Into the Quarry - Scavenge: Chapter 1

The sun was high in the sky as the four stryx circled the deserted quarry. The air was light with the smell of flowers in bloom and grass baking in the sun. It was an uncharacteristically hot day in spring. The enormous pit had to be several miles wide and at least a mile deep. Much of the stone was white or off-white, bleached by the harsh rays of the sun. The familiar scent of dust masked many of the signature spring scents.

 

 

“It’s kind of pretty, in a way.” Numali turned to face Randall and Bard. The three fliers were scouting out the path ahead for safety. Bard was humming to himself as he coasted along, his rider Achilles perched on his back. Abramo trailed behind a little on the ground, along with his kirin, precious, his bat, and his microstryx friend Lux. 

 

 

Randall nodded and ran his eyes over the sharp edges of the cliffs and the steep gouges in the stone. “It took a lot of effort to shape the earth like this. Do you think whoever did this found what they were looking for?”

 

 

A warm air current fluttered the feathers under their wings. It was a great day to be out and about. They were looking for stones and insects today. Numali had brought up the idea of heading to the abandoned quarry - she had a good sense of where to go to find things. Bard wasn’t a leader and had little interest in choosing their spot, and Randall felt she had earned his trust. Abramo wasn’t necessarily pleased with all of the dust that was getting into his feathers, but he wasn’t going to complain if everyone else was happy. The raptor looked at Precious, whose fluffy fur was also getting a fine coat of dust. The kirin shot him a flat look as they made their way down the winding path into the pit.

 

 

It took them a little while to work their way down - but when they did, they were met with a lot of promise. As Abramo took his last few steps off the slope and onto the flat bottom of the quarry Lux and his bat lifted off from his back and began exploring. The quarry, while looking lifeless from the outside, was buzzing with insect life. Crickets and grasshoppers leapt around and stuck to the rock walls. Beetles buzzed around and Abramo had to shake one out of his feathery mane. Bard snapped up some kind of butterfly as he landed next to the raptor, loudly munching. Achilles shouted at the tyto and swatted at him.

 

 

Numali and Randall touched down a few yards away, the flap of their wings sending a ton of dust into the air. Bard coughed and shielded his face with his wing, Achilles pressing his black bandanna firmly to his mouth. Abramo used one of his wings to shield his own face and one to shield Precious. Randall shook off his feathers exaggeratedly as he landed.

 

 

“It was wonderful to fly today.” He said as he stretched, squinching his eyes shut. “Where do you suppose we start looking?”

 

 

“There are plenty of places to look!” Numali waved some of the dust away from her. She had an excited glitter in her eyes. “The middle of the quarry is going to have a lot of insects - but the walls will have exposed stones we can pick at. It’ll also have some things that fell into the quarry - feathers, lost belongings, and so on.”

 

 

“We should probably spread out…” Bard said hesitantly. He tilted his head up to examine the walls towering over them. Something about this place made him nervous, but he couldn’t put a finger on it.

 

 

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Numali offered. “It’s easier to make sure no one gets clubbed by falling stones if we stick together and watch out for one another.”

 

 

Abramo cringed. “Let’s do that. I have no intention of getting smashed today.”

 

 

“Fair enough.” Randall nodded. 

 

 

Abramo’s bat and Lux were zipping around the openness of the quarry, stuffing themselves full of any insects they came across. The two of them were in competition of who could snag the most bugs. Neither of them was keeping track, however, so it was impossible to know who was winning. They swooped right by Numali’s head and she had to duck to avoid them. The gryph laughed a little as she made her way to one of the stone walls with her companions.

 

 

Immediately she saw something unusual jutting out of the wall. As she came closer to it the shape became clear - it was definitely some kind of fossil. The lines in the stone were far too refined and purposeful to be anything else. It almost looked like it was formed out of clay. Numali waved at Achilles, who dropped from Bard’s back with a grunt. It took the man a moment to shuffle over with his injured leg, but he had the best shot of getting it out of the rock without damaging it. He took a chisel and hammer and began to chip away at it.

 

 

“You found something already?” Abramo tilted his head. “How are you so good at this?”

 

 

Numali chuckled and waved him away. “I’ve done this a lot! I’m always looking for new places to find loot.”

 

 

“An adventurer, eh?” Randall grinned. “Me too. We’ll have to trade secrets.”

 

 

Bard was more interested in collecting insects than he was looking for stones - so he focused his energy on that. He wasn’t great at catching them alive, and he ate more than the caught. All the same, he put the live ones in a jar and the dead ones in a bag. Precious spent their time nosing at interesting looking stones and sniffing for items that had no business being in a quarry. They found a bag with some basic adventuring gear in it - some rope and paper, along with a light jacket. There was no one around to claim it, so they took it back to the stockpile of goodies they were amassing.

 

 

Lux and Abramo’s bat stayed on the hunt for insects, happily pooling their catches with Bard. Randall walked alongside Abramo and Numali, dusting off interesting shapes in the wall and stones that have been broken off and left on the rock floor. Randall seemed to have a particular talent for finding unpolished minerals. While arguably not as exciting as fossilized sea creatures, they were just as useful in crafting. Abramo was a little slower in his finds, as he didn’t know quite what he was looking for. When he finally made his big find, it was in a pile of stone that was already picked clean from whoever was digging here last. He used a wing to scatter some of the dust and he saw something golden and gleaming.

 

 

No one could believe it when he picked up a rock the size of Achilles’ fist filled with genuine gold. While he didn’t get as many goodies as the others, his were of astounding quality. Abramo fluffed up his chest and strutted his entire way to the storage pile. It didn’t take much for his ego to skyrocket to begin with - but the others built him up with so much praise that he was walking on air for the rest of the excursion.

 

 

    Lux and the bat had to flop out halfway through the trip from exhaustion. They basically flew at a sprint to catch insects, of which they had more than filled themselves with. The two of them became so tired that they fell asleep on the jacket Precious had found earlier. They woke up just before they had to leave and continued finding insects for the stockpile only. Abramo’s bat had stuffed itself with so many insects the thought of eating another right now made them a little nauseous. By the time the party had decided to head home for the day they had at least three small bags of dead insects between them. 

 

 

    “Great job!” Bard said as he placed his last insect of the day in a jar, a huge cicada. It made all sorts of buzzes and hisses as she shoved it in with a bunch of crickets and beetles. Achilles eyed the jar with mild horror. His clothes were covered from head to toe in dust. “We have more than enough to make mash for everyone.”

 

 

    Precious placed their last rock safely in a bag before trotting back to Abramo’s side. He carried a small shelled fossil in his beak. Randall and Numali walked next to each other and talked about some of their adventures.

 

 

    All in all, each of them managed to fill the bags with insects and stones before night fell and they set off for home.