Chapter 2
A New Friend?
We flopped down on the ground gasping.
"We must have spent the night in that big white building," I told Razor.
He nodded in agreement. We were both so hot and tired from the sun. "I can't walk any farther, Sarah," said Razor.
I shrugged and said,"We've got to, Razor."
I got up again and encouraged Razor to do the same. He slowly stood, and we continued walking.
"You know," I said after a half hour of walking under the hot sun. "I could change to something really cold, but I might melt within the hour."
Razor stopped and pleadingly looked up at me. "Please do it! I'm not asking you to risk your life, at least, I'm not trying to. I'm gonna get heatstroke soon, though," he said.
I nodded and said,"Ok. Go way over there. About fifty feet away from me."
Razor didn't complain or ask any questions. I guess he was too hot to worry about anything but getting cold. I thought about Abom and what he looked like. I changed into a huge Abominable Snowman. Razor ran to me and ate a chunk of my leg.
"Hey, Razor! Cut it out!"
He laughed and hugged me, letting my snow soak into his fur. I reached down and picked him up. He was tiny and soaked. I set him on my shoulder and began to walk again. My form lasted for two hours. After that, I knew I'd be melted for good. I quietly set Razor down and let him eat me a little. It didn't hurt to have snow taken away. What hurt was when I was down this far from melting. It was hard to breathe and walk. I was about half as tall as I'd started out. I quickly changed back to my old self and picked up Razor. We hadn't seen anything but dust out in the fields. No trees, no creatures, no rivers. I slowed down a half hour later. My head hurt, and my feet were sore. I changed to wolf and made sure I could get back out. I walked up to Razor and picked him up in my teeth. He grew every day, but his weight was much to low for a regular pup's. I carried him across the dusty fields, wondering where the river was. I wanted to stop at the river and get a cool drink and maybe take a little swim. I walked closer and closer. Suddenly, I stopped. Razor had been sleeping while I had carried him. I dropped him and let myself fall to the ground.
"No fair!" I whined.
Razor looked ahead and saw it too. The river was gone! In it's place was a huge hole! It was as long and wide as the river.
"The dragons torched it! How could they?!" I yelled.
I was in a rage, but I was too weak to do anything. I just lay down and fumed. Razor tried to comfort me, but it did no good. I lay there exhausted, until I fell asleep.
I awoke to Razor pawing my neck.
"You ok?" He asked me.
I nodded wearily and sat up. I was sick of having all these bad things happen to me. Razor stretched and looked around before he continued talking to me.
"You know, we've gotta find a way out of here. We must be pretty close to the next Sparkle, because he said to cross the river, remember?"
I looked around and said,"I guess you're right."
Razor sat down and looked at the river that used to be. "Well, then we better start walking. I may be only five months old, but what I don't make up for in size I make up for in brains."
I smiled and yawned. "You're not kidding," I told him.
He smiled and stood to his four small paws. When Razor stood, he was only the size of a Shelty. That's not very big. A Shelty is somewhere around a foot and a half to two feet tall. I yawned again and stood up. I stretched a little before turning around and picking Razor up.
"So, do you think you can change like I can, Razor?" I asked him.
He shook his head and said,"Probably not."
I picked Razor up off the hot, dusty ground and starting walking across the ruined river. The river must have been rocky, because when I walked across it I stepped on a few sharp rocks. Razor said I didn't have to carry him and even insisted on walking because of my bloody paws. I told him that I had trained myself to withstand pain. I also told him that being uncomfortable wasn't going to make me drop my best friend on these rocks. He reluctantly let me carry him across the river. It was about fifty feet across, so it took us a little while. I stepped on many sharp rocks, but I no longer let Razor know when I did. He would probably make me drop him so he could step on them too. I shook my head and tried not to think about anything. I was tired, fatigued, and ready to sleep again already. It had taken me fifteen minutes to pick my way through the rocks in the river. Finally, we reached the other side. Razor squirmed and told me to let him down. I gave up and let him have his way. He ran on ahead of me, looking for any sign of the Sparkle. I stumbled along behind him, trying to baby my hurting paws. I heard something to my left, but when I looked, nothing was there. I sighed, shook my head, and figured I'd been imagining things. I walked about five more steps before I heard it to my right. I jumped and looked to my right. There wasn't a thing in sight. Slowly cautiously, I walked, looking first to my left, then to my right. I heard small footsteps and checked to see if it was Razor. Nope, Razor was trotting about five feet ahead of me. The footsteps continued. I kept walking, while looking behind, left, right, and in front of me for the creature. It was nowhere to be found! I started to get worried. Was it invisible? Could it be a shadow like Klyste? I continued walking and continued hearing the light footsteps. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. What if the strange feet were under me? What if the creature were walking underneath me?! I began to get nervous, as I tried to muster up enough courage to look beneath myself. Finally, I just stopped and swung my head down to look underneath myself. I was looking into the face of a cat/lizard. It was a cat with the head and feet of a lizard. The head and feet were the perfect size for its body, and I remembered seeing one back in the room with the griffins. I jumped when I saw it and turned to see it scampering away.
"Wait!" I called to it.
The creature froze. I looked behind me and noticed that Razor had stopped and was lying in the dust. I turned back to the strange cat/lizard and walked toward it. It didn't make a sound or move at all. I was within six inches of it, and it still hadn't moved.
"I'm not going to hurt you," I told it.
The creature turned its head to look at me.
"I didn't know what was following me. You know, there's a war going on. I have a right to be cautious. You just surprised me, that's all. Don't feel like you have to leave. I'm not going to make you go anywhere you don't want to."
The little creature relaxed slightly and turned around to get a better view of me.
"My name's Wolfette, what's yours?" I asked the creature. It sat down and stared up at me as it said,"Reeko."
I nodded and smiled. "That's a very nice name."
The creature puffed up its chest with pride and smiled back. "You really like it?" It said in a feline voice.
"Yeah, I think it's a really nice name."
The little creature smiled even bigger and stood up. "Where are you going?" It asked.
"Well, me and my friend Razor, that's him over there, are going to the Sparkle. Where are you going?"
It seemed to think about that for a moment, then shrugged. "Anyplace that's not here, I guess. It's too hot for me around here, what with all the Ferar Trees gone now. I feel really bad that they're all gone. As a matter of fact, they're almost extinct now!"
I shook my head and said,"That's where you're wrong. They are extinct."
The creature shook its head and pointed a scaly finger at me. "No, that's not true. I happen to know where a little feather is that I'd carried for some time. Feathers are how the Ferar Trees produce more Ferar Trees. If we plant the feather somewhere, we can start the Ferar Trees on their comeback. They need a way to live, and they aren't going to get it here."
I nodded excitedly. I hadn't known about the feathers, and I was really happy the Ferar Trees weren't extinct. He said that it was in a safe place in the crack of a rock as tall as me. The cat/lizard started walking toward Razor. I turned around and followed it. We came upon Razor, lying in the dust, fast asleep. I nudged him with my paw. Razor woke up and looked at the cat/lizard.
"Wow! Who's this?"
I smiled down at Razor and said,"This is Reeko."
Razor looked down at Reeko and curiously sniffed it. "So, you a guy or girl?"
"I'm a guy, thank you very much," Reeko said as he glared at Razor. Obviously, he thought everyone should know the difference.
"Oh, ok. What are you?" Razor was just full of questions.
Reeko sat down and looked at Razor. "Actually, I'm called a Catzard. As you can see, I'm fully black. I have the body and tail of a cat, but the feet and head of a lizard. I guess that's how the name Catzard came to be. When we hatch from our eggs, we name ourselves and begin looking for food. I once went near a Ferar Tree and a Chilidean said to me, as I was passing by,"Man, you reek!" So, I decided to change the word a bit. That's how I came up with Reeko. Although, I know longer ‘reek', as the Chilidean had said. I actually smell pretty nice. I took a bath here a couple of days ago. I can't believe the river is gone. It was so nice. Anyhow, are we going to continue our trek to the Sparkle?"
Razor looked at me, I looked back at him.
"Well, I guess so," I said, turning back to the Catzard.
"Good, then lets get a move on," said Reeko.
I nodded and began walking. We started out at a happy trot but soon grew tired of that. I decided to try to distract us from the hot sun. The mile from the river had been taking long enough without Reeko. He made us even slower, because he was always grumbling.
"So, Reeko, I've got a question for you," I panted.
He looked over at me and said,"Yeah, what?"
I took a deep breath and asked,"Why were you underneath me, before we met. I mean, you could have been anywhere. Why'd you choose to walk underneath me?"
Reeko laughed and answered,"The shade! Your shadow was nice and cool. I've been sweating all day, and to be in some shade was a joyful thing, as I'm sure you can imagine."
I laughed and shook my head, wondering why I hadn't figured that out sooner. Of course it was cooler in my shadow. How could I have been so stupid. Ahead of me, Razor stumbled. I walked up to him and picked him up in my mouth. He was so heavy, but he wouldn't make it with those little legs. Razor didn't object to my picking him up. It was so hot in my fur, but I didn't want a sunburn as a human. I also didn't want to deal with my hurting arms. As a dragon, I would be cold blooded and my jaw would hurt. Not to mention, the arrows that had been shot into me earlier on. I could go as a unicorn, but I didn't feel like it. Anyway, I would be a black unicorn and black soaks up the sun. I had so many options, but none seemed good. My abominable snowman was melted. Werewolves would be as bad as what I was now. A centaur would get me sunburnt and the sun would soak into my horse body. I finally decided on the Clyuire. That seemed to be my best option. I dropped Razor and caught my breath. I quickly changed to Clyuire and flapped my wings. Pain shot through my neck and wings.
"Oh man! I forgot!" I quickly changed back to wolf. "I have an arrow in each wing and one in my lower neck as a Clyuire."
I thought about changing to a Clarque, but I knew they would be much too tiny. I considered a Treon, but I had never been one before. The griffin crossed my mind, but I didn't want to give Reeko a heart attack. Finally, I gave up and kept walking as a wolf.
"We should be there soon, Sarah," said Razor.
Reeko shot me a look that said I'd lied to him. I glared at Razor.
He caught on quick and explained,"Oops! See, I have this friend named Sarah, and I often call Wolfette Sarah and Sarah Wolfette. Silly me."
Razor fake laughed, and I guess Reeko bought it. He shook his head like we were both stupid and continued walking and grumbling. I breathed a sight of relief, but to Reeko it might have seemed as a sigh of stupidity. Razor stopped and turned around to look at me a few minutes later.
"Look! Wolfette, the Sparkle!" He exclaimed.
I was so excited and curious! I ran up to Razor and stood beside him searching. He pointed with his paw in the direction of the Sparkle.
"Right there!" He said.
I saw it and began to laugh. Razor joined in on the fun, but Reeko just rolled his eyes like we were incompetent. I took off running with Razor beside me. We ignored Reeko's complaints to slow down. I had walked so long and so slowly for that sorry little creature back there. The closer we came, the bigger the sparkle got. We slowed to a steady trot, Razor and I did. Reeko was slowly working his way closer to us. He didn't look at all happy when I looked back to see how he was. I turned around, determined not to let him spoil our fun. Finally, the unicorn came into clear view. We ran toward it, hoping it would let us out. I ran toward it, not thinking about anything but getting home. It was lying on the ground. I figured it was sleeping. I called out to it, but it didn't stand up. The closer I got, the happier I became. I couldn't wait to get back to the dimension where earth exists. Suddenly, I stopped. The beautiful tan colored unicorn was covered in red blood. I looked on with horror from ten feet away. I didn't dare get any closer. I tried to keep myself under control. I tried to forget the unicorn and just go home, but I couldn't. Razor caught up, for I was faster than he, and looked at the unicorn. He stared in amazement at the lifeless body.
"Oh no! How are we going to get to your dimension?!" He asked in a panic.
I swallowed the big lump in my throat and whispered,"We'll find a way."
Reeko eventually caught up. When he reached us, he turned around and gagged. I felt sorry for the little guy. He turned around and looked at me.
"So, how are you going to get home?" He asked, without any sympathy in his voice.
"I'll find a way," I angrily told him.
He shrugged and looked at the dead unicorn. "Looks like you'll have to stay here."
I glared at him and said,"Looks like we'll have to find a way!"
He smirked and said,"Looks like you don't have much choice in the matter."
I wanted to rip him to pieces. He wasn't helping me at all. I turned to the unicorn and looked down at it, my eyes moist. It was hopeless. How would we get home? I turned to a human and looked down at Reeko. I was feeling bad about wanting to give him everything he deserved, but he was being such a jerk! I reached down and picked him up by the scruff of the neck. He closed his eyes and smiled. Slowly, ever so slowly, he faded to a golden color. I watched as he grew and grew. He quickly took on the shape of a dragon. I dropped him to the ground as he got bigger and bigger. His eyes were still closed. When he'd changed to his full self, he opened his eyes. I trembled in fear as I looked into the emerald green eyes of Clyte.
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