Shira followed her scent trial back towards the rest of Diego's herd, forcing herself not to rush. He'd been out of her eyesight for only a short time - she couldn't be that anxious to see him! It was the cubs. Yes, she was just concerned for the cub's safety. Nothing more.
Of course she didn't realize until it was too late that it wasn't Sasha and Sam's safety she ought to be worrying about.
The snap of a twig came from up ahead and off to her left. Shira froze instantly midstep, one forepaw raised. Sid didn't notice and bumped into her. "Oh, sorry Shira - Shira?"
She hissed softly. "Quiet." She warned, her fur already standing on end in a spire from neck to midway down her back. She couldn't catch any scents, but she was sure there was somebody else nearby.
Somebody who didn't want to be seen. And from the sharp sound of the twig breaking... it might be somebody big. She stayed where she was.
Sid did not share the tigeress's patience. "What is it?" He asked, causing Shira to make one of her lightning-fast swipes and close her paw around his mouth, firmly keeping it closed. "I don't know yet. And if you don't shut up I'm not going to figure it out." She growled softly. Horror etched on her features when she heard an answering chuckle from the thick juniper bushes before them.
A very deep chuckle, low, menacing, and completely self assured. Shira stared with dread into the bushes.
With an explosion of leaves, berries and pine needles and backed by an aggressive, guttural roar, out burst an enormous cat, three times Shira's size, muscles rippling like glacier ice. Shira yowled and Sid screamed as she released his jaw then gave him a huge shove, throwing him several feet. "Sid, RUN!" Roared Shira, trying to leap clear after him. The massive feline batted at her with a paw as she was arching into the jump, and her graceful flight was interrupted, her pale body was driven into the forest floor. She gasped, willing herself not to respond to the pain.
WHUMP. The paw - the size of her head - came down again and missed her by a fraction. The very earth shook. Shira, despite all her confidence, her spunk, her bravery and her honour, knew one thing - fighting this monster was an impossible task. Cave Lion, came her father's warning voice from her memory. Desperately, she recalled lying on the fringes of their family group, her brothers crowded around their father, listening to his rasping tale of caution. They are the largest of all cats, bigger than the largest Sabres you know. They hunt anything with fur, and no one save for the adult mammoth is safe from their immense strength. If you are ever unlucky enough to encounter one, outrun it, and do not waste time standing and fighting. They have more endurance than most, and if you do not loose it quickly, it will hunt you down and slay you.
There was no way this could end well.
"Sid, run, I'll lead it off!" She hissed, but the sloth gave her a panicy look. "But Shira, he'll - AAAHHH!" Sid ducked and just missed being beheaded by a whisker. Shira screeched as the much bigger predator hooked her off the ground and tossed her aside with no effort.
Cat and mouse, Shira thought dazedly as she landed and slid on her side before she weakly clawed a tree to stop herself. Except I'm not the cat, for once.
Faintly, an enraged roar echoed in her mind. Was this another memory? No... it was too clear for that. Too close.
Diego had slowed down and was casting so many looks back over his shoulder he was almost crabwalking. Manny was starting to mumble under his breath and Ellie tactfully placed Sasha on the ground. "How about a quick break." She suggested, watching Sasha scamper over and pat happily at Sam, then headed for Diego. The adult sabre gave her a worried little nuzzle, then hastily pulled back as if he were worried the others might think him soft.
Ellie came to stand by Diego, who looked up at the she-mammoth with concern. "Ellie, Shira's been gone a while. Do you think she's okay?"
"Sure Diego, Sid's with her. And you know nothing can kill that sloth." Ellie reassured him confidently.
At that moment, the herd caught the foggy sound of a roar. Diego leaped to his paws in panic. "No! Protect the cubs, I have to go back!"
He ran. He pushed himself harder than he ever had before. Faster than he chased the deer that had mocked him, faster than when he slid down the ice tunnels, faster than when Manny thought he heard another mammoth trumpeting...
Shira was in trouble. He let rip with a roar of helpless fury, hoping she could hear it, that she knew he was coming for her.
The massive cave lion strode closer to Shira's dazed figure. Sid caught his breath in horror, grabbed a pine cone, and threw blindly. For all his clumsiness, barely able, in fact, to walk in a straight line, for once Sid excelled at something physical. The pine cone sailed through the air and smacked the lion right between the ears. It whipped around, snarling menacingly at the sloth. Shira staggered to her paws, shaking her head, in time to see Diego running like a golden bullet straight towards them.
"Get away from them!" Bellowed Diego. He left the ground and sailed through the air, hurtling into the back of the cave lion and clinging there with all four paws, trying to get a grip with his fangs. The lion growled and leaped and shook, trying to dislodge him. Sid, wailing incoherently, continue to hurl pine cones because he couldn't think of anything else to do to help.
"Diego!" Gasped Shira, unable to believe he was being foolish - no brave - no, FOOLISH! - to attack a cave lion. The lion figured out how to get rid of Diego and rolled, and hastily the sabre leaped away before the much bigger cat's bulk crushed him. Trumpeting announced that the rest of the herd had arrived. Manny rushed forward to help, while Ellie kept Peaches under her belly and stod back from the chaos, protecting her. While a cave lion wouldn't he able to kill a healthy, full-grown mammoth, a calf like Peaches would be just its size. Ellie then had to wrap her trunk around both Sam and Sasha. Upon seeing Diego and Shira under attack, both cubs had tried to rush in to help.
Manny bulled into the cave lion, which reeled from his heavy blow. Then it seemed to shake off the hurt, springing back into action, jumping right over Diego and going after Shira, claws out, teeth bared. Diego snarled, leaping after it and hooking his claws into a hindlegs to drag it off balance. Manny tried to catch the lion with his tusks, but the overgrowth cat clawed his trunk up, forcing him back, then kicked Diego in the chin and reared up. Shira was directly in the trajectory of those lethal forepaws.
Diego sprang and shoved her aside to safety. He tried to duck the swipe meant for her but he was a fraction too late and the heavy claws opened up his still-healing shoulder wound. But Manny had come back for the next round. "Get away from my family!" He trumpeted, and with a huge crack his tusk cracked on top of the lion's head. It fell, unmoving, the fight draining from the expansive body.
"Shira. Shira!" Diego nearly panicked when she didn't answer him at first. He crawled over to her, all but dragging his injured leg to her, but reached his good paw for her face. Forgetting how tough and proud she was, forgetting that she might bite all of his toes off, forgetting everything except the need to see those glacial blue eyes looking back at him.
"Diego." Murmured Shira, her words sounding far softer to his ears. "You saved my life. You fought a cave lion for me." She opened her eyes, and looking down at her, hearing her sweet voice, Diego nearly collapsed with relief. Heedless of the blood flowing and the pain running all the way down his leg, he pushed his muzzle at her and pressed his cheek down over hers. "Shira." He murmured again, his eyes closed, her breath warm on his cheek, and when she stretched her head up and ran her nose along his jawline to return his thankful nuzzle, he thought he just might be the happiest sabre-toothed tiger anywhere.
Ellie released Sam and Sasha and the pair ran over anxiously to Diego and Shira, as the adults broke apart - though Diego remained hovering over Shira protectively - and made sure they were okay. Sam was impressed and couldn't quite hide it, already picturing himself fighting a giant cave lion like his two heros, and Sasha was just happy to see her new friends were okay. Manny lumbered over to stand by Ellie with Peaches between them, and Ellie touched her trunk to his, letting him know how proud of him she was. Bravery and all. She knew he wouldn't stand to see any member of his herd threatened.
Eddie threw his arms around Crash. "Aw, bro!" He said tearfully at the tender scene, burying his nose in his brother's fur. After a moment he coughed and pulled back. "Wow, Crash, you really stink." He sniffled. Crash nudged Eddie. "Wait - that isn't me. Can you smell it too?" His whispered, his usually vague expression now one of anxiety. Eddie sniffed the air and immediately his expression mirrored his twin's. It was the faint, but noticeable to the possum's sensitive noises, smell of death.
They looked at one another then scanned the others. Their sister was talking quietly to her mate and daughter, and Sid was watching the tigers with a delighted expression on his face. Crash gestured to Eddie and the pair scampered off quickly, unseen into the undergrowth.
Usually, a solo mission like this would have been filled with silly games. Not this time. The brothers neared a rocky little hollow and Crash pointed out several tooth-marked bones scattered around. Eddie found a tuft of tawny fur and showed his brother. "Lion hair." Breathed Crash, looking around. Eddie gulped nervously. "This was its den, I think."
"That smell is probably whatever those came from." Crash agreed, pointing to the chewed-up bones. But Eddie didn't think so. The death smell was fresher. Clutching one another for strength, they inched their way through the deathly quiet hollow towards a row of drab green shrubs.
Crash parted a screen of leaves and his breath whooshed out of him in horror. Eddie looked over his shoulder and them staggered back with a moan.
Lying in a pool of blood were the bodies of two sabre-tooth tigers. The larger one had the same creamy coloured fur as Sasha did. The smaller, lither body was reddish gold.
Crash couldn't drag his gaze away from the tigers. All he could think of was the hope in Sam and Sasha's faces. How Sam had kept looking for his parents even when he'd been all by himself, how Sasha had perfect faith in the herd that they would be reunited with them.
"It's not fair." Whispered Crash. "They're too little. They need..." His voice broke and he began to sob. "They need their Mom and Dad. How are we meant to tell them? They're just babies!" His skinny body shook with misery.
Eddie slowly straightened up, suddenly feeling, for the very first time in his life... old. He didn't like the feeling at all. He looked down at the ground but didn't really see the of the snow-scattered-leaf-litter-patterns there as he made up his mind about what to do. Slowly, he drew Crash away from the shrubs, so they couldn't see the bodies any more. Crash continued to cry for Sam and Sasha's parents, sitting on the ground with his head in his hands. For a moment Eddie just stood there, trying to figure out what to say.
"Crash." He managed at last, his voice telling his brother how close he was to breaking down too. Crash looked up. Eddie pulled the branches and leaves back to where they were, blocking off the sad little graveyard. Crash stared, uncomprehending. "We're not going to tell the others." Whispered Eddie. Crash blinked. "But... but... shouldn't they know?"
Eddie put a paw around Crash's shoulders. "Do you remember when Mom died?" He asked quietly. Crash's eyes welled up again. The pair of them and Ellie had had the bestest, kindest, most wonderful mother in the whole wide world. None of them had ever spoken about her after she caught an infection one winter and died. It was too painful. "Do you remember how it felt to see her lying there, getting weaker, and we couldn't do anything? We didn't have any hope. We all knew what would happen." Eddie went on, and Crash nodded mutely.
"When Sam and Sasha think about their parents, they'll think about them the way they see them now. Strong. And healthy. And scary, because all tigers are scary." Crash smiled, just a little, through his tears. Eddie sniffled a little too. "They'll always have hope, because they'll picture them alive. And some hope is better than no hope at all. We can give them that." He said, very gravely. He held out a paw to help Crash up. Crash took it. Eddie used a leaf to wipe up his brother's tears, then for good measure he blew his own nose on it before throwing it away. They both looked back at the screen of leaves, then at each other. "We... we never saw anything." Crash whispered resolutely, cementing the vow begun by his brother, to never tell another soul of what they had found this day. Eddie nodded, then together the brothers headed back to their herd.
"Hey guys?" Called Eddie as he jumped up Ellie's shoulder, and Crash hopped onto Manny's. "We should try looking that way." He suggested, no trace of the horror they had witnessed evident on his face. Crash followed his example. "Yeah, the adult tigers wouldn't come so close to a cave lion den. Come on Diego, Shira, get a cave already!"
"They're right." Decided Manny. "Come on Sam, Sasha, let's go find your parents."
Shira had spent the past few minutes carefully licking Diego's shoulder better. She offered her slim shoulder under his good one to help prop him up as they rose together. A moment of understanding shone between blue and green eyes as he accepted her help. He wouldn't be too proud to do so in the future - and neither would she. Not after the way he'd come and fought for her.
"Wait for me, Sasha!" Squealed Peaches, and she and Sasha giggled with one another as they raced around the adults as the procession began to move. Sam rolled his eyes, then trotted after the adult mammoths and Sid. For a split second, hesitation caused him to look back, and he noticed the fallen body of the cave lion. Then Diego and Shira passed by him, and he forgot the moment of unease. He caught up with them and used his head to help prop up Diego on his injured side. Diego looked down at him, the plucky little cub, and smiled. Surprising both adults, Sam flashed a very quick smile back.
Sam knew now that Diego, and Shira, would fight to protect he and his sister, against the greatest of odds. It wouldn't be so bad, staying with this herd while they continued to look for his missing mother and father. His sister was already best friends with that little mammoth - and with them she would be safe. That was what mattered most.
A/N - Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter, I certainly enjoyed writing it, because I enjoy setting out action and also scenes that are really sad because of the different effects it has. Characters react very different to grief than they do many other emotions, and Eddie and Crash are a perfect example of that here. It's the first time they've ever felt like 'grown ups' by shouldering the burden and protecting the cubs, and weather it's a wise decision or not, they made it with the best of intentions in mind.
There will be just one more chapter in his fic, but never fear - I am already working on a sequel to follow it :)
Thank you THANKYOU for all these reviews! They have kept me very motivated to give you guys regular updates and not keep you waiting too long.
Mystery, well, you were right...
Jasonb I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Fanfics can really expand on a world you've enjoyed, some are very well written and I enjoy reading them as much as writing them!
Earth it was a good suggestion :D
Lou glad you I'm doing Shira justice! You know originally I was going to have her inherit her fur colour from her mother or perhaps grandfather, but in the end I kept her the only white tiger in her family so she'd be completely unique!
Swiftie what a wonderful compliment, thanks so much!