Chapter 16

A glimmer of hope was blindingly obvious after the group high-tailed it out after getting all the Clockwerk parts that Jean-Bison had on his Mighty Iron Horses. Sly had seen this and even spoke with Carmelita while he helped her, once again, escape the authorities—discovering the new truth about Mayura. The officer had commented how the wolf didn't seem as guilty as she'd thought...just blinded by love.

The cabin where they stayed now over looked the beautiful snowy scenery, gentle slopes all covered in a blanket of snow.

" It's beautiful..." Mayura murmured breathlessly." It's almost as lovely as the palace...but in a natural kinda' way."

Looking over her shoulder the girl realized that the others were discussing plans on retrieving the Clockwerk Talons—which were up for grabs in a competition held by Jean-Bison. Bently clarified all that would need to be done to get their hands on those talons. Once again, leaving Mayura with no real purpose in any of the missions.

" Bently..if I can't join in at least let me watch the competition from the side lines, Jean-Bison already knows me and—"

" WHHAAAT!"

Mayura scratched her head nervously," You know...when I sneaked out and stole that coat. I continued to climb up hill and when I saw Sly run out it was too late, Jean opened the door and there I was! What was I supposed to do? I said what first came to mind, not entirely a lie though, that I was getting to know my surroundings and that I was new."

" Why didn't you tell us before?" Inquired Bently, freaking out over the whole situation.

" Because you'd do what you're doing now..."

Sly and Murray started to laugh," She's got you there Bently."

Clasping her hands tightly infront of her chest, the wolf stared the turtle right in the eyes," Please...I won't participate in anything, on my sworn honor."

All in all the missions were carried out and Mayura got to look around the new bit of land in hushed awe, the landscape was majestic in many ways. That was...until she saw the bear attacking some of the guards while they tried to flee.

Then before she realized it she was on the run, even if the bear hadn't picked up her scent, she wanted nothing to do with it. Nothing! Bears were strictly terror sources for Mayura, as silly as it was. Her brother would always tease her about how the bears would eat her if she went out camping—even going as far as pretending to make bear noises to scare her senseless!

Reaching higher ground and climbing a tree for good measures, in spite of the discomforted caused by the action, made the fear a little less terrifying. Although the bear had passed by Mayura refused to climb down until the animal was completely out of view, no where to be seen unless she wanted to climb the rooftops!

However the signs of the cometition's official beginning was what made her, finally, come down from hiding. As the games came into view a sigh of relief escaped her, she hadn't missed much by the looks of it. Possibly the first contest for both sides, it didn't matter because she made it in time to see the next.

While it was true that Sly and the others were cheating to a bit of an advantage it still made her cheeks flood with embarrassment. When Jean-Bison's turn came up for the glacier climbing contest and the plan to drag him down succeeded, and the judges gave his score she could see his disappoint turn to hidden rage.

" Need I remind you what happened to the last judge that was incorrect in his math..."

Hurriedly the judges changed his score to perfect tens and then that content smile the bison had made all her rage fly.

" You're a dirty cheat!"

This caught everyone's attention, especially Jean-Bison's," I don't cheat Ms. Mayura."

Hands firmly on her hips she glowered," I beg to differ! You're frightening the poor judges into giving you the score you think you deserve! Did it ever occur to you that there might be other people who are more talented than you?"

" Those are mighty harsh words," stated the bison moving away from the glacier, headed toward the wolf." If you're not careful, speaking those words to anyone else could get you hurt."

" I only speak the truth!"

When Jean refused to say another word, silently raging at being called a cheat and liar, Mayura stormed away from the place the cometition was being held. No matter how lovely this place was...it lacked what she really needed. Carmelita had given her renewed hope that Rajan would get out even earlier than she had planned, which was great. It were times like these that Mayura desperately wanted her love's arms around her, to comfort her whenever she felt lost or upset about something. The sad truth being that he wasn't there...he wouldn't be because he wouldn't even know where to find her!

Screams of terror filled the air, the guards were running and for the life of she wished she could have found her feet as well. Grizzle Face was rushing straight towards her like a mad dog, every last intelligent thought locked away...she had nothing to use and the fear that indueced was just as frightening as the bear itself. Only one thing could be forced out of her froozen lips, a blood curtailing scream but...the blood she saw was not her own though...but—

" Run!"

Ack! That's one way to end a chapter, neh? Personally I think bears are cute but it made perfect sense to let Mayura-chan have a fear of bears because of this part in the game! And literally...Sly and the others cheated too so it wasn't surprising that Jean-Bison would enjoy losing. I know I don't like it. ¬,¬

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