The Great Migration: Part Four

      Arkatha then began his painstaking journey up the steep face of the canyon. It was difficult, for Borver's weight continuously pulled him down, and he occasionally slipped. "It's nothing much, really," Arkatha panted, "just a little climb, that's all, like the hill back at home." But Arkatha knew that the hill which he had loved to climb back at home was no where's near as large as the face of the canyon.

***

      Despite all the set backs, Arkatha finally crawled out of the canyon. He lay down for his moment to catch his breath, but then got back up again and stumbled out of the cave. Arkatha did not know it, but he was suffering from delusion from being so exhausted. It made him confused and unaware of what he was doing.

      Outside, the snow was still blowing hard, and the temperature had dropped since the time that Arkatha and Borver had first entered the cave. It was so cold, that no one in their right mind would dare wonder outside, but Arkatha, his mind not being in the right place at that moment, didn't seem to notice.

      And so he kept walking, and walking, and walking until his legs finally gave out and he collapsed the ground.

***

      Borver was the first to wake up. In the beginning, he thought he was still in the ice cave with the Snowager, and he immediately stood up and started growling; thinking that the Snowager was still around, ready to devour him whole. But after awhile, he realized that he wasn't in the ice caves at all, instead, he was in a small, cozy den. Borver turned in saw a Lupe standing in the corner of the den, gazing down at something worriedly.

      "Arkatha," Borver peeped, "is that you?" But this Lupe wasn't Arkatha, this Lupe was a faerie Lupe.

      Before Borver had a chance to say anything, the faerie Lupe turned to him.

      "I think your friend will be all right. I found him lying in the snow thing morning, with you on his back. He was conscience at first and told me to take you to shelter, but when I came back for him, he was out cold." Borver looked at saw that at the faerie Lupe's feet was Arkatha, his body was stiff and did not move. The faerie Lupe whimpered and licked his face. A few seconds later, Arkatha's eyes fluttered open. As soon as he saw the faerie Lupe, he jumped up.

      "Elainor, what…why…?"

      Borver shifted his gaze from one Lupe to the other. He then turned to Arkatha. "You know her? But how…?"

      "Let's just say she's an old friend of mine," Arkatha mumbled.

      "When you ran off that day," Elainor explained, "I followed your tracks and wound up here. By the way, who's your friend?"

      "Elainor, this is Borver. He got separated from his family during the migration when he was little, so I'm helping him rejoin his colony again. So far, so bad I guess you can say."

      "Speaking of Bori migrations, I think one of the colonies got separated during the storm. Just before Borver here woke up, I saw several Bori passing by awhile ago; they seemed to be headed for the Northern region of Terror Mountain," Elainor said in a worried voice, "and unless they change their direction soon, their going to find themselves right in the middle of snow beast territory!"

      Arkatha looked dumbstruck, "how did you…?"

      "Let's just say you're not the only one who reads those old encyclopedias."

      "Wait a minute," Borver suddenly cut in, "Elainor, what colors were the Bori in the colony?"

      "Let me think," Elainor murmured, scratching her chin, "I remember there was a Christmas one, a starry one, a yellow one, a blue one, a brown, a green one and a white one."

      Borver gasped, "I think the white one is my mother!"

      Arkatha turned to Borver. "What do you are you saying we should do?"

      "I say we follow that colony and kick some snow beast behind!" Borver growled.

      "Not possible," Elainor informed him, "snow beasts have been known to travel in groups with anywhere from ten to one-hundred snow beasts. They would easily overpower us."

      Borver sat and thought for a moment. "Hey Elainor," he asked, "You wouldn't happen to have a map of Terror Mountain, would you?"

      Elainor smiled and handed him a scroll, "I never leave home without one."

      Borver unraveled the scroll and took a good look at it. "Arkatha, Elainor, do you think that you two could calculate where the Bori colony would be by tomorrow afternoon?"

      Arkatha and Elainor looked up at each other. "We should Arkatha."

      "Well, it's worth a try anyways," Arkatha agreed, and with that, the two got to work.

      A few minutes later, Elainor produced a piece of charcoal and marked a spot on the map where the Bori colony would be the following afternoon.

      "Well," Borver said as he looked at the map once more before carefully putting it away, "I think if we move fast, we should be able to catch up to the colony by tomorrow afternoon, and even if we do run into a group of snow beasts, I know how we can overcome them."

      "If you're so sure Borver, then I guess we have nothing to loose, come on, we better get a head start," Arkatha said as he sprang to his feet and headed outside of the den, followed by Elainor and Borver.

      The sky was still gray, and it was even colder out than before cold out, but it had stopped snowing. Cold or not though, nothing would stop Borver, for he was on a mission; a mission to save his colony.

      ***

      Mysson looked nervously up at the sky. Her and her colony had been wondering for days with no sign of the other Bori. "Takeinia," she breathed, "I think we're lost."

      Takeinia cocked her head, "I could have told you that a long time ago my friend, but we must stay together, and we must keep moving."

      Mysson turned away and watched Vistro, a starry Bori, the youngest in the colony. He was looking down at his feet, his eyes were wide. Takeinia turned and looked to. "What is it Vistro?" Takeinia asked as she trotted up to Vistro. He didn't answer her, instead, he pointed to the ground. Takeinia looked a saw a huge paw print on the ground. She knew it belonged to a snow beast, but she didn't want to frighten the young Bori, so she lied. "It's probably just an indent in the snow made from someone walking on snowshoes or something it's probably nothing much to worry about." But Takeinia knew it was something to worry about. The colony had accidentally wondered into snow beast territory.

      "Hey Takeinia," Mysson suddenly spoke up, "who are they?" Takeinia looked up and saw three figures in the distance, a blue Lupe, a faerie Lupe and a red Bori.

     ***

      Borver shielded his eyes from the blazing sun light and looked straight ahead. He saw several Bori, off in the distance, staring at him. After traveling for nearly two days, Borver, Arkatha and Elainor had finally caught up with the lost colony.

      "They're about a few yards away Borver," Elainor cooed, "Go, run like the wind, rejoin your colony!" Borver took a deep breath. This was the moment he had been waiting for all his life: To finally rejoin his family. With a great burst of speed, Borver charged forward. Arkatha and Elainor tried to keep up with their friend, but fell farther and farther back.

      As Borver came close enough to the Bori, he cried out, "I have come back, back from the dead!" He then took one great leap, intent to happily land in front of his mother and give her a hug, but he missed by a few inches and plowed a green Bori named Mysson to the ground. It really didn't matter to Borver though. He bent down and sniffed licked her face. He felt a set of sharp claws dig into his skin and in a flash; Borver was from Mysson's back. Mysson got up and brushed herself off in disgust.

      "Who do you think you are?!"

      Apparently, not everyone seemed to remember the long lost Bori. At that very moment, Arkatha and Elainor came trotting up, panting with exhaustion. "Lupes!" Mysson cried and she buried her head in the snow.

      "Don't worry they're my friends," Borver coaxed, "they wouldn't hurt a fly."

      Mysson narrowed her eyes. "Just who are you anyways?" Borver opened his mouth to answer, but his jaw just hung loosely open. All the while, the quite white Bori, Borver's mother, Takeinia had been watching. She had noticed that this mysterious red Bori who had just showed up out of nowhere seemed awfully familiar to her.

      Arkatha trotted up to Borver, whose jaw still hung open. "Are you okay?" he asked.

      "Sn..sn..snow…snow be..bea…st…" Borver stammered.

      Arkatha cocked his head, "Snow what?" Suddenly Arkatha felt someone breathing on his shoulder. "Elainor," he murmured, "please tell me that's you."

      Elainor didn't answer. Her eyes were wide and seemed to be looking right through Arkatha. "Um, Lupe," a small voice that belonged to Candice, the blue Bori, suddenly peeped up, "you might want to turn around."

      Arkatha slowly turned around; his heart stopped. There, behind him was a big, white, hairy snow beast.

To be continued...