Box Related Adventures
“Hydra, keep up!” Manticore barked back to her brother, as he hung back to study a particularly interesting stump. The blue runner jumped slightly, startled by the sudden shout, and scuttled to rejoin her quickly.
“Sorry!” He was quick to apologize, a sheepish look on his face. “I uh, the stump back there had a lot of rings, in an interesting pattern.” He grinned, seeming proud of himself for the observation, which seemed to go right over his sister’s head. She stared blankly at him, head tilted to one side.
“Does that mean something?” A simple question, but one indicating she really didn’t get the significance of the matter.
“Yes…it means that before someone cut it down that was a very old, very weird tree.” His response warranted only a sigh from the green puller, and he pouted at her. “Whaaat? It’s worth noting!” And she couldn’t really fault him for that. He was curious, and well, it was an endearing quality of his. One of many.
“Remember where it is, on our way back we can stop and you can study it more, right now we have to meet up with our guide, Kelpie knows these woods well, or so I’ve heard, so if anyone can get us through it safely it’s him.” She seemed to have faith in the other vayron, despite barely knowing him. “He’s meeting us just up the trail here, so he can help us navigate while we look for that crate.”
Neither of the siblings were strangers to the rumors of crates of treasure just lying around in the woods. It seemed odd, but then they’d heard odder in their lives so far. They were young still, ready for adventure, and well hey, their guide seemed interested in the promise of a cut of the reward if they DID find anything. That was good enough for everyone involved.
Finally they reached a fork in the trail, and waiting for them was a big green puller, looking almost like he could be a relative of Manticore’s, and maybe he was in some distant way. He smiled to them, nodding in greeting. “You’re just on time.” He noted warmly, looking content with their arrival time. It was enough to draw a sigh of relief from the big female. With Hydra’s tendency to stop along the way to explore she had been worried they’d left Kelpie waiting for them.
It was reassuring to know they hadn’t kept him long.
“So, do you really think there’s just…crates of treasure laying around out there?” Hydra piped up, looking from his sister to the other puller. It was an open question, for either of them honestly. “I mean, there’s plenty of stories of it that I’ve read, but there’s a slight difference between stories and truth, depending on the story.” It seemed like a good point to make, right?
Manticore was quiet, seeming to think on the answer, but Kelpie was quick to jump in with an answer. “Well, I’ve seen stranger things in my travels, and I’ve seen a few of these legendary crates…” He smirked. “The area Manticore picked out, it’s a good place to start. Plenty of caravans pass through that area, and if anywhere is gonna have stray boxes it’s there. Stuff’s bound to fall off caravans from time to time.”
The logic was sound, and Manticore nodded, looking back to Hydra. “That’s exactly why I picked it of course.” As they spoke, the trio began picking their way through the woods, Kelpie falling into an easy lead, while Manticore and Hydra followed close after. They knew they had a long hike ahead of them, getting there would be easy but then they had to actually find something.
The blue runner thought about their words, before raising another point. “If it’s something that fell off a caravan, do you think it would actually be anything worthwhile? I mean, what if we open it up and it’s just a bunch of like…rabbit feet or something.”
“I think, technically, that still counts as lucky.” Manticore joked, drawing a flat look from her brother, and a guffaw from Kelpie.
“You know what I mean though.” Hydra said with a grumble, and she nodded.
“If it’s something useless well….we’ll find a use for it. Even if it’s junk, someone would buy it at the market.”
Kelpie nodded in agreement. “Manticore’s right, there’s a buyer for everything, and even if you don’t get much it’s still something, right?” Something was, inarguably, always better than nothing as far as he was concerned. That was just logical there.
The siblings were quiet for a moment, before Hydra hummed in agreement, and Manticore nodded once. “Whatever we find, finding something is better than nothing.” She noted, and the group fell quiet for a long while.
The group moved on, spreading out once they reached a more overgrown part of the trail. They searched hard, trailing off in every direction, but keeping within shouting distance. It took almost a half hour of looking before a shout went up from Hydra. “HEY! HEY GUYS HEY!” He popped his head up as he stood on something before him with his front feet. The crate was sturdy, but it did carry signs of age, with moss sprouting on it.
“I found something!”
That had them rushing over, Manticore reaching him first, followed by Kelpie. The two pullers eyed the box, and Hydra cast them a delighted look. “Well, dunno what’s in it, but it is, in fact, a crate. Just…lying around in the woods.” He was proud of himself, and neither other vayron could blame him for it. He’d found the box after all.
Carefully he stepped off of it, and looked towards the other two patiently. Manticore was the first to move forward to pry the lid off the box, and toss it aside to reveal…
“Books?” Kelpie sounded confused, looking at the contents of the crate almost incredulously. As he did so, Hydra’s face lit up, and Manticore beamed.
“This is an amazing find.” She remarked eagerly, looking thrilled. “I’m sure there’s some useful books in here for you to pawn, if you’re not interested in reading Kelpie.” Those words seemed to assure him at least.
“Come on, let’s sort these out and figure out how to bring them all back.” Hydra cheered, moving to practically dive into the box, to begin to shuffle through the books excitedly.