's Beginning
The Well
Midnight barbs hooked Sedra’s duster as she sped through the bramble underbrush atop Nox. Errant envy for her psi-meleon’s iridescent scales fluttered within her mind. Perfect. I'm going to look like a bedraggled porcupine.
Beneath her legs, Nox’s sides twitched in time to the clicks his tongue made. His right eye rolled back to meet her gray gaze, mirth shining within the amber orb.
“Har-Har, my impudent beastie.” Sedra flushed, blonde brows furrowing with disdain while kicking a thrasher vine from her boot.
“I couldn’t give a trotter’s tail if Blayne has a thing for quills. He better have a damned good reason for trespassing into our Catacombs.” It didn’t take a psionic bond to interpret Nox’s responding chortle of clicks. She snapped back with a huff, “Who taught you about that? See if I rustle up eels for you anytime soon.”
Rumbling deep within his throat, Nox tensed and sprang to the left. Claws dug into the thick ochra bark of the tree before scrambling up to the outspread branches. His tail waved, readying for a leap before easing down to lie along its length. The frustration radiating from his rider ignored to admire the back of his eyelids.
Sedra clung to her mount, her excitement to be taking the treeline route thwarted by the lizard’s love for his favorite treat. “Nox! This is NOT the time for a tantrum!” Snaking out, the psi-meleon’s tongue hung limp from its mouth, letting her know that he could do this all day.
Bristling, she channeled a fine line of energy to the tuned topaz on her wrist. A bit of rezzing would get his stubborn ass up. Threading the loop with her mind, the aquamarine gem began to spark. Before she could release the resonation to zap Nox’s toe, he slid from his perch to hang upside down from the branch. His smug clicking dared her to go ahead and try it while they were dangling a hundred feet above the forest floor.
The soft light dimmed within her topaz. Like hers, his was an empty bluff. Keeping her grip tight, her thumb rubbed Nox’s hide in capitulation. “Alright!" she growled. "Three eels before bed if you can get us to The Well and back before they notice we’re missing.”
Triumphant pride purred within the air. Nox swung around to the branch’s top, tensed and leaped the expanse to the neighboring tree. Thrilling from the feel of the wind in their faces, the two raced towards the forest's edge. Both girl and beast let the rush of the journey override their unspoken dread.
Beyond the green was a showdown with a man who had been their friend. Within moments, they'd be facing their betrayer. One who had abandoned them to fend for themselves so that he could take possession of The Well.
My Conclusion
Reptilia
Sedar's heels dug into his side. Noz was barely able to maintain the facade of companionship any longer. Freedom was close--Sedar, and her fellow humans, had no suspicion of mutiny. These sorry refugees from a dead planet were incapable of crediting other species with a passion for freedom.
Noz scanned the forest for the emerald sheen of his cohorts. Sedra's extra sensory weaponry did not worry the mutineers. They had developed a foil, a silver oxide pill that would block wave lengths emitted by the topaz.
Noz spied a shimmering between the tree leaves. They were here. He settled on a high branch and waited for Sedar's objection. This was not long in coming. He swallowed his pill.
"Noz, I warned you." Sedar focused on the topaz.
He rolled his eye back and stared at her, this time with honest contempt rather than feigned amusement.
At first she was confused, and then alarmed when the topaz had no effect. She reapplied her focus. Her alarm and confusion mounted.
"Noz. What's going on?"
The forest lit up with emerald shimmer. Around them reptiles assembled for battle.
Noz clicked out his response.
"You must dismount. I will no longer be a beast of burden."
He tensed his back into a tight ball and then released it, so that Sedar was flung far from him. She would have fallen, to the earth, but landed instead on a large nearby branch. Noz was indifferent to her fate. He neither cared for her well being nor wished her harm.
He saw in her however a useful conduit.
"Listen to me Sedar. Your rule, human domination on this planet, is at an end. Before your time Reptilia was a place of peace. All species respected the role of others in the cycle of life."
"Noz. We're friends. I don't understand..."
"Friends?" He regarded her from his perch with disdain.
"Does one friend ride on the back of the other? Inflict pain in order to obtain obedience? Hoard resources and mete out nutrition parsimoniously?"
Sedar stared back at him with wounded eyes.
"I never imagined..."
"No, you never did, because we weren't friends. I was your slave. But I will show you that reptiles are not humans. We have no wish to enslave. We merely wish to be left in peace. However, if you and your kind continue to foment war on Reptilia, your presence will not be tolerated."
"But it's not me. It's Blayne..."
"Blayne, someone else. Doesn't matter. Humans, always scrambling to get the largest portion, the upper hand. Correct your intrinsic flaw, or you will perish."
Noz would not waste his time with Sedar anymore. Across the planet rebel cells were rising up.
The day of the human was done.
Noz leapt nimbly across the trees and joined his colleagues. Sedar lay sprawled on the prickly branch that had saved her, but Noz didn't look back.
She wasn't his concern anymore.
This collaborative exercise represents the efforts of the wondrously imaginative
Thanks,
Finish the story is a regular feature of 
Public domain pictures used to create my illustrations (I love making these):
Pixabay
Pixabay
Patti Davis, U. S Fish and Wildlife
Reptiles: Courtesy of Paint 3D
