Chapter 10

As Paths Divide

The rain was still falling from the dark grey sky, drenching the plane below and everything on it, but thankfully the thunder had long since ceased, leaving only the loud pitter-patter of rain. Many of the animals in the herd were growing restless and irritable as they continued to stand and wait in the icy downpour, for the signal to move on. They're obvious displeasure for this was made very clear by the angry muttering and often insulting shouting, as Ellie pushed her way to front of the herd, with her two recently reunited brothers who had actually been dropped a fair distance from the cliff-face.

"Wait Eddie, back up a little there, did you just say that, Mikey is a hawk's kid?" She asked, calling up to Eddie, who had been filling her in on everything that had happened.

"Yep, and since he fought this Night Stalker thing, The Sky King, Marcus, said that it would go after Mikey for revenge," Eddie explained to his sister, recalling the conversation that he and Crash had shared with the Marcus during the previous evening.

"Wow, a possum being raised by a hawk, that's even weirder than me," Ellie stated, drifting a little from the topic at hand, "Wait, what's a Night Stalker?"

"I dunno," Eddie answered, "But Marcus said it kills a lot of animals, and Mikey made it really mad when he fought back to stop it from eating- ouch, hey!"

Eddie was rubbing his, now very sore, shoulder as he turned to Crash, who had just punched him extremely hard, and couldn't help feeling a little surprised to see his brother glaring at him warningly, gesturing a threat to punch him again if he tried to continue.

"Don't tell her it was me!" Crash whispered angrily, "If she finds out I almost got killed by that thing, we'll never be able to do anything fun ever again, and I'll beat you into last week if you do."

"Eating what?" asked Ellie suspiciously, very wary of her brother's sudden hesitance, knowing from long experience that it was very often a warning sign for trouble.

"Ahh, someone, I didn't know 'em at all," Eddie continued, trying to sound as convincing as possible and only continuing when he felt sure that Crash wasn't going to hit him again, "Trouble is, when Mikey fought against the thing, he won, and that means that the Stalker's got it in for him now, if it finds him it's gonna kill him."

"So what? He's gone somewhere else now. Apparently he didn't know the way after all, and he ran for it," grumbled Ellie, clearly not the least bit sad to hear that Mikey was probably going to end up dead soon, "Now the we've got no idea what to do. Manny wants to go back, but Diego keeps saying that we have to go on and Sid just agrees with whoever yells loudest."

"What did you want to do sis?" asked Eddie, grabbing this chance to change the subject and avoid being pounded into mush by Crash, who had taken to returning the other animals insults with his own brand of cheek and vulgarity.

"Well, I wanted to stay awhile longer in case you managed to escape," Ellie answered, making Eddie just want to hug her again, before she added sheepishly, "I didn't say anything, though. It's just that I've been so tired lately, I mean really tired, and there's no way I'm gonna get into an argument if I can help it. Turns out I didn't need to say anything anyway, since Diego and Manny argued all night the herd had to hang around, but damn did they yell, I had to go all the way back there just to get some sleep. Then that storm rolled in and kept me up all night, almost."

"Don't worry 'bout it Ellie," assured Cash, after having just told an aardvark something about where to stick his nose, "I'm just happy you thought about us, plus the Sky King says he's got some new leadership idea for the herd anyway. Personally I think he's gonna take over, but I don't care, if it means Eddie and I don't get eaten, I'm happy."

"I just hope it means we're going somewhere, so that Manny and Diego will stop fighting," commented Ellie, as she pushed her way through the last of few spade mouths (as Eddie like to call them) and finally reached the very front of the herd.

Once again, Marcus and his subjects were perched in the same small tree growing in front of the cliff, and from the irritated looks set upon the faces of the other animals, including the birds, it wasn't hard to tell that Ellie's sudden appearance had interrupted Marcus in the middle of, what had to be, his leadership proposal.

"Ellie, there you are!" called Manny, clearly relieved to see her again and immediately beginning to make his way toward her with a very confused, and slightly shamefaced, Diego following close behind him.

"Where's Sid?" Ellie asked Manny quietly, but as he drew level with her instead of an answer Manny just smiled and locked trunks with her for a moment, the two of them sharing nothing except a loving gaze into one another's eyes.

For several seconds both mammoths seemed to share one of the silent, perfectly idyllic moments which seemed to truly define why these two were meant to be together, and although his ever inappropriate brother soon began to gag in revulsion, Eddie actually found himself feeling a little jealous.

"Eh-hem, could you please tell me when you're done so that I may continue," Marcus called irritably toward Manny and Ellie, who immediately pulled apart and Manny proceeded to take up a position standing next to Ellie, giving a small nod to the Sky King who took this as sign that he could continue his proposal.

"As I was saying," Marcus began, speaking in the loudest voice he could manage so as to get the message as far as possible, "It would appear that you are trapped here because you wish to reach the Green Lands but do not posses the knowledge concerning which path to take. Well, I am pleased to tell you that both paths lead there."

Some excited muttering began to spread through the crowd before him as he delivered this very welcome news.

"However," Chase broke in now, smiling maliciously, always the bearer of bad news and still loving it, "They are not the same, many of you will have to be very careful when choosing which path to take, and there is very little time left for decisions. Although many of you may not have noticed because of this cliff side behind me, there is, in fact, a volcano between the paths and it has become very active of late. I can only guess just how long you really have until it erupts, and when it does; neither of these paths will be of any use to you, and this time I assure you there will be no last minute miracles. Trapped, doomed to starve and die, is the fate for those who decide wait."

The vulture finished the last prophetic statement with a small nod toward Corbin, and a delighted grin at the chorus of frightened gasps from the animals in the crowd below as the message began to sink in.

"Thank you Chase," Marcus began, sounding strangely unconcerned with being interrupted by the vulture, "That is correct, but I am sure that we have at least two and half months until the eruption. It is possible, however, that the volcano may have less time than that, therefore it is imperative that we begin as soon as possible. Firstly, as Chase indicated, both paths are different and yes you will have to choose. The path to my left is what many may believe to be the easier path, and under normal circumstances this true since it is relatively flat, open and fairly simple to traverse. However its much greater length places a substantial amount of strain on our, already dangerously limited, timeframe. Therefore those who take this path will have to be able to deal with far less time for recuperation and a journey that you will find very demanding, both mentally and physically."

Marcus paused for a few seconds to give the other animals a chance to consider this option before continuing.

"The path to my right is perhaps the more difficult of the two," Marcus began again, "Albeit a much shorter path with many more opportunities for rest, this option is not without its dangers. As I myself have observed, this route will appear similar to the other for the first few miles, before it enters a series of densely vegetated woodlands, in which it has proven very easy to stray, and also difficult to follow others. On this route I can only advise that one shows extreme caution, and I personally recommend it to anyone seeking to avoid any unwanted pursuers."

The Sky King threw a glance in Crash and Eddie's direction before he continued; clearly indicating that this last comment had been made especially to them.

"In both cases I have selected leaders, who will be tasked with guiding both parties safely to the end of each path, where they will meet in the Green Lands, assuming all goes well. Any choosing the path to my right will be lead by myself and my chief consult Mallory, both of us have previous experience along this path and are more than capable of guiding any who take this route. Those who chose the longer path to my left will be lead by my close assistant, Marlon, along with Diego and Manfred, a pair of friendly faces I believe, who have both agreed to act as escort for all who choose to take this path. Do not waste any time whilst you consider your options, I will give only one hour for decisions, wait too long and you will be left behind."

Upon finishing his announcement, the Sky King joined one of the other hawks, a slightly smaller but definitely wise looking one, perched on a lower branch and they proceeded to join in a discussion. Over what they were discussing, Eddie could only guess, as he slid down his sisters side, followed closely by Crash, both of them landing with a soft squelch as their feet hit the mud below.

Ellie quickly turned to Manny with a look of both surprise and considerable admiration, before they and Diego joined many of the other animals, who had also gathered into small groups to discuss their options. All of which were generally species specific huddles.

"What do ya' think Ellie's gonna choose?" asked Crash, shivering slightly, as the rain continued to pour down over the excited rabble of animals, keeping both he and his brother's pelts constantly soaked and dripping.

"I dunno', but she said she's tired a lot, so I bet she'll pick the short and foresty path. Plus it'll keep us out of the rain; well after the first few miles anyway," answered Eddie, beginning to make his way through the mud, with no particular destination in mind.

"But Manny's going to take the long path, won't she follow him?" Crash pointed out, trudging through the mud after his brother, "I mean, did you see the way she looked at him before, that means she must like him a lot."

"I guess we'll find out when we leave then, Crash," Eddie responded, still treading aimlessly, "You know I thought we'd get to do something cool today, but there's no time for fun anymore, because all this stuff keeps happening."

Crash didn't respond to his brother's comment, verbally anyway, instead Eddie was suddenly struck on the back of the head by what definitely felt like a ball of mud, which had been thrown at high speed and with considerable accuracy.

"Hey!" Eddie cried out, turning around to investigate where the mud had come from, "What's the big id-"

A second ball of mud smacked Eddie square on the nose, splattering his entire face with the brown muck, causing him to lose balance in the slippery mess and fall flat on his butt.

Recovering from the minor daze caused by the sudden, slightly painful, impact of the mud, Eddie was only just in time to spot and duck a third mud ball which had been thrown towards him by his brother Crash.

"Oh you think that's funny!" Eddie yelled towards his brother, at the same time sporting a wide grin on his mud coated face as he reached down and grabbed up a handful of the thick brown sludge.

As Crash stood and laughed at his brother, sitting seemingly helpless in the mud, Eddie rolled the mud into the best ball shape he could manage and threw it with all the force he could muster straight towards his brother, striking him dead centre in the chest.

It wasn't long until both brothers were engaged in a full blown mud-ball war, each ducking and diving furiously to and fro to avoid each other's attacks, often falling over into the mud, slathering their entire coat in brown muck just before quickly retaliating with muddy projectiles of their own.

Each lost track of time completely, even forgetting the trouble ahead and just enjoying the moment of fun, which steadily progressed from a mud-ball war into to a mud wrestling match which ended with Eddie gaining the upper hand by forcing his brother onto his stomach and proceeding to sit on him, grabbing both of Crash's ears and pulling them as far they could stretch.

Unfortunately he didn't notice his brothers hand creeping upwards toward his body, where it then grabbed a whole handful of his wet, filthy fur and began to pull and twist it painfully, forcing Eddie to let go of the ears as he attempted stop Crash from ripping out a handful of his fur, losing his advantage and forcing the temporary stalemate to progress into round two of furious hand to hand combat.

"Eddie!" a familiar voice cried, just as he once again began administering some furious ear torture upon his brother, except this time he was wary of any fur grabbing limbs rising up from below.

Immediately letting go of his brother's ears, causing Crash's head to fly forward and smack face-first into the muddy ground with a loud splat, Eddie looked to where the voice had come from, his muddy face lighting up even further when he noticed the source.

"Sarah!" he called out, instantly leaping off his battered and beaten brother, and running over to the young female possum, who he had almost forgotten about.

As they met, Sarah wrapped her arms around Eddie, pulling him into a warm, damp, muddy embrace, and, taking him completely by surprise, she pressed her mouth against his in a soft, loving, kiss!

Although it had only been for a brief three seconds, this sudden, unexpected expression affection, was thoroughly mind blowing for Eddie, not to mention surprising the heck out of Crash, who had only just managed pull his head from the mud and was left completely dumbfounded by what he saw.

"When I heard that a falcon had carried you off, I didn't believe it, but when you didn't turn up last night I thought you were dead for sure," Sarah whimpered, tears beginning to well up in her jade-green eyes , as she continued to hug him ever more tightly, as if in fear that he would disappear again if she let go, "I wanted to tell you yesterday, I was going to tell you at the sunset, I-"

"Wait, don't tell me now," Eddie cut in, pulling away from Sarah's hug, already very sure and very happy about what she probably wanted to say, "Wait till the clouds break, then tell me at the sunset. Trust me this rain won't last forever," he looked at Sarah, noticing that her pelt was now slightly muddy from hugging his own filthy pelt, and got an interesting idea, "Say, would you like to join me and Crash in a mud war, you know, until we have to leave."

Sarah looked Eddie straight in the eye, instantly filling him with anxiety as to whether he'd just ruined the whole thing before it had started, but instead of vicious break up frown, a large smile spread across her face and her sadness appeared to leave her almost instantly.

"Try and stop me!" she cried, before diving into the mud and beginning to bombard Eddie with mud-balls before he'd even had a chance to react.

Although Crash didn't like the idea of a girl joining in, he just couldn't resist a good mud fight, after all, the more the merrier and he instantly dove into the muddy free-for-all.

The game continued for the rest of the hour, periodically changing into mud wrestling matches and then back into a mud-ball war every few minutes, with Sarah always seeming to come out on top. The whole competition only finishing when Ellie wandered over to tell them that it was time to go, and reveal that, contrary to Crash's initial belief that she would opt for the long path with Manny, it turned out that both Diego and Manny himself had insisted that she take the short, but slightly more restful path, although she couldn't really imagine why and Eddie couldn't really imagine why she would care.

As he walked along beside his sister with both Sarah and Crash, all of them having been refused riding privileges for being far too muddy for Ellie to even consider allowing them onto her back, Eddie gazed up at the dark-grey rain clouds above, unsure of whether it was still morning, but all the while longing for them to break away and reveal the sun. Just to see the sunset and hear Sarah's words, the words that he had never actually thought that he'd ever hear from anyone in his entire life.