Legacy (Book 1)

Chapter 6: Taste Of Freedom

Chapter 6: Taste of Freedom

They traveled without stopping for the next three days. One day to get down the mountain peak, one day to pad across the mountain ridge, and another day to climb up the next mountain, having to stop just past half-way up the mountain because of the tricky path and dark shadows of night.

Rainstone licked her paw, rasping her tongue over the torn raw flesh. Days of trekking over stone had resulted in all her soft paws being torn. She glanced at Night, he was checking around the small, slanted clearing on the side of the mountain.

They'd decided to make their den under a sparse bush that would offer only some cover on the bare stone slope. Ever since the thunderstorm a few nights ago the air had been cold in the morning and there was frost on the stone every morning.

The ice tinged wind, although worried Night, excited Rainstone. She liked to look at the intricate patterns of frost on the stone in the morning before the sun came up and stole it away. She glanced at Night, weariness pulling at her eyelids.

"Lets go to the den," Night mumbled through a yawn. Rainstone nodded, her tail dragging behind her as she plodded to the bush, she'd been unusually tired for the past day. She peered at the uncrossed territory beyond the mountain they were on before ducking under the fronds of the bush.

Ever since she'd first laid eyes on it she could hardly keep her eyes away long enough to watch where she was putting her paws. That distraction was to be thanked for the cut on her leg she'd received after she slipped down the mountain and cut it on a rock while trying to stop herself from sliding down any further.

But she was exhausted now and gladly curled up beside Night, letting the voice of the ancient cat lull her mind to sleep with untold promises and hopes.

...

The next day dawned cold and gray as she struggled to pull her eyes open. Clouds had rolled in during the night on a chilly mountain breeze, though there was no brooding scent of rain. Rainstone shook out her fur as Night sat up, his eyes blinking in confusion for a moment before understanding and intelligence filled him again.

She shivered at the icy tang as the wind blew with full forth through the sparse bush, though it failed to clear her foggy mind. Shaking the bush and scratching her fur. She jumped out to avoid being scratched anymore and Night followed her, licking a paw and drawing it over his ear as he narrowed his eyes against the blustery wind.

"Still like the wind?" he muttered to her, shivering and fluffing up his fur, though the wind still sliced right through it.

Rainstone nodded, even though she was shivering and yawning. "I like the taste of it," she mewed, breathing in the wind that rushed into her mouth.

Night snorted, "And what does it taste like?" he grumbled, pulling a twig out of his fur.

Rainstone breathed in the wild dry taste of the wind with consideration. It sent her heart thumping fast in her chest and her ears were pricked forward and she was fully alert for the moment as it rushed around her, bringing distant sounds and scents of faraway places to give her a taste of them.

"It tastes like freedom," she murmured quietly, her eyes staring at nothing as the wind buffeted her.

Night stopped at that and stared at her, his amber eyes glistened with sadness for a moment before they darkened again. "Of course it does," he mewed solidly before stretching his legs.

"Lets get moving, we can find some food on the way, but if it does start raining, I don't want to be stuck on the top of a mountain," Night mewed with an ill-tempered flick of his tail.