Mortangris sat up suddenly.

He collapsed back down into snow again when his side became too painful, and decided that sitting up was probably not the best idea in the world at the moment.

He looked around, taking in his surroundings.

All around was snow, white and expansive, never ending. Where was this?

Mortangris looked down at the snow beneath him, wondering if that could give him a clue.

When he saw the snow under him, he could only stare.

It was red. Shining red like the flowers of the Amarelu bush, and it was spreading. Spreading out, spreading over the entire expanse of the snow as far as he could see. A few moments later the entire expanse of the snow as far as he could see in any direction was red.

Then, he heard crunching in the snow. Raising his head, he saw Mortangar gazing down at him scornfully, his turquoise eyes reflecting the red of the landscape.

"I've always been there for you." He growled, his voice gravelly and low and full of unspoken threats. "I am your brother, Mortangris. And you left me, left me alone. Now look, look what happened to me without you." He turned to his left a little. Mortangris felt his heart stop at the sight of a dark red hole in his side, with dried blood streaming down from it.

"No, I didn't-" Mortangris began.

"Look and see what your folly has done!" Mortangar cut in, and gestured at his side. "Now I am dead, and it's all your fault!" And before Mortangris's eyes, he began to crumble into dust until he was only a pile of ashes, being blown and scattered by the winds.

Mortangris bolted upright and screamed.

Once again his side burned, and he heard voices around him.

"He's awake!"

"Stop him, he'll reopen his side!

"Calm down, it's me, Mortangar!"

The last voice was the only one to really get through.

"Mrtangar?" Mortangris slurred. Why wouldn't his stupid mouth work properly?

"Calm down. Lie back down, I'll get you some nice snow to eat. Don't try and talk yet."

And then Mortangar's voice was gone.

Curling back into his pile of snow, Mortangris settled down again and waited for Mortangar to return.

Voices muttered and footsteps came and went, but Mortangris paid them no attention. He was so tired, all he wanted to do was sleep. But he refrained from the temptation and awaited Mortangar.

Presently he felt something cool and pleasant on his mouth. Opening it a little, he pushed the snow greedily into his mouth and swallowed. Nothing had ever felt so good in his life before.

"Not so fast!" Mortangar said laughingly. "Slow down there." More snow came which Mortangris swallowed happily.

Feeling up to it, he opened his eyes.

Looking about, he saw he was in the igloo that Angetuga, Grishgern and Urrhnaldo had built. Mortangar was just above him, holding a large lump of snow and feeding it to him in small pieces.

"You scared me you know." Mortangar said, holding out another piece of snow, which Mortangris swallowed greedily.

"Good." Mortangris slurred jokingly, smiling.

"Stop that." Mortangar grinned. "Come on, finish your snow."

Mortangris was never so glad in his life for his brother.

#

"H- H-" Angetuga stared out of the window, unable to get her words out. "How?" She rasped dryly. Out the porthole, the planet was spinning out of view, and a gray thing with blue fins poking out was appearing out the top.

"There they are!" Strange sounds again, but Angetuga didn't even notice.

Then they were all grabbed again like before down on the village, and pulled away.

Suddenly a tone sounded from the roof, and more strange voices came from- The roof?

"Farrell, take your specimen to command immediately."

Then another tone, and silence. The Thing carrying Angetuga stopped, and backtracked. Angetuga struggle, trying to grab on to the wall or anything that she could reach, but with no success.

"Let go!" Angetuga yelled.

"Oi! Stop that!" The Thing made more strange sounds that Angetuga didn't understand.

#

A week later, they were in a small room. A desk was in the centre and another of these Things was behind it. This one had much longer brown hair that went just below her shoulders and a chisel jaw that looked as though it had been carved from marble. She wore thick black rimmed glasses that she kept glancing at the corner of with dark brown eyes. She waved and the Thing carrying Angetuga dropped her.

Angetuga collapsed in a heap on to the floor, grateful for the respite. The Thing behind the desk waved away the one that had been carrying her and stood up.

Once the Thing that had been carrying her exited the door, the one behind the desk stood up and walked over to Angetuga.

"We scanned your brain." She said in a low, rich voice. Wait. Said! Angetuga could understand her! Some of the words were strange and held no meaning, but this was so good! "We copied your language. Do you understand?" She enunciated each word very clearly, almost as if speaking to a particularly stupid child.

"Of course I can understand you. Get me back to Yirin!" Angetuga said grumpily.

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't do that." The Thing purred. "We need to keep you on the space station for more tests. Look, there it is." She pointed out of another of the strange windows at the gray thing with blue fins.

"No! I won't!" Angetuga stomped her foot defiantly. "Get us back to Yirin, Thing!"

"Your petty little demands get you nowhere." The Thing said. "You don't have the slightest say in the matter." As she said this, the frequency of her little looks at the corner of her glasses became more and more frequent.

Angetuga growled.

"We humans are far more powerful than you can imagine." As the Thing said this, Angetuga's overactive brain told her that that was what the Things were called. Humans. How interesting. Shut up. Angetuga told herself. "I could blow your little planet up at the flick-" The human flicked in the air "-of a button. This button." She pointed to a large red button covered with a plastic shield. "One press of this and you'll never see your precious little planet again. However, if you play along, we might let you go."

Angetuga gnashed her teeth, but complied. She had to get back, and she didn't stand a chance without these humans. "Fine." She snarled.

"Good! I'm glad we see eye to eye." The human smiled, a venomous smile that promised deadly poison if anything didn't go her way. "Farrell!" She called, and the burly human who had carried Angetuga came back in. "Escort it back to the pods." She said, back in human language.

Farrell picked Angetuga up, again, and carried her out of the room, back into the pod bay where several humans were working on repairing the doors and wall.

Grishgern and all the others were all back in their pods, and it was partly a relief to be back in the cool pod bay after the unbearable heat out in the corridors.

As soon as she was back in and the humans had all gone, Angetuga attracted Grishgern's attention once again and began to write.

IF WE DO WHAT THEY WANT WE CAN GO HOME

She wrote.

HOW DO YOU KNOW

Grishgern replied.

A THING THEY CALL THEMSELVES HUMANS TOLD ME

Angetuga drew.

HOW DID IT TELL YOU THOUGH

Grishgern looked genuinely puzzled.

ONE SPEAKS OUR LANGUAGE

Angetuga replied.

WE WILL TRY

Grishgern, however, did not look convinced.

IT'S TRUE

Angetuga replied.

OKAY

Grishgern still seemed unsure, but before Angetuga could reply Grishgern curled up at the bottom of her pod, a clear sign that she didn't want to talk any more. Ah well. Deciding she was tired from the past day's ordeal, Angetuga curled up as well, closed her eyes, and was soon fast asleep.

#

The past few days had been annoying. Nothing but sitting in the pod, being picked up from the pod by those horrible robotic claws, being 'scanned', or whatever it was that the human had called it, again, taken back. Every once in a while some rather wilted Anagalle leaves were dropped into the pods from the roofs. Anagalle leaves, despite tasting rubbery and foul raw, were filling and nicely nutritious and kept the Yirini going.

Angetuga thought that if this kept up, she would go mad from the terrible monotony and boredom.

Staring out of the glass side of the pod was the only thing to do, and soon Angetuga knew the view as well as she knew the back of her hand. The only difference was that she liked her hand, which was more than she could say for the view.

Only one interesting thing had happened through the entire course of the time that she had spent languishing in her pod. Once they had arrived at the thing with blue fins, all the pods had been lifted up and taken away by more of the accursed claws.

The place they were now in, however, was very much the same as the place they had left. The only small difference was that the new place was pleasantly calmer and the many different types of whirr that penetrated the air were more of a soothing nature than a frightening one.

The first casualty was something along the lines of 10 days after the Yirini were first taken.

A large but highly-strung Narlu that Angetuga sometimes conversed with simply went crazy; clawing at the walls of his pod, shouting and running in tight circles frantically.

A grabber came down with something like the thing that they stuck in Angetuga's foot, pushed it into his neck, and then he simply collapsed.

Some humans arrived for him later, taking him out of his pod and carrying him off.

He was never seen again.

THEY'LL NEVER LET US OUT

Grishgern wrote directly after the incident.

WHAT CAN WE DO

Angetuga replied.

THIS IS OUR BEST HOPE TO GET BACK

She continued.

WE'LL ALL END UP LIKE HIM

Grishgern pointed at the starkly empty pod.

JUST KEEP GOING

Angetuga didn't really believe herself, but she had to keep the others' spirits up. She put on a brave face.

WE'LL MAKE IT

She smiled. Grishgern did not return the favour, but gave Angetuga a look.

I HOPE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING

She drew.

I DO

Angetuga knew the words she wrote were not true.

YOU'RE LYING I CAN TELL

Grishgern could tell from that distance. Angetuga had always been remarkably easy to read, and an absolutely terrible liar.

I DON'T KNOW ANY MORE

Angetuga drooped.

I JUST DON'T KNOW

She stared at the floor, sad and demoralized. Her foremost thoughts were telling her that they would make it, that if they persevered then everything would be okay. But her innermost thoughts, the ones that quietly murmur the truth in your ear from behind, told her that this was not true.

But before she really had a chance to do much else, the claw came down and grabbed her for another 'scan'.

#

Mortangris was feeling a little better.

A heady mix of fireweed, Anagalle stem and rare Canoruth tree bark was proving a very effective poultice and he was feeling much better for it.

Yirini are so rarely badly hurt that it often makes news, so most Yirini are completely inexperienced in the art of medicine. But fortunately for Mortangris, their Penrins and other pets often roam wild and sometimes pick rather nasty fights with each other. This often leads to some nasty wounds which means a few skilled veterinarian Yirini wander about between villages, looking for jobs.

There did not happen to be one of these wandering healers in the village at this time, but one little Yirinu, Angenuli, remembered this one recipe. So far it did not seem to be poisoning Mortangris, and if anything it was helping. That was one of the few things that had actually gone well recently.

He was actually beginning to be able to sit up on his own, and considering the fact that he had only woken up a couple of days ago this was a very large improvement.

But a few questions were still bothering him like a swarm of Craskuils, or as most Yirini call them, Annoying Whiners. What was that that thing that the Things had hit him with? What, in fact, were the Things doing here at all? Whatever their reason was, it couldn't be good. They had done nothing good during the entire time they had been here.

Mortangris sighed, settled back down in his pile of snow, and decided that these were questions for another day. For now, he would sleep and recover. He would be needed soon enough, and there was no point in aimless worrying. It was a silly idea that only stressed him out.

Mortangar came in at a respectable trot carrying a bowl made of ice that contained a very bright red paste.

"Come on, eat up." He put the bowl by the pile of snow. "Then you can go back to sleep."

"Mmph." Mortangris groaned, sitting up again. "What is that?" He looked at the contents of the bowl with admirable distaste.

"Fireweed. Come on, that took ages to mash and it's melting the bowl. They don't have any proper tools to steal here, I had to actually make a spoon. Can you believe that?" Mortangar wrinkled his nose in disgust and shook his hands experimentally.

"'S not that bad." Mortangris mumbled through a mouthful of fireweed. "I made a dagger once."

"I know. And you were complaining about your burns for a long time afterwards. It took you ages to work out how to use that forge!" Mortangar laughed in a surprisingly childish way.

"Shut up." Mortangris gave Mortangar a light bat then flopped back into his snow pile, bowl empty and energy spent. "Mmhp." He repeated.

"I'll take that as a goodnight then." Mortangar picked up the by now rather watery bowl, stared in amazement at the water for a moment, for water is almost never seen on Yirin, and left.

Ah yes. Water. On Yirin, most Yirini have never even seen a drop of water. And they aren't likely to either. The only water on Yirin is in a deep underground salt lake, deep under the Under-Ice City. The water is so salty that only one plant lives there. This plant, Gresdernum, is a small thing like a lily pad that is immensely rare and has unbelievably potent healing properties. It is so rare because, as I am sure that you can imagine, it was used nearly to extinction until the Yirini of many generations ago realized that they were using it all up. Now, it is only really used for the most grievous and deadly wounds, and seekers of it must travel through the Under-Ice City itself, a place long abandoned and very sacred to the Yirini.

Mortangar exited the igloo, feeling much reassured about his brother's state of health. He seemed to be recovering admirably well and at this rate he would be fit and well again in a month at the shortest.

The Things had not put in an appearance since they had come out of the cylinder, which was both a good thing and a bad. Only the Ancients knew what they were doing, but Mortangar had a feeling that whatever it was, it wasn't good.

However, there was nothing any of them could do. They would have to wait until Mortangris was better to even start anything. Starting without their best warrior would be absolutely suicidal; although Mortangar occasionally wondered vaguely at the back of his head if he should just curtail that sentence to 'starting would be absolutely suicidal', and be done with it. Look what they had done to Mortangris!

Well, one way or another, this was no time to be worrying like a mother Serake bustling about her clutch of babies. No, this was not the time at all.

Mortangar looked down, noticing that he had been standing stock still. He shrugged to himself and continued his walk over to the Kenu's newly rebuilt igloo. He needed to talk with the leader of the little village.

Making his way quietly inside, Mortangar was surprised to hear voices. This was the first time that he had encountered anyone other than the old Kenu in the hut. He stopped to listen.

"I don't see why we should accept these troublemakers here any longer! The very night they arrived, look what happened! They bring nothing but disasters and destruction." This voice was unfamiliar to Mortangar. But whoever it was, this Yirinu was angry. Very angry. "I am sure it is their doing! Several of us agree that they must be removed before this goes too far! You must stop them, or the village is as good as destroyed!" The voice became high and desperate at the end.

"Calm down. It is not their doing. I will do my best to find out if they had anything to do with it. But for now, go, and do not bother me again." The Kenu sounded strange; forceful and masterful.

"Yes, Kenu Erganu." The first voice replied defeatedly, and Mortangar heard approaching steps. He stepped in, not wanting to be discovered hiding and eavesdropping.

Erganu was at the far side of the igloo, back in a fresh pile of snow and looking quite comfortable. Heading straight towards Mortangar was a rather grumpy looking Yirinu who was directly on the other side of the curtain. Mortangar walked around the other Yirinu, carefully ignoring him, and approached the Kenu.

"Leave us, Grorni." Erganu gave a firm point towards the door, and Grorni exited grumpily. Erganu turned back to Mortangar. "So. You heard." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Mortangar stared. "How did you know?" He demanded.

"Oh, I just know things." Erganu smiled in an annoyingly mysterious fashion that reminded Mortangar of Angetuga a little. "What was it you came about?"

Mortangar sighed. "The Things. I think we should find out what they're doing, because whatever it is, I'm sure that it can't be at all good."

#

Mortangar was more than a little stumped by what the Kenu had told him.

Let the walls down? What kind of an answer was that? And then being told just do go and think about it was not an explanation at all.

Sighing, Mortangar made his way back to what was being used for a medicine igloo to check on Mortangris. Seeing that he was fast asleep, Mortangar settled down in another pile of snow at the other side of the really rather capacious igloo, and decided to have a good hard think about what Erganu had said.

A few hours later, the sun had travelled past the top of the sky and was now on its way to its nightly rest, and Mortangar was no closer to anything resembling a sudden blinding lightbulb flick of inspiration. Unfortunately, although Mortangar was positively wrenching the lightbulb switch, the bulb seemed to be busted.

Mortangar had always hated riddles.

Tired and more than a little angry, Mortangar got up and started pacing quietly, careful not to disturb Mortangris. The latter had hardly stirred during the long hours of Mortangar's thinking, and still seemed perfectly peaceful.

Pleased with Mortangris' progress, but tired of the igloo, Mortangar decided to pace outdoors where the snow was fresher and the air cooler.

Soon he had quite the circular hole in the snow. Deep enough to hit ice and perfectly round, Mortangar had been unknowingly pacing a hole in the nutrient-rich ice and scattered bits of earth that made it possible to grow plants. From above, the scene looked more than a little unusual. A growing audience of Yirini was watching from a distance, unbeknownst to Mortangar, and placing bets of fireweed leaves on whether he would dig through the ice or not.

Not surprisingly as soon as he hit the ice, Mortangar suddenly realized about the hole that he was digging and climbed out of what was now quite a considerable depth, more than slightly embarrassed. Several of the Yirini watching handed over fireweed leaves grumpily, while the rather chuffed others chortled and, taking their prizes, wandered off to do whatever work was required to tend to the fireweed.

Mortangar, still having no answer, was now fed up with the stupid cryptic answer. Well, he wasn't going to pay it any attention any more, no sir. The useless thing can rot in a corner of his mind for all he cared, stupid riddle.

Mortangar was just going to go indoors to check on Mortangris, when something small, white and spiky barreled into his legs, with straight between his feet, and fell right into the hole he had dug. On closer inspection, e. g. peering down the hole after the lump, it turned out to be a hopping mad Urrhnaldo. Mortangar had forgotten about him!

"Hang on, I'll get you out!" Mortangar called down to the now literally hopping little Yirinu. He started digging a rough slope down towards the hole, and eventually got Urrhnaldo out.

"Stupid bigs!" The furious Yirinu raged. "Always doing stupid things! Knocking down my igloos, treading on me, now this! Stupid, stupid great GOLIATHS!" Shouting the last word as though it were a deadly insult, the little Urrh was now so riled up that he would melt the snow underneath him soon.

"Calm-" Mortangar only got one word in before Urrhnaldo decided that he had had it. Grumping and grousing about 'stupid bigs' and their 'innate destructiveness', Urrhnaldo stormed away.

"AND I WON'T TELL YOU WHAT IT WAS THAT I WAS GOING TO TELL YOU EITHER!" He fired over his shoulder as a parting shot.

Mortangar, a little surprised at this outburst, took a few seconds to realize what Urrhnaldo had just said.

"Hey! Wait!" Having processed the information, Mortangar dashed off at high speed after the fuming Yirinu. "What were you going to tell me?"

But the amazingly infuriating little Yirinu had clammed up and refused to utter another word.

As time progressed, Mortangar decided that Urrhnaldo ranked highly in his list of least favourite people.

The little igloo builder had stomped his way, nose in the air, through the whole, admittedly small, village, and refused to speak a word to Mortangar.

Mortangar had even said 'Please', but Urrhnaldo had just sniffed and kept on going.

At this point Mortangar had decided that now he knew what Mala felt like when he stole her manuscript for the umpteenth time, a hobby that he had been immensely fond of a few years back. The frustration just kept building up, and he wasn't sure he could hold it in.

In a few steps he moved ahead of Urrhnaldo and blocked his path. "Look," He said. "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, alright? But whatever you have to say, tell me!" Urrhnaldo said nothing, and took several steps backwards.

"What are you doing?" Mortangar looked confused, and more than a little wary.

"Out of my way, you great galumphing giant!" Urrhnaldo yelled at the top of his squeaky voice, and charged Mortangar.

Despite Urrhnaldo's really rather diminutive size, Mortangar leapt aside. An angry Urrhnaldo was definitely not to be trifled with, and to be avoided at all costs.

Mortangar leapt back, stunned, and tripped over. Falling flat on your back, having just been charged by the most angry Yirinu known to Yirinu kind is not conducive to a good temper.

Mortangar lost it.

"LOOK!" He bellowed, making Urrhnaldo and several other passing Yirini stop in absolute shock.

Urrhnaldo, for once, was silent. Struck utterly dumb by Mortangar's shout.

"What were you going to say?" Mortangar said a little more calmly. "It might be important. So say it and stop being so ANNOYING!" Mortangar was obviously holding in his temper a lot. Urrhnaldo, rather wisely, decided that it was conducive to staying in one piece that he told Mortangar.

"Fine." He grumbled, obviously wanting to be out of here as fast as was Yirinu-ly possible.. "Those things have built a great big hole in the ground just outside the city. They're pulling ice and earth out. It's full of shiny things and see through stones."

"Hole in the ground? Where?" Mortangar asked.

"North side of the city." Urrhnaldo was very fidgety, playing with his tail and hopping from one foot to the other. Then, because Mortangar said nothing for a few moments, he was off in a flash, leaving a cloud of kicked up snow behind him.

"Hole in the ground..." Mortangar mused. "What would they be doing with a hole in the ground?"

His thoughts were cut off by a thump from the general direction of Mortangris' hut. Thinking worried thoughts, Mortangar made his way quickly over.

It wasn't too bad. Mortangris was on the floor complaining about snow falling from the roof and hitting him. A large amount of snow on his head testified to that. He was also complaining of his side hurting more than ever.

"Go back to pile." Mortangar pointed firmly at the pile of snow, and Mortangris grumbled but complied. "I'll get Urrhnaldo to look at it later."

Satisfied that Mortangris was safely back in his pile, Mortangar went outside again.

Seriously. He was getting soppy.

A few weeks ago Mortangar would have scoffed at the idea of looking after his annoying, idiot brother. Now look at him. His past self would really not have approved of the way he was behaving.

Odd.

Wandering off, Mortangar decided to go and steal something. One of the upsides for having a pile ridden brother, Mortangar surmised. You can steal stuff without him telling you how bad it is. It's rather handy in it's ways.

The day after next, however, Mortangar would not have any time to steal even the smallest trinket. He later supposed, that he should have seen it coming.

Mortangris' side got infected, which meant Mortangar had to be watching him all hours of the day and night. Many Yirini could be heard saying they thought he wouldn't make it, and Mortangar couldn't help worrying that they might be right.

Mortangris had been spiraling downwards for the past day, and the next morning they found his wound a strange colour and seeping nasty liquids. Since then things had only gotten worse.

"How are you feeling?" Mortangar put on his brisk, efficient air and strode into the hut.

"Urk." Mortangris moaned.

"I'll take that as 'not good' then, shall I?" Mortangar said jokingly, trying to keep Mortangris' morale up. "Let me see."

Investigating the wound carefully, it was doing anything but getting better. It seemed to be festering and Mortangar could almost smell the infection.

"'S not better, is it..." Mortangar groaned.

"No." Mortangar replied, thinking that the plain truth would be best. Mortangris made an indistinct sound in reply. "What was that?" Mortangar leaned closer.

"Gr'sd'rn'm." Mortangar only picked up a few bits of the word, but it was enough. Something clicked in his brain. Of course.

Gresdernum.

The amazing healing herb that healed anything, even fatal wounds.

But of course, as there always is, there was a hitch.

Gresdernum only grows in the Salt Lake, the lake situated directly beneath the Under-Ice City itself.

Great.

#

"Now be sensible, and don't be giving Ergagaki any trouble. I've arranged for her to look after you." Mortangar instructed.

"Mph." Mortangris replied, his voice muffled by his pile of snow.

"Good." Mortangar went over to the door of the igloo. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Mmph." Mortangris made another indistinct noise.

Mortangar went quietly out the door, more than a little nervous. Nobody had been in the Under-Ice City for years. It might be collapsed, or gone, or it might collapse while he was in there and trap him for good or -

No, Mortangar told himself. Stop. It won't.

But he wasn't really all that sure.

Pushing his doubts to the back of his head and shouldering the new pack that the village seamstress, Seragnia, had made, Mortangar set off east towards the Under-Ice City.

The snow seemed to stretch off endlessly without ever changing. At first the breeze blowing against Mortangar's scales and the snow and ice beneath his feet felt good, raising his spirits higher than they had been in a long time. But as his journey wore on and the sun began to descend to the other side of the sky, Mortangar's morale level fell to absolute rock bottom.

Taking long strides he marched on with renewed vigor as he came upon the Senu cliffs which told him that he was on the right track.

The great ice-cliffs stretched tall and majestic, and the eight caves that served as homes for many Yirini were dark in contrast.

Looking at the caves, Mortangar felt a certain foreboding about going inside. Somehow, something didn't feel right.

Pushing his doubts off, Mortangar decided that the caves looked like a good place to rest for the night. The sun was going down and it would be better to be sure of a safe place to sleep than to have to stay up all night due to a lack of the latter.

Mortangar checked his pack, ensuring that he had not lost anything, and set off towards them at a respectable trot.

The caves were quite comfortable as ice caves went, and Mortangar soon found himself enjoying the darkness and general peace.

It was nicely quiet - a sensation that Mortangar found rather new - and not too dark and not too large and just perfect in every way.

Mortangar entered one of the smaller caves - the last one he had tried had been far too big - and set his pack down near the entrance where it was light.

Dispensing with the formalities, Mortangar up ended the bag and its many contents spilled out across the ground.

Roughly pushing most of the many and varied and mostly useless objects to one side, he dug out his only stick of rather chipped looking Bright Ice and, holding it like a torch, went inside the cave.

This one was just right, perfect in every way. Not too big this time with a nice warm temperature, nicely illuminated by his stick of Bright Ice and quiet, away from any animals that might be nearby. One of the caves he had investigated had been inhabited by a family of Fallauli.

Mortangar shuddered at the thought.

Fallauli are quiet little lizard like things but if they feel threatened then they may become very aggressive and have sets of very sharp teeth, a thing that sets them apart from the lizards on earth.

One particularly aggressive Fallaul near the entrance had actually latched on to his tail, causing Mortangar to yell in a way any Yirinu would be envious of. His tail could certainly provide evidence that that had happened.

Anyway. No angry Fallauli in this cave.

Mortangar stuck the Bright Ice in the ground in the middle of the cave and went back out to the entrance. Scooping the contents of his pack roughly back into the aforementioned bag, he carried it, liberally weighed down with snow that had accidentally been scooped in, inside the cave and dumped it near to the Bright Ice.

Pleased with the day's progress, Mortangar decided it was time to rest.

Going outside to scoop snow to build a pile just happened to be the worst idea possible at the time. Pottering outside in a casual manner, Mortangar began to scoop snow.

An indecipherable shout made him stop, surprised. There weren't supposed to be any Yirini about in these parts!

Freezing stock still and scanning the environment in view, Mortangar looked for the source of the shout. Somehow he had the strange feeling something was very, very wrong.

Unfortunately, he was right.

Everyone looks left, right, in front and behind when trying to locate something. Sometimes looking down is relevant, but most of the time it would be pointless to look down. But the one direction nobody ever looks in, and in this case the one relevant direction to look was up.

Something crashed on to Mortangar's back, flattening him on to the ground with an audible exhale.

Just before he lost consciousness, Mortangar caught a distinctive whiff of darkvine sap.

Then all was dark.

Don't forget to vote if you enjoyed!

🦅—Aquila