.”
“Shit!” Benny said, remembering the Jotnar. “You should warn Ferona that the Jotnar are making their way to Umbrea. And Roya, too. Can you check in with them, please?”
Vira closed her eyes, focusing on her task.
Sephyr flew down and stood alongside her sister, waiting for her to finish.
“Done,” Vira said.
“Umm… Did they say anything in response? Did Roya say she was okay?” Benny asked nervously.
Vira offered a small smile. “They’re fine, Benny. We didn’t say much, as our whispers can be heard by any Corvid interested. And with Feich and others possibly listening in, we have to be discreet.”
Benny frowned. That made sense, but it was a letdown to say the least. He was glad that Roya and his sister were safe, though.
He heard loud chewing and looked over at Aurora, who was happily chewing through dried grass.
She looked up at him and stamped her foot, digging her two large toenails into the dirt.
“If I continue giving you all the carrots and apples we packed, there won’t be any left to give, little one,” he said to her. “Later.”
She made a grumbling sound and went back to chewing on the grass.
Benny looked up at the wall once more. “Any ideas?” he asked as he pointed to it.
Sephyr answered, “There’s a door about half a mile north. We should head that way. The Jotnar tore through the wall about a mile north of that. We need to be careful. There’s no door south. We must head that way.” She pointed north along the wall.
Benny sighed and started walking, as both Corvids took off again into the sky. Askold muttered beside him, while Aurora pranced ahead, her fluffy tail swinging back and forth in playful glee.
He sent a silent prayer to the sky, hoping they would make it safely past the door and find Ojore.