"Finally." Laura breathed a sigh of relief as the valley's end came in
sight. The trail widened slightly as another mountain ridge loomed up on their
right, but the ridge didn't cut all the way across and the cliff to their left
had been petering out all day. The Longs had finally reached the lowlands
around Ice Lake and were now, by Laura's best estimation, less than a day from
Drift and his crew. Slowing to a stop, she peered into the woods to their left
and then up at the mountains to the west, behind which a wall of dark gray
clouds was building, and the wolves and the rest of the scouts slowly gathered
around her. "All right, people. We have an hour or two before those storm
clouds arrive. Let's set up camp here for the night." She pointed to where a
large bank of snow had drifted, curling off the lee side of the ridge. "We'll
dig caves there for shelter. Watch shifts are 1 hour each. I want us
well-rested in case we have to push through a fresh layer of deep
snow tomorrow morning."
While the dire wolves fanned out into the forest to scout the area, the
Longs spread out along the trail and started to settle in. Padraic walked back
and forth a few times along the curling drift before deciding on just the right
spot to start digging. A few minutes work resulted in a small cave dug into the
snow, with a small entrance just large enough for the rabbit morph to fit
through. After a foot or two of tunnel, though, he expanded it until it could
easily hold two people. That done, he then carefully tunneled two small air
vents, one at the top and another just to the left of the opening so he could
plug the tunnel against wind without sacrificing airflow.
By the time Padraic got his shelter set up to his liking, Ralls and Allart
had finished their own shelters and had started gathering wood for a cooking
fire. Merideth, his ursine frame needing even less shelter from cold than the
wolves, had already cleared a patch of bare, frozen ground in a sheltered nook,
and now he and Arla were stripping twigs and bark from the wood Allart was
bringing in, piling them up for tinder and kindling. He was about to join them
when Laura called him away.
"Here, help me with this, would you?" she asked, struggling to lower a
large, heavy bundle on a rope hanging from a tree with the Long Scout insignia
painted in black resin on its bark. "Finbar left us all dinner, and I don't
want to drop it."
"So what did the ferret leave us?" Padraic asked as he held up his arms to
catch the lowering bundle, and then 'oof'ed under the weight. He opened it
while Laura climbed down and rocked his ears, impressed. "Wow. Finbar's team
certainly didn't skimp on this, did they? Any bets on who made the kills on
the venison?"
Laura smirked at him as she started unpacking the bundle, setting aside a
pair of extra blankets and a roll of bandage cloth for Ralls. "No more bets
until you pay Merideth and Allart what you lost to them betting that Snow
wouldn't reach the valley mouth today," she said. "You should know better:
even I've heard of his morning runs. Also…" She leaned in close, dropping her
voice so it wouldn't carry over the rising breeze. "No more jokes about those
three until we're sure they're safe. Arla is still pretty shaken up about the
avalanche. I didn't stop you or the others before because I felt it would be a
good morale boost, but it's time to rein it in."
Padraic nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I didn't realize she was taking it so hard.
If you don't need any more help sorting out that supply cache, I'll let the
others know to ease off, too."
"Thank you, Padraic."
Dinner was excellent. For the Longs, venison jerky and dried vegetables
cooked into a stew, hot tea sweetened with honey from a small jar hidden in the
center of the bundle to keep it from freezing, and a sweet bread baked thin and
flat and stuffed with cranberries and chopped walnuts. For the wolves, enough
dried venison for all and an assortment of deer bones to chew afterward. All
of this was eaten slowly, savored while they huddled around the fire. The
clouds they had seen building behind the mountains swooped down to bring biting
wind and fresh snow, but the ridge and the snow drift where they had made their
shelters shielded them from a majority of both and they were able to eat in
peace. There was little conversation but what there was centered on trying to
cheer up the uncharacteristically quiet Arla.
It didn't seem to help much. Finally, Padraic couldn't take it anymore and
asked her outright what was wrong. She replied with a quiet voice, but what
she said was a bombshell.
Arla didn't say anything for a few moments, just setting her food aside and
folding her hands in front of her. "After this mission, I'm retiring from the
Longs."
"What?" Laura asked as exclamations of surprise and dismay rippled around
the circle of firelight. "Why?"
The collie woman dipped her ears in a shy, slightly embarrassed smile.
"Skylos and I want to have children, and I've come to realize that I can't go
risking myself like this anymore. Not if I want to be a mother." Looking
around at her fellow Longs, she dipped her ears further. "I'm sorry… I've
been trying to work up the nerve to tell you all for nearly a week now."
Stunned silence fell on the camp for a few long moments, broken only by the
popping of the fire, and then the congratulations and the obligatory advice
began pouring in.
Padraic didn't pay attention to much of it. He didn't understand why
somebody would give up a great job like this. Stay at home and take care of a
squalling baby instead of going on an everlasting hunt? That sounded like no
fun at all. Merideth had kids and he didn't stay home. In fact, he often said
it was good to get away. But there the bear sat, agreeing with the rest of
them that going on training duty (boring) or switching to desk work (even
worse!) would be a good choice. He supposed it was better than leaving the
Longs entirely, but here was no way -he- would be giving this up.
Still, if it's what Arla wanted, he was okay with it. Seeing that the other
Longs were more enthusiastic, although each was still sad to see her go, he
decided to claim weariness and get some early sack time before his turn on
watch later that night. Making his excuses and pausing to wish Arla well, he
climbed through the entrance to his snow cave and started laying out his
bedroll. He was about to close up the entrance when one of the younger dire
wolves stuck its nose in, sniffed once, and then wriggled past him into the
shelter. It was the yearling Swift Shadow, her slim adolescent build just
barely small enough to squeeze through without collapsing the entrance. "Hey!
This isn't an inn! Go get your own place!" he protested, but the she-wolf had
settled in already and just gazed at him with soft, golden eyes. He was
suddenly aware of the fact that he was now sharing his little cave with over a
hundred pounds of fur, which would not such a bad thing on a night that p
romised to be as bitterly cold night as this one. "All right," he said
finally, wrapping himself in his blanket and snuggling up against her. "But
you'd better not snore."
Nearby, Laura watched her team come to terms with Arla's plans to retire and
smiled, but her satisfaction was mixed with concern. She was worried about
Drift, Xavier, and Cloud Walker, and the warning the young wolf had given. If
Arla's translation was true, those three were in serious danger. She prayed
that the Longs would get to them before trouble did..
/Hang on, you three. Help is coming./
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