Cold As Ice

CHAPTER 26: Simple Day And Beautiful Night

I woke up the next morning to the sun barely rising over the horizon. Rose was fast asleep and Night seemed to be waking up too. I whispered, “Alright boy, time to go get some food.” Night wagged his tail and slowly got up and walked out of the cave. I grabbed my quiver full of arrows, a bow, a knife, and rope. I left a note telling Rose where I would be before walking outside, calling Night over, and taking off into the distance.

We ran for about twenty minutes before reaching a river. I put the rope and bag full of arrows down. I grabbed a few arrows and the bow. I walked to the edge of the river and waited. I waited for about five minutes until I saw five black figures in the water. I drew back the string of the bow and shot. I managed to shoot all five fish one at a time and grabbed the arrows with the fish. Then I nodded towards Night as I sat next to my things and gutted the fish. Night then crouched next to the water and waited. After a minute, he jumped into the water and caught a big one. He placed it next to me and repeated the process nine more times. I gut all the fish and we headed back towards the cave one we were done.

Five minutes into the walk Night stopped moving. He crouched down in alert and started growling. I got my bow and arrows out and walked for. Just around the corner of a jagged hill was a Polar Bear eating a seal. I sighed in relief and pet Night. “It’s just Nature. But if one gets too close, kill it.” I kept walking on and Night followed. We walked back to the cave to find Rose gone. I looked around the cave before spotting a note on her sleeping bag.

Hey I went to the top of a nearby hill that was covered in small vegetation. I thought I could bring back some berries. -Rose-

I chuckled and took some wood out of my bag. I grabbed the matches and built a fire outside the cave so the cave wouldn't melt. Night sat by the fire and melted off all the ice that formed on him because of his swim. In the middle of cooking the tenth fish, Rose came back with a bag of berries. “Hey you caught a lot of fish!” “Nah, I only caught five. Night caught ten.” Rose nodded. “I got us some berries!” I raised an eyebrow, “Edible?” She punched my shoulder, “Of Course!” I laughed. “Alright. Night yours are all ready.”  As Night munched on his meal, I grabbed a few berries and ate them. I grabbed the cooked fish and placed them on a rock close by. “Bon Appetit.”

After eating I went out and made more ice structures. Rose took more pictures of me and Night sat and watched. When I was finished, we packed our things and left the cave because I had finished ‘beautifying’ the area. We walked for an hour and reached the ocean. I created icebergs, cliffs, ice sheets, and random artsy frost designs on the ocean surface as Rose watched. Then I created our shelter. Night seemed to grow about three more inches until tonight, Full Moon.

The night was lit very brightly and Night seemed to glow a little. “Well look at that! Night really is a Spirit Wolf. Rose take a picture.” “Way ahead of you.” Night jumped and ran around enjoying his finished growth spurt. When the moon was at its peak in the sky, Night howled. It was beautiful, the way he howled. I was smiling the whole time when he did. Rose just kept taking pictures.

Then Night slowly approached us and laid down next to me. I climbed onto his back and he got up. “Rose watch the camp, . . .I’ll be back.”

Night started running and I held on. He jumped over bergs and hills, all the way to the tallest cliff over the ocean. Once we stopped, I climbed off him and stared in awe at the sight. The moon was beautiful and there were Northern lights. I grabbed my phone and took a picture. After a few minutes Night and I ran all the way back to the camp. Rose was asleep. I smiled and said, “Only five more days.”