InterRealm - Chapter 2
#2 of InterRealm
A cold, stiff wind pierced the sensitive noses of Oren, Edgar, and a small pawful of the Great Teacher's close, trusted acolytes as they all made their way through the sparse woods outside the Church's cavern. The gentle slope of the mountain made their going relatively easy, dry leaves on the ground crackling beneath their hindpaws. The sound was echoed by the rest of the congregation, who were making their ways back to their respected abodes to await further notice.
"Supposed to snow this evening," a young, small doe in the pack commented, glancing at the gray afternoon sky. "Heard about it on the news this morning."
"I wonder what the news would say of us and the Pure One, if they knew what we were doing," the chestnut-colored Edgar remarked, his eyes fixed on the ground as they trudged along behind Oren.
"They'd make us out to be fools and liars," Oren snarled in his soft, silky voice. "I don't trust the news so much," he continued. "Not even for daily weather reports, Leanna," he smirked back towards the young doe.
"I think it's a mere matter of picking through the sensationalism and yellow journalism that they report on to get to the truth," Edgar rebutted.
"Well, as you will, then," Oren replied lightly. "Ah, here we are," he stated more grandly as a small cabin came into view. "I knew it would be beneficial to have some place close by in case of emergencies." The party made their way inside, shivering a bit as they entered dead cold air from gusty cold wind.
"Should I make a fire?" an older panther, his obsidian frame lank and wiry, hanging a good head above the rest of the group.
"No time," Oren replied. "We just need some supplies from here before we head on our way to find the Pure One," he explained as he opened a linen closet, exposing an array of sheets, blankets, and sleeping bags. "I want us all to be on alert, to be searching for potentially days until we find her." This statement was met with an outcry from all the acolytes.
"Days?" Leanna cried, as did a stocky bull standing next to her.
"Surely she couldn't have gotten that far already!" the panther exclaimed.
"Do you expect us to rest at all?" Edgar moaned.
"I don't think we can all go that long!" a ferret, the youngest of the group, sulked.
Oren rounded on the group, staring them all down fiercely. "Do you want the Truth?" he shouted at them, stifling their cries. "Do you want to Evolve? Do you want to pass on into the next realm, or do you simply want to stay in this world over and over again until the end of time?" He stared at them all a moment in silence, feeling his angry heart pounding in rhythm with their fearful ones. Suddenly, he sighed, closing his eyes, a weary look being drawn onto his grizzled face. "I apologize," he said softly, not looking at them.
"It's all right," Edgar said consolingly.
"You're right," Leanna added.
"You only want the best for all of us," the panther admitted in a soothing tone. "And so we trust you. Don't beat yourself up too much over it, Teacher. None of us are perfect. Except for the Pure One, of course, as long as she hasn't been tainted too badly by what happened."
"You have a kind and gentle heart, Ferris," Oren said, opening his eyes and staring up into the amber eyes of the panther. "I wish I could have that peace that you harbor." He paused for a moment, looking around at the others, almost as if unsure what to do, stalling for time, before he remembered what he was doing.
"Right then--supplies," he said, turning around again to face the open linen closet. "Just some basic stuff, like blankets," he heaved while pulling out a stack of thick, warm blankets, dropping them on a scrubbed wooden table. "For sleeping in our cars," he said to a couple quizzical looks. "And some food items--nonperishable," he said, quickening his pace as he hurried over to the small kitchen's pantry, pulling out some loaves of bread, bags of chips and other salty snacks, packages of dried fruit, canned beans, and finishing off by lifting a large crate of bottled water from the ground.
"Flashlights might help, too," he added after heaving the crate of water onto the table, sitting it next to all the blankets and food items. "There should be some in there," he said, pointing to a cabinet standing behind the young ferret. "Fetch them, if you would, please, Michael," he said, addressing the ferret, who promptly obeyed, pulling out six large flashlights and setting them on the table, followed by packages of spare batteries.
"How do we plan to catch her once we find her?" the stocky bull standing next to Leanna asked in a low, gruff voice.
"Well, Adrian, certainly no weapons of any sort!" Oren replied. "Not even tranquilizer guns, as I don't want to risk hurting her--that may very well be the bane of her purity...or what's left of it, at least. I'm still hoping against hope that she's not as bad off as that foolish cheetah seemed to make her."
"He has a name, you know," Leanna said indignantly. "It's Janus. And was he really so foolish if none of us could have known the repercussions of his actions beforehand?"
"Fair point," Oren smirked, as if only half acknowledging her remark. "Anyways, regarding how to catch her...well, quite frankly, I'm not so sure now if we should capture her. Find her and watch her, certainly, for that is her purpose. But if worse comes to worse, we can always use this--" Oren squeezed by Michael, who, though diminutive, was blocking the cabinet from which the flashlights came in that small, cramped cabin. The wolf lifted a large net from the bottom shelf of the cabinet, displaying it to the group.
"Rather crude, isn't it?" Ferris remarked, looking over the brim of his thin-rimmed glasses.
"I sorta like it," Adrian grunted.
"It will have to do, I think," Oren said, looking it over. "It's our best bet for now, at least. So that's it--everyone divvy up the supplies and head out to your cars. I think it'd be best if we pair up. Leanna, you can ride with Adrian."
"Oh, joy," Leanna said sardonically, rolling her eyes before bursting into a tiny giggle. "Oh, come on, Adrian!" she said to the bull's hurt expression. "You know I like you just fine!"
"Yes, well," Oren continued, "You guys ride north, then come back west if you don't find her. Edgar, ride with me south, and you two," Oren pointed at the ferret and the panther, "head east. Look after him, Ferris," he added.
"I may be young in this body," Michael protested, "but I have been around a while longer, so I can take care of myself all right, you know."
"I know," Oren smiled to Michael after a pause, and the six of them, laden with their meager supplies, made their way down the gentle mountainside to the parking lot, a good twenty-minute walk from the cabin. The rest of the congregation had already departed, leaving the lot looking rather empty.
"Be sure to call if you find out anything," Oren instructed to the couples loading up their cars--Adrian and Leanna loading the bull's pick-up, and Michael and Ferris stowing their goods in the panther's sedan. Edgar had made quick work of putting his and Oren's supplies in Oren's SUV and was sitting quietly in the passenger seat when Oren climbed behind the wheel.
"You've remained rather quiet," the wolf said to the horse.
"Just taking it all in, sir," Edgar said pensively, staring out the front windshield. "Trying to keep a level head about things. Not that I don't trust you to do the same," he added quickly.
"No need to bullshit to me, Edgar," Oren sighed. "I know I have a tendency to fly off the handle...too frequently, it seems...and I know that nobody's perfect, as Ferris said back there, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to better myself. It doesn't mean that I should give up on improving myself, does it?" His voice sounded almost unsure, as if asking his own acolyte for counsel.
"No, sir," Edgar replied. "If that were the case, then we'd never have any sort of progress whatsoever."
"Right," Oren said definitively. "Well, best get a move on," he said, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot to meet a gentle snow beginning to fall from the darkening sky.