Clouds

Part 2-19 Rescuing The Cubs

Chapter 29

I crawl through the Hedges, slowly but steadily.  I have to find the cubs.

The texture is rough, with spiky leaves here and there, but ultimately secure and reliable.  My hands and feel always connect with a branch, and the leaves are springy and come right back up after denting under my weight.

From learning about it in school, I know the Hedges had been sprayed with something that kept them from growing so the Queen wouldn’t have to worry about it ever getting trimmed, since the maze was so huge.  Is, I should say.

That explains why I don’t have to worry about overgrown sections or what not.  What I do have to worry about, however, are the gaps.

I can’t jump down.  I wouldn’t know what was ahead and wouldn’t be able to spot the cubs.  Also, if I jumped I would break every bone in my body.  It’s as simple as that.  I have to jump.

But when I look across to the other side, I see that the gap is too large.  I can’t possibly jump that far.

Maybe I should wait for Daya to come back.  She can rescue the cubs on her own with ease.

No.  Something could happen to them easily, just like that.  I have to protect them.  I couldn’t possibly hurt Daya that way.

Then I remember Colby.

He had given me four gifts.

Maybe one of them could help me.

I look down at the charm bracelet on my wrist.  Obviously the collar couldn’t work in this situation.  I hadn’t given it to Daya, and it wouldn’t help me to teleport to her, anyways. 

The bag wouldn’t do any good, either.  Neither would the tablet.  It just shows me how to get to my camp, which I can’t go to yet.  I can’t possibly go to the Snarling Hedges with this injury, anyways.

And the bracelet wouldn’t do any good now, nor would Awesome’s Rainbow Valley necklace.  So what was left?

Of course.

I look down at the pogo stick charm.  Carefully gripping it, I concentrate on it becoming a real pogo.  Slowly, it expands before my eyes, the purple paint blinding my eyes.

Wait.  It wouldn’t work in the Hedges, would it?  With the bushes, and all.

No.  Colby is too smart for that.

Carefully mounting it, I bend my knees the tiniest bit.  Suddenly I am in the air, way up high, my eyes huge.  If this was a lower setting, I’m in trouble with controlling this.

I look at the handle.  There are three settings: low, medium, and high.  The medium button is pressed.  Heaving a sigh of relief, I turn it to low.  I bend my knees again, and spring into the air at just the right height.

With some practice later I’ll get better at this.  I know I can.

At last, I am ready to cross the hedge.

Slowly, I back up on the pogo.  I had learned how to create a regular walking gait with the pogo, and it worked great.  Once ready, I began to bend my knees faster, until I leapt up high and landed on the other side of the gap, sprawled on the hedge.  I heave a sigh of relief and close my eyes for a few seconds.

Then I remember the goal in all this.

I rise to my feet and mount the pogo again.  It will be much faster to cut through gaps until I’m directly at the gate, where I had last seen the cubs.

Starting slow I back up to the edge of the bush and spring forward, jumping across gaps, gaining speed, until I waste no time in between jumps.  After a few minutes I arrive at the gate, and what I see is startling.

Aja and Aran are backed up against the gate, their eyes wide.  My eyes widen, too.

Before them is one of the most dangerous monsters in the Sanctuary. 

The “monsters” are what we call highly dangerous animals.  Snarlers top the list, but there are bear hybrids, beaver hybrids, lesser wolf hybrids, also known as growlers, and even rabbit hybrids.  What I see is a bear hybrid.

It’s almost like a bear combined with a flower.

The fiercers have the same body shape of a bear, along with the same body size.  But they’re not hard to distinguish by their bright green coats with purple paws, razor sharp claws a few inches long, huge fangs, pointed ears, and a main that looks like, well, a purple daisy, with green tips on the petals.

They’re some of the most vicious creatures out there, never failing to attack the first thing in sight.  The only thing that makes it lower than a snarler is the inability to kill on the spot. Fiercers always deeply injure, but never kill on the spot. You can die from your wounds, but proving themselves is all the monster needs to do.  And it’s about to prove itself to the cubs.

And, right now, I need to do more than save them.

I need to prove myself.

All I’ve done on this trip is get rescued, whether it was by Jason or Daya.  I haven’t done anything myself.  Well, here’s my chance.

Carefully I reach unto my pocket and grab my sugar zinger.  I will the lollipop to open up to its full capabilities, and it does.

The sugar zinger unlocks into a full scale weapon, and dangerous it is.  I also will for the razors to come out of the sides, and so be it, the weapon says.  The serraded edges will kill the fiercer, since it will never give in to me.

I gently climb down the side of the edge, quickly as well.  The fiercer looks at me, it’s eyes gleaming with challenge.

“You mess with my cubs,” I say, my voice rising, raising my weapon, “you mess with me.”  I smile.  The fiercer narrows it’s eyes, turning to me.  Aja and Aran’s eyes gleam with hope, as if saying they’ll never sneak away again.

“I’ll give you the chance to let us go in peace.”  The fiercer narrows its eyes and charges.  Swinging my weapon, I think, I thought so.

I know winning against a fiercer is a difficult task for a girl like me to win on her own.  So, I use my quick thinking to dodge the claws of the bear hybrid and sink my sugar zinger into its side.  It only seems to make it madder.

“Get away!” I scream to the cubs.  They have started to walk over, eager to help me.  “Go!”  Aja has the sense to back off, but Aran approaches closer.  I scream and throw my weapon down by his paws, and he backs away.

Turning to the fiercer once more, I slam the weapon into its throat.  Blood has been pouring everywhere, and now even more flows. 

It had taken me until now to realize that my body was covered in scratches from grazing claws.  Yet I had not been fatally injured.  However, the fiercer had.

At first I feel bad for the monster.  It had roamed the Hedges for a long time, according to the white on its muzzle, and had killed many.

“Thank you,” I whisper to it as the color drains from its eyes, “for helping me and my cubs.”  The fiercer seems to nod and closes its eyes.

Turning to the cubs, I say, “Well, we can’t let the animal go to waste.  You two can have the insides, but don’t you dare move.  I’m going to skin it.”

And so I do.

And it pains me to realize it is without Jason’s help.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.  Can’t wait for the next one!