The Snowy Night on the Mountainside

The Snowy Night on the Mountainside

Read at the Bronx Book Fair May 8th 2016

            The skies were graying over the horizon, as the snows of the north moved in over the southern lands. He stood on a short rock cliff that over looked the sloping land where the rest of his kin walked forward. They had hoped to beat out the coming storm and make it to the most southern point of the land where they would be able to find shelter and food but as the storm surged forward they had little hope. The elders at the front guiding the group through the long winding path down the slopes of the mountain, his family in the middle, all the while the youngest trailed in the back. His offspring played around the group as though it was just an adventure, but he knew that these lands were dangerous and unforgiving. He had sent scouts ahead to find shelter in case they didn’t make it down the mountain before the snow became too much to handle.

            When the trackers returned they had told him of a sheltered ridge and a cave but it was still at the bottom of the mountain side. He knew the snow would come before then but continued to move everyone forward. Night would fall before they reached the bottom and he understood that everyone would be tired but stopping wasn’t an option when they were racing ahead against the storm. The moon was rising in the east as the sun turned the west into a bright purple sky, but the greying clouds didn’t change and only became darker as the night moved in. They would soon cover the moon, the only light they had, and plunge their world into darkness. His young were still playing the boys even more, his only daughter trailing behind her brothers in an effort to keep up. It made him proud to see them in high spirits not understanding how scared he was if they didn’t make it down in time.

            They were soon engulfed in darkness but they had made it down far enough that the trail had already been marked by the many other times they had journeyed through the area in the spring on their way to their summer dwellings. The elders knew the way down without the need of light and they would continue to guide them down until they found shelter. The pines covered enough of the area to shield them from the snow that had begun to fall upon them, and would keep them dry enough to not fear the cold. Believing they were safe from undo harm he moved the group forward, but a faint smell of smoke nearby made him wary of their travel. Someone was nearby, they weren’t too close but the nearness made him question how fast the group was traveling. Outsiders had always threatened his kin, and any threat that came from them made him worry of what might happen.

            There was a sudden sound nearby, it was so quick he hadn’t noticed, all of a sudden a shot rang out into the night and his daughter lay dead on the ground. The shot scared away his kin; they ran off into the night terrified of what they heard. He heard cheering nearby, as the two men walked towards his youngest. Enraged he leapt on the closest one and tore out his neck, a howl sounded deep in the forest before another shot rang through the air. It had gone in his side but he couldn’t feel pain through the rage he felt. He went after the second man, the man who was responsible for the death of his beloved baby girl, his only daughter. The man yelled, but it didn’t stop him, he had no remorse for a human who would kill his youngest. The blood of the man went into his mouth as he bit deeper, until no sound came from him.

            When it was over he walked away from the death that surrounded him, the blood was spilled and blanketed the area. His blood joined theirs as he bleed from the wound they had inflicted upon him. He walked back to where his beloved daughter lay dying on the ground and curled up next to her. Hopefully the others would make it down the mountain, hopefully they will have a new alpha by morning, and these were his wishes as he lay dying curled up with his youngest most precious little cub. Together they would enter the next world, where they would one day be joined by their kin.

            The snow covered their bodies in the hours afterward, washed away the blood that had been spilt around them, it buried them in a blanket of cold and ice that would not melt until the spring, but by then their souls would be long gone, and the pack would once again travel the mountain to go back to their northern homes. They will never forget what happened on the snowy night on the mountainside.