"Where can I get something to drink? I'm dyin' of thirst!"
"Eh?" A huge rat-looking beast, who had been munching on a tiny bone hungrily stopped when hearing an exchange of voices and perked its ears. Dropping his bone, he looked over the bushes.
"We can stop by th' Barrel Haven!" exclaimed a tiny, high-pitched voice of a bug. "They brews th' best stuff aroun'!"
He couldn't believe his eyes and his ears when he saw it was the same little white mammal they had checked on earlier. Reaching over, he tried shaking his companion awake. Excitement ladled his tone. "Comrade! Comrade, wake up! We are about to feast! Quick! Get your fat carcass behind the bush and get ready!"
He also wondered with a chilling shudder if that dragon was nearby. But this might be their only chance for dinner.
.
"Barrel Haven, huh?" Fone Bone wondered aloud as they walked (or in Ted's case, hopped) through the woods. "Don' need a beer so long as they have water…"
"Why, hello there, small mammal!"
He froze when a grizzly head suddenly poked out of the bushes, inches from his face. It curled a long, clawed finger as if to beckon him closer.
"Could you step in here for a moment? I've got something to show you…" It spoke with a surprising pleasant, though heavily accented tone.
Still, something like instinct crawled unpleasantly through the Bone's skin, his eyes roving from the claw to its huge hairy body to its bug-like eyes with yet a lack of reaction. He had never seen anything like it before, and thought it was one of the strangest things he had ever seen out of a book. He was suddenly very aware of how single and narrow this path was.
Whatever you do, Fone Bone, don' step in those bushes!
Keeping a straight face, he thumbed over his shoulder. "Can't you show me out of here?" he asked. "You know, where I've got runnin' space?"
"No! NO!" Fone Bone almost jumped as the rat-like creature withdrew its claws, as if preparing to grab him. "Please! Step in here! It's nice and cozy and––er––His eyes moved around briefly, "––your friend, the dragon, isn't around, is he?"
The dragon? What's he talkin' about? Before Fone Bone could ponder that thought, he heard a boing near his feet. Turning around, he was surprised to see the leaf-bug hopping away. "Hey, Ted! Where you goin'?"
"Yer on your own, Bone!" Ted squeaked as he went, while the creature's voice hissed behind the bushes, "Quick, comrade! Start the cooking fire!"
Oh. Something dropped in Fone Bone's stomach with dread. He started o turn around, trying not freak out. "Ted, wait for me––ACK!"
"Gotcha!" Large, leathery hands with long-fingered claws grabbed the back of his neck, cutting off his air. He was yanked off his feet back into the bushes before the panic could sink in.
"Well, well...Look who's joined up for supper!" He was dragged right in front of another creature similar to the one currently holding him by the neck. "Comrade, go start the cooking fire!"
His "comrade," however, was turned the other, crossing his arms with a huff. "No!"
"NO?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO?!"
"You called me fat! And this isn't first time you done it either!"
"Comrade, be reasonable," the creature holding––or rather, not holding Fone Bone, he realized with a start, said exasperatedly, "I wasn't thinking...I was trying to catch our dinner...THIS ISN'T THE TIME––"
Maybe if I don't say anythin', I can quietly sneak away...Fone Bone started shuffling his feet backwards––
"I take it back! You're not fat, alright?!"
"Too late!"
Another shuffle. The bushes seemed to part a little for an opening...
"Please, comrade! I just want to chop him up for the stew!" The first creature seemed to growing impatient.
He was about to take a full step back when––
"Oh!" He froze when the second creature suddenly whipped around, an excitedly gleam in his eyes. "That's another thing! I'm tired of stew! I would rather put him in a crust and bake him into a light, fluffy quiche!"
...Quiche?
"QUICHE?!" The first creature echoed Fone Bone's stuped incredulity. "What kind of food is that for a monster to eat?"
My thoughts exactly! He cringed, while wondering whether he should be flattered or spooked enough to be served as such a fancy pastry to such a scary monster. With them distracted now...
"Listen, little mammal," the first creature turned to his prey, "could you come back in maybe half an hour until we straighten this out?"
The little whit mammal was already gone, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.
"..."
"..."
"...Why didn't you stop me?"
"Hmph! Why should I? You're so smart!"
"TED!" Fone Bone was shouting now, as he ran as fast as he could through the woods. "TED! Where ARE YOU, TED?" He stopped, looking around the darkness of the woods. He had no idea how late it was already getting, or how long he had been running away.
At least he was sure to give those hairy creatures the slip.
"C'mon, Ted! Where are you? You gotta take me to see Thorn!"
That was another thing: without Ted, he had no idea who or what this "Thorn" looked like. And if he can't find this Thorn, he can't find his way out. And if he can't find his way out, sooner or later, he'll get caught and baked into a stew or a fancy pastry by some other wild thing in this strange territory, and if that happens, he'll never find Phoney and Smiley!
"I'm sorry I called you a leaf!" called Fone Bone as he ran, getting desperate now. Then he halted, ears picking up trickling noises. "WHOOOOOP! Water! I hear water!"
Remembering now how dry and parched his mouth was, the sound of water was right now the most beautiful sound he has heard in weeks! Like a panting hound on the trail, Fone Bone flailed as he rapidly followed the sound.
"Water! Water! WATER!"
Sure enough, there was a stream in front of him. Fone Bone practically fell to his belly and plunged his face into the cool, refreshing stream of oh so heavenly blessed water and took huge gulps.
"Water...mmmm...water, water...mmmm, water, water, mmmm...mmmm, oh man!"
Refreshed and hydrated, belly full of water, he sighed in content and flopped down against the nearest tree. Once his joy subsided, he sighed. "What am I gonna do?" he wondered hopelessly to himself. "What if I can't find my cousins before it snows? We could be trapped here for th' whole winter!" He leaned forward, propped his chin on his knees to think. "I gotta get outta here! This forest is too weird for me!"
RRRR-UMBLE...The ground rumbled. A shadow passed over. Fone Bone peered up...
WHUMP!
Layers and layer of heavy, icy cold mounds of...snow?!
PUFF! After struggling and digging, his head managed to pop up out of the white. A pile still sat on his head, covering his eyes and deadpanned face. He could already feel the rest of it falling in flakes from the sky.
"...Case in point," was all he muttered.