The Great Expedition

Chapter 27

The bear left after awhile once he realized that his food fell off a cliff. Once the bear was out of sight, Cobalt raced back up the hill with Honeysuckle hot on his heels. Once on flat ground again he upped his speed and soon he was going faster than he had ever gone. Right before he slipped down the cliff Cobalt slid to a halt. Some loose gravel went over the side of the cliff and disappeared into the water below. Cobalt looked around frantically trying to get a glimpse of white that indicated that Stardust was down there. Meanwhile Honeysuckle was pacing back and forth where Stardust went over board. At one point, Honeysuckle slipped and all most went off the side but she quickly reeled back. Cobalt rushed to her aid and wrapped his teeth in her pretty golden tail and tugged backwards. In the end Honeysuckle was back on flat ground, had hunks of tail ripped from her rump and was more wary of the cliff. She would not get withing two feet of the edge. Cobalt was braver and stood at the edge still staring out to see of he could spot some white. 

Stardust woke up with her head on the sand with the occasional wave traveling up her neck before retreating. Slowly she lifted her head and surveyed the scene. She was laying in the water on sand in a small cave just under the cliff she fell from. Either she swam here before collapsing or the water moved her while she was unconscious. At a snails pace she got to her feet. There were some black spots when she stood straight and everything hurt. The was a huge gash inthe shape of claws on her back moving to her rump. She had many bruises, a huge bite mark on her neck and another smaller gash on her side. Her whole other side was road rash except for a few spots and her neck from sliding on the ground. Instead of being white she was now a paint horse. But no brown or golden for the second color, istead it was a mixture of white, deep crimson color and bright red. She tried trotting around for a few steps but could barely due to limping on one of her front legs. 

She remembered one time when she was limping, Kristie hosed her leg with ice cold water multiple times a day until she stopped limping. Just the thought of Kristie made her heartbreak. Hopefully this trip would be worth it and she would not be sent back to Rob. Stardust limpped over to the water and into it until the water was chest high. The cool water felt nice on her leg and her belly. She waded in the water until she could not feel the pain in her leg. She then walked around the cave to try and find food. What she would kill for some hot bran mash and a cozy stall right now. There was little to none vegetation. One side of the cave had a bit of grass and along the floor Stardust found some seaweed. Was she really that hungry to eat seaweed? Beggars can't be chooser when it comes to surviving in the woods for a long period of time. Stardust took a small nibble of seaweed and swallowed. It actually was not that back. For the next hour Stardust muched on seaweed. Soon she started to notice that the water was rising. The hour before she was standing on sand and the water was 5 feet away from her, now the water was up to her knees. Another 30 minutes and the water was up to her chest. 

Stardust decided that she had to get out of this cave and swim to shore unless she wanted to drown. She started to walk out of the cave and out into the lake. Soon Stardust could not touch the bottom and she had to start swimming. At first it hurt to swim and stretch out her muscules but over time the cool water numbed the pain. She was still a long way from shore, which was on the other side of the lake due to the cliff, and she had never swam this long or this far. 

Cobalt was still looking out at the lake below him for over two hours now. Honeysuckle had long grown bored and decided that it was more interesting to much on the tall fresh grass. The was still a sliver of hope in Cobalt, that Stardust was alive. He would one more scan and then go for some food. He was starving. And there she was in the middle of the lake swimming to shore on the other side. Cobalt made a split second decision. He galloped away from the cliff to a cluster of trees and spun around. Honeysuckle was interested now. She quickly galloped after him. Cobalt galloped to the edge of the cliff and lept off into the lake below him. Honeysuckle was so was just a few feet and determined to win the surprise race. She was so focused on winning that she did not realize that she jumped off a cliff and was falling into water until it was too late. She started flailing her legs everywhere trying to find a way to stop herself from falling. Coablt resurfaced and started swimming towards Stardust. Honeysuckle landed in the water behind him with a big splash. The waves pushed him towards Stardust. Honeysuckle saw that Coablt was swimming away from her and she tried to swim towards him, but she had never been swimming, never mind in a giant lake with no bottom. It took her a few tries to get the swimming motion correct and move forward. 

Cobalt was just a few feet away from Stardust. Stardust was starting to tire. Her legs felt like jello and a few more strokes she stopped swimming completely. That gave Cobalt a chance to catch up to her. Once he reached Stardust, he gave her a push to move her forward. Stardust was spooked by the sudden push until she realized that it was Cobalt and not the bear. She also saw that Honeysuckle was a few feet away from him. They finally found her! She would never stray from the pack again. Coablt kept pushing her towards shore. And with one last hard push, Stardust found the ground again and started to walk into the trees. Cobalt was right behind her and followed her into the woods. He did not even turn back to see where Honeysuckle was. So that is how it is going to be now that Stardust is back. Honeysuckle grumply thought. Eventually she made it to land and went into the forest where the other two went. She soon found Stardust passed out asleep on the forest floor and Cobalt standing protectively over her. Honeysuckle tried to go over to Stardust but Cobalt quickly blocked her. She tried again and Cobalt bared his teeth and bit her. Honeysuckle got the message and walked a bit away. Once she found a spot she liked, she layed down to rest for the night. All that swimming tired her out and she quickly fell asleep. Cobalt was happy to have Stardust back and as soon as Honeysuckle fell asleep, he did too standing over Stardust to protect her from any danger that might come in the night.

Author's note 

This was a long chapter with 1249 words.

There you have it Stardust is alive and back with the herd.

QOTD:  Do you have a nickname?

I do not really but my one friend called me Jules all the time when we were friends.