Chapter 13: An Uphill Journey
Mama Smurf turned to look past everyone pulling the gurney, and down the path that they were walking on. This was about the umpteenth time she had done this in the past hour. The others knew that she was very worried about the other smurfettes, smurfs, and Wood Sprites they had left behind. Mama Smurf could feel the stare of the one smurf that stayed with the group. She looked down to face Farmer Smurf, whom looked not only tired from pulling on the heavy gurney for miles up a mountain, but just as worried as she was.
"I'm sure they'll catch up, Mama Smurf." He finally told her. "I've known Hefty and Handy all my life. If anyone will find away to get across that ravine it'll be Hefty and Handy, ma'am."
"I appreciate your words of comfort, Farmer, but I should have known better. I shouldn't have left them behind." Mama Smurf said, punishing herself.
"Well, don't forget Mama Smurf, Toughette and Nursette are also very resourceful. I know them to be a pair of the most stubborn smurfettes of the village. They won't give up." Tattlerette spoke up as she walked along side Mama Smurf.
"Again, Tattlerette, thank you." Mama Smurf sighed. No words of encouragement would help until she knew for sure that her young brave smurfettes, the smurfs, and the two Wood Sprites were safe. She turned once more to continue walking forward up the mountain.
"For all that it is worth, Mama Smurf; I am in your debt for coming to our rescue." The rusty red Sprite said, as he also continued to struggle with pulling the gurney.
"Coron, as it is important for you Sprites to protect the trees it is a smurfette's duty to be there for her friends." The smurfette elder stated, looking over her shoulder at the male Sprite.
"By the way, what did happen back there before we showed up?" Tattlerette asked. She began pulling out her notepad and pencil to prepare to take notes.
"Tattlerette…" Cowgirl gave a growled warning to the nosy redheaded smurfette. If she wasn't so pre-occupied with pulling the gurney she'd take the notepad and pencil away from her and throw them off the cliff.
"No, no. It's alright Cowgirl. You all deserve to know what had happened." Shia, the mauve Wood Sprite said calmly.
Both Tattlerette and Mama Smurf looked over their shoulder to show the Wood Sprites that they were ready to listen. Coron took it upon himself to start.
"The real trouble started during the last warning tremor." The rusty red Sprite began. "It didn't take us long to realize the true danger the animals were in. We encouraged them to leave the forest and get to safer ground. Just as Morligo and Tiango ushered a family of rabbits out from their den three heavy boulders came tumbling down from the rocky hill. Morligo and Tiango managed to duck in the den before the boulders trapped them inside."
"Now you smurfettes know that we Sprites are not that strong, and yet we tried desperately to free them out from that rabbit den." Shia said. "Then without warning, the volcano started exploding fiery rocks into the air. They came raining down on us and causing our trees to catch fire."
"One of the rocks crashed down on the very tree Tasle and Marla were on. That is how they were badly hurt, Mama Smurf." Coron explained, addressing the injured Sprites lying on the gurney.
"I see." The red capped smurfette elder nodded.
"When we realized that it wasn't safe for any of us to stay in the open, we grabbed Tasle and Marla, before taking shelter in the other cave. Seconds later much of the heavy branches came crashing down, blocking our only exit." Shia shivered as she remembered that horrible moment.
"It was luck that our little robin friend spotted us and flew to get help." Coron finished.
"Yes. It was lucky." Mama Smurf nodded. "I just hope the others are alright." She again sighed.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"Oh, please. Can we take a break?" Nursette whined. She leaned up against a rock in order to catch her breath.
Hefty, Handy, Toughette and the Sprites glanced at each other before looking back at Nursette.
"I suppose we can stop for a brief moment." Hefty nodded an 'ok'. "But we're not even half way up this mountain yet, the sun is going down, and the others are probably very worried about us. So I recommend we only rest for a few minutes." He added.
"Not only that, but it's sometimes hard to tell when a volcano like that one might blow. The lava we encountered was only the beginning to what could happen if we don't get at least most of the way up this mountain." Handy Smurf estimated. "But then again, a small break is something I think would be good for all of us." He sighed as he sat down on the rock beside Nursette.
"Tiango, why don't you go up ahead to let Mama Smurf, Coron, and the others know we are all ok." Morligo suggests to the purple Sprite.
Tiango nods her head, "alright," she says before taking off to fly up along the path.
With a sigh of relief, Toughette sits down on a log beside her. She secretly was glad that they are taking a break. It had been a hard run and her legs were starting to feel it. She knew that the others were feeling their over-worked leg muscles too just by reading their faces, including Hefty's, whom just sat down beside her. Toughette glanced down at her now dirty hair and lets out a low growl.
"What's wrong, Toughette?" Hefty asked.
"Typical. I wash my hair earlier in the day for once, and now it is dirty again." She frowned while picking out a bunch of small twigs that have gotten stuck in her tangled golden hair.
"Is that what's bugging you? Geez, Toughette." Hefty said, rolling his eyes.
"What's your problem? You don't have hair!" She snapped back at him. "After living with the smurfettes for two years you should know that a smurfette's hair is her identity. And right now, mine is ruined."
"Toughette, I love you no matter what you look like." Hefty said trying to be somewhat romantic, but it came out in more of a snippy tone.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Toughette glared at him.
"What do you mean, what do 'I mean'? You know what I mean!" He growled defensively.
"Not necessarily. You sometimes flatter Gingerette just so you could get the last piece of smurfberry tart."
"Well, that's different. That's desert." The strong smurf added smugly.
"You are such a typical smurf." Toughette huffed.
"You expected anything less?" He commented with a cocky smile.
Handy glanced over to Nursette, whom was trying not to laugh. She noticed the carpenter smurf's concerned looks and turned to him. "Don't worry. This is normal. They seem to enjoy it." She explained to him.
"Oh?" Handy raises an eyebrow, curiously.
"Hello! Private discussion here!" Toughette snarled at them.
"Oh, don't start yelling at them now!" Hefty growled at the golden-haired smurfette.
This time Nursette could not hold in her laughter. She let out a hearty chuckle at Hefty and Toughette's antics.
Toughette lets out a heavy growl at her sister "Fine!" She snapped before glaring back at Hefty. "Let's continue this conversation elsewhere." She huffed as she stood up.
"Fine." Hefty said in agreement. He too got up and followed Toughette into a nearby field of wild violet flowers.
"Well, that was sure interesting." Handy shook his head in disbelief.
"Yes. I have witnessed some pretty interesting conversations between those two, myself. Mostly the arguments are about sports, though." Morligo said as she is also chuckling over the bickering pair.
"But don't worry." Nursette assured Handy. "They usually work it out with either by playing sports, or even on rare occasions they would come to an agreement about something and forget about the argument entirely."
"Wow." Handy was speechless in hearing about this whole other side of his close friend. Although it wasn't all too surprising, considering that he and Hefty had some pretty loud arguments at times. One in fact that caused Handy to want to run away to live under the sea with his ex-girlfriend, Marina the mermaid, in a smurfmarine that he had invented.
Absently, Handy, Nursette, and Morligo watched the young couple in the flower field. Hefty leaned over to pick one of the beautiful violets, and handed it to Toughette. She smiled at him as she accepted his gift. Then she brought the flower up to her nose and smelt it. In a result, Toughette's smile grows even wider to Hefty. They both start turning their gaze up at the western sky to stare up at the colorful sunset.
Nursette lets out a small romantic sigh over the now calm display between Hefty and Toughette. "Looks like they've already come to an agreement." She stated softly.
"That's a relief." Morligo smiled. She follows their gaze to the western sky. "It is a lovely sunset, considering the fact that the volcano is still causing the smoky black cloud all over the southern part of the land."
"Yeah." Both Nursette and Handy nodded in unison.
Out of the corner of Nursette's eye, she noticed that Handy was rubbing his injured arm.
"How is your arm?" She asked the carpenter smurf.
"Huh?" Handy turned to the smurfette nurse and gave her a perplexed look before he realized what she meant by the question. "Oh, i-it's, well, still attached, heh-heh." He said with a hint of humor in order to mask the throbbing pain he was feeling.
She smiled over his bravery. But she also knew that his arm was probably causing him great discomfort right about now.
"Still, maybe I should have a closer look at it." She said reaching for his hand.
"Actually, it's fine. You did a great job patching it up back in the forest." He said nervously. Handy paused breathlessly as Nursette's soft blue hand picked up his and pulled it gently towards her. He suddenly found himself swallowing a large lump that somehow got caught in his throat. This was a feeling he hadn't felt since when he first met Marina. Handy watched carefully as Nursette peeled away part of the bandage to see underneath them.
"Hmm, looks like you should heal nicely. There seems to be no sign of infection. When we get up to the top of Mount Peak I should do a full clean of the wounds just to be on the safe side." The braided blond smurfette said in a professional and nurturing tone. She slowly raised her eyes up to meet his, and smiled warmly at him.
"Er, thanks. You are too kind." Handy said, trying to hide away his blushing cheeks.
"Handy, I'm a nurse. It's my job. Much like being a carpenter is yours." Nursette bashfully grinned.
"Thanks. Remind me to build you a special clinic when this is all over." Handy said.
"You are so sweet, Handy. I bet all the ladies like you." Nursette mentioned in a shy manner as she re-bandages his arm again.
"Well, I did kind of have a girlfriend once." He admitted.
"Oh?" Nursette could feel a sudden sting in her heart as she tried to stay cheerful.
"Um, yeah. Her name was Marina. She was a mermaid. But eventually we decided that it could never really work between us."
"How come?"
"Well, mostly because she lives in the sea, and I live on land. Not only that, but she did meet a nice merman that cared deeply for her. In the long run, it ended up being better that way, I suppose." Handy frowned as he remembered the pain he felt during the break-up between him and Marina.
"I-I'm sorry to hear that Handy." Nursette said in a comforting way. She places a tender hand onto his and waited for him to look back up at her. With a soft warm smile, she let him realize that she understood and felt sympathy over his heart-breaking experience.
"Thanks." He smiled back at her.
"What for?"
"For listening."
"Oh."
Without realizing it, Nursette and Handy slowly bring their faces closer in together, but stopped as soon as they heard someone clearing their throat. The two of them looked over to see Morligo still sitting beside them with a concerned look on her face.
"Sorry, but we should really get going before it gets any darker." The golden yellow Sprite announced.
Morligo stood up. She stepped towards the flower field, and by bringing her thumb and index finger to her mouth, the golden yellow Sprite lets out a loud whistle. The noise had gotten Toughette and Hefty's attention right away. Morligo signaled to them that she and the other smurfs were ready to continue up the mountain now.
The young couple stood up from their spot in the flower field and made their way back to the others. Toughette still held the flower that Hefty picked for her in one hand, while at the same time holding Hefty's hand in the other.
"That's a very smurfy flower you have there Toughette. What are you going to do with it?" Nursette asked her golden haired sister. Toughette smiled at her in a mischievous way.
"Hmm. I think I'll stick it…here." Toughette answers as she places the violet over Hefty's right ear. Handy couldn't hold in a giggle.
"Cute." Hefty commented with one eyebrow raised. He carefully removed the flower from his ear and looked down at it with a smirk.
"Awe, why did you do that for? I thought you looked rather smurfy with that on." Toughette giggled.
"Naw. You make a much smurfier smurfette then I ever would." Hefty said as he placed the flower gently in his girlfriend's beautiful golden blond hair.
"Really?" Toughette replied in almost disbelief. Hefty didn't really respond but gave her a warm smile that said 'really.'
"Come on. We need to get going." The strong smurf finally said taking Toughette's hand once again and leading everyone up the hill.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"Forlo!"
The light green Sprite that was walking behind the gurney turned his head once he heard his name being called out. His face lit up with delight to see his purple companion flying up to him and the rest of the team.
"Tiango!" He called back. "I'm so glad to see you are alright!"
The others stopped walking to see the Sprite landing beside Forlo with a happy look on her face.
"Yes, thanks to our friends." Tiango told Forlo as she takes his hands into hers. She then turned to the others with great enthusiasm written on her face. "Which is the reason why I'm here," Tiango stepped away from Forlo and fluttered towards the smurfette with the red cap. "Mama Smurf, Morligo sent me ahead to let you know that the other smurfs and smurfettes are fine. They are just taking a brief break, but will be on their way up the mountain as soon as possible."
"Oh that's a relief." The elder smurfette sighed, bringing her hand up to her chest. The news felt like a huge weight had been lifted. Farmer Smurf and the other smurfettes also let out a huge sigh of relief as they heard the news.
"I got so worried when we saw the bridge catch on fire. We barely made it across ourselves." Mama Smurf explained.
"Yes, by the time we actually got to the bridge it was already gone." Tiango said. "We had hoped you had already made it across. They are looking forward in reuniting with you all very soon."
One of the injured Sprites begins to groan loudly, which caught everyone's attention immediately.
"How are Tasle and Marla? Will they be alright?" Tiango asked. She leaned over the gurney to inspect her injured friends.
"I recon so, but we need to get them up this mountain so Mama Smurf can give them some healing medicine." Farmer Smurf explained. Basically he was going by what Mama Smurf explained to them earlier.
"In that case, I better help." Tiango volunteered as she glided up with her wings and landed behind Cowgirl and Farmer Smurf.
"Thank you, Tiango." Coron said gratefully.
"No problem." She responded as she grabbed hold of the rope and prepared to pull the gurney.
"Alright then. Let's get smurfing. We have a lot of miles to cover, and it's already getting dark." Mama Smurf ordered.
As they continued the walk up the mountain, Tattlerette leaned up to Mama Smurf. "See, I told you they'd be alright." She said with a wink.
Yes. Yes you did, Tattlerette. Thank you." Mama Smurf smiled warmly at the redheaded smurfette.