Chapter 4: Seeking shelter from the storm

"Spike, what's wrong?!" Littlefoot entered the scene panting as he had finally fought his way through the harsh weather conditions, Cera in his toll, catching up on the spiketail to see a dreadful expression on his face. As he joined Spike's side, he soon discovered what caused him such distress.

"Oh no, is she..." Cera spoke fearfully as she joined the boys. In front of them, cowered behind a rock formation that sheltered her from the wind a little, lay the green swimmer motionless, her skin pale and blue, covered in snow and ice. "Please tell me she's breathing!" Panic began to rise in Cera and her friends as the possibility of losing another friend became ever so likely. Spike, being too worried sick to think straight, frantically cried her name in his unique language while nudging her repeatedly... to no avail.

"Spike, it's no use!" Littlefoot ordered, composing himself and remembering some lessons of old Mr. Thicknose that would prove to be valuable in this situation...

Check on her breath, make sure her throat is clear...

The longneck didn't hesitate, lowering his neck, placing himself directly in front of the swimmer's mouth. Looking for a possible sign of breathing was incredibly difficult under these conditions because neither hearing nor feeling the breeze of the breath would work in the storm but he tried anyway. Due to her lying position it was likewise difficult to determine if her chest was moving or not so Littlefoot decided to shove her onto her back carefully.

"What are you doing?!" Cera demanded but Littlefoot non-verbally signalled her to be quiet.

Her chest should still be moving if she's breathing...

For about a minute, the Longneck observed with maximum concentration, ignoring Cera's outrage about the swimmer even freezing faster, until he could finally tell...

She's breathing, but barely...

"So what is it now, Littlefoot?!" Cera almost begged as the tension tore her nerves apart, Spike merely watching with tears in his eyes, standing on wobbly legs.

"She's alive but it's looking bad. If we want her to survive the night, we either need to get her out of here quick..."

"...No way Littlefoot, we'll meet the same fate before we get back to somewhere safe!"

"... or protect her with our bodies," Littlefoot finished.

"That may have worked last time we got stuck in a bloody blizzard but we were seven and we could take turns. Now we're three and this storm is absolutely chilling me to the bone already!"

"Then what do you suggest? Ducky's not gonna survive this!" Littlefoot argued, the fear of losing her nagging on his composure.

"Don't we always somehow stumble upon some goddamn caves when we're deep in shit like right now?!" the threehorn ranted, pacing around to keep warm.

"Actually..." Suddenly, the longneck came to an important realization. "We've been exploring around here in the past. There should be a large cave on the left side of the path to the left. We did go to the left, didn't we?!" Excitement, hope... maybe there was a way to get Ducky to safer territory after all.

"You mean that weird one with the stone teeth that reach all the way to the bottom? That exits in the middle of nowhere on a rock cliff facing towards the Valley?!"

"Yep, that one Cera!" Littlefoot exclaimed, his spirit renewed. "Spike, you remember if we took a turn to the right or left after reaching the exit?"

As if on cue, Spike nodded and cried, he too realising that there was something they could do after all.

"Can you find it, Spiky? Cera and I are going go carry Ducky then!"

The Spiketail confirmed.

"Great, we'd better hurry then!" Cera shouted as the storm picked up more and more strength, threatening to catch the threehorn off balance.

"Cera, you help me lift her onto my back, then make sure the wind doesn't push her back down!" Littlefoot instructed, grabbing the swimmer with his tail though she was too big and heavy to lift her on his own.

"Got'cha!" Cera replied.

As soon as Ducky was safely positioned on top of the longneck, the group fought their way through the snow storm, the wind luckily in their back. Littlefoot had been correct about the cavern indeed. After a few longneck lengths, though hard to see in the misty grey of dawn, Spike tracked down the narrow entrance (Littlefoot barely managed to crawl in with Ducky on top) and, with great relief, dropped to the ground, completely worn out.

"We need to go deeper, the wind is still going on here because this is just a tunnel back go the valley!" Littlefoot urged them on.

"Yeah, I'm sick of the wind..." Cera frowned, taking the lead until a secluded chamber came into her view. "In there!"

Finally, Littlefoot was able to drop the swimmer who was by far not as light as in their younger years with the help of Spike who immediately rushed to her side glancing up at the longneck worriedly.

"She's still breathing, although just barely," Littlefoot explained, a thin cloud of fog forming in front of the swimmer's beak every now and then. "Gee, she must have spent all day up there in the cold wind until the storm surprised her, otherwise she should have been able to make it back safely..."

"Even Spike saw it coming, has Ducky seriously lost her mind now?!" Cera lamented. Her being love-struck, thus obscuring her perception in more than a few cases, clearly had been subject to critism from the threehorn's end before.

"Maybe she just fell asleep?" Littlefoot pondered, the mysterious stone teeth that were growing not only from the ceiling but also from the floor, joining together at some places, entering his field of view as he look into the distance thoughtfully. Though he was promptly interrupted by a cold snout nudging him with urge.

"I know, Spiky, I should stop thinking and help heating her up..." The longneck put a remorseful expression on as he signalled Cera and Spike to join him. "Let's spend the night here. While we try to sleep, we can help Ducky regain a healthy temperature. Let's just hope she'll make it through the night. Nothing we can do but to keep her warm at this point…"

"Yeah… I'm done anyway, let's sleep…" Cera mumbled groggily, placing herself next to Ducky's ice-cold body, joined by Spike while Littlefoot placed himself on the swimmer's other flank, wrapping his long neck and tail around her as best as he could.

Please wake up tomorrow...

I'll leave you hanging a little longer ^^

Also, sorry for not updating the previous two weeks. I broke both elbows, lol :D

Guest chapter 4 . Jul 11

"A very emotionally intense chapter with excellent use of first person perspective. Honestly I find myself worrying about Ducky's survival and the repercussions of this treacherous search even though I realize you likely won't kill off major characters this early into the story. Well done maintaining tone and resonance with readers. This has got me thinking about the project I gave you for later, as these stories share many similarities, so I'd like to discuss that at a later time once it becomes relevant. Keep up the good work."

Using an introspective narrative can make a huge difference in creative writing. Isn't it so much more thrilling if Ducky is sharing her turmoil with the reader herself rather than the narrator just babbling away until she loses her conscience? ;) I'm glad you liked that part, yep yep yep!

Of course I try to create some suspense about Ducky's survival but if you consider what the story is all about, having her die this early would be killing the story before it truly gets going. This blizzard arc, so to speak, is somewhat of an introduction to Ducky's perspective on the separation from Petrie.

Thanks for the kind words as always :)