The Living Wind in the Forest

Chapter 20

Snow crouched, her body still and silent as her eyes locked on a badger. Her ears flicked the flies around her, and she slithered through the grass. They were also predators, she knew, with a bite that could tear easily into flesh, and have diseases. Snow spotted Rain on the other side, slinking up to scare the badger towards her. Suddenly, Rain surged forward, and the badger squeaked with fear and dashed towards Snow. As she was ready to pounce, the wind changed direction and the badger veered away from Snow. Dang it. Snow made a frantic leap, squishing the badger, making it squeal. Snow crushed the neck and soon it was dead.

Rain trotted up, his eyes worried. "That badger probably alerted other ones. We should get back before a whole cete of them comes."

Snow nodded. She and Rain trotted through the tall grass, squinting so their eyes' wouldn't get cut. Snow dropped the badger on the ground and headed into Moon's log.

"Moon, this thing is rotting away, do you want to make you a den?" Hail was asking as Moon applied a juice to the scratches on him from repairing the dens.

Moon cocked his head. "Maybe, but I wouldn't be able to dry my herbs, then," he said, pressing moss into a shallow cut that was bleeding.

Hail shrugged. "Maybe we can build it somewhere sunny, so you could dry it near the entrance," he winced at the sting of the juices.

Moon nodded. "That would be nice. Maybe near the gorge, so I can get water from the river," he mused. "Anyways, what are you here for?"

Snow shook out her pelt. "I need moss for the nursery," she said, squeezing into the farthest end of the log and tugging out a mouthful. "I'll come back for more," she added with her mouth full.

Snow dragged the moss on the ground awkwardly, occasionally stumbling and dropping a few clouds. She draped the moss over a bush and headed back for more. She tugged off a cloud, and ducked into the nursery, flattening out the moss and fluffening it back up.

As soon as Snow got the hang of it, she heard a shrill scream. She sprung onto her paws and rushed outside, where Drizzle was howling with fear. Snow tailgated Drizzle, and saw the Pebble had been swept away by the river. Snow hurled across the gorge, trying to find a good place to jump in and rescue her, but a flash of fur shot past Snow, and into the gorge. Snow gaped with shock as Rain leaped into the gorge and started paddling furiously, but Snow knew that Rain didn't know how to swim, unlike her. Snow flew down the gorge, her paws scrabbling against the rocks to find her balance, then leaping to another. She pushed into the river, her strokes strong and sure. Water shot up her nose and she hacked. Her eyes teary, she saw that Rain had pulled himself out of the bank and was waterlogged. His eyes were filled with worry and his paws shuffled as if he wanted to jump back into the water.

Snow blinked water out of her eyes and locked them onto Pebble, who was a scrap of fur, barely moving. Her paw struck the bottom and exploded with pain, but she clambered onto the shore and launched back into the water, now close enough to claw at Pebble. Snow ducked underwater, and nosed Pebble's snout above the water, and closed her jaw gently around her scruff. Snow spun around with the scruff in her mouth and grabbed onto a log, clambering onto it. Snow shook her pelt, spraying water. She looked around and realized she was very, very far from camp. She sighed through her nose and started trotting back to camp.

A few moments later, she heard the thrum of paws coming towards her. "Snow! Did you save Pebble?" Rain barked with Snowflake, Daisy and Icicle. His eyes widened as he saw Pebble in Snow's mouth and whipped around. "Someone needs to get Moon," he ordered. Icicle nodded, his eyes wide and he dashed back.

Snow set Pebble down gently and Daisy licked at her fur, and put her ear to Pebble's heart. "She's alive," Daisy said with relief. "We've been very fortunate to not lose anyone," she said solemnly. "But we have to get the water out of her somehow."

Snowflake laid on the ground, her snout buried under her tail, wailing. "She's going to die! All because I closed my eyes for a second."

Daisy nosed Snowflake gently. "It's not your fault, I know how tired you were, playing with them in the morning," she reassured her. Snowflake gazed at Pebble miserably.

At this point, Icicle came back with Moon. "Where is she?" Moon said, thrusting beside Snow. He rolled Pebble onto her back and started pumping her chest with powerful, strong strokes.

"Wha–what are you doing?" Snow barked, but Moon didn't say anything. Snowflake whimpered.

"It's ok, I've seen Luna do this," Daisy said. "He's just pushing the water back out." Snow nodded.

As if on cue, Pebble jerked and coughed, water spewing from her mouth and she wailed. Snowflake hurried forward and rolled Pebble onto her back, as water flowed out of her mouth. When she was done, she collapsed, panting. "What happened?"

"You fell into the river, remember? But Snow saved you," Daisy said. "We need to get back. Drizzle was worried sick."

Moon nodded. "I gave her poppy seeds, the thing Star told me about."

Snow nodded. "How is she?"

Moon frowned. "She's getting better, but she still has no appetite."

Snow trotted back, and leaped onto a ledge, and bounded out of the gorge, and started running back, with Moon, Icicle, Daisy, and Pebble behind her.

"Snow! Is Pebble ok?" Drizzle howled, her pelt matted and her eyes dull and bleary, probably because of the herbs.

"She's fine," Moon said.

"That's good," Star said, pushing out of the camp. Her eyes clouded. "My brother drowned when he fell into the lake a few months ago. Vengeance didn't bury him, or do a vigil, so I stayed up by myself, and was really tired the next day, so Vengeance kicked me out for a week."

Snow's eyes widened. "I'm sorry," she said sympathetically. "But it's good to see you better."

Star nodded, brushing against Snow. "I was never sick," she protested.

Snow rolled her eyes. "You should take Drizzle back to the nursery, and take Pebble," she said, changing the subject.

Star nodded. She nosed Pebble forward and disappeared into the nursery. Snow sighed and padded into her den, and laid down, and closed her eyes, realizing how exhausted she was. She fell asleep in seconds.