It always hurts a little when you (aka me, the writer) have to delete a scene from a book. And the one I’m about to share with you is almost 5k words long. That’s a lot of words. It probably took me between 5 - 10 hours to write.
That said, it ultimately ended up not fitting in with the structure of the story (Tentacles and Teeth), and so had to be eliminated. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some fun moments in it.
I originally shared this cut scene on Patreon, so if you’re interested in more fun stuff that no one else gets, click here to join.
This scene was originally supposed to be after the scene at the house with the fulek, and before Askari, Shujaa, and Harcos made it back to the Baratok. There aren’t any huge spoilers in this as far as I remember, so enjoy!
The Capa
They walked for hours, sometimes talking about the camp, where they were, or the landscape around them, and sometimes walking in silence. They stopped for lunch when the sun hit its zenith, but didn’t stop for long as they wanted to get to the lake as early as possible. Polly chattered and clicked for miles at a time, and then would just leap off of Askari’s backpack into a tree and disappear for a while, before returning to be carried again.
The sun was just over the tree line when they arrived at the lake. The trail Minda had drawn on the map was clearly marked in real life by beaten down bushes and stretches of dirt trail, and in some places, someone had put down pieces of wood to create small bridges over muddy areas and creeks. About two miles out from the lake, they arrived at a sign that read, “Sea Monster Lake, 2 miles ahead.” It was painted onto a piece of scrap wood that had been nailed to a tree.
They followed the trail, now mostly uphill and quite rocky, until they reached the crest of a hill. The landscape spread out beneath them, displaying a crystal blue lake with the sky and clouds reflected in the waters. It was quite round with sandy beaches on one end and swampy shallows on the other. The trees around it were deep summer green, and white and yellow flowers created a wash of color along the banks.
“Don’t get too close to the water,” Harcos said. “That’s what Minda told us.”
“Only at night, though, right?” Shujaa asked. “That’s when the capa is awake?”
“Where should we set up camp?” Askari asked, surveying the scenery around her. She thought, if there weren’t a monster living here, she might stay for a while.
“See that beach over there?” Harcos pointed to their left. “I think that looks like a good spot. It’s pretty flat, good for starting a fire, plus there is a nice giant piece of rock that we can put our backs against. It should provide a little protection from the weather and other monsters.”
“Works for me,” Askari said.
They carefully picked their way down the steep, narrow path into the valley. About halfway down, Shujaa paused. She crouched low in the bushes and pointed to their right.
“Look!” she whispered.
Askari peered into the weeds. A nest of eggs sat, right out in the open, waiting to be taken.
“What kind of eggs are they?” Askari asked. “Something that will come after us?”
“No,” Shujaa said, shrugging. “They look like duck eggs.” She pointed down towards the water, where sure enough, a flock of ducks swam in circles.
“Shouldn’t one of them be sitting on this?” Harcos asked.
At that moment, an angry duck appeared through the grass, quacking and flapping its wings angrily. Shujaa ducked as it went right for her face.
Polly jumped up in the air and swiped at the duck with its claws. The duck squawked and took off down the valley towards the water. Shujaa leaned forward and picked up five beautiful warm duck eggs.
“Dinner’s going to be good tonight!” Harcos exclaimed.
They made their way the rest of the way down the hill onto the beach, careful to stay away from the water. Askari noticed how nice it was to have others helping with setting up the camp. Shujaa went and collected dry wood for a fire, and Harcos had brought along a tarp which they suspended from trees to create a shelter of sorts. They set it up with their back to the rock, so they only had to keep watch in three directions.
“The advantage to setting up near a lake monster,” Harcos said, “is that the other monsters stay away, so all you really have to do is avoid one.”
“We hope,” Askari said, securing the last rope on the tarp.
Shujaa dumped a pile of sticks just outside the tent. “There’s a ton of dead wood around here,” she said. “We won’t have any trouble making a fire.”
“How are we going to cook the eggs?” Harcos asked.
“I thought boiling,” Shujaa said. “But maybe we can scramble instead, so we won’t need water.”
“If we boil,” Askari said, “we can save three for breakfast more easily.”
“True,” Shujaa said. “Well, we have to get a fire going first, so let’s think on it. See if we can come up with any better ideas.”
Askari began to put together the fire while Harcos lounged against the rock.
“Can I look at the book?” he asked.
“Sure.” Askari gestured towards her backpack.
Harcos pulled out Monsters of the New World, Book One and began to flip through the pages.
“Ah, here it is,” he said. “The capa.”
“What’s it say?”
“A relatively peaceful monster,” he read out loud, “the capa feeds mostly on fish and algae in the lake. It seems to have made friends with the birds local to the region such as ducks or coot, sometimes even using them as an alarm system. Tip number one: don’t bother the ducks.”
“Oops,” Askari said. “Too late for that.”
Harcos continued reading. “The capa is much larger than it first appears. While it may peek its head above the surface of the water, it has a long snake-like body with one fin, two arms, and a feathered tail. As far as I know, the creatures can grow over a hundred feet long if the lake is big enough.”
Askari whistled. “That’s as big as a nagy!”
“They have two eyes, one below water and one above, and hundreds of sharp teeth. Their body is mostly covered in scales, but they have a long feathery tail that looks like weeds, and appears to be used to lure larger mammals in to the lake’s shallows, where the capa can pick up a slightly heartier meal.”
“Sounds like Minda’s advice was sound,” Askari said. “Just stay away from the lake.”
“And even that is mostly just at night, I think,” Harcos replied. “It says that they are primarily nighttime creatures, and prefer to hunt in the moonlight because the sunlight makes them too easy to spot across the flat top of the water or underneath the clear water.”
“Makes sense,” Askari said.
“The most interesting thing about a capa,” Harcos continued, “is that they are thieves.”
“What?” Askari exclaimed.
“They steal things—interestingly shaped rocks, shiny things, or anything they perceive might belong to someone or something else. Then they hide it somewhere in the lake or a nearby island.”
“That’s crazy!” Askari exclaimed. “I’ve never heard of a monster doing something like that. So weird!”
Polly scampered into the tent, carrying a large dead animal. It was not a duck.
“What is that?” Harcos set the book down and got to his feet. He walked over and carefully rolled the animal over onto its back. “Look at its tail!”
“It’s a beaver,” Shujaa said, walking in with another bundle of sticks. “How’s that fire coming?”
“Lit,” Askari said, leaning down to blow on the tiny flames. “Just need to build it up a bit.”
“Why don’t you skin that beaver?” Shujaa suggested to Harcos.
“Sure,” Harcos said, grimacing. He had always hated skinning and tanning, as long as Askari could remember. That said, he sure didn’t have a problem with cutting up a monster if it meant he got a chance to figure out how it was put together.
Polly turned and scampered back out of the tent and disappeared into the brush.
“Since we have meat,” Shujaa said, bending down to start unloading a few supplies from her bag, “I think we should boil the eggs. That way we can save the leftovers for tomorrow. These are pretty big eggs too, so we might even be able to share and have four leftover tomorrow.”
“Why don’t I go get water?” Harcos suggested, immediately abandoning the beaver corpse.
“We aren’t supposed to go near the water,” Shujaa said.
“It’s a nocturnal monster,” Harcos said. “And I’ll only be a minute.” He picked up Shujaa’s cooking pot and headed down towards the lake front.
Askari blew on the flames one last time, and turned to skin the beaver. She’d never had beaver before, hadn’t even seen one, so she was looking forward to trying it.
“He’s going to get himself killed one of these days,” Shujaa muttered.
“We’re all going to get ourselves killed,” Askari said. “We live in a world inhabited by monsters that are nearly impossible to kill, and somehow have to feed, clothe, and heal ourselves while also having babies and building a society. Talk about ridiculous.”
“I suppose,” Shujaa said, “but directly ignoring advice doesn’t seem like the best idea either. We could have packed up scrambled eggs just as easily as boiled.”
“Not quite as easily,” Askari said, “and they’ll last longer boiled anyway.”
Shujaa shook her head. “If you say so. I’m going to pick some herbs for the meat. Be back in a minute.”
“Okay,” Askari said, pausing on skinning the beaver to add some more sticks into the fire.
“Here you go!” Harcos said, setting down the pot full of water beside the flames. “See? I didn’t die. We’re all good. And now we have a pot of water.”
“Good,” Askari replied. “Could you separate some of that out into another pot so I can wash my hands when I’m done. And grab me something to put this meat in. There are some dishes in my backpack.”
Harcos went rifling through her bag. “Hey!” he said. “I didn’t know you had a second book of monsters!”
“Oh yeah, Minda gave it to me this morning before we left,” Askari replied. “But you’re supposed to be getting me a pot, not reading.”
Harcos pulled out two bowls, handed one to Askari and poured some water into the other. Askari carefully pulled the intestines out of the beaver and removed the castor glands and oil sacks. It was a fat beaver with plenty of meat, which would last more than just this meal.
When she finished skinning it, Askari fashioned a spit from some of the sticks that Shujaa had dragged over, and began a slow roast of the meat over the fire.
“This is fascinating,” Harcos said.
Askari turned to see him reading the book. She had been so focused on preparing dinner that she hadn’t even noticed that he was back to reading.
“You’re not much good for survival, are you?” she asked, dipping her hands in the water to clean of the blood and fluids from the beaver.
“Whatever,” Harcos said. “This book says that a nagy has a weak point on every single tentacle. Did you know that? It’s right at the tip, and if you can get it with a sword, just like cut it, it will freak out and try not to use that tentacle any more.”
“Well, next time I meet one,” Askari said, “which I hope is not ever, I will try to remember that.”
“How long has the meat been on?” Shujaa said, appearing just outside the tent. “I have a few herbs that might improve the flavor.”
“Not long,” Askari replied. “Do you need help?”
“Shujaa,” Harcos interrupted, “did you know that an alva has a thin layer of a very hard bone just underneath its skin that is flexible, to protect its fat and internal organs from sharp objects and teeth when its sleeping?”
“What’s an alva again?” Shujaa asked.
“One of those big fat monsters that sleeps most of the year, but basically eats everything in its path when its awake,” Askari offered.
“Oh right,” Shujaa said. “They kind of look like bears.”
Polly came back a little while later and curled up against Harcos’ leg. He was still reading the monster books, and periodically commenting on the things he found interesting. Askari was carving new arrow shafts, because she knew if they ran into anything big, she would be in trouble. She only had a few extra tips with her, but she figured anything was better than nothing. Shujaa bustled around packing up herbs and rearranging her backpack, occasionally glancing nervously towards the lake.
The beaver was delicious. Harcos described it as rich, warm, and juicy, while Shujaa just said it tasted like beef, which Askari had never had. The eggs were good too, and they managed to only eat two, and put the other four away for the next day or two. There was also plenty of meat leftover, especially since Polly chose not to eat any. She was probably still full from the duck she had eaten earlier.
As night fell, Askari tamped out the fire, and curled up in her bedroll, asleep as soon as her head hit the ground.
She awoke in the middle of the night to a piercing scream.
“What’s happening?” she gasped, sitting straight up.
Shujaa leaned over and stirred the coals from the fire the night before, trying to get some light.
“Harcos?” Askari asked. “Harcos?”
He was gone.
“We have flashlights,” Shujaa said suddenly. She pulled out the bag of things they had taken from the post office and began to rifle through it.
“They’ve been in the bag all day, though,” Askari said. “Won’t they be dead?”
Shujaa pressed a button on the light and it flickered on.
“I charged them at the house yesterday for an hour or two,” she said. “Hopefully they’ll give us at least a little time.
They each took one and made their way down towards the water.
“Don’t get too close,” Shujaa whispered.
Askari pulled an arrow from her quiver and held it against the bow with one hand while she flashed her light around carefully, looking for Harcos.
Shujaa gasped. “There he is!” she exclaimed. She pointed her light out over the lake. Two great arms covered in sparkling scales glittered in the moonlight. One grasped Harcos tightly around the middle, waving him in the air over the water.
“Help—” he tried to call out, but the way it was wrapped around his chest made it difficult for him to breathe.
“What do we do?” Shujaa asked, eyes wide.
Askari drew the arrow back, keeping her eye on the flailing monster arm, and let an arrow fly. It thudded into the arm. The arm thrashed and dropped Harcos into the water.
“Garg’s blood!” Askari muttered.
Shujaa pointed her flashlight down towards the water. They could see Harcos flapping his arms and splashing. Askari was pretty sure he didn’t know how to swim. The next moment, the monster’s other arm reached down and pulled Harcos out of the water, and without hesitation swam over the island that was only a short distance out, where it plopped Harcos on the ground. Then it dove under the water and disappeared.
Askari and Shujaa stared at the water for a moment in horror before Askari realized they needed to get back away from the water—it was coming for them next.
“Run!” she exclaimed, turned and heading towards their tent. “Run!”
She grabbed Shujaa’s hand and they scrambled over the beach rocks as quickly as they could.
Without warning, the monster burst out of the water behind them, its long snake-like body curling and twining over their heads. One arm struck out, attempting to catch them, and crashed into the rocks a few feet away.
“Faster!” Askari exclaimed, pulling Shujaa as hard as she could. She knew she could run fast enough to get away from the monster, but wasn’t willing to leave Shujaa behind. “Faster!”
Another arm slammed down beside them. Askari dodged to the right, barely missing it, and dove underneath the tent, dragging Shujaa with her.
The tent was just out of reach of the monster. It swung its long neck and head down, blinking one eye at them and hissing at them, showing the long white teeth.
Shujaa and Askari huddled back against the giant rock while the monster glared at them, opening and closing its mouth.
Then Polly appeared and threw herself at its face, clicking and growling and hissing. She scratched and bit and yowled. The sea monster would have looked surprised, if they had the capability for emotion, and it pulled its head back towards the water. It let out one, loud, warning roar, and then slipped back under the surface of the water.
“What are we going to do?” Shujaa exclaimed, tears pooling. “Harcos is out there!”
“But he’s alive,” Askari said. “My guess is the monster just collected him. Like it said in the book.”
“But what do we do?” she asked again.
Askari shook her head. “Nothing. We can’t do anything until morning. If we don’t wait until the sun comes up, the monster will just kill us and then all three of us will be dead, instead of just Harcos—which might not happen if he can last the night.”
Shujaa nodded. “You’re right. I guess I didn’t expect coming after you to be so hard. I thought we would just catch up with you, help you on your mission, and go home. But this—this is not what I signed up for.”
“I’m sorry,” Askari said. She felt bad, and guilty that Shujaa had come after her, but also annoyed—it was their choice to do this, not hers. She would’ve been fine without them. Then she felt guilty again, because no—she wouldn’t have been fine. She never would have found the book and she would probably have been eaten by a kover or a pok or even hulla. She slid back into her bedroll, keeping one eye towards the water, and fell into a distracted sleep.
*****
Both Askari and Shujaa were up as soon as the light of the sun peeked over the horizon. Shujaa had already packed her bag and was working on food when Askari finished with hers, so she packed up Harcos’ bag too and left it sitting against the rock.
The sunlight glinted off of the water of the lake, and the birds and animals had begun their morning routines, chattering and calling and generally being alive. Polly had apparently already had breakfast, if the feathers stuck in her teeth were indicative of anything, and sat patiently just outside the tent, waiting.
“So what’s our plan?” Shujaa asked.
Askari shrugged. “I have no idea. We have to get Harcos off that island somehow. Does the book say anything?”
She pulled it out of her bag and handed it to Shujaa to look through.
“I’m going to go down to the water’s edge and look for any signs of the monster or Harcos.”
Shujaa nodded, flipping rapidly through the pages.
There was a great divot in the rocks along the water, where the capa had risen from the water the night before to chase them back to their tent. Askari was grateful that it wasn’t the type of monster that pursued you until you were dead. It clearly just wanted them out of its territory so it could get on with its normal life.
She looked and down the banks of the lake and then frowned. There were no ducks. Yesterday dozens of them had floated on the water, diving for food, preening themselves, just relaxing—or whatever it was that ducks do. But there weren’t any there. She was pretty sure Harcos had mentioned ducks when he was reading out of the book yesterday too, as being friendly with the capa.
Squinting, Askari stared at the island. It wasn’t very far out—she was pretty sure she could swim it if she needed to. But she wasn’t the problem—Harcos was. He couldn’t swim. They needed a way to get him back on shore.
It would make sense to take a close look at the woods around them. She turned, looking for any indication of vines or dead logs—maybe they could make a raft. It would take a while, but it might work.
She heard a ripple in the water. She turned to look. The monster rose out of the water, its strange eyes and teeth glaring down at her. It was no less terrifying during the day—the difference was that now she could count the teeth and see how big they really were, and make out the detail on each of the scales that covered its snaky body.
Then she felt some wet on her waist. She looked down. The monster’s arm had snaked out of the water and was now wrapped around her.
Askari screamed as loud and as long as she could. Shujaa couldn’t do anything, she knew, but she might be able to make it back to the community without them.
“Run!” Askari yelled when her scream was all but squeezed out of her by the monster. “Run!”
The next moment she was flying through the air, looking down on the lake from quite high up. It was beautiful, she noted in the back of her mind. The lake was clear and clean, and filled with fish. She found the ducks too—they had moved to the other side of the island and were quacking and swimming as they were meant to do. Then she was back on her feet and the sea monster slipped back into the water and disappeared.
She looked around. She was on the island, and Harcos was scrambling down the hill towards her.
“Askari!” he exclaimed. “I was hoping you’d rescue me, but if you don’t mind me saying so, this is a terrible plan.”
“I didn’t have a plan,” Askari said, annoyed. “I was trying to come up with one when the garg grabbed me right off the beach.”
“I guess when Minda said ‘stay away from the water’ she wasn’t kidding,” Harcos said.
“She didn’t say anything about the beach or indicate how far away from the water,” Askari argued. “And she also told us it only comes out at night!”
“So what are we going to do?” Harcos asked.
“I have no idea.”
They stood in silence for a minute, looking around them. It was a small island with a few trees and some big rocks. It looked to be a good half mile from the shore, meaning was probably not an option. In the center was a pile of stuff—clothes, bags, rocks, some jewelry.
“What’s all that?” Askari asked, striding towards the heap.
“Well,” Harcos said, “the book said that capas like to collect things like shiny rocks. I think this is its shiny rock pile.”
“What are we then?” Askari asked. “More shiny rocks? Or dinner?”
Harcos frowned. “I didn’t think of that. Most gargs would’ve eaten us right away. I guess we could be dessert.”
“Or shiny rocks.” Askari leaned down and picked up what looked like an old doorknob made from glass. She tossed it from one hand to the other. Then she picked up a hammer.
“What are you doing?” Harcos asked.
“I’m not sure,” Askari replied. Her mind was going a mile a minute. She had the beginnings of an idea, but wasn’t sure if it was brilliant or completely stupid. “Not all gargs are dumb, right?”
“Polly isn’t,” Harcos said, “but I think most are.”
“What if this one isn’t either?” Askari asked.
She took the doorknob and threw it as hard as she could. It landed with a splash and sank. Then she threw the hammer. It spiraled end over end and then disappeared below the surface of the lake.
“What are you doing?” Harcos exclaimed.
“Just messing around.” Askari picked up a toy doll and threw that into the water, followed by a sparkly necklace, a plastic horse, and a ceramic mug.
Then, the capa burst out of the water, looming over them angrily. It carefully dropped each one of the items Askari had thrown back into the pile and roared.
Harcos ducked, hands over his head.
“We want to go back!” Askari yelled. “Put us back on shore!” She picked up the now wet doll and threw it back in the water. The monster roared and dove to retrieve it, but by the time it came back up, Askari had already thrown the doorknob and the horse again.
The capa roared in frustration, shaking its ginormous head back and forth, spraying water all over them.
“This is hard to watch,” Harcos muttered. “I almost feel sorry for it.”
“Take us back!” Askari demanded. The capa dove again to retrieve the doorknob and the horse.
“What if we offer to trade?” Harcos suggested. “Like, if it takes us back, we’ll give it a new treasure for its collection.”
Askari paused and looked at him. If the creature could understand them, maybe that would work.
“Let’s try it,” she said. She bent down and picked up the ceramic mug and held it over her head, frozen, as the capa reappeared with the horse and doorknob.
“Stop!” she yelled. The capa froze, staring at her with first one eye, then the other. “I want to make an offer.”
The capa stared at her for a moment and then almost imperceptibly nodded.
“If you take us back to the shore,” Askari said, “we will give you new treasures for your pile, and we will stop throwing your stuff in the water.”
The capa tilted its head, staring at her. It sat that way for nearly five minutes. Finally, with one arm, it reached out and gently removed the mug from Askari’s hand. Then it picked her up in one arm and Harcos up in the other, and began to swim across the lake to the other side.
When they reached the rocky shore, it set Harcos down. Shujaa was there with all of their belongings, waiting back, way away from the water’s edge.
“Put me down!” Askari yelled. The monster shook its head.
“It’s keeping you as collateral!” Harcos called. “I’ll go get something to trade.”
He jogged up the beach towards Shujaa and although Askari couldn’t hear him, she could see him explaining the situation. Shujaa opened the bag filled with the things they had collected from the post office and they began to rifle through it. He returned to the water’s edge and carefully laid out a selection of items: a tube of chapstick, a solar-powered flashlight. a hammer, a bar of soap, and a bottle of hand sanitizer.
“You can pick two!” Harcos shouted to the monster. “One for me and one for her.”
The monster bent down to examine the items, and then pointed to the chapstick and the hand sanitizer. Then it set Askari gently on the shore.
In one smooth motion, the capa reached out and grabbed all of the items on the shore and dove back into the lake.
“Well then,” Harcos said, scratching his head. “I guess… it stole from us?”
“I think we had better just count ourselves lucky,” Askari said, “and leave.”
Shujaa ran up to them. “I’m so glad you’re okay!” she exclaimed. “I had no idea what to do!”
“We didn’t either,” Harcos said. “I’m just glad that ridiculous idea of yours worked, Askari.”
“Me too,” Askari said, shaking her head. She had learned more about monsters in the last three days than she had ever known in her entire life. And she had a feeling things weren’t about to get any easier.
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