- STORY OPENING
The door opens slowly, scraping against the floor as the foul odor of cigar smoke hits the viscet’s senses. Older viscets sitting around multiple poker tables in the musty room turn to see who has entered; she holds her breath, pausing for a moment, soon regaining her composure and striding towards the front desk straight ahead.
A paw slams against the worn surface of the desk, holding a small stack of cash. The viscet positioned behind it raised his head from the strewn papers beside him, fixing his gaze on to the culprit.
“It’s all there.” she remarks in the most confident tone she can muster, watching as the male takes the money from her.
Silence fills the room, he counts the money slowly, as if purposefully to prolong the female’s anxiety.
“There is only eight hundred here.” he responded, eying her suspiciously.
“It’s all I could get.” rubbing the back of her neck, she carefully avoided making eye contact with the dishevelled looking viscet as he peered at her back. “Not good enough, missy,” he finally says, slipping the cash into a nearby drewer. “Hey! Then don’t I get my money back?” she exclaimed in protest. He raised an eyebrow, as if offended by the notion, “not necessarily.” he said with a sneer, revealing his mustard yellow teeth. She bit her lip, trying to hold back her growing impatience, “please sir, I need that money--”
“What’s the dough for, anyhow?” turning her head, her gaze landed on a sleek, gray viscet leaning on the wall closest to her. She mind as well tell him, he appeared harmless enough. “I’m looking for someone to guide me up to the Igasho mountains,”
“Now why would a lass like you want to go there? It’s dangerous, y’know.”
“It’s none of your business,” she found herself quickly respond, turning back to the male behind the desk. “Kindly give me back what is mine.” she demanded, failing to mask her frustration now.
“I can take you to Igasho,” the gray viscet persisted, walking over to her and holding out his hand to the one behind the desk. She watched in awe as the viscet hesitated, giving him a dirty stare but proceeded to hand him her money. “How did you . . . ?” her voice stammered as he smiled down at her. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about it; follow me.” she obliged, accompanying him through the door of the building and outside.
“Wait here,” he ordered, walking away and approaching another viscet close by but out of earshot.
She shuttered; watching her warm breath evaporate into the cold city air, the sun was not yet out due to it being so early in the morning, plus, she was in an alleyway, so that didn’t help matters. Watching the two viscets talk, she attempted to make out what they were saying. “What am I doing?” she murmured nervously, her breathing becoming shaky. “Kajika probably isn’t even real.”
Turning her head slightly, she glanced back at her vibrant colored wings, spreading them out wide and wrapping the feathers so that they closed around her arms and chest in an attempt to stay warm.
“Time to go!” the gray male announced with a bright smile as he trotted back over to her. “Already?” she asked with a puzzled expression, only to have him motion her to follow.
* * *
A low humming of the truck’s engine helped calm her nerves as she sat in the backseat with the gray, they had been driving through the city of Treali and would soon be heading up the road leading to the mountains of Igasho, with little to no conversation.
“I just realized something,” the gray remarked, breaking the silence. “I never asked for your name, although, I’m sure it won’t be able to match your remarkable markings.” she blushed, looking away from his eyes. “Thank you; I guess I’m just so used to them it’s hard to realize how different others think they look.” she responded with a small laugh, stealing a glance at her purple and sky blue paws. “Harmosa is my name, Harmosa Armonía.”
“I think it fits,” he replied, then added after a small pause, “the names Quincy, you can call me Quince if you’d like.” Harmosa smiled, looking out the window as they turned onto the paved road away from the city.
“There is just one thing I don’t quite get, Harmosa,” Quincy began, causing her to turn back towards him. “You have wings, something I’ve never seen before, why don’t you just fly to Igasho?” he asked in a genuinely curious tone. She laughed, saying, “well, even if I did manage to fly twenty miles there, I wouldn’t be able to carry much, or know where to go from there.” he shrugged, “I suppose you’re right; the Igasho mountains are very vast afterall.”
“What did your parents think of you going off like this?” he questioned with a smirk, crossing his arms. “Uhm . . .” hesitating, her eyes shifted from place to place awkwardly. Quincy’s smirk grew bigger, “little rebel running off without telling the parents, eh?”
Quincy seemed to ponder something for a moment, before adding, “just tell me one thing: Why do you want to go in the first place?” Harmosa felt like she owed him at least that much, what could be the harm in it? Except him thinking she’s a crazy broad of course. Taking a deep breath, she looked back towards the Igasho mountains as they began to grow closer. “I want to know if Kajika is real.”
She could hear Quincy stiffen in his seat, and even the driver’s ears pinned back. “I’ve heard about Kajika,” Quincy said in a reserved voice, continuing. “He is said to move without sound; his blood colored, featherless wings assure maximum stealth when going in for an attack.” he now turned his head towards the mountains as well, “not to mention he has a greasy mane full of fleas and teeth so long they hang out of his mouth.”
Harmosa sighed, “I just . . .” her voice trailed off as she started playing with her fingers. “It’s so hard to explain.” the viscets, and even the vehicle they sat in seemed to turn into a sudden quietness as they continued down the road.
“Try me,” he urged, looking back towards her. Harmosa returned his gaze, resting her head on one of her paws. “Knowing that others are out there, like me . . . it would just, mean so much to me.” she responded in almost a murmur, Quincy nodded, his eyes falling away from hers.
* * *
Towering mountains with their highest points covered with snow from the previous winter along with a beautiful array of trees and vivid wildflowers were now filling Harmosa’s eyes with their nearly sinful splendor. The road had gotten increasingly more rough with the last few hours, causing the truck’s going to be slow. But she didn’t mind, she had never in her entire life seen such a view. She was used to the city, full of fast moving cars and so many other viscets it was impossible to hear even your own thoughts, rarely venturing away from that life. But this, this made her want to stay here, regardless of Kajika’s existence, living out her days in bliss.
The truck slowed to a stop at a small clearing, where all three viscets got out of the vehicle.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Quincy asked smugly, causing her to whirl in his direction with a joyful grin. “Nice? Is that all you have to say about it?” she responded playfully, stretching her wings out to their full length after the long ride.
“It’s getting dark; Joe, make the lady a fire.” Quincy said with a wink, the viscet, Joe, who had drove them all the way up here nodded, walking off to presumably find firewood. Harmosa watched as he disappeared into the forest, “Joe doesn’t talk much, does he.” she remarked, flapping her wings a bit. “Nope,” Quincy commented back a tad stiff, surveying their surroundings with a keen eye.
Eventually, Joe came back close to dark with a large handful of firewood, and before she knew it a lively fire had been started. If took a little longer than she thought it would for him to come back, but she guessed it was just hard to find dry wood.
“So, Harmosa, where do you think we’ll find Kajika?” Quincy inquired, the illumination of fire dancing off his coat and around him. “Well, I thought you might have some idea,” she began, laughing a little. It sounded so absurd; being here, doing this. “You’ll need all the help you can get,” he said with a smirk, “Kajika is known to steal sheep around here, and children.” Harmosa looked into the fire, rubbing her paws together. “It’s all rumours and speculation, no one knows if they did any of those horrible things.” she responded, taking a long breath in.
“Is that what others would say, when viscets talked about your parents?” Quincy suddenly remarked in a completely stone cold tone.
“What?” Harmosa responded, her eyes widening, taken aback.
He ignored her, glancing off to her side and making some sort of paw gesture. Before she could look back, two large paws gripped the back of her shoulders firmly, she hastily began to flap her powerful wings to loosen their hold, only for another viscet to come help pin her down.
An ear piercing scream echoed through the valley as they put a peculiar “thing” on her wings, somehow attaching each wing to her hind legs, making it extremely painful to move them.
“Why are you doing this?!” she exclaimed angrily, snapping at the nearest viscet that held her down, just as a needle was jabbed into the side of her neck.
“Nothing personal lass; purely business. You’re quite the prize, y’know.” Quincy responded cooly with a disinterested look on his face. Her eyes began to close and her muscles weakened, but she refused to give up.
There was a sudden thud to the side of her, Quincy turned swiftly, his claws unsheathed. A loud crash sounded a moment later as one of the viscets holding her down went flying through the air. Quincy took one look at the viscet now on the ground, and hurriedly ran in the opposite direction.
Harmosa could just barely force her eyelids open, hearing the yells and blood curdling screams of viscets around her, managing to steal a glance at the fire close by. She blinked, not trusting what her eyes showed her.
He stared at her from the other side of the blaze; all she could focus on were his deep, blood red eyes and and gigantic wings, a commanding growl reverberated from his throat as her mind slipped entirely from consciousness.
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Putting this here to mess around a bit / so peeps can read it. I'll link to the whole story once it's finished!