CHAPTER TWO -outpost- The snow seemed even colder now. The feeling of his ankle, and the ache that he sometimes felt in his head was nothing compared to the pain of losing Cactus. She had been the closest thing he had to a mother or sister. Further up the line, someone howled. Everyone stopped. Ash peeked over the shoulder of a red furred fox in front of him. A huge wooden barrier with deadly iron spikes loomed over them. Light glowed from inside. A furry face popped out from some sort of watch tower. General Sabre Shouted something up to him. The face disappeared, and soon a huge wooden door began to open. Once they were inside Ash realised that this was the base that he had been sent to. It was the furthest outpost they had in Snow Leopard territory. Ash would be staying here for a while. Maybe even years. <><><><> All the new foxes that had just arrived, were shown to tents where they would stay. An old friendly fox named Flint had taken Ash to his tent. Flint had dark Ginger fur. His tail tip was black, and he wore an eye patch over one eye. Ash and Flint shared the small tent with two others, named Swift and Tiger-eye. Swift was a young fox with pale orange coloured fur, who seemed not much older than Ash. Tiger-eye was tall and strong. His Ginger fur was short and black zigzags ran through his fur. Tiger-eye had welcomed Ash with a hearty laugh and a slap on the back. Ash had been resting his ankle when Flint had brought in some steaming bowls of stew. “Mink stew.” Flint had called it. Now all four of them sat cross-legged on the floor, around a small wooden table. Ash lifted another spoonful of the warm stew to his mouth. “So, where did you come from?” Tiger-eye asked him. Ash looked up at him. “I came from a barracks near the forest.” Ash said quietly. “Ah.” Tiger-eye said. “Must be a fair bit different here then it was there.” He said with a small grin. Ash nodded. Obviously. Later when everyone had finished eating, they had begun to fidget around the tent. Tiger-eye was polishing his armour while Swift ran a thread and needle through a torn scarf. Flint had set up a bed for Ash earlier, and now was away getting bedding for him. Tiger-eye had given Ash a thick bandage to wrap around his ankle, and a pan of water with a cloth to clean it. Tiger-eye had said that the healers were too busy treating wounds of other soldiers, and it would take a while for them to get to Ash. Ash looked up as Flint backed into the tent with an armful of old blankets. “I got you some thread to stich up your boot.” Flint said and plopped the blankets beside Ash and handed him a spool of string and a needle. In the barracks, all the young soldiers had learnt to stich up torn clothes. Ash had never been very good at it, but he threaded the needle anyway and began to stich up his boot. Everyone in the tent worked in silence for a while longer, before a long fox howl came from outside. “Bedtime.” Tiger-eye said patting Ash on the head as if he was a pup. Tiger-eye dropped an armload of wood on the small campfire, in the centre of the room and began to crawl into his bed. Swift draped his scarf over his boots, that sat on the floor and folded his coat next to them. Ash decided to keep his coat on, though this was the warmest he had felt since they entered the snow. he snuggled into his blankets, thinking about Cactus, and a tear fell to his pillow. Ash woke up sweating, though the air was cold. His dreams had been full of fighting and dead bodies that had lain on the battlefield the previous day. Ash sat up, wiping his forehead. Flint was sitting beside the fire with his head in his hands. Tiger-eye was not there, and Swifts tail flicked as he left the tent. Flint looked up and pushed a bowl of the mink stew toward Ash. Ash sat at the table. “We are going on a patrol.” Flint said. “Soon, so hurry up and eat.”
((CHAPTER 2 CONTINUED)) Ash began spooning up the stew, and before long it was gone. Flint led Ash out of the tent. Swift and Tiger-eye stood there. Tiger-eye was talking to another fox, who Ash had seen going in and out of the tent opposite to them. Swift stood there quietly as he usually did. Ash had never heard him talk before. Does he ever talk? Ash thought. “Let’s go.” Flint said and began to walk toward the gate. Flint wore a pine green cloak, but the coat that he wore over top, was an oaky brown, and on his belt, he wore two sheathed swords. As the four foxes stepped outside the gates, they set off into the freezing snow. Ash tucked his ears into his leopard beanie. He tied his scarf up around his nose to keep it from freezing. The deeper they went into snow leopard territory, the colder it got. After going east for what felt like an hour, Flint stopped at an old dead tree. Its bare branches reached up to the grey cloudy sky. “This is the marker. From here we head north.” Flint explained to Ash. “When we get to the frozen lake, we will set up a camp for the night. Then continue west back to the outpost.” The next few hours seemed like an eternity of cold and pain. The freezing wind tore at their fur, and bit into their skin. Ash had given up brushing icicles from his scarf and clothes, because new ones formed seconds after. his boots were frozen, which made walking uncomfortable, and his sword was frozen into its sheath. Tiger-eye trudged along in the snow behind Ash. He towered over him, which protected Ash slightly from the wind. It was dark now, and they had arrived at the lake. Pale moonlight lit up the clouds. The snow had stopped, but they all knew it would be back soon. they took advantage of this short amount of time to set up camp. Tiger-eye and Ash were setting up tents, Flint searched around for any sign of food and Swift was attempting to start a fire. Soon Ash and Tiger-eye had finished setting up the two tents and were now standing over the frozen lake. The ice was thick and solid. “Its gonna take a while to get through this.” Tiger-eye said as he studied the ice. He pulled out a huge knife. It looked like the blade had been carved from a giant fang. Its edges were polished and sharp. Tiger-eye shoved the blade into the ice. It went through smoothly, making only a few small cracks in the ice. He heaved the blade out and cut into the ice again. Eventually, he had made a hole in the ice. It was big enough to fit a small bucket in. Ash was sent to the bags that had been dumped in the tents, to get a wood bucket. It fit perfectly through the jagged hole in the lakes surface. Tiger-eye and Ash walked up the bank, to where Swift had started the fire. They place the bucket of freezing water beside him. “Should get this on the fire before it freezes.” Tiger-eye said. He crouched down, to help Swift set up a stand that would support the pot over the fire. Ash poured a small portion of the buckets water into a tin pot. They called this a ‘billie’. It had a thin spout coming out of one end, and a handle over the top. Tiger-eye took the billie from Ash’s paws and hung it over the fire from a hook suspended from a stick frame. Flint arrived carrying one of his swords in one gloved paw, and a rabbit hanging limply from the other. “Here.” he said dropping the rabbit Infront of Swift. “The prey is very limited around here.” He said turning to Tiger-eye.” Tiger-eye nodded and passed a knife to Swift, who immediately began carving the rabbit. Tiger-eye poured a cup of warm water for each of them and mixed a spoonful of dried leaves into each. Tiger-eye passed Ash one of the cups. “It’s Mint tea.” He said and grinned at Ash. Ash sniffed the tea. It smelled sweet and fresh. He took a small sip of the odd smelling tea. It surprisingly tasted good. He looked into the cup again and took another sip. When the rabbit had been cooked into an amazing smelling stew, it was eaten hurriedly by the four foxes. The blizzard was approaching again, and they had to get into their tents. Flint and Ash hopped into their tent and Tiger-eye and Swift into theirs. Ash woke up in the night. Wind roared and snow plummeted the tent like a bear battering a sapling. If it hadn’t been dug into the ground and weighed down by ice blocks, it defiantly would have been torn from the ground and blown away. Ash sat in the complete darkness for a moment. He breathed out and listened to the blizzard outside. He could feel his breathing in the air, and he shivered and reached for his coat. Ash huddled into his layers of blankets and went back to sleep.
