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Chapter Sixteen - Thawing Blood

Mountains were all that towered in front of me the day before. Yesterday was a nice day, even with the threat of winds and a few clouds. What a nice day brought over the night would be far less pleasant.

It was the sixth morning since Midnight and the strange otter saved me from the last reptilian scout, but it easily started out to be one of the worst days.

At first I thought it was rain that ruined my slumber. My fur kept my skin dry but I could feel the wetness and damp enough that I woke up with a chill.

Opening my eyes I instantly saw black fur in front of me. Midnight had already woken and was huddling against himself, sitting back against the trunk of a tree. His fur was soaked and his ears were drooped and his eyes narrowed. He was not enjoying the wet and cold rain either and huddled against himself trying to stay minimize his surface area exposed to the weather.

We still slept on snow so the fact that it was raining was surprising to me. But then I noticed that Midnight's fur had a small layer of ice on the end of it. The rain that was falling was partially frozen.

I realized that there was also ice on my fur, and realized that the reason why I felt the damp is because all the rain was being trapped underneath this ice. I had seen this type of weather once before and it was very uncomfortable. It was worse than snow, and worse than rain.

Glancing up at the clouds hurt my eyes because of the half frozen snow blew around quickly, but I managed to see that the clouds were very low. The lower clouds were visible blowing around quickly while the higher clouds seemed to move more slowly. This mixture of rain and snow moved with the clouds, penetrating deep beneath the top of the forest.

Near us another body started to stir from the uncomfortable storm, the otter. He seemed to be the least affected by the storm though because the ice was not sticking to his fur, and mostly sliding right off.

Mimicking Midnight I pushed myself up and leaned back against a tree. I tried to keep myself as dry as possible while I kept an eye on the otter. He looked around at us sleepily but I could sense another expression that the otter always had underlining any other; it was anger, and bitterness to it that expressed the otter was not in a very tolerant mood.

Midnight referred to him as Nirvelli but I did not receive any other details of who this otter was, or why we had to stay clear of Sirmiq. My questions had gone unanswered.

I could only theorize and the most logical conclusion is that the reptilians had caused the pain to the otter, and made Sirmiq unsafe all at once.

"Let's go," was all that Nirvelli said, rising from the ground. The words fell hard on me because travelling in this storm was the last thing I wanted to do.

"The storm is too strong," Midnight said, vocalizing my concerns. He glared at the elder otter, emphasizing his displeasure in travelling with this weather.

"We have to find the ocean again and get on a boat," Nirvelli said, disinterested in Midnight's objects. "We cannot stay here Conrí."

"My fur is already completely soaked!" Midnight practically growled.

The otter did not respond, and resumed to stand on his hindpaws. Without another word said, he gathered his gear. He didn't have much besides a spear, a sword and some heavier travelling clothes so it did not take him long before the otter walked away from our resting place.

The otter was determined to move south along the ocean but the path we have been following had other ideas. Instead of staying along the coast, it had started to lead us up toward the mountains. It wouldn't have been a bad idea to just follow the shoreline but cliffs and ravines had started to bar our way.

I really did not know where the otter was so determined to go, and even though he seemed to want us to go with him, we would not stop him.

A growl from Midnight drew my attention to him as he reluctantly pushed himself up and gathered his own gear. The oversized shield that he used to save my life with had a fine layer of very wet snow but it very easily slid off once Midnight tilted the shield as he picked it up. He also gathered the dagger in which I had the sister of, and a short sword. Relatively speaking, it was a long sword for Midnight but would have been short for any adult. The wolf had to strap the sword to his back because it was too long to wear on his hip.

With the same reluctance, I unraveled myself and stood to go with them. The only weapon I carried was the single dagger. Rather meek in comparison to the weapons that Midnight and Nirvelli had.

The day started with this rain and snow mixture that made just another day of following the path indefinitely all the more miserable. The ground had the half-frozen mixture on the ground too, which made it rather difficult to get back to the raod. I had to use my claws for traction because ground and roots were far slicker than they would have been in any other type of storm.

On the road again, Midnight and I silently followed the otter has he led the way. Similar to yesterday, the road seemed to be at an incline the majority of the time and only a few times would it go back down. With the clouds covering everything above us, it was no longer possible to see the mountains, and if this path would ever diverge back down toward the ocean.

Above us the storm would occasionally relent, but only to regain its strength as the chaotic clouds above us swirled around in the sky. For several minutes it would rain on us, mix with the snow and occasionally allow for some simple and dry flakes to fall. When the flakes fell it almost seemed like the storm would break at any momement, but then with a gust of wind renewed rain would pour over us. It made me hopeful but I was always disappointed when the storm renewed itself.

No matter how worse the storm got in the morning hours, Nirvelli did not show any signs of slowing down or finding shelter from it.

Following the muddy road, Midnight and I struggled to keep up with the otter. Nirvelli did not care about the weather and moved at a quick pace. Midnight and I however were weighed down as more rain, ice and mud stuck to our longer fur. After only an hour had passed since we had woken, I was irritated and wanted nothing more than to stop and get all the ice and mud out of my fur. Especially as each step seemed to pick up enough mud and throw it on the back of my calves.

I saw Midnight's trousers were also covered in mud. We both had mud up to our knees covering our fur and clothes. Still the mud and ice that clung to my legs, splashing all the way up to my knees, was far from comfortable. Midnight had the same issue and we started to fall back from Nirvelli's quick pace.

When the road ascended and crested over a hill, the otter disappeared behind it while we were still ascending. He had done this over the past few days; keeping up a pace impossible to keep with and we would often lose sight of him. Though he always stayed to the road so Midnight and I did not need to exhaust ourselves trying to catch up to him.

Midnight's bad mood was apparent in the fact that he remained relatively silent since the day had started. The wolf would always at least try to say something during the day, even at the scolding of the otter, but today he really did not seem as talkative as usual. The otter always scolded Midnight whenever I tried to get answers on what had happened in Sirmiq, and even commonly when Midnight even wanted to talk about other things such as why he was called Conrí by the otter.

Having lost sight of the otter for several minutes now, Midnight and I did what we could to keep moving forward. The otter's paw prints weren't easy to follow, but they were still distinguishable enough now and then to know that he had not diverted from the road. We followed those tracks only occasionally catching glimpse of the otter, only when the road was straight enough to not provide obstacles and the storm lapsed enough to increase our visibility range.

With our visibility limited for the majority of the time, it was surprising when I noticed that the terrain slowly started to change. Once only trees threatened to encroach on the road we followed as it rolled over the soft hills. Now the ground itself seemed to break and steep ridges were now surrounding us with large boulders and thicker foliage.

The ridges that started out small at first sometimes dropped off on the side of the road, or rose but the further we got the ridges start to only rise on either side of us, and so tall that I could see the roots of the trees breaching through the edges. Boulders quickly started to appear to encroach on the road itself too, many of which must have been larger than most of the buildings I have seen in Sirmiq.

Twists and turns in the road became sharper and now the terrain itself blocked Midnight and my view. I started to grow concerned that we were becoming lost because it has been at least an hour since we last saw Nirvelli.

There was still no respite from the weather though which I had hoped for seeing that the terrain was so enclosing of the road, but the rain still carried on the wind to find its way down to soak Midnight's and my own fur.

"Where did he go?" I asked Midnight. We had been following this winding road with ridges dropping and falling for nearly an hour now. If we could not find Nirvelli soon we would most certainly be lost.

Midnight looked over his shoulder at me and his expression was all that I needed. He did not know either but he was confident that we would find the otter again. All we had to do was to keep following the road and we would catch up to him eventually.

Those orange eyes told me that Midnight could not answer me where Nirvelli had gone, but they were full of confidence that we would find him again. I don't know why he was so confident. I did not like that we have not seen any trace of the otter in so long. But if Midnight was confident in us finding him again, then I had to trust him. Staring at his orange eyes, I felt Midnight's confidence calm me.

I still wanted to object but there was nothing I could say to improve our situation. My insecurity would not help Midnight or me. Instead I decided to only vocalize one complaint.

"I don't like this weather."

For another hour we walked between the high ridges on either side of the road. The roots that dangled from the edges dripped water on to us even as the storm had started to lighten up again. I saw the ridge was falling back into the ground maybe thirty meters ahead of us but I could not see much further beyond that.

"Conrí," a familiar voice sounded from above us.

Midnight stopped to look up on the edge of the ridge and I followed his gaze. Nirvelli was poached on the edge of the ridge above us with the spear in his paws.

"Nirvelli, where have you been?"

"Quiet!" the otter immediately shushed Midnight. The otter glanced around briefly before turning his gaze back down onto us. "There are some Enes soldiers up ahead, just beyond this ridge. The road splits and it seems they set up some sort of checkpoint."

Enes soldiers ahead? They would not allow us to pass at all if they saw us. If I knew anything about these reptilians is that they would kill me the first chance they get.

"We can get by them with this storm," Midnight suggested looking up at the otter. He now spoke softer so that his voice wouldn't carry too far in the storm.

Considering how far I could see, Midnight's idea was not a bad one.

"No," Nirvelli said staring down right as us. His expression of determination that I have seen since I have met him was more fierce than usual. "I'll take one out with the spear, and we'll kill the other. There are only two and if it is only a checkpoint then there is then there will be no others around for leagues."

I could not believe that the otter would rather risk our lives to fight some reptilians. Midnight and I have hardly lived through a few summers, and the otter was not an adult either so what could he be thinking to fight adult soldiers?

When I glanced over at Midnight I saw that he was thinking the same thing. His confidence was replaced with shock and confusion. It was as if he was trying to understand what the otter was thinking.

"Don't worry you two," Nirvelli said, sensing our doubts. "I use this spear to catch fish all the time out in the sea, I am good with it. I won't miss. If we hit them fast enough they won't have time to even think about what happened. They're just trying to survive the cold, and are not ready for an attack."

"I don't think this is a good idea," Midnight muttered. The otter gave him a condescending glare and Midnight did not suggest his opinion any further.

"Come on," the otter said irritated by the fact that we were not supporting his idea. He gripped the spear in his paws tighter and stood on top of the ridge. "All you two have to do is distract the second one for a few seconds." The otter disappeared over the edge of the ridge quickly, fully expecting us to go with his plan.

Midnight glanced over at me and I stared back at him. After we exchanged the quick glance, we both knew this was a bad idea but we had to help with it regardless.

Following the road still further, the storm was now supplying mist above the ridges that made the damp feeling we have had all day even worse. It did not take too long for the ridge to fall back into the ground though. I found myself facing out into what must have been a small clearing in this broken land. Mist was heavy on it, but through that mist we could see a dim light.

A campfire was burning not too far from us. If it were not for the storm I am certain that I would be able to see it clearly. If there were reptilian soldiers then they would be near that fire.

Off to our right some movement caught both of our attentions. Nirvelli was slowly moving in a parallel path from the fire. He briefly glanced at us and pointed in the other direction. He wanted us to get in position for his attack.

After Midnight and I exchanged another glance, we did as we were told and moved in the opposite direction of Nirvelli. We moved as silently as we could and the storm covered up any other small noises that we made. Without losing sight of the dim light in the mist, we moved on the edge of the clearing. Boulders, roots and trees blocked our path but before long we steadily got closer to the fire.

Midnight had pulled the shield free and now held it tightly but he stayed silent as he tried to hide in the shadows with his black fur. I stayed close to the trunks of a nearby tree that had the sticky ice covering a portion of it. That moment a breeze went through the clearing and thinned the mist just enough that we could see that there were in fact two bundled figures huddled around the fire. They were not moving much and did not seem to be having any sort of conversation.

The mist continued to thin to the point that I could even see across the clearing. Nirvelli was there, having snuck far closer than I'd be comfortable to the reptilians. With a few rapid steps, the otter had the spear in one paw and twisted his body to pull it back before he threw it right at the nearest reptilian soldier.

The spear flew through the air straight for the fire's occupant. The wind was still blowing and it did not take me more than half a second to realize that the spear's trajectory was off. The spear impacted wetly into the ground half a meter from the fire, and missing the target by almost as much. Nirvelli missed his throw.

The reptilians reacted to the sudden impact and jumped up from the fire.

"What was that?" one yelled as they both turned their hooded heads and looked around. The one that Nirvelli aimed to kill took notice of the otter quickly. "You bastard! What do you think you're doing!?"

The sounds of swords being pulled free from their sheathes rung out in the clearing as both Nirvelli and the two reptilians drew their weapons.

I hoped that they would focus on Nirvelli and not notice Midnight and me no more than five meters away from them. I had hoped but whenever has anything in this life been in my favor?

"There are more of them," one of the soldiers yelled, informing his partner. The second soldiers gaze had took no more than a couple seconds before falling on Midnight and me. "Take care of the sailor and I'll get the pups."

There was no hesitation, like all the others before, when the soldier charged immediately at both and Midnight and me. The other ran off in the opposite direction towards Nirvelli.

I instinctively reached for my dagger and pulled it free. Could I fight this one? I was only lucky with the others before.

Doubt and fear froze my body while I stared at the soldier. I could see the reptilian growing larger in my vision as he quickly closed the gap between me and him. The rain and snow mixture still fell around us, while the reptilians heavy boots splashed whatever little puddles there were on the ground. Heavy clothes covered the reptilian from head to hindpaws except for his eyes, I could still see those reptilian eyes coming right for me. Highlighted above him was the sword that he had raised, desiring to draw blood.

I remembered when the first assassin nearly killed me and left a cut across my lower back. The pain was something I never wanted to experience again.

I could not move no matter how much I wanted to flee. My gaze was fixed on the reptilian but something cut off my line of sight. Midnight had placed himself between me and the charging reptilian with his shield raised.

The sword came down crying for blood but it impacted on the thick wooden frame of Midnight's shield. The force of the blow splintered the shield carried the shield to crash into the mud with the sword still wedged in it. The black wolf was also nearly thrown to the ground and when he yelped in pain, I had thought the sword had gone through the shield. Midnight stayed on his hindpaws though.

"Run Snowy!" Midnight yelled immediately without even turning back to glance at me.

The soldier pulled the sword free, and at that moment Midnight picked up the shield and put all of his weight behind it. Midnight charged the reptilian with the shield, intending on running right through the reptilian.

The soldier had not expected for the wolf pup a third of his size to charge into him. When he tried to dodge, Midnight rammed right into him with the shield and threw the soldier off his hindpaws, slipping in the icy mud. The reptilian crashed on his back, covering his heavy clothes in mud.

"Go!" Midnight yelled, urging me to run. "Go! Let's go!!"

Another yelp of pain, this one coming from the otter across the clearing echoed out. This fight was one we had no chance of winning. We had to run.

Without the need of any more encouragement, I dug my claws into the semi-frozen mud and sprinted pass the reptilian who had slipped. I could hear Midnight following right behind me as we both headed toward the otter who also fled.

Running up a new path from one that he originally came from, the three of us attempted to put as much distance between us and the clearing of the reptilians. I could not hear any immediate pursuit but I did not want to stop to find out if they were following us or not.

Sprinting as fast as we could we did not slow our pace. Our flight was hampered by the path we had chosen because it twisted and turned even more so than the previous path. It seemed that we were always ascending too, because each time a ridge rose on the side of the path we would find the path curve and place us on top of that ridge.

The constant zigzagging of the path worried me that the ridge we were on might have the reptilians just beneath it. They could be no further than a few meters away from us at some times.

Fleeing up the path for nearly a full hour, I only started to slow when I realize that neither Midnight nor Nervelli were ahead of me. I tried to catch my breath while I panted but I also realized that I was a bit faster than the other two.

Neither of them were very far behind though and they immediately caught up with me.

"What is it Snowy?" Midnight had asked. I turned to look at him and saw that he was panting.

"I don't think they're following us," I answered rather than simply stating that I needed to catch my breath.

"I think you might be right," Midnight said. He slowly took off the shield, and it seemed to be causing him pain. His arm was injured when he blocked the soldier's blow. With some effort, he put it back on a strap and hung it off his shoulders. "I don't think they left the fire that they had."

Nirvelli came up last but he did not stop, and only pushed by us. I could smell fresh blood on him but wherever his wound was located was not obvious. I had always thought him to be an unpleasant otter but now he was outright furious.

"The storm has stopped," Midnight mentioned. He was paying no attention to the otter and I agreed that it was probably the wisest thing to do right now.

Besides Midnight spoke the truth and I had not even noticed that the storm had ceased. It was even brighter now with the clouds thinning, even though there was still mist all around us. I was grateful that that rain-snow mixture of the storm was no longer barraging us.

"We shouldn't have attacked those soldiers," Midnight said, glancing further up the path at Nirvelli who continued his pace. If he heard Midnight's comment then he showed no sign of it. "How old does he think we are? He's not even close to being an adult, and the only thing we have done before is steal food and fight with other orphans. We never killed any of these reptilians before. Alec is the only one who did that!"

I forgot! Midnight does not know what happened to Alec._Being reminded of the friendly wolf guard that saved my life on multiple occasions brought a heavy weight on my chest. In the weight of that burden, I did not feel the need to correct Midnight on one point: I _did kill one of the Enes soldiers. Two of them actually.

"Come on, Snowy," Midnight said a bit irritated with the attitude of the otter. "We cannot stay here."

Without much choice we continued to follow Nirvelli again up this path that was literally on the edge of a cliff. The mist made it a bit dangerous because we couldn't see the edge ahead of us all that well but we moved at a slow enough pace that if there were any sudden drop offs, we would be able to see it.

"When Bran was trying to train me, he made me learn how to use the shield," Midnight started one of his many stories. "But it is so heavy! I can't use it with one arm and a sword in my other paw. The shield is pretty easy to use at least. Maybe we should get you one Snowy just in case Nirvelli tries to attack any more soldiers. Imagine if we had one when the assassin tried to attack us. Maybe I wouldn't have this scar under my fur on my arm, or you have that scar on your back."

For several days Midnight had remained quiet, but now he was openly talking. It seemed that the fear of retribution from the otter was no longer there. Nirvelli did say we need to stay quiet for our safety but the otter had put us in the most danger since we fled Sirmiq. Even though he was older than us he was letting emotion control him more than logic. Now knowing that, Midnight did not even try to remain quiet.

"Bran told me that Sage, that fox that gave us the daggers, is really far in the South so maybe that is why Nirvelli wants to go that way," Midnight continued. "Otters are from some southern city though so that makes more sense. I don't think I was ever supposed to go to the otters' city though since Bran said something about taking me to another city. Besides Sirmiq, I really haven't seen another city..."

His mind never rests! I thought.

"... What was Arktiline like? Was it very different than Sirmiq? I wish I got to see it before Bran took me away. He said that I would be able to come back and get you someday but we were going to go so far. I don't know if he was lying to me. How would I have made it back by myself? I don't even know if I would have been able to find you again if you were in Sirmiq. We only found you because we heard that one soldier that Nirvelli kill scream, and I thought I had heard you. Nirvelli didn't want me..."

I never understood why Midnight had to vocalize his every thought. He'd start talking about one thing and it would only take him a few seconds before that thought led to another and then another, then another. It made my ears tired sometimes, but I did remember most of the things that he spoke about.

He loves to talk, I thought to myself.

"... and then Bran hit me right in the chest with the stupid stick!" I don't even know how we're back on Bran's training. "What was I supposed to do when he knocked the shield away? Well, I guess that was the point of his--"

Midnight stopped in mid-sentence just as the last of the mist finally washed away. I was watching where I put my hindpaws so that I wouldn't slip or step off the edge of the cliff, but the fact that Midnight stopped so suddenly was enough for me to see what distracted him.

Beneath us was a pool of clouds so vast that I could not see any ground below us. I had never seen such a thing before. We had climbed so high that we were above the clouds, as if we had entered the realm of them. The clouds were bright, reflecting the setting sunlight off of them.

"Is that the storm?" I asked, wondering if those clouds were the same that we were beneath all day.

"I think so," Midnight answered. I glanced over to him to see that he was just as shocked as I was.

When his gaze rose, I followed it and saw that the mountains that were on the side of were taller than anything I have seen in my life. Mt. Ignis, and all the mountains around Sirmiq were nothing compared to what I was now seeing. These mountains touched the sky; they were endless in their reach. The jagged peaks of these mountains tore through the clouds, and they continued far beyond what I could see even with such a great view.

"I had thought that Mt. Ignis would be impossible to reach the top of," Midnight started, staring up at the peaks of the mountains. "These mountains are so much taller! And we have even climbed high enough to be above the clouds!"

I had not thought of that, we already ascended so much and yet these mountains made the volcano look like it was I standing next to the tallest of the adult white bears of Sirmiq.

"The sun is setting," Midnight also mentioned. "This path is going to be too dangerous in the dark. Let's keep following this path; I hope we'll find someplace safe to camp in tonight. I don't want to roll off this cliff in my sleep. I have had dreams like that though! Usually it was off the rooftop of where we slept though but those dreams stopped after I met you Snowy."

Without any provocation, Midnight again started to tell his stories. It was the wolf's story that made me forget about the mist and it seemed like it had not taken long at all for us to break out of the clouds.

It made time go by faster, I realized, again not fully listening to Midnight's talking. And I forgot about how soaked I was. Silently I really did appreciate the wolf's ramblings but it still could be such an earful.

The path finally started to show signs of it going into the mountain rather than being on the edge of it. Nirvelli was still ahead of us and we followed up as the steep cliff off of the side of the path turned into another tall ridge, and formed a canyon in the tall peaks of this particular mountain.

The sun was casting large shadows and in the canyon we were once again robbed from the sunlight. The canyons had an eerie feel to them, no plants grew and there were no animals in them that I could tell. The wind was unnaturally forceful in the canyon too which proved to us that it wasn't a suitable place to rest for the night.

I wondered where this path was leading anyway, since it was obviously made but all we were doing was going into deep canyons that seemed to be a maze. Any turn off of the path, some canyons looked like they'd close up on you. Others seemed to have paths of their own but I couldn't say for sure if that was the case.

Suddenly a stench came from the wind that made me freeze in my pawsteps. Midnight and Nirvelli also stopped having smelled the stench. Ahead of us came the stench of decay, of death.

"There's a tower up ahead," Nirvelli said, his gaze higher off the canyon. I followed it and could see some sort of unnatural formation up ahead. The sun really had set low, that no lights of ray were hitting the tower directly. The only light was that being reflected from the atmosphere. The stars were starting to shine above as well.

"Why would it smell like that?" Midnight asked. I glanced at the wolf and he seemed uncertain about approaching the tower.

"I don't know, but it is the only shelter we'll probably find up here," Nirvelli answered, now with his usual disinterested tone rather than the upset one. "Let's go check it out at least."

Being led by Nirvelli was a decision I had concluded not to be the best decision always, but the idea of having true shelter for a night was luring.

The tower loomed over us as we cautiously approached but the stench was almost a strong enough deterrent to make us turn back. The last rays of sunlight were leaving the top of the mountains, plunging us in the dim light of dusk.

When we were close, the first signs that the tower was occupied came to us as we could hear the distant voices. The wind and canyons distorted the voices too much for us to tell if they were friendly or not. Nirvelli hesitated though and glanced back down at Midnight and me. Hesitantly, we continued forward.

The canyon walls were steep and so tall that we actually lost sight of the tower once we were close. In the sky the brightest of the stars started to show and the half moons provided little light that did not touch the canyon floor.

When the canyon walls revealed the tower once more, we were much closer. If something were to have fallen from the tower, it would have fallen right on us. The promise of shelter was no longer the sense the tower offered. It brought chills that crawled down my spine and made my fur bristle.

Staring up at the tower looming over us, I could not shake the sense of dread. Midnight and Nirvelli hesitated at the base of the tower and seemed to be feeling the same thing I was.

Midnight however turned his gaze off the tower and toward a path off to the right that was an obvious dead end. The canyon walls were close in on that side which made it even darker that it already was in the canyon paths. When Midnight walked toward that dead end, it distracted me from my sense of dread.

"Where are you going?" I asked, watching Midnight head into the dark canyon path. The way to the tower was the other way; there was nothing for us down the path Midnight was leading us to. "Midnight?"

What had distracted Midnight was the source of the stench that had filled these canyon paths. At the end of this dead end path were thrown the bodies of several guards. It was difficult to tell that they were once guards though due to the fact that their bodies were stripped of almost everything that would have been useful.

One that was on the top of the pile was mountain lion, his throat had been slashed and his body stripped of all his gear. His lips were curled to bare his fangs in a permanent death grimace.

The mountain lion was only one of the many that had been killed and their bodies dumped down in this remote part of the canyon.

"They had a whole squadron up here," the otter's voice distracted us from the grisly scene. I turned to look up at him and could see the grief in his expression too. "The Enes attack on Sirmiq is not the only place they've attacked if those of us with fur are occupying old remote forts in the mountains."

I had thought that the reptilian faction of the Enes had reached as far as they could when they had so many in Sirmiq. It wasn't a pinpointed target though; their warriors really have spread across all the lands that I have learned through travellers' stories.

A loud crash suddenly impacted near by among the bodies. I yelped and jumped away from the sound of the crash.

"Hey!" I heard someone above shout. I glanced up to see that one of the tower windows had been opened and the occupant of the window had tossed some filth out of it. "There's someone down there!"

The calm chatter and sounds that were on the other side of the canyon wall stirred now with rustle of activity. It was the sounds of an impending attack.

"We can't stay here!" Nirvelli yelled, and sprinted back to the main path of the canyon.

We closely followed but were immediately brought to a halt. Where the path had diverged were half a dozen of reptilians, already cutting of our escape. Each already had a sword drawn and they were crammed in the canyon wall.

"You two," Nirvelli started with a strangely calm voice. "You two run for it when I give you an opening." Look up at the otter, I saw him glance back at Midnight with a strange crooked smile. His tears also reflected the little light from the moons and stars. "You both must get to Lontra. Go."

The otter moved quickly, drawing his arm back and grabbing the spear strapped to his back. The moment he had it, he moved his whole body to put force behind his throw.

One of the reptilians was thrown back with the spear embedded in his body. With them all being cramped in the canyon, there was no chance to dodge it. Nirvelli freed his sword no matter how hopelessly outmatched he was. With a roar as fierce as an otter can roar, Nirvelli charged at the bundled soldiers of the Enes faction

With one of their own having being so easily felled by a spear throw, the other soldiers were surprised by the otter's ferocity. They faltered back from the otter's advance but finally reacted when the sword nearly struck yet another one of the bundled soldiers. The first blow was deflected with steel striking against steel.

I did not have the chance to observe the fight any longer. I felt my arm be jerked away from my body, almost felt like it was going to rip off. Midnight pulled me toward the guard suddenly but just as they were fighting with Nirvelli, both Midnight and I headed back down the path that we had originated from.

"Get after them!" a shout came from behind us.

No longer needing to be pulled away from the fight, Midnight released my paw and I stayed close to following him. The sound of the fight faded but I heard the sounds of pursuit close behind us too.

Fleeing down the canyons, we could hear the heavy steps following close behind us. Each tight turn of the canyon only proved to us how close they got as our pursuers crashed into the walls in all effort to not lose any speed.

Although we were faster, the long strides of the adults kept them in pace and risked them catching to us. All we could was use the sharp angles of the canyon to slow them down and to gain a bit of distance.

After one of the many turns, I suddenly felt the ground beneath my hindpaws fall away. A sudden and steep drop off appeared beneath Midnight and me. Gravity took us and dragged us down into a ravine

I tried to stop myself from skidding down the ravine by digging my claws into the dirt, but a rock provided a painful obstacle. My ribs were hit with such force that I lost all my breath in a gasp. Pain flared up and exploded from the point of impact.

The first impacted was only the first painful one, and only worsened my uncontrolled descent into the abyss. I now was rolling down the hill, without any light to tell which way was up or which way was down. Each time I hit the ground, I tried to latch my claws onto it but it only succeed in throwing me in the air as I rolled down.

Pain flared from my ribs, my wrist, my shoulder, my tail, my hindpaws, anywhere that a large rock sent me in the air to only land painfully on the ground again.

My descent finally stopped with a loud grunt as I crashed into something hard but fluffy. Beneath me I could feel the movement, and the painful breaths of Midnight.

"Get off me," Midnight's painful gasps spoke in a high-pitched whine.

I did my best to roll off of the fluffy body that I had landed on, but it only caused for my whole body to ache. I fell off and landed on the cold and dark hard ground.

There was too much pain to even sob but I knew my eyes were leaking plenty of tears. Each breath I took made my ribs hurt and caused for my breath to be ragged.

I could hear Midnight whimpering next to me in pain. He must have suffered just as many injuries as I had during the fall. His whimpers did not stop as for neither of us the pain never could not be ignored. Any time we ignored one injury, another injury flared up.

I just wanted the pain to stop but it would not no matter what I did to try to alleviate it. My ribs hurt, my arms hurt, my tail had a kink in it, my legs had several bruises and sprains that I am certain I wouldn't be able to stand without making injuries feel worse.

I lay trying not to move, becoming frustrated that the pain could not be ignored. The pain was deep in my body, I could feel it not just on the surface of my skin but in my bones as well.

Midnight started to move next to me with exasperated whimpering and whining but he was doing his best to not whine.

"Where are we?" he asked with heavy breaths. Only my own whimpers answered his question as I tried to lay still and not aggravate my injuries.

I felt Midnight's paw land gently touch my fur and it then firmly landed on my injured side but was gentle enough. Midnight was unusually silent which he only does when he is uncertain of the situation, or terrified.

He did not voice any of his opinions but from what I could hear is that Midnight was moving around trying to get our bearings. Without any light though it was practically impossible to know where we were. We could have been stuck on a ledge in a ravine or we could have fallen to the darkest cave in a mountain.

I tried not to think about it. Besides Midnight was trying to figure all that out and if he knew something he'd tell me so there was no point in me doing nothing other than trying to ignore the pain as deep as my bones.

Midnight remained silent and I did not know how much time had passed. There was nowhere comfortable to rest and the consistent pain made it impossible to try to get some sleep. Midnight ventured out every now and then; I could hear him patting the ground as he felt around him, and he'd risk venturing away from me a little bit but he never did go too far.

It must have been a couple hours before the pain had dulled enough that we both had stopped whimpering from its consistent touch. Now we could only hear each other's light breathing.

In the absolute darkness I started to see spots in my vision. It could have been the pain that made the spots appear now that my body has rested. However those spots grew numerous and sharper, and there were thousands of them above me like stars.

I glanced over at where I heard Midnight and was able to see his silhouette dully in the light that had now showed as stars above us.

"What are those?" Midnight asked his eyes reflecting the same lights that I saw.

I could not answer for what I was seeing either because it truly was as if the stars of the night sky were down in this abyss that we had fallen into.

My fur moved in a breeze. It was uncharacteristic of this place to have a breeze, which was strange enough, but also the sound of it rushing through the bottom of whatever place we had fallen too was also strange.

The breeze sounded like soft wind but was short before the breeze changed direction. It sounded like breathing, an inhale and exhale, that was went through the entire cavern.

"Is that... breathing?"