"Damu.." Lindani sobbed. He was nervous, did his companion have no sense of fear? This was ridiculous. It was dangerous, no- it was reckless. She was going to get the both of them killed with her unsatisfied lust for treasure that had suddenly sprung overnight. The cheetah wheezed as he sighed. Damu's legs were nestled on his back, with her hind claws unintentionally digging into his weakening shoulder blades. "Damu..." He squinted and crushed his eyes shut to help evade the pain.
"Just a little further..." The adventuress reached out her paw as high as she could. She could sense it. Just above them, in this little sad excuse for a cave she could see grass and light. There, at the edge just seconds from dropping into the area they were was a little treasure. A bracelet or something. It shined and it glistened and it was going to be hers. Lindani had been so helpful in following her up here, up the mountain to where she knew this treasure lived. She knew that there was no way to find it outside the cave, but within the cave it could be seen. Reached. She only needed a boost to accomplish such.
"Litttle more!" She told Lindani with while wearing a grin. Her face was allowing her to express a whole bunch of emotions recently! The adventurer figured she merely needed to keep practicing them and she'd soon be able to make her face work like a normal leopards did.
"Goth it!" She called, grasping the circle object in her mouth while balancing on Lindani's shoulders. He began to sway as she removed her paws from the ledge and Damu almost dropped her treasure when she turned to jump off of him. He fell at the moment she bounced off and as a result she did an awkward somersault into the dirt ground.
'Thud'
"That was..." Lindani winced in pain as he struggled to stand. His ear was letting him ear as Damu laughed with an echoed joy. He was glad she had gotten her little trinket, but now.. ugh. "Let us never do that again. Ever." He sighed to her. Oh, his shoulders ached. He didn't care who it was he was never lifting another creature upon his precious shoulders again.
"Are you pleased?" He asked her, and sat up successfully this time, eyeing as Damu gazed upon her prize.
"Pleased?" Damu asked. "I'm thrilled Lindani! Look at it! It's beautiful!" She rushed over to him, as Lindani barely was able to stand Damu shoved her trinket into his face.
He had to admit. It was pretty to look at. A rock that resembled the sun and stars all rolled into one. It shined like it was a drop from the sky itself. A piece of heaven that had fallen to earth for their very paws to touch. The gem was also very warm, and although Lindani suspected this was due to it sun beaming upon it all day it was a comforting feeling in some manner. He smiled pleasantly while holding it.
"It is very nice Damu." He told her happily. She was smiling widely at him and snatched it back from his shaking paws.
"That's all I wanted from here, we can leave now." She told him and while holding the rock close was filled with a sense of glee. Lindani might have thought of her as being rushed, but that was for good reason. Around here she knew that their was a "monster" who liked to take shiny things. She had failed to share this with Lindani but so long as they moved quickly the monster wouldn't find them. Yes, this was her plan. Until five seconds later when she tripped, and the stone went rolling. "ah!" Damu cried.
The leopardess recovered quickly from her fall, shooting up and heading after the bright rock with a powerful kick in her legs. Right outside... Right outside was a river! If the rock fell in the river then this whole trip was for nothing!
"Lindani" She called. "Hurry, help me find it!"
The cheetah moved slower then Damu, but one could tell he was in a rush. He panted frantically. He couldn't believe she just did that! That rock costed him his shoulders and she had gone and dropped it?! Granted he had told her he was a favorite victim of bad luck but he didn't think that meant his bad luck would rub off on others! "W-what does it look like again?" He asked in his panicked state. He was going to find that rock if it was the last thing he-
"There!" He pointed frantically as the rock went rolling outside. If he remembered correctly they had to cross a stream to get inside the cave, and if that pretty stone weighed as much as he thought, it would be gone in seconds. The cheetah could not count on Damu to fetch the rock safety, not after she had dropped it. He bolted towards the river and leap to catch the rock before it fell.
His stomach hurt, he could feel his body sliding across the dirt and causing dust to swirl as he did. His chest felt heavy too, and Lindani panted madly while staring with his good eye at his paw. The rock, he had caught it? It was balancing delicately on his paw dangling over the river.
With a bead of sweat forming at his face he waited until he heard the leopardess' foot steps next to him before whispering. "Take it. I can't stay like this much longer." He felt faint and liable to collapse into the river himself...
Damu had been slower then Lindani and had spun just in time to see the cheetah belly flop to catch the rolling stone! Oh! Success!
She raced over to him, eyes shifting. Rumors weren't true it seemed, their little drop of sunlight was not in the clutches of a monster she could see. Just a very panicked Lindani.
The red pelted leopard crawled partly on Lindani to get the stone and swiped it from his paws with her own. She allowed herself to relax as she held it against her crocodile necklace. "whew." She breathed and watched the cheetah as he allowed himself to relax as well.
Then, she began to laugh. "Alright, alright, now we can leave!" She watched as Lindani looked at her in exhaustion. His eyes conveyed everything she needed to hear right then.
'You owe me.' Echoed through Damu's laughter as the Lindani eventually worked up the energy to leave alongside his partner. Well, he had held up his end of the bargain, time for Damu to fulfill hers.
"Time to go find ms. Leilani now."
Wordcount: 1126 Words
Lindani: 538
Damu: 588