Young Writers Society

"Maybe you should test it out for a second?" Bo suggested. "I mean, like, see if one is afraid of the fire before we all go in. I don't know if these wasps are like normal bugs. I think we should make sure the plan will work before we all go in - especially the kids."

Codix and Nadira bristled at being called kids, but neither objected to the idea as Maahes stepped towards the wasps. A flame appeared in the cusp of his hand.

The wasps, which had been heading towards him the moment he stepped in their area, hovered a few feet away from him and the flame.

Aegeas was about to ask whether or not Bo had lumped the otter in with the 'kids,' but found himself a little more concerned with hiding behind Bo once the wasps reappeared.

Peeking out from behind Bo, Aegeas was more than a little surprised to find the wasps a few feet away from Maahes. Aegeas had sworn they'd have at least tried to get a little closer, but they were apparently just that afraid. "That's pretty good," the otter mumbled, looking at the fire in Maahes's hands.

Bo's eyebrows raised up, a small amount of his anxiety alleviated. "Well," he commented. "That does seem to be working. You're alright out there, Maahes?" he asked.

Maahes nodded, turning back to the others. "I am," he confirmed - he didn't have to push himself too hard yet, though protecting the entire group was going to be another story.

"Well," Aegeas said, "I guess that's a good sign we should go into the jungle." He looked around at the other people that he could see (since he was still hiding behind Bo). "Anyone disagree?"

"I don't," Nadira said. She looked over at her best friend, who seemed a little less scared than before.

"Me either," Codix added.

Rotting leaves carpeted the ground, concealing rises and falls, holes, tree roots, bones, all kinds of things that made it dangerous to move too quickly. A single careless move could end in injury, which could then be easily infected. Which in a foreign jungle meant probable death.

Without a creek to follow, the band would have quickly become lost. The speckles of sunlight that poked through the canopy roof only became sparser and sparser as they went on. Boris did not mind. To him, the familiarly bad lighting was almost comfortable.

That fleshy, rosy pink fungus only became more invasive. It became harder to see as it got darker, but further in it was more than the veins of the jungle, it was the skin. The same white ants from the tunnels sometimes appeared there in the thick of it, carrying little pieces on their backs. The ants remained visible long after the fungus started to fade into shadow.

And just at the mid point, where it was just light enough to see, but dim enough that colours disappeared and shapes blended into each other, that was when the first one came screaming into view.

A large parrot-lizard hybrid creature fell from the trees, eggs spilling out of its eyes and beak. It flapped about violently, throwing itself at anything it could in a vain attempt to throw off the wasps that buzzed around its head. It was too close.

Boris fired a shot, but the bird-lizard convulsed into a sudden dive, and he missed. He fired two more shots in quick succession. The bird-lizard fell to the ground. It was still too close.

The wasps lifted the dying creature from inside the body, and threw it at the party.

Aegeas wasn't remotely surprised to find himself taking another dip in the creek so soon. Wearing his baggy clothes. With his oversized gun still poking over his head. Fleeing from some disgusting creature that had flung itself in his direction.

"Get to cover!" he shouted, treading and splashing the water not far from the edge of the creek. Ugh, if he wasn't struggling to keep his head up, he could just aim the gun at the wasps. But that'd be too easy for this planet, wouldn't it?

It was hard focusing on all of the things that had needed to be doing - leading the group, keeping flames going, and keeping up a steady wind to keep away the wasps - but Maahes managed to focus enough to conjure up a Detonation. It was one of the few things Odris had been able to teach him thousands of years ago.

The dying creature burst in brilliant green flames, with nothing remaining when the flames finally ceased to burn. The flames were only inches from Maahes's face at the front of the group when they disappeared. He needed to react faster, but his reflexes just weren't prepared for something like this.

Oh. Right. The flames. Aegeas had forgotten all about Maahes's powers in the heat of the moment. Not that he could've seen whether Maahes had burned the corpse to a crisp or not.

Pulling himself back onto shore, Aegeas shook some of the water off his clothes and fur as he returned to where he'd been standing. "Are the wasps gone?" he said, trying to look around Maahes.

Nadira shook her head.

"They're still here," she said. "They're just staying farther away after that fire."

"They're not going to leave us alone?" Aegeas said. "We have fire! What are they even waiting for?" He had a suspicion he knew what the answer was, but he hoped that the wasps were as dumb as the ones on his world.

Bo had instinctively sent a shot at the dead carcass. He was pretty sure he hit it, but it was already dead, so that wasn't going to do much at all. All he could think to do as the body hurtled to the ground and Maahes caused it to combust into flames was hold his gun at ready and step forward enough to be ready to fling himself in front of the others.

He let out a small relieved sigh as the carcass burned to ash and the wasps kept their distance, but Nadira was right. It was only because of the fire, and they didn't know how long that trick would last.

"Everyone okay?" he asked, doing a head count. Only Aegeas had thrown himself into the water. The others were nearby, which was a relief but also worrisome considering the ... well, the wasps.

Water dripping down his ears and soaking his shirt even more than it had been in the river, Aegeas crossed his arms. "Physically, sure. Emotionally, not really, but I'll manage," he grumbled.