Almost There

[Azen]

[Azen]

Part of me felt a little bad for giving him yet another thing to occupy his mind. But, I guess it was better consider now, while it was still easy for him to get back, right? Right? .........

I sat down a little ways away from him. Not so close that I intruded, but close enough. At least, I hoped it was anyway. Part of me really wanted to apologize to him, but it just seemed inappropriate. I opened my mouth a few times, but always shut it again before anything could come out. Finally I figured that it was just better if I let him think.

[Cujo - Jaydn - Kurt]

[Jaydn:]

I ((have no idea what to post)).

[Azen]

//um, ditto....//

[Cujo - Jaydn - Kurt]

[Jaydn:]

I have no idea how long we sat there; I'm just glad Azen didn't try and talk to me. 'I could always turn around and go back to the Nest; it's not like once I get to the bridge that I won't be able to turn around. Azen wouldn't make me cross it. . . Would he?' I turned to face Azen, still not entirely sure I was going to cross the bridge.

"I'll help you find the bridge," I said, "but I don't know if I'm going to go across it, okay?" The sun was just rising above the horizon; the sand looked almost pink in its glow. Hopefully I wouldn't get sunburned; that was never fun and it hurt like h**l.

[Azen]

[Azen]

I blinked a few times when Jaydn finally spoke; I was half-asleep. I smiled carefully at him. "It's your chhoice, Jaydn. I won't force you into anything you don't want to." I'd lived with falcons most of my life, so choice was something I never had. I was glad to be able to give at least that to him.

THe sun blinked over the horizon, and I hissed under my breath. "It's going to get hot again..." I grumbled. I stood, looking up both ends of the coastline. "Do we just pick a direction and-" I stopped mid-sentence as I saw a huge snake-like thing out a long ways into the water. I turned quickly to Jaydn. "Did you see that?"

[Cujo - Jaydn - Kurt]

[Jaydn:]

"Did you see that?" I blinked in amazement. This huge snake-sea-monster-like-thing was just diappearing underneath the water.

"If you're talking about a huge sea monster that looked a lot like a snake, then yes, I did. Otherwise, feel free to call me insane." I hoped I wasn't halucinating; heat stroke was the last thing I needed, but I doubted that was what was wrong with me. It wasn't even that hot out...yet.

"So . . . What are we going to do? Go and see what the heck that thing was or go the other way?" I wanted to know what that thing was, though I didn't particularily want to get up-close and personal with it. I just hoped it was vegetarian.

[Azen]

[Azen]

I chuckled a little at Jaydn's wording. But, that thing did look like it was out pretty far.....what reason could it have to surface all the way out there? It almost looked like it was attacking something....

"I don't know.....maybe the bridge is that way? It's the only lead we have..." I started half-jogging towards my right (the south) and threw a look over my shoulder at JAydn. "If you're still unsure, you can stay here. But that thing might destry the bridge before I can get to it, so I'm going." I took off down the coast as hard as I could.

[Cujo - Jaydn - Kurt]

[Jaydn:]

I sighed, and, after a moment's hesitation, ran after him. I left the horses where they were; they probably wouldn't appreciate being close to a sea monster. It took me a few minutes, but I finally caught up with Azen. D**m, he was fast. "Ok, so, what are we going to do when we get to the scary sea monster-thing?" I asked, finding it difficult to speak while running.

[Azen]

[Azen]

A huge splash resounded in the distance. "We might not have to do anything, I think it just left" Of course, that huge splash could have also been the bridge breaking apart, so I kept running.

The salty smell wavered as we dashed inbetween trees. I didn't like losing the briny scent, so I picked up the pace a bit and focused on not hitting trees. That d**n sea serpent better not have ruined my only chances of getting home!

[Cujo - Jaydn - Kurt]

[Jaydn:]

As we ran through the trees I fell behind Azen. I'd never run this fast in my entire life. I kept him in sight, amazed at how he could run so fast for so long. Finally we broke through the trees and were back on sand. There was a huge golden-colored bridge that looked like it led into the middle of the ocean; I couldn't see the shore on the other side. "It doesn't look like it's broken," I panted, coming up next to Azen. "You think that thing left?"

[Azen]

[Azen]

I came to a halt on the sand a little ways away from the bridge. It was huge, I don't know how I could have missed it on the island before. Of course, I had been gone a few days, but it couldn't be possible that someone could build this thing in that span of time could it?

"You think that thing left?"

"I guess it must have." This was relying on my cobra senses as I shifted a few strides back into my Demi form. The water seemed clear from where I was at, but the bridge was so long...it could be waiting up ahead.

But, that didn't matter to me at the moment. I faced Jaydn, and gave him an apologetic look for bringing up an uncomfortable subject again. "Is this.....goodbye then?" I would be sad to leave him; the snake who had been kind to me ever since my weird appearance in his land. I smiled again at him and took off across the bridge. Whether he followed me or not would ultimatly be up to him.

[Cujo - Jaydn - Kurt]

[Jaydn:]

"Is this.....goodbye then?" Azen didn't wait for me to answer; he turned and started running across the bridge. I guess he must be eager to get back to the island.

I hesitated, still not entirely sure if I wanted to go or not. On one hand, I didn't want to be alone out here. . .especially if that sea monster decided it was hungry; it'd be easy for it to swallow me whole. A bird took off from the trees behind me, shrieking loudly. That made up my mind; I ran after Azen. I didn't look down as I ran across the bridge (me looking down while over water. . .yeah, that's smart.); I kept my eyes on Azen's back. I was about ten feet behind him, and that's probably as close as I was going to get unless he slowed down or I suddenly became able to run a heck of a lot faster than I could now.

[Azen]

[Azen]

I heard footfalls following behind me and laughed in delight to myself. So Jaydn really was going to the island with me. Or was he going to wait until the serpent was gone and head back?

I couldn't tarry over that too much, because the large snake in question burst through the water not ten feet from the bridge and completely soaked me in seawater. I had to tense up to keep the water from carrying me over the other side of the bridge. I spat out a mouthful of water. "Maybe Jaydn had something here with this water thing..." I mumbled. I shook more water out of my hair and spread my hood out, fixed the monster with my best snake glare with slitted eyes, and hissed, my fangs filling with poison.

[Cujo - Jaydn - Kurt]

[Jaydn:]

As the snake shot up out of the water I screamed and jumped back; I was soaked. Great. I was too freaked out by the snake to care that I was all wet at the moment; I backed up a little farther, probably twenty feet from Azen now. I shuddered as Azen spread his hood; that couldn't feel plesant. "Uh, you've got a plan, right?" I called to him. The sea monster shrieked and swung it's tail, sending a huge wave onto the bridge. I clutched the rail of the bridge to keep myself from being thrown into the ocean; maybe going after Azen hadn't been the right choice after all . . .

[Azen]

[Azen]

Plan? I didn't really do plans. Stuff just kind of happened and I reacted to it. THe serpent launched another wave at us and the water pressure was enough to pull me out of my Demi form. THat was a good thing, for my hood would have brought me over the side if it stayed flared.

I called over to Jaydn, "Um....well, since that one kinda failed, not really. How about you?" THe sea snake gave another loud hiss and dove at the bridge, its large maw aimed right at me. I rolled away in time, barely, and gave a hiss of my own. How the heck could we beat this thing? Or could we?