‘Sometimes on the surface, and sometimes half buried in the sand, are the shiny black stones. They are very heavy, and like nothing else we have ever found, and not at all like the hard stones we collect from the forest floor.’
Kel noticed that Mec’s voice had dropped a tone, and this was usually a signal that the meeting was coming to an end, and he still had a whole host of other questions he wanted to ask. So he didn’t take the hint.
‘I think it’s time you went back to your group, Kel. They will worry about you as the greater sun will soon be giving little light to guide you, and the lesser sun is not due with any brightness for several cycles yet.’ Mec clearly saw the look of disappointment on Kel’s face and added, ‘You can come again tomorrow, and we will discuss how to get rid of the new creature you found today.’
With that, Kel reluctantly got up from his seat, thanked Mec for his time and the stories he had related, and left the tree cave. The light was already beginning to fail, and the weak lesser sun would not be up for a while, so he had to tread carefully along the trail in the middle of the branch, although the branch itself was ten times his height in width.
There was one nasty little creature which made them keep to the well worn pathways, and that was a worm-like thing which would very quickly bore into your foot if you stood too long in any one place. It was very difficult to remove once having gained entry, usually leaving the head imbedded deep in the flesh, and this would then later erupt into a running sore which refused to heal.
For some reason the worm creature didn’t like hiding underneath an area which was well trodden, and so Kel and his people kept to the tracks, and the worm stayed in the undisturbed area to the side of the pathways, to catch other unwary prey which didn’t know about its hiding place.
Carefully skirting the red marked danger area of the creature he had baited earlier, Kel realized he needed a drink of water, and went up a side branch to where he knew some of the many types of water plants grew.
Although one of the smaller members of the species, the green and yellow striped plant was twice as tall as he was, being composed of a series of sheath like leaves arranged in a circle, water having collected at the base from the frequent rains which dribbled down from the lofty forest canopy above.
Breaking off a thin twig a little longer than his arm, Kel placed one foot on a new bud which was growing out from the base of the plant and reached up to dangle the twig over the lip of the lowest of the cup-shaped water reservoirs. He didn’t have long to wait. There was a violent commotion in the water and he withdrew the twig to find a Snapper had a firm grip on the other end of it.
An over sized head equipped with a double row of pure white teeth had a firm grip on the twig and was furiously trying to free itself from what it suddenly realized wasn’t a meal after all, but the teeth had penetrated the wood and wouldn’t come loose.
Kel deftly flicked the stick with the Snapper attached to it over the side of the cupped shaped leaf, and then tossed it out over the edge of the branch he was standing on. Some moments later it would reach the forest floor and no doubt provide a meal for some hungry denizen of the depths, although there wasn’t a lot of flesh on a Snapper as it was all head, and even that was mostly composed of chisel sharp teeth.
Just about every water plant had a Snapper in each compartment, and unless one wanted to lose a large part of one’s nose, it was sensible to rid the pool of its occupant before drinking.
He never could understand how the Snapper thing worked. You could rid a pool of its Snapper, and the next time you visited the same pool there would be another one in residence. Never two, just the one. Where did they come from? And always the same size, just big enough to do one a bit of serious damage, but not life threatening.
The forest certainly didn’t make life easy for the group, and he supposed all the other creatures felt the same way about it, for everything was chased or eaten by something.
Having freed the pool of its guardian, Kel broke off another twig, and repeated the procedure just in case there was another one present, which there never was, but it was better to be safe than sorry. As the twig didn’t try to wrench itself out of his hand, he assumed the pool was now empty of flying teeth, and it was now safe to take a drink.
Gripping the edge of the giant leaf, he heaved himself up to its edge and leaned over to slake his thirst in the cool sweet water. Some of the water plants were true giants, and he and his group had often bathed in them on hot and sticky days, just to get cool again.
By the time that Kel had made his way back to the group, it was getting quite dark, and he had to take extra care on the last leg
