CHAPTER 4: Life Under the Skin
"Armags?!" exclaimed Milo.
"What?" Sweet sounded.
"These here critters are what?"
"Will somebody ah tell us what's happenin'?"
"They are animals from around our city."
"How eez eet they ended up here? They are too beeg to go unnoteeced."
"Well, they had been from the African myths," began Milo, "but is there a population down here, or do they live a long time…" He looked to Kida.
"We do not know how long they live. They are normally reclusive, living away from the hunting grounds."
"How long do other creatures live?" Audrey pulled the wrench from a loop in her overalls for no apparent reason.
"It varies. Yeragos live 300 years when they live in captivity. They are the typically green winged creatures you have seen. MUH-suh MIH-kee is a yeragos. Bahodmok live a few thousand years when they are used as pets."
"Is that from being closer to the Crystal, Kida?" The linguist bent down while removing his pendant, carefully healing the wounds in his leg with a grimace.
"I do not know, but perhaps that is so. We are aware they do not live nearly as long in the caves."
"Then there must be a population down here," started Sweet. "But as Mole said, how'd they get here?"
"Myth says they lived in caves in the swamp. Those caves… Jiminy Christmas! A path to Atlantis!" Everyone's eyes widened.
The young armag nudged its sleeping mother playfully, but she did not wake. After a second attempt, it gave up, approaching the explorers. The elephant-sized creature twisted its neck downward to investigate the tiny creatures. Every person shifted, not quite sure how to react. Milo saw the child flare its nostrils for an investigative sniff toward Mole, then tossed and shook its head back with a snort. It randomly began to smell the others with lighthearted curiosity.
"I'm very confused. What do you mean 'Atlantis?'" Duma motioned a dark hand in such a way as to demand an explanation as the armag eyed him.
"Well, uh…" The crew, especially Milo, had forgotten the guide was even there. "Look, explanations later. We've gotta get these things back to the swamp."
Duma crossed his arms, annoyed. "Yes? And how do we all plan to do this?"
"I don't know…" Milo lamented. "We've gotta get our gear."
"It's in the tall grass. The lionesses are still there."
Sweet responded to the guide. "Well, so's our food, water, medical supplies…"
"Take your gun, Duma, and follow me. Sweet, we need help carrying things. We'll need to camp for the night. Find--" A gigantic snout was thrust in his face, a small wind coming from the creature's odiferous breath. From it's mouth erupted a great gray slug, the slimy thing wiping itself over Milo's front. "Aaaahh!" The lingust was sopping wet with the beast's saliva. "Great." He heard a few chuckles around him. "Well… We'd better get going. Get some sticks to build a fire. We'll need it to keep the animals away."
"Allow me to come. I can help protect all of you."
"No, Kida. Stay here in case something else attacks."
"Why would anything do so with armags around?"
"Stay. Just stay." Milo wanted to make sure nothing happened to her, especially when there could be fewer people at risk.
The queen sighed, crossing her arms, a little annoyed. "Very well."
The king wiped a glob of spit from his shirt. As he paced towards the sun-burnt blades, he felt a steady rhythm in the ground. With Duma and Sweet he turned, seeing the smaller armag behind them. They paused for a moment, Milo feeling a low reverberation in his chest. Experimentally, he took a step back, the creature imitating his movements.
"Well, maybe we won't need the gun," the doctor voiced.
Milo nodded, taking a few more steps, the beast following. Slowly they all edged into the towering grass, making sure the inquisitive creature followed.
The gear finally revealed itself. "Any signs of the lions?" whispered Sweet.
"No," breathed Duma. His finger was tensed over the trigger.
The group neared as the creature rumbled infrasonically. Cautiously they procured their packs.
"Oh, no."
"What Sweet?"
"Well, these were the food packs. Somethin's gotten to 'em. We might have a quarter of what we had."
"Great… Um…"
"What?" The doctor grabbed his medical bag.
"There's no way we can carry it all, either."
"Yes. We'll make two or more trips."
"No," came Duma as he approached the armag. "Steady, boy. Steady." He went to the creature's tail, which swayed slightly from whim. "Hold still…" The creature craned its sinuous neck to watch, stopping its tail. With the utmost care Duma hung a pack by its straps on one of the beast's deadly blade-like spikes, undoubtedly praying the animal would not twitch. The child looked amusedly at its new adornment. All breathed a notable sigh of relief Duma stepped away, untouched.
"Hang them on the armag? Duma, you have one incredible backbone." Milo went for more bags to place on the creature's muscular tail. "Nice thinking! You've got quite a way with animals."
The man made a short, subtle bow. Caring as much as they could, risking as little as possible the threat of the armag taking off one of their heads, they returned.
"It's ah good to see you all in one piece," commented Vinny.
"PAH-geh-sheh-nekh NEE-shen-toap AHD-lun-tih-suhg! MAHN-seh-nekh!" (Thank you, Spirits of Atlantis! You are all fine!) The huntress threw the old wood on the pile and put her hands over her crystal. Her husband came and embraced her, and she sighed in relief.
"C'mon. We need to finish breaking camp." He unrolled a sleeping bag next to his wife's. Preparations were taken and within a few minutes a camp was made next to the creatures. A small fire, though adding a greater load of heat to the air, created a comforting ring of protection. As the weary, quivering sun finally collapsed past the horizon, Milo laid back with hands behind his head, looking up musingly as the stars were blown onto the darkening dome of the sky by a mild wind.
"What is the phrase your people use?"
"What?" The linguist looked over to Kida, who laid curled on her sleeping bag. "What phrase?"
"'…Kurhuana… for your thoughts?'"
"Penny."
"Thank you."
"I was just thinkin'... We just can't keep calling them 'its' or 'armags.'"
"Why can we not?" The queen sat up a little.
"Well, it's just a little awkward, and how do we differentiate between the guys?"
"They are females."
"They're both females?" Milo paused, a little astonished. "How can you tell? Or…" he ended uneasily.
A hand, painted orange in the firelight, pointed to the creature's necks. "Do you see the two rows of spikes connected by skin?"
He nodded.
"Males have one row of spikes on top of their necks."
"Well, I guess that solves it then."
"It solves what?"
"What we'll call them. Did you notice how large the mother is? Notice her size? The length? She's the length of Nguma-monele. Maybe she's that myth, since she does have a snake-like head and neck. That would make Nguma-monele and Mokele-mbembe the same species. I mean, the little one's the size of Mokele-mbembe, and they're both female…"
"What do you plan to name them?"
The king yawned, the heat and earlier exertion making him drowsy. "The mother's Nguma-monele. 'Ma' for short. The kid's Mokele-mbembe. 'Kelly' for short…"
"Those are interesting names. They sound exotic."
Milo chuckled. "Not to me. 'Ma' is actually a title, really. It's short for 'mother.'" He trailed off, sleep overtaking him.
"I understand." Through blurred vision he saw her curl up again. Milo looked back to the newly named beasts, wondering if he were already dreaming. There seemed to be a glow upon them, dimming as his lids tucked his eyes in for sleep.
A strange, disquieting dream broke with the lifting of eyelids. Sleep pulled them shut again as Milo sighed in relief. The first thing the scholar noticed was a rustling sound, like soft pressure on grass with the creaking insects. Hazily he opened his eyes again, moving nothing else. The night itself was moving with black ghosts, unrevealed by the lifeless fire. Slowly Milo propped himself on his elbow. The ebony creatures made a soft whine as they snooped in the bags.
"Guys… Guys!" He whispered forcefully to everyone, carefully moving to nudge Kida.
His wife bolted upright, eyes wide before he even touched her. Milo had never seen such a light sleeper. Others began to stir.
However, the sudden movement of the queen alerted the apparitions. Azure light was all that could define their snarling features, canines faintly flashing as they growled.
"Jackals." Duma's voice boomed even in whisper. "They feel threatened by us. Don't move too fast."
"Sure, they're growling at us because they're scared." Audrey was nervously sarcastic.
"Fight or flight. It's instinct." The guide's blue silhouette was still groping for his rifle. Milo decided he should grab his weapon as well, sure his wife had already done the same. He watched as Audrey took out a long-handled wrench.
The wild dogs stalked toward them, pausing only a few feet away. A snort blasted from behind the explorers, and the hill behind them shifted. A colossal, snake-like head and neck craned over with an unimpressed attitude. Its bulk was highlighted in blue. Nguma-monele's was barely a foot away from the canine ghost when it snarled like a locomotive. Another snort sent the predators flying, tails between their legs. The mother rumbled, seemingly in satisfaction, and laid her head down once again.
"Um, does anyone else see what I see?"
"What do 'ya mean, Milo?" Cookie asked. "That dogs have gone and run?"
"No, look at Ma's skin." Milo pointed to the mountain of flesh.
"'Ma?'" Vinny could be distinguished by the two dots that were his earrings.
"Yeah, like NguMA-monele--"
"Oh, jeez, he's named it." Milo knew Audrey must have been rolling her eyes
"Just look at its skin. Actually, cover up your own crystals."
Dubiously everyone did so, the serene light fading, but not gone.
"Look! Patches of her skin! It's glowing!"
"Yes." Kida's tone was unsurprised.
"You knew they glowed?"
"The caves are dark, Milo. Of course I would know. Why is this important? Other creatures glow."
"Yeah, but things like fireflies don't glow blue!" Milo uncovered his crystal and stood, walking around the bulk of the giant to the child, wondering if she, too, radiated the same light. Crunching from behind told him the others followed. He looked in on Mokele-mbembe and approached, waving the others on. Her skin displayed the same dull glow as her mother, except for one shining cut on its shoulder from where a bullet grazed its hide. "Guys, look!" He motioned to the wound, which was amazingly half-healed. The scholar was answered by silence. "If I can just..." Milo reached upward, and gently grabbed for a small sliver of something in Kelly's wound. As he pulled it out, the creature jerked, a deep, unsteadying vibration filling the air as its head rose.
Before Milo could react he felt a heavy impact from the side, his body tossed like a rag doll. He heard voices cry his name. Nguma-monele faced the linguist, who decided it best to lie still, despite the pain. The beast sniffed the air around him, nudging him hard enough to send him rolling. Using its chisel-shaped teeth the armag caught Milo by his tank top and lifted him into the air, dropping him with the rest of the explorers. He felt Kida and Sweet try and help him up.
"Milo, are you all ri--"
The Mother's head faced the scholar, and snorted reeking breath into his face, a stern warning. She turned back to Mokele-mbembe who was already back in deep slumber.
"Ahhh! Yeah, I'm fine, Kida." He gritted his teeth as he clutched his side. "I think nothing's broken."
"You don't sound fine. Let me look 'ya over," the doctor insisted.
"Where's the shard?"
"What?"
"Kida, there's a shard of--crystal, I think--that I pulled from Kelly's wound."
"You named the little one 'Kelly?'"
"Yeah," Milo answered, more concerned with where the shard was.
Audrey sighed, and then joined the others for a quick search. The scholar pulled up the side of his tank top, allowing Sweet to examine discolored ribs. The black man's giant, nimble fingers searched his painful side, pressing rather firmly, much to Milo's anguish, searching for cracks and irregularities. After a loud breath, the physician finally spoke. "Well, you're right. Nothin' broken, but you're probably going to be painful for a while, or 'ya would be normally. Looks like it'd bruise pretty bad…" He removed the crystal tie clip from his shirt collar and eth spare crystal necklace from his pocket. "Let's see how well we can fix 'ya up." Sweet ran the crystal smoothly over Milo's side, and then he grasped it until his hand glowed, making an odd face as he did so. Milo grimaced as the man pressed hard on his injury, a glowing handprint fading away. The scholar watched as Sweet waved his hand in the air as the light diminished from it. "Always feels so odd, doin' that. Almost tingles, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, kinda." He rubbed his thin side, the pain lessening like an afterimage. "Hey, that's much better. Thanks."
"No problem."
"Milo! I theenk I found eet!" Moliére ran up, holding out a small gleaming sliver. "Eez thees eet? Eet was een the bushes."
"Great! Thank you." He got up, taking the object from the geologist, next cupping his hand to call. "Mole found it! We got it!"
As the others dashed up, the scholar examined the shard. "Definitely a crystal. It looks like these creatures have it imbedded--or even growing--in their skin!"
"That would ah explain why the wound, it ah looked somewhat healed."
"And the age of the myth! These creatures live 200 years at least! There might not be a small population down here, but only these guys--err--girls. Kida, what do you th--" He looked over at her, her gaze set on the sleeping titans.
She answered only after a thoughtful moment. "Yes?"
"Well, what do you think?"
"It would explain why I saw one survive a charokh attack."
A loud yawn sounded behind them. "As important as this is, and as uninformed as I am…" he growled slightly. "…You'll have to excuse me. I need to get some sleep."
"Yeah, you're right." Audrey stretched a bit and started to head back to the comfort of her sleeping bag.
"C'mon, Kida. Kida?" Milo saw she still stood musing. "Kida?"
"Hmmm… What?"
"Everyone's heading to bed."
"All right." After a few seconds she turned. Milo watched as she curled up in her usual position.
Milo laughed as he thought of something to say. "Penny for your thoughts?"
She hummed a laugh. "It is nothing. Good night Milo." She gazed at the stars in typical wonder of them. "Moakh GAH-nesh-suhg-tihk."
"I love you too." He smiled, then watched the light from the crystals vanish as he closed his eyes.
Based off the Disney Picture "Atlantis: the Lost Empire." The name "Atlantis: The Dark Continent's Enigma," "armags," "kriperlok," and the characters Temlohn, Duma and Neil are my (Rebmakash's) property. The characters, "MUH-suh MIH-kee" and Khohbdesheh are my property, and I acknowledge I do not own the names. Fan fiction storyline also my property. Milo Thatch, Kidagakash, Puknohl, Wandehm and other characters, names, concepts, and all Atlantean in this story are property of the Walt Disney Company. I also recognize certain lines (such as "Salt, salt, and sodium chloride") are also property of the Disney Company.
Disclaimer: Atlantis: the Lost Empire, and the characters, language, symbols, storylines and titles are property of he Walt Disney Company. This site has been created for entertainment, non-profit purposes only. See sources.
Permission must be granted by the fan authors/artists before their material is to be used. Credit must also be given to the respective author/artist in question. Do so via their e-mail. Questions? Comments? E-mail me at Like_A_Star8800@yahoo.com.
