Chapter 11
Kia glanced around nervously, as she, Kenai and Koda made their way through the Valley of Fire. She was being especially careful not to walk into a geyser. As she continued walking, she suddenly saw a flashback from when she was a cub.
A large white and brown bear was walking through a grassy clearing, accompanied by her cub, who was also white and brown.
"Hey Mother, where are we going anyway?" the cub asked, racing in circles around her mother.
The larger white bear chuckled and looked down at the cub. "Somewhere wonderful, Nakia. I've been going there ever since I was a cub. This will be your first year there."
Nakia bounded around gleefully. "Yippee!" she cheered. "How much farther until we get there, Mother?"
"We must walk very far, Nakia, until we reach an ending of this forest. At the end there will be a large patch of blazing, red land, that is always exploding."
Nakia's eyes were wide. "Wow..." The look on her face suddenly grew concerned. "Uh...Mother? How do you get across the exploding land without being blown up!"
Her mother laughed. "Don't worry, Nakia. You will not blow up. Just wait and see.."
As Kia's flashback came to an end, she had no doubt that the "blazing, red land" that her mother had been talking about was none other than the Valley of Fire! The wonderful place that her mother had been taking her to must have been the Salmon Run!
As she thought about this more and more, she did not realize how far away she was wandering from Kenai and Koda. All of a sudden, a geyser exploded right beneath Kia's paws. She inhaled a deep breath and cried out loudly, in fear.
Kenai spun around real fast, as he heard a loud yell from the distance. "Kia?" He called, as he noticed her missing. "Kia where are you!" he called out, running to search for her.
He sniffed the air for a scent, and soon caught the scent of another bear. Hoping it was Kia, he walked in the direction of the scent.
Kia let out another frightened cry, as another steam geyser exploded next to her. She jumped away from it. Just then, she smelled an animal nearby. "K-Kenai...? Koda...?" she asked, slowly walking in the direction where the scent was strong. "I-Is that you..?"
She let out a relieved sigh, as she sawKenai emerge from a cloud of steam the geysers had created. "Kia?" He spotted her and ran over to her, grabbing her in a tight bear hug.
Kia blushed. "I...I'm glad to see you too, Kenai...I'm glad you found me, instead of something else..."
Kenai grinned and let her go. "I'm glad you're okay...I heard you yell...and thought you might be in trouble..."
"Oh...no...a geyser exploded under me, and erm...scared me..." Kia said, looking quite embarrassed.
Kenai just laughed, relieved that it had only been an exploding geyser that attacked her.
Kia looked around. "Hey, where's Koda at?" she asked. She got up on her hind legs, for a better view of the valley, but still could not spot the cub anywhere.
Kenai gasped. "Oh my gosh! I completely forgot about him! I left him alone when I came searching for you. We'd better go find him."
Kia was about to reply, when suddenly the cub tackled Kenai from behind. Kenai, not knowing it was Koda, yelled, stumbled forward, and fell over, knocking both him and Kia onto the ground. Koda walked over to them, laughing. "Koda..." Kenai said, glaring at his younger brother as he stood up.
Then he realized that he had just knocked Kia over too. He flushed, and offered her his paw. "Uhh...heh...Sorry...Here, let me help you."
Kia grabbed onto Kenai's paw and pulled herself back into a sitting postion. She rubbed her head, and shot an annoyed look at Koda. "Koda, that wasn't very nice..." she muttered, her temper rising. She had enjoyed talking with the cub earlier, but he was really beginning to wear her patience thin.
"Hey, I'm sorry.." Koda replied, "It's not like I knew Kenai was going to knock you over!"
Kia rolled her eyes, and stood up. She lifted a paw to walk, but stopped immediately, and sniffed the air. What was that...familiar..smell..? Suddenly, Kia knew what it was. She turned to Kenai and Koda. "Get out of here, you two! Now!" she ordered, looking around fearfully.
Kenai looked at her in stunned shock. "Why?" he questioned her.
Kia gulped. "I smell something...someone...a monster...Get out of here while you can!"
Kenai stared at her. "But what about you?"
Koda stayed with Kenai, though he was beginning to look scared. "Yeah, aren't you coming with us?"
Kia nodded. "Of course I'm coming with you! But first I have to distract this monster so that you can get out of here. Now go, hurry!"
Kenai nodded. He and Koda both turned and fled, while Kia stood where she was, keeping her gaze on a small cliff nearby. She sensed a dangerous presence over there.
Surely enough, as soon as Kenai and Koda had left, a hunter appeared on the cliff. It was definetly the same hunter who had been after Kia before. Kia stood her ground, prepared to fight. The hunter let out a bone chilling, savage shout and ran toward Kia, spear ready to strike. Kia jumped up on her hind legs, and let out an angry roar.
Kenai and Koda ran as fast as they could, through the Valley of Fire. Kenai came to a screeching halt, as he heard a shout, followed by Kia's roar. Kia had been right, he realized. The hunter had found her. He heard another angry roar, followed by more savage yelling.
Kenai realized, suddenly, that he had two choices: He could run to safety with Koda and hide with the cub until Kia came, or he could go help her fight this hunter. If he ran off with Koda, he and the cub would surely be safe from the hunter...but Kia might get killed! Kenai's eyes widened as he realized this possibilty, and decided that he could not let her stay here to die, no matter how stubborn she might act.
Kenai looked at Koda, who had stopped running and hurried back over to him. "Koda, listen to me. I want you to run across that log up ahead, and wait until I come back. I am going to help Kia."
"But Kenai, she told us to run." Koda reminded his brother.
The larger brown bear nodded. "I know, but she doesn't realize that she might get herself killed. So please just listen to me, okay?"
Koda nodded quickly, as he realized that his new friend Kia might possibly die without Kenai's help. He turned and ran for the log up ahead, just as Kenai had instructed him to.
Kenai let out a relieved sigh, seeing the cub's obedient act. Then, hearing another roar, he turned and ran back to help Kia..
Kia growled loudly, and swiped her claws at the hunter, knocking him backward a little. She reared up on her hind legs, and then crashed down on a geyser in front of him, creating a huge explosion of steam which knocked him back even farther.
The hunter quickly got back to his feet, and lunged at Kia once again, but the white grizzly was too quick for him. She jumped up onto a small cliff, avoiding his spear. The hunter climbed up onto the cliff, ready to attack again. Kia smacked at him with her fore paws, and succeeded in making him drop his spear.
Seizing this opportune moment, Kia kicked the spear farther away, and it fell off the cliff. She charged toward the hunter, and slashed at his face with her claws, leaving several cuts and scratches. The hunter, enraged, jumped on top of her, and drew out his knife. Kia struggled wildly, to get him off of her, but it did no good. The hunter raised his knife over her, and brought it down.
But Kia managed to grab onto his arm, his knife just inches away from her heart. As the hunter struggled to push his knife down through her paw, she kicked him off her with her hind legs. The hunter fell off of the cliff, and Kia jumped down. The hunter grabbed his spear off the ground, and lunged for her. Kia managd to knock him over, and got on top of him, scratching him again.
Just as Kia managed to push him away, she saw a familiar grizzly running toward her and the hunter, teeth bared.
"Kenai! What the heck are you doing here? I told you to run!" Kia shouted.
This slight distraction was just the amount of time the hunter needed to push her off of him. He slammed his body into her, knocking her into a rock. Kia cried out, as she hit her head on the rock. Kenai quickly ran over to her, and helped her up, before charging at the hunter with a ferocious roar.
The hunter let out a startled yell, as the larger brown bear chased after him. He had not expected the white bear's friend to be here! He grabbed for his spear, but suddenly realized that he did not have a very high chance of winning this battle. It was two verses one now. The odds of him winning were slim..
The hunter took one last look at the white and brown bear. "I'll have your fur some other day, rare white one." He turned and ran off, as fast as he could.
Kenai started to go after him, but Kia pulled him back. "Let him go..." she muttered.
Kenai nodded after a minute, though he was still mad at the hunter for trying to kill Kia.
"Where's Koda?" Kia asked.
"He's already gotten across the log, and out of the Valley of Fire." Kenai replied.
"Ok, than let's go there too." Kia said, starting off toward the log. Kenai nodded and walked alongside the white and brown grizzly.
As they made their way over, Kia turned to look at Kenai, looking quite angry. "What were you thinking, Kenai? Coming back to fight when I said to run. You might have been killed!"
Kenai sighed. "So might have you, too...that's why I came back to help..."
Kia felt touched by Kenai's concern. "Oh..." She sighed. "Well, thanks...But the next time I tell you to run, please don't come back to me! I don't want you to get hurt!"
"I don't want you to get hurt either..." Kenai said, without looking at her.
Kia smiled secretly to herself.
Once they came to the log, Kia turned to Kenai. "You go first, I'll come after you." she offered.
Kenai shrugged. "Okay..." He got up on the log, and walked carefully across it. "Now you." he said, looking at her from across the wide ravine.
Kia climbed up onto the log, and slowly started to move. But the log started to wobble, so she ran. As she was running, she tripped, and got her paw caught in a hole on the log.
"Oh no! I'm stuck!" she cried.
The log started to move again. Kia desperately pulled...but it was no use. She was stuck, and tight! She looked over at Kenai and Koda.
"I'm stuck, you guys!" she called out, showing them her paw.
As she said this, the log started to slide. Kia gasped shaprly, and pulled again, but nothing happened still. Kenai reached out a paw to her.
"Kia, grab my paw!" he called out.
Kia reached for his paw with her free one, but he was too far away. "I-I can't!" she replied.
Kenai climbed onto the log a little bit more.
"Be careful, Kenai.." Koda warned.
Kenai nodded, and reached out to Kia again. "Try now." he said.
Kia reached out, and managed to grab Kenai's paw. She held on tight, as the brown grizzly pulled on her, trying to release her paw. After several pulls, Kia's paw finally came free! At the same time, the log slid, and now was hanging on one side of the cliff. Kia and Kenai cried out in shock, and both ran towards the end of the log.
Kenai made it off, but Kia just baarely managed to grab the ledge of the cliff when the log completely collapsed and fell into the river below.
Kenai raced over to her, and pulled her up by her mane.
Kia inhaled a deep breath, and looked at Kenai, a shocked exression on her face. "Thanks for your help!"