Sry for taking so long to update but thank you for the reviews on my stories so far they mean alot. I know i don't respond to them but i do read them and they inspire me to keep writing, since I wasn't sure what people would think of my stories. So thank you so much! Read and review! Now on tho the chapter! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age
Chapter 4: The Inevitable Obstacles
"I wonder if Tess and Diego got down that slope ok?" Inquired the sloth, "Well at least they can get some alone time, right Manny?" Sid said while playfully elbowing Manny's leg. "What we need to be worrying about right now is how to get to Frost Tip Cave, without Diego we can't track, so we need everyone's head in the right place," Manny explained, addressing the last few words to Sid. "Alright alright" exclaimed the sloth "A guy can't even worry about someone, sheesh!"
By now the herd was through the tunnel and on flat ground, but the cave unlike the slope inclined and led the herd up to a flat mountain covered in a sheet of ice. At the bottom of the mountain, stretching to the horizon, was a shimmering blanket of snow that covered the vegetation. It was almost night and the last rays of the sun were slowly becoming nonexistent as it retreated behind the trees. "We should get some rest" said Manny "we have covered enough ground already and we need our sleep." "Manny's right" exclaimed Ellie smiling at her husband. So the herd fell asleep out in the cold, with no wood to make a fire and no cave around, it would have to do.
Tess sighed, the two sabres had been walking for at least an hour and not a single conversation had been exchanged between the two. To make matters even worse Diego would periodically stare at Tess' back when he thought she wasn't looking. The female rolled her eyes "What do I have something stuck to my coat?" She asked Diego who looked embarrassed at being caught, but quickly turned his head away. Tess looked at her back and widened her eyes at the sight, the crimson light she saw before blanketed over her chocolate brown coat making her rustic gold spots shine, it looked stunning. "Anyways" said Diego bringing the female back to reality. "We should get some sleep, it's almost night and we need to rest for the day ahead." Tess just nodded as she got comfortable by a tree, while Diego made sure to sleep a few feet away from her. The female gave Diego's back an annoyed stare, I'm not going to bite Tess thought as darkness overcame her and she fell into a dreamless sleep.
Tess woke up immediately as she felt herself shiver violently. Her back was covered in snow that was slowly seeping into her coat. The saber shook the snow off and laid down to sleep when she saw Diego's green eyes through the darkness of night watching her. "Cold?" he asked "No!" replied Tess a little too quickly. "Alright then" Diego said closing his eyes to sleep "Ok I am cold, there happy!" Tess answered annoyed that she had given in. The male saber got up, walked over to Tess and laid down beside her so there fur was touching. "What are you doing?" she asked "First you stay away from me and then you lay right beside me?" "You said you were cold, it's the only way to keep you warm" He replied like it was obvious. At that Tess smiled, he was being nice even though he didn't want to show it. Finally Tess thought his 'impenetrable armour' is beginning to break.
Crash and Eddie awoke to the sound of rumbling and the ground shaking. Thinking it was another earthquake they woke up the others, "Wha-What!" Manny yelled suddenly alert. "It' another quake!" said Crash "This doesn't' feel like another Quake, I think its a-" but Manny never got to finish his sentence as a molten rock crashed through the ice and hit the ground below, setting the nearby vegetation on fire. "Volcano!" Screamed Sid finishing Manny's sentence.
"Tess, Wake up!" Diego said shaking the female saber. "Huh? What's wrong?" Tess asked now fully alert. "A blizzard is coming this way, can't you feel it?" Asked the male and as Tess concentrated she could feel gusting wind that screamed a storm was coming as it rustled through her fur. "But that means were going to have to go through it!" "Do you have a better idea, because I'd love some suggestions?" Inquired Diego mockingly. Tess stared daggers at the male saber as a grin plastered itself across his face. "Let's just get going" She said trying to get away from the conversation. Diego knew there was no other way to go, he was just trying to get under her skin, but two could play at that game Tess thought with a grin.
"Mommy!" screamed Peaches as a rock came shooting up through the ice right in front of the small mammoth. She was now totally boxed in, only a small strip of ice kept the chunk she was on from plummeting into the lava. "Peaches!" screamed Ellie as she ran to her daughter "Don't move honey, mommies coming!" Ellie had to be careful as she got closer to the chunk of ice her daughter was on, one wrong move and Peaches was gone. The female mammoth slowly approached her daughter, and stuck out her trunk out as far as she could. "Honey grab my trunk!" Explained Ellie as Peaches shifted her weight forward to grab her mother's trunk. T he move was too much for the ice and it cracked sending the ice both of the mammoths were on plummeting into the searing hot lava. The snow around them created a cloud, so the others couldn't see a thing. "Ellie, Peaches!" shouted Manny as he ran up to the big crack in the ice looking for his family. "It's ok Manny were fine" Said Ellie as they came through the cloud of snow "I thought I lost you" said Manny in disbelief as he ran to his family. "I don't want to ruin the moment but I think we should get off this volcano unless we want to get roasted, and I for a fact do not want to get cooked!" Exclaimed Sid. The others nodded and they all got off the dangerous mountain.
The two sabers had been trudging through the blizzard for a while now and it was excruciating. The snow blinded the two sabers and their smell and hearing were all they were able to use. Also Tess' paws were starting to go numb from the thigh high dunes of snow, the female had used all her energy, she was tired, cold and couldn't walk another step. Instead she fell to her feet and her body hit the cold icy snow. "Diego!" Tess yelled over the blizzard " I can't go any further!" The male saber tuned to see Tess lying in the snow and ran over to her, "There's a cave right over there" he said pointing with his paw to a close cave "Do you think you can make it that far?" Tess tried to no avail to get up and ended up back in the snow "No I can't, I'm exhausted" she replied. What Diego did next startled Tess, he picked her up by the scruff of the neck and threw her on his back. "What do you think you're doing, I'm not a cub you know!" The female saber yelled to Diego annoyed. "Well unless you want to freeze to death, then you should be quiet and let me help you!" At that Tess was silent, she couldn't really argue with his logic.
"I'm going to go hunt" Diego told Tess who was now in the safety of the their temporary den. "You can't go out there, there probably won't even be another mammal for miles!" The female saber explained "I have to try, you're hungry, I can't let you starve!" Diego looked stunned at what he had just said and left the den without another word. Was Diego starting to care for her Tess thought as she tried to comprehend what Diego had said. Thoughts of her husband with his honey gold coat came to mind, they both look so alike she though. But Tess had told herself that after he had died she could never love anyone else, but now she wondered, watching Diego's back fade into the snow if that was completely true.
An hour or so later the two sabers were eating in silence, not a word had been exchanged between the two since their outburst. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I wish Sid was here" said Tess trying to brighten the mood. They both knew that Sid would never shut up and kept everyone awake with his constant talking in his sleep, but he did make a good fire, something they needed badly. Diego looked over when Tess said that to see her shivering violently and Diego wished he could do something about it, so he went up to the female and sat beside her so they were wedged together in the back of the den. "Oh the second time in two days, you've cuddled beside me, I wonder if it's only for warmth?" Tess teased. "Like I said you're cold, you need to get warmed up, so just go to sleep already." Diego exclaimed slightly flustered at the comment. Tess giggled and rolled her eyes then went to sleep.
Just as Diego was about to go to sleep he heard a sound, the unmistakable sound of wolves howling not too far away, and his last thought before he went to sleep was the inevitable encounter between the two sabers and the wolf pack.