Mercy

In spite of the heartfelt oath he had sworn to Philomena, Pegasus returned to the west if for no other purpose than to tell Torin and Frostbite that he would be leaving and to ask Célestin if he would join them. The Deliverance would be formidable even in the face of the monstrous Abraxas legion, and he had no doubt that the pack Philomena brought together would vanquish the Abraxas and avenge their fathers. Which left him standing with the question of what he was going to do when the battle was over. Would he return home and live in the shadow of his cousin after such a grand adventure? Would he abandon the Deliverance after he had gotten what had brought him to Boreas in the first place?

Pegasus walked beside the ravine, knowing far better than to fall into it a second time, and watched as a herd of elk raced through the passage beneath him. He would at least tell the alphas of the herd so close to their territory before he left, as a courtesy. He did after all intend to leave and take their other apprentice warrior with him, it was the least he could do. He lifted his head as the snow began to fall heavier and shook the powdery flakes from his coat before he decided to move on. Movement trailing behind the elk caught his attention, a faint black streak coursing after the stampede. He gave a brief smile and silently wished the lone wolf good fortune in his hunt before he carried on.

He paused momentarily, his ears swiveling as all sound abandoned the ravine save for the distant thundering of hooves. He focused on a patch of snow just ahead of him as sheets of frost began to slide downward into the crevasse. His heart stopped. He could see the drifts beginning to fall thicker, the ground beneath his paws began to feel incredibly thin as he weighed the potential ramifications of moving too suddenly in what he could tell was the beginning of a landslide.

A sudden groan and crash moved him to action as he felt the ground beneath his paws drop suddenly from under him. He ran against the flow of the snow, his powerful legs trying to fight against the pull of gravity as trees and large boulders began to cascade down around him as if they were in the throngs of a rapid river. He could feel his strength begin to abandon him as the pilings of snow became deeper and the debris began to fall more swiftly toward him. He now leapt out of the snow like a salmon coursing upstream, his heart racing as he felt himself be drawn further and further down. In a last ditch effort to avoid being drawn under entirely Pegasus set himself at an angle, hoping to find purchase on ground that had yet to be displaced. His lungs burned with the effort and he could taste blood in his mouth where the cold dry air had cracked his lips, but he continued to fight. In one final burst of strength he shot clear of the avalanche, sailing over the crashing river of snow and soaring like a bird. It would have been a beautiful sight had a downed tree not knocked into his hindlegs and sent him spiraling into the cascading snow beneath him.

For a moment everything went dark.

He had no concept of how much time had passed since he lost consciousness, only that he had been buried under a level of snow and soil that blocked out all sunlight. He began to panic, shifting his legs to free himself only to have more snow fall in and trap him further. He began to hyperventilate and he cried vainly for help only to hear the call dulled by the unknown level of snow on top of him. Slowly he forced himself to relax his thoughts resting on his mother. His mother who was most likely worried to death, and who would never know what happened to her firstborn son. His mother who would never see him again, and his father who would have lost his son in an avalanche of all things rather than in battle fighting for his honor. Last of all he thought of Célestin the only true friend he had ever known aside from his sisters, Célestin who deserved more but was always served with pain. Célestin who could add his loss to a growing number of damages in his life.

His eyes opened slowly in the darkness. “No!” His mind roared. He needed to determine which way was up before he moved further and quickly lapped a chunk of snow into his mouth until it melted. He opened his jaws to let the water trickle from his lips only to let it remain where it was below him. He was right side up. With renewed determination he began to dig, clawing his way upward until his already strained legs began to burn and his muscles began to ache. He dug relentlessly, his mind racing with the faces of those he loved and those he had sworn to, until finally his nose broke the surface and he lifted himself bodily from the wreckage of the avalanche at the bottom of the ravine. He made it. He was alive. He laid on the ground wheezing and panting, tears of joy running from his eyes and onto the snow. The sun had never looked so beautiful to him.

He kept his head between his paws, as shivers of overexertion cramped his muscles and made him ache all over. He was alive. Then with a jolt he was on his feet again. There had been another wolf in the ravine when the avalanche started. He wheeled around but saw only the reshaped ravine around him. The ravine went on for miles, and there was no telling where the other wolf was. Desperately he howled into the silence and waited as the forlorn call echoed off the stone walls.

Speaking  Thinking    You