Reindeer James

Chapter 21

James spent the following days guiding the sleigh from one mountainside cave to the next. "Nick's gotta be around here somewhere," James said as he shivered inside yet another cavern. The only thing they'd found inside was a vein of peppermint curling along the walls in a ribbon of red and white.

Tango slammed a hoof against the wall, sending a chunk of candy clattering into his waiting mouth. "You've said that about the last twenty caves," he said as he crunched on the sugary treat.

"Anybody in there?" Ruby hollered. The only response was an echo and a faint rumbling overhead. "I'll take that as a no."

"Yeah, because he would have told you to pipe down," Tango said with a snort. "Do you want to cause an avalanche?"

"I don't see you coming up with any better ideas. Right, James?" Ruby craned her neck around to see him slumped over in the sleigh with his head in his hands.

"Do you think he'll even come back with us if we find him?" he muttered. His voice cracked with unshed tears. "He sounded so upset. I hope he's okay."

"I don't know," Tango said. "But you'd think he'd at least consider it with the storm being so nasty."

"Yeah," Ruby said, "It's so cold I can't feel my toes!"

"You don't even have toes," James said with a half-hearted chuckle.

"Maybe they froze off." Her playful smirk melted into something much more solemn when James barely even smiled. "I'm sure he'll be okay," she said. "I mean, he's always talking about plans and stuff, right? He wouldn't just waltz into the storm without getting ready first."

"Hopefully he's better prepared than we were," Tango said. He nosed through his feedbag, coming away with a single scrawny parsnip. "I hate to say it, kid, but I don't think we can last much longer out here."

At the sight of James's forlorn expression, Ruby marched to the mouth of the cave. "Come on, there's gotta be something we can eat out here." She stamped and pawed at the icy ground. Her hooves exposed a thin stubble of lichen. "See?" she said as she scraped at the greenery with her teeth. "We can totally manage."

"What about him though?" Tango nodded toward James. "He can't exactly survive off of moss."

James shook out the last of his rations out of his bag, a small bag of trail mix and some dried apricots. "Man, I bet Nick would know what to do. He's always going on and on about long-term this and long-term that." James's eyes brightened. "That's it!"

"You've found a way to make lichen taste like sugar cane?" Tango said sarcastically.

"I know where Nick is!" James exclaimed. "Back when I was little, Dad took us ice fishing before we'd ski back down the mountain. He's gotta be by Peppermint Pond."

Tango sighed. "Kid, I know you're worried about him, but we really need to worry about us right now."

"C'mon, let's just check this one last spot," James pleaded. "Then I promise we'll go home."

"Straight home?"

"Cross my heart."

Tango glanced back and forth between James and Ruby, the young reindeer's nose shining with determination. "I swear you two are as stubborn as ticks and twice as annoying, you know that? Fine, we'll go, but," Tango raised a hoof, "you're telling folks exactly where we're going. And I swear, if you're leading us on a wild albatross chase, I'm going to have Gabe put you on manure duty for a year."

James turned on his radio. "We think we figured out where Nick went," he said. Garbled static screeched back at him, making them all wince. He fidgeted with the dial until his ears stopped hurting. "What? Can't hear you."

"You need to come back ASAP!" The static drowned out Clarice's next words, but not the worry in her voice.

"We're just gonna try Peppermint Pond," James said. "Then we'll head home."

"If you can even make it back. Listen, I'm worried about Nick too, but—"

The radio screamed. Ruby's nose bathed the cave in red as the device gave a dying crackle before falling silent.

"Clarice? You there?" James shook the radio and smacked its side for good measure, but his only reward was an aching palm. "Oh, chestnuts!"

"Look on the bright side," Ruby said. "At least she knows where we're heading."

"Assuming she heard you right through that racket," Tango said. "And assuming you actually know how to get there. Please tell me your navigation skills are better than your landing skills."

"I know the way there like the back of my hand," James said, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. "It's at the end of a red and white tunnel."

"You mean like those?" Ruby flicked her head in the direction of half a dozen candy-lined tunnels diverging from the back of the cave.

"If we get lost in there," Tango said, "you and I are switching places, kid." He eyed the thick blankets lining the back of the sleigh longingly. "My hooves are killing me."