[Trade] Vanguard

Tiberius scowled up at the large, weathered scroll of paper pinned to the stone brick of the Court’s walls. He would have to act as a ladder for the Ovis again soon, a fresh report had come from the surface and the Queen was eager for it to be plotted on the map as soon as possible. They had created two large amorphous blobs on the map, most notable of landmarks were the enormous volcano on the island named Pera, and the sprawling abandoned human settlement on the island of Kela. Tiberius loathed the random nature of the borders of the islands, having spent his life within a perfectly circular dome. He couldn’t imagine how they were supposed to plot farmland in such irregular shapes, not to mention the vast variation in height that the scouts were reporting back.

“Tiberius, a moment of your time?” Glad to be spared of his more menial task, he turned and stood to attention at the presence of the Queen’s second in command, Blackmist. The Iguanodon looked tired, his feathers splintered from lack of time dedicated to grooming, and his eyes were sunken. “You’re heading to the surface as the next recon group. No arguments, please.” The advisor’s tone made Tiberius close his mouth quickly. “We still need to chart some areas fairly close to the exit of the tunnel, if all goes well you won’t be gone for too long.”

“Who are you sendin’ me with?” he asked.

“One of us, and one of the raptors,” Blackmist informed him, still scanning his eyes over the map. Tiberius almost perked up before he recalled that Regis was still on a mission above the surface with a separate group, so whoever this Oviraptor would be, it wouldn’t be his preferred informant. Regis was easy to work with, concise with his reports and knew what details to hone in on. He had good instincts for this line of work and Tiberius only came to appreciate that more and more when he had to be paired with the less competent scouts that remained in Atlantis.

“It's some of the younger guard, an Iguanodon named Jasper and an Oviraptor named Clemmons,” Blackmist continued. That made Tiberius perk up, on their own he might not have recognised the names, but together he knew them as part of a trio that had lost their third. Tiberius knew most of the details, he had been the one in charge of the investigation into the disappearance after all. There had been no satisfying conclusion, just the general assumption that he had fallen prey to some of the large beasts that lurked overland, or potentially eaten something unfamiliar and been poisoned. No body had ever been found, but his two companions had seemed resigned to his fate from the very first interview Tiberius had conducted with them. An odd pair, but at least he knew they worked well together with another Iguanodon, as minimal as that reassurance might be.

When Tiberius met his recruits, they both stood to attention and saluted. If they recognised him as more than just a high ranking member of the Court, they certainly didn't give it away.

“Are you both ready?” he asked gruffly, cinching his own pack of supplies closed around his barrel. It was difficult to tend to one’s own rigging without the help of the dextrous primates in Atlantis, but they had simple securing and latching straps that the larger citizens could work with little difficulty. It was one of the main reasons that nearly every scouting party had at least one Oviraptor, their smaller claws had a better chance at picking through supplies and retrieving them without having to empty the whole pack onto the ground.

“Yes sir,” the Ovi, Clemmons, replied, “ready to follow your lead.”

“We're under your command,” Jasper confirmed, “Blackmist has said you're to be obeyed without question.” Tiberius winced at the thought, preferring his soldiers to have a mind of their own instead of relying on him constantly.

“Well then, it looks like we're heading in a straight line from the tunnel, there's a gap in our knowledge from where previous scouts have avoided the dense forest, we will be the ones to pierce the barrier and map the area,” Tiberius said sternly. The two nodded at him and faced forward, ready to embark. The general himself took a moment longer, casting a glance back to his jungle home before entering the metal walls of the tunnel. 

Clemmons chanced a look at Jasper, but she was still looking ahead, not wavering from watching the older Iguanodon. He huffed a little to himself, Teo would’ve at least spared him a glance to confirm his own suspicions. Though perhaps Jasper wasn’t picking up the same, strange and sombre air surrounding their superior. Was it a simple melancholy at leaving home or did he know something more about this mission than he was letting on? It would be convenient for the court to rid themselves of two upstarts like them, but to send Tiberius, one of the old guard, down with them? It seemed too much of a loss to take in these uncertain times.

“You’re thinking loud enough to fill the tunnel,” Jasper grunted at him. Tiberius didn’t turn his head but Clemmons could tell he was listening.

“Just classic old nerves, I’ll be fine once we get our bearings,” the Ovi replied breezily. Jasper gave him a look that clearly communicated that she knew he was lying, good, he was never lying to trick her. That was a fool’s errand.

The air was the first thing Tiberius noticed when they exited the dark tunnel onto the surface. The tunnels had been open for a while, allowing at least some of it to seep down into Atlantis, but in its raw form it felt like a sharp blow to the chest. The heavy, humid air of the jungle was gone and so many smells filled the air it became overwhelming. The seaweed lying on the beach, the rotted debris tangled within it, the sea itself, it was all new, and ostentatiously so. Tiberius wrinkled his snout and grimaced, just about resisting the urge to cover his face with his forelimb. He could feel his nose stinging but he snorted and moved forward up the steep sand dunes.

The forest that lay at the centre of their objective was clearly visible from the peak of the dunes. It lay in a valley just below them, filling a pocket in the earth with dense, dark greenery. Considering the descent down the rocky face looked perilous and that the forest itself seemed fairly bleak, Tiberius could understand why previous recon groups had chosen to gloss over it.

“Looks grim down there,” Jasper remarked.

“And yet,” Clemmons said, “that's exactly where they want us to go.” There was a heavy air of resentment to his voice, but Tiberius couldn't bring himself to correct his tone. In fact, he kind of agreed with him, this measly little patch of woods were entirely superfluous to the needs of the Atlanteans, their efforts would be better spent elsewhere.

“Let's get moving, we don't have strictly scheduled daylight up here so I have no idea when we're going to lose the light,” he said instead, beginning to descend towards the crater. Jasper jerked her head to indicate Clemmons should go next, leaving her to bring up the rear. The Oviraptor agreed, moving into place and keeping his head on a swivel as they descended. He would occasionally stop to scrape a sample of the plants that covered the rocks but he was quick about it, having his prize tucked into his pack by the time Jasper caught up with him. His eyes were caught by a number of new plants, but he refrained from anything more familiar or generic looking, he wanted to save space for anything he found in the lowland forest itself. The further down they went the darker it got, not just from the sun ‘setting’, as the locals called it, but from the canopy of trees knitting together. 

“I can see why the forward scouts decided this wasn’t worth the trouble,” Jasper grunted as she squeezed through a heavy curtain of woody vines, “We won’t get half the population down here based on size alone.”

“We have to be careful,” Tiberius countered, “It might not be useful in a sense of resources, but we have to check for what might lurk here. If something deadly lives in these woods, it might not be worth our while to settle nearby.” Jasper scoffed.

“As if we couldn’t repel anything these islanders could throw at us,” she sneered.

“We couldn’t repel them even from the most fortified area in the land,” Tiberius pointed out, “They have the advantage of numbers, even if their politics are as fractured as the dome’s hull.”

“I wonder how they'll decide who gets left behind, left in our neglected, dying dome while everyone else thrives up here,” Clemmons pondered., “I mean, if we’re keeping it as an emergency backup it must fall to someone to maintain it all. Who will it be?” Tiberius wanted to retract his thought from down in the dome, he would prefer if Clemmons didn't think for himself, actually. The forest was already closing in around them, grinding their progress down to a crawl. The ground was uneven, steep and rocky in places and most of the journey was taken at an angle. The trees were narrow, barely taller than saplings, like their tightly packed location forced them to grow short and lean to save energy. Clemmons was taking the lead now, pushing the growths back where he could to make room for his far larger companions. Tiberius was beginning to lose steam as they kept forcing their way through the woods. It was pointless, he thought bitterly, there wasn’t even enough light down here to make a good survey. And if they lit the torches, the entire copse would go up in flames. The moment they reached something that could generously be called a clearing, he set his packs down.

“We’re stopping here for the night,” he said decisively. The other two didn’t argue, they simply laid their own kit down and Clemmons set about organising them. He unplugged the large water container that each Iggy carried and took a sip, leaning the container back on its end before it tipped over on him. He wasn’t hungry and it seemed neither of the other two were, just taking their fill of water before trying to flatten the shrubs under them to sleep on.

“Could anything even live here? Anything threatening I mean,” Clemmons clarified in a hurry when Tiberius’ tired gaze fell upon a swarming bundle of flies. 

“If you want to submit that in your report and head back to the Queen, feel free,” the older Iggy mumbled, putting his head down and effectively ending the conversation. Clemmons looked to Jasper but she just shrugged and laid down herself. He took his typical place next to her, tucked in at her neck and facing her tail. It seemed more appropriate up here, their natural inclination to keep an eye out while sleeping. He had been expecting the strange environment, the changing temperature, the weather, the new creatures, but he hadn’t been expecting the noise. There wasn’t a moment of silence to be gleaned from this night, filled with clicking and buzzing and what might have been bird calls in Atlantis but were now ominous hootings in the dark. Tiberius seemed to be unaffected, already breathing deep, steady breaths of sleep with his back facing them. Clemmons could feel Jasper was awake, and he felt somewhat comforted by the fact she was unnerved by this place too.

“I hope the rest of the island is better than this,” she said eventually, “Otherwise I might just want to sink with the dome.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Clemmons sighed, “This upheaval is exactly what we need, the Queen wouldn’t have been so eager for war if there hadn’t been room for everyone up here.”

“Room for everyone? Or room for them?” Jasper asked, her voice almost too low to understand.

“Careful, you’ll end up like Teo,” Clemmons remarked before readjusting himself, making another attempt at sleep. Across the clearing from them, Tiberius let his eyes fall shut and let out an even deeper breath than before.