Chapter 5: Into the Unknown
#5 of The Perpetual Oasis
"Are you serious?!"
It was already late into the evening. The sun was settling behind the thick canopy of the pine trees. Bright orange rays pierced through the limbs, and shadows crept into the cave to where the two of them rested.
"Of course I am." Kieshou huffed. "What do you expect me to say after you tell me something like that?"
"You can't go, it's just too dangerous. You should know that better than anyone."
She crossed her arms, undeterred by his statement. "If it's dangerous....then I'll just have to bring some kind of weapon. That's all."
"Oh really? What exactly do you plan on using? The only thing that's even close to a weapon's that stupid pointy stick I used on the bear....you wanna dig it up and pull it out of him? Go right ahead."
"Don't you have any faith in me at all? You want to know just what I plan on using, huh? You'll see."
Before Anfang could further object, she abruptly got up and stormed out of the cave. A little curious to see what she planned on doing, he slowly dragged himself out of bed and made his own way outside. Kieshou was already a little ways into the forest. She seemed to be looking around for something. Anfang's eyes tried to focus as he drew closer.
"What's she doing? Looking for another stupid spear? Or maybe a club?"
Kieshou disappeared behind a small bush for a moment, before reappearing with a long, thin branch clutched in her paw.
"This will do just fine."
"What are you talking about? You couldn't hurt a mouse with that puny thing." Anfang scoffed.
"It's going to be able to hurt a lot bigger animals then mice."
He was about to snap at her with another snide remark, but he decided it was probably useless, and figured it would be best to just watch quietly. Kieshou walked back into the darkened hollow, and he followed closely behind. She made her way to the back of the cave and picked up some twine that Anfang had planned on making a necklace out of.
"Hey, what are you gonna do with that?"
"You can always make more, I need it for my bow."
"Bow?" he snickered, "Is that what you're trying to make?"
"I'm doing more than trying."
Anfang looked on as she struggled with the flimsy branch; cutting small notches in the ends with a dull blade, pulling the limb taught, and tying the twine securely to each point. He started wondering how it was that some girl could know so much about making bows. He took a seat on small boulder near the mouth of the cave and interrupted her diligence.
"So....where'd you learn to do that?"
She just smirked. "Another one of my brother's hobbies."
"Right, why'd I even bother asking."
Kieshou put a few finishing touches onto the weapon, and pulled the string back a few times to test it. She grinned from ear to furry ear, showing great pride in her accomplishment. Anfang didn't know it, but this was the first time she'd ever actually tried making one for herself.
"Just needs arrows."
"Yeah, well you ever shoot one of those before? I mean, it's not like they work by themselves."
"What, you think my brother just made these things?" She chuckled. "What a stupid question."
Anfang's cheeks turned bright red. He suddenly realized how little credit he gave her at times, even when he knew she deserved it.
"Sorry."
Kieshou ventured outside once again, retrieving a few sticks from the surrounding coppice. Anfang started thinking about mess he had just gotten himself into.
"I sure can't keep her from going with me now.....what am I gonna do?" he thought. "I guess I should just wait and see if she's as good with that thing as she's making herself out to be."
It was pitch black out when Kieshou finally finished working on the arrows. There was now a large pile of them lying in front of her, along with what appeared to be a satchel of some sort. Anfang had been gathering some wood of his own as she worked, and a roaring fire was now illuminating the cavern.
He poked at the charred kindling with a stick, and sighed. "Well....so much for setting out today."
The ardent raccoon looked up for a moment, flashing a sardonic grin, but noticing that his back was still turned to her. She began picking up the arrows and loading them into the quiver.
"The least you could do is look at me when you say stuff like that." she mumbled.
Anfang didn't even hear her over the crackling hiss of the fire. He stared into the flames, trying to figure out what the hell they were going to do tomorrow. When he came up with the idea that afternoon, Kieshou wasn't exactly in the plans. He wondered how they would even go about finding someone in such a large valley. It would take weeks just to cover that kind of ground.....and what if no one was even out there? His pupils shrank as he stared, now as small as a couple of pinholes. Suddenly, he snapped out of his trance-like state, and they went back to normal. He glanced over his shoulder at Kieshou. She was standing with the bow in her left paw, and the quiver was now hanging around her neck.
"You think maybe this was a bad idea?" questioned Anfang.
"Why are you asking me? I wasn't the one that came up with it in the first place."
Kieshou grabbed an arrow from behind her as she spoke. The bow in her other paw lifted, and she pulled the string back, aiming a loaded projectile right at the lupine.
"Hey!" he screamed, then launched himself clear across the cave.
Kieshou laughed at his comedic performance as she slowly eased the string back to it's normal, readied position.
"Was that because I aimed the bow at you? Or did you just get scared thinking about all the big, bad monsters in the forest?"
"Stop acting like that!" he shouted. "You're really starting to get on my nerves!"
Kieshou's smile disappeared. She set the bow down on the ground next to her, then removed the quiver and did the same with it. The angry wolf picked himself up off the floor and brushed the dirt out of his coat. He didn't look very amused by her attempt at a joke, as he stomped towards his chair by the fireplace. Kieshou slowly strolled over to him with her hands clasped behind her back; like a student that was just sent to the principal's office, slow, and uneasy. Once she was right behind him, she started to lift a paw to set on his shoulder, but hesitated.
"I wasn't trying to make you mad." she said softly. "You should know by now when I'm just kidding."
"It's kind of hard to think straight when you have an arrow aimed at your head." he replied.
She smiled. "I wasn't aiming at your head."
Anfang turned around and noticed the smirk on her face. "You still think it's funny, don't you?!"
She was a little concerned by the last statement. She started wondering just how mad she had made him. What was he thinking about? Was he going to do something to hurt her? Anfang burst into laughter, seeing the frightened expression on her face.
"What?! What are you..... You jerk! You really had me worried!"
The lupine couldn't make out her exact words. He was laughing way too hard to hear anything.
"Aaaahh!" Kieshou screamed, and threw herself at him.
The wind left Anfang's lungs as he hit the ground a second time.
"You're crazy!" he shouted.
But as he looked at the raccoon sprawled out on top of him, he started to wonder if maybe she too was faking. Kieshou raised her head, and sure enough, she didn't look to serious. Anfang was about to yell something at her, but stopped himself.
"That's the best you could come up with?" he chuckled.
He lunged forwards and wrapped his arms around Kieshou's neck, forcing her to fall back to the ground with him. She flashed a grin and looked him straight in the eyes.
"You're an idiot."
"Well you fell for it." he taunted. "We should probably quit playing tricks on each other, for now. We should really be thinking about getting some rest. It would be best if we headed out first thing tomorrow morning."
"Fine, you're off the hook....for now."
Anfang let out a loud sigh. "What a relief."
Kieshou smiled, placed her paws on his cheeks, and gave him a kiss.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"Nothing."
Anfang tried to figure out what the kiss meant as they walked to their bed, but he couldn't.
"Maybe she......why the hell......."
He thought about it long after Kieshou had fallen asleep beside him, and right up until he drifted off as well.
He awoke the next morning while Kieshou still slept, much to his surprise.
"She must be having a beautiful dream for her to want to sleep for so long." he thought.
The familiar piney scent of the trees mixed with countless other fragrances wafted into the den.
"Kieshou....Kieshou, wake up." he said as he shook her gently.
She mumbled something inaudible, then stretched out and yawned like she did every morning.
"What are you doing up so early?" she asked.
"I told you we were leaving first thing."
The two of them got everything needed for the trip packed and ready, then set out. They headed off on a trail that branched from the one that led to the river. Anfang had traveled a short ways up the overgrown pathway once or twice, but he never strayed too far from the cave. The trail followed the river for a while, but as they pressed on, the sounds of the flowing water lessened, until it eventually stopped altogether. Not long into the journey, Anfang remembered that he was supposed to test Kieshou's abilities with the bow. It was so late in the night when she finally finished, that the thought had completely slipped his mind. He stopped walking, and held Kieshou back by raising his arm in front of her.
"What did you stop for?"
"Remember...." The lupine's gaze fell upon the bow draped over her shoulder. "when I asked if you were any good with that thing?"
"Yeah....so?"
"You never showed me."
"So you don't trust me?" Kieshou pretended to be hurt by his words.
"I didn't say that.....but you are starting to make me wonder."
The raccoon's face turned to stone as she pulled a single arrow from the pouch on her back.
"Fine...you want to see just how good of a teacher Miroshi was?"
The bow slid down into her other paw with a simple twist of her shoulder. She searched the dense brush for some kind of target, and found exactly what she was looking for. There was an apple tree about ten yards or so from where she stood, and the large fruit dangled from it like spherical bulls-eyes. Kieshou clenched the bow tightly in her paw. She started to nock the ragged arrow. The bow raised, and the she pulled the string back as far as she could.
"Lets see if I still got it." she whispered.
Her paw released the string, and the arrow rocketed towards the tree so fast that Anfang's eyes could barely keep up. There was a loud "thwack" as it lodged itself deep into the rigid flesh of the wood.
"Pretty good." The lupine commended. "That was the tree you were aiming for, wasn't it?"
"Nope." She replied.
"You mean you hit the wrong tree?"
Kieshou returned the bow to it's place of rest, and began strutting up the path.
"Hey, wait a minute! We gotta talk!" Anfang jogged after her as he spoke. "If you can't even hit that big of a target, then how are you gonna be any help to me."
Kieshou had already arrived at the apple tree. She grabbed the arrow with both of her paws, and wrenched on it until it slid out. She checked it for damage before calmly placing it back in the quiver.
"Are you even listening to me?" Anfang snorted.
Kieshou turned around, making sure to avoid eye contact, as she reached up and plucked one of the apples off of the tree. She held it up between the two of them, revealing an arrow-sized wormhole.
"I wasn't aiming at the tree."
To be continued......