Creatures Caves

A Norn Story - by SpringRain. This is the first part of it. I want to get it finished! Comments and feedback much appreciated, as always. =^_^=

"There, that should do. Nice and refreshing" Melinda sighed as she finished emptying her watering can over a bed of Beelacanth blossoms. The tiny flowers had a soft, sweet scent and were frequented by colourful cloud butterflies. Their bonny blue centres were rimmed with petite white petals barely as big as a button. The cloud butterflies drifting and flittering about were like pieces of painted silk against the clear sky and Melinda smiled as she watched them, her tail waving happily.

Melinda was a Bengal Norn who lived in the small village of Nornhome, along with several other Norns. She had grown up in the village since the moment she hatched and everyNorn knew who she was. In a village so small, of course everyNorn knew everyNorn else! Melinda was content with her peaceful life there, though sometimes she longed to see what the rest of the world was like. Her mother always told her that there wasn't much else to see out there besides wild plants and strange lands with no other Norns to be found. Still, each day, Melinda's curiosity grew stronger. She felt more and more restless as the days passed her by.

On her way to return the watering can to the greenhouse that day, she bumped into Melody, another Norn who was coming from the carrot patch to put away her own watering can and a pair of gardening gloves.

"Oh, hello Melody, I just finished my gardening duties for the day? greeted Melinda brightly, following her Harlequin friend into the cool glass structure that stood in the middle of the gardens.

"Hi Melinda, I just had to weed and water the carrot patch. That's me done for the day as well" she beamed, noticing her friend's empty watering can. Melody was nearly always laughing or smiling. "I have to do the ugly tomato patch tomorrow. Wanna swap places? Bleagh!" she giggled, poking her tongue out in mock disgust before adding "Hey, if you're free, want to go visit the waterfall spot? We could have a picnic there! I already asked Kuto and Surise."

Melinda put her little green watering can on the shelf beside Melody's and opened her mouth to reply but to her surprise, the words that came out weren't what she had meant to say. "Oh, no thanks Melody, I can't go this time. It sounds lovely but I'm going out somewhere for a bit"

Melody smiled apologetically, pulling on one of her long, chequered ear tips and trying not to sounds too disappointed. "Aw, well, that?s okay. See you later on then. We'll save a picnic plate for ya." she smiled.

"Bye then. And thanks!"

Melinda waved as she and Melody left the greenhouse to go their separate ways, feeling a spike of mischievousness surge up inside of her. Once the Harlequin Norn had left, Melinda quickly dashed back through the village and into the small house where she lived with her parents.

Rummaging around in the kitchen, she hastily put together a small satchel of snacks, fresh water and some pots of sunblock balm. Slipping the pack over her shoulders, she padded back through the gardens to the old path leading out of the village, trying not to be seen. If anyone wanted to know where she was off to, she'd say she was going for a picnic with her friends on the borders of the old forest. It was a reasonable lie for an excuse. Many of the younger Norns enjoyed playing near the old forest and taking lunch there, with their parent's permission, or camping overnight. No one ever strayed too far in because of the terrible dangers that lurked inside according to the old stories. Melinda the Bengal Norn was determined though. She didn't want to spend her whole life in one place like the others, never knowing anything more. She hungered for adventure and excitement and most of all, to know what life was like outside of her village.

Melinda strolled along, enjoying the gorgeous spring day with its perfect blue sky, the gentle breeze which caressed her fur and ear tips, the warm yellow sunlight and the sweet trilling of the birds.

Ignoring any uneasy thoughts, she pushed them to the back of her mind.

She kept walking at a brisk pace and soon came to the old herb garden, covered by an arching trellis now rickety and overgrown by the plants which once grew so neatly in the terracotta pots at the base of its supporting beams. Melinda recognised almost all of them. There was feverfew, for reducing feelings of exhaustion and giving you an energy boost and the dark blue pods with yellow blobs which made you feel less hungry for longer.

Melinda picked a few heads of feverfew flowers and some juicy Morning Glory fruit, snipping the stems neatly by pinching them between her claws. She then put them in the front zip pocket of her pack after which, she continued on through the long archway of the trellis to the gate at the far end of it. The gate was creaky and entwined with thick vines. Pushing her paws through them, she felt for a latch or a bolt or whatever it was that opened the ancient doorway.

?Ah, here it is!? Melinda?s furry fingers found a rusted bolt and latch combination and she glanced back over her shoulder along the shadowy corridor formed by the trellis before she began to work away at it. She was fairly sure that no one had followed her but she this would make a racket. The only other Norn she?d seen on the way here was farmer Fickle tending his tomatoes and potatoes. ?Cree! Scree! Screeiiich!? The lock made shrieking noises of protest as Melinda tugged and twisted it, using more and more force to prise it loose. She was desperate to get through and no crusty old latch was going to stop her! ?Come on ? you silly ? old thing ? move!? she panted, pulling as hard as she could while leaning back.

?Ahhh!? With a rusty crunch, the latch suddenly popped free and Melinda fell backwards to land firmly on her rump on the dirt path. ?Yes? she grinned. ?Finally. Now I can go through?

She felt a surge of excitement bubble up as she stood and dusted herself off, grabbing the gate?s edge with both paws. No Norn was allowed to go through this gate. No Norn had ever been allowed that she knew of. The others had always had good reasons but Melinda was sure that half of them were made up to stop younger Norns from getting into mischief and the other half all happened a long time ago.

Taking a deep breath, Melinda refused to look back. She entered the forest, shutting the stiff gate behind her with another loud creak as she jammed it closed with its own vines, caught between door edge and side post. She continued her journey, following the thin, hard thread of packed dirt and leaves that formed an antique trail. It must have been made for a reason, she mused. It must lead to somewhere. She would find out!

She traveled on paw for the rest of that day, resting occasionally to eat some of her snacks and have drinks. She had brought only basic supplies; bread rolls, lemons, carrots, apples, sunflower seeds and four flasks of water. It was simple food, though enough to keep her sustained.

As dusk began to fall, the shadows lengthened and Melinda sought a place to rest. Conveniently enough, there was a large, ancient tree with huge outspread roots to one side of the path she had been tracing. She decided it would be nice to snuggle up to and fished out the picnic blanket folded at the bottom of her pack, spreading it over the ground between a nook in two tree roots. There was soft leaf litter underneath once she?d picked out all the twigs and small rocks. Completely unafraid, Melinda sat on the middle of the blanket and folded the edges over her, curling up into a ball of orange fuzz. She looked up sleepily at the deep pink sunlight dancing through thick green leaves which shimmied far above her. She listened, ears swiveling, to the odd chirrupings and calls of animals, birds and insects, letting them lull her to sleep. Melinda?s large emerald eyes slid closed.

?Mm?? The next day she was awoken by early morning sunshine falling on her face, bright and clear as it heralded a new day, reaching down through the forest canopy to find her.

?Naaa!? Uncurling from her snuggly position, the young Bengal sat up and stretched luxuriously, arching her back whilst giving an enormous yawn that showed every last one of her pointed white teeth. ?Wow that was a great sleep. I must have tired myself out the other day with all that walking? she remarked happily to no one. After a quick breakfast of lemon pieces on bread (she had tried to slice them with her claws but that hadn?t worked too well) and some water from her second flask, she shook off the leaves in her fur and combed her fingers through it before repacking her bag and getting going again. She traveled onwards along the wending way, admiring all the strange plants and life forms around her. Periodically, she stopped to pick pawfuls of flowers, threading some behind her ears.

By that afternoon, a peculiar scent had begun to reach her nose and Melinda could hear a faint rushing and roaring sound. It seemed to be coming from a distance and sounded to her like some massive beast that was deeply asleep and breathing slowly in and out.

The trees began to thin out after a while and the soil underpaw began to change, becoming grittier, softer and lighter in colour. Pushing her way through the final few trees, Melinda stumbled out of the forest into brilliant spring daylight and gasped, gaping like a goldfish, hardly able to believe what she saw. There was water, so much water! It went stretching all the way from one side of the world to the other. Wandering down to its edge, Melinda walked up and down the smooth yellow stuff that formed the shore, enjoying the feel of it on her paw pads. She spotted something far away at one end of the beach and started to head towards it, letting her curiosity take the lead. Shortly, she had come to a worn yet solid looking structure that started within the bank of sand then jutted out into the sea. ?Why would anybody want to build something on top of the water?? she murmured to herself, walking onto the wooden planks as she spoke. Her feet made satisfying thunking sounds while pattering over the weathered, sun bleached wood on their way nearer to the end of the structure. Melinda crouched down on the edge of the jetty and peered over. Her stripy orange ears perked up. ?What is this thing? It looks like somebody started building a bridge and then stopped? she wondered aloud. Her long tail swished from side to side and she tapped it a few times on the boards, appreciating the sound while looking around. Wait, what was that thing? Something caught her attention. It was a strange wooden box tied to one of the legs of the half-bridge. Noticing a rope, Melinda leaned out to grab it and tried to tug the vessel closer. ?Un! Hnf! Huff! Rrr! This is heavier than I thought!? she grunted, panting and puffing. She looked up to see whether she?d made any progress. Was it working? Yes! She was slowly pulling the floating box closer. It bobbed and drifted a few metres nearer than it had before. Using more of her strength, Melinda leaned back and tugged harder on the rope, dragging lengths of it in. With the last few tugs, she was pulling it so vigorously that she didn?t notice she was actually dragging herself off the edge of the jetty. So intent was she on drawing the odd boxy thing to her that there was one tug, two, three - and Melinda slipped over the end with a shriek, heart racing, expecting to splash into water.

Thunk!

?Ow, ow, ow!?

Melinda had instead fallen into the boat, which shot closer just at the exact moment when she toppled off the jetty, tugged fiercely by her pulling on its rope. Sitting up in the bobbing crate (was it a crate?) Melinda rubbed the back of her head and her shoulder where she?d bumped them on the seats and side. She looked up at the half bridge to see how far she?d fallen. Unsure of a way to get back up, she smiled and shook her head, laughing softly at herself. ?Well, that was a bit silly. Now what do I do?? She studied the small wooden crate she was in and found two long poles on either side with flat ends. Maybe there was a way to make this thing move. Taking hold of an oar with both paws, Melinda moved it towards her. Swish! The boat spun in a lazy semi-circle. ?Aha! So that?s how this works. I think this thing was in one of the old stories now that I remember. It?s called a?row boat!? she exclaimed excitedly as she grabbed the other oar. Plonking her bottom on a seat and taking both oars, leaned back a little and pushed them, then pulled them. The boat glided a few centimetres and Melinda squealed with glee. So it was true, pushing the oars ?left and right? and ?backwards and forwards?, no wonder her ancestors had called this thing a ?leftright? and a ?mover?.

The Bengal Norn shifted the pack off her arms and set it by her feet, reaching inside to bring out another pot of sunblock balm. She had been applying it in the forest but not as often since there was a lot of shade under the trees. Now that she was in full sunshine, she decided she needed to slather more on. Melinda twisted the lid till it popped, then reached in and scooped out the white cream with her fingers, smoothing it over her nose, muzzle, ears (especially the tips) arms, neck, tail, tummy, everywhere she could think of. Putting it back in her pack and putting her pack on her shoulders again so she could be sure not to lose it, she lifted a paw and shielded her eyes from high noontide sunlight, squinting towards the shadowy blob on the horizon. ?Is that land, or am I imagining things?? she thought, craning her neck for a better look as she rowed closer. ?Row, row, row your boat? Melinda began to sing to pass the time while she rowed.

After what felt like several hours, Melinda was getting tired and beginning to feel like some late lunch.

Thump!

The boat jerked violently all of a sudden as though something had bumped it from underneath. Melinda screamed and clung onto the sides, dropping her oars.

Thwack!

The little leftright rocked like a seedpod on the surface of the Albian ocean, threatening to tip over at any moment. Melinda?s claws pinched the flaking wooden sides, scratching off some old varnish.

Thump!

She screamed again. With a final shove, the boat overbalanced and capsized, sending Melinda flying. She was plunged into the water and sank beneath the waves in a fizzle of bubbles caused by the impact of her splash.

Melinda peered frantically through the water to see what had knocked her boat over and gasped, accidentally taking in a mouthful of liquid. She choked, with salt water stinging her throat but there was no air and the more she coughed, the more she swallowed. She was sinking fast.

The most horrifying part of the whole thing was the gigantic green sea creature. It was staring at her with huge insectoid eyes, various parts of it clicking and swishing. Melinda was overwhelmed. She gave in to the dark blue-black smudging her vision, wishing she had some more air to scream with.

?Nnn?? Sand. The Bengal Norn sat up, spitting the gritty substance from her mouth in distaste. ?Ow!? With a sort, pained gasp, she clamped a paw to the back of her head, trying to soothe the throbbing ache there. Melinda winced, rubbing sand out of her eyes and nose with her free paw. ?This?am I on that island I saw from the sea?? she mumbled, taking in her surroundings. Palm trees, balmy breeze; soft golden sunlight. And there was a scent too besides the smell of sea; something sweet and fruity. Melinda followed her nose and crawled over to some smashed hairy things at the foot of the palm trees. She knew everything in her pack would be ruined and inedible now. Feeling hungry and thirsty, she picked up half of a shell and licked at the white stuff inside. Melinda?s eyes lit up. ?Mmmm!? she hummed, greedily starting to work bits off the coconut. After a while however, Melinda became exasperated with the fruit. It was difficult to scrape pieces off without somehow smashing it smaller. She spat out some of the hairy fibres she?d caught in her teeth after trying to bite a bit of meat off the edge and tossed her snack aside, stumbling unevenly to her paws. Melinda sniffed the air for fresh water, her mouth feeling still quite parched and salty. ?Aha!? Drooling a little as she picked up a scent, Melinda wobbled forwards into the tropical foliage before her. ?That was easy. I didn?t expect to find a source that fast? she thought in relief. Caring about nothing else but getting a drink, Melinda fought her way through the island jungle, tracking the smell of sweet water. She came out into a clearing with a happy grin.?There!? Melinda scrambled to a pool formed by a natural spring, shoved her face in and slurped thirstily, feeling grateful to whoever placed the spring there. She sat up after long minutes, wiping her dripping whiskers and chin on her arm.

?Excuse me?

Melinda jumped nearly a foot in the air, giving a small shriek. She slapped a paw over her nose as a terrible stench assaulted it. Looking wildly around for the source of the voice, Melinda saw something from her nightmares. ?G?aga?gah?? She babbled stupidly, ?G-G-?

The Grendel waved a taloned hand in dismissal as though he?d seen this a million times.

?Yes, yes, I?m a Grendel. To all appearances anyway? he grated. ?If I wanted to cause you harm, I would have killed you already. Come with me?

Looking into those deep, blood red eyes, Melinda quivered and nodded numbly, all too ready to obey him. She tried to rise to her paws.

??Eee!? Melinda squeaked helplessly as the scaly beast turned to stomp away, obviously expecting her to follow.

The Grendel?s long ears flicked back and he swiveled sharply to look at her with those glaring crimson orbs. ?Yes? Hurry up. Do you have a problem of some kind?? he asked impatiently, his harsh voice making Melinda?s ears cringe.

She looked terrified now. What if she was making him angry? ?But ? but I?m not doing this on purpose!? she thought frantically, her little Norn heart pounding a tattoo in her furry chest. ?I?I can?t! I can?t move!? she admitted fearfully, tears springing to her eyes. She?d never met a Grendel before. She didn?t know what to do. Her body was paralysed with fear. ?I ? I think I?m exhausted and I might be in shock ? maybe. It?s not that I don?t want to do as you say. Oh ? please don?t kill me!? she screamed, closing her eyes tight as the Grendel began to advance back towards her. His face was set and grim, his steps heavy and determined. Those evil red eyes were fixed on her and ?

?Wahhh!? Melinda screeched and flailed as she felt massive scaly arms pick her up, the tips of sharp claws digging into her slightly, the muscles rippling under their dark armour.

She flew into a full fledged panic and began kicking and squirming, trying madly to escape.

?Calm down, darn it! You know, you?ll be a lot easier for me to carry if I just knocked you out. We can play it that way if you like!?

Melinda jumped once again as the harsh, grating voice snapped her to attention, giving her heart a little jolt. Feeling confused and, once again, overwhelmed, the Bengal Norn gave up and complied, suddenly flopping limp as a rag doll in the Grendel?s grasp.

?Whoa! Not that relaxed! Do you want me to drop you?? There was a terrifying odd gurgling sound from somewhere deep in the monster?s throat as he shifted his grip to prevent her from slooping out like jelly.

Melinda?s fur stood on end. She wondered where he was taking her. To eat, probably.