Spirit's Journey

CHAPTER 58- Spirit: Changing My Ways

"How much longer until we're out of these mountains?" Aspen asked for the first time, spiking a small bought of annoyance in me. It was obvious I didn't know the answer!

"Until we can see a way out," Midnight joked affectionately, shrugging her shoulder and then shaking out her fur. Light snow-flakes landed on it again which would melt and just make her pelt wet all over again.

In the three days since the storm we had first taken shelter by digging in the hardened snow underneath a few boulders. The weather had lasted the rest of the day and into the night, then by the time we had woken again it'd calmed.

I was thankful that such a storm had not lasted days on end as I'd waited in-patiently in the shelter, the sharp fangs of wolves fresh on my mind.

As we'd woken the next morning I'd heaved a sigh of relief and urged the Pride to get moving again.

Now it was lightly snowing again but there was no ice or rain to slow us down anymore than the sludge on the ground was.

I trudged along grumpily now, flicking the mixture of mud and snow away as it stuck to my paws and clung to my legs.

Because of the storm and downfall of the previous days the snow had gotten dangerously deep, and Midnight and Aspen were covered to their shoulders in some places.

Plus, prey would be using the excess snow as a covering and way to burrow underneath the ground. We all had this in mind now and often lowered our heads to sniff the ground in a faint hope that there might be something below.

No hope yet, but with me, Storm, Aspen and Midnight hunting I was hoping we might find some prey today since the last three hadn't treated us kindly.

Perhaps the Sky-cat was just keeping the prey hidden from us- or she just had no control over where the creatures burrowed. Whichever one it was, I only hoped we could find something to feed the smaller cats today.

Midnight walked along Aspen's side determined, shouldering her way through the snow with her whiskers holding clumps of the white stuff.

Aspen's ears were pricked, his white chest and muzzle barely visible among the rest of the snow.

"Maybe we should turn the other way or split up," Storm advised when we still hadn't found any prey. It was early morning and I'd decided a successful hunt was what we needed most now.

Fallan had twisted her back leg after going off on her own while most of the Pride had been asleep, claiming she had meant to find some prey for Diamond. She'd admitted that Aspen had not abandoned his watch duty after all, and instead she had left without anyone knowing so as to 'not worry anyone.'

Returning with the shamed look on her face and her now-thin belly swaying from lack of prey, I believed that the cheetah had set out to hunt for herself.

Back then Fallan had almost always insisted on hunting alone and now I believed her old ways were being rekindled. The Fallan I knew would not only go out on her own at night for herself but eat any sort prey she found whiles.

Of course, we were all hungry but one thing Fallan enjoyed more than anything else was food.

Her ankle really had been twisted; upon sight it was swollen and red, and the cheetah's fur had been freezing and slightly wet. I simply couldn't see Fallan putting herself in such a state just to feed something other than herself.

Was I being too harsh on her by predicting this was why she had left?

I didn't know, but I chose to trust what my head was telling me.