The morning light crept through the closed flap of the tent spilling onto Anna’s face and waking her up. She pushed the covers off herself and sat up stretching.

“Time to wake up!” she said.

The lizard-bird man rolled over and groaned, trying to cover himself back up.

“Why are you like this every morning?” she asked.

He just grumbled and pulled the covers over his head. She sighed, unwilling to press him any further, not wanting to deal with a grumpy companion for the rest of the day. Instead, she got up and left the tent, stepping out into the warm morning air and looking around at the vast grasslands that surrounded them.

I still can’t believe how different a month of travel can make everything. I mean, now I can speak a few more languages, I’m not stuck in the middle of a wasteland, and I have a new friend! At least, I think Qrixit is my friend. I’m not really sure, but whatever. He doesn’t yell at me or anything, so he probably is.

The beast pulling the wagon made a noise when it noticed she was up, so she went over and started to unhobble it.

“At least someone knows how to get up in the morning,” she said.

She led it over to the wagon and started to hook it up. She heard the movement in the tent as she worked, and a few moments later, Qrixit emerged. He scratched himself before walking off into the tall grass, most likely to relieve himself.

When he returned, he helped her finish hooking the beast up before they both packed the tent away and got back on the road.

Qrixit didn’t talk much, though he did teach her his own language along with the spoken trade language and sign, and a few others that he'd learned in his travels. His people lived in the jungles she’d seen on the map that separated the wastelands from the Roolean empire to the south.

I was going to go and see that empire, but I can do that later. I think riding around with him for a few more months will be fun, and if it turns out it isn’t, well, I’ll just leave. Nothing can stop me from doing whatever I want from now on!

They quietly rode along, as they did most days, and she looked out at the landscape enjoying the view. She spotted a herd of large four-limbed creatures grazing about an eighth of a mile away. The creatures had large bodies covered in wrinkled brown skin with short thick legs holding them up. They were tearing the grass in clumps using large wide lips, stuffing the clumps in their ever-chewing mouths.

“What are those?” she asked.

“Lonpers,” Qrixit he replied.

“Lonpers?” she repeated.

“Yes, that’s it,” he said.

She watched the lonpers as they rode by, munching away on grass seemingly without a care in the world.

She spotted movement in the grass near the herd. Something was creeping closer to the herd. She watched as the movement grew near the herd and then stopped. Her eyes were sharp enough to make out the disturbed grass where whatever had caused the movement stopped, but the lonpers were none the wiser.

Suddenly a huge six-limbed reptile burst from the tall grass, running at incredible speed directly at the herd. It opened a huge mouth grabbed one of the beasts by the leg and bit down. A sickening crunch could be heard, even as far away as they were, the lonper let out a pitiful wailing sound. The other lonpers bolted away in a panic, reminding her of cattle stampede.

The reptile didn’t wait for the lonper to die before it started to tear chunks of flesh from its body, gulping them down as the poor creature squealed and struggled. She turned to Qrixit who didn’t seem to have noticed the scene and tapped on his shoulder.

“What’s that?” she asked, pointing at the reptile.

He turned and looked, squinting his eyes to see.

“Dammit! Get the javelins. If a grass moves, toss one. We can’t afford to let Trinna get hurt!” he said.

“Right!” Anna replied.

She climbed into the back of the wagon and got the quiver of javelins, tossing them to Qrixit before climbing back onto the driver’s bench.

“To answer your question, that was a braxle,” he said.

“Braxle,” she replied.

“That’s it,” he said.

She pulled a javelin from the quiver and watched the grass, moving her head back and forth to make sure she could see both sides. Qrixit sped the wagon up, clearly wanting to put as much distance between them and the braxle as they could before nightfall. They kept the pace up for several hours before showing back down to the usual speed.

“That should be far enough. That braxle will be fat and happy for a few days after eating that lonper, so we’ll be safe tonight,” he said.

She nodded and kept watching, wanting to make sure nothing snuck up on them.

I could use my eyes, but then he’d ask about them, and I don’t feel like explaining.

They spent the rest of the day traveling at a steady pace before pulling off the road for the night. They unhooked Trinna and led her away from the wagon, hobbling her between the wagon and the road, unlike most nights. She wasn’t all that happy about being kept from the tall grass but was well-trained enough not to put up a fuss about it.

Qrixit took the tent from the back of the wagon, and she helped him set it up.

“I’ll keep watch,” she said.

He gave her a long look and then nodded before crawling into the tent for the night. She took the quiver of javelins from the wagon and started to walk around the small camp, watching the grass for any signs of movement. Hours passed, and both Qrixit and Trinna fell into a deep sleep. She prepared to summon an eye but paused.

No, Qrixit might wake up and see them.

She took a deep breath and went back to keeping watch.

The rest of the night passed, and when the first rays of the morning sun poked above the horizon, she started to hook Trinna up to the wagon. Qrixit woke up a few minutes later, and they broke camp and got back on the road. She leaned against him and closed her eyes, falling asleep an hour or so later. She opened them in her dream world surrounded by her dream friends.

“I hate lying, but I want him to think I need to sleep. That way, he doesn’t think I’m a monster or something,” she said.

She walked through the field of tentacles. They reached out to touch her as she passed. Eyes floated down from the sky too and hovered around her playfully.

“I’m glad I’ve been able to spend so much time with all of you. I think I’d go crazy if I stopped sleeping again,” she said.

Music started to play suddenly, and she laughed.

“You always want to dance, don’t you?” she asked.

The tentacles wiggled happily in response.

“Alright then, I guess we can play until he wakes me,” she said.

She started to sway her body back and forth, and the tentacles started to ungulate, waving along with the music as well. After a few moments, she started to sing, filling the air with her bright clear voice.

“Anna!” Qrixit said.

Her eyes snapped open, and she sat up and looked around.

“Look there!” he added.

She turned her gaze in the direction his clawed finger was pointing and saw the biggest animal she’d ever seen standing in the middle of the road. It was at least seventy feet long with a huge neck and tail. Its massive body was held up by four powerful legs.

“What is that!?” she asked.

“A thunder lizard,” he replied.

“That’s the biggest fucking lizard I’ve ever seen!!!” Anna said.

He laughed.

“Wait until you see a tarrasque,” he replied.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Oh, just a two-legged two-armed predator that is just as big as a thunder lizard,” he replied.

“Seriously?” she asked.

“Oh course, I would never lie to you,” he replied.

“People only say that when they’re lying,” Anna said.

“Well, I’m not. They have the skull of one in Oomla. I’ll take you to see it when we get there,” he replied.

She looked back at the massive thunder lizard standing across the road and cocked her head to the side.

“So, uh what do we do about that?” she asked.

“We wait,” he replied.

“Right,” she said.

The thunder lizard stood there and munched away on the grass for hours before taking a giant shit on the ground and walking away. Qrixit got the wagon moving the moment the huge beast was out of tail-whipping distance. She spotted a few more of the thunder lizards in the distance that day.

She kept watch again that night and slept on the ride during the next day. They kept this up for a few weeks as they traveled across the grasslands. Qrixit woke her up when he spotted something he thought she would like.

Nearly a month after the thunder lizard had crossed their path, they came to a river. Qrixit was nervous as they approached and stopped the wagon a good way away from the water’s edge.

“Many things hunt in the water. We need to watch out as we cross,” he said.

“Can I get a bath first?” she asked.

“Are you insane?” he asked.

“No, I just like bathing,” she replied.

“I just told you that things hunt in the water!” he said.

“Oh, right, well, I’ll be fine,” she replied.

“No, you won’t! Now take a javelin and watch for anything in the water,” he said.

She glared at him for a moment before yanking one of the javelins from the quiver and turning to look at the river.

He turned away from her and flicked the reins. The wagon jerked forward, and Trinna headed into the river. When they were just over halfway across, she spotted something moving towards them. Whatever it was was huge, bigger than Trinna by far, and she was larger than any horse Anna had ever seen. Anna stood up and aimed the Javelin at the huge shadow moving towards them.

“What is it?” Qrixit asked.

“I don’t know!” Anna replied.

She threw the javelin hard, aiming just off to the side to account for the way water changes the position of things. The javelin buried itself deep into the creature’s back, causing it to rear its huge reptilian head up and thrash around.

It turned to them and lunged at the wagon, its maw held open. She pulled another javelin from the quiver and threw it into the reptile’s mouth. It hit with such force that the javelin shattered, but the shards went through the beast’s skull, exiting from the top, and taking the remains of its brain with them. The beast went limp, sinking in the water for a moment before floating to the surface, a red cloud billowing out from the carcass.

Suddenly the water began to roll, and the carcass was torn to shreds in a feeding frenzy, being reduced to nothing in a matter of minutes. She looked over at Qrixit with wide eyes.

“I told you it wasn’t safe,” he said.

“Yeah, thanks,” she replied.

She sat back down and looked around, hoping nothing else would try and eat them.