—Scene 32— Naptime’s Lament

"Nooooo–!" Cuthbert's guttural yell carried through the jungle, silencing bugs and scaring birds off of their evening roost. Ta' Zan jumped to his feet surveying the land before turning to Cuthbert who lay unconscious– his void-black cloak sticking over his sweat drenched figure. 

'How can a man sweat so much?' Ta' Zan noted as he cleaned some crust from his eyes. 'Maybe I should give him less water.' 

His legs and shoulders throbbed in pain as he reoriented himself and was shocked when he noticed the position of the sun.

"No, no, no. There's no way I slept that long!" Ta' Zan initially told himself he was just taking a break for a few minutes to eat– which he quickly convinced himself sitting for a while was fine. Before he knew it his eyes closed just long enough for his body to convince him it was fine to nap. 

"But only for half an hour," he muttered, mocking himself for how confident he'd been before shutting his eyes.

He lost three hours of sunlight. And from his calculations he only had another hour left before night fell on him. Ta' Zan quickly gathered his stuff before looking at Cuthbert laying there– he winced at the thought of lifting the dead weight again. 

Cuthbert wasn't particularly heavy—just skin and bones, really—but the trek was anything but light. The swamp didn't make it any easier either. He lightly kicked the man in the ribs hoping it was enough to wake him up. 

To no one's surprise– he didn't.

"Nooooo–!" Cuthbert's voice echoed from the jungle. 

Except… Cuthbert hadn't moved.

Ta' Zan froze– fully awake now.

"That's not good. Dungballs!" Ta' Zan stopped hesitating and lifted Cuthbert against his body's complaints. 

Another cry—too close. Too fast. 

"No, no, no." 

"Of course there is more than one nearby. Let's get a move on buddy." Ta' Zan slid down a wide trench that he suspected was made by a bolaj ch'u' just a couple days ago. It wasn't filled with water yet so the fish was probably still digging. 

Ta' Zan was always happy to find these fish roadways. It cut down on his commutes significantly whenever he used them. 

"Nooooo–!" The calls were getting closer.

'No doubt the ixpa'ch will use the same route as me once they found it.' 

"No, no, no." Came a few more calls from three new directions.

'There's always more than one' this time he said it to himself in Gunther's voice as he tried to remember what his mentor called them.

"What was it again?" 

'Basket. No.'

'Kettle, no that's not it either' Common tongue always frustrated Ta' Zan– especially in moments like these.

"Nooooo–!"

'It had something to do with lips, I think.'

A giant lizard leaped from the canopy mimicking Cuthbert's yell all the way down, crashing into the trench. Scales shimmered in the setting sun. Its yellow beady eyes stared directly at the two as it ran its forked tongue around the slit of its mouth– frills on its head vibrating as its throat sacs ballooned and continued to screech—"Nooooo–!"..

"Basalicks!" He said in triumph. It still didn't sound right but close enough to how Gunther used to say it.

"No, no, no." A few more calls than before answered– this time coming from every direction.

Ta' Zan did his best to keep his gaze straight ahead and walked straight past the beast. It never moved an inch as it continued to stare ahead–teeth bared.

In Ta' Zan's youth he would've gone straight for the kill, stabbing it straight through its throat sac. That usually brought him the aggression of the whole flock of mimics which was always a frightening experience for a ten year old. 

Fortunately he was always faster than the bunch scampering towards him.

It wasn't until he was fourteen that he started watching the creatures of the swamp more carefully that he noticed the two grave mistakes the prey of the ixap'ch usually made.

The first one was responding to these calls as if they were from their own kind. It's what the lizards hoped for to confirm their kill's location.

The second one which was less obvious to Ta' Zan was staring them in their glowing amber eyes– Ta' Zan always avoided eye contact when killing something.

As deadly as these lizards were, they were also pretty stupid if you knew these two simple rules. 

"No, no, no." His voice was now right behind him with the other ixap'ch that found him first. But Ta' Zan paid them no mind as he created more distance away from them and reminded himself that he shouldn't make any noise no matter how much he wanted to mock the lizards. 

They chanted they're mimicry to one another as they tried to figure out where their prey went off to.

Cuthbert began to fidget and grumble underneath his void cloak to Ta' Zans surprise.

"Get away from me, Noooo–! No, no, no!"

"Really, now!?" He hoisted Cuthbert upright, but the man collapsed backward, flailing in hysteria, looking for someone he couldn't quite find. "I liked it more when you didn't speak."

Cuthbert looked up at the man with delirium– his eyes showed no signs of life to Ta'Zan.

He blinked rapidly. The jungle roared in his ears. "Ap' Ollyon?" The half conscious man stuttered in fear at the unknown man towering over him.

"What in the abyss is an Ap' Ollyon?' Ta' Zan lowered his hand towards the fallen man. Cuthbert hesitated to grab it.

"Nooooo–!" They both turned to the sound of their voices echoing towards them 

"No, no, no."

"I don't have time for this." Ta' Zan grabbed Cuthbert from the cuff of his cloak and lifted the little man to his feet. "We need to get moving and try not to speak." He didn't like the fact that he couldn't ask the man more questions but he didn't want the ixap'ch to hear them. Ta' Zan started moving away from the howls behind them.

Cuthbert stood there a moment not sure what to do or if he was still dreaming as he heard the haunting yell of his voice catching up to him– warning him of something.

"Nooooo–!" Ta' Zan turned around to see him standing there.

'This man wants to get killed. How did he get this far into the jungle?' He walked back and lifted the man over his shoulder again and marched off. 

"Who are you and what the hell is following us?! Let me go!" Ta' Zan was less gentle this time in putting the man down as he dropped him to the ground with no warning– he was frustrated. Tired.

And the thing he was lugging around all day was not cooperating. He pointed a finger to his face.

"Ta' Zan'  He then pointed to the voices behind them and tried his best to sound out the name of the ixap'ch behind them in common tongue "Ba-sa-licks?" It still didn't sound right to him.

"Basalicks? What are– Oh. Do you mean basilisks?" 

Ta' Zan's mood quickly pivoted from anger to excitement as he mimed the name to himself. Trying to remember it for next time. 

"Yes, Bah-sil-isks!" That felt a lot better than what he initially thought the pronunciation was. He reached his hand out again to Cuthbert, who quickly accepted it this time.

"Move" They both began walking away from the flock moving ever so closer to them. "No more talking"

"Why?" Cuthbert's curiosity peeked at the thought of seeing a basilisk– his mind raced with so many questions for his new companion Ta' Zan.

Ta' Zan sighed at the question. 'I still liked you better when you didn't talk.'