Two Men At A Lake – A Story About Otters
This is Chapter 5. Chapter 4 is here.
– Chapter 5: It's a new day, let's go –
Two furry men on a quest, hiking, swimming, moving towards a mountain. And with them, a third friend of unspecified gender, but attractive all the same, at least when it came to certain metals. It was one of their rescued spherical magnetic clients who had insisted on floating alongside them, especially once they had said they were going to Mt. Steel. That friend had been positively beaming upon hearing that name, as if to them it sounded like it would be a trip to Candyland, and David found it hard to reject the desperate buzzing pleas even if Matt still didn't see eye to eye with them. Especially since it seemed they were gaining a companion that knew about this mountain they had to seek out.
Now they had already been to their „base camp“ and collected their sleeping bags and other things needed for a longer trip, including, as David insisted, a comb. But also ropes, matches and some other useful equipment like a pocket knife. Matt was carrying the backpack and a sleeping bag, David just a sleeping bag. Best to travel light, they didn't need a lot of clothing after all.
„BZZT, YOU NEED TO BE CAREFUL.“ their new companion exclaimed, floating over them as they were swimming through the lake again the way they had come. „MORE WEIRD OCCURENCES NEAR THUNDERWAVE CAVE ARE POSSIBLE.“
„AND WILL WE PLAY A GAME IN THE EVENING AGAIN, TOO?“ they continued, not having waited for a reply. „I HEARD YOU HAD CARDS WITH YOU.“ Their sole eye landed a suspicious glance at Matt. „JUST HAVE TO MAKE SURE YOU PLAY FAIR THIS TIME!“.
Matt was about to protest, but realized it was pointless. The mission they were all on was more important.
After they had reached the shore, they stopped to have some kind of late lunch. Not feeling like struggling to get some fish again, they limited themselves to some of the nut bars and oatmeal they had with them.
By the time they had reached the entrance to Thunderwave Cave it was almost dark, and they settled down near it, hoping to figure out in what direction Mt. Steel was tomorrow. Much to their companion's dismay it was too dark to play cards already. Not that David had any idea how it was supposed to have worked anyway. Besides, they were probably all too tired anyway, or at least David felt that way. They rolled out their sleeping bags and tucked themselves in.
But their attempts at sleep didn't last long.
„Raaah, WHOSE IDEA was sleeping RIGHT NEXT to the cave that sends shocks through you EVERY FEW MINUTES?“ Matt shouted, after being jolted awake for the fourth time in an hour.
„BZZT, IT WAS YOURS!“ their metallic companion exclaimed, annoyed at being tossed in the air by the forces of nature themselves.
Still, it was too late and dark to look for another place to rest, so they bore it out until dawn, even knowing how crushing their tiredness might be in the morning just being able to lie down for some hours was better than nothing.
David couldn't help but count the shocks to keep track of how long it would be until sunrise. And 24 shocks later the early birds were already singing, maybe about catching their worms or about how much they enjoyed being part of the 5 AM club of super early risers. Matt and David felt like they had been pressed into its service, and their spherical friend probably felt similar, crackling with unfocused static electricity while unsteadily floating up and down in the air.
„Hang on, we still don't even know your name“ David said to them, in an effort to avoid thinking about how tired he was.
- „BZZ... IT'S CHRIS...“ Chris said, unable to keep their solitary eyelid open for longer than a moment at a time.
Looking at them actually made David's eyelids involuntary copy it, and he might have fallen asleep at the spot, if Matt had not given him a 'gentle' shove to look at a mountain in the distance that he hadn't realized was visible to his right, just like Mr. Blues had promised.
A large, wide mountain, covered in snow on the top but with no single prominent summit, being rather weirdly flat even. Only a number of ragged peaks on the side of it were noticeable and added variety to the shape. Some of them had no ice cap, and so appeared like peaks on a cake with black and white frosting. Something David would have enjoyed for breakfast. Cake is a normal breakfast food, right?
Unfortunately, Mt. Steel was still very, very far away, high up in the sky, with huge forests of tall leafy trees in front of it. And neither of them had any mountaineering experience or even any equipment for it.
How in the world had Rose ended up there? He briefly wondered if it was a cruel joke to send otters so far out of their element, but the headtrio had seemed sincerely distressed. And he didn’t want to distrust them, especially since this involved the son of the molepeople, too.
Still, for something or someone to have abducted both so far so fast it seemed like it would have required almost supernatural speed. As very natural beings it would take them at least a day to cross the distance.
„BZZ-ZT! WE NEED TO BE MOVING ALREADY. A GOOD RESCUE TEAM IS A FAST RESCUE TEAM“ Chris urged before David could complain, and he didn't want to risk an argument with someone who was very visibly sparkling with electricity.
So, once their sleeping bags were rolled up again with Matt shouldering the backpack, their long march to the mountain began with a trek through the forest near the cave, which Chris pointed out as being inhabited by bears, wolves, wolverines and many other furry creatures. They seemed to know a lot more about nature than David had expected. He decided to not ask more about the bears, though, since he figured he needed no additional reasons to worry about the journey in front of them. Why not bring up a safer topic, like trees?
„Do you know what the trees here are called? They have this weird white fluff around many of their seeds“ he asked.
“BLACK COTTONWOOD! THESE BEAUTIFUL SPECIMENS ALWAYS GROW NEAR THE RIVERS FLOWING PAST MT. STEEL! BZZZ...”
Chris flew to a particularly large one, two or three steps wide, and inspected its gray, deeply fissured bark.
„THIS ONE IS CERTAINLY 100 YEARS OLD AT LEAST!“
David found it marvelous. Looking up, the tree seemed to stretch up amazingly far into the sky, maybe 30 times as tall as him.
They all continued walking, and soon the rushing of water was audible. They had arrived at a shore of a river cutting through the forest, larger than any river he ever remembered having seen, being at least twice as wide as the lake they swam through, although it was broken up by some elongated islands in the middle. Despite its size, it was remarkably calm and some of the river channels that together appeared to be forming a single braid even seemed to be rather shallow. David was relieved, not only would this make traversing the area much easier, being near water also put him at ease. He briefly wondered if it had always been like that or if it might be a recent change... but the environment required his full attention if he was to avoid slipping and falling painfully, so that thought didn’t get far.
A fish jumping out of the same river a moment later, intriguingly and ... appetizingly spotted black and gold with a bright red underside put an end to that effort, catching his attention so totally as if the fish itself had thrown out a shiny bait that he couldn't resist. And before he had even lost his balance from the sudden stop on the smooth riverside rocks he had let the sleeping bag fall and jumped into the river in pursuit of his seducer, alerting his travel companions with a big, loud splashing of cold water of his abrupt change in plans.
„David! No! The way to the mountain is not underground!“ Matt screamed out, before turning to Chris and asking: „It's not underground, right?“
--“BZZT! NO, IT'S NOT. IT'S IN FACT RATHER IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.“
Silence, except for the river still rushing and gushing next to them.
„SINCE IT IS A MOUNTAIN. THEY GO UP.“
Matt stared at Chris, now also ignoring the sound of David violently tossing and wrestling in the water.
„MAYBE YOU GREW UP NEVER SEEING ONE, BZZT. SO I THOUGHT I WOULD CLARIFY.“
Chris still got no reply, as Matt was now looking to the river again. „David, what are you doing? Didn't you hear?“ he shouted to him.
„I'm hungry!“ came the reply, before David had disappeared into the water again.
Matt then realized they had both skipped breakfast. Chris floated to Matt's side.
„BZZZT... SORRY, EXCITEMENT ON MY SIDE CAUSED ME TO RUSH AHEAD EARLIER“ they exclaimed.
-- „Aren't you hungry, too?“
„NO, I CAN SUBSIST ON AMBIENT ELECTRICITY. IT'S WHY I LIVE NEAR THUNDERWAVE CAVE.“ Chris paused for a moment. „BZZ, I MUST HAVE BEEN TOO TIRED TO REMEMBER YOU BOTH NEEDED EXTRA TIME TO EAT...“ Their eye was cast down again, as if in shame.
„It's okay, ma...“ Matt interrupted himself when he realized he needed another word to address them and finally finished his sentence with an awkwardly late „...gnetic fellow“.
Chris' eye brightened up again.
„I'M YOUR GNETIC FELLOW? THEN YOU ARE MY *ENERGETIC* FELLOW! FUZZY FRIEND! FISH FANATIC!“ they added, swirling around happily.
Matt was wondering about that last term of endearment when he saw that David had inexplicably been successful in his quest for breakfast, standing on all fours in the cold water, fish in mouth.
„Sashimi again!“ Matt shouted happily and joined in.
Some time later they were on their way again, with renewed determination. The hike between forest and river was actually almost pleasant, even if not relaxing due to how much David still had to watch his step. Slipperiness aside, the terrain wasn't very difficult to cross. And having a food source next to you at all times was reassuring, since their supplies were overall rather meager.
But there was more to it. The smells of the river, the sound of its constantly slowly gushing water and the occasional drops landing on his fur that were soon dried by the brightly shining sun were a comforting presence like few other things lately.
About half an hour later a smaller channel of the river crossed their way, much narrower, but still at least two dozen steps wide. The darkening sky put a bit of damper on the excitement David would have otherwise felt at the prospect at having an excuse to go swim again. More worrying was that he had started hearing sounds from the forest he would rather not have been hearing. Faintly, but the low growling still made a shiver go down his spine.
Especially since it wouldn't stop. And after a while he couldn't pretend to himself anymore that they weren't nearby, could he? Something stirred deep inside him. Another growl, was it closer? Was he just paying more attention? He found it impossible to judge, and for a moment he was stuck between trying to put it aside and a growing primeval urge to leave. Leave. Leave... A few sticks could be heard broken on the ground somewhere. Leave! it came now clearly from within him, but still he hesitated, frozen in place. More steps, now undeniably approaching. LEAVE! his heart shouted. But his voice failed him and his legs felt like rocks in the ground, and his companions still unnervingly oblivious.
Then a thought appeared in his mind, blocking everything else out. When he was in the river, and later eating, he probably unknowingly had rubbed the smell of raw fish all over his body. Had they turned themselves irresistible to a bear, at least in one specific way? Every muscle inside him convulsed and before he had any chance to even become aware of it, had shifted to move his entire body abruptly forward, in the direction of the water.
A loud „SWIM!“ escaped his mouth before it had even become a thought, and he was in the water again, furiously pushing it to the side, not thinking, just slightly relieved to hear another splash a moment later.
There was just water for a few minutes, water and some stray twigs and other branches that he almost collided with a few times, until he felt solid ground under him again and collapsed.
He heard no more growls, so maybe washing off the smell had worked. Then he heard quick, wet footsteps emerging from the water and could only get an inch off the ground before he was tackled and slightly painfully brought to meet with the gravel on the shore again.
„Bro, stop running away!“
If only the beasts of this cursed forest could at least stop taking on the voice of Matt-
„I know what you are thinking! But it's me, the same creature you spent today with! As well as most of the whole year, and year before that and...“
Okay, maybe he wasn't actually in danger. He sighed, and resigned himself to just lying there.
- „You escaped the bear, too“ he finally said to Matt.
„What bear?“ Matt asked, with the slightest hint of concern. „There was nothing. No one. No one who could have harmed you, or us.“
- „But the noise, it was coming closer“
Matt was silent for a moment, out of the corner of his eye David could see him turning to Chris who had evidently also safely made the journey across the water.
„BZZT... FRIEND... WHAT NOISE? ONLY YOU WERE BEING LOUD“
David felt like he was in a mental dead end. He didn't want to, couldn't allow himself to question the words of his companions, but also couldn't bear to start doubting his own perceptions.
- „The b-bear, uhh... sticks breaking, steps...“
„Oh, yeah. There was some distant growling. Well... maybe not that distant now that I think about it. I think I saw some bear destroying some fish slightly upstream, but I didn't pay it much mind.“
Chris floated over to David, stopping in front of his face.
„BEAR ATTACKS ARE EXTREMELY RARE! YOU ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE HIT BY -BZZT- LIGHTNING“
David briefly wondered if Chris had any power to increase those odds, making it a more technically true statement. But he couldn't find any reason to believe that, even if some feeling nagged at him that he couldn't entirely rule it out.
He just wanted to trust his friends, knowing that it was probably the most important thing he could do. Sometimes it seemed like he only knew that on an intellectual level, that his heart didn't feel it, and it pained him.
Matt finally released David from his grip and allowed him to get up. Wordlessly they continued walking among the trees on the small river island they were on, and just a few hundred steps later they were at the river shore again, overlooking a mixture of river channels and gravel islets that stretched on for much longer. This time, there were no concerning noises and the water was rather calm, so crossing the river entailed a mixture of peaceful swimming and leisurely strolls on gravel until they had reached the other side, which was just as heavily forested as the one they had emerged from. Trees all the way to the mountain, and even clinging to its sides, as if the forest had managed to climb halfway up it. It was all upwards from here.
Mt. Steel still looked intimating to David, its sheer size alone made sure of that. Sitting below some dark clouds that he hadn't noticed before it remained a towering presence, almost terrifying in some way. But the thought of getting to see Rose again kept him moving, and slowly growing curiosity of what he would find on the top kept his anxiety in check. Also a welcome distraction was the occasional snacking on bird cherries that Matt kept finding along the way. They were horrible. It was hard to imagine something tasting bitterer than that.
Soon he noticed they had gained a significant amount of height already, and could see far beyond the river and forest they had traversed already. There was, however, no sign of the village no matter how hard David looked.
An hour or so later the ascent began to be steeper, and the now increasingly difficult terrain at least made it easier for his thoughts to not drift off like they did before, but instead a deathly fear of misstepping held him captive. David had tied himself to Matt with a rope, but how much help could that realistically be in the worst case? That he didn't want to think about.
At first, the trees were a welcome way to get some support, as with Chris' help they could also get ropes tied to those, providing a measure of security. But after a while they had left the treeline behind them and reached rocky terrain interspersed with nothing but grasses and grass-like plants as well as some small, hardy flowers. It had now gotten very rough and unpleasant to walk on the ground, leading David to try to keep to the grassy patches, but they were too sparse for that really to be possible.
On their way up, Chris had pointed out some large squirrels wrestling on the ground, their black stubby legs, long fur in gray and brown and bushy tail. They were apparently called „hoary marmots“. What a cute name that was. In the distance he spotted some mountain goats on near-vertical cliffs, too, envying how easy they seemed to make even the most difficult climbing look.
The sun was already high up in the sky now, and at the insistence of Chris they settled down on the next slightly larger grassy patch they could find to have lunch. Matt clearly had wanted to just get to the summit as quickly as possible, almost having stormed off if Chris hadn't stopped him by floating to his side and giving him a gentle electric shock with their spherical body. Before Matt could protest, he got a scolding that he took with his grimmest look of the day yet.
„BZZT! YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO EAT. YOU WILL OTHERWISE COLLAPSE HALFWAY TO THE TOP AND FREEZE TO DEATH.“ Their eye had the single most serious expression David had seen yet.
They ate more of their oatmeal, while being subjected to a lecture by Chris that mountaineers need to eat twice as much to preserve body heat and prevent dangerous sluggishness. By the end of it David was so tired of oatmeal that he started missing the bird cherries.
Even after the meal, Chris regularly reprimanded the increasingly irritated Matt to keep to a slow pace, and David began to be worried if the conflict between the two would erupt again, in an arguably much more dangerous place. The ground beneath them had quickly become almost entirely barren, with vegetation becoming more and more sparse, and it was getting colder fast. The ice cap seemed to be closer now than any of the trees. Looking up to it, the dark clouds he had noticed earlier were only growing in size. Was it going to rain now? And they hadn't brought a tent. Why not, actually?
Chris noticed David's concerned face and soon mirrored it as best as he could.
„BZZ-BZZT! WE NEED TO FIND SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. IF YOU EXPERIENCE A STORM HERE, IT *WILL* BE YOUR LAST ONE.“
This was not what David had hoped to hear, but fortunately, some distance to the left Matt had already spotted some kind of cavity, maybe even a cave. Hopefully a cave. David didn't think he could ever miss Thunderwave Cave, yet now he found himself doing so as he began to shiver, more out of fear than the cold.
As they slowly, and carefully, started moving towards it, David placed a foot slightly awkwardly and loosened some gravel, starting to slip to his horror, only to be pulled back up by Matt in time. But with the wind picking up, it was obvious there was no time to be lost, and with some luck they managed to avoid any more dangers and had reached the spot when the first raindrops were starting to fall, David's heart already beating furiously by now.
A closer look revealed indeed a pitch-black space, large enough to stay in. In fact, it seemed to continue on forever. But he didn't mind. It would do for sure. All three of them ventured a few steps inside before Matt and David collapsed on the floor into each other's arms as the storm began to rage outside.
When they woke up, it was pitch dark outside as well, so they went back to sleep. It still was when they woke up a second time.
Nonetheless, Matt said „It's a new day, let's go“ and David found himself still too sleepy to argue.