* * * Chapter Two: Separation * * *
Hare looked around, confused. Where am I? He wasn't in the mountains anymore, that much he could tell. He gazed around the massive chamber, astonished. The entire room looked like it was made of ice, like it had been carved directly into a glacier. A terrible chill came over him, and he blew into his paws to keep them from freezing.
His ears twitched, picking up some sort of commotion coming from nearby. Noticing a doorway, Hare walked through it and found himself in some sort of hallway. Shivering, he wandered around in the maze-like corridors, making his way toward the noise. The frozen walls loomed over him, and he got the overwhelming feeling that they somehow trapped him. Just when he began to fear that he was going to be lost and wandering in the endless passages forever, he found himself standing before a massive door of purest ice. The noise was coming from the other side. Hare pushed on the door as hard as he could, and felt a rush of relief as it slowly opened.
He froze, paralyzed by fear. Grey Wolf was standing a few feet away, his silver fur seeming to glow with the cold light that filled the massive chamber of ice. His blue eyes looked even colder than the frozen walls around them. Hare stared at him, petrified, and waited to die.
But Grey Wolf didn't seem to notice him at all. It was like the rabbit wasn't standing just a few feet away from him. Instead, his icy eyes were fixed on something crumpled in front of him. Hare gasped aloud as recognition hit.
Tiger of the Wind was sprawled out at Grey Wolf's feet, but he no longer resembled his proud self. The wolf monster's beautiful blue-white fur was scorched from lightning and stained with his own blood, the same blood that was slowly forming shallow crimson pools beneath his crumpled, broken form. His mouth gaped open in a silent scream, his jaw half-shattered.
But the most horrible thing was his eyes. The stern golden eyes were wide open with a blank terror Tiger had never shown before, staring without seeing into an endless oblivion. Hare stared at him in silent horror, unable to tear his eyes away as the wolf's body shimmered and slowly began to change into a mystery disc.
Grey Wolf howled in triumph, and the sound sent chills through Hare's body. Then the silver wolf finally noticed the rabbit, and leered at him. His blue eyes glittered as he slowly advanced on the petrified Hare…
* * *
"GAH!" Hare jolted awake with a start. As his vision cleared, he could see Golem's worried face hovering over him. Hare sat up, realizing that he was cradled in the rock monster's huge hands, and stared up at Golem.
"Are you alright?" Golem asked. "You were screaming…"
"Nothing…a dream…I'm okay," Hare replied slowly, shaking off the effects of the vision. Glancing around, he could see Genki and the others nearby, and all of them were staring at him with concern. But there was one face he didn't see. "Where's Tiger?"
Holly's expression darkened, and she quietly said, "He left. He went off to face Grey Wolf alone."
"What?" Hare stared at her, wide-eyed. He struggled to stand up, saying "We have to go…" But his feet refused to hold him, and he collapsed back into Golem's hands.
"We will," Holly assured him, "after we're sure it's safe for you to travel. You took a really nasty blow back there."
"Don't worry, Tiger can take care of himself," Genki said.
"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he defeats Grey Wolf and comes back on his own!" Suezo chimed in.
"But he can't!" Hare insisted, trying to block out the image of Tiger's beaten body at Grey Wolf's feet. He went to stand again, and Suezo moved to stop him.
"Hey, now don't try…" he started to scold as he tried to make the rabbit lay back down again by pushing him down gently with his leg.
The words froze in his mouth, lost the moment he made contact with Hare's body. A series of images flooded his mind, nearly overwhelming him. Visions of icy halls and endless passages…and of Tiger. Suezo gasped aloud, and stumbled backwards. The second he stopped touching Hare, the flood was abruptly cut off.
"Suezo?" Holly gasped, seeing the haunted expression on the eyeball monster's face. He turned to look at her, color slowly returning to his face.
"Hare's…right," he choked, near tears. "I saw it…"
"Suezo?" Holly asked, glancing at Genki, Mocchi and Golem. The others seemed to be equally taken aback by the sudden change in the eyeball's attitude.
"We have to find Tiger," Hare repeated, "or Grey Wolf will kill him. Tiger may be a warrior, but he'll never be able to murder his own little brother. If we're not there for him when Grey Wolf attacks…"
Holly went pale and looked at Suezo. The eyeball monster nodded slowly, his expression unusually solemn.
"I saw it," he repeated, his voice faint. "Tiger really was…"
"Then let's go find him!" Genki exclaimed, leaping to his feet.
"But…" Holly faltered, glancing back at Hare as the little rabbit struggled to stand up again. His face was flushed bright red from the effort, and it was painfully obvious to even Genki that he was in no condition to travel.
"All right. Hare, you stay with Holly and Golem," Genki decided. As Hare stared up at him and started to protest, Genki said, "No, don't start. I won't risk you getting hurt. Mocchi and Suezo will come with me. We'll find Tiger, don't worry about it!" he finished with a wink.
At any other time, Suezo would probably have protested being told to follow Genki into such obvious danger, but the image of Tiger's dying body was freshly burned into his memory. Instead of arguing the point, he simply nodded, then turned to Golem and asked him to make certain that Holly would be safe. Golem quietly promised that he would.
"Be careful, Suezo," Holly told him. "You too, Mocchi. Don't let Genki get too out of control."
"Huh?" Genki stared at her while Suezo laughed and assured her that he'd try, but he wouldn't make any promises. Then Genki turned and started off toward where Tiger had gone, Mocchi and Suezo behind him.
"You guys?" Hare asked, his voice soft and weak. "You guys be careful…you guys…"
Then his eyes slowly shut, and Holly and Golem exchanged worried glances.
* * *
A howl of rage echoed through the cavern.
"Why did you force us to retreat? Victory could have been ours!"
Yuri returned her leader's gaze defiantly, and her voice was much calmer than his was as she replied, "The battle was going badly. You may have knocked down one of them, but the others were on the verge of destroying some of our pack. I sounded the retreat to avoid losing them. Are you saying that I was wrong to aid our tribe-mates?"
Chishi growled darkly, unable to reply, and the other Cabalos exchanged glances. One of them, an experienced fighter with scars covering his legs and chest, leaned over to the hybrid closest to him and whispered, "This is gonna be good."
"Quiet, Scar," his companion warned him.
"Pack members shouldn't fight one another," Victor lamented, staring at Chishi and Yuri with an increasing sense of worry. "If only we'd been able to defeat those rebels…"
"What do we do now?" Reno, a younger Cabalos, piped up. As Chishi and Yuri continued their battle of wills, the other twelve Cabalos stared at the youngster and exchanged worried glances. What, indeed? Master Grey Wolf would not be pleased that they had failed in their mission…
"Look at your warriors," Yuri whispered to Chishi. "They fear Master Grey Wolf's reaction to our defeat, and rightly so. As leader, you should find a way to assuage their fears."
Chishi grimaced at her: like it or not, she was right. But he had no idea how he would do that. Grey Wolf would have their necks if they had nothing to show for their mission…A noise outside distracted him, and his ears perked up. The other Cabalos heard it too, and they fell quiet as they listened to the far-off noises…
"Tiger! Tiger, where are you?"
"Tiger-chi!"
"Tiger of the Wind! Come on out!"
Chishi's grimace twisted into a grin, and he turned to face his warriors. "I have a plan…" he told them…
* * *
"Come out, come out wherever you are," Suezo called, scanning the area around him. All he could see was Genki, Mocchi, and snow. Lots and lots of snow, spreading out in all directions, a seemingly endless landscape of white. The only other things he could see were the mountains that rose on either side of them, blocking his view. No sign of anything blue.
"Hey Tiger!" Genki yelled, and Mocchi echoed the boy: "Tiger-chi!" Their voices resounded through the cliffs, and the three strained to hear any answer that might be coming. Nothing. This was quickly becoming more than a little discouraging for them. Suezo began to wonder if he should have stayed with the others: at this point, he would have gladly preformed an 'aerial search' with Golem's help if it had meant catching a glimpse of Tiger of the Wind.
"Let's keep moving," Genki ordered, and as the three trudged on, Suezo's mood worsened. His body type just wasn't meant for trudging through waist-deep snowdrifts, and he kept thinking that he could feel ice cracking beneath him. If something gave way and he ended up falling, there wasn't much of a chance that Genki or Mocchi would be able to save him. He had a suddenly vivid vision of himself plummeting down a mountainside, with his two companions watching him helplessly as he fell farther and farther away from them…Suezo quickly cut off that line of thinking before it could make him even more nervous than he was already.
Genki was calling out Tiger's name again, and Suezo felt a sudden rush of anger toward the blue wolf. It was all his fault that they were out here; him and that lousy temper of his. Tiger didn't even really seem to care about them anymore, anyway. Ever since learning that his brother was a baddie, and one of Moo's top warriors at that, Tiger had become awfully harsh toward the others. Suezo couldn't help but think that maybe it was for the best that he had left…
Scratch that. Tiger was their best fighter, and Suezo knew that they were at a serious disadvantage without the blue wolf's battle skills. Oh sure, Genki was a pretty decent fighter, even if the kid did tend to rush into things, and Mocchi and Hare were very skilled considering their ages. Even Suezo could get a few good blows in from time to time, if the others were already fighting.
But Tiger was different: Tiger was the expert fighter in the group. When the blue wolf was fighting, Suezo became painfully aware of just how powerful their companion was, and how much of a difference he made in the group. The eyeball had thought that constantly during the encounter with the Centaurs, in particular, and he couldn't shake the thought now.
And there was the little matter of the vision. Suezo shuddered with the memory. How the heck had that nasty little image gotten into his mind anyway? He'd certainly never allowed himself to think that any of his companions might die before; at least, not when they weren't fighting for their lives against the baddies. So how…?
Aaahhhooooo!
The group of two monsters and one kid froze. "Is that what I think it is?" Suezo stammered, his eye wide with fear.
His answer came in the form of a bum rush, as fifteen Cabalos surged out of a nearby cave and toward the group.
* * *
Hare gasped, his eyes snapping open. When had he fallen asleep? He groaned and sat up, still cradled in Golem's massive hands. For crying out loud…that's been happening to me way too often lately, he thought to himself.
Golem had noticed that his charge had woken up. "Are you okay?" he rumbled. Hare groaned in reply and covered his ears: the rock monster's voice was gentle, but far from being quiet. Realizing his mistake, Golem fell silent again.
"Feeling better?" Holly asked, and Hare looked over at her. The girl had managed to start a fire nearby, and was trying to warm her hands. Since Golem had been holding him so close to his own body, however, the rabbit wasn't really cold, and remained sitting in the rock monster's palm.
"They haven't got back yet?" Hare asked, trying to hide the fear in his voice and failing. Holly shook her head.
"They should be back soon," she told him, although all three of them knew she had no way of guaranteeing that. Sighing, Hare slumped back down into Golem's hands. He wasn't in any pain anymore, but he was still a little tired.
Surely there wasn't anything to what I dreamt, he thought to himself as he forced himself to relax again. He started to drift back to sleep…
When a blood-curdling howl shattered the quiet air.
Golem was on his feet at once, picking up Holly from her place beside the fire. She looked at Hare for a moment, eyes betraying her sudden fear, and then the two carefully peeked out of the safety of Golem's hands.
"Hear me, searchers!" a commanding voice howled, and Golem pivoted to face in the direction where it had come from. Standing some distance away from them was a Cabalos, his yellow eyes gleaming as he glared at the group. Golem grimaced and tensed up, waiting to see what would happen.
"Hear me, and listen well, rebels!" the baddie called to them. "I am Chishi, leader of the Darkclaw pack, and I bring you a message from Master Grey Wolf! It concerns Tiger of the Wind!"
Holly gasped, and she and Hare exchanged frightened looks. Golem's expression grew even sterner, and he moved his arms slightly so they would shield his two friends a little more.
Chishi leered at the group as he said, "Listen well, searchers. We have captured the boy Genki, as well as your other two monster friends. However, we have not killed them…yet. Master Grey Wolf is very generous, and will give you a chance to save them." That made the Cabalos grimace: he had wanted to kill the three, but Yuri had insisted that they take them back to Grey Wolf, and the master had taken up matters from there.
"Master Grey Wolf wants Tiger of the Wind to be at his fortress before sundown. You'll find a trail that leads there if you keep heading this way. Master Grey Wolf wants to see his beloved elder brother again, and…catch up on things."
Holly winced: she recognized the true meaning of the words.
"Tiger of the Wind must be at Master Grey Wolf's fortress before sundown," Chishi continued, "or the master will have to focus his attentions…elsewhere. At sunset, if Tiger has not arrived, then the boy dies. After that, we wait again until sunrise before killing one of your little monster friends. Then the other will die by the time the sun completes its journey through the sky one more time. Master Grey Wolf is very kind: even if you are late, you will still have a chance to save at least one of your friends."
The three travelers were staring at him, stunned. Good. It pleased Chishi to no end to see the fear in their eyes. Throwing back his head, he howled once more, then was gone into the swirling snow.
Hare, Holly and Golem were alone in the mountains, staring at one another in silent horror. None of them needed to speak; the question hung over them like the chill in the air.
What now?