Chapter 6

So apparently I made it into chapter 14 before I stopped. Also I remember I was eventually going to write two side plots, one for the village and one for the wolves. What may have been eh?

  Flatle found himself on a beach. No, not a beach he realized, but a sandy river bank. He saw the sun shining brightly over head. Then he noticed two otters sitting in the grass near the trees. One otter was about thirteen, the other, maybe about eleven. The older said something to the younger and then pointed downstream. The younger ran off, and Flattle felt compeled to follow him. As they traveled.down river, Flattle saw the young otter pick up a picnic basket. The otter then turned around and walked back to where the older was resting. When the young otter arrived back though, he saw the older had been brutally attacked and left to die. The older's skull was split, his right arm broken, his left leg also broken, stabbed repeadetly in the chest, and blood gushing from the otter's lip. But the thing that disturbed Flattle most was not any of the otter's injuries. It was the scar on his hand. It was the same scar Hyven had received when he had accidentaly grabbed a knife by the blade while he was helping to wash dishes when he was about seven. The knife had cut deep and left a pink scar in the shape of a rose petal. Flattle heard himself scream. He tried to move bit found he couldn't tear his eyes away from the horrible scene. Time froze. 

  He sat up as if he had been shot from an arrow and he was still screaming. He looked around and saw it was about noon. Stone and Moac were making lunch for themselves. They were staring at Flattle as if he was insane.

  "Mornen, dozy chops. Ded ya sleep well?" Stone asked.

  Flattle looked around agaim and realized they were camping the same place his brother had been killed. He broke out in a cold sweat and started shivering.

  Moac crawled over to him. He looked at him and commented,"No, I've seen him like this. He's only like this whenever he has a dream about his brother." He stood up and continued,"We'll probably be here for another half hour."

  Stone and Moac ate their food in silence. Flattle soon came to join them. After they finished, they gathered their supplies and began walking. None of them talked about Flatttle's dream.

  After a while walking they arrived at the bottom of the rapids. They started to climb and almost slipped into the river a few times, but after at the lake where the elder isle lay. The island was shrouded in mist. The sun was begining to set so they agreed to sit down and camp there for the night. As firewood was gathered, Moac chose what they would eat. When Flattle and Stone returned, they saw Moac had chose apples, veggie pastries, and cheese. A fire was started and the friends cooked the pastries over the fire. They sat in silence until Stone could not help asking,"What hahppened en your drehm, lad?"

  Flattle related the contents of his dream to them. After he had finished, Stone commented,"Thaht would explahn why ya stopped snorin thehr for a few minutes. We weh worried for a second 

thehr."

  "I also froze up because the place we camped was the place where Hyven was the last time I saw him. I ran back to the village as fast as I could. I can't believe I made it there by noon the next day," Flattle recalled.

  "I remember that," Moac mentioned. "You came running into the village screaming your head off. It took forever for you to calm down enough to us what had happened."

  "And the worst part is, his body was never found. He might have been saved." Flattle said on the brink of tears.

  They sat in silence for a moment. Moac then stated,"The hardest part of our journey is yet to come. The lake is wide, and even if we had a boat, the mist is almost impossible to navigate."

  "Lad, let's sleep on it. Tomorrow we ken wahlk aroond the lake and see if theh's anythin to be used for watah travel," Stone suggested.

  They all laid themselves down for the night, unaware that many eyes were watching them.

  Flattle woke at about dawn when he heard someone yell,"Charge, men!" He sat up and saw a pack of wolves and foxes charging at the camp. He shouted," Guys! Run!" All three jumped up, grabbed their stuff, and ran as they had never run before. They sped to the north, staying close to the lake so they could look for any form of a boat to start across the lake. As they ran Flattle asked,"How did they find us?"

  "Fancal and his men were probably almost back to Casawol and had camped in the woods below. When they saw us climbing up the side of the rapids, they waited until dark and began climbing themselves.  They were easily out distancing them, but the pack was starting the catch up. They be gan to run out of breath and Flattle called out,"Stone, the chestnuts!"

  "Now lad? How are they gooin tah help?"Stone questioned.

  "Now!" Flattle demanded. Stone slung off her pack and, while still running, pulled out the pouch of chesnuts and threw them to Flattle.

  Flattle popped one in his mouth and started to chew. He had a renewed burst of energy and he grabbed Stone and Moac. He began to run faster and soon the other two were struggling to keep up with him. As the other two were on their last reserves of energy, two gulls swooped out of nowhere and grabbed the trio, Moac in one gull's clutches and Stone and Flattle in the other's. The gulls banked back over the lake, and into the mist.

Author's Note

Hold up, was I on drugs when I wrote this? Ate a chestnut and suddenly super-speed? What was I thinking?

Yeah, anyways, say what you will with this. I basically wanted to post this because I haven't been able to post another story in a while.