taco
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5.0 KiB
+++ date = '2026-05-28T06:00:00-06:00' draft = false title = "Those Who are Underfoot, Chapter Two" summary = "Meppa's journey continues, she learns first hand to be wary of the tall creatures." tags = ['story', 'meppa the kobold'] showTableOfContents = false showPagination = false showZenMode = true +++
Chapter Two
The journey was slow and arduous. Meppa had never walked so far in her entire life. Her travel party avoided the main paths, which was the custom to avoid the Tall Creatures as they were considered dangerous. This did mean that they had to travel through the wilds, which brought their own perils to the small group. Thankfully, they had Kip, the navigator.
This was not Kip’s first pilgrimage, his first journey was during the cold months, and he still has never talked about the journey. All that is known is of the 7 that set out for Kaelrath, only 4 returned. Since then Kip had become a bit of a loner, preferring the wilds to the warm safety of Yipton. Supposedly, the eldest council even requested to speak with him in Fathomsreach but Kip never talked much of that if it did happen. All Meppa knew was she was thankful Kip was there now. No one knew the wilds like he did.
Their camp was outside the settlement Holey Town. The Tall Creatures built this town in a foolish location as it seemed to be constantly under barrage of falling stars. The name, however, did elicit a humorous reaction from many in Meppa’s party, and it was often joked about back in Yipton. Honestly, Meppa was a bit curious about the settlement. She had never seen how the Tall Creatures lived, only heard of it. It was hard to object to Dekkara when she suggested going and checking it out. The lights of the town were within sight of their camp, and they shone as tantalizing beacons, beckoning her to delight in their presence.
Her willpower caved when the stars began to fall, and she and Ekkard left in the middle of the night.
Outside Holey Town**, the two sisters found themselves before an ocean of wheat. Dekkara reassured Meppa that it was safe, any of the Tall Creatures would be asleep at this time. They both crawled cautiously through the seemingly endless field of wheat until they finally found the end. Meppa’s heart sank, before them stood another wall of wheat. They cautiously started to travel through the next endless forest of wheat until they exited, facing yet another wall of wheat.
“Where is the town?” Meppa asked nervously.
“It can't be much farther.” Dekkara replied.
They slowly ventured into the next field of wheat, and Meppa could have sworn she heard rustling. She tugged on Dekkara’s tail and whispered in her ear.
“I think I heard something, be still”
Both sisters froze in place and listened carefully. They could hear the wind, and a gentle crash in the distance as a star came crashing down to earth. What could only have been a few moments felt like an age, as they listened and waited in fear. Meppa could swear she heard something, she cautiously turned to her sister, ready to whisper that perhaps it was nothing when in a blink of an eye, her sister vanished.
Meppa could feel the wheat whipping by her and a bizarre pain in her tail as if a trap had snared her. She tried in desperation to grab anything to stop her unplanned abduction. Whatever had her whipped her around with ease, threatening to snap her neck with force. For only a moment whatever had taken her let go before a mouth of fangs and stinging pain gripped her by her neck. This was it, this was how Meppa would die.
Snarling, pain, the taste of blood, the burning of her neck, the sound of the breeze blowing through the wheat. Meppa could feel her body failing her. The beast had her, she was nothing, she was weak.
A sudden howl of pain followed by a guttural screeching suddenly ceased the pain of daggers digging into Meppa’s neck, she tried to look and see, but her body refused to respond. Soon all she could hear was the sound of a blade stabbing a corpse repeatedly. The world went black.
Meppa awoke, being pulled by her tail once again; the creature still had her, where was her sister? She tried to look, tried to do anything to escape her fate, to find Dekkara.
“Please don’t struggle.” Came Dekkara’s voice.
“You are wounded, I must get you to camp”
Meppa relaxed and felt herself losing consciousness. The embrace of the earth under her and the incessant itching sensation in her neck was the only thing keeping her awake. She would later learn that Dekkara had drugged her all the way back to camp, stopping several times to try and staunch her bleeding. Meppa and Dekkara were both spared the lectures due to Meppa’s condition, but they could feel the disapproval of the group. Such mistakes could not be made again, for both their sakes.
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