Autumn's World

Chapter 16

Autumn looked around the den to make sure all the bears were asleep. It took a while for Grizelda to finally calm down and go to sleep.

They were all asleep now, finally, and Autumn snuck out of the den, flapping her wings and flying towards the fence where she had met Fall the night before. She was probably late, but she didn't want to risk sneaking out with the bears awake.

She came to fence and flew over it, landing on the dumpster Fall had showed her. "Fall?!" she called.

No answer.

"Fall?!" Autumn called again.

She was suddenly knocked off of the dump. A huge force pinned her to the ground, hot breath in her face.

"You!"

Autumn saw Scarlet Wolf's stopping jaws. Scarlet growled the word again, "You!"

Autumn squirmed, but she couldn't get away. She would die now, leave Grizelda, leave Toko and Maverick, join her parents, join Ursula, but she would be leaving Fall behind. The very thought of leaving him sent a shiver through her. They had only met twice, but she had a feeling that they should be together.

Thinking about this, Autumn gathered up all her strength and threw Scarlet off of her. The wolf fell back, surprised. Autumn then pinned her down and leaned in to scratch her soft belly, but Scarlet was stronger and threw Autumn off. She landed with a THUD on the hard concrete, as Fall had called it. She couldn't stand back up. Her muscles hurt. "Just kill me now," Autumn moaned. "Make it quick and painless."

Scarlet leaned in to slit her throat, but was knocked off her paws by an orange blur. Autumn looked. Fall had come to the rescue. He snarled and slashed at Scarlet, his wings flapping every so often to lift him off the ground a little. He stood on his hind legs and slashed his claws. Blood started to well up on Scarlet's muzzle and it was caked in her fur. She took a blow to the head from Fall's paw and collapsed, dazed. He rushed over to Autumn. "Are you alright?!"

Autumn nodded. "Just a little scraped, but I'll be okay," she said.

A shadow started to loom over Fall.

"Look out!" Autumn screeched, but Scarlet had already taken her paw and threw Fall against the dumpster, hitting his head.

Autumn scrambled up with her might and leaped at Scarlet, smashing the wolf's ribs against the concrete. "Oowww!!!" Scarlet howled in pain. She then got up, panting." You win this time, but I will be back!"

Scarlet leaped onto the dumpster, jumped over the fence, and ran into the forest.

Autumn ran over to Fall. His eyes were closed and he lay motionless against the dump. "Fall!"

He didn't respond.

"Fall?!" she said again, tears welling up in her eyes.

Fall moaned and Autumn felt relief rush through her. Despite his weight, Autumn grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him into the air, her wings flapping furiously to keep from falling. She struggled in the air towards Fall's home.

Autumn landed on the roof of the building and dragged Fall to the stairs leading down to his den.

When she got there, she laid him down on his huge, soft nest. "Fall?" she said.

Fall moaned. "A-Autumn?"

"Wait here. I'll go get some herbs." Autumn flew out of his den and flew over the city, over the fence, through the forest and quietly into the bear den. The bears were all still asleep.

Without a sound, Autumn crept over to Grizelda's store of herbs over where the two almost grown cubs slept. She grabbed a bunch of the herbs in her teeth and started picking her way out of the den.

Crack!

Autumn stepped on a twig. She turned around and saw Grizelda starting to stir. She held her breath as Grizelda kept her eyes closed, sniffled, then put her head back down and went back to sleep. Autumn gave a sigh of relief through the bundle of herbs, then flapped her wings quietly and headed back towards the city.

.............................................................

Autumn flew back into Fall's den. He moaned as she touched his flank with her tail.

"It's okay. These'll help," Autumn said through a mouthful of herbs. She placed them next to the nest.

She examined him. Scratches welled with blood on his flank and nose. He breathed heavily. When Autumn looked at his head, blood had seeped out where he hit his head. Autumn grabbed a leaf in her jaws and laid it on his head. Fall winced but let Autumn work her magic.

Autumn had learned how to use herbs from Ursula. Cobwebs were better for blotting up blood, but Grizelda hadn't restocked the herb store yet with them, so Autumn made due with maple leaves Toko had gathered. He was originally supposed to collect oak leaves for an infection Maverick had in a cut he had gotten from scraping his flank against a bramble bush, but Toko had brought back maple instead. How much more of an idiot could he possibly had been?

Autumn pressed the maple leaf against Fall's head, letting the blood collect on it, but not really absorbing into it. It was the best she could do. She then started chewing another herb into a poultice and spit it out on another maple leaf, then placed it by Fall's mouth.

"Fall? Can you hear me?" Autumn whispered in his ear.

Fall moaned and opened his eyes a little bit.

"Can you eat this?" Autumn asked.

Fall licked the poultice without question. Autumn then laid down next to him, licking some of the blood from his fur.

Fall purred lightly. "That feels nice," he said gently.

Autumn pressed more against him, letting her warmth soothe him. Fall started to purr louder. "Thank you."

"You really took a beating there," Autumn said. "Thank you for saving me-" She paused. "-again."

Fall chuckled. "Your welcome. You look a little beat up yourself. You need any herbs?"

Autumn shook her head. "You need them more than me."

Now that Fall had mentioned it, Autumn realized how achey she felt, but she couldn't waste all of the herbs on herself.

Fall tried to sit up, but he fell back, too weak to move.

"Rest," Autumn said and licked the blood off of his nose. "You need it."

"Will you stay the night?" Fall asked.

Autumn had to think about this. She didn't want to leave Fall there, wounded and battered, but she needed to collect herbs to refill the store of herbs so Grizelda wouldn't notice, and she needed to be back in time so the bears wouldn't know she had been out.

"I'll stay for a little while, but I'll have to leave earlier than yesterday," she said as she curled up with Fall and closed her eyes. Why couldn't she just tell the bears about her nightly visits? Would they accept it or not? How long could she keep visiting Fall like this?