Journey of the Horn

Chapter 19

I looked in the direction of the voice to find my little brother wrapped up in an Ursa fur with icicles hanging from his nose and hair. I hugged him with all my might. "Oh thank god you're still alive." I had never felt so much relief in my life. I at least knew Alpine was alive, and that itself gave me a glimmer of hope. I wrapped us up in my Ursa blanket. Using our body heat to keep eachother warm. He turned his head to look at me. "What are you doing here?" I hugged him tighter, rubbing his arms trying to warm him up. "I had to make sure you were still alive." His teeth chattered in response. "Come on, let's try and find some shelter. If we stay here we'll surely die." I pick him up by the shoulders, supporting him as we walked. It felt like hours. My nose and fingers were so cold they started to get frostbite. I had never felt that numbing pain. We managed to find a small overhang connected to a rocky slate of the mountain. The snow was so deep that it almost met the roof of the overhang. I hugged Alpine to my chest and slid down in between the roof and the snowy walls. As soon as I let go of him Alpine dropped to the ground, thankfully still breathing. I looked around to see if there was anything I could use for a fire, but there wasn't. So I layed next to Alpine, and wrapped the blanket around the both of us. Alpine was cold still, but getting warmer. We both fell asleep to the howling of the blizzard wind.

I woke up the next morning to find myself alone in the blanket.I looked around the little shelter for Alpine, but he wasn't inside. I looked out through the hole he must have dug to get out. He dug straight through ice. Was he scared? Or even worse, was he scared of me? I climbed out of the hole and decided to follow his footprints. He made deep tracks in the snow just like I did. I followed them till I found Alpine trudging through the deep snow. "Alpine!" He whirled around, when he saw me he got a look of terror as he tried to climb up a tree. "Alpine what are you doing! You're going to hurt yourself!" He hugged a branch like a baby monkey does its mother. "Better than you doing it for me!" I was confused. "What are you talking about? I'm not gonna hurt you. I never was." He hugged the branch tighter. "That's the only reason you came. To kill me off." I looked up at him in shock. I hadn't realised till then that Alpine had a large wound going from his left shoulder going all the way down to the right, bottom corner of his chest. He really did think I was gonna kill him. He was terrified to so much as be around me. "How did you get the scar?" I asked trying a little to put him at ease. He didn't speak for what felt like an eternity, But then he finally turned his gaze to me. "Tam-Tam... " which was a nickname we gave to one of our brothers, short for Tamoro. "He came up on me while I was asleep. He threw hot coals from my fire at me to wake me up. Singed my fur a little. Once I was awake he aimed for my heart with his axe...I dodged just like you taught me." I sat in silence as I listened. "Well then...come on, come down here and let's get you patched up." He looked at me with fear. "I'm not going to hurt you..." I gestured to my empty sheath "I left my weapons back at camp." He makes a face like he's thinking about it. I give him a warm, reassuring smile. He eventually climbs down after what seemed like an hour.

We went back to camp after gathering a few sticks to make a small fire. Alpine huddled in the blankets, watching me the whole time. Like he thought I would turn around and slit his throat. I got a fire to spark up and scrounge around for a needle and thread. I managed to find one stabbed into the bottom of my bag. I threaded the thread through the eye of the needle then burned the needle. "Alright, this is gonna hurt. But it's for your own good." He just stared at me as he dropped the blanket from his shoulders. I took a breath to help steady my hand, then made the first stitch. Alpine contorted in pain when I did but I had to keep going. He yelled and screamed in pain, and by the time I was done he was sweating and breathing heavily trying to keep himself from crying. I move up to his head and laid it on my lap, I pet his hair like mom always did when she was trying to calm any of us. "It's alright, it's over now. You're going to be fine." He looked at me still with tears in his eyes. "Go on and rest, I'll make sure nothing and no one tries to hurt you. You're my baby brother..." I gently gave him a hug. "I would never hurt you." I say with a slight quiver in my voice, both from being overwhelmed with joy from no longer being alone but also from the knowledged that every few minutes I lose a brother. Whether it be to murder, exposure, or just plain insanity. Alpine blinked at me with a look of amazement. Amazement about the fact that he was wrong. After a long moment he slowly climbed into my lap, and fell asleep.