4. Heavenmatter Matters

The eagles kept their word. When Quili awoke, another one was protecting her garden. Now that she knew eagles could hardly see the enemies, though, she felt less safe. The other army could be nearby at any moment, and they wouldn’t know!

How did they do it? Eagles had the best eyes of all animals, right? She hoped Cosmo would come help. The God of Air and Space, in the shape of a giant bird, had to be able to spot the enemy.

Or did he also lose his Heavenmatter? The Windgustwing sometimes replaced his own wings, if he wanted to be really fast and strong. Why wouldn’t you always carry it? Why were gods losing their most valuable possessions?

And what was that, sticking out of the ground?

She wanted to visit her garden so badly that she tripped and rolled to it like a wheel. The eagle smiled at her. She only had eyes for a tiny stalk that broke through the earth. The very first seed she had planted.

“See! It works!”

Epoh and Gossin walked past, but neatly stayed out of her space. Gossin stuck out his tongue. “I will tell everyone they can eat a single thin stalk. Oh, oh, we have been saved!”

“Yes!” Epoh said. “Go … go do something useful for once!”

She looked at her friend. She looked away. Why … why was she saying this? Had she always secretly hated her? Tears welled up behind her eyes. Even with the eagle between them, she very much wanted to bite Gossin’s tail.

Didrik grabbed Quili to calm her down. He walked through the garden to check if any other seed was blossoming. The eagle was in no hurry this time and studied the tiny stalk with eager eyes.

The sun badger gave the taunting Gosti no attention. “Come, don’t let yourself be angered by those beings. We have things to do.”

Four rabbits followed him. “Didrik promised we’ll be completely safe.”

Then Didrik promised too much. But if that was needed to get the rabbits to join, she accepted it.

The plan was simple. Didrik and Quili would purposely walk faster than the rabbits, leaving them behind. As soon as one was taken, Didrik started the chase. Quili would run back to camp with the rabbits on horseback.

The plan also entirely depended on Didrik’s strength and if he could be trusted.

“Do you know why we’re here?” she asked him.

“Yes. But I can’t say.”

Ugh. All those beasts who knew more and said nothing. What did the soldiers think? Fight for their life without knowing what they’re fighting for? Her anger returned at full force.

“Why!? You don’t even belong to us! It’s a miracle you aren’t sleeping in Tibbowe’s bed already! What does Companions without King mean, truly?”

Didrik looked amused. “It means that, if Tibbowe does something stupid or unfair, I’d say something about it. Because I am not for him at all times, like … like a blind fan.”

“Fan?”

“Ah, yes, sorry, like a follower. Like those animals who are now starting to all follow the same faith. Juraism, I believe.”

His claws scratched a tree trunk to sharpen themselves. “Exactly because the Companions are honest and don’t belong anywhere, Tibbowe has a reason to be a good king. For if he isn’t, I will not come when he calls.”

“Well, well, then I don’t understand why you came! A good king does not send Equids away into a dangerous rainforest.” Quili snorted and looked away. Not alone. She would have been sent away with Epoh. But if things went wrong now … she was truly alone.

The sun badger looked pained. He surely considered leaving her behind and crawling back to Tibbowe. Secretly eat the only food and talk about how they were such good friends.

“You are right. We are here to find Heavenmatter, more specifically the object of Darus. The gods have searched high and wide, and never found it. This is the only area that has been inaccessible all that time. So where will it probably be?”

Quili looked around. The endless rows of trees became a green-brown blur. The woods felt like a suffocating tent, while being too open and vulnerable at the same time. If the camp moved again, it was likely they’d be the first to place their paws on fresh ground. And what happens to my garden? she thought. How do I move it along?

“Somewhere, somehow, this rainforest must hold a very powerful Heavenly Object.” She thought back to the conversation with the eagle. If somebody had answers, it would be Didrik. “What do you think it does?”

“Oh, I know what it does. But I can’t explain. It would break your brain.”

“Can you please stop—”

The now familiar sounds reached her ears. Breaking twigs, rustling leaves, always in the darkest parts and when you least expect it. Quili and Didrik pretended they heard nothing for several heartbeats. Then they turned around.

All rabbits were still there and looked back equally surprised.

“Maybe we’re scaring the … monster?” Quili whispered.

“Look!” A seed lay on the floor, on the hill ahead of them. Without vanishing, without attack. It stuck partially into the ground, flattened by some heavy paws. Probably been there a while.

The rabbits smiled and hopped to it, far outside of Didrik’s safe reach.

Quili realized the truth. The seeds didn’t appear on accident, they were now used to lure animals.

“No! Come back!”

The rabbit at the front was pulled from the hill. Quili immediately jumped in front of the others and grabbed the seed. Didrik pushed his claws into a tree, as if they were spears, and used them to climb up. Once among the leaves, he swung after the attacker while somersaulting. The rabbits clung to Quili as she galloped back to camp.

She returned safely. Didrik did not.

Epoh and Gossin returned hours later with a new food basket. Their search and gather skills were improving, almost filling the entire basket now. Still, that meant about five dead animals to feed an entire army of carnivores. But Tibbowe dubbed it a feast and decided they would have enough to eat tomorrow.

Quili waited and waited, until the sun set, and until it almost rose again.

Nobody knew she was still awake, checking the entrances for a sun badger. And that’s how she discovered why her garden smelled so badly.

A lion trudged to it, found a nice spot, and … pooped on top of her plants. Quili thought she heard an eagle approach. The gardenpooper quickly disappeared as soon as he was done.

They are using my garden as toilet! a voice in her head screamed. Forget lions are much bigger. Forget they could kill you in an instant. I want SO BADLY to bite the tail of that beast!

Did they not see she was trying to save everyone? Even if Epoh became the Master of Finding Food, it would not be enough and it would not be reliable. But plants? They were reliable—if her idea was right. If she’d learned the right lessons from watching Eeris all those years.

Grow the plants, collect more seeds from them, plant your next garden. And Traferia was full of untouched ground! This is how they gained an advantage over their enemy! But no, kings are stupid and only think about fighting.

At the same time … what would the soldiers do otherwise? They still need to poop and pee, and they’d just do it somewhere else, on top of other plants. Maybe some plants therefore evolved to use those particles to grow faster.

Even so. This was clearly meant to insult her.

She chewed on all these angry thoughts, time and time again, until with the sun rise a sun badger also returned.