Off the Beaten Path

Off the Beaten Path
By Sojourner and Piko

Chapter Two:
Wood Wolf Worry

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The sound of chirping reached Whisper's ears, and she blinked blearily, looking around before realizing where she was.

"Tree...?" She looked back in a panic, only to find her sister snuggled up comfortably on her behind. Tree was holding onto Whisper like she was a giant teddy bear. She sighed, glad to see her sister was okay.

And that's when she heard the sniffing.

She froze, and her ears twitched, her snout scrunched. "Not. Cool," she spoke in a hush.

Tree slowly awoke with a yawn, looking around with sleepy eyes. She took a moment to remember they were in a tree and held onto Whisper tighter. "Whisper?"

"Tree. Don't make a sound," Whisper said, creeping up to the opening to look around. She couldn't hear the sniffing anymore.... or anything else, for that matter. It was completely silent.

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit....

Tree gave a squeak. Whisper flinched at the noise, and was almost certain that everything around them froze. A small growl could be heard from behind the tree. "Shit..." Whisper said. "Stay in here Tree. Whatever happens, stay put." Whisper dashed out of the tree, making a loud racket. "YaaahhhoooOo! Over here, ya ugly sapplin'!" A massive timber wolf barreled out from behind the tree, saliva dripping from its jaw as it gave chase, following Whisper away from the tree. Whisper kept hollering, luring the creature closer. She dove into a roll across a small ravine, Quickly looking back and seeing the thing careen after her. She lined up her hind legs, ready to buck it into next week. It jumped and she struck. Its velocity was too great, however, and it slammed into her...

Tree ran out of the small hole they had called a home, screaming Whisper's name in a panic. She was starting to tear up, scared that she was about to see her sister ripped apart before her eyes. Whisper and the wolf rolled a few times. Each one Had a different goal: Whisper planned to get away, and the beast wanted its teeth on her throat. Though it landed on top once the roll was over, it wasn't expecting the swift buck to the stomach that sent it flying back toward the ravine, and Tiny Tree.

"Tree...Tree!" Whisper cried out. "Run Sis'!" Tiny Tree let out a yelp as the wolf barreled into her sending them both down the ravine. "Tree! Tree! Sis’!" Whisper quickly ran to the edge of the ravine, looking down, her eyes searching frantically. The wolf had fallen all the way down into the ravine, splinter's from it's body scattered around the dirt. Tree had landed on a small edge sticking into the ravine. She was quivering with fear, blood trailing down her lower body.

"Sis? Sis, you okay?" Whisper called down. Tree coughed in response and looked up weakly. Whisper did her best to calm down. "I-I'll be down in a second...." She levitated bits of wood with her magic and weaved them together into a makeshift ladder, which she then used to get down into the ravine.

Tree rolled a little. She had some nasty scrapes, and her left rear leg was bent backwards. Whisper slipped on the muddy cliff-side, tumbling the last few feet down onto the escarpment. She stood up and grimaced before looking to Little Tree. "How bad do you hurt, sis?" Whisper asked, looking down at the leg. She cringed inwardly at the odd angle it was sitting at. Tree gave a moan of pain and a small whimper, looking up at her sister.

"I-I'm ok," She said in an obvious lie, trying to hide her panic which escaped as another whimper. Whisper was worried; she had never dealt with any kind of medical emergency before. All she knew was that it was a good idea to splint the leg in place. The question was, with what?

"I'm going to try and find something for your leg," Whisper said, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. Tree gave a nod, not really able to argue as she was stuck there right now. The bend in her leg showed a bit of bone pressing against the skin in a few places. Whisper looked around to see what she could find. A few straights sticks and some twigs, as well as some supple vines that would work well as rope. She carefully carted them down to Tree, and sat back next to her. Tree looked up to her sister, waiting for the pain to go away. She gave a deep breath, waiting for Whisper to set the leg. Whisper bit her lip in worry. "Okay, so, this is probably going to hurt a little, so try not to cry, okay?" She slowly put her hoof on the leg.

Does it go like this? I don't know, I've never known where bones go.....

Taking in a breath, she slowly began moving her sisters leg back into position.

After some trial and error, tears that could not be resisted, and a good touch of screaming, Tree was left biting her lip as she had her leg splinted. Whisper finally managed something she felt she was happy with. She looked into her sister eyes, watching the few tears left that Tree was fighting desperately to hold back.

"Hey," Whisper whispered to her distraught sister, "it's over now. Splints all set." The thing was definitely amateur, but hopefully it would hold her leg in place and keep it from flopping around while Whisper did her best to sort out this mess. Tree did her best to push herself up with her front hooves since they weren't hurt like the hind ones. She managed to balance on three keeping her weight off her rear leg.

"Nono," Whisper said, lowering herself to the ground. "You’re riding on my back, and no if's, and's, or but's about it."

Tree nodded weakly in response. "Y-yes sis," She said, climbing up. mud was clinging to her, hiding a few other scrapes and bruises she had.

"We'll find our way out, don't you worry," She put on the biggest smile she could manage. "Then we'll head into town to see nurse Redheart about that leg, mmkay?" Tree gave a nod and settled onto her sisters back, her hind legs hanging off her sisters flanks a bit loosely as she came along for the ride.

"So...." Whisper said, looking around, "Do you have any idea where we're at?" Tree shook her head, looking around. The trees were rather dark and the light was not getting through at all. "Can't even tell if the sun is out or not, and not where it's setting either...." Whisper harumphed and began climbing the ladder. "Hold tight."

Once they finished climbing the ladder, Whisper did the only thing she could think of; backtrack to where they were and hopefully figure out where they came from. She carefully lowered Tree to the ground inside the tree root hollow and began exploring the surrounding area. Though she was fairly certain of the direction they had come from, there was no discernible trail, whether of hoofprints, broken twigs and leaves, disturbed leaves, anything. It was almost as if they had never been through at all. When she turned, she found the same thing true of the direction toward the ravine. She would have expected to at least see claw marks from the beast on the trees and roots where it had past, but there weren't.

"Shit..."

The trees shook around her as a wind came through. They almost seemed alive, and a chill went down her spine as a feeling of being watched spread through her body, her fur pricking up and her breathing coming in short gasps. Whisper wasn't about to worry her sister. Sure, the two of them didn't get along sometimes, But they were sisters, and sisters watched out for each other, petty grievances be damned.

Whisper came back to the small hallow. "I think I found the way back,” she lied, trying her best to sound hopeful. "For now, you should get some rest. That way we'll be good to go in a few hours. What do you think?" Tree nodded, in agreement with her older sister.

"O-ok," She said, not really believing the words... Whisper had a tendency to show her teeth a bit too much when she lied. It was mostly in the smile... it seemed too forced. Whisper managed to get Tree relatively comfortably into the tree hollow without causing further damage to her leg.

"Get some rest, okay? We'll set out soon." Tree gave a nod and went to close her eyes, the sudden danger and her injury having tired her out. Whisper looked out with worry at the surrounding woods. She had not been particularly frightened by trees before now, but something about them now felt almost suffocating. They seemed to actively close in at her thought, though she was certain it was only an illusion of her fear-addle brain.

"What did that Pink pony from town say? Giggle at the Ghosties, or something like that?"

A haunting cry echoed out from the wood.

"Really, really wish I could," she said, popping her head out from behind the tree where she had hidden from the sound.