Cobalt wasn’t the only one hobbling away from the fight. Guar was doing it too. He had exerted too much energy in the fight and he was utterly exhausted. Not to mention the cuts and scrapes he got from the fight. The cuts in his leg and across his back seemed to burn with each move he made. The clothes were already mending themselves as well as healing his wounds, but that also took aura and it drained him further.
By the time he reached the Supernatural Hunters’ camp, he was about ready to collapse… so he did. He fell on his rear in pure exhaustion and lay on his back. His senses were having a hard time focusing on his surroundings. He could barely make out the scent of Crisis as she slithered toward him. Gently, she picked him up and rubbed his head with her finger. “Are you alright, Guar?” He could barely answer her. All he was able to manage was a slight nod. In a raspy voice, he answered, “I’ll be alright. I just need to rest.” He rolled over and his sightless eyes locked onto hers. “How goes the rescue?”
Crisis gave a nervous smile. “Well… we got a lot of them released. That Kensha cub nearly bit my hand off and the dridder child ran off scared before I could talk to him. Right now Katrika is finishing up… there’s this, uh… there’s umm…” she couldn’t finish, and, even though he was barely conscious, he could tell she was shuddering. Remembering the discussions he had had with Temi during some of the time while she was healing him, he recalled how Crisis was brought up and her fear of one thing in this plane of existence… “Was it a tonorion?” She shook her head violently, “Yes. A big one too”
Guar couldn’t help but laugh to himself. When it came to tonorions, Crisis’s definition of “big” was highly exaggerated. “Well, my friend. Why don’t you take me over to the cages and we will see if we can’t give Katrika a hand.” Crisis wasn’t too happy with that idea. But she felt that if Guar went, then there shouldn’t be too much of a problem. He was the new protector of Felarya, after all, she thought. Forgetting that he was very weakened, she slithered off to the cages, hoping that the tonorion was gone.
They got there just as the tonorion was walking out of sight. Kat was reaching into another cage, this one with a neko in it. She was cowering in the back of the cage, trying her best to avoid Katrika’s grasp, hissing with each swipe. When Crisis saw what was in the cage, she forgot all about Guar. She put him down and rushed over to get at the tasty treat in the cage. The two giant nagas began to fight over her. “I saw her first, she’s mine.” Kat screamed, trying to play “keep away” from Crisis. Crisis just snorted, “But I am older and bigger than you. Besides, how do you think Anna will act when she finds out you are being as mature as a hatchling?” This caused Katrika to blush and take on Anna’s pink hair and royal blue scales. She pouted for a bit, still playing “keep away,” contemplating what this might mean for her and Anna.
Neleh was completely frightened by the experience. In Felarya, Nekos were to Nagas as mice were to cats. Even though she wasn’t from Felarya, she was still in it and still had a natural fear of the giant snake people. If only she had her bow. It was specifically made for Felarya, with poisoned arrow tips that would put just about any predator to sleep for hours. After all, theirs was a survey mission, not one of conquest. But that didn’t help her now. She saw her bow lying on the ground with some other equipment as well as her tool belt and quiver. But being so high and with, not one, but two Nagas just outside the only exit to her cage, she was in a real tight spot.
The nagas continued to fight over her and it only scared her more, hearing how this one deserved to eat her first because she found her first, the other stating that it was her who was chosen to lead the rescue and therefore should get the first spoils of war. Plus it didn’t help that all the waving and swinging the cage was making in the hands of the, what looked like, younger and smaller naga only proved in making Neleh sick to her stomach. She wasn’t sure she could take any more of this. But she didn’t have to because it was about that time when Kat saw her chance to take advantage of the argument.
Crisis had made the statement that Katrika got the last neko they found and that it was now her turn. When Kat denied the fact, Crisis turned her back on Katrika, stating that if she wasn’t give the neko, then she would never talk to her again. Quickly, Katrika tipped the cage over her mouth and shook it, forcing Neleh to loose her grip on the bars. It was like Neleh was watching everything in slow motion. She slipped through the hole that Kat had made and fell toward her gaping maw. Everything moved so fast and yet so slow; Neleh saw everything in its finest detail. She saw the fleshy cavern awaiting her below to drop in, the gleam of Katrika’s teeth, even the smile she had in knowing that she had won the argument over Crisis. It was no surprise, then, that she saw her rescue coming.
He moved like lightning, faster than she had seen any humanoid move. He bounded up from the ground where Crisis had placed him and bounced his way up Katrika’s body, from her tail, to her belly, off her breast, to her chin, and into the air to catch her seconds before she fell into the pit that awaited her. As she sailed over her face, he pulled out a golden tonfa and swung down, hitting Katrika across her nose. He continued his path, landing on the top of her head and then up to a nearby tree branch.
As he set her down, she looked up into her rescuer’s eyes. What she saw both frightened her as well as comfort her. His sightless eyes stared into her very soul, but they also told her that everything would be ok, that he was here to help her. His face looked back at the Nagas, anger plastered on it. “I told you this was a rescue, not a buffet. So do you mind telling me what you were doing?”
He really didn’t have to ask. He knew exactly what they were doing. He had smelt the neko in the cage and heard the argument. He constantly tried to intervene, but he was too weak to do so. He called after them over and over, but his voice was too soft and too scratchy for anyone to hear. He tried to move, but he couldn’t. Then when he heard her sliding out of the cage, something in him snapped and he got his second wind. He later figured it was because of the healing properties of the soil. Lying down on it helped him regain his strength… at least for a bit.
When he had finished his statement, he fell to his knees. He was still weak and it would be a long while before he was able to pull something like that off again. Neleh got up and tried to help him to his feet. He was bigger than her, but she managed. She looked up to the Nagas and noticed that they weren’t happy, especially Kat. She gave Guar the “deaths gaze” as she rubbed her now bruising nose. “Guar,” she fumed, “she was mine to eat. You had no right to snatch my food from my mouth. I demand you give her back.” Crisis also looked upset. “As much as I don’t like it, Guar, she is right. You don’t do that here. Give back the neko and nobody gets hurt… except her.”
Guar had other plans, though. He leaped to the ground and began to run away with her. Neleh, on the other hand, wasn’t ready to go yet. “My equipment,” she yelled, “over to your right.” He swerved to the right, just as Kat was about to grab him, and ran by her stuff. He never stopped, but she didn’t need him to, she grabbed it all on the fly. The two Nagas chased after them, yelling and screaming at him to bring back lunch. He ignored them, though, continuing to run away with her in his arms. He had no intention of handing her over and she had no intention of going willingly. As he ran, she notched an arrow and aimed it over his shoulder. “What are you doing? That’s not going to work.” But she disregarded him, saying, “Trust me.”
She fired and the first arrow missed, falling just short of Kat before she slithered over it. She notched another arrow and took aim again. This one hit Kat’s scale and bounced off. Katrika was gaining. She was nearly in arms reach of Guar now and was about to grab him when Neleh notched another arrow. She aimed for her hand as it reached for them. Closer and closer she came. She was nearly there, nearly about to grab them. She could already taste the neko and Guar in her mouth and felt them slide down her throat when suddenly she felt a sharp sting in her hand.
She drew back to find the arrow planted deeply in her palm. As she pulled it out with her fingernails, she suddenly started to feel drowsy. She couldn’t control herself as her momentum caused her to ball up on her self and slide to a halt, completely passed out. Crisis wasn’t far behind and saw Katrika stumble. She slid up to her friend to find her fast asleep, and even with her predator instincts, Guar and the neko was no were to be found…
Six months had gone by since that day and Crisis was on her way home from a hunt. Katrika came to about an hour after she was shot but they had not seen Guar since then. Katrika was none too happy when she awoke and they spent the next week looking for both the Protector and the neko, but they searched in vain.
Crisis was coming back by the same way that she was when she first met Guar. She always came by that way lately and always stopped in the clearing to think about the good times she had with him. It was safe to say that she missed her friend. She missed his joyous voice as she had entered the clearing when they first met. She could almost hear him as he said, “Hello, lass.” She sighed as she started to slither away when she heard, “Miss me?”
She turned her head quickly to find him standing on a branch nearby. He was
still in the garb of the Knight Protector as well as a dark green cloak around his neck. He was leaning on the tree trunk, eating a dragon apple. She slithered up to him; joy in her heart at seeing her friend again. “Guar!” She exclaimed, “You’re ok!” He laughed as he took another bite of the apple, “That I am, lass.” He then took a bit more serious tone with her, “How is Kat. We didn’t do any permanent damage to her did we?” Crisis just shook her head, “No, she is fine. Wait till I tell her you’re alright!”
Guar became a bit unnerved by the statement and quickly added, “I would rather you wait a few more months. I have no idea what she will do if she finds out.” Crisis nodded and raised herself up to where he was eye level with her. “What have you been up to these past few months? What happened to the neko? Where did you go?” Guar just put his hands up to all the questions, “Whoa, slow down, Crisis. That’s why we came here; to answer your questions and to ask you one of our own.” Crisis tilted her head to the side as she asked, “We?”
It was then that Neleh came out from behind the tree. She was still in the same outfit, though it looked newer and was still wearing the same equipment belt. Her bow was slung on her back and she looked nervous, like she was ready to reach for it at the drop of a hat. She timidly came out from behind Guar as he smiled and said, “Crisis, you remember Neleh.” Crisis’s stomach growled as it churned her latest catch, several nekos she caught not too far from where they were. “How could I forget the one that got away?”
It was then that Neleh was out far enough that Crisis noticed that her belly was slightly bulging and moving even more slightly. Crisis smiled at her, “Catch a few tomthumbs, I see.” Guar and Neleh both laughed as he said, “Actually, she didn’t eat them. They are mine. It seems that neko and Taur’Draug DNA has more in common than our outer appearance lets on.”
Crisis couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Guar was a father!
“Oh, I am so happy for you two. Any idea on what it is?” Guar smiled proudly as he responded, “THEY are twin boys. From the look of their auras, they will have their mother’s face and ears, but my tail and eyes.” Neleh finally spoke up timidly, “We have even chosen names for them. They will be Axe and Ace. And we were wondering… um…” it made Neleh nervous to say it, so Guar said it for her, “Being that you were my first real friend in Felarya, we were wondering if you would be their godmother.”
Crisis was shocked by the statement. Never before had anything their size asked her to be a godmother to their child. In fact, she usually ate people of their size and was never given the chance. She smiled as she very gently and very carefully leaned closer and kissed Neleh’s belly (almost making Neleh pass out). “I would love to be their godmother.”
Guar smiled and nodded at Neleh. Neleh took a deep breath and sighed, “Ok, you were right. Crisis, I will see you later.” She didn’t sound happy as she said the last part, and she leaped from branch to branch down to the ground to take off toward the river. Guar was about to do the same when he snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We found a new home. If you follow the Jewel River all the way to the ocean and thentravel up the north coast, you will find a small peninsula. When we found it, there were no sentient beings there. All we found were plenty of Duiker. We decided to call it home. Anyone is welcome, but no one is aloud to eat anything sentient. I won’t even allow Neleh to eat any Masu or tomthumbs if she finds them. You are welcome too, Crisis.” He smiled at her as he climbed down, “Just make sure you follow the rules.”
Crisis smiled back as she watched him walk away. “It sounds great, Guar. Did you give this place a name?” He nodded as he entered the underbrush, “Yes. I named it after my home world. It’s called New Londvarna.” Crisis thought about the name and rolled it over in her mind and off her tongue. “Londvarna… Londvarna… I like the sound of that. What does it mean?”
Guar simply smiled as he disappeared into the brush, “It means Sanctuary”
Giantess World
