Chapter 9

Opal cried out in frustration and threw her fishing rod on the ground.

“Maybe they just left, you said the fish were pretty smart,” murmured Rain, lazing against a rock with his paws behind his head and his eyes closed.

“Grr, I know, but it’s been a day, the fish usually come back.”

“I did kill and eat one of their own on the shore, that would scare anyone away for a long time.”

“Stupid nosey fish. Fine. Let’s go fishing at the great lake. Maybe they went there or maybe there are other fishies in that lake to catch.”

Rain cracked an eye. “We can do that, but I want to make it a proper hunting trip. We’ll stay the night by the lake. Go and get a pair of tents and whatever else it is you need to put up camp.”

Opal glared at him but scampered off into the Goblin tribes camp. After a few minutes he heard her returning footsteps. He sighed and rolled to his feet.

A large rucksack sat on her shoulders with a number of cooking utensils hanging off the side with string. She shifted her shoulders making it comfortable.

“Well? The sooner we get to the lake the sooner you can eat, are you coming?”

He eyed the rucksack. It very clearly held one tent, not two.

Rain opened his mouth to say something, then paused as images of snuggling with the vulnerable Goblin last night came to mind. He slowly closed his mouth. He found he couldn’t make himself protest her choice to his chagrin.

Shaking his head at his own softness he gestured for her to lead the way and he followed as they left the crystal cavern behind. They left different way than how he had originally entered, but probably for the best, he considered, if he had difficulty fitting through that tiny entrance before he certainly would not be able to fit now.

The Goblin took them through a maze of tunnels often lit by small crystals dotting the ceiling but often enough in darkness, or sometimes barely lit by some luminous moss or other foliage. For the most part it was deserted, apart from the occasional scuttling rat which Opal attempted to catch by throwing rocks. She missed without fail to her growing irritation and Rain’s growing amusement.

Eventually, they emerged from a jagged crack in the wall of the cavern that contained the great lake. It stretched before them for two kilometers and the vast purple and blue crystal formation hanging above glowed with light just as impressive as when he had first come across it.

He paused to take it in.

This is where I died ... And was turned into a monster. I hope it was worth it Brax, Myra, Adlen, Eliza, Lira. I’m going to climb out of hell and kill you all.

“Anything wrong?” said Opal looking back at him.

“No. Just bad memories. Let’s find a good fishing spot. A rock or something that juts out into the lake.”

She nodded and the pair began wandering along the boulder-strewn lake edge in companionable silence. Every so often a blue shelled crab would scuttle from behind a boulder and Opal would exclaim and rush up to grab it and then carry it back to Rain. Rain would then kill it and snack on crab as they walked, crunching open shells and sucking down crab meat.

“Hey what is that?”

Rain paused from splitting open a shell and followed Opal’s pointing finger. A large form lay slumped on the lakeshore. At first he thought it was a bleached white tree trunk that had somehow been beached, it’s top side covered in glowing moss. But as they drew closer he realised that it was a monster, an unmoving monster. An absolutely huge white alligator. Glowing crystal nubs dotted its top side and its head was topped by a crown of jagged crystal which was ringed at the base with a worked gold circlet. Its eyes were white, blind. The pair stared at it slack-jawed.

“Holy shit that’s a big lizard.”

“Think how much meat that is!” exclaimed Opal.

“It’s dead right? I hope it’s dead, I wouldn’t want to fight it, it looks extremely dangerous.”

Opal moved closer and using a stick she poked at a leg. The alligator remained unmoving.

Rain moved closer, even lying on its stomach the top of the alligator must have been twice Rain’s height. Round eyed he placed a paw on its worn and scarred scales.

“How do you think it died?”

“I don’t know, old age maybe? It looks ancient, there’s even small plants and mosses growing on it.”

Rain looked up to see that Opal had abandoned her rucksack and had climbed on top of the alligator and was walking its length with arms outstretched for balance. The thing was so long that half of its tail remained below the surface of the lake.

“So it just dropped dead now? After living for decades or centuries? After I...”

“What? Why does that matter?”