Ghostcat476

Xena took a deep breath, letting her muscles all relax. It was nice to take some time away from the sea every once in a while to remember the touch of land. To feel grass beneath her calloused paws. Well, sand with the occasional shrub shoot, but close enough. Djama didn’t really do grass. She had spotted the little island a ways off and figured it would be a good place to rest. Maybe get some sleep, restock on supplies, all that good stuff. Running around on the sea all day was fun and all, but every once in a while you had to take a break and get some snacks. Motion caught her eye- a flash of blue and black. Instantly her gaze snapped over, but the creature disappeared back into the scrubland and palm trees dominating the little bay. “Whoever thou be, show yourself,” she demanded. Her voice carried loud enough that she was sure they heard, with an authority that warned against disobeying her command. For a moment there was silence. Then one of the scraggy bushes rustled. From

Gir strode into Darband with their head held up and tail swishing lazily behind. In their experience, one does not walk around Ashki with confidence and not the skills to prove it. For the most part the residents either nodded respectfully or found other places to look. So far no one bothered them. And if someone did, well, Gir was certainly scrappy enough to hold their own. And clever enough to escape a fight if need be. Fortunately, their trek towards the nearest tavern went uninterrupted. Several patrons glanced up as they entered, well-worn wood creaking beneath their paws. But only one made eye contact and immediately glanced away. Just a little too quick to be innocent. And so it was that patron that Gir bought a drink and padded up to them with. “Hello, friend,” Gir greeted with a flash of too many teeth. “You look like someone who knows things. Surely a drink might allow me to know that too.” The stranger watched out of the corner of their eye, clearly untrustworthy.

“No honor amongst thieves” - in their time on the streets of Ashki Gir hadn’t heard a more accurate phrase. The same stranger who would flash you a winning smile and offer of help was just as liekly to rob you blind if given the chance. It was a shame, of course. Despite her rough surroundings, Gir did try to be honorable wherever she could. Good for the karma and whatnot. But honor didn’t pay. And if a ruthless pirate offered you a task, in exchange for a handsome reward, you smile and say “yes ma’am, right away, ma’am.” Because the paw not holding those glittering drops gripped a cutlass sharp enough to kill. It turned out what Captain Hirill wanted was rather simple; vengeance. One of her crew had deserted from the Red Night’s deck. Not a big deal, usually, but the traitor had stolen something from the good Captain. And the cold desperation to get it back told Gir that whatever the object was rather… valuable. Valuable enough to kill for its return. Gir might not

“It was huge, taller than the tallest tree!” “It walked on two legs stronger than young mountains.” “Its face was that of a man long gone mad from the wilds.” A flurry of whispers had made themselves known to whoever had the time to listen. Tales spread of a bizarre ape-like creature stalking the local woods. A massive cryptid with even larger feet, and a ferocity to make even the most stalwart start quaking in their boots. For his part Syrup just rolled his eyes, unimpressed. People had the wildest imaginations, it seemed. All these features passed from mouth to ear in excited whispers, each time appearing grander and more exaggerated from the last. Such was the way of storytelling. There was no way a creature such as this “Bigfoot” was real. And he was going to prove it. Which was how he found himself deep inside those woods as the sun started creeping towards the horizon. Perhaps evening wasn’t the best time to go looking for potentially aggressive cryptids, but the dark

Syrup wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this. He was used to being ridden around with supplies and whatnot for explorations with his rider. But this “tack” stuff was something new. A sleek saddle sat nestled on the middle of his back, cushioned by some kind of blanket he wasn’t allowed to chew on. And the bridle, Appiaq’s mane, the bridle was truly bizarre. A strange contraption resembling a spider made out of leather straps that hugged his face. A gentle tug on his rider’s part was all it took to turn his head and force his paws to follow. It was all so… weird. Still, Syrup trusted his handler. So he obediently followed them into a clean, neat building out front. Even as he felt a little awkward with all this strange new tack. “Hello,” his handler greeted some official-looking person behind the desk. “We’re here for the polo test. For the- y’know the breeding papers and stuff.” Which of course meant paperwork and waivers and signing and forms and contracts and- it wasn’t

The river’s waters had been bountiful this year. A swarm of gosh larger than usual had wandered upstream to spawn, nice and fat enough to make a very good meal each. And the thick, almost interlocking branches overhead kept out the pesky raptors keen on swooping down. No, these spoils were for the ground walkers. And so a group of caimans were quick to move in. The waters were a little north of where they would usually lurk, but not so cold as to be unbearable. Why shouldn’t they stay? Except, the village of humans not far from the river had a very different perspective. But most importantly, they owned that river. And they couldn’t exactly fish with a float of hungry crocodilians inconsiderately clogging up their vital water way. So they turned to tokota’s for help. Unobtainium growled low in her throat, watching those fat reptiles just lounge about with bellies full of stolen fish. Normally she wouldn’t bother with the affairs of mankind. But rewards of meat and goodies were

Yep, there were akota sized crabs, alright. Sarah just barely dodged a massive claw swinging for her head, so close she could feel the wind brush through her hair. Garrett yelped and darted towards her, only to be cut off by a massive leg stabbing the ground before him. The crab turned and snapped its meaty claws which the toko barely managed to scamper out of the way in time. Frantic now, Sarah’s eyes darted around the cramped room. No matter where she looked treasure lay scattered; gold coins, gems, necklaces, whatever the heart could desire. All tossed around by the fight. Fortunately, all the gold scattered everywhere made the dark hallway out easier to spot. Garrett stumbled to her side and she tugged his mane, not waiting a second before dashing out the doorway. The clink of nails on sandstone signaled his following close behind. Together the two scrambled down the hall until Sarah glimpsed a door just around the corner. No telling what was behind it. But it couldn’t be

First stop, adventure! Sarah was one of the first people off the boat, feet thudding lightly against the gangway. Garrett followed close at her heels, tail wagging happily. A great, big, slobbery tongue hung lazily out of the tokota’s mouth. Sarah was halfway up the pier when she first got a glance of the true beauty of the island. Growing up in a world of near-constant ice and snow, this was something completely different. Vast stretches of green spilled out in front of her -trees, ferns, vines, and just about any kind of plant imaginable. It was stunningly breathtaking. That wasn’t even mentioning the snow-white sands and aquamarine waters. The whole place was absolutely beautiful. Garrett gave a bark and Sarah laughed at his impatience. “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” With practiced ease she swung up onto his broad back. Almost immediately after he took off, rushing to a nearby beach. Together they dodged other tokotas and riders until they found a lovely little spot of sand to

Sand, sand, and more sand. Nothing existed for miles except for an endless sea of rolling dunes of sand. Full and tan, the most mind numbingly dull thing one could look at. Dragon, griffin, or something in between, anyone would be bored out of their damned skull just looking at this damned place. The sky was cloudless, the landscape featureless, and Tephros already wanted to leave. And he would have, had he not been stuck with glorified babysitting duty. The dragon glanced over his shoulder to see Mielo and Montaja still following close on his tail. Why these two knuckleheads wanted to waste potentially hours by wandering around in the middle of a stars forsaken desert was beyond him. He snarled to himself, annoyance creeping along his spine. Of all the places in the world these two wanted to explore a desert. They could have soared over mighty mountain ranges or explored vibrant coastlands. They could have traveled to lush forests so teaming with life the prey practically jumped

In a way Mela was right; it did rain again. Hard and fast and merciless. More and more water fell until it rushed down the hillside in a raging current, flattening any small plant in its way. Anything with too-weak root systems were ripped out and flung across the hillside or plain or field. Wherever their leafy corpses would end up. It was a haunting mirror image to what this place had suffered earlier in the month. Very few would have assumed there was anything left to save from two back to back floods. But once again Dryad led the way down the slope and into the sheltered little plain, stride steady and confident. As if she knew for certain that there would be nothing to fear. Mela, however, found apprehension gnawing at her gut as she followed. The ground beneath their paws was unnervingly moist and only got damper the closer they got to their gardened area. The moment she heard the rain the ruby coated swift knew it was going to be bad. But the question remained, what would