Chapter VIII: Old “Friends”

Adelia reached for her sword which lay nearby, ignoring the pain shooting through her arm as she lunged for it. She caught it, rolling to her feet with a wince and brandishing it at the eighteen figures who sat up high upon their Palamares.

She had never actually seen a Palamare in the flesh, one of the most regal creatures of the Azurat plains. They stood five feet high, mostly legs, a very short and bristly white fur coating most of their body, though a short black beard descended from their jaw and they had braided black hair winding down from the top of their head to their back. The Palamare’s were magical creatures, which explained how the hair wove itself, an amazing vision to see if you chopped their braid off. They had a short black tail which fanned at the air in general, swatting away any pesky bugs. When it swished, it seemed to fan out and disappear from sight, the strands of tail hair being so fine. They were, overall, a very unique creature in so many features, that you could almost see the evolutionary steps it must have taken–if you were a science-minded person. It’s front legs were long and strong, with solid white hooves which had a great deal of circumference to them. Their back legs, however, were bent at the knee in the opposite direction as most animals, so that their back hooves were in front of their knees. This was because the Palamare leapt for its food, plucking it from the trees on the outskirts of the Azurat plains. The Palamare was a surprisingly light animal, its bones having almost no density and it’s fur being so very short. It’s eyes were a brilliant yellow and if you looked at it in the nighttime when most Palamares roamed, you would probably not see it, since the moon cast pale white light mixed with the black dark. You’d mistake the eyes, which had become adept at gathering what little light there was in the dark, for stars glowing in the sky. Their lower jaw was pulled back, while the upper part curved over it, as to hook the fruits in the trees with the upper and scoop it into the lower. Several rows of strong but dull teeth lined the creature’s mouth, which it used to mash the food up into a pulp which it digested very slowly. It did so as to spread it out over a great distance since their stomach, rather than being a giant organ, was more of a long digestive tube, to spread out the gained weight of food. Their bodies were sleek and beautiful, yet they were strong enough to hold a rider.

And thus was the case with the eighteen Palamares that Adelia now held off. Adelia’s eyes shot over to Blackheart, who stood in what seemed an almost mock fight stance, an almost goofy seriousness on his face. Kiki had gone back to sleep after noting the fact that she didn’t seem to be in any trouble, or at least, not trouble for her. Her eyes shot back to the leader of the Palamare riders, a man who in her mind, seemed not to be so much an ambassador of kindness, as much as a preston of war. He was not human either, as Adelia began to see as the two suns began to crest the hill on opposite sides. He was a Vasu.

The Vasu were a race who had long lived in the caves near the great mountain Papau. This was ideal for catching Palamares since expansive plains and fields surrounded the mountain and the Palamares usually would sleep in the long grass where they could not be seen during the day. The Vasu, themselves, were a different story, being as unmagical as creatures could be. They had dark skin which allowed them to blend in with the craggy mountains, especially since their skin was a very rough, grainy texture so that bugs could not break their skin with a bit, since the Vasu had a terrible immune system for rarely did bugs enter the stagnant caves of Papau. In fact, rarely did anything beside the Vasu enter the stagnant caves of Papau. Thus, the rank smell of decay that filled the caves had given way to a terrible olfactory sense in the Vasu which was in turn replaced with a very high sensitivity to dust and other foreign objects in the air. Their eyes were often seen as a glaze and they blinked often to wipe away the constant tearing of being in the open sky. They had four eyes, however, all smaller and narrow in shape, and only two were sensitive to the dust content of the air. The other two were used for seeing what they could, and they were very sensitive to light, thus in the day, they usually shut the lower pair and struggled to use the upper ones to see. Their mouth was hinged well, lined with strong muscle, since their diet consisted of certain minerals and especially tree bark, which they had grown a taste for. They wore light or no clothing, though these creatures had been gracious enough to wear battle gear, meaning that they were Vasu wet-hunters. While the Vasu were barely any part water, they hunted for sources of water to wet their skin, which would harden a great deal in the two suns. If they were to exist at all outside the caves of Papau, they would need water, and this oasis seemed very convenient.

The general of battle strode towards Blackheart slowly, his jagged and nasty teeth glistening in the early morning light. He was dressed with an almost comical fez hat which would have made anyone suicidal laugh, since he was carrying a weapon characteristic of a trained Vasu warrior. The Vasu had never understood the concept of sharp objects, since their skin was almost impenetrable. Like any other creature, too, they always tested out weaponry upon some unlucky member of their own race, so sharp objects had been removed from the ‘effective’ list. Instead, they had decided that large rock clubs as well as Kintogs, as they were called, were much more effective. Kintogs were balls of rock laced to a wound up chain and trained warriors could keep eight balls of rock spinning in the air, flying in multiple directions with perfect accuracy and ultimate devastation, with ease. The general had four on his own, but two men near the front of his group had seven each. The general was also adorned in scale armor, the scales most likely from a cave gike, which although sounding small, was really a gigantic burrowing lizard that no man usually risked taking on. To give an idea of size to Adelia, his breastplate, stomach plate, shoulder pads, and leggings were all made from seemingly one scale.