“Escape from Ackerley” a collaborative story
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@jasmine First of all, great post 😀 Second, in answer to your question, I have no idea what the plan was. Your call. (Silent can always swoop in and save Farley if need be 😉)
Hwæt! Wē Gār-Dena in geār-dagum, pēod-cyninga, prym gefrūnon, hū õā æpelingas ellen fremedon!
@jasmine I’m still here. . . still checking this. Just not sure what to write at the moment.
Your idea works!
Hwæt! Wē Gār-Dena in geār-dagum, pēod-cyninga, prym gefrūnon, hū õā æpelingas ellen fremedon!
*comes up for air* STILL ALIVE! XD Sry, I didn’t think to respond. working on post now. 🙂
The flying thing had gone on ahead, seeming not to notice Ash as he quivered on the ground, tensing his muscles to spring. The hedgehog had curled herself tightly around his antlers, ready for anything.
Ash gathered himself and leapt away, higher and farther than ever before. Wish Rye had been here to see that, he thought proudly as he landed perfectly, hooves already churning the ground to mud as he bounded away. The hedgehog let out a little noise, but he couldn’t tell if it was of fright, or glee, or both.
Glancing behind him, Ash marked the progress of the water. Fast. Too fast. There was no way he could outrun it unless he climbed quicker than it did. He needed high ground. Cedar and Ivy needed high ground.
“Look out!” the hedgehog squealed in fear. Ash whipped his head back around to see the cliff rising sheer and menacing in front of him. He skidded to a stop with a whirl of leaves, turned, and dashed along the cliffside as fast as he could.
It was no use. No longer was he running away from the water, but parallel to it. Across the rushing torrent was a steep hill, one he could easily scale, but the angry flood blocked his path.
The cliff curved left, directly in Ash’s path. But he knew this land, and he knew this cliff.
Finding the narrow trail, Ash leapt onto it, head swaying slightly as he got used to the hedgehog’s weight balancing carefully on his head. “Stay as far against the wall as you can,” he muttered, than began the tiring trek upward.
Spring after wearying spring he took, climbing higher and higher above the tumultuous waters. Elation swept through him like a wildfire when he glanced down and saw that they were far above the swollen river. He grinned – take that, Master River! Ash and his companion had won.
The hedgehog let out a small squeak of fear as she looked down. “Don’t be afraid,” Ash said gently, trying to see her and failing. “I won’t let us fall.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” the hedgehog replied in a dainty female tone (I’m actually unsure what Faith sounds like. BR?). “It’s that your trail just ended.”
Ash’s heart sank to his hooves. How could he have been such a fool? Indeed, the narrow trail dwindled to nothing a few feet above him.
He climbed as high as he could, straining to see any place where the path began again. Nothing but nearly vertical stone walls.
He’d failed. He’d just killed himself and the hedgehog.
Unless…
Ash carefully turned so his head faced the opposite shore. His hooves were twisted awkwardly to fit on the ledge, as was his body, but he thought he could make it.
What other choice to we have? I’m sorry, Cedar. I’m so, so sorry.
“I’m so sorry,” Ash repeated his thoughts, but this time to the hedgehog. “This is my fault.”
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
Ash took a deep breath. “Jump.”
And he soared.
Far, far above the flooded trees, he leapt from the cliff’s trail. He let a smile creep over his face for a split second. It felt like he was flying. If this was his final moment, it was a good one.
Then the river rushed up at him, grey and brown and frothing white. Ash watched the shore. Ten leaps… five… three… They weren’t going to make it. The water was there, reaching up to him with its dark maw stretched open.
Ash’s eyes flew wide as he opened his mouth to scream.
Cold, cold water, enveloping him on all sides. The river raged into his mouth before he closed it, making him snort, bubbles drifting to mingle with the froth. Which way was up, or down? Was the hedgehog still there?
Up.
Bubbles.
Ash snorted what little oxygen he had left, and followed the bubbles.
His head broke the surface just before he passed out. Gasping for breath, he listened for the little hedgehog’s choking. Nothing.
“Hedgehog!” he screamed, spluttering on the water as his hooves found the rhythm to swim. He scanned the surface as it roared in his large ears, making him wince. Something rammed into his side, sending him swirling. Rocks brushed his antlers as he turned upside-down. A sharp stick slashed his flank. His leg caught in a trailing bit of moss, and he barely managed to kick free and swim to the surface before a huge shape plowed over him.
“Hedgehog!” he shouted again, ducking a branch as the current tossed him like a leaf caught in a rough wind. The shore whizzed by – how fast was he going? He choked on more water, his legs scraping against debris as large sticks threatened to duck him under the surface again.
Nudging a branch out of the way with his antlers, Ash noticed with surprise that a tiny wet thing was sticking to it like a burr. She coughed.
The hedgehog!
Ash kicked the current, trying to ride it and fight it at the same time. He had to get to her. She couldn’t drown.
“Here! I’m right here!” he shouted hoarsely. Cold crept into his bones, but surging adrenaline gave him strength.
He wouldn’t reach her in time. She was being swept in one direction, and him in another. So he said the first thing any deer thinks: “Jump!”
She met his eyes weakly, hesitated, then leapt with a cry of terror.
Ash’s head went underwater, but when he lifted it again he was smiling. “Excellently done,” he congratulated her. She shivered.
There! A pine tree, with its top peeking above the churning waves. Ash struck out towards it, long legs moving with a steady rhythm. Something was already there, something that was so dark a red it looked nearly brown. Oh! The fox! He remembered her.
Ash managed to lodge himself by the tree, finally stopped by its branches. Gasping for breath, he lowered his antlers into the branches and watched the hedgehog scurry into the top of the tree. Good. Even if he was swept away, she’d still be safe.
For now.
Looking around, Ash tried to see some way out of this mess. Even with his long legs, he couldn’t touch the surface. Unseen objects swirling in the brown water kept hitting him, and the wet pine needles and sharp branches dug into his fur and flesh with every push of the current. He couldn’t hold on… it was so cold… it would feel so good just to let go and sleep…
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@crazywriter @rebekah12 @birds-rock @jasmineSorry that was so long… I got a bit carried away. 😛
Great! New posts! Now I have something to do 🙂 *writes own new post*
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The water was rushing forward quickly.
Too quickly.
I had lost sight of Akaya, and where Farley was at the moment, I wasn’t entirely certain. The buck was still running, and Faith still clung to his antlers. I wasn’t afraid of the water, not this time; I wasn’t inside a flooding cave.
I was, however, afraid for my new friends.
Splash. My ears stood on end as my head shot up. That can’t be good.
I looked over my shoulder, realizing with a start that the buck was in the river, and the current was too much for him.
I tipped my wings, shifting briefly to a glide as I swung back around.
I wasn’t going to let the water separate me from the others.
Not this time.
I dove into the trees. Steering became infinitely more difficult, but that couldn’t stop me. Just as I reached the part of the river I was aiming for, the buck went under. He didn’t surface.
No. Don’t die.
I plunged into the water, groping with my paws in the murky, rushing liquid. Instantly, the current began to fight me, throw me about as it tried to force me under.
My crushed paw began to throb angrily, but I didn’t care, and just managed to ignore it.
Fur. It’s him.
I got as good a grip as I could on his slick fur as I could with my front paws, then managed to find his antlers, and got a hold on them with my teeth, being as gentle as I dared.
Then I spread my wings, my only hope of getting us out of the river again. They caught beneath them both air and water, and though I managed to pull myself and the buck out of the rushing water, and onto sturdy top of a young pine tree, where Faith was perched, watching the water anxiously, it was the greatest exertion my wings had yet experienced.
My exhausted muscles cried out at me for rest, but as the buck opened his eyes, I felt that something was amiss. If the hedgehog was here. . . why had he been in the river? It was possible that it had been an accident, but somehow, it didn’t feel completely like one.
As the buck regained consciousness, I forced myself back into the air, and signaled to him. “Are you okay? What happened?”
I could only hope that he’d understood.
Hwæt! Wē Gār-Dena in geār-dagum, pēod-cyninga, prym gefrūnon, hū õā æpelingas ellen fremedon!
Sorry that was so long… I got a bit carried away.
don’t apologize! I enjoyed reading it. I liked the part where Ash thought it felt like he was flying.
Beautiful things don't ask for attention
Hello? Anybody here?
Anybody even checking this anymore??
Please don’t tell me this has stopped. . .
Hwæt! Wē Gār-Dena in geār-dagum, pēod-cyninga, prym gefrūnon, hū õā æpelingas ellen fremedon!
I’m Here! Just getting back into the swing of things with school. And I’m really busy! Sorry for not being on more!
Water swirled around him, but Ash was too tired to fight anymore. Sleep, sleep, the river whispered in his ears. Blissful sleep. No more trouble, no more annoying brother-in-law, no more fighting. Rest.
Ash closed his eyes and let his head dip in the water. Alright, he conceded. That sounds good.
Something wrapped around his body, and something else latched onto his antlers, raising his head. A moment later Ash was up and out of the water, with cold air roaring its frustration all around him. He opened his eyes and snorted, shaking his head. Wetness was everywhere, weighing down his coat, plugging his large ears, choking his breath. From now on, he and water were enemies.
Coughing, Ash pushed himself to his hooves. Or, he tried to. Just in time he realized that he was nestled in the boughs of a large pine tree, tossing this way and that as the current snapped at its roots. Not good. Ash hereby was enemies with pine trees, too.
Something blew air in his face, and Ash turned to see the flying lizard swooping around nearby on her powerful wings. She gestured to him, but he was too terrified to try and understand. He hereby was enemies with flying lizards, then.
“You!” (do they know Ash’s name?), a hedgehog voice piped up. “Mr. Deer! Are you okay? Silent just saved your life!”
Silent? Ash glanced at the flying lizard. Well, she hasn’t spoken much as far as I know. It would make sense.
“You…” His throat hurt as he croaked out the words. “You saved my life?”
Silent nodded.
Okay, maybe I shouldn’t make enemies with flying lizards who saved my life. “Thanks.” Another coughing fit overtook Ash, and he struggled to stay in the tree as water poured from his mouth amid his heaving. When he was done, he did his best to stand in the tree. That wasn’t easy, and after many slips and painful falls, he gave up and found a comfortable laying position.
“You alright, Ms. Hedgehog?”
“My name is Faith,” the hedgehog replied, softer now. She was still perched in the pine tree across from Ash’s. “And yes, thanks to you.”
Something bobbed in the water beneath Ash’s tree, then gripped it and swarmed up the trunk. Ash wanted to flee – he was an animal who did that in danger. But he had no place to go, so he forced himself to stand his ground – er, lay in his tree.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” the thing said once it reached Ash’s eye level. It was a mink (mink right?), male by the looks of him.
“Deer don’t normally climb trees,” Ash muttered.
“No, not that – although that is weird.” The mink cocked his head at Ash as if considering him in a whole new light. “I was talking about the flood. Want a fish?” He held out a trout, which shone with many colors and was still flopping.
Ash scooted away as fast as he could. Carnivore! his mind screamed. Run, idiot!
“No, thank you,” Ash stammered, but it came out a bit more forcefully than he’d intended.
He glanced around. Huddled in the other tree with Faith was the fox she’d hitched a ride with before, plus the big canine, the wolf, who had attacked Ash. He shivered. Was he imagining the gleam in her eye that clearly said, “I see a venison supper stuck in that tree over there”?
Silent swept down again, signaled to the wolf, and climbed into the air.
“She says, ‘What now?'”, the wolf relayed.
It was a good question.
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@rebekah12 (feel free to terrify Ash out of his wits or make friends or something, but I thought a language barrier would make this interesting, as Ash will have to rely on the others for translation and thus grow their bond.)I’m here!
“Mr. Deer! Are you okay? Silent just saved your life!”
“You…You saved my life?”
Silence.
“Thanks. You alright, Ms. Hedgehog?”
The voices drifted through the fog of sleep in Farley’s mind. Understanding started so come, albeit dimly.
“My name is Faith, And yes, thanks to you.” said a small voice.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” another deeper voice said.
“Deer don’t normally climb trees,” the first voice replied.
What?
“No, not that – although that is weird. I was talking about the flood. Want a fish?”
The flood? The flood!
Farley stirred, eyes still closed.
“No, thank you,”
More silence.
“She says, ‘What now?” Said a familiar voice.
Akaya.
Farley’s eyes fluttered open. She took a deep, shaky breath and looked around. Faith, a deer, and Akaya, where nestled in the pine tree, the mink was in the water and Silent hovered nearby.
What now?
Farley raised her head and stood up on the slippery branch, nearly falling of in the process. She looked down at the swirling water then up a the mountains that where well above the flood.
“Silent, can you fly us to higher ground?” she asked.
Beautiful things don't ask for attention
@jasmine On it!
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I looked down at Farley. She lay tangled in the branches of a pine, though I had no idea how she’d gotten there. I nodded. “Sure thing.”
I paused, considering how many of my friends I would be able to carry at once. Probably all of the smaller animals on my back, and then Akaya with my paws. The buck was going to be more tricky, being far larger than the others. He would have to go alone. There was no way I’d be strong enough to carry him with anyone else.
Hopefully that wouldn’t freak him out.
I knew I was pretty intimidating, being a. . . whatever the heck I was. And I’d seen the look in his eyes more than once.
As far as I could tell, to him, I looked like a predator, and a dangerous one at that.
I considered again. The buck seemed to have befriended the hedgehog — Faith, I was pretty sure she’d said her name was. Perhaps he would be more comfortable if I could figure out away to carry her with him.
She was small enough that it might be able to work.
Might being the key word.
I looked back at the buck. If there was any way I could make a ride through the sky to higher ground more comfortable for him, then I would do it.
With that, I began to signal. “I think that I can carry Akaya, Farley, the mink, and Faith all at once. The buck’ll have to go alone, though I might be strong enough for Faith to join him.”
Now, all I could do was cross my fingers (claws?) that he didn’t freak.
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@joelle-stone Hmmm. . . Silent can make friends with Ash eventually, but at first, maybe she can scare him by accident, ’cause she’s kinda intimidating without trying to be when you really think about it. Anyways, do with that post what you will 🙂Hwæt! Wē Gār-Dena in geār-dagum, pēod-cyninga, prym gefrūnon, hū õā æpelingas ellen fremedon!
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