Herb woke up that morning feeling a bit ill, but still had a favor to do that day. He lifted himself from his bed, only to feel a horrible shiver travel down his spine. Goodness, was it cold today! Herb shook it off though, the kingdom never rests even on a chilly day.
That morning, Herb had brought Snow Sugar over to Clover cookie while he would be gone to inspect some flowers that were dying at the school Latte taught at. Latte seemed troubled by it, Herb noted mentally, sensing that something unusual was happening to the plants. Herb was the one for the job, so he promised to check the plants. Of course, that WAS his job.
Unfortunately, that day was a horrible day to go out. Herb was not pleased with the massive amount of wind that was going through the streets, causing papers and scraps to fly everywhere. Leaves flew in the air as Herb struggled to walk, it only worsened Herb's fear of not being able to return home in time to make a meal. With his tight schedule, it could probably count as an irrational fear.
Once he had arrived, it was very noticeable how the flowers heavily impacted the school's atmosphere. The dying Pansies made the school look gloomy and eerie, something that would definitely scare a few students attending. Luckily, school wasn't open this day, as Latte mentioned, so Herb wouldn't have to deal with concerned students. Instead, he had to deal with concerned teachers.
Almost immediately, Herb had bumped into Latte when arriving at the school.
"There you are!" Latte greeted Herb, "a bit cold today, hm?"
"No kidding! I can barely walk!" Herb raised his voice to beat the volume of the wind.
"Come now! It's these flowers here, it shouldn't be too much to look at, right?"
Herb gave a reassuring smile. "Yeah, this should be a quick and easy trip."
Just as Herb said that, something about the Pansies threw him off. Some of the flowers had begun to wilt away, while the others had been frozen before they got the chance to die.
"My... my, that is quite strange," Herb squinted his eyes.
Latte's suspicions grew. "What? What happened to them?"
"We should probably record the temperatures at night... some of these flowers are frozen over."
"Frozen over?" Latte was puzzled, "why, autumn is no where even close to ending! How did it get so cold so quickly?"
Herb thought for a bit, "well, it shouldn't be this cold. I know it's a magical school and everything, so maybe a spell caused this? I mean, the wind is cold right now, but not enough to form frost or ice."
Latte looked down at the ground, considering the idea, "well, I guess so, but spells don't really last that long. There's always-"
"Always..?" Herb questioned her.
"A curse," Latte let her sentence spill, "but obviously curses aren't allowed on school grounds. And if a curse were casted, one of the staff members would have seen it."
Herb continued with the questions, "What about at night?"
"No one's allowed in or out at night, it's to ensure the safety of staff and property of the school. Unless, a staff member casted it, but that can't be-"
Herb stopped her. "You can't rule out that possibility."
"But I can!" Latte spoke out, "I know the staff members that stay over night, and none of them know of an ice curse this powerful."
Herb glanced at Latte, "so this will have to remain a mystery?"
"Honestly, it most likely will until we launch an investigation."
He didn't respond to her, but instead went to kneel down to inspect the frosted flowers. Herb held one of them in the palm of his hands, feeling the cold burn him from how incredibly frozen it was.
"So, this seems to be more then just a plant issue?" Herb assumed.
"Now it is. Great, as if enough wasn't happening, we just had to add on the fact that someone could be casting curses on the school, and for what reason?"
"Who knows, but all I know is that these flowers can't be saved. I'm terribly sorry," Herb felt the need to apologize.
"You did what you could, at least we know now."
Herb felt horrible for not being able to do anything for Latte, considering that he walked all this way only to find out that there was nothing for him to do anyway. He gave Latte his last good luck to her, and made his way back. He figured that at least he knew he wouldn't be gone for long now, so he would be able to go to Clover and Snow Sugar earlier than he had planned.
On his way over to Clover, he continued to struggle against the harsh wind. It was beginning to irritate him, causing him to overthink about his own plants. Goodness, I wonder what condition my plants are in after last night, he thought. He would have to worry about them later, as he made it to his door step.
Herb knocked on his own door and waited. No response.
"Hello?" Herb called from outside, "it's me, Herb cookie! I've come home early!"
Maybe they couldn't hear him from the loud wind.
"Hello!? Snow Sugar? Clover?"
Herb shivered from the continuous exposure of the cold, and decided that he had enough of it.
"Maybe they're in the garden..."
He made is way down the rocky path to his garden, attempting to ease his paranoia from his thoughts earlier only to be met with reality.
"What on Earthbread!? That cannot be normal..."
Herb caught sight of an unusual patch of frost with the rest of his garden being untouched. Everything behind the fence was frozen but was suddenly cut off horizontally, making everything behind Herb completely uninfected. He was confused by the unnatural formation of frost, but the broken fence had to be investigated first. This better have not been Snow Sugar's doing, Herb's mind popped up with more possibilities.
He climbed over the broken pieces and made his way forward. For most of the path, he had nothing to follow, until he began to notice that the further he went, the more snow there seemed to be. This helped Herb identify where he should go, as foot prints were visible now.
As he followed, another pair of foot prints were now on the track he was following, along with an unusual streak. Herb only became more confused the further he went, not having any of his questions he had before answered. He almost began to form a headache from it all.
Before he could get a headache though, he suddenly saw some shade in front of him only to look up into a frozen forest littered with patches of thick snow.
"Please don't tell me Snow Sugar went into there..." Herb spoke to himself.
A thick accented voice appeared out of no where. "Nope, fella was too scared-"
Herb jumped, "GAH! Who-!?"
"Relax! It's me!"
Herb turned to see Carrot cookie, leaning against a tree.
"Ah, Carrot cookie!" Herb's heart was racing, "what are you doing here?"
She raised an eyebrow, "I should ask you the same, lookin' for Snow Sugar probably?"
Herb nodded, "yes, any idea where they may have run to? Clover cookie too..."
"Clover? Didn't see 'em. Snow Sugar on the other hand was chasin' a fella, some wolf I believe."
"A- a what!?" Herb huffed in disbelief, "a wolf!? Why, why on Earthbread would Snow Sugar chase a wolf?"
Carrot remained collected. "Dunno, but they seemed pretty happy to see that wolf."
"Happy...? Maybe another one of their friends, but why a wolf? Did they break my fence?"
Carrot blinked, "broke ya' fence!? You too?"
"Huh!? 'Me too?' What do you mean by that?"
"Mine's broke too. I guess that explains why we're in the same place."
"You've got to be kidding me..." Herb covered his face in shame.
"I wish, I wish..."
Herb looked back at Carrot, "is there anything we can do?"
"I'll tell ya' what, I saw 'em run over there," she pointed to the left of Herb, "go that way, maybe you'll find 'em."
"Thank you! And uh, good luck fixing your fence..."
Carrot nodded, "You too."
Herb ran to the direction Carrot pointed, and hoped for another clue.
It didn't take him very long to find another piece of the mystery as he stumbled across a cave lined with icicles on the top. Herb didn't even realize how cold he was at this point, the concern for Snow Sugar was stronger than the burn of the frostbite.
Without thinking, Herb desperately called for Snow Sugar.
"Snow Sugar!? Are you there!?" His voice echoed down the cave. He waited for a response, and one returned from afar.
"Go away!"
That definitely wasn't the response Herb was expecting.
Herb cupped his hands together and shout down the cave, "do you know where Snow Sugar went!?"
Silence followed the echo, taking the stranger a bit to respond.
"Why do you want to know!?"
Herb's eyes widened, were they holding Snow Sugar captive?
"Tell me where they are, now!" Herb demanded this time.
The echo travelled in the cave, but this time nothing came back. Herb waited, but nothing returned.
"That's it, I'm coming in!" Herb announced, marching his way into the cave.
Herb angrily made himself go into the cave, wanting to see what this stranger possibly had to hide from him. His steps making the rocks crack below him, now making his way through as he descended into the darkness.
There, he suddenly tripped and fell face first into the ground. Herb struggled to get up, feeling whatever he tripped on shift around in the blinding darkness. He had tripped on a person?
"Huh? Who are you!? Show yourself!" He lunged out into the dark blindly.
His hands held onto a piece of cloth, assuming to be the thing he tripped on. Herb gripped tightly as the cloth was now dragging him, making Herb realize the cloth belonged to the stranger from the inside of the cave. He felt himself being dragged against the rocky floor, Herb's shoes scrapping against the rocks as he got brought back to the entrance.
"Give... me... back- Snow Sugar!" Herb struggled on.
"Let go!"
With a roaring voice, the figure swung Herb out the cave, landing him straight into the snow. Herb landed with a "fwumph," getting snow everywhere.
Herb spat out the snow, "why you!- how DARE you!"
Before Herb could spew out any more words, he looked up only to find a massive cookie with a long cape and large fur, with noticeable wolf-like ears.