The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Season 2+)

Intrigue in A Blockade

The swamps were thick and humid. Thick vines hung from the trees, looking like the Drenchen elves' dreadlocked hair, which was the point. A cacophony of animal and insect calls alike filled their ears as they trudged through the waters, which despite coming up to their knees, they were still dry. Drenchen clothes were made in such a way that they were naturally waterproof. And when a complete set was worn properly, one might have been able to swim underwater and remain completely dry, though no one had ever tried it.

Gurjin felt a light tickling on the back of his neck, causing him to reach behind his head and wipe away whatever it was. He brought his hand around and saw a spindly creature as big as his hand. Eight long legs grew from a small body, and a large, bulbous, black thorax hung off its back end. Like a small arathim.

"Great Smerth!" Gurjin exclaimed, flinging it into the swamp water.

"Oh come on," Naia said, carefully scooping the creature into her hands. "It's just a spider. And a harmless one at that."

"It creeps me out," he spat at his sister. "Isn't that enough? It makes my skin crawl."

Naia gently let the creature crawl up a nearby tree, lost in the canopy.

"Remind me again how you came to be a member of the Castle Guard," she requested with a sly smirk.

"You have trouble controlling your temper in the heat of battle," he said, snapping his own smirk at her. "It ruins your concentration and you give into raw, adrenaline fueled rage."

Her face melted into a frustrated seriousness.

"Two words sis," he added. "You're sloppy."

She turned away and elbowed him in the chest when he got close enough, sending him into the water as he doubled over from having the wind knocked out of him. The water didn't seep into his clothes, but the water was cold on his skin.

"And you little brother," she said standing over him. "All those years protecting the skekSis from absolutely nothing has made you weaker, slower, and much more arrogant."

She reached down a hand to help him up. He was hesitant to take it, but he did and she pulled him to his feet, helping to wipe the mud off him.

"Fighting again?" Maudra Laesid asked, walking between them as she trudged forward. "Not left alone for more than an hour and you two are already at each other's throats."

"They started it," they both said in unison.

Their mother just rolled her eyes, continuing to walk forward, deeper into the swamps. Her children just looked at each other and shrugged before following. The group had been trekking for a few days now, from Stone-in-The-Wood to the home of the Drenchen under the great Smerth Tree. There wasn't any fear, or worry. The skekSis were locked away in their castle. A null threat. At this point the resistance was just building a large militia to storm the Castle of The Crystal. While the skekSis were still cowering in their towers, no one had forgotten that nine of them had taken down the entirety of their own specially selected, highly trained palace guards. They wouldn't tell anyone this, but the general and the Maudra's were expecting casualties. The numbers were being inflated to cushion the inevitable blow. They needed some to survive. They were also preparing for the possibility of the skekSis evading their attack, by either fleeing or trapping themselves. They would then need the guards.

"Maudra Laesid!" someone shouted from the treetops.

The Drenchen Maudra raised her hand in a closed fist, stopping her troupe in their tracks as a Drenchen scout swung down on them from above.

"Drenchen," she greeted. "Well met."

"Maudra," they said, leaning on his spear out of breath. "I didn't think I'd find you in time."