Time to go

The snow was melting, turning from bright white into the dirty, grey and greenish mud all over the mountains. But it was no less treacherous than the snows had been. While the snow had given him signs of other animals around, the mud only hid the uneven ground, made it even more slippery and dangerous to walk. And under the thick layer of snow the past few moons, nothing had been able to get sun, so nothing had grown. Now, every night the snow mud froze the last bits of food that had been able to stand against the snow, and absolutely nothing was left to eat. Solban had to go further and further away from his den to find himself something, and he was always hungry. He had even stopped his normal training, to save himself the energy, to be able to eat less. He had been thin before, especially last winter had been though, but now he looked like a walking skeleton. He was basically a death  man walking already.

Carefully Solban tried to find his way down to his den again, his forage had been fruitless today, his stomach complained loudly about it. The sun was already setting, he was late, and the weather was greyish and terribly cold. He felt the wet mud freeze around his cloven hooves, if he didn't walk fast enough. Not far away he could hear the sound of wolves... they were just as hungry as he was, and they had found his trail a few nights ago, only with his magic had he been able to keep them away. Solban knew they would try again tonight, like they had every night since. If he did not move fast enough, he would not reach his cave in time to be able to hide from their sharp fangs. He shifted his weight a bit to the front and moved from a fast walk in to a slow trot, following the path down the mountain. He focused on the path, knowing how dangerous his faster pace was on the ice. But the howling of the wolves was already closing in. Unlike most other fawnlings, Soblan stayed calm. His frozen heart did not beat a second faster than it was supposed to. Sure footed and stubborn, he kept going. Since his arrival in the ridge, he had multiple encounters with predators and other tricky situation. But after he had taken his run from the oakfern caves, Solban had no longer felt de adrenaline running through his veins like it used to. It was like his heart did not care anymore, whether he lived or died, he had nothing to live for anyway, but nothing to die for either. This strange, calm sensation, was the only reason he had survived outside of Oakfern for so long. He had learned that panic, pride and fear were the only true enemies.

By the time he had reached the vale under the mountain, he could almost feel the wolves breath on his tail. As he no longer had to search for his way, he sped up his pace a little more, trotting as fast as he could, his hooves clicking on the icy ground. The hunters were silent now, to not betray their position to their little prey. But the fawnling knew better, with his magic he could feel the hot blood running in their bodies. Only a few more meters before he would reach the safety of his home, but the creatures blocked his way, and so he was forced to do something about them. Abruptly he sped up to a fast canter, running past his den, to go into a full sliding directly after. The wolves, there were three of them, all made a leap towards him. He had seen that coming and jumped backwards, directing a big amount of watery ice mud into their faces. Solban grinned slightly as he saw their confused faces, as quickly as he could, he turned and cantered straight through the blackberry bushes, squeezed through the entrance of the cave and froze the opening after him tightly shut. The wolves had been rather confused and slightly blinded by the mud suddenly getting in their faces, they had not been very quick on following him, it took them several seconds after Solban had already tightly froze the icy door, before he could hear their nails scratching it.

Self-satisfied Solban turned around, and somehow, out of know where, a pair of razor sharp claws, tore over his nose. Solban tried to jump backwards, but he was with his back against his own ice wall. Confused he tried to hide his vulnerable eyes from the claws, which just kept coming at him, seemingly out of nowhere. ‘What the HELL!’ he cried as he reared up, trying to smash aside whatever was tormenting him. But he missed and at once he was eye in eye with his attacker. Big bright yellow eyes looked straight into his, seeming to stare right into his soul. Immediately Solban bowed down, as low as he could ‘ Gealach’ he whispered honoured. The snow white owl took place right in front of him, as Solban looked up, not understanding. Gealach? Here, so far from oakfern? But Why? Solban had so many questions, but before he could start talking to this godly owl, it started attacking him again. Though the owl did not truly seem to try to hurt him, the sharp claws and beak went painfully deep into his soft skin, and Solban cried out again ‘All right, all right!! I get it… I get it! STOP!! I’ll go, I’LL GO!!’. That seemed to settle the animal down and snowy owl stopped attacking him, flying towards the highest point of his small cave, where it sad down and stared at him making soft ‘oehoe’ sounds, while Solban frustrated licked his wounds and lay down on his moss matrass. For a short while they looked at each other before the yellow-eyed owl screeched loudly as if to say ‘First thing in the morning Solban’, and Solban answered ‘Yes yes, I will’, a little bothered. ‘For a holy creature, you are rather annoying’ he muttered under his breath before he checked if the door was still fully frozen, and lay his head upon his front legs. The darkness was almost complete now and Solban realized something: The faint glow of the eyes of Gealach, which he had painted on the wall years ago, was gone. So many signs he thought, as he looked up to the glowing yellow eyes of the owl once more… so many signs.

The next morning, the snowy owl was gone, but it did not matter. Gealach had been more than clear to him, the fading eyes, the wolves, the lack of food, the owl… it was time. Solban packed the little belongings (mostly herbs) he had, and stepped outside his little cave. He took a deep breath and started to walk, speeding up to a trot, not once looking back to his little den. Because it was time, time to go home.