Planteria

Chapter 8

As I walked, I started to jog. After jogging for a bit, I began to run. Then I ran out of breath and was somehow still running. I ran and ran until I collapsed and started crying. My tears turned into icicles in the cold, and I tried to get up, but my legs wouldn't have it, and I collapsed. I screamed until my voice cracked and died. I was frustrated with myself and tried to get up again. My legs still weren't cooperating, and I collapsed again. I lay in the snow for a couple of minutes, picked icicles off my face, and tried to get up again. My top half cooperated, but my bottom half still wouldn't. I was ready to flop back down, give up, and lie in the snow for forever, when something warm and fuzzy pushed itself under my arms, eventually lifting my whole body onto it, and continued heading in the direction that I had been trying to go. My face was on its fur, so after a couple of minutes, the icicles cleared from my eyes, and I looked up and saw the shape of a Frostcub head in front of me, ears flicking now and then.

"Alfbern?" I asked, my voice cracking.

"Aroo," was the sad reply I got.

"You didn't have to come after me, I could have made it on my own," I told him.

Alfbern stopped walking, turned his head back, and just stared me dead in the eye.

"Okay, yeah, thanks for getting me out of the snow," I whispered.

"Ruff roo," Alfbern said.

"Do you know how long it is to a stream?" I asked Alfbern. "One ruff for five to ten miles, two ruffs for ten to twenty, stay silent if it's less than that."

"Ruff ruff," Alfbern told me.

I sighed and laid my head back down on his fur.

"How long until the side of the mountain that goes down to Foz Forest? Use the same system of ruffs." I questioned.

"Ruff ruff," I got the same reply.

"Thanks for the info buddy," I said, scratching behind his ears a bit. Alfbern let out a rumbly noise that could be interpreted as a purr.

Maybe there was a stream with an Angel Dew. I thought. Maybe the stream turned into a waterfall that fell off the cliff that I would have to climb down to get back home. Say that I did get the Angel Dew. What if it fell out of my bag on the way down the mountain? What if I didn't get home in time? What if my family didn't accept me anymore because I had run off? Sure it was to help my mother, but still. Alexa must be furious with me. What if my whole grove didn't accept me, and I had to leave the entire forest? Where would I go?

There were so many 'What If's' and worries that my brain couldn't handle it anymore. My body was already exhausted from all the running and had mostly shut down, and now my brain finally decided to follow its example. No matter how hard I tried to keep my eyes open, they closed, and I fell asleep on Alfbern's back, trusting him to know where we were going and hoping that an Angel Dew would be at the next stream.

When I woke up, Alfbern was still walking on the snow, and I was still on his back, but now there was a very faint crack in all the white of the horizon. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Is that a stream?" I asked the Frostcub, now fully awake instead of my usual good hour or so of half awake half asleep-ness.

"Rrrup!" Alfbern said, sounding proud of himself.

"Thank you Alfbern!" I told him, flinging my arms around his neck. "And did you just try to say 'yup'?" I asked him, suspicious.

"Rro," Alfbern said, looking anywhere but me, which was easy for him since I was on his back and he was facing forwards.

I just laughed. "You don't need to try and sound like me, buddy," I told him. "I'm starting to understand you pretty well."

Alfbern smiled, revealing very pointy teeth. At least the books were right about one thing.