I am sitting on the edge of the cliff over the water with Maye and my mother. We are not rushing, and it is not as bad down here as I first thought. The air is warm, and I have kicked my armored boots off. I am relaxed, staring down at the waters. Suddenly, I hear a screeching noise. It doesn't seem so bad, just one of the creatures down here making their strange noises. I close my eyes and just breath in and out, soft and peaceful. Something grabs my shoulders. I suppose that it is my mother, trying to get my attention. I open my eyes and look behind me, and then scream. As I scream, I am pulled up into the air. I screamed because it was not my mother at all grabbing my arm. No, not at all. It is a Scavenger.

I scream, but it does nothing. The horrible, massive beast is carrying me, and there is nothing that I can do about it. My sword has melted into my armor, and I need extreme concentration to fetch it again. I could thrash about and get the bird-hyena-wolf creature off, but then I would fall several hundred feet to my death. I just scream, and scream, and scream. This is almost worse than being taken by Everett. At least I wasn't going to be EATEN at the Green Dragon castle. We land, hard, in another cave. This one is a lot scarier than any of the ones that I have yet seen. Several strange sort-of birdcages hang from the ceiling, attatched to the stalactites. In them are all sorts of odd creatures. A fiery orange will o' the wisp; a chirsch, which is a feathery sort of fairy; a katranck, which is a large sort of cat. Bones, most of them not human, carpet the rough floor. As I gaze around, one of the Scavengers lifts me and places me, not very nicely might I add, in a cage. Unfortunately, it is one of the smaller ones, and I am now scrunched up with my head between my knees. My armor, lightweight as it may be, is no help either. I stare around. There is no room for me to whip out my sword, so I am trapped. My default defense, screaming, will not be effective here. My mother and Maye know where I am. They are just, I suspect, too afraid for their own selves to come and rescue me. It is really quite a sensible move on ther parts, I suppose. We can't defend the kingdom if we're all dead.

The Scavengers swoop into the cave one by one. As each one enters, it changes form. The haunting wolf-birds shift into impossibly tall, beautiful men and women. They are, however, still quite frightening. Their skin is so white that it borders on grey. Their hair is black, but it is thick and feathery. They still have yellow eyes and teeth like sabres, but these features look eccentric and spellbinding on these people. But one of them looks different from the rest. Her hair has a reddish tint, and her eyes are turquoise blue. Her teeth are flatter, and she is much shorter than the others. I watch the Scavengers. They are horrible and scary and fascinating. One of them, a brutishly handsome male with short hair, steps up.
"How was the hunt today, fellow Scarmorti?"
So they are Scarmorti. This, directly translated, means 'deathbirds'. The Deathbirds are scavengers, and Scarmorti was too hard to say, so I suppose that is where the Scavenger name came from. I have heard of these creatures before, but only ever in highly fabricated bestiaries. I lean in closer so that I can listen to their conversation. My cage swings.
"I caught a human!" one exclaims. I close my eyes and scrunch up tighter and try to will myself into invisibility. It doesn't work. The Scarmorti all walk over to me and stare, poking and pinching and grabbing at me. Their hands are cold. If I had more room to move, I would shimmy away.

After a few moments, they grow bored and walk away. One steps to the will o' the wisp's cage and slides the latch. The creature bobs out, but before it can make its escape, the Scarmortus grabs it. Her entire hand glows orange and twitches, but she doesn't seem to notice. She throws the will o' the wisp into a cauldron full of hot water. Right before my eyes, the creature loses its light and shrivels into a muted orange mound of jelly. I cannot help it, I place my mouth at an opening of the cage and retch heavily. It turns my stomach to think of them eating that thing, even as its brethren once tried to kill me. I close my eyes, as I would rather not watch the Scarmorti eat the disgusting, pitiful, pulsating thing. I hear them chewing and swallowing, until I am fairly sure that they are done. They stretch and yawn and walk into small tunnels attatched to the cave. All but one. The short, auburn-tinged one stays. She walks over to me matter-of-factly.
"You're safe for a few weeks, at least. The others like to let their food age before eating, and they take several days to grow hungry again."
They like to let their food age. Just like cheese, I think hysterically. The Scarmortus girl walks across to the cages next to me and, one by one, slides their latches. Each creature looks at her, and she smiles at them encouragingly. She walks through, releasing each and every one. All of the beings look at her with endless gratitude, and then fly or walk or leap or waddle out of the cave. She stops at mine.
"My name is Sene. I don't want to be a Scarmortus, but I can't help it. I was born this way. Every night, I come down to the cages and release all of the poor creatures that the others trap. But I know all about you. You are the one who saved the dragon, Mayestika. I was just a babe when the others chained her away in that cavern.
"May I make a deal with you? I will let you escape.....But only if you take me with you. I need to leave this place. I want to breathe the fresh air and eat plants and do good things and make people care. Please, bring me with you."
I look at her for a moment. She seems so sincere. "Sure, I suppose. You can come with us."
She brightens, snaps the latch on my cage, and then helps me down. I wobble a bit, but find a flat patch of ground to stand on. She takes my hand, and then walks with me to the mouth of the cave.
"Climb on my back, Lorelei. When I turn into a bird, you will be astride me. If you do not get on my back, I will have to pick you up by your shoulders, and I guarantee that you will not enjoy it."
"Do not worry, Sene. I have already been carried by my shoulders once, and it was not delightful." It feels awkward mounting the back of a girl about my own height. Sere runs out of the mouth of the cave and then leaps into the air. Her transformation is not instant, so I can watch it all happening. Her skin grows darker, and then her arms slowly sprout feathers. Her face changes shape, but it looks less frighteningly wolfish than any other Scarmorti that I have seen. Her teal eyes glow, and her teeth sharpen. Suddenly, my arms are wrapped around the feathery neck of a massive creature, huge and birdlike.

We swoop about, me hanging on for dear life and whooping into the stale underground air. Eventually, we land in front of Maye and my mother. My mother screams. "Maye, Maye, it's a Scavenger!" She cowers behind the dragon, who hides her face behind her wing. I hop off of Sene's back, and she transforms back into a girl. After a moment of not being attacked, my mother looks up. When she sees me and Sene, she looks a little less scared. Maye at least has the decency to look embarrassed.
"Mother," I say, "this is Sene. She was a Scavenger, but she wants to come with us and help us. I think that we should continue back now. Sene can fly along, and the rest of us can walk."
My mother smiles. "It's wonderful to meet you, Sene." She pronounces it wrong. She says it Sen-ah, but it is really Say-nay. I whisper this into her ear. She corrects herself.
We start to walk, but suddenly a strange sort of lady comes up from under the water. Her hair is blue and her eyes are turquoise and her lips are deep, dark green. She has black drawings on her face and arms and scrolling down across her collarbone. I would say that the drawings are ink, painted on daily, but these seem much more permanent than any wet ink. Her dress is dark blue, and her skin is tinged green. In her hands is a little scaly blue blob. It's a tiny lizard, and every time it breathes, a tiny wave rolls through the water.
"The dragon! The dragon is back!" she cries joyously. Heads like hers pop up from under water, and they chorus in beautiful, loud words "The dragon has returned!"
"Come with us," I say. The creatures rise from the water like a single wave. They move as an undulating, fluid unit. Their legs have a faint pattern of scales on them. The men have blue beards and the ladies have blue hair in varying lengths and colors. All of them have different black markings on their skin, and they all carry small blue lizards. When they walk, they splash small puddles of water onto the stone. They talk in their elegant voices to me, introducing themselves. They all have names like Ularia and Aigua and Crald. Ularia is the one that I first saw. Aigua has navy blue hair so long that, even in its braid, it trails long behind her. She is a chatty character, and she has eyes that sparkle in the light. Crald has sea green hair and a long forked beard and small navy blue horns. Aigua tells me that their people are Squalts, water beings. She shies in terror away from Sene, until we explain that she is on our side.