Chapter 16 I blackmail a goat

Chapter 16 I blackmail a goat

The Gods must be smiling on us today, because we travel through the valley without incident. No crazy cougars, or egotistical weasels. We see the occasional grizzly bear, but we keep our distance, and they don't bother us.

Pine and Jay chatter happily, while Luna perches on my back and sleeps. I walk behind them, quietly. I am relieved we are almost through the valley, but something nags at me.

Last night by the lake shore, I had another unnerving dream. I saw Miria, Chris and Alex crossing a weak log over a river. Chris goes first and makes it across. Then, Miria goes next. But when Alex crosses the log, it breaks, and she falls in. I woke up startled that night, and had stayed uneasy all day.

I didn't want to believe it. But I am not going to make the same mistake I did last night.

As we walk, I wonder what the dream means. Miria never showed interest in hiking; at least not the level of interest I had. She'd much rather hang out in the library, or her room. So what was she doing in the middle of the forest? Alex and Chris being there made sense; journeying into the woods to rescue me was something they would do. But they weren't dumb; they knew the dangers of the woods. They would only go if they had a destination they could get to. Maybe they did have a plan to find me. But what kind of plan?

I remember watching Alex fall into the river, and my gut clenches. Jay had already almost died for me. I don't want anymore people doing the same. Sometimes I worry I don't appreciate my friends enough. Just like I told Jay, I can be selfish at times. Even with all my faults, Alex and Chris always are there for me. If they died trying to find me . . . I would never forgive myself.

"Hey, Ana! You okay?" Jay says, looking back at me.

I snap back to reality. "Yes, I'm fine."

Jay looks at me for a moment longer, clearly concerned, before continuing walking.

I have to stay focused. We are almost out. I'll find out what happened sooner or later; I always do.

Everything goes smoothly on our trip, until it isn't. Good news; we make it to the end of the valley by afternoon! The bad news; there is a huge, extremely vertical rock wall in our way.

I shift into human form to get a better look at the wall. Unfortunately, I forget Luna is sleeping on my back, and give her quite the heart attack.

After apologizing , I stretch my neck to look up the wall. Tough bushes block any potential trails up, and the path's I do see are too narrow to attempt.

Frustration boils up inside me; my way out of the mountains is at least 60 feet above me with no way to reach it. I sigh, and run a hand through my hair.

"It's okay. We'll just have to take it one step at a time and try not to fall," Jay says, trying to cheer me up.

Suddenly, a light sound reaches my ears. It is such a delicate ring, I think it came from a bird. But the more I listen, the more I realize it is bell. Bells are not naturally found in the mountains. A person would have to put it there, but the only people in these mountains are Crows. Dispite this, instinct tells me to follow the sound. So I do.

"Uh, Ana? Maybe we should, you know, run the other way?" Jay says. I ignore him and continue.

I know what I am going to find will not be normal; I didn't expect how abnormal. By a small tree, a mountain goat is caught in a snare. The snare is around it's back hoof, connecting it to the tree, and included a little bell.

"It's a goat." I step towards it slowly.

"A goat?" Pine whispers.

"A goat," Luna confirms.

"A goat." Jay says, surprised.

Before I take another step, I hear the unmistakable caw of a Crow, and duck back down. A quick scan of the trees, and I spot it hanging out in a canopy. It is perching, patiently. Like it is waiting for something. It dawns on me that this is a trap sent by the Fenrir Warriors to try and capture me.

"We have to get rid of that Crow," I whisper.

"Or we could let the brave little goat take the fall and get out of here," Pine offers.

"Pine!" I snarl.

His ears flatten. "Just saying!"

"You can't fight it, Ana," Luna says, "you don't have a bow and arrow. It will most likely escape and tell the others where you are."

"I think I know away that will not give away my identity, and will make sure the Crow doesn't get away," I say, watching the black bird. I turn my gaze to Luna.

She blinks. "Oh, no. You can't be serious!"

"I won't make you do this. I know it's very risky. But you're our only chance of getting past that bird right now."

If owls had lips, Luna's would be set in a line. She alternated looking between me and the Crow. Finally, she sighs, and takes off.

We all crouch lower in the bushes and watch her. That was the only thing we could do--her scent was being blown away, and her wings were completely silent. She soars high into the sky; out of range for the Crow to see. It continues to sit calmly in it's branch, completely unsuspecting.

Luna makes a wide u-turn in the sky, and starts flying straight at the Crow from behind. She dives at a small angle, gradually increasing speed.

When she comes upon the Crow, she hits it like a lightning bolt. The Crow doesn't even have enough time to shout out. Luna grabs the bird with her curved talons, and in an instant it's over. The Crow plummets to the ground. It's neck was at an unnatural angle. Crows had healing powers just like Wolves did. But if you were killed faster than the cells could regenerate, you were gone.

Luna's face is placid. She doesn't take pleasure in any kind of killing. She just does it. Sometimes it is to get food, and sometimes, like now, it is to protect me. I nod at her--a silent acknowledgement for what she did for me, and then step forwards.

As I walked closer to the goat, it's eyes got wide. It started straining against the ropes harder, making the jingling of the bell intensify. I guess it is young, since it is smaller than normal. It has a full white coat that looks like it is shedding for the spring. Two grey horns point up from the top of it's slender face.

"Wolves. Human. Bad. Trapped. Wolf bad, hunters," it mutters in a terrified tone.

"Gees, even I know better grammar," Pine says to Jay.

Jay smiles. "You know those goats; always ramming their heads into things. I'm surprised they can still walk straight."

Luna lands on Pine's back. "Yet, they still manage to have more brain cells than you."

I don't know who she is talking to, but it don't matter.

"Hey, it's okay." I hold my hand out and talk softly to the goat. "We won't hurt you."

The goat relaxes a little bit, but watches me warily.

"Men in black. Must stay away. All over mountains," he mutters.

I know exactly what his rambles mean. I try to control my anger.

"The Fenrir Warriors," I call over my shoulder to the gang. "they're setting traps all over the mountains."

The goat tugs his leg a bit more frantically. "Men in black. Bad. Trap. Stay away from trap."

I make my way around the goat to where the leg snare is tied to the tree. I knew I'll have to get the rope around the goat's foot, but I'd rather let him calm down before I get close to those sharp hooves.

"It's okay, I'll get you out of here." I talk softly to calm the goat.

"Free. Herd. Find herd. Go up mountain to find herd," the goat says, a bit more cheerfully.

I pause, and look up the rock wall. Taking a deep breath through my nose, I catch the scent of other mountain goats. I glanced back at the group. By the sparkle in Jay's eyes, he know what my idea is.

"Do you know a way up this mountain?" I ask the goat.

The goat pauses, considering the questing.

"Yes. Know way. Up, up mountain to herd." He nods his head.

"Would it be too much to ask for you to lead us to the top of this rock wall?" I ask.

The goat pauses again. It's square pupils dilate if fear.

"No. No wolves, wolves hunt. Foxes tricky, cannot trust. Humans trap. No herd," he says.

"I'm hurt on an spiritual level," Pine mumbles.

"Do you have a name?" I ask the goat. Perhaps getting to know the goat better will help him trust us. Right now, he is our key out of here.

"My name Frakn," the goat says warily.

"Frakn? I'm Ylvana." I speak slowly. I am not exactly sure if the goat is listening. His eyes are dazed, like he's focusing on a point far away.

"And the black wolf is Jay, the fox is Pine, and the owl is Luna. None of us are going to hurt you. But we need to get out of here, we need to get up that rock wall. You're the only one of us who know's how to get up that mountain. We need you're help."

The goat studies each of our faces slowly.

Frakn shakes his head. "No. I no trust. No trust."

I sigh. I don't blame the goat for being wary after getting caught in a trap, but we need to get out of here.

"I'm sorry about this, but I need to get home."

The goat sees me wrapping the end of the rope about my wrist, and starts tugging against the rope.

"No trust, trick. No herd!" he mumbles.

The goat is strong as he struggles against me, but I'm stronger.

"Lead us up the mountains. When we reach the top, I'll let you go, and you can find your herd. Okay?"

At first, I fear the goat will never agree. He keeps on struggling until he exhausts himself. Finally, he gives in.

"I take you. Then I free. I take you now." The goat starts walking towards the rock wall.

"Alright, just go slow. We're not as good at climbing as you are," I say as I begin to follow Frakn. I glance back at the group, and they follow behind me.

Frakn immediately starts scaling the walls, digging his hooves into the tiniest cracks and ledges. He moves swiftly yet slowly, pausing once in a while to let us catch up. This climb is a lot harder than yesterday's; the ridges are a lot smaller. At times I have to depend solely on my finger tips and toes of my boots to hang on. Jay and Pine struggle just as hard, if not harder than I do.

But Frakn does come in handy. Just when it looks like the trail comes to a dead end, the goat shows us a hidden path; paths so thin or vertical I would have never tried them. Another helpful thing is the little guy refuses to quite. We are exhausted from the climb, and the heights are getting worse, but Frakn will not hear our requests to stop. We are forced to go on, and before we know it, we are at the top.

We are all panting, and out of breath (excluding Frakn, who didn't even break a sweat) but we are happy. We are finally out of the mountains.

"Thank you, Frakn," I say, untying the rope around his hoof.

"Frakn find herd now," the goat says, cheerfully. Without another word, he leaps up the rocks effortlessly, and disappears.

We all stand there for a minute, catching our breath.

"We're out," I say to Jay.

For some reason, Jay seems less enthusiastic. "We're out."