Category Archives: Fiction

V’x began:

“When we were first here, we were lost. We saw the Keepers, their flying machines and wheeled carts. They marched around the open spaces surrounding the trees. We would try to approach them and they would shoot fire at us and we would run back to cover.Continue reading “Stink Bug – Chapter 20”

V’x kept lagging back, heavily favoring her right side. I tried to stay with her, encouraging her to keep up. She would flutter her wings and hop to speed up, but would soon slow again. K’eel squawked angrily every time we fell too far behind. Her patience was wearing thin.

“You OK?” I asked of V’x when I thought K’eel might be out of earshot. V’x ignored me, and we continued on in silence. We rounded a corner and nearly crashed into K’eel, who stood with her wings raised and her hands on her hips.Continue reading “Stink Bug – Chapter 19”

I sat down and waited. K’eel was agitated and groomed her feathers furiously, warbling to herself as she did so. Five minutes passed. My knees were aching, so I got up and walked around. I peeked at what V’x had been working on. It was a series of pegs on a board. Some of the pegs were brightly painted. Others were still being carved.

“Keel?” I said.

K’eel squawked at me loudly, fluffing her feathers. She went back to grooming.Continue reading “Stink Bug – Chapter 18”

V’x was tinkering with her back to us when we approached. She was trilling quietly as she fitted together some carved bits of wood on a large bench in front of her. Her feathers were in complete disarray, especially on her right wing where several stood straight out rather than lying flat against her body.

“V’x,” said K’eel, announcing us. V’x squawked and tossed down her work fluttering nervously, turning quickly and bowing to K’eel.Continue reading “Stink Bug – Chapter 17”

K’eel quickly ushered me back under the forest canopy as the sky darkened. There was a flash and a clap of thunder, followed by the rush of water from above. Under the trees, the air grew damp, but we were mostly protected from the onslaught. Water ran off the trees into trenches that drained into a larger stream that passed through the forest.Continue reading “Stink Bug – Chapter 16”

The Vrr’ak’l had dispersed. Tr’b’l had vanished into the canopy. K’eel and W’oo’woo still sat on each side of me, shielding me with their warm feathers. W’oo’woo was clucking quietly to himself, scratching at the ground with his beak from time to time. K’eel was tracing patterns in the dust with the worn tip of an old, shed feather. There was chatter among other Vrr’ak’l from distant places in the trees, but so far as I could see, we were alone.Continue reading “Stink Bug – Chapter 15”

I stared at T’r’bl for a long time. She didn’t move, other than the occasional blink in that curious way that birds blink. I broke her stare and scanned the other Vrr’a’kl. They too stared back at me, many of them fluttering their feathers. W’oo’woo was among them, quivering quietly beside me. K’eel had her head down, her beak resting upon the ground. She was the only one not looking at me.

I focused back on T’r’bl. “I-.” I didn’t know what to say. I needed to say something. “I don’t know what I can do to help.”Continue reading “Stink Bug – Chapter 14”