Twenty-Two - Alden

We followed the river for as long as we could, clinging to its sense of safety, but in reality we both knew it would not bring us any closer to Tristram. When we could not put off that feeling any longer we broke off, and Tarka tried to use her tracking skills to try to find some sign of life.

It had taken me by surprise by how quickly she seemed to heal, it clotted much faster than any wound I had ever received; I still had to be careful with the scratches a few thorns gave me.

Tarka stopped at a nearby tree, bent her legs, and launched herself to a branch, but as she grabbed hold a gasp escaped from her mouth and one of her arms dropped. The wound keeps her from being able to climb, I realized. Tarka wasn't use to surprises, so her grip loosened, and I braced myself beneath her, catching her as she fell, which knocked the both of us to the ground.

"Agh!" I cried, the wind being knocked out of me again. Tarka landed on top of me, no further harm to her aside from the look of shame she held in her eyes. "Are you okay?" I asked.

Tarka looked at me indignantly. "Whatever." She said, rushing to get up. With a quick brush off, she took down the trail, her hand pressed against her already closed wound, as if hoping to stop her emotions from escaping.

I jumped up and quickly followed behind her. "Tarka..." I tried, but to no avail, which I suppose was fine, since I didn't know what I was supposed to say anyway. Glancing around I realized the trees were starting to thin, bushes now taking their places. Looking up I saw clouds, a nice sight since I felt I had not seen them in a while.

Tarka started to slow in front of me, her emotions starting to drain instead of fuel her. I thought to reach out and touch her, but before I had the chance a rumble emanated from the nearby bushes. A brown furry creature appeared, standing on four legs, and with a long face on a head that reached up to my shoulders.

It made a loud bleating sound and I jumped back, as if I could hide behind Tarka.

A small smile spread on Tarka's lips. "It's just a baby." She said, although I wasn't sure whether she was talking to me or the creature. She reached out and rubbed it's the brown fuzzy head, and the creature let out another rumbling bleat.

"Yeah, right, of course. Just a baby." I stated, reaching out to pet the thing along with Tarka, when I saw two eyes peering at me through the shrubbery. The two eyes then grew much, much taller than the baby, probably triple the size, and slobber rained down as the new beast roared at the two of us.

The baby let out another bleat, and Tarka's movements froze.

"Not a baby." I stated.

"No, that would be the mother." She said as more slobber rained down.

"So we run?"

"I would advise it."

The two of us took off down the path towards the more hilly terrain. We ran as fast as we could, but the mother seemed quite angry at our touching of her baby, and her strides were much larger than ours.

"This doesn't look so good!" I exclaimed.

"Don't worry!" Tarka turned off the path, and I followed as quickly as I could, hoping to not be thrown into another river. She slid down one of the steeper hills, and I clumsily followed behind her. Once down the hill, Tarka grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me back into a kind of muddy hole that could fit the two of us if we stayed close together. The ground rumbled as the mother beast galloped over the fields, and flew right over the hill we hid in.

I looked over at Tarka, who had a kind of goofy smile on her muddy face. "You're pretty smart." I said, feeling kind of amazed. "And that means a lot coming from a Palkin like myself." I explained, hoping she would never know I was likely the dumbest one from my people according to their standards. I smiled at Tarka, forgetting for a moment all the hard and terrible things going on in the outside world.