A half hour of hacking into the growth brought a buzzing sound to their ears. Falconer saw a large winged insect land on a tree trunk a few feet away with a loud slap. Its rounded head, like a cicada’ had six wide black eyes and long sharp mandibles. It flexed a jointed scorpion-like tail with an inch long stinger at the end. The buzzing grew louder and a dark cloud dimmed the view of distant trees. Falconer could see their destructive effects as they grew closer. Every leaf and any small creature in their path were stripped bare in seconds.
“Sersi! Shield the Princess! Everyone drop to your knees!” Falconer called and outstretched his arms and hands. Lya used part of her folded body over the baby while Sersi spread her wings and murmured a spell. A veil of light shined over them. A couple of the insects struck Sersi’s barrier and bounced harmlessly away. Then a ripping wind tore over them and into the massive swarm of stinging insects, throwing them back into the jungle and splattering them against trees.
Wind roared and insects buzzed creating quite a terrible noise. Ulaf, Reigndale and Helshred gripped anything they could find of big roots on the ground. The wind whipped across them, but not as strongly as a foot or so above them. As Falconer calmed the wind tunnel effect, Helshred turned to Reigndale. He reached over and clipped his blades together near the man's shoulder, making him jump. An insect fell in half at their feet. Reigndale shook himself off and shivered. He hated bugs. After noting the grossness of the trees now painted with bug guts, they continued on their march.
Falconer noted the path through the jungle plants devastated by the insect swarm. He knew his small team and the Princess almost became the bugs' next meal. When they came to a steep hill thick with trees, Ulaf put a big arm around his daughter and climbed behind her in order to make sure she didn't fall. Reigndale had to use the trees for leverage to climb. A couple minutes of such struggle was all it took for Falconer to decide action. He stopped them all and held his hands over the soil and roots going up the hill. The ground moved and shifted. It molded itself into a line of stairs in the earth at his command. He didn't want to use his power too much for fear that he could create alterations someone might notice from afar. The more natural they left things, the less of a trail they would leave.
At least they could move easier up this very steep hill. They slowed on the plateau where the foliage became the thickest and Helshred had to scrape the sap off his blades several times to keep them cutting at their best. Finally, after hours-worth of hacking and pausing to wait for him to make headway, the distance between the trees widened and the building came into view. It stood two stories and vines covered every wall. Tall trees grew all around it except for an area to the front door, shading with long branches and portions of the jungle canopy. The way to the door had to be cut clear but they all paused by an area of old stumps that were cut long ago and leveled off.
“Take a moment to catch your breath. You've done a great job,” Falconer said to Helshred who sat down and scraped at the sap on his blades. Then he spoke to Ulaf and Lya, “I want you two to wait here with the Princess while we go in and make sure it's safe. Sersi will stay with you to ward anything away. She will tell me if you need us.”
Ulaf nodded and with his own great knife, cleared away some plants from a tree stump for his daughter to sit and rest. Falconer walked up to the side of the building and put a hand on it. He could sense life inside through the cold stone walls. The walls were thick and, though cracked on the outside, still stable clear through. They needed to see what kind of life stirred within and clear it out for safety.
By the clicking of Helshred's blades, Falconer knew his odd friend was eager to get back to work. He whipped and slashed away at the plants making a fine path right to the front door. The door stood wide open. No sign of tracks could be seen on the stones in the pathway, but there was plenty of room for any kind of animal to go inside. Reigndale went in first. The first room had a long table and overturned chairs. Cabinets in the walls stood open. They carefully looked inside of all of them. A small reptilian squirrel-like creature hissed at them and bolted outside. They caught their breath from the startling effect and hoped that was all they'd find. A narrow hall led to a console room with a generator and broken equipment. A set of stairs led upward.
The second floor held sleeping quarters and beds with torn, bug-infested mattresses were found. They went through two rooms, and Reigndale opened the door to a third. Without time for reaction from Reigndale, a hulking body charged through the door, throwing Reigndale against an opposite wall. The snarling reptilian cat-like creature barred their way. Scales of brown and black covered its feline shaped body and tail with a diamond pattern down its back. Its golden eyes glared and it opened its mouth for a loud hiss. A mouth full of long sharp teeth greeted them from that hiss with venom dripping from long upper incisors. Its tail whipped back and forth in agitation and it poised itself to pounce. Falconer fell back in surprise and the cat looked to him first. Falconer had no time to consider what to do about the beast as it began its predator’s leap toward him.
“Helllshreeeed!” came the cry and Helshred threw himself at the cat-beast, catching and rolling with it into the room it charged out of. “Helshred! Helshred! Helshred!” His blade could be heard whistling on the air and clicking together as he fought with all four arms. They could hear something sharp tearing flesh, and hoped it wasn’t Helshred’s being torn.
Falconer and Reigndale scrambled to their feet and ran to support him, fearing that he would be cut to ribbons in the process. When they barged through the doorway, they found Helshred panting, standing over the still body of the big cat creature with all his claws pinning it to the floor. He looked up at them and grinned.
“Eat meat?” He growled.
Falconer and Reigndale looked at each other with surprise and Reigndale shrugged.
With that, the job began of cleaning out the outpost so it was fit stay in. They threw out the infested mattresses. Reigndale found a storage closet where two clean mattresses some dried food rations were stored. Helshred dragged the carcass of the cat creature outside to a stump where he carved and gutted it. Ulaf helped build a fire pit to cook it and marveled at how well Helshred could function with the bladed gauntlets. He made the carving and cleaning of the beast look easy. Helshred even sectioned the meat and prepared it for more than one meal with the skill of a professional chef. Ulaf put unused remains of the animal out into the jungle to keep other wildlife busy. Reigndale and Falconer made a trek back to the ship for the weaponry and supplies. Lya worked to give the outpost a better touch of home with some cleaning and straightening of décor. That night, Reigndale got the generator working and they enjoyed power and light. For the first time since fleeing their home they managed to relax and catch their breath. It had been a long hard journey filled with anxiety. Being deep in the jungle growth, they figured using the small generator should be safe enough for the time being. Anyone that could pick it up on their scanners would have to be close. At least, that was their hope and prayer.
