Fan-Fic Fridays: The Secret Symbol - Chapter 4: Stinging Situation

The Secret Symbol

Chapter 4

Stinging Situation

         The next day, my crew and I set out on our way back to Mystery’s Edge.  Again, those who are coming with my sisters and I back to outpost are the following: Annabeth, Cazi, Hattori, Meen, Explod, Garth, Ashley, Ali Clar, Angie, and Hyrith.  We have sixteen dragons with us, though, Annabeth and Cazi have more than one.  My Thunderdrum; Asvord’s Nadder; Elsa’s Gronckle; Annabeth’s Razorwhip, Stormcutter, and Deathsong; Cazi’s and Angie’s Skrills; Hattori’s Nightmare; Meen’s Nadder, Explod’s Zippleback; Garth’s Tide Glider; Ashley’s Nadder; Ali Clar’s Thunderdrum; and Hyrith’s Nadder.

         Being in no hurry we took our time to reach our destination.  Although after stopping for lunch from leaving at day break, a few of us were “itching” to get back to Mystery, that we hurried things along.  Now we can see our island on the horizon.

         Cazi stretched in her saddle, “Oh, will I be glad to get back to Mystery.  Berk’s fine, don’t get me wrong.  I just need to be out and able to stretch my legs.”

         I added, “And away from your little brothers.”

         “Buh,” she said caught off guard.  “Yes, yes actually you are right.”

         “Man, you are so blessed,” Asvord replied.  “Being able to get away from your sibling must be an awesome feeling.  Me… Me I’m stuck with mine being the adventurous, mystery-solving type.”

         “You know I can hear you, right?” I asked.

         “Yeah,” she smiled.  “Just testing your hearing is all.”

         We are now minutes away from our island, but something did not feel right.  As soon as we closed in for a land, our dragons became quite tense.  None of our dragons at first wanted to land.  With a little encouragement, they did land.

         We landed at our main platform and continued in on foot.  Within seconds, I could -see- what is wrong.

         Ashley said, “I know we are vikings, but this is carrying it a little too far.”

         “What in the world happened here?” asked Cazi, spreading her arms and then letting them go, slapping her sides.  “This place is a mess!”

         What greeted us on Mystery’s Edge was just that, a mystery!  The whole outpost, no matter where we went or what building we entered is exactly what Cazi said, “A mess!”  Boxes strewn about, crates broken, materials and tools spread out all over the place.

         “One might think The Twins spent the night here,” I spoke.

         Ashley quipped, “More like The Thorston Twin Twisted Tornadoes.”

         Cazi smiled, “Hey, I like that.  I was thinking something along the same lines, but you got more T’s in yours than I did mine.”

         Annabeth brought the focus back to something else, “The mess is one thing, but what about the tension from our dragons.  They are sensing something, and isn’t just affected some.  They are all wary of something.”

         Meen questioned, “But what could it be?”

         “Could it have something to do with these marks?” Explod asked.

         Explod had walked over to our Clubhouse and inspected the framing of the door and the surrounding wood siding.

         “Those aren’t just marks,” I said, dragging my hand across them.  “These marks are gashes.”

         Asvord wondered, “Was the outpost attacked while we were gone?  If so, by whom?”

         I responded while still looking that the gashes which are actually everywhere, “It might not be a matter of ‘who,’ but ‘what.’”

         “How do you mean?” my sister asked.

         “Well,” I began.  “If say Dagur or one of ours or Berk’s enemies attacked… why would they leave behind weapons, tools, and other supplies.  Why would they just go around scavenging without actually taking anything?”

         “We don’t know if they have, though,” she replied.

         “Good point,” I said.  “Go move your gear in your previously decided upon huts and see if there is anything out of place.  For those who haven’t been here, just look for anything out of the ordinary, odd, or any of these gashes.”

         Before entering our Clubhouse, in which our rooms are in the back, my sisters and I told our dragons to stand guard outside.  Each going to our own, we unpacked our belongings from our saddlebags and secondary bags as well.

         Nothing seemed out of place to me in my room.

         “Hey Asvord, Elsa?  How are your rooms looking?” I asked in a loud tone to be heard through the walls.

         But there is no answer.

         Thinking they are just messing with me, I repeated the call out… Still no answer.

         “Strange,” I said.

         Since I am done unpacking, I wanted to find out what is going on.  With the amount of stuff the girls packed, I do not think they will be done for a while.

         Again, repeating the same call out, there was still no answer.  Now, going forward on a more cautious approach, I walked over to the door, opened it coming back towards me, and quickly stepped back out of the way.

         I was expecting one of the girls to step out and try to scare me, but nothing happened.  Peeking my head out, I look to the right.  Nothing.  Looking to my left…

         “Huh!” I gashed.

         Grabbing my imaginary heart that tried to leap from my chest, I sighed.  It is only Smoky, our Terrible Terror.

         Shaking my head I stood there.  Becoming skittish, I flinched when I heard a noise of something falling from Asvord’s room.  Easing my way over to Asvord’s room.  Slowly turning my head back to the right, I looked at Asvord’s door.  It is open.  Walking over, very cautious now, I peeked my head around the corner to look in.

         A gut-wrenching noise greeted me and made me flinch again…, “Meow.”

         It is the which my sisters and I were able to pick from Pebbles and Jewels’ litter, Pearl.

         “What are you doing here?” I began to ask.  “Wait, you don’t have the answer that.  Did Asvord bring you?”

         Pearl answered in an affirmative, “Meow.”  It almost looked as if she nodded her head, but I may be trying to make too much of the situation.

         Pearl is much like her mother, Jewels, but with the polydactyl toes and claws of her father, Pebbles.  Same type cat, obviously.  Pearl is a big cat.  I mean huge, at least for a cat as far as I understand.  Pearl is only a little over three years old, but she has out grown both her parents in size.  Annett told us she might be a large cat as she had huge paws as a kitten.

         “Usually,” Annett said when Pearl was born.  “When a cat has this large of paws, they will grow into them… literally.”

         Indeed, Pearl has.  Pebbles and Jewels are only a foot and a half long, with Pebbles being the stockier build thus being the bigger of the two.  Pearl, on the other hand, she is two feet long and same build as Pebbles.  If you were to stretch out Pearl’s body by holding her up, she would be over three feet long with the extension of her legs!  By the way, the proper way to hold a cat is to put one hand right behind a cat’s front legs and the other hand right in front of a cat’s back legs; putting the cat’s body on the spaces between your thumb and first finger.  Doing this, give support for the cat while you hold them up.  You do this so you can clean them off from insects or dirt, among other things.

         “Where’s Asvord?” I asked.

         Pearl turned right around and walked back in.  Asvord was lying on the ground.

         “Asvord!” I yelled.

         Rushing over to her, I knelt down to try and help her up.  She seemed cold to the touch, but she is alert, which is good; although she was almost a dull, pale whit.  Asvord tried to say something, but I could not make it out.

         She repeated and all I could hear is, “Spread… Sten… ger…”

         “Spread Stenger,” I said back.  “What does that mean?”

         Asvord had enough strength to roll her eyes at me.  I repeated what she said over and over and said it faster each time.

         It came to me, “Speed Stinger!  So, that is why you are paralyzed.”

         She responded with a sound which sounded like yes.

         “Bowe… wow… you’re heavy,” I replied while picking her up to lay her on her bed.

         Asvord gave me the dirtiest of looks she could manage while in her state.

         “Oh,” I said.  “You know I didn’t mean it that way… When I practice lifting, I don’t often lift my sister.  Weights are pretty simple.  You, are kind of awkward to lift… That still doesn’t sound right.”

         I think she said, “Yes,” again.

         “But if you are stung… then…,” I did not even bother finishing.

         Grabbing Pearl, I put her on my shoulder and ran back past my door to Elsa’s.  Peeking in, I could see a smaller Speed Stinger walking around the room, looking for something.  Elsa is near her bed, lying on the floor, frozen from a sting.  Knowing I could not afford to let the Speed Stinger see me, I had to act fast.

         I eased my way back over to my door, put Smoky and Pearl in my room, and bolted the door from my side.  All of the doors on Mystery are like this, as the doors can open out or in; so, there has to be a way to lock them.  I then climbed up the side of the wall, as quietly as I could, and then got on top of our rooms.  There is an open attic to the Clubhouse, perfect spots for hiding if ever there was a time.  We even have gear up here so we can use against enemies if they invaded our outpost.

         Just grabbing a book, I threw it across the room near the entrance of the Clubhouse.  I aimed to knock some vases over to maximize noise to draw attention.  The Speed Stinger eased its way out of Elsa’s room and towards the front door.  I climbed down right in front of Elsa’s door to the point where I only had to drop down a few inches.  Swiftly going into her room, I picked up Elsa and put her on her bed.  Her eyes told me everything I needed to know how she was feeling, scared.

         “Elsa,” I whispered.  “You must be scared… stiff.”

         Elsa rolled her eyes too.  Also, Elsa’s eyes seemed to change for the better.  One other thing, Elsa’s legs were not paralyzed, but her upper half is.  This is a Speed Stinger sting, but why is she not totally paralyzed?

         “See,” I returned.  “My jokes can even work in the most inopportune times.”

         Going back to the door, I bolted it from the outside.  The Speed Stinger I had distracted is now looking around the front part of the Clubhouse.  I decided to go out the side door to stay far away from the Stinger.

         Opening and closing the door as quietly as I could, I turned around to my horror to see Speed Stingers everywhere.

          “Okay, this is great.  I had roughly explored the island before, but found no sign of Speed Stingers here.  How did they get here?” I thought.  “I wonder if anyone else has been stung or on the lose?”

         All the Speed Stingers seemed to be looking for something.  Looking high and low, in every building they could get into.  These dragons are the ones that made the outpost a mess.

         “Okay,” I said to myself.  “I can’t just go walking out there in the open, I need to figure out another way.”

         The only safest way of going a different way is up.  Walking on the gang plank around to the back of the outpost, I devised a way of climbing up.  The edge of the cliff overlooking this part of the island is only about four feet away from the back wall of the Clubhouse.  Using the vines on the cliff face, I started climb up; also, grabbing any foot or hand hold I could find like a gagged rock, crack in the face, or natural hole to secure my climb up.  I then reached a place where I could not go up any further.

         So, I quickly decided to jump back onto the Clubhouse.  Not before looking and finding out where I would be jumping to.  I jumped to a window that overlooks the attic.  Then once I got here, I look back to see where I could jump up further on the cliff face.  Seeing some more vines higher up, I jumped up to them.  These vines are thicker and stronger than the ones down below.

         Nearly to the top, I now have to navigate the overhang of the cliff face.  The overhang overhangs over the back of the Clubhouse, a few yards.  Climbing up as far as I could before I met the bottom of the overhang, I looked back to see the dragon perch.  While building our outpost, I made sure that in the designs for every building, there was an extended beam sticking out a little bit from the skeleton of the building.  These beams were for dragon perches, but in the back of my mind I was thinking of a case like this where I would need to jump onto them to climb up a building.

         In drawing all the layouts for the buildings on Mystery, I had in mind, “If I ever need to climb these buildings, I will need something to climb on.”

         Every building has its own unique way of climbing up on them, you just have to be creative.

         Now on top of the roof for the Clubhouse, I crawled under the overhang…

         “Under the overhang,” I chuckled.

         …to reach the point where I could stand up and climb up the rest of the cliff to reach the top of it.

         “Well, that was easy,” I said, dusting off my hands.

         But, I then heard a twig break after a footstep or something.

         My shoulders dropped, I closed my eyes, and I lifted up my head up, “Oh don’t tell me.  There is a Speed Stinger right behind me.”

         Hoping it is just one of my friends not thinking it was me, I turned around to in fact see a Speed Stinger.  This one is smaller than I expected a Speed Stinger to be.

         A minute had gone by… a few minutes had gone by… we just stood there looking at each other.

         “So,” I began.  “Do you run first… do I run first?  How do you want to do this?”

         The dragon just tilted its head at me.

         “Are you sure you are a Speed Stinger?” I asked.  “You look like one, but you sure don’t act like one.”

         The Speed Stinger then sneezed and made me jump in place.  Fully expecting the Speed Stinger to charge me when I jumped, I braced for impact.  Nothing happened.

         A dragon call then could be heard.  This sounded like a legit dragon call, at first I thought it was someone trying to see if there was anyone else not affected by the Speed Stingers.  The one right in front of me looked off in the direction of the dragon call and then looked back at me.  It ran off and left me alone!

         “Okay,” I said.  “That was strange.”

         Not to take in the moment, I took this opportunity to make a strategical retreat back into the forest.  Running down the hill from the cliff, I continue on into the forest.  While I ran, I passed a stream… which a few Speed Stingers were drinking.

         “Oh great,” I rolled my eyes.  “Now there are Speed Stingers after me.”

         Continuing to run deeper into the forest, I unfortunately came across another small pack of Speed Stingers.  Now I am surrounded.

         Before they started to growl, I started to talk, “You know, why did I ever think I could out run you guys.  I mean… you are Speed Stingers after all.  They didn’t put the word ‘speed’ in your guy’s name for nothing.”
         My sisters have often said my natural voice has the tendency to make them sleepy.  They have said that if I used the right tone, I could talk anybody to sleep… maybe even get a group of dragons distracted?  I had eased my way to my right out of the way of the

         “Hey guys, why are you here anyway?” I asked and then paused while they tried to understand what I have been saying.  “Quick, look!  What’s that?!”

         I pointed in front of me and then ran off back behind me.  Pointing made the Speed Stingers look, then when they saw I was gone, that made them even angrier.

         Now, seeing what was in front of me, I spoke saying, “Could this day get any better?”

         Guess what?  I am headed for a dead end with a good-sized pack of Speed Stingers right on my tail.  This path took a sunken path into the ground, causing the ground around me to rise.  I did not see this until it was too late.  Quickly studying my surroundings, I formulated a rough plan of escape.

         I started to slow down to let the Speed Stingers catch me.  Now, timing out my strides so I could then run at the rock wall in front of me at full speed.  The Speed Stingers came within striking distance when I planted my left foot on the ground, pushing off to jump forward onto the rock wall, I then used my right foot to jump and leaning back into a back flip.  Mid-air, I contorted my body to do a hundred and eighty degree turn back the way I came.  Still in the air, I then grabbed a few lower, lying branches from the trees and went hand over hand to swing from branch to branch.  I grabbed each branch with one hand before reaching out in front of me with my other hand to grab the next branch.  Doing this pattern several times, I found myself nearing a large branch below my feet.  When my feet came over this branch, I let go and landed on this branch.  Immediately, I jumped up to a branch four feet above me and pulled myself up.  This all took place in a matter of moments.  All the Speed Stingers could do was turn around and just watch.

         Crouching on this higher branch, I answered they awed-inspired looks, “Yeah, I know that was a sweet move.  Can’t you guys do the same?”

         All they could do was just hiss at me.

         Another dragon call could be heard.  This was the same one as before.

         “Must be a Speed Stinger call,” I said.

         The Speed Stingers below me responded to the call and ran off towards it, leaving me alone.

         “Thank you,” I sighed in relief.  “Now to get back to the outpost and figure out how to get a rid of these things.”