Of Elvia and the Steam | Part 6

Table of Contents : Prt 1; Prt 2; Prt 3; Prt 4; Prt 5; Prt 6; Prt 7; Prt 8; Prt 9; Prt 10

As Whatever-it-was came into the light
Elvia was at once pleased and terrified.
She was pleased not to be on this beast’s bad side.
The thought made her go frightfully cold inside.

Whatever-it-was could eat her in one bite
She shuddered thinking of those enormous teeth
Which were used to toss her up so easily.   
Then there were those claw marks on the stalagmites . . .

“I’m sorry,” said Elvia more timidly,
“But I never got your name. What are you called?”
Whatever-it-was kept up her quiet walk.
“Devourer of Dead is what they call me,”

Whatever-it-was retorted in rumble.
“Do you like that name?” Elvia inquired.
Then came a vibrating noise which surprised her.
Was it a chuckle or sarcastic grumble?

“I do not care very much, to say the least;
For, there are not many who would speak to me
In ways that require such intimacy
Because I protect the wilderness you see.”

“But what should I call you?” Elvia asked
“After all, we are trekking together
I must call you something while we’re together.
Even if its simply while we’re on this task.”

Whatever-it-was was silent for a while
Trotting quickly through the trees along the bank.
Elvia lounged in the fur, feet drooped on the flank.
River, wind, and birds, the only sounds for miles.

“Call me what you wish,” said Whatever-it-was.
Elvia smiled and closed her forrest green eyes.
She thought long and hard running names through her mind
Then, she fell asleep until they stopped to munch.

Elvia ate berries and fruit from the trees.
Whatever-it-was caught many fish to eat.
Then, they sat by the water cooling their feet.
When the time came, Elvia began to speak,

“Sherah, that is what I think your name should be.
You are lion and serpent with great power,
Soft as an otter, but bold to devour.
I have not known you for long. What do you think?

Whatever-it-was remained quiet in thought
Letting the water run past its large, strange feet.
“My name is as you say, and has been maybe . . .
For, it seems an echo from times long forgot.”

"I am not sure if you have given me this name,
Or if, somehow, you happened to retrieve it.
Sherah is my name from those who conceived it.
You must have power of past and present day.”

Delighted, and more than a bit bewildered
Elvia embraced the enormous creature
Overflowing with joy. Letting go her fear
As a powerful sense of friendship filled her.

The two continued their journey up river
Stopping once they encountered the music scene
With blood in the mud and torn scattered bodies.
As they looked, Elvia’s lip shook and quivered.

Elvia’s bright eyes filled with hot steamy tears
As she sat in a tree with her eyes closed tight,
Her face turned away from the traumatic sight
Wondering if they would catch those pirateers.

“We must keep moving, and must quicken our pace.
I have gleaned all the information I can
Something here is strange. It makes me uncertain.
Come Elvia, we must catch this barge post haste.”

Sherah ran in sprints, Elvia on her back
Bouncing as she did all she could to hang on
Sherah’s strides felt like flight or leaps of furlongs.
With her massive, powerful legs of a cat,

Her gator snout protruding like an arrow,
Otter tail stretched out straight like a wind rudder,
Sherah’s speed and stealth made her a fierce hunter
Silently speeding through trees wide and narrow.

Elvia’s hair whipped wildly through the swift wind
Even while tucked down low on Sherah’s back
Gripping scale and fur with all the strength she had,
And donning a toothy, maniacal grin.

Table of Contents : Prt 1; Prt 2; Prt 3; Prt 4; Prt 5; Prt 6; Prt 7; Prt 8; Prt 9; Prt 10