Thank you Sniper for reading my story! I’m so glad it’s bouncing back with readers. I will make sure it gets finished! Sorry there’s been minor gaps sometimes, I get stumped on how to write a chapter, but I always come back!
-Chapter 31-
It was cold in the Arctic mountains.
Snow drifted through the small sky holes in the roof and through the entrance to the cave, freezing the stone ground. Blizzard shivered and snuggles closer to her mother.
“Oh, look, darling,” Mother said, sitting up. “Daddy’s back.”
A grey-white Yutranus entered the cave, snow piling up on his back and neck. He shook it all off with a sigh. “Evening,” he greeted. He stepped forward to nuzzle mothers snout with his own, and sat heavily on his haunches next to them.
Then, with a squishy-sounding p l o p, Father dropped a small chunk of meat onto the frozen stone floor in front of them. “How are you doing, daughter?” He asked.
“Just fine,” Blizzard said bravely.
“Just c-cold.”
“My strong little girl,” Father said with a smile. “We’ll, I know I’m not the only one who’s hungry, let’s dig in.”
Blizzard stepped forward and bit a piece of the meat, wolfing it down. “This is good,” she mumbled to Father.
“It was hard to get that,” he stated.
“What happened this time?” Mother asked.
Blizzard looked up, following mothers gaze, and realized Father had a small slash acrossed his tail, leading to his left thigh.
“It’s nothing,” Father said breezily. “Just a little quarrel for the carcass.”
“You work too hard,” Mother said.
“I want to be just like you, daddy!” Blizzard said to him.
Father smiled down at her.
But suddenly Blizzard caught a glimpse of something behind them.
Something brown… something sneaking into the entrance… something …
“Daddy!” Blizzard screamed.
Father whirled around, smacking the attacking carnivore in the snout with his tail, roaring furiously. Mother jumped up with a hiss and pushed Blizzard back into the far end of the cave. “Stay, Blizzard!”
Blizzard huddled into the corner, watching with wide eyes as the three carnivores fought.
Suddenly the attacker pushed father onto his back, pinning him on the ground with a hiss.
Mother ran forward to help, but skidded to a stop as the attacker pressed one talon against fathers neck. “Don’t take another step,” he snarled. “Or I’ll kill him.”
“What do you want?” Father choked.
“Not much,” hissed the carnivore. “Just a few questions.”
“What’s a Ravager doing all the way out here to ‘ask questions’?” Father asked wryly. “Seems a bit hostile, how you’re doing it.” He looked nervously down on the claws against his throat.
“Are you with Peeri?” The Ravager snarled.
“Who?” Mother barked.
“Who’s Peeri?” Blizzard asked. “I’ve never heard of her. Is she a friend of yours?”
The Ravager shot her a dark look, then turned back to Father. “Answer my question, Yutranus!”
“Honey, what is he talking about?” Mother asked.
“I’m sorry, darling,” Father said sadly. “I was doing this for Blizzard. And you.”
“Doing what? What were you doing?” Blizzard asked. “Tell me!”
“Iceberg,” Mother said slowly, “is he talking about the prophecy?”
Father hesitated. “You can take me,” he said to the Ravager. “But leave my family alone. They have nothing to do with this.”
“You believe in this prophecy?!” The Ravager roared.
“Yes. With all my heart. And it will save us.”
The Ravager roared, pressing his claws harder into fathers neck. “Than you are a threat to us,” he hissed.
“Wait!” Mother screamed.
And as the Ravager lifted his claws dangerously, Blizzard jumped forward. “NO!”
“Blizzard, stop!” Mother roared.
“DADDY!”
