Prone To Wander (rough draft)

Chapter Ten

Ruben moaned, rubbed his head, and opened his eyes. It was dark. After a moment, he was able to take stock of where he was. He was next to Quinn's left hind paw, with the raccoon's tale wrapped around him. He could see Cavan and Kelly past Quinn, on what could only be a tree branch, but he couldn't see Malaki. He sat up and looked around, and finally saw his nephew's white patched fur, curled up between Quinn's shoulders. He sighed in relief.

Quinn came instantly awake at the sound, but didn't move, for fear of knocking the squirrels from their places. “You alright, brother?”

Ruben held back a laugh, “I'm afraid not, I must be hallucinating. I thought you called me brother just now.”

“That can't be right,” Quinn replied, “A brother is someone you can depend on, someone who'll risk life and limb to rush to your aid, and someone you carry when he's worn himself to the bone... no,wait. That does sound like you.”

Ruben got to his paws, and managed to climb past Quinn, so they could talk face to face, “Well brother, I've set us back quite a bit, haven't I?”

“No, I think it was the lack of sleep, and the climbing, and the walking, and the coyote attack, and all the swimming, and everything else that happened. That's what set us back.”

“Can we start moving again?” Ruben asked.

“Now?” Quinn replied, “Are you out of your head? There'll be a lot of other predators near a river at night. Do you really want to put Malaki and the kits in danger?”

“No, of course not,” Ruben said, “But we're so close, and the others are in constant danger... if they're still alive.”

“I know, but we can only help them if we actually make it there,” Quinn chided. “We can leave before sunrise, alright? When most of our biggest threats will be heading off to sleep for the day. You just rest for now, and I'll wake you when it's time to go.”

“Thank you,” Ruben said, and curled up right where he was.

As promised, it was still dark when Ruben felt Quinn's nose nudging him. He uncurled, and saw that the kits were just starting to wake up too. “I can't move much,” Quinn grumbled, “Malaki might fall off if I do. Would you get him down, please?”

Ruben hopped up onto the raccoon's shoulders and gave his sleeping nephew a shake, “Let's go Malaki,” he said, “Time to get up and moving.”

The young squirrel raised his head and peered up with half closed eyes. He saw his uncle and was on his paws in a heartbeat, clinging to Ruben with all his might, “You're alright!” he cried.

“Of course,” Ruben replied, “I just needed to rest, that's all.”

“That's what uncle Quinn said,” Malaki admitted, “But I was still worried. I've never seen anyone just fall over like that, and nothing could wake you up, and...”

“I know, and I'm sorry, it must have been scary,” Ruben interjected, “But I'm fine now, and I'm sure Quinn took good took care of you while I was... recovering. Now, it's time to get going again. We might be very close to finding the others.”

Everyone made their way carefully down the half rotted tree, it was certainly not a place anyone would have felt safe for long, and all were glad to leave it behind. Ruben paused a moment to look at it from the ground. He was the reason they were forced to stay the night in those branches.

“We're fortunate that rotten old tree didn't fall over in the night,” He muttered, half under his breath.

“No we're fortunate it was here when we needed it,” Quinn retorted.

Ruben seemed to shrink under the rebuke, “You're right,” he said, “I'm sorry. Thank you for keeping everyone safe, including me. Whether you're a friend or a brother, I'm glad you're here... I probably would've died three times over if you hadn't decided to help.”

“Just three?” Quinn teased, “I thought it was more like five.”

The journey commenced, everyone was once again moving steadily towards that ominous forest. To the east, the sky was just starting to show a lighter shade of blue-gray, the sunrise was coming. Along with the sun, there came a great rolling fog. It seemed the tops of the trees were in the clouds, and a mist was dancing along the ground. The friends stopped just before the treeline.

“I live in a forest,” Quinn said, “I like the forest. I'm not so sure about this forest however.”

“I know what you mean,” Ruben agreed, “It's so dense and dark. I shouldn't have pushed to get started so early. Maybe we can wait until the sun is up a bit more.”

Quinn glared at the squirrel, “You'll taunt, tease and rush into fight with just about anything... but you're afraid of the dark?”

“No, I'm afraid what's in the dark that I can't see,” he snapped back, “I can't see in the dark the way you can.”

“Well, that's not a problem,” Quinn replied, and held out a paw.

Ruben didn't hesitate, he scrambled up to sit on the raccoons shoulders. Malaki was already there, half buried in the thick gray fur, nervously peering through the mist and trees. Quinn walked forward and the kits stayed close to him. Everyone was a bit on edge, whether they wanted to admit it or not. Travel was slow, until the sun at last reached a place where it could pour it's light through the trees and into the darkness. Shafts of gold and red flooded the forest, and the expansive green canopy shone like fire.

With the arrival of the morning sun, Quinn climbed up into an old hickory tree. “Well, at least we can take the high road now,” the raccoon said cheerfully.

Ruben climbed down onto the tree branch and looked to the north. Quinn was right. The trees were at last, close enough together to travel off the ground. He raced ahead of the others, bounding from branch to branch. He leapt onto one thin branch, far away from the trunk, and it bent low with the sudden weight, then shot back up with a whizzing sound and sent the squirrel flying into the branches of the next tree.

The others watched as he landed and spun to see them, “Well, come on then! Let's go!” he called.

Quinn shook his head and yelled across the gap, “You shouldn't get so far ahead, you little show off!” But he smiled, and soon found his own way across. He offered to let Malaki get down, but the young squirrel wasn't nearly as fast as his uncle, and felt safer where he was.

Cavan and Kelly were already racing forward. They were impressed by Ruben's trick with the thin branch, and eager to try it for themselves. Kelly, being the smaller of the two, was nearly able to copy what the squirrel had done. Cavan however, had a harder time finding a branch that was flexible enough, but could still hold his weight. Everyone seemed to forget that they had been nervous about the forest at all, and almost seemed to forget why they were there. Ruben took to teaching the kits how to travel faster through the tree tops, and eventually, Malaki was persuaded to join them. Quinn had some trouble keeping up with the smaller, nimbler creatures, but thoroughly enjoyed watching them, as they practically flew from tree to tree.

The fun and games only came to an end, when Kelly called out, “Uncle Ruben there's an ermine on the ground!”

Everyone looked and saw the creature, a brown coat with dappled white, running straight north along the forest floor. Quinn had caught up with the others and gave Ruben a nudge, “Let's follow it, but stay quiet.”

Malaki returned to Quinn's shoulders, and everyone started moving, this time with the utmost care. They traveled that way for quite some time, until at last they saw a larger party of ermines, ahead of the lone animal... and they had captives.

The squirrels were eagerly looking for their family, but Ruben had to stop after a moment. His ears flattened, and his tail bristled, and he drew a deep breath. “Look at them all,” he said, “Mice, rats, chipmunks, and are those rabbit kits?”

“Yes,” Quinn replied quietly, “And I think the ones we're looking for, are at the front of the line. Over by those two weasels with the spears.”

Ruben looked again, and saw the four squirrels, three of whom shared his markings. The next second he took a leap down, aiming for a lower branch. He was however, caught in one of Quinn's paws, and the raccoon lifted him back up until they were nose to nose.

“Don't you dare!” he growled, still trying to stay quiet, “After everything I've risked to help you get here, you're just going to fly down there and try to fight twenty or more of those weasels! Use your head you little fool.”