*sigh* Okay, okay... I won't waste any time with saying I'm sorry for the long wait. Hope you can read this anyway - real life as been rather busy, you know? So, guess wat? There's only one, maybe two, chapters left of this fanfiction! And I promise that I will finish it!

Thanks for the reviews! Here's chaper 8:

The herd walked slowly. Diego led them, with Ellie next and Manny last. Sid sat on Manny's back while the possums and Peaches stayed close to Ellie. For once there was no singing or playing.

Sid gulped as he swayed on Manny's back. "Um, Diego…" he begun. "Why can't I see the ground over there?"

Diego glanced down as well. Apparently they were just walking on a ledge, nothing more. "It's the mist", he answered calmly.

Crash laughed nervously. "It's still a rather long way down…"

"Wonder how long we'd fall before we smash into the rocks", Eddie filled in.

"Why don't you find out?" Diego replied dryly. Suddenly he stiffened in alarm. He caught the scent of wolves.

"What is it?" Manny asked as he noticed the saber's ears laying flat to his head. Peaches huddled closer to her mother.

"Wolves", he said tensely. Without paying the others any attention he slipped past them and came to stand next to Manny. "They're attacking from behind. Most likely they want to see me dead first, considering I killed two of their own."

"How long is this trail?" Manny asked. Fighting on a slim path in the mountains wasn't a great plan, especially since three of them were mammoths.

Diego frowned. "I'm not sure. I haven't been here for a long time. Keep on walking, Ellie", he added quickly as he begun to hear the wolves. Ellie hurried forward and threw a concerned glance over the shoulder. Diego didn't doubt she would be helping them if it wasn't for Peaches.

"Even when we fight", Manny murmured to her.

They hadn't taken more than a few steps before a black, lonely wolf appeared right in front of the saber.

"Why, hello", the wolf, obviously the alpha, purred. A sly grin reached his face. "I must say you're the strangest herd ever. Mammoths, possums, sloths… and a saber." He turned his sharp eyes to Diego and growled threatening. "You owe me two of your lives", he hissed. "However, I'm not known for mercy. Let's say I take all your lives." With that the whole pack of wolves came out from the shadows.

Instead of being attacked by the alpha as Diego was expecting, two smaller wolves threw themselves over him. That was the start signal. At once the wolves literally jumped at the herd. Diego stood closest and stopped as many as possible from reaching the others. Manny stood slightly behind him and prevented everyone who slipped past the saber. Which meant he was just as busy as Diego.

With a snarl Diego sent a wolf flying over the edge. His desperate howl echoed long after he disappeared. The wolves were rather small, but also were quick and surprisingly tough. As Diego delivered a –what he thought- deadly blow and turned away from the body, the wolf scrambled up and tried to bite the saber in the neck. It was only Manny's fast thinking that saved him from a certain dead. Ever so slowly, Diego and Manny walked backwards. Ellie's focus was on Peaches as she tried to lead them into safety. Diego realized with a sting of guilt that Ellie had a long cut over her left foreleg which still was bleeding. Somehow, a wolf had managed to slip past both Diego and Manny and attacked her. Apparently se had managed to shake him off.

Diego narrowed his eyes as he saw the alpha standing away from them and silently watching the fight. He seemed to save is breath and playing leader without risking his life. If it were a pack of sabers, he would have been overthrown a long time ago. Diego also knew, that this pack would fight into death. The only way to stop them was to defeat their alpha.

"What, to frightened to fight me?" he called out to the wolf. "Scared to break a claw?" from experience he knew that insults always worked. The alpha snarled.

"Dream, saber", he roared and leapt over the saber. Diego growled back and slashed his claws over the wolf's face. He responded by sinking his teeth into Diego's shoulder. Sadly for him, Diego found it easy to shake him of. After a short while the alpha indeed proved to be a worthy fighter. They were both bleeding from several cuts and wounds. Manny was now fighting those wolves who tried to slip past; but considering most of them silently sat and watched their alpha fight it wasn't too hard.

Just as Diego thought he had an advantage, another light-furred wolf joined the fight. He suddenly felt the childish urge to call him cheater.

"Coward!" the saber called out as he saw the alpha slink into the shadows once again. Diego gritted his teeth and ran closer to Manny.

"Any further ideas?" Manny asked dryly and cast a look down at him.

"Actually, yes: Keep on walking", Diego said without looking back. "The sooner we get away from here, the better."

Manny raised an eyebrow. "And you're off too…?" he wondered as Diego moved slightly forward.

"The only way to stop them is to kill their alpha", he murmured. "And that's what I'm going to do." He didn't wait for Manny's reply, and leaped past the first two wolves and fought his way towards the alpha. The leader regarded him with cold eyes and didn't move before Diego was a few meters away. Then he attacked without warning and they both tumbled backwards and rolled, fighting for the higher ground. A sudden idea hit Diego: why trying to kill the alpha before his own pack's protecting eyes, when Manny could help?

Thanks to sheer will and a great amount of luck Diego managed to push the alpha closer to Manny, who still were fighting the others.

"Manny!" Diego shouted warningly. The mammoth looked sharply towards him, then to the wolf and immediately understood what Diego was thinking. He narrowed his eyes, rushed forward and hit the alpha with his tusks. All his powers were beneath that hit, and the wolf was sent flying dangerously close to the edge. Manny and Diego ran forward at the same time and the alpha had nowhere to flee. He was roughly pushed of the cliff, and fell howling down from the mountain. The other wolves froze in shock.

Manny looked back to them and growled. "Leave", he said in low voice, and one by one the wolves disappeared soundlessly again. The herd stood in one place a bit longer.

"Well that was…" Eddie started and looked at Crash, who didn't seem to know what to say.

"Let's go, shall we?" Ellie suggested quietly and stroke Peaches' head carefully. The others agreed, while no one voiced their concerns. This time Diego walked last. Ellie had already stared fussy over both Manny's and Diego's injuries, which both of them dismissed. And for the sake of the herd's safety, a few wounds and a few days of limping wasn't too much to pay. It seemed as they would make it safe down from the mountain.

Seemed. Sometimes, days are just terrible bad and luck is nowhere to be found. Apparently they were having one of those days. Because just as they were beginning see the forests, the ground beneath them begun to shake. At first it was nothing but small tremors under them, but soon they grew larger.

"Move, quickly!" Manny barked, and they started running. Diego had to bite his tongue to not say anything about mammoths running in the mountains is not smart. Staying at the same spot wasn't safe, either.

Running last wasn't the best thing to do, Diego thought. A strange feeling of dejá vu filled him as rocks begun to tumble down. It was exactly what had happened all those years ago, when he still was a cub. Expect for that little thing: his pack wasn't there. No, they were dead. Either was his father there, who ad given his life to protect his son.

Still, Diego didn't feel frightened as he realized there was no way he should make his way out from there. He didn't feel much at all.

AS the rocks smashed down in front of him, he faintly heard someone call his name. Maybe he didn't hear it. Maybe it only was an illusion.

He guessed it didn't matter anymore, since the world only was darkness now.

Diego: ...That's not very nice.

Blondie: Nope - but she's not know for being nice, either.

GirlFromNorth: Shut up, or I'll delete you from this "story".

Blondie: Being "behind the scenes" isn't a very good job, you know.

Mysterious H: No, you don't mean that...

GirlFromNorth: I'm just going to predend that I don't hear you... Please review!