Eight, and a new POV. I won’t be doing this often, but occasionally things need to be shown that our MC can’t have seen.

Harper has a dad joke sense of humor, but he’s definitely the den mother of the group.

And now, we rejoin our starry-eyed minstrel for the season finale of “Harper’s got talent.”

---------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8: Harper, I barely know her!

Day 40 (Harper)

—————

“Doc!” I watched his body fall towards the water in shock. Some sort of giant bird? A pelican, but with a jaw like a pterasaur. A bird? How could Doc be taken out by a bird? He fought a man-eating forest and won! Who charged at a raving rat man with two broken fists! I mean he’s healed the blind! I had just watched that Doc get defeated by a bird. I grabbed one of the sticks Wolf had clipped off our bridge and took a swing at the hateful thing.

“You-Terrible-ugh-Stupid-ugh-BIRD!” Whap. The bird falls into the water as well. Well, at least there’s that. Unless I just sent a potential threat to my best friend. Well, we just have to catch up to him before that!

“So, now we follow the river.” Wolf looks at the stick in my hand, then downriver, and he nods. Rabbit looks like he’s still in shock at the whole situation. I start walking. Fast. I’m trying to take charge, to do what Doc would do. If only he wasn’t so quiet, I could have asked him how he does it. Because I am not calm, and I am not collected. I look over to Rabbit, who seems to have excepted the new reality. Wolf is unflappable as always, though he’s kept his claws drawn. So, he feels something after all. I am strung to high. Time to sing.

“~Harper of the brothers, set out to slay a bird.

He raised his trusty tree limb, no one could say a word!

Their breath was gone, was carried on,

Upon the raging torrent;

But Harper brave with wooden glaive,

He knew he could restore it.”

I could swear I heard Wolf groan. Come on! I was on the spot and that was pure gold. You just can’t rhyme anything with Pelican. I guess there is just no accounting for taste. Having sung a bit, I felt restored. There was nothing for it but to simply keep on walking until we reached Doc.

“You know…” Rabbit looks sheepish.

“The river is fast. He might not be…”

Snap. Oh, I squeezed the stick too tight.

“Doc is going to be fine. He heals fast, he can breathe underwater, and he is impossible to kill. Even for a pelican.”

Rabbit looks less sure than I was going for. I pick up another stick off the ground and we keep walking.

“Do either of you know how to swim?”

Snap. I’m going through too many sticks. I start to hum. In my mind I hear my dust reply with it’s own thrumming beat. It’s always been like this. It calms me down a little. Doc will be fine. Doc will be fine. Doc will be fine. Just keep on singing until it’s true!

After hours of following the river we came to some rapids. I was beginning to doubt Doc had come this far. Had we missed him? Was he on the other bank? I hoped he would have the sense to sit still and wait for us. We decided to continue at least until the end of the rapids. Rabbit seemed to remember more about this sort of thing, and he assured us that rapids often end in whirlpools or areas of stagnation where jetsam often floats ashore. With an increasing sense of unease we got on our way. The end of the rapids couldn’t come soon enough.

As we moved, the gradual slope of the ground leveled out until we were on almost flat ground, and the soil turn to rocks which gradually increased in size. Late afternoon rolled around and still we moved, through boulders bigger than us, and I hummed nervously along with the pounding of the current. As the sun began to set, the rush of water increased and we found the end of the rapids, a waterfall that seemed to me to be terrifyingly tall. How could Doc have survived? I almost flung myself off before remembering that I couldn’t swim any better than he could. Coming up to the edge we saw a sheer rock cliff maybe twenty feet high. There weren’t many hand holds, and nothing in my memories to suggest I could rock climb. Rabbit suggested we take a rest at the top of the falls while we consider our options.

Unfortunately, even if I wanted to have Wolf make a change to me so I could scale the cliffs, Doc had exhausted my dust in the effort to fix my eyes. It would be a while before I would be growing any wings. After a few minutes of companionable silence, Wolf clapped his hands.

“I will change.” I wanted to stop him. We really shouldn’t be making changes based on single situations now that we were out of the cavern, but Doc was in danger and I was once again useless. As frustrating as it was, Wolf really was our only trump card. Sure, Rabbit could probably do something, but I honestly couldn’t see him scaling a cliff and rescuing our friend alone. As I watched, Wolf assumed a cross legged pose and closed his eyes.

I had seen changes several times now, but it always astounded me. Doc would close his eyes, assume a meditative pose, and just drool for long periods of time. Then, all of a sudden, sweat, and convulsions, and miracles. In a very real way we are like young gods. Sure, we have years of memories and the bodies of men, but we’re only a month or two old! How much could by the time we are three? Already Doc can run for hours without break, and heal broken bones in days. I’ve wondered since I first saw Doc use his dust in the cell, but can this be normal in this world? Doc tells me that most people don’t have as much dust as us; That we were given a lot for the purposes of research. I wouldn’t know. I remember almost nothing of dust. I can’t grow claws or change my blood. Mine just sings duets with me on occasion and obliges Doc when he needs me to step up.

I know he feels bad every time he needs to change me, but I wish he wouldn’t. Without his help I would just be dead weight to the group. We wouldn’t be here if Rabbit hadn’t gotten us out of the cell, and Wolf is an all around powerhouse. I can’t really do anything without their help, except sing my little tunes and try my best to keep them smiling. I even think I got Wolf to smile, once. I look up to the sky and sigh. I’ve got to do better. For my brothers, my other selves. We can be gods, but first we have to have a birthday.

Lowering my gaze, I catch something near the canopy of the trees. A man? So tall though… What is-

My gaze snaps down as Wolf cries out. The change is beginning. I call to Rabbit, who is playing Sentry, and we careful lower him to the ground. He is sweating, and I hear bones creaking and muscles snapping. What did he do to himself? This is crazier than anything we’ve seen yet. His Claws extend, and begin to thicken until they join. He now has one big blunt hook extending from the first digit of each finger. Still his arms writhe, and over the next hour his arms thicken and lengthen. Not bulky muscle but long, whipcord muscles. Eventually the changes slow, and he lays there panting for a long time.

What did you do?” Rabbit is pacing. I’ve never seen him this frantic. He has always looked up to Wolf, like I do Doc. No, probably more so. More than any of us, Rabbit is a child. I hope we can protect that for a while.

Wolf sits up and groans. His stretched limbs hang like wet noodles by his sides. He looks down, and slowly tenses each muscle group, as if testing them. Then he goes over each hand’s claw slowly with a finger, feeling the weight of them. They were deadly before, but with the added thickness… There has to be a pound of bone over each hand! He puts a hand on Rabbits head and grins a feral grin.

“Almost ready. You watch Rabbit.” Wolf turned towards the Cliff. I want to stop him, but he’s Wolf. You don’t stop Wolf without a good reason. Back in the cell, I noticed Wolf well before Doc ever did. He never approached our corner, but every time Doc started exercising, I would see Wolf do the same. Even when Doc would stop, Wolf kept going. All of which means that when Wolf says he’s going, I say “Come back soon!”

With a pat on the head for Rabbit and a tight turn, Wolf lowered a leg over the edge and began his descent. I couldn’t make myself watch. The cliff wasn’t without handholds, but it was exceptionally bare for someone without experience climbing. I hoped his new limbs would be enough to see him down safely. I curled up on the ground and watched the moon, humming a tune for safety and brotherly love. Rabbit watched him as long as he could, but before he reached the bottom night fell and he was lost to his view. He begged me to check on him, but if I looked over the edge and saw a puddle of Wolf at the bottom I might go mad, so I stared upwards and pretended not to hear. Even after Doc fixed my eyes, I still see better in the dark, and I sat up for a long time that night watching the trees. I hadn’t forgotten what I had seen earlier in the treetops, and now that it was just me and Rabbit I would be damned if I let us be taken in the night. A few times I thought I saw movement, only to question my sanity when nothing appeared for another hour.

Day 41 (Harper)

—————

Past midnight, and I was continuing my vigil. I was looking at the canopy when I saw a pair of reflective eyes looking back at me. I reached to wake Rabbit and then froze. The face behind the eyes mesmerized me. Big, round eyes. Impossibly big lips, and a smooth face with framed by long hair. It was a girl! The first I’d ever seen! Not human, but clearly not a monster either. She looked surprised to see that I’d seen her, and she quickly ducked behind a tree and moved upstream. I almost followed before I remembered Rabbit. I would love to follow after her, but brotherhood came first. I’m glad I didn’t rush over, because almost immediately a much larger shadow followed behind hers, reflective eyes a full two feet further from the ground focused on me for a second as it passed.

“…must be a brother of hers. Definitely.” and so our intrepid bard discovered love at first sight. A shame we didn’t speak, but I’m going to write one heck of a ballad. Not that Rabbit will be able to appreciate it. I’ll have to save it for Doc. He’s no patron of the arts, but he puts up with me much more readily than the others. And I spent the rest of the night thinking of flowery prose, and trying not to remember the danger my two friends were in.

Rabbit rose before dawn, and we approached the cliff. No one lay prone at the bottom, so it seems Wolf made it down alright. We both sighed in relief, and Rabbit leaned against my shoulder. I was having trouble staying awake. We scrounged around the tree line for food and found some moss and nuts. Not enough, but they would do for the day. It’s odd to think that Rabbit and I share a face. His features are always so animated, fear foremost at the moment as we search through the brush. Every time we find something new his eyes shine and he starts to examine it. It would be adorable in a less muscular toddler.

Sitting down, I decided that if I am going to babysit, I will take the time to learn more about my charge. I didn’t know how to deal with kids.

“How about we play a game?” stupid, stupid. He’s the same age as you.

“Okay!” his eyes lit up. Damn, I guess it really is that easy! We sat near the cliff, playing a game of memories. I would bring up a fact or concept, and he would fill in the gaps if he could. Then he would bring up something he knew, and I would try to do the same. It was fun, but he started clobbering me as soon as he realized how few medical memories I had. After an hour of solid losses I fell back to grass and sighed.

“Rabbit, can you keep watch for a bit? I didn’t sleep last night. Wake me up if you hear or see anything.”

He nods and I relaxed into the soft earth. Maybe if I was lucky I’d wake up to the return of my brothers… or her.

I woke up to leaves being shoved into my mouth and held there. The taste was pungent and medicinal. I mouthed a scream and opened my eyes to see Rabbit slumped unconscious in long hairy arms. Looking further up I saw my captor. Her. Giant black globes of eyes reflected my face back at me. There was no anger, only empathy. Her face seemed to say “shhhh, just go back to sleep”. I wasn’t convinced, but neither did I have much of a choice. In addition to her hands over my mouth, a taller creature had my arms pinned. This one was a male and didn’t have the smiling eyes of the woman. I felt the power go out of my limbs as I tried my best to scream. I was worried for Rabbit, worried for Doc and Wolf, but I had no power. No claws, no blood to stop me drawing in the poison. I felt my dust hum in sympathy. I almost smiled at that. I looked up again with heavy lidded eyes, the reflection of my nocturnal eyes bounced off her own.

As I fell into a dreamless sleep, my last conscious thought was “pretty, but hairy.”

---------------------------------------------------------------

So there it is! Misguided crushes, bad parenting and Wolf makes some friends in low places (presumably).

As always, comments welcome.