Chapter 9

Mourning and Morning

Having considered it wise to put as much distant between himself and Diego, in light of the unfortunate incident earlier that afternoon, Mikey had made his way toward the rear of the herd and now found himself wandering beneath the enormous, hairy, forms of a large herd of mammoths.
None of them appeared to show any interest in him at all, which wasn't surprising considering his extremely small stature and he doubted whether many of them could even see him, weaving in out between their feet. Although he had almost been stepped-on several times, Mikey considered this situation to be much safer than hanging around anywhere near Diego and his vicious temper.

Winding his way out of the hairy forest of mammoth legs and into the open air, Mikey stood up to take a good look at his new surroundings.

Unsurprisingly he found that the environment wasn't very different at all back here, with the sparsely vegetated plains stretching on and on into the distance, and a large group of grumbling animals lumbering around behind him. The only thing that had changed was the sky, which was quickly darkening as evening fell over the sunless landscape and he couldn't help noticing the large columns of ominous looking storm clouds rising over the navy-blue horizon, most likely headed in this direction.

He stood still for a moment, watching the blue-white flashes of lightening illuminate the distant thunderheads, and wondering how his life could get any worse right now.

So far he'd been attacked by a terrifying killer that he could only assume had been the Stalker, lost the trust and the protection of his ex-bodyguard and been placed in charge of this entire herd until having to admit his inadequacy for this task to Diego, after swearing on his life that he could do it, and, subsequently, the enraged tiger had attempted to skin him alive.

Now he stood here on the desolate plain, sore, tired, thirsty, hungry and completely alone apart from the uncaring mob of hairy beats behind him, with nothing capable of relieving any of his problems anywhere in sight and, in his state, he knew that he might as well spread himself over a platter should any hungry predators happen upon him standing here, but right now he was quite certain that he would have actually welcomed such an event.

With a short moan of despair Mikey fell to knees and placing his face in his hands while trying in vein to fight back the tears that were welling up in his eyes, desperately wishing that things had been different, where had he gone wrong?

As far as he could remember he had lived his life with Marcus, who had tried his hardest to raise Mikey in the best way that a hawk could raise a possum. Thankfully Marcus actually possessed a surprising repertoire of knowledge about possums, which went far beyond anything required to hunt them. From as far back as Mikey's memory could reach, the Sky King had taught him everything from what to eat, to walking and talking like a possum and his own special tips on how to avoid predators. Although he was extremely grateful for all of this and more, no matter how hard Marcus tried to make him feel wanted and indeed 'loved', Mikey had never really felt a real sense of family and it was this that he craved most above everything else.

"Why me, why'd my family have to die and leave me with Marcus," Mikey whimpered, unconsciously vocalising the thoughts currently running through his head, "I never even knew them. If they hadn't died, I would never have become his son, Corbin would never have woken me up, I would never have been in that apple tree and none of this would have happened. I'd be with them, and everyone would be happy. My brothers, my sisters, my mom and dad, I can't be with them, ever, they're dead and nothing will ever bring them back."

Mikey cried out in anguish, giving in completely to the despair and loneliness that filled his mind as collapsed into a bawling heap in the dirt. He knew how pathetic he must look right now, a mature sixteen year old possum lying on the ground crying, but he really couldn't care and he was quite sure none of the mammoths cared either.

It felt like hours, but it was really only about twenty minutes before Mikey was able to get a grip on himself and finally roll onto his back, still sobbing a little, but no longer crying.

"Feel better now?" a distinctly feminine voice sounded from the direction of the mammoth herd.

Now immensely embarrassed and surprised that someone had actually noticed, Mikey slowly stood up and turned to face the herd. He wasn't surprised to see that the vast majority of the giant fur-balls were merely lumbering around in search of a place to sleep, thoroughly uninterested in him at all; and it didn't take him long to spot the odd one out.

A slightly younger looking mammoth, whose body was covered in a thick layer of dark brown fur, was staring straight at him, with a pretty much blank gaze.

"What?" the mammoth asked in a distinctly male voice, sounding slightly annoyed by Mikey's, clearly undesired, attention, "That wasn't me, she said it," he continued, using his trunk to point out a small animal standing just in front of him.

At first glance her own brown, beige ringed,coat had camouflaged the possum against the mammoth's fur, but now that he had pointed her out, Mikey could see her very clearly, as she stood and smiled at him.

Although he wanted to, Mikey dared not open his mouth to speak for fear that he could begin bawling uncontrollably again, he certainly felt that way, and even though it wasn't generally his nature to cry in front of strangers, the last few weeks had been far too much for him to handle.

"It's better to let it out, you'll only make it worse if don't," the possum began, as she started walking toward Mikey, followed closely by the mammoth, "My name's Amy, and this is Vincent."

"Call me Vinny," said the mammoth, as the possum, apparently named Amy, introduced him.

"What's your name," Amy asked gently, as she began to walk toward Mikey, whilst Vinny gave a tired yawn behind her and began lumbering away in search of a place to sleep for the night.

As Amy approached Mikey could see that, although she was about his height, she was clearly significantly older than him but definitely still on the young side of thirty and something about her seemed so gentle and caring that it just made him want to trust her.

"Michael," he began, fighting hard to keep his voice from shaking too much, "Most people call me Mikey."

"Are you alright," Amy asked, her shiny, light grey, eyes meeting Mikey's own brown ones, with a concerned gaze, "Is something wrong?"

Mikey remained silent and looked away, trying to fight back the fresh wave of tears now threatening to fill his eyes as his mind once again began to fill with thoughts of the numerous misfortunes of the past few weeks and that which now seemed to plague his entire life.

"I'm sorry, if it's that bad don't worry about it, you don't have to tell me anything," Amy added quickly as Mikey began to sob uncontrollably.

Although he tried as hard as he could to fight it back, there was really nothing he could do as a new surge of intense grief engulfed his mind and he, once again, began to weep uncontrollably in front of this complete stranger.

Mikey felt Amy place a comforting arm around his shoulders and, turning his head to face her with tears still welling up in his eyes and falling to the ground below, she spoke to him with a kind and comforting smile.

"Its okay, everything will be better tomorrow," Amy began reassuringly, in a soft, gentle voice, "I'll be here for you as long as you need."

Mikey could only return her offer with a weak smile, as the tears began to subside enough for him to look up at her and, gazing through his tears at the warm, radiant smile currently set upon her face, he began to realise that, although he didn't know her at all, Amy had already begun to feel somehow close, like the family he'd never really had and there was nothing in the world that he could really do to show his appreciation for that.

A deafeningly loud thunder clap echoed throughout the small, dark, cave, jolting Eddie instantly from his restless, shallow, slumber.

Somewhere to his right, Crash was still fast asleep and snoring at a volume comparable to that of the loud rumbling flowing in from the cave mouth.

Pulling himself into a sitting position, Eddie ran his face through his hands, before staring around at his dank surroundings, remembering the events of the previous day and why he was sleeping on the ground, inside this dark, damp, cavern.

The first thing he noticed was that rainwater from downpour outside had run in small streams from the cave mouth, leaving himself and his brother resting in a shallow puddle of, uncomfortably chilly, water.

'How does he do it,' thought Eddie, silently gazing at his brother, Crash, who was currently lying on his back, mouth wide open and snoring like a mammoth with a bad head-cold, 'No matter how hard I try I just can't do what he does, just letting everything roll off his shoulders like that, It's like nothing ever bothers him."

Eddie couldn't help but think about all of the times that Crash had gone out of his way to cheer him up, no matter what was troubling himself at the time, and how he would constantly encourage him to try something new, whether it had been a trick, a joke, or a whole new prank. In a way Crash felt more like the other half of him than just his brother and there was simply no way he could imagine any real life without the guy.

With these thoughts in mind Eddie decided against waking his brother, after all he deserved the rest, instead getting up and walking toward the cave entrance, alone, to see how things were going outside.

Stopping just at the cave mouth, Eddie gazed out at the cliff top on which the cave was situated. He couldn't really see very much through the heavy downpour outside, only the fact that the sun had definitely risen, leaving the relatively still day in a shade of cloudy grey. The dense curtains of rain completely obscured anything further than the cliff-edge, and the seemingly constant rushing sound of the intense rain was broken only by intermittent low, loud rumbles of distant thunder.

Stepping out into the pouring rain, Eddie's fur was instantly drenched in the chilly rainwater, taking only mere seconds to soak so far into his coat that he could feel it beginning to run over his skin, as he meandered over to the cliff edge and peered over, careful not to slip on the watery stones beneath his feet.

To his surprise the cliff was barely fifteen metres high, which was still a lethal fall, but at least he could see the ground below, and the vast expanse of grumpy, sodden animals wandering around in the mud. Smiling slightly as he gazed around at the unrelenting weather, Eddie remembered just how much he loved rainy days, especially when there was plenty of mud to slide around on and, of course, roll into sloppy balls and throw at unsuspecting targets. The way this day appeared to be going, there would be plenty of things for him and Crash to do and Ellie would be powerless to stop them.

"Good morning young possum," Marcus called over the rain in his usual upper crusty accent, swooping from out of nowhere and landing with a small splash fairly close to the centre of the cliff, "Eddie, I believe?"

Turning to face the hawk, who was thoroughly soaked, Eddie gave the sky king a small nod to indicate that his guess had been correct before asking a question of his own, even though he could tell from the Sky King's expression what the answer almost certainly was.

"Did you have any luck finding Mikey?" he asked as clearly as he could through his now furiously chattering teeth.

Although he didn't like the possum that much, Marcus's adopted son had turned out to have saved Crash's life twice in the same day; the same hour even, and Eddie could not really escape the thought that he and Crash somehow owed Mikey for that.

"I'm afraid not, but none of my subjects have reported anything unusual occurring during the course night either, which is encouraging to say the least," Marcus answered, something in his answer telling Eddie that he wasn't really encouraged at all in the slightest, "Tell me, where is your brother?"

"He's still asleep in the c-" Eddie began in answer to Marcus' question, but he was cut short by the loud shouting which suddenly began emanating from inside the cave.

"Oh man, not again!" he heard Crash yell in frustration, clearly believing that he had wet himself in his sleep again, after having just woken up in the puddle of water that had formed during the night's rainstorm.

"I'd say he's awake now," Marcus remarked irritably, shaking his body furiously in an attempt to dry himself a little.

"Oh wait," Crash continued, from inside the cave, "Phew, it's just water. Aint that a piece of luck hey Ed, Ed! Where are you Eddie?"

Crash began calling for his brother, apparently only now realising that he was not in the cave with him.

"Out here, Crash!" Eddie called back, "F.Y.I you didn't dream anything about yesterday, Marcus is here too," he added, as Crash walked out of the cave mouth and into the pouring rain, to meet him.

"Well, dah, I have eyes you know!" Crash exclaimed mockingly, as he reached Eddie, now just as sodden as his brother, "Say, Mark, is there anything to eat around here, I'm starving"

"It's just Marcus," snapped The Sky King, "State my name properly or don't mention it at all, and I'm afraid that there is no time for anyone to eat anything right now."

"What!" Crash shouted, with a mixture of surprise and anger, "I'm totally soaked and freezing my tail off here, and now you say that I'm gonna have to starve too; I'm not going anywhere until I get something to eat, what the heck's wrong with you, ."

Eddie immediately prepared to run for his life, although the hawk had already asserted the fact that he and Crash were not to be harmed by anyone else, he was still not exactly certain enough about his own position in the situation to completely rule out the fact that Marcus himself wasn't beyond harming them both for any reason that they presented for him to do so. Yet to his surprise, Marcus did not make any move to viciously rend either of the two brothers, but instead he spoke calmly, with only the slightest hint of a frown showing on his face.

"Many things are wrong with everybody right now, but I'm afraid I do not possess the time nor the patience to explain anything right now," explained Marcus, again attempting to shake away some of the water that was soaking through his feathers, "Now since you are both awake I suggest that you come with me, and I will announce the new leadership arrangements for this herd."

"Leadership arrangements?" Eddie exclaimed curiously, "Are you taking over as the herd's leader, cause I don't think Diego will like that very much."

"No, not the entire herd," Marcus answered impatiently, "but as I have already told you, I do not have any time to explain, now are you coming with me or not?"

"How?" asked Crash, also impatiently, but in his case it was with the way the hawk was ordering them around so much.

Marcus didn't speak, he didn't need to; the way that he was flexing his talons and, although it wasn't really intended to be threatening, that alone was enough for Crash to take one look at them and realise exactly how the Sky King intended to take them to where ever he was going.

"Ha!" Crash shouted sarcastically, "Do you think I'm an idiot, any possum knows that's just hawk for 'just lie down and let me eat you'. Why don't you just ask me to pepper myself right now and save some time, by the way I'll go nicely with Eddie here."

"Tempting, but unfortunately that will have wait," Marcus returned with an unconvincing smile and, turning away from the two possums, he spread his wings and took flight, disappearing completely into the rainstorm, leaving Crash and Eddie alone on the cliff.

"Since when did any of these weirdoes care? We're possums and no one cares about what we do and I like it that way," Crash asked, with a hint of annoyance in his voice, as he turned to Eddie, "What the heck is going on around here, Eddie?"

"I dunno, Crash, but I think you and me should watch each other's backs, who know what's gonna happen next?" Eddie responded, making it quite clear that he knew just about as much as Crash did.

"C'mon Ed, you know I've always got your back and you've always had mine it's the way it works and it's the way it'll stay and nothing in the world will change it, trust me on that one," assured Crash, giving his brother a small smile.

"Yeah, well I don' think teasing the Sky King, who, if you haven't noticed, is a giant hawk, is very good back-watching!" Eddie yelled irritably, "Heck you actually told him-"

Suddenly a hawk call, sounded from somewhere above them and Eddie immediately looked to the dark grey to see whether or not it had been Marcus returning to the cliff after having completed his errand or another hawk altogether, and neither of those prospects were particularly appealing. Unfortunately, as he attempted to look up towards the source of the call, Eddie was blinded by the heavy, driving rain as it pelted into his eyes from above.

He cried out as the icy water ran over his eyes, causing them to sting horribly, forcing him to shut them tightly and look away.

"Eddie!" he heard Crash cry out, before feeling something soft, warm and slightly heavy, slam into his side, forcing him to the ground with a splash and land on his back in one of the shallow puddles, which had formed on the cliff top.

As lay in the puddle, still reeling from his brother's furious tackle, Eddie opened his eyes and although his vision was still a little fuzzy around the edges and his eyes were tingling unpleasantly, he could see quite well.

Crash, who was lying on top of Eddie, obviously having just tackled him to the ground, leapt to his feet, grabbed Eddie around his middle and pulling him up as well.

"C'mon Ed," Crash yelled, falling to all fours and sprinting as fast as he could toward the small crevice in which the two brothers had spent the night, Eddie following close behind.

With his eyes fixed on the cave entrance as he ran towards it after his brother, Eddie failed too look around and therefore didn't notice the hawk diving down at him, taken completely by surprise as the hawks talons slammed into his side, sending him skidding at first, then rolling over the wet, stony ground, his head colliding painfully with rocks, as he rolled along.

"Galloway, you have to grab him with your talon at the moment of impact, no later!" called the relatively unaccented voice of what had to be one of the attacking hawks, clearly Galloway, who was most likely another hawk, had missed grabbing Eddie by accident.

Knowing full well, that Galloway, whose name Eddie distinctly remembered being mentioned by Marcus yesterday, was almost certainly preparing for a second attack, Eddie rolled got back up, still on all fours, and sprinted away, only this time he was still slightly dazed from the hawk's first dive and wasn't watching where he was going.

It was far too late when he realised that, in his desperation and confusion, he had sprinted off straight for the cliff edge and, despite his best attempts to stop, he only managed to slip over on the slippery, water soaked rocks, rolling right over the edge.

Eddie grabbed desperately at the cliff edge as he began to fall, missing it only by the width of hair and continuing to plummet downward, tumbling helplessly through the air as he fell toward the ground at a neck snapping speed.

His body was rolling rapidly over and over, giving him only brief glimpses of the ground and the dark grey sky above with absolutely no time to see any real detail, and with his mind spinning just as fast as his body he had no chance of any coherent thoughts anyway, as he continued to plunge toward his certain death below.

All of a sudden he felt something slam into him from above, at first seeming to push him down even faster but as he felt the pressure of six sharp talons begin to wrap itself around him, he felt his body cease its rapid tumbling instantly, but still leaving him extremely dizzy and disorientated.

Surprisingly the dangerously sharp claws that were now grasping him tightly were wrapped around his body completely with only the very ends pricking him a little, which, although mildly uncomfortable, was a damn sight better than having them impaling his body, as was usually the norm for anything being carried away in such a manner.

As far as Eddie could see the hawk had just managed to catch him barely a few metres from the ground and it only took the hawk a few seconds to reach a sufficiently low altitude from which to let go of him safely, without actually having to land itself.

Barely a foot above the ground, the hawk released Eddie from the grasp of its talons, letting him fall to the ground and land on his back, with a small splat, in a large patch of mud, where he continued to lie for a few minutes and let the cool, soft mud relax him a little, before sitting up to take stock of surroundings.

The rain was still bucketing down heavily, that one was obvious from the start, but he didn't really get a good chance to look around due to the fact that he was suddenly blinded by wet, orange, fur as he was wrenched hastily from the mud with a loud slurping noise, and completely enfolded in the warm, soft, but definitely not dry, embrace from what was almost certainly a mammoth's trunk.

With a pretty good had a pretty good idea of who it was he returned the hug by wrapping his own, thankfully free, arms as far as he could around the trunk.

It was several minutes before he was placed back onto the muddy ground and released from the mammoth's furry grip, to find himself staring up at his sister, Ellie, who was pretty teary-eyed, but smiling ecstatically.

Although Eddie wasn't in time to see it, a loud splat sounded behind him and, as he turned around to see what he could already guess had been his brother being delivered in much the same fashion as himself; sure enough he spotted Crash, lying face-down in the mud barely three feet away.

Pulling his face out of the thick muck, first, Crash pushed himself to his feet and stared around for a few seconds with a look of surprise and confusion on his face, which was almost completely slathered in mud, before letting out a short laugh, throwing his arms in the air and shouting at the top of his voice.

"That-was-AWESOME!" he called out, over the sound of the, still pouring, rain.

"Crash! You're alive too, hallelujah!" Ellie cried, immediately wrapping her trunk around Crash to give him the mammoth equivalent of a relieved hug, just as she had for Eddie, which Crash obligingly returned.

Letting Crash down right next to Eddie, Ellie appeared to give them both a quick once over, before deciding to talk to either them, which actually took a few minutes longer than usual.

"I can't believe it, you're really alive! When I saw that bird grab you yesterday, I thought you were gone for sure," exclaimed Ellie, as she recalled the events of yesterday with a sense of immense surprise and happiness ever present in her voice, "And Crash, when Sid told me that another bird had caught you as well, I blamed Manny for not watching you closely enough, I haven't spoken to him since. Quick, Climb on, I've gotta take you to the others, they'll be so happy, especially Sarah!"

"Sarah!" Eddie blurted out, unable to contain his surprise and, very strangely, happiness, "She, She missed us?"

"More like she missed you, Eddie," Ellie answered, with a smile, "Trust me; you should have seen her when she found out that you'd been taken by that falcon."

"Then what the heck are we waiting for," Eddie shouted excitedly as he climbed up onto his sisters back, with Crash following close behind, although he probably didn't care about it.

With both Crash and Eddie, safely sitting on her back, Ellie immediately began to make her way to the front of the herd, chattering excitedly with her brothers as they proceeded to fill her in on what had just happened to them.