Ice Palace Accident

    The mountains are a wondrous place, who would have thought? Ever since I was born I grew up disliking the mountains… well mainly the cold. But being up here, on top of Tartok Mountain it makes me wonder why I ever did; yeah I still don’t like the cold but the beauty hidden underneath on top of this wonderland is more than enough incentive. I snap my head up as a sound hits my ears, “Was I sleeping up here again Angel?” my Tokota companion chuffs, agreeing with my suspicion. I can’t remember how many times I had done that while on top of Angel, my mind seemed to soothe when I allowed my girl to choose where we go.

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    I could feel my eyes widen as Angel and I enter the cave. “It’s not just a cave, it’s… It’s made of ice!!” I exclaim. The walls of the cave seemed to be embedded with diamonds, what little light there was gleamed off them and I couldn’t dream of tearing my eyes away. I felt Angel’s fur brush against me as we walked side by side and I brought my hand up to entwine with her fur. “I wonder how long this has been here for.” I say knowing that no one was there to really answer me.

    We continue to travel through the cave, the gleaming somehow never dimming. I reach out and begin to drag my fingers down the wall closest to me, my eyes never leaving the roof. I reveled in the cool, firm ice under my fingertips until they fell into a deep rift. I snapped my head to the right, eyes locking with four large gashes in the sides. Starting, I jump back from the wall, almost tripping over Angel as I slid on the ice under me. My eyes never left the gouges in the wall, taking a step back towards the wall I search the ice harder. “Angel, look at these marks…” I coo, as my partner’s lips raise in a growl.

    After more searching I found several more gouges, all about the same distance up but with increased depths. “I hope whatever made these marks is no longer here.” I whisper backing away. I hear Angel spin on her heel right before the growl erupts, “Angel retreat!” I yell as the growls grow louder. I had only heard that growl once before… and that was only a couple days prior. I reach my hand up onto the saddle before gripping it, heaving myself up and onto the leather. “Go girl! Go!” I order kicking a little harder than I know I would have at any other time.

    I don’t know where we are running, I just know we had to get out of there. This is an exploration NOT a hunting mission, “Hey girl, funny thing… I didn’t remember to bring a weapon.” I laugh in hopes of dissipating the fear that had crept into me at the growl. Angel rumbles a growl as she runs deeper and deeper into the cavern, our exit blocked by a dangerous creature. My mind races with questions, the most prominent being ‘How do we get out?’ I feel myself gliding as Angel slides to a stop, there in front of us lies three different openings. “SERIOUSLY!?” I yell, my frustration getting the better of me as my head begins to whip between the openings. “Left Anela left!” I yell as another growl sounds from behind us, this growl was different it sounded like a rumble. Angel takes off again going as fast as she can but the rumble begins to grow louder and pieces of the once beautiful cavern begins to crumble on top of us.

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    I groan as my eyes open to a dim light. The last I remember was piles of snow falling around myself and Ang… My brain kicks in and fear strikes my heart. “Angel!! Angel!!!” I call out jerking upright in the snow that surrounds me. “Anela!!! Please Anela where are you!?” I call out, my eyes searching for my Tokota. I send up silent prayers as I frantically search around me, my vision not up to par from where it should be. “Please girl, I just got you… I can’t lose you now!” I call out tears filling my eyes. I hear a huff from behind me and almost jump out of my skin, thinking that this is the last thing I will see. But as I turn familiar blue eyes stare back at me and my heart leaps out of my chest. “Anela!!! Oh thank goodness!” I choke as I throw myself into Angel’s mane.

    I take a quick check of both myself and Angel before we begin to dig our way towards the exit we once saw before the black out. I am cold and will probably have a few bruises but otherwise I am fine, Angel on the other hand has a decent sprain in her front left ankle. “Come on girl, looks like we are walking from here.” I say gently as we begin to walk. I keep my hand in Angel’s mane, eyes continuously shooting to Angel’s ankle. “Sorry we got stuck in here girl.” I whisper as we back track through the cavern.

    I sigh with relief as we walk from the cavern, the gorgeous gleaming ice being left behind us. There was no sign of the creature that had come after us and for that I was grateful. I knew that there was no way Angel or I could take on that thing with claws. I squint at the bright sun, confusion hit me as I wonder how long we were out. “Angel… we were buried in there for at least a night.” I exclaim as my eyes search the morning woods. While it may be sunning and bright the air was cool and crisp, I could feel myself begin to shiver.

    It is hard to move through knee deep snow and I am out of breath faster than I would have thought. I have to stop and drop to my knees, snow now up to my waist as I bend over to breath. “This is hard Angel… how do you do this?” I knew she couldn’t reply and as I look at the ground she is standing on I realize why. While the snow is up to my knees it is lower on her, which means less momentum was needed to break through.

    It took 9 hours for us to get back to the compound. I had to stop several thousand times but Angel was good about it. She stayed right next to me the whole time, never complaining about her ankle and because of that she earned a nice large steak as we sat for dinner that night. The fireplace was roaring as both she and I sat in front of the blazing fire. 

End

1,270 words