Hideaway
The sun set quickly that night, and everyone needed to get into the cave before it snowed. Merlia and Ginger ushered the deer into the cave, which was a bit squishy. But with everyone all bunched up, it became cosy and warm to sleep in.
Rai had returned, bringing a large hare skin with him, which he draped over little Blossom. Skye and Blossom’s mother, Adiva, kept close to her, making sure she was warm and that she would make it through the night. Twilight saw the wound was clean, but very deep and painful-looking.
Prince lay at the door of the cave, blocking it. He sheltered them from the wind, protecting them from any dangers. It made them all feel safe, having him to guard them. A couple of very large bucks stayed outside, keeping watch over their Merlia and her pack.
The sky became very pale, and a few stars peeped through the gaps in the clouds. A large, bright moon glared through them, weakly lighting the clearing.
Twilight curled up in a corner, in the shadows. Rai came up next to her and lay there, and they kept each other warm. Merlia was joined by Ginger, and Krieger and Copaci slept in their own little spots.
It was a very strange scene. A whole punch of deer and wolves, together in a cave. It wasn’t making much sense, as Twilight was so used to hunting down deer for food. But after being with these ones, she felt she could not kill them, no matter what.
* * *
“Hurry! They could do anything to them!” cried Gaze, as he ran through an unfamiliar forest.
“We have to stop! We have to calm down.” Soothed Tune, sitting down, stopping the pack.
“No, Tune. Pack!”
“Gaze, she’s right. We have to stop.” Said Dahlia calmly, with Guapo coming to sit beside her.
“OK. But only quickly. We’ve abandoned them more than a week, we can’t lose a single hour.” Said Gaze sternly.
“OK.” Said Tune. She licked her paws and scratched her ears.
“Stay hidden everyone, Shadows lurk everywhere.” Said Arick. Bjorna licked his cheek.
“It’s all right, Arick.” She said.
“Let’s hope they’re OK.” Muttered Gaze to Tune, who smiled weakly.
“Twilight’s brave. So are the others. They’ll be fine. That horrid wolf Armik wouldn’t ever dream of killing them until we get there. Then we’ll fight.” Said Tune. “Look at the size of our pack! We’ll bring those Shadows down, I promise.”
* * *
Twilight awoke all of a sudden, breathing fast. She put up her head and stared out the door, the snow reflecting the gold of the morning sun.
She had seen her parents. But where were they? The Shadow Lands, or Beauran? They had mentioned her. And the others.
Were they coming to save them? To rescue them? They would certainly be killed! Armik himself had said just how many wolves they had, ready to capture the pups’ rescuers.
But was it really true? Was it a vision, a dream, or a nightmare? She certainly hoped nightmare. It scared her. A dream, no. Definitely not. It was terrifying, the fact that her parents and fellow pack-member just might be in the Shadow Lands.
Twilight sat up and yawned, pushing away her dreams. Maybe they were just nightmares. Just something that wasn’t true or relevant. She stood, making sure she didn’t wake Rai, and headed to the door. She stepped over sleeping wolves and deer, before leaping over Prince and into the snow.
A buck across the clearing looked up, bark in his mouth. He chewed it, calmly knowing she wasn’t a threat. She smiled at him, before heading into the forest in search of something for breakfast.
What would there be in the forest, in the lonely parts of the mountain? Nothing too big, and she wasn’t really planning on sharing. Unless she was to catch something massive, this was her breakfast and her horrid brothers could get their own. Even though they were hopeless hunters.
She went through the forest, which was steep and rocky, and she found it hard to move through without much of a path, none in fact. She briefly spotted the rest of the Shadow lands through the trees, and noticed a huge, pointed rock right in the centre. It towered up, high above the forest around it. It was a perfect cone shape, incredibly pointed at the top. Why had she not noticed it before?
She walked ahead, listening and stiffing for signs of breakfast-to-be, when suddenly there was a rustling in a bush. She ducked down quickly, eyeing the bush. It rustled again, and a little furry face poked out, wiggling its whiskers and twitching its nose.
Twilight smiled a menacing smile, and right when she pushed forward in a pounce, the rabbit was too slow to look up. Her jaws closed its neck, causing it to squeak in pain, before its life was the wolf’s.
She whispered her prayers, picking up her breakfast proudly. She went back through the forest quietly, knowing that Shadows could live anywhere, and hunt anywhere. This was their pack-land, and she needed to be careful.
She arrived in the clearing, trotted through the deep snow, and stumbled into the cave. She shook herself off and sat down not far from where she slept, where Rai lay with his tongue lolling. He snored lazily.
Twilight began her meal. As she chewed, she thought of their plan of escape.
Now they were free, they could just run over the mountain and find their way back to Beauran. It would be ever so simple. But what if Armik and Poderos had sent wolves out to hunt them down? They probably had wolves there at that moment, right on the other side of the mountain. Armik wasn’t stupid, he had probably thought that they would definitely make a run for it, over the mountain.
Maybe there were no wolves on this mountain? Maybe they had thought they had tried to run away, to other mountains and out of the Shadow Lands. Shadows would almost definitely be scouring the mountains for the missing prisoners, sniffing them out.
At that moment, Rai awoke, sniffing the fresh meat. He hung over, mouth watering. “Breakfast.” He said slowly, eyeing the dead rabbit.
“Breakfast,” Replied Twilight in the same way. “Is not for you.”
“Why not?” he asked grumpily.
“I caught it, I eat it. Simple.” Said Twilight, tearing off a piece of meat and swallowing it.
“Fine, I’m leaving. For my own breakfast.” He said snootily, getting up and strutting out the door into the snow. Twilight rolled her eyes and took another bite.
“Hey, I smell rabbit.” Moaned a voice from the corner, and Twilight looked to see Ginger awakening. He yawned and stretched out his legs. Merlia stirred, and he got up cautiously, not waking her.
“Sorry, you’ll have to get your own. I’m hungry, and this is my rabbit.” Said Twilight, chewing her meat happily. Ginger had a look of disgust on his face. “But Rai just left, see if you can catch up to him. I bet he’d be delighted to help you.”
Ginger’s face lit up and he bolted across the floor and outside, and Twilight listened to him barking for Rai.
Within minutes the rabbit was gone, and she tossed the bones away into the corner for the others to find if they got bored. She got up and stretched, followed by a yawn. It did feel good to be full after having only tiny portions of rabbit for a week.
The others were still asleep, but they needed to get up soon. A few of the deer got up and headed out the door to eat some bark, and that’s when she remembered about Blossom.
Twilight looked around the room and spotted Skye and Adiva, still sound asleep around Blossom. The little fawn was huddled under the skin that Rai got her, breathing deeply. It was a relief to see that she was fine.
* * *
When everyone was up, Merlia took the deer into the forest to find food, Ginger eagerly following them. He and Rai managed to drag back a foal they had caught earlier, to everyone’s delight. They had a good feed, even though Twilight had already eaten. The deer didn’t like it much at all, keeping clear of the feasting wolves.
After a while, Twilight and Rai decided to go on lookout, after discussing with Krieger and Copaci that they would take turns. The warning call would be four short barks, and if they heard it they were to clear out and let the barkers catch up.
The two of them went up the path, through the forest. The place was still white and wet, with snow that fell constantly. The sky was over-cast, grey and gloomy. Which was alright in the winter, when the snow didn’t reflect so much it hurt your eyes.
Twilight and Rai turned off the path and went up the rocky hillside, stumbling over boulders and climbing over ledges. In a while they found a very good spot, on a flat rock where the rocks and trees went up around them like a bowl, except for the front where they could look down. They could clearly see around them, the path, the mountainside, and the forest. If any intruders should come towards their hiding place, they could send their warning call and take to the hills.
It was very peaceful. There was no breeze, or animals or any disturbances. They sat in the shade of their little bowl-rock in the fresh air. Their rock wasn’t snow-covered, but the ledge above was.
It was silent until Rai spoke, snapping Twilight back from her daydreams. “So, what’s the plan? How are we getting out of here?” Twilight thought a moment. She hadn’t really pondered on that much.
“Well, I had a dream last night. I have no idea if it’s real or not – but I saw our pack in the Shadow Lands.” She replied.
“What?” yelped Rai.
“Rai!” she barked. “It might not even be real. Please, don’t stress.” Rai stared at her hopelessly.
“OK. But what if it is, Twilight?” he asked. “Who was there?” Twilight was taken aback by his urgency. She closed her eyes and thought it over.
“Well, my parents, Bjorna and Arick, um… Simbas and Gem, Balliar and Reina.” She said, looking around the setting of her dreams.
“Who else?” he persisted. She tried to think, there were a lot of wolves…
“Um…. Well…. I think Dahlia and Guapo were there, and maybe your parents,” Rai whimpered at that. “Oh, and Midnight…”
“Who’s Midnight?” asked Rai.
“My aunt. She lives on West Beauran, we hardly ever see her. She’s my mother’s younger sister.” Replied Twilight, frustrated. “There were heaps of others, I just can’t get them right now. Maybe I’ll dream them up later…” she drifted off as she suddenly heard barking through the forest.
Hey, I want to draw more of the characters to post on the first chapter, like the others, but I don't know who. My mind went blank. XD Some main character.
im still reading it! My last comment was on the first page. (hehehehehe) i bet you thought i wasnt reading it anymore! =P
