Lahnthean Aria

11

"Sorry," Noorh admitted. "I forgot you need meals. I have a jerky in a pouch along the right side of my waist. You can take one."

Kiran shyly mumbled a "thank you" before gingerly moving her arms away from his neck. She slipped her arms around his waist, leaving her to press her chest squarely against Noorh's.

Her heart raced at the sensation of a stranger's body to close to her own. She loudly cleared her throat as she awkwardly padded along the leather belt that held several items along Noorh's waist. "Um…you don't eat?" she asked, hoping it would distract him from noticing the way her heart was beating against his sturdy chest.

"I do," he replied, smirking as he noted the frantic beats thrumming from her chest. "I just had a piece of jerky last night before the ritual. It's usually taken once a day by travelers who don't have enough food on hand."

"Oh, I see," Kiran muttered as her hand felt something soft and round along his waist. "I think I found it!" She felt a clasp that secured the pouch to the belt, unlatched it, and showed Noorh a brown leather pouch held closed by a black string. "Is this it?" she asked, her empty stomach groaning in anticipation.

"Yes, that's it."

Kiran quickly opened the pouch and gasped at the square thin wafers inside it. It didn't look like any meat jerky she had seen in her world.

"Get one and place it under your tongue," Noorh instructed. "That should nourish you for the day."

Kiran looked uneasily at him. "Shouldn't you take one too? You said you only had one yesterday."

"Are you going to feed me one?"

Kiran blushed. "F-feed you? I mean, sure but…y-you can put me down too so you can-"

"I can't."

Kiran stared wide-eyed at him. He couldn't?! Was he actually enjoying the experience of carrying her in his arms like a bride?!

"There isn't much space for you to stand on the step that I'm on right now."

Kiran gingerly glanced down and immediately shrank back against the crook of Noorh's neck in terror. He was perched on a step that only had room for his feet. The step's edge that overlooked the clouds seemed like it had been sliced off to be narrower than the steps behind them.

"Are you going to eat one?" Noorh asked.

"Y-yeah," Kiran said, casting her eyes back into the pouch. She gingerly picked up a wafer with her trembling fingers. "You first," she said, offering it to him.

Noorh stared curiously at her for a moment before opening his mouth. He watched her drop carefully drop the wafer underneath his tongue. He then observed her as she fished out another waver and ate it.

Kiran cringed as a wave of tastes flooded her mouth. The wafer melted into something extremely salty, sweet, tangy, and spicy all at once. She was surprised her mouth hadn't turned numb. "I guess I see how it makes you eat only once a day," she muttered as she quickly closed the pouch. "I don't think I want to taste anything edible after that."

Noorh bit back a snicker as Kiran put the pouch back to his waist.

"Wouldn't having pockets be more convenient than having everything tied to your waist?" Kiran curiously asked after securing the clasp on the pouch.

"It's not that convenient when I'm hopping along these steps."

"I guess that makes sense. She wrapped her arms around his neck again. "What about a bag?"

"I have some at the bottom of this mountain. It has all my supplies. It's too heavy to carry during the entire trip to the top."

"Right, the stone steps don't seem like they'll accommodate a luggage. Are you sure you're alright with carrying me the whole trip down?"

"We can take a rest once we're passed the nest of the guardians. It takes roughly three days to hike climb down, even with the way I'm doing it. That fall we had last night had cut it down to two."

"Okay, but tell me if you need to rest. Don't force yourself to carry me if your arms are already in pain."

"I did tell you that I'm using a spell, right? By the way, how long can you hold your breath?"

Kiran stared confused at him. "Not too long..? I don't know how to swim so…"

"Then I suggest you start practicing a bit now, before we reach the nest. The guardians' nests are notorious for their poisonous stench. We don't have spells that can repel its miasma. The only way to avoid getting too sick from it is to hold your breath until we're past their territory. A minute should be long enough."

Kiran anxiously nodded. "Okay. I'll try to hold my breath for that long."

Noorh continued their descent while Kiran focused on practicing how she could hold her breath, which she soon found wasn't easy.

***

It started with a whiff - a subtle stench of something rotten in the air.

Noorh immediately stopped in his tracks and warily eyed the steps in front of them. "Kiran, I need you to take a deep, long breath."

Kiran nodded, realizing that the scent meant they were close to the winged-serpent guardian's nests. She did as he instructed and did her best to ignore subtle stench in the air. She held it and nodded to Noorh to tell her she was ready.

Noorh nodded in response. He took a deep breath and leapt into the air, skipping three to four steps at a time to reduce the time they would take to cross the nests.

It was after a turn down the steps that Kiran saw the first winged-serpent nest in front of them.

It looked like something a giant bird would make out of uprooted ebony trees. It was splayed across several stone steps, and followed by more nests wrapped around cliff.

What horrified Kiran the most was the bones and rotting meat inside each one of them. It was laced with muddy giant feathers. It was gathered beside eggs that reached Kiran's neck.

Noorh calmly leapt into the first nest, ignoring the carcass on the spot where he landed.

Kiran instinctively tightened her hold around his neck at the sight of maggots wriggling on the corpse of a mangled giant rat.

Noorh leapt into the air again, eyeing the next nest.

Kiran prepared herself to see another mangled animal carcass but when they landed on a patch near the eggs, she spotted a human corpse splayed near a pile of egg shells. Its skin had melted into its flesh, leaving the face unrecognizable. As if the sight of the ripped open torso and maggot-infested intestines wasn't good enough to horrify her, she found something dark and round jerk behind it.

A pair of yellow eyes snapped open from the shape, jolting her. A snake head pounced out of the torso, exposing its slimy fangs aimed at Kiran and Noorh.

Kiran gasped in panic, inhaling the nauseating stench of rotting flesh and imminent death.