Seeds Grow Best in Blood Soaked Soils

“You didn’t have to come.”

Deerlegs’ feather crests were unusually flattened, framing her dome in a sleek and rather annoyed look. Embargo followed behind the taller female, stoically quiet as usual, as she wandered across the scrublands. He couldn’t really say that she was taking a direct route to their goal, because neither of them really… knew what the goal was. He didn’t, at least. But, then again, he didn’t know where most things on the island were. He was still learning to navigate it.

“You said it was dangerous here,” he replied simply. Deerlegs snorted. It sounded like he was arguing, even though he had presented it as a statement of fact. And it… was true, she had said that, and it was dangerous on the plateau. It was dangerous for any cliff-hopper where there were no cliffs to hop on.

They were exposed and in the open here, left vulnerable to attacks from the numerous and often drastically larger carnivorous species that roamed the islands. It was even worse that Embargo sported glowing spots and spines, which might even draw more attention to them. Or drive attention off, if they thought he was a monster like she had when she first saw him in the mists.

But Deerlegs had survived an excursion to and from Isla Pera and she’d been fine; she didn’t think that this was going to be any more dangerous than that. Not to mention that the newcomers then had been massive, horrific creatures large enough to rival therizinosaurs.

The dacentrurus were alright, apparently, having raised Embargo. He still hadn’t said much about them. He didn’t tend to say much at all, and even less when he was in Deerlegs’ company. She still wasn’t sure why that was, exactly.

The pair paused, listening to the sounds of the early morning. The air was still cool and damp, the sun not having fully risen over the horizon to burn off the dew that clung to the scrub plants and the light fog that rolled off the ocean and hung in the air. It reduced the visibility, but it wasn’t likely to last long once the sun fully rose.

They listened and searched their surroundings intently, him listening for footsteps and her looking for any sign of movement, but it was entirely peaceful. Only the sounds of birds chirping and chattering greeted them as they watched and waited.

Deerlegs flicked her crests up and down, a sign which Embargo had taken to mean that they were continuing on again. He liked that she spoke without words like that. She would have done well in Zone B, where that kind of silent communication could have meant the difference between life and death. Not… that he wished that life on her. He didn’t wish that life on anyone. He was glad to have put the Morpheus facility behind him, and all the pain and hardship that came with it.

“I don’t need a guard,” Deerlegs continued to argue. The newcomers that had been spotted this time weren’t even big carnivores like the last ones. They were rumoured to be small and fleet, even omnivorous; they were like pachys, if a bit oddly shaped.

“I know,” came Embargo’s plain response. He had only known her for a short time, but he was fully certain that she could take care of herself. Her first response to encountering him was to run into him full-force with her dome, a hit with so much strength that it had left him reeling. She was strong.

Deerlegs glanced back at him, her eyes bright and vibrant green even in the early morning light. “Then why come with me?”

Embargo didn’t have an answer immediately this time. Not one that he wanted to say out loud, anyway. He’d braved his entire life in the Alpha Lab, defending against the worst, hungriest, and most aggressive members of the other zones that they could throw at the dacen - and he’d survived. It embarrassed him to admit that he was afraid of the cliffs, and didn’t want to stay at Highcliff where he knew so few pachys. He was strange, he was different compared to them. He glowed. They weren’t like the Alpha Lab inhabitants, they had never been exposed to others who bore the sun under their hides. He was an anomaly, an oddity. He did not want to stay there, alone and scrutinized, while she was off putting herself at risk for the sake of curiosity. He would rather face the risk with her.

Deerlegs snorted as she continued to lead them onwards to the landmark she had heard these newcomers had been sighted at. Sighted digging holes and planting seeds of all things. What seeds did they have that would be capable of growing at Rainbow Lake? The only things that place was capable of sustaining were the flamingos - somehow, seemingly impossibly - and bones. Which reminded her…

“This place that we’re coming to...” She glanced over her shoulder again, making sure he was still following. And to check to make sure they weren’t being followed, of course. She still didn’t need him with her.

Embargo nodded for her to go ahead as they continued on the path she set for them. He was listening.

“It’s also dangerous, but for different reasons. We’re unlikely to be hunted there, because nothing really visits there.” Which was why it was so strange to hear that that was where the newcomers wanted to be. Or one of the places they wanted to be, anyway. It was a miracle that none of them had ended up becoming part of the lake’s grisly decor.

“It’s known as ‘Rainbow Lake,’” she continued. They were almost there. She could smell the salt in the air, a different tang to the fresh scent of seawater. “The water is deadly. Don’t drink it, or walk in it. It can burn you like fire.” He especially needed to be careful, since he didn’t have any feathers to protect his hide from the water if he stepped in it or got splashed somehow.

Embargo was quiet as he considered what she told him. He’d never heard of deadly or burning water, only water that stood stagnant for too long and would make you sick to drink from it. Or oil with its iridescent surface, which wasn’t water anymore, even though it still kind of flowed like it. He’d decide to trust her word though, as he had with most things she’d told him so far.

He only had one question for now: “Rainbow?”

He was unfamiliar with the word.

Deerlegs slowed her pace, glancing towards him again. She felt a familiar pang of pity, remembering that his upbringing had been… unusual. He didn’t even know what a rainbow was?

“... Sometimes when it rains, there’s an arc of a bunch of different colours in the sky that reaches from one side of the horizon to the other. Like a sunrise or sunset, but smaller, and just a piece of the sky. It has to be raining.” She wasn’t sure why the lake was referred to as “rainbow” lake, though. It was mostly just pink or red.

Embargo nodded again. He wasn’t sure he fully understood, nor could he really visualise what she described (the sky was colourful, but not like when the sun was at the horizon? It didn’t make sense), but maybe he would in time. There were a lot of things outside Zone B, and the Alpha lab, that he was still learning about.

Deerlegs had them stop again at the lip of a crater, and looking down the slope, there was indeed a lake. The early morning light and residual darkness of night made it appear a deep, ominous maroon - a lake of blood. It made Embargo nervous.

While Embargo marveled at, or perhaps worried over, the colour of the lake below, Deerlegs peered down looking for other things, namely whether or not they would be alone in their excursion. It looked like they would be safe for now, at least. This was going to be an easy in-and-out mission. She hoped, anyway. She would really like to get back before her siblings woke up and wondered where she had gone, and why she had taken him with her instead of them. She really didn’t want her parents to question her about it, either.

When she was content that they would only have a flock of flamingos for company, Deerlegs motioned for Embargo to follow her down the rocky slope towards the deadly lake. Their feet slipped and skidded over the loose, crumbling rock, which Deerlegs had no trouble with. This was no different from maneuvering the crumble rock at the foot of the cliffs she navigated and called home. Embargo… stumbled a bit, but at least he didn’t fall this time.

They both decided, wordlessly, that it was in their best interest to stick together as they explored the region. They would be more formidable as a pair if something approached and considered trying to attack them.

Deerlegs, privately, didn’t want to split up because she didn’t want Embargo to get lost. She felt responsible for him, in some ways, since she had guided him all the way out here in the first place. She would feel guilty if he were to get hurt because she wasn’t there to explain a danger to him.

Embargo, similarly, didn’t want to leave Deerlegs alone. This was an unfamiliar and apparently perilous place, and he had grown up always being told that you should never be without a partner to fight with. For the dacen it was to ensure that both ends were covered, but he thought that it could apply here as well.

It took surprisingly little time to discover evidence of the newcomer’s presence. Deerlegs, of course, noticed the oddity before Embargo. He’d never been here before, so he had little idea really of what to actually look for, what might stand out of place. The mummified and skeletal remains in the water weren’t concerning, apparently. That was normal for the area.

To Deerlegs, the greenery that sprouted up from the earth so close to the lake’s edge was very out of place, indeed. Nothing grew this close to the water, yet here it was, some kind of plant that she was unfamiliar with, growing up out of the dry, cracked earth. It was unnatural. It made her feathers puff up, which in turn put Embargo on edge. He did not like to see her concerned like this, especially not over something so small and unassuming as a young plant.

There were scuff marks around the plants in the earth as well. Scratches, gouges, pieces of the dried and cracked soil that had been kicked up and turned over. Deerlegs decided to attribute it to the newcomers - searching for the best place to plant their seeds, perhaps.

Embargo pointed out a clump of feathers that had been caught in the crevice of sharp rock. Even he noticed something unusual about them. Not just the scent, which was odd enough, but there was something stuck to the feathers. A bright, vibrant shade of red that was the colour of mashed berries and almost could have been mistaken for blood, but was the texture of dried mud.

The earth was too dry here for foot prints, so that was really the most they had to go on as far as a trail, and neither of them were experienced trackers. Deerlegs snorted. This was infuriating. Who were they? Why were they planting seeds at Rainbow Lake - and how, even more curiously. This was a dead space, it always had been. Nothing grew here! If Highcliff struggled even to get enough greenery to eat from the plants that grew there naturally, these strangers should not be able to get new, strange plants to grow in this inhospitable place so easily!

But her frustration at not understanding, and being no closer to understanding, was short-lived. Both pachys flinched at the sound of rocks slipping down the slope towards the crater. The sun was rising. They would not have the lake to themselves for much longer before others came to investigate the claims with their own eyes.

After a beat - two beats - of silence, Deerlegs flicked her feather crests up and down, and Embargo agreed. It was time to go. She led them up the slope of the crater the same way that they had come down, albeit a bit more slowly and quietly this time, and back across the scrublands towards Highcliff.