The Descent
I hadn’t felt so cold in months, the village had always been warm with the sun shining bright in the sky, the only signs of anything cool, was the breeze that would occasionally weave in between the ancient buildings.
My eyes opened and part of me was expecting to see fresh flowers in a vase beside my bed, but all I saw was snow. I’d managed to drag myself to the cave that I had been in prior to finding the village, but been unable to stay conscious long enough to build a fire. My bones ached with the cold, even breathing hurt my chest, I’d been so close to death seconds before I made it to the village and now I was back in the same state. Right up next to it, I could smell the stale, heavy, rotting stench of death’s cloak inviting me into his embrace, but I couldn’t go with him, not yet.
I wasn’t aware of the time of day, but I was aware of the fact that I was starving and without any way of finding food, if I didn’t die from the cold, the lack of food would surely finish me off. I felt my wand slide into my hand and conjure a small fire, at least I had energy enough for that.
It was taking up too much of my concentration to figure out a way home and I hadn’t forgotten about the Yetis that would likely see the smoke. I tried so hard to think about Remus wrapped around my body, but it had been so long since I felt him, his warmth, that it was taking more energy to try to remember than it was to appreciate the small fire in front of me.
I let my eyes close for just a few moments, before I felt my wand twisting in my hand. My eyes snapped open and I watched my wand, of it’s own accord, move and point to my bag that began opening, I could see my thick, black, long coat sliding out and moving to cover my freezing body. I was warming up and finally my wand returned to it’s original position. If I was tired before, I was wide awake now, staring blankly at my wand.
‘How are you doing that?’ I whispered. I thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that the brother must have done something. ‘I told you to stop.’
‘It wasn’t me.’ The brother coughed and I frowned, not believing him for a single second. If he wanted to survive then he would find a way to do so, even if it meant denying me my wishes to be left alone. He had done it countless times before and not cared at all.
‘If I die, you die.’ I whispered in warning.
‘Angie, I promise it wasn’t me. Your wand is Elder, think what that means.’
I could feel a whip of anger and gripped my wand a little tighter, if Remus were here he’d know what to do. He always knows what to do.
I wasn’t exactly sure of how long I lay wrapped underneath my long, black coat, but it had only just occurred to me to transform into my animagus. I was always stronger as a wolf and with the thick fur, I’d at least be warm, the question was: did I have the strength to change?
I took a deep breath, feeling my ribcage expand in agony and my lungs sting with the cold air. I pulled my coat on and waved my wand to get my bag onto my back. I was on all fours, dizzy and suddenly feeling like this was the worst idea I’d ever had, but what other option did I have, I needed to get off the mountain. I needed to get back home to Remus.
I took another deep breath and felt myself change, but something felt different. I was still starving and exhausted, but I also felt a little out of sync with my body, like I had found a new gear, one more intent on finding some form of food.
The mountain looked a little different in my wolf form, somehow a way to the lower region of where I was, was a little clearer, like I was picking out routes that I could more easily navigate. I was grateful that I could at least walk in my animagus, not very fast, but enough to get me to a rocky patch close to another cavern.
I could feel myself panting heavily, but it was all of my senses that had suddenly changed, my vision was more focussed and my sense of smell was different, I could smell things that I was certain were further away than where I was standing. I could hear tiny movements beneath my paws, the snow shifting ever so slightly and it told me one thing for sure, something was attempting to hunt me.
I moved gingerly towards the cavern allowing my senses to take over momentarily and smelling nothing of note, it was clear. Whatever was hunting me had moved to a position just above the cavern, I didn’t go too far back, but enough that if it decided to enter the cavern, I would see it long before it reached me.
I lay down to rest for a while and watched the open space in front of me. It was another few moments, just as my eyes began closing, before I heard the snow shifting again. Whatever was out there, there was more than one, I couldn’t risk changing back into human form, I was still stronger as a wolf. I didn’t dare move, I just waited for whatever it was to appear.
It was another moment before I felt a small jolt in my body, it was like the flashing of time passing me by, images of three fully grown Yetis, one after another coming towards me. I could feel my body moving, the pain in my joints, my jaw snapping open and shut, I could taste something coppery and thick, something similar to fur. I could hear bones cracking, unsure if it was my own, growling and wailing until suddenly everything stopped.
I could see something red in my eyes, still tasting the copper but this time it was thicker, more like a steak, raw and tough. I looked down to see the white bone of the Yetis exposed, none of them were moving, but I felt a little stronger than before, enough to curl up in the back of the cave and rest for a while.
It was the stench that woke me, I could smell death again, it was unbearable, there was still red in my eyes and I could barely see. Somehow my body was finding a way to navigate it’s way out of the cavern, stepping in something wet and slippery as I did. It was snowing when I got outside and I held my head up to let the snow land on my face, melt and clean my eyes of the redness.
It was another moment of letting the snow clean my fur before I shook it all off and stretched my aching limbs. My ears suddenly stood up, I’d heard something, it was faint and far away, if I’d been in my human form I would have missed it, I listened again and heard the echo bouncing off the mountains, a small scream, human. Just one.
I could feel my whole body lighting up, I wasn’t strong enough to go and find out if anyone was hurt, I was barely strong enough to move away from the stench coming from the cavern behind me. I couldn’t just ignore someone who needed help, so moving towards where the echo had started seemed like the best idea.
Every step I took closer to the sound was shaky and unsteady, each rock felt like it would slip out from underneath me, the snow was getting lighter, but the wind was stronger and if I wasn’t careful I might have been knocked off the cliff side. It was also messing with my sense of smell, I could tell that various smells were not starting in the direction they were coming from, but it was impossible to tell where they were originating.
I felt so weak, my whole body felt tired and working on the bare minimum amount of energy needed to get around. I was suddenly aware of the fact that it would take me a while to actually get to the bottom of the mountain, it took weeks to climb up and find the village, it would likely take days to climb back down and that was only if I could continue to avoid danger.
The howling of the wind was getting to be a bit much for my now much more sensitive ears and the cold was penetrating my aching body. I needed to find somewhere to rest for a while, just lay down and let my eyes drift close again. It had already been hours of moving, hopefully, lower down the mountain, I wasn’t sure how much further I could go without resting. Luckily, I found another small cave I could sleep in for a few hours.
It seemed to take days for me to get to a recognisable place from my ascent, but I was starving and something was hunting me again. I couldn’t quite remember what had happened to the last Yetis that were hunting me, I didn’t have the energy to think on it for too long. I tried to hurry to the small tunnel that led through a pass in the mountain, each step I took was shakier than the last, if I could just close my eyes for a few minutes.
Quicker than I could think, something sharp yanked on my tail and I could see blood, hearing howling, taste copper again. What was happening to me? Why couldn’t I see what I was doing? Why could I see tufts of pure white fur floating away in the wind? It wasn’t mine that was for sure and suddenly I wasn’t as weak as I had been before. The familiar crunching of bones could be heard and the taste of raw steak, but it went on for a while, the flashing images of red and white were more intense than before.
Soon I was able to move myself to the tunnel and rest, sheltered from the winds and heavy snow.
Each time I moved to a new place, it was the same, I would be suddenly aware of something hunting me, I would see the flash of red, I would rest, I would wake to find my fur covered in drying blood. For weeks it was the same, over and over again and all I could think about was getting myself closer to where the screams were coming from.
It hit me like a flash, I must have been killing Yetis, defending myself when they caught up to me, but how was I finding the energy to do it?
I’d heard about animals going into survival mode, but I wasn’t really an animal, it was just an animagus, I wanted to believe that so badly, but everything I was experiencing was telling me the opposite. Another positive was that I hadn’t heard the brother speaking to me since I was banished from the village, maybe he couldn’t communicate with me when I was a wolf? It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but it did raise several questions.
Unfortunately I didn’t have time for questions, I needed to get off the mountain and make sure I was strong enough to change back into human form, I couldn’t stay as a wolf forever. The screaming was getting closer, wherever I was, it was closing in on whoever needed help and I might finally be able to get some help as well.
I could feel something creeping behind me, but it wasn’t hunting me exactly, it was more just keeping an eye on my movements and I was beginning to wonder why. The Yetis hadn’t stopped coming for me, they came for me in greater numbers, each of them attempting to kill me and any time they got close to getting the upper hand, I would black out and wake to find myself in amidst a blood bath.
It didn’t even matter how cold I was anymore, all I knew was that I needed to get off the mountain and somewhere safe. There was a clearing, close to another much larger cave and it looked as if something could have been living there, something I didn’t want to run into. I looked for a way around and a small route over the cave appeared before me. I leapt up onto the rocks above me, slipping and sliding on the ice as I managed to find a way up and over.
A penetrating scream pierced my ears, I looked down to see a young woman curled in the middle of the clearing, it was hard to see what was happening clearly, but she was holding something close to her chest. A few Yetis had surrounded her and were almost taunting her. Playing with their food before they ate it.
I could feel my body being triggered by the much more innocent scream that came from the woman’s chest, she was carrying a baby. I leapt from the rocks into the middle of the clearing and I swear my throat bled with the growl that erupted from my mouth. The Yetis stepped back momentarily and I was never as clear minded since leaving the village.
I felt my body go into overdrive, all I knew was that the woman and her child needed to remain safe. I could feel my teeth tearing through the tough skin of Yeti that came towards me, some of their hands came clubbing down against my rib cage and in fact one had wrapped its arms around me and attempted to crush my entire torso, but I’d somehow managed to writhe enough to make it trip and let go.
There was maybe just over a dozen Yetis either fatally wounded or dead surrounding myself and the young woman. She was terrified and I imagined staring at a fully-grown wolf wasn’t settling her as much as I wanted it to. I stepped backwards and felt my body grow exhausted again, we were in the middle of a Yeti nest and couldn’t stay for long, more may have been on the way.
We watched each other for a moment, I tried so hard to make her see that I wasn’t trying to hurt her. I let myself lie on the ground, just trying to get my breath back, I could feel my ribs were at least bruised if not broken in a few places. I couldn’t afford those kinds of injuries, not when I was so weak anyway. I could smell something similar to Jasmine, the woman had begun slowly approaching me, her baby was still crying, they both looked so small.
She placed her hand gently against my face and it felt so good to have a human hand against my skin, how had I forgotten what that felt like? She began speaking in a language I didn’t recognise, but from what I could tell she was thanking me. It may well have been the last thing I ever heard anyone say, my eyes were closing and I was so exhausted, in increasing pain and I just couldn’t see the point in staying awake anymore.
I opened my eyes, the searing pain in my ribs hadn’t gotten any better, something was leaning against them. A young woman who smelled like Jasmine, snuggling into my fur to keep warm, she was talking in a hushed tone to her baby, but that wasn’t the sound that had my eyes opening. The crunching sound of the snow above us.
I needed to stand up and get a better look, it startled her and naturally her baby began making more noise than was appreciated. There was only one way we were getting out of the Yeti nest.
I lowered my body indicating that she needed to climb onto my back, she hesitated far too long and I could smell the stench of a particularly nasty Yeti. I could fight anymore, I needed to rest, but I couldn’t leave her alone in danger. She eventually climbed onto my back and I felt the pain in my ribs flare as she dug her hands into my fur, holding on for dear life as I darted as fast as I could out of the nest. I didn’t stop, bounding off rocks and trying to find a safe place to rest for a while.
I felt the woman trying to steer me towards a particular path, I couldn’t see where it went, but she was keen for me to follow her directions, I did so and found that there was a small camp site hidden away. Whether it was hers or not wasn’t clear, but she knew enough of her way around that she definitely knew who the camp belonged to.
My body was beginning to fail me, the adrenaline wearing off and the tiredness kicking in again. I lay down close to the simmering camp fire and let my eyes close for a while. I was sure I woke at one point, feeling someone put something warm against my rib cage, but I had no energy to do anything about it. I was exhausted.