The Unwanted Winter - Volume One of the Saga of the Twelves (51 page)

“
I know, I know,” retorted
a chided Andrew. “I just know, man, the time is going to come,
though. We are going to have to be ready.”

“
But, didn’t that old,
wrinkly guy say that Andrew’s father had come through the… the
change in the world with us? Didn’t he say that he was here?”
offered Elena as usual, never missing a single detail. Her voice
was small, meek, and she steeled herself against it breaking
altogether, but the question had to be asked.

“
Yeah he did say that, but
who says he was telling the truth, Elena. There was something else
going on between him and Fenris. It had nothing to do with Drew’s
dad or us.

“
That’s another reason why
I think there is a lot more going on here than meets the eye. Maybe
they aren’t this great, united force. Maybe there are factions
among them. Maybe there are things between them that are still… I
don’t know… undecided? Who knows? But, I think for now, we should
keep our eyes and ears open. Maybe we can learn something that we
can use to our advantage.” Anthony looked at each one of them for
some sort of confirmation. To him, his reasoning was sound,
hopefully the others would feel the same way.

Andrew nodded then. “Yeah,
the more I think about it, the more I know you are right, Ant. He
said my father had started yelling right away, but I never heard
him. I mean, I did have to spend the night in that doghouse with
those two freak-shows, but I didn’t my hear my dad call for me a
single time… and you know, Ant,” Andrew leaned toward his friend,
“he can be as loud as hell when he wants to be, especially when he
goes all ghetto and starts acting like a drunken Cholo and
shit.”

Anthony nodded as well,
because the other had spoken the truth. Andrew’s dad had some kind
of lungs on him. And, he knew Juan Ibarra had this strange way of
forgetting he could speak good English when he got agitated. He
always resorted to talking like a first year immigrant.

Then Mikalah ventured,
“Maybe it means they aren’t 100 percent sure about us, then? Maybe
there’s something about all of us they fear? Fenris did say they
had to gather us up real fast and make sure we didn’t learn
anything, right? I don’t know what it means, but it sure sounds
important.”

“
Mikalah, sometimes you
are brilliant!” gasped Anthony as the last piece of the puzzle fell
into place and he suddenly understood what was going on during that
particular conversation. He was about to tell the others when there
was some sort of commotion outside the cave they couldn’t
see.

Jätung lunged to his feet,
his hackles raised. A tremendous snarl ripped from his throat.
Immediately, Anthony could tell the beast was torn between staying
put or going investigate what it was seeing outside, beyond the
veil of the snowfall and the wind.

“
What’s happening, Tony?”
quivered Elena her fear back with a vengeance, tears streaking down
her face.

“
I don’t know,” whispered
her brother as he came to his feet awkwardly. His bindings impeded
a more smooth transition from the floor to his full upright stance.
At his sides, the rest of the children stood as well. Andrew helped
Mikalah, who was struggling the most against the ropes holding
her.

Then, one moment he was
there at the mouth of the cave and the next, he wasn’t. Jätung
burst into the snowstorm with an incredible howl, swallowed by the
elements - gone.

Instinctively, the
children crept closer toward the opening of the cave when came
sounds they’d all heard before in movies and in video games, but
had actually never heard in person - the vibrating clang of metal
on metal, the animalistic groans and protestations of men fighting
for survival, to the death.

“
Holy crap, you guys,
there’s a battle going on out there!” erupted Anthony when he
realized what he was hearing.

“
Yeah, Ant, but who’s
fighting who?”

“
I have no idea,” was
Anthony’s even reply. Their situation had just turned infinitely
more complicated. He felt as though he was grabbing at straws. They
kept slipping through his fingers every time gained a small degree
of purchase.

“
What the hell is that?”
cracked Andrew through a clenched throat, pointing at an indistinct
shadow galloping toward them, through the snow, incredibly
fast.

Anthony’s eye widened.
Whatever it was, it was bigger than Jätung and came on four legs.
It was almost as big as a small pony! Cautiously, he backed up, his
arms outstretched to either side of him, forcing the others away
from the entrance to the cave. He moved them toward the wall on
their right hand side. All the while, the shape continued to grow
as it came nearer. Soon, its heavy footfalls began to vibrate the
ground beneath their feet.

“
What is it?” croaked
Andrew again, unable to take his eyes from it as his backside hit
the rock wall of the cave.

“
It is a bear?” blurted
Elena between a pair of whimpers. Both of her hands in a vice-like
grip upon Anthony’s arm, where he’d inadvertently placed it across
her mid-section.

Mikalah shifted to stand
beside her sister, the physical contact somehow
reassuring.

“
I hope not,” was all
Anthony was able to say.

The beast blasted through
the last of the obscuring snow and plunged headlong into the
cave.

It skidded to a halt on
paws easily over a foot wide, maybe two. They ended in broad claws
capable of decapitating a grown man in a single swipe. The brute of
a beast regained its balance within fractions of a second and
turned its gargantuan head toward the children.

They all stood
transfixed.

It was huge and looked
like a bear overall. As it approached, as they plastering
themselves up against the wall of the cave, they knew it wasn’t. It
didn’t have short, tufted ears. Instead it had long, triangular
ears standing upright upon its head, turning this way and that,
listening. The color of its’ fur would’ve been extremely rare on a
bear as well – a tan so washed out it looked yellowish, lacking
true distinction. There were splotches here and there, irregular
ovals of black. Its’ fur was much shorter than the sort belonging
to an ursine. The coat was thick, effective enough to ward off the
cold. It just wasn’t a bears’. No, its’ fur more aptly resembled
that of a German Sheppard, than a bear. Its snout was wrong too. It
was long and canine in appearance, complete with a set of bright,
white teeth, and a large, very dog-like nose – glistening, black.
The beast displayed a musculature unlike anything the children had
ever seen before. Its’ muscles were bulging and flexing, rippling
and hardening, incredible strength obvious within.

Yet, as the hulking form
turned and stared at them, its eyes captivated the children. They
were the softest brown possible on an impossible creature of its’
ilk. They were intelligent too.

To their complete
astonishment, they were familiar as well.

The Herrera kids stared,
bewildered, and certain – as one - gazing at those caring,
concerned eyes they were sure they’d seen before. They weren’t sure
how or when it could be possible, since these orbs were are large
as saucers. Similar eyes would’ve belonged to a horse and they
hadn’t been around a horse on a constant basis, ever.

“
Come, my dears, we do not
have much time,” belabored the creature in a deep, resonating
voice, sounding like thunder, only slower, more
measured.

Collectively, the four
jaws of the children dropped. If they could’ve, each of those jaws
would’ve smacked onto the floor. Their incredulity was that
pure.

“
Hurry, Anthony, place
your bindings in my mouth so I may bite through them; thus, you can
free yourself and the others once the bounds have fallen away.
Hurry! Do this and place your sisters upon my back, for we must be
away from this place posthaste!” implored the beast. Her rumbling
voice dripped with urgency.

“
But, but how do you know
my name?” cried the boy stupidly, his brain misfiring. He couldn’t
reconcile what he was seeing or process what the huge beast had
just asked of him.

It had spoken to him! It
could talk!

“
How
could I not know your name, you silly boy, when I have heard it
over and over again for nearly ten years? Now, please,
move!
”

Yet, Anthony stood there
perplexed and unmoving.

His sisters cringed at the
site of the huge animal before them. Its’ jaws were so big; it
could easily bite them in half.

Andrew came out from
behind Anthony’s arm in defense of the girls, placing himself
between them and the beast.

The giant creature let out
a very human-like sigh of exasperation.

Still, Anthony didn’t
move.

Pressed for time, the
beast continued hurriedly, “You do recall I am, was, your
grandmama’s long time pet, correct? But, I assure you, it is I,
only… I have been changed and altered by the magic’s creating and
mixing this world.”

Anthony’s his gaze met the
creature’s before him. His eyes narrowed as comprehension began to
settle upon his shoulders. That’s why its’ eyes looked so familiar!
He
had
looked
into them countless times already! How could he not see it was her?
He had scratched her and pet her more times than he could count.
Her eyes! Though, they were three times their usual size, it didn’t
alter what was behind them. They were the same. He couldn’t deny
it.

They were indeed the eyes
of his grandmother’s German Sheppard – Kodiak!

“
But, how –,” he began,
but was cut off immediately by Kodiak.

“
I will explain later. Of
this I promise, but for now please let me sunder your bindings, so
you can free the others! We need to get out of here, soon. The
rouse we have played against the enemy will not last much longer.
It won’t be long before the fell beasts of Storm will be upon us in
force.”

The strength of the
pleading voice, combined with the understanding of who she was,
made up his mind for him. A heartbeat later, he was moving. Anthony
lifted his arms slightly above his head. The massive creature
turned to face and slipped the roughly bound ropes between her
gigantic jaws. He was of half a mind to close his eye and look
away, but at the last second decided not to.

The half-bear, half-dog
seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at his abrupt willingness to
trust her. She bit down quickly, snapping the rope as though it was
no more than a piece of string.

Anthony stared into those
warm, misty eyes for a second longer. No, he couldn’t deny who was
before him. It was Kodiak. Only now, she was a bear-dog, a beast of
incredible strength.

Then, something else came
to mind. She was their first ally in this new place.

In a flurry, he broke
contact, quickly untied himself and began working the knots in the
other’s bindings. Within half a minute, they were all free. Anthony
placed sisters upon the gigantic back of what used to be a dog, but
was now, something much more - both in size and
intellect.

The very instant they were
settled on the beasts’ back, Kodiak explained softly to the girls,
“You may grab my fur as tight as you need to in order to hang on
and not fall. Do not worry, it will not hurt me.”

The girls looked at one
another. Both of them grabbed huge tufts of Kodiak’s fur with all
of their might.

“
Anthony,” the boys’ head whipped around to look into her
large, wonderful eyes once more, “you and your colleague stay close
to me. Run with all the strength in your bodies, we are going to
smash through the lines of the evil beasts of Storm.
FOLLOW!
”

With that, she burst from
the cave in an amazing leap, fast. She caught Andrew and Anthony
completely by surprise.

The boys chanced a quick
glance at one another, nodding, and bolted into the snow, after
Kodiak, and into… whatever fate was awaiting them.

~~~~~~~~<<<<<<{ ☼
}>>>>>>~~~~~~~~

Rescue