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Chapter Seven - Splitting the Sea

No light pierced through the dark shroud that had covered the sky. I looked around the wagon I walked behind, toward the horizon the refugee caravan moved toward but there was no sign of sunlight. Torches were lit to help light their path but I didn't get a good glance at the hundreds of refugees that were on the road until a flash of lightning streaked across the dark sky. For a moment I saw the hundreds of tails leading the way toward the mountain range in a path parallel to the mountain that once was called Mount Ignis.

I turned my neck to briefly glance back toward the city but it was covered in darkness. Only the torches of the continued refugee caravan were seen in the dark. There was no sunlight from the way we came either.

Time could not be measured without the sun, so all I could measure by was the distance we all walked. Even that was nearly impossible do because I could not see the city, the sea or even the mountains anymore. I stared at the ground though, watching the ground roll beneath my hindpaws as I walked over it. The ground was heavily trampled with wagon wheels and another few hundred paw prints.

Midnight walked beside me silently. I glanced up at him but his orange eyes stared forward blankly. Whatever thoughts that were on his mind weren't expressed.

Nearly everyone was silent now. I glanced around at those near me, barely capable of seeing them by the dim torchlight that reflected off of them. Many families were on the road, carrying whatever possessions they could or dragging a wagon behind them. Occasionally a youngling would beg to be told what was going on. Many of the crying kits were older than me even, and their fear mixed with the fear I could sense from the adults gave me an uneasy feeling.

The silence was even felt through the trees around the trail we walked. I have never been out in the forest but I could not hear any sounds coming from it. Not the rush of wind or the call of an animal. It was not the sound I had imagined for the forest of evergreens.

I turned back to face forward but I accidentally inhaled something as small as a snowflake. It burned my nostril, making me cough and sneeze.

"What happened?" Midnight asked. I rubbed my nose with a paw as the burning sensation faded and blinked away a few tears that formed briefly. Before I answered, I looked up at the sky because I was curious on whatever I inhaled came from.

From the sky it looked like it was snowing, despite how much the temperature had warmed up since this dark storm had covered the sky. Each flake fell as soft as snow, but was as dark as my summer coat.

"What are those?" I asked. I held out a paw to catch one of the flakes. The white fur on my paws contrasted the black flake. I quickly looked back down so that I wouldn't accidentally inhale another one of the flakes. "It looks like black snow."

"It's snowing." The murmur from the other younglings started up again as the caravan also started to notice what fell upon them.

"They're warm," mentioned Midnight, catching a few flakes in his paw.

"Don't play in it," a nearby adult warned her rabbit cubs. I glanced over at the family of rabbits, to see the mother unfolding some blankets and wrapping them around her cubs as some sort of cloak. "It's ash from the mountain. Its dangerous."

My shirt was still being used to wrap up the roast that I stole before all of this had started. The ash was free to fall on my bare shoulders, and it did, slowly changing my white fur into a dark grey.

Still trying to walk forward so that those behind us wouldn't trample me, I slung off the leather that Midnight and I had used to sleep on. Unrolling it, I wrapped it around my shoulders so that the ash wouldn't collect in my fur.

An unknown great length of time had passed with me walking a longer distance consecutively than I have ever done before. In the dark Midnight and I were able to keep a pace slightly faster than a few refugees but we kept pace with the majority of the crowd. The air was filled with a heavy stench that made us tired, along with us walking longer than we have done before. Even if Midnight and I wanted to, we could not pick up our pace to flee this unusual storm any faster than we were already going.

Midnight and I exchanged few words between each other. Other younglings continued to complain to their parents even though they knew that what was happening was beyond the control of any one in the caravan.

"When will the sun come back?" one whined.

"It stinks out here. When can we go home?"

The complaints were separated by what I assumed a couple hours. Hearing them was still a burden to me though because I wanted answers to those questions to but no adult knew any answers.

My legs ached, the pads on my hind paws were raw and I was growing steadily tired. I felt like it must have been late into the night already if the dark veil did not cover the sky. I could not stop or slow down, or else I'd risk being claimed by the storm. I dragged my hindpaws, willing them to keep moving forward but my strength was nearly depleted.

I kept glancing at Midnight to see if he was showing signs of slowing down. It was obvious that he was tired as well, but he appeared determined to continue forward.

After another couple hours, I could not keep the pace and soon carts started to pull by us. Those families who at least had two strong enough to pull the cart must have been switching on and off so that one could rest while the other pulled, allowing them to keep a consistent pace.

Those who weren't fortunate enough to have two strong enough to pull their family and possessions were seen resting along the tree line of the path. While some of the parties that had stopped were settling in to sleep, others were only taking a break. They all looked tired but I could see the relief they felt from walking, and I envied them.

"Midnight," I groaned after nearly a dozen carts had passed us. "My legs hurt. I can't keep walking without a rest."

Midnight slowed and looked at me before examining the caravan. "Okay," the wolf said. "Let's take a break but we have to keep going. If we get left behind, then I don't know where to go at all."

Relieved, I followed Midnight off the trail and we sat under a tree that offered some protection from the falling ash. The black wolf unslung my shirt that held the roast in it, opened it and used his claws to tear off small strips for us to eat.

He offered some to me, which I hesitantly took. Not because I was distrustful of the wolf, but because the ache my body felt reduced my appetite. I still felt the hunger but it was not as much of a concern as resting was for me. Still, I slowly chewed on the raw meat, which quickly satisfied my appetite but did little to dull the pain of hunger.

After we had finished our small meals, we watched the caravan slowly go by us. Every one of the refugees looked exhausted but they struggled on. A hundred refugees walked by us with few even giving us a glance, but a few that saw us must have thought that a rest was a good idea and stopped nearby. As another couple hours drained, it was becoming evident that most of the caravan was slowing down and probably going to camp for the night. Catching some sleep sounded like a pleasant idea to me.

I rest my head against the tree trunk and closed my eyes, trying to calm my thoughts so that I could sleep. My body was so exhausted that it was painful. I had no idea where we were, where we were headed, or how to get back. Whatever chance of finding food we had in the city was reduced drastically out here. All I wanted to do was sleep without worrying if I'd survive the next day. A warm bed in soft sheets, with food readily stored without the fear of having some one bigger than me stealing it. That was all I wanted.

"Snowy!" Midnight's hushed but urgent voice brought me back from the brink of sleep. I tried to ignore him and fall asleep but he persistently pulled on my arm. Why wouldn't he let me sleep now? "Get up. He's back."

Who is back? I thought to myself while I slowly opened my eyes. Midnight was still trying to get me to stand when I saw a familiar figure in the caravan further down the road. The limp was most noticeable but also the reptilian's exposed head visible because of a nearby torch made me know that our assassin was walking right toward us. His normal abundance of clothes wasn't covering his scales as much, because the temperature had risen so much. It was still cold enough to freeze water over time but it was more tolerable than what the temperature was like before the mountain exploded.

He hadn't spotted us yet, and continued limping on trying to escape the storm but I knew that if he saw us, it'd be another opportunity for him to finish the job.

I struggled to stand and it took a great deal of effort due to my sore body but once I had my hindpaws on the ground, Midnight pushed me forward and we resumed the marching caravan. I glanced back once to see that the reptilian was trying to hurry toward us, but he was obviously tired as well.

Still, I demanded more of my muscles and picked up the pace. Midnight kept pace with me and we both fought through our exhaustion and weaved our way through the exhausted refugees. We struggled to keep up the pace but it was difficult, and I could not continue walking fast for long.

Before slowing down, I glanced behind us again to see that thankfully we had lost the reptilian; but now we could not stop to rest or risk him finding us sleeping. A sleeping target is easy prey for any predator, and I did not intend to make myself more vulnerable by resting now.

With little rest, I quickly lost all my strength again and continued forward with nothing but willpower. Another hour of walking passed before I started to notice more light ahead, from campfires. Those who were still walking had slowed, many of them stopping since ahead was a majority of the rest of the caravan, with camps set up. Further ahead was a small town, hardly visible from the reflected camp lights.

"We can hide in the town," suggested Midnight as he struggled to move forward too. "I can't keep going like this. We have to find somewhere to sleep."

I could not agree with that notion any more than I didn't want to. Passing the stopping refugees, we soon started carefully weaving around the sleeping refugees. It was tightly packed, even a hundred meters from the nearest building in the town, so we had to be careful to not step on any tails. The soft layer of ash that had fallen on the ground helped cover the sound of our steps. Most only had blankets to cover themselves from the still falling ash, but some were fortunate enough to have tents. Others were like us though, and had nothing to keep the ash from falling on us except for the clothes we wore.

When I found solid ground, without the risk of waking any one up, I took the risk to glance back again to see if that reptilian had made it to the edge of the camps yet. It was too difficult to see any one specific but I was grateful that I didn't see anyone limping his or her way into the sleeping refugees. Midnight didn't hesitate though and he was quickly getting ahead of me, so I turned back and followed Midnight's paw prints in the ash that covered the ground.

The slow pace was difficult because we had to step around every one. I feared accidentally stepping on any one, because if they woke up then I might trip and wake more of them up. It'd anger a lot of them and all that anger would be directed at me. Other than the obstacles, the slow pace did help keep my sore muscles from protesting as they were a few minutes ago when Midnight and I were trying to gain distance between the reptilian and us.

We weren't the only ones walking around as I could see some others navigating their way through the field of sleeping refugees. Drawing closer to the town, we started to pass one of the campfires that had been used to cook food for the refugees. Now it was dying and used only for warmth of those sleeping around it.

I stepped where Midnight stepped but our presence must have woken one of them up. I heard one of them stirring behind us but didn't risk twisting my body to take a look, for fear of losing balance. I figured they might head for the trees to relieve pressure building in their bladder.

A paw fell on my shoulder, causing me to nearly jump. My sharp inhale of breath caught Midnight's attention, causing him to stop and turn toward me. I slowly turned to see who it was that had stopped me. In the dim firelight, my heart sank and my ears fell back when I saw a familiar guard standing over me. I glanced away from his stare, afraid to move because he would catch me again and I might wake up those around me.

"It is you," muttered the wolf who had nearly robbed me of almost everything when the last tremor broke open the mountain. He glanced up at Midnight who stared back at him. "The arctic fox and black wolf that attacked the foreigner on the beach. Then stole a roast from the market and ran away from the guards; seen stepping around the sleeping refugees and making their way toward my camp."

His words felt like blows striking down on me. The same guard caught me twice in the same day. Or maybe it was a day ago we were in the city. It didn't matter how long ago he caught me because he has me now. The feeling of defeat started to weigh on me again, and I slunk back a bit, forcing the wolf to hold me in place with his paw.

"Don't worry pup," said the wolf quietly, giving me a small shake with his paw. "You two aren't in trouble, even if you did attack the foreigner."

"He attacked us," Midnight growled. I stole a glance at Midnight, seeing his slips slightly curled in a snarl. What the guard said surprised me though, enough to make one of my ears at least turn back toward the wolf to hear what he had to say.

"Don't worry wolf," said the guard reassuringly. "Foreigners never stay in our frozen city this late into the winter. And for the past week we've found three dead black wolves about your age so we had suspicions when the reptilian reported that someone half his size attacked him."

"Then why did you try to take away my things?" I asked. My curious and upset voice sounded very high pitched in contrast to Midnights throaty growl and the adult's matured voice.

"It's my job to minimalize violence and theft in the city," answered the wolf. We both looked into each other's eyes again. His light grey fur still showed through the ash that collected on the ends of the long strands. "You stealing that roast couldn't be ignored either. I can smell that you two still have it too."

My ears flattened again. Was he going to take that from us now?

"I'm not going to take it," said the wolf, as if he read my mind. My ears slightly perked up. "It is good that you managed to take it out of the city before the flood destroyed half of the city. The other orphans weren't so lucky, and fled the city with nothing. They're causing some trouble for us guards. You two aren't going to cause any trouble, now are you?"

I slowly shook my head. The wolf saw the same reaction from Midnight and smiled at both of us. He took his paw off my shoulder and stood straight.

"We're all refugees just trying to survive the eruption so try not to cause any trouble," pleaded the wolf. He then looked at us with a different expression; he almost looked nervous or uncomfortable. The wolf then gestured to a pack of wolves sleeping under a cart. "That's my family over there. We haven't had anything to eat since we left the city. I, uh, I was wondering if you'd spare some small pieces of that roast?"

He asking us for food?! I stared up at him with wide eyes, shocked. I didn't know how to answer. It was all the food that Midnight and I had.

"You can come over and sleep near us," offered the wolf. "We don't have much but we have spare blankets and will share what food we get."

"You won't take it all?" questioned Midnight, who still stood a step behind me.

"No," answered the adult wolf. "I just want to make sure my family has a little food before we get up tomorrow morning, or afternoon. Whatever time it is."

Midnight stepped forward, unslinging my shirt from his shoulder and passing it over the wolf. I was a little more hesitant to offer away our only food but I kept my maw shut and followed Midnight's example.

The wolf guard opened the makeshift bag to see the roast inside. He then gestured for us to follow him over to the campfire and cart that his family was sleeping near. He set the bag down quietly near his cart, and pulled off a large tanned hide from his stuff before handing it over to Midnight and me. We accepted it, but still cautiously watched the guard.

"Lexandra," he quietly said to the adult female wolf. With a gentle shake, she opened her eyes and started to wake. "These two orphans agreed to share some food. They need a place to sleep so I let them sleep with us."

The tired she-wolf looked at us and blinked a few times before nodding and slowly crawling out from underneath the cart. She was careful not to wake her children.

"Hi there," she said kindly to us. "What are your names?"

"I'm Midnight, this is Snowy," the black wolf said. He gestured at me when he said my name.

"I'm Lexandra," she said sweetly. She gestured toward the guard and father of her pups. "This big wolf is Alec. If you two want to stay with us, then we can travel to Arktiline together. Alec, make them a shelter."

"Thank you, miss Lexandra," said Midnight. I stayed behind Midnight and I could tell through his hesitation that we were both uncertain about trusting this pack.

I stayed back and watched as Alec took the hide from us and threw a portion of it over the cart. The majority of it fell to the ground and the adult wolf pulled it out a bit to make a crude shelter on the side of the wagon.

"Get some rest, orphans," Alec said, gesturing for us to go under the tented hide. He whispered something in Lexandra's ear, too quiet for even my large ears to pick up. "I'll be back and in the morning we can divide up the roast among all of us."

With that the adult wolf wandered toward the town, leaving us with the exhausted she wolf. She smiled at us warmly and slowly started to stretch; she obviously intended to stay up and probably watch us. Maybe they were distrustful of us as we were distrustful of them; with everyone's survival depending on the food they could find, I could understand why they'd distrust two starving orphans.

I followed Midnight under the tented hide, and lied down next to him. We didn't speak but we were still nervous about the wolf pack. I glanced through the wheels at the other sleeping pups. One of them was about Midnight's age, and the other two were even older. What would they think when they wake up to find two strangers sleeping near them? Would they be like the older orphans who torment me?

Exhaustion started to win over my caution though, and my eyelids felt heavy. It was difficult to keep them open but I soon gave in to the exhaustion. Lying there on the verge of falling asleep, I also realized that we no longer had to worry about the reptilian trying to attack us while we were in the company of these wolves. Maybe that's why Midnight agreed so easily to sacrifice some of our food. How we were going to get more though, I did not know. I slipped off into the dark recesses of my mind, and fell soundly asleep.