BREAKING RULES, Combining two worlds (Part 3)

RIDING OUT A BLIZZARD

"What do you think, these women will be like? Like mom, or more like Nina?"

Du'gan, glanced sideways at his brother, while he was rummaging through his backpack to find the protein bars he'd stashed.

Gunnar shrugged. "I don't know... The woman, Mohr'kad showed me, was more of a combination of the two, I think... She didn't have a foul tongue like Nina, but she wasn't docile a puppet either. This was a really feisty lady! The way she stood up to Mohr'kad, you should have seen her, Du'g! A little bunny going all out on a bear!" He chuckled at the memory of the little woman he'd seen through the tiny window of the door.

"It would be nice if she had a daughter who was just as feisty, but she probably doesn't, I think she's too young for that, maybe she has a hybrid daughter... then it's possible..."

Meanwhile, Du'gan had found his bar and lay on his back on the insulation blanket. He looked at his brother with a teasing grin. "You really need to get laid, dude! You're talking bullshit!" And quickly knocked away the fist that came in the direction of his nose.

"Hey! Watch it! That's the prettiest part of my face, you motherfucker!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU TWO MORRONS! WE'RE TRYING TO SLEEP!" Despite the thunderous sound of the wind, the roaring voice of the Ikat was clearly heard and the two brothers looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Mohr'kad was clearly in a bad mood...

In the middle of the night, the Ikat took out his portable computer. His concern for the woman's well-being prevented him from sleeping. The tracker's signal pinged occasionally and he hoped it meant she was still alive.

If she were still alive she would leave as soon as the storm passed, he had no doubt about it.

Again he looked at the map of the area. It wouldn't be long before the tracker stopped sending a signal, Latarji's scramblers took care of that, but when he looked at the map she was still heading in the direction of where his men had found her. So if the beacon stopped working soon, he would just have to trust that his gut feeling was right and that her clan was actually in that area.

They had no idea if the women had any means of communication at their disposal, if they still had vehicles, or how they had managed to get around so unseen in years past... He had to admit that he respected the ingenuity of these ladies. Not everyone could survive so well in these harsh conditions.

~~~~

"Did you find the dried mushrooms, Marit?"

Ava stroked her burning eyes with a tired gesture. She had hardly slept a wink in the past two days.

"Yup! Here, a whole bag full!" And with a flourish, a small bag landed on the old wooden table, right in front of Ava.

The smell it gave off was musty, and Ava's stomach started to turn.

"I have another surprise!" With a mischievous grin, Marit placed a small book next to the bag and Ava's eyebrows shot up at the sight of the title. 'Paddo's, our little brothers'

"You're the best, Marit! At least now we have a guideline we can stick to!"

Curious, Ava picked up the booklet and began flipping through the pages. This was indeed a very handy little book, at least now they wouldn't have to be afraid to overdose the beasts, and chuckled softly.

After Marit left, Ava kept flipping through the booklet for a while until she had had enough and put it aside.

For now she had read enough, as soon as they caught and locked up the beasts she would go deeper into the matter, it was no use at the moment anyway, since she had no idea how much those reptiles weighed.

A powerless feeling shot through her and she jerked herself up from her chair, walked to the wall where her coat was hanging to dry and grabbed it with a wild gesture from the wooden hook.

As she walked out the door, she nearly knocked Rane upside down, who grabbed onto Ava's upper arm roughly to steady herself. "Where are you going?" Her grandmother's voice was curt.

"Get out, I need to get some air, I feel like I'm suffocating here!"

With her eyes narrowed to slits, Rane looked at her granddaughter, but let her leave nevertheless.

"Good... Just watch out, it's stormy, and I don't want to lose another woman..."

Ava nodded and quickly slipped past her clan leader. Her grandmother was a fine leader, but a cold, hard mother and grandmother, you could hardly call her a warm or kind woman.

Once outside, she positioned herself in a sheltered corner of the semi-underground complex and, her body tucked deep into the thick coat, watched as the raging wind whipped the snow across the landscape. The trees bent so deeply from the wind and the frozen snow and ice on the branches that Ava couldn't help wondering how many would have snapped when the storm finally passed. The worried feeling came back in full force. Was her mother safe? She hoped so...

A cold feeling brushed her cheek and she ran the tips of her fingers over her cheek in surprise. Tears?! She shook her head quickly and wiped the tears from her cheeks with a frantic gesture. Now was not the time to cry!

A few miles back, Wende watched the fierce, tempestuous wind blow past her shelter, and again counted herself lucky to have this little hole to curl up in, for though it was very cold, the thick coat gave her ample protection from the cold. and the hole gave her more than enough shelter, and just because it was so small the snow couldn't blow in properly.

Wende lay slightly on her side and pulled the coat around her as best she could, only her thick boots on her lower legs and feet and her nose still protruded from the coat. Slowly she dozed off to the roar of the wind.

After about four hours the storm died down and Wende was awakened by the snorts of an animal a few feet from her hiding place. Carefully she pushed aside the snow, which had formed a small barrier at her entrance, and peered around the corner. A doe and her cub stood at a distance, feasting on a thick snow-covered bush. When she heard the thumping of the woman behind her, the doe looked back, and in a few strides both the doe and the calf were gone.

Although it was still dusk, she crawled out of her hiding place and stretched a few times. Her hole might have been a safe haven, but lying curled up in the cold was definitely not an ideal position.

After she had relieved herself, she set out again. At least now that the daylight was starting emerge, navigating had become somewhat easy, and Wende hoped that some of her clan spotters would notice her at some point.