Cara lifted her hands to her hood, and dragged it up and over her face. She saw no reason to make the hunt any easier on the ice watch. But of course, her footprints always had to give her away. "Stupid snow," she muttered angrily as she walked along, hopefully in the direction of her hold. She wasn't really sure where she was going, with the dark keeping her from seeing as clearly as she did during the day, nonetheless, she knew that as soon as she found one hold, she'd know where each of them hid. Cara would have started a small djed flame to light her way, but she didn't want to over-exert herself, or further draw any attention to her. So the darkness would have to do. Cara walked along in silence for a few minutes, the only sound that filled the air was the occasional grunt and howling of animals, as well as the crunching of her feet in the snow. She was actually going to get away with sneaking out, and starting fires. A small smile spread across Cara's face as her eyes glimmered. Too bad for Berus and Darren, surely the same can't be said of them. The two are probably begging for a more lenient punishment this very instant. Cara's smile widened as she quickened her step through the snow. The wind was picking up, causing Cara to shiver a bit. She should hurry up before she froze, or was caught... As Cara walked, she was certain she heard footsteps coming from behind her. Not wanting to make any noise, she simply stopped in place, turned, and looked over her shoulder. She couldn't see anything. Perhaps it was just the wind. Or a figment of one's slightly over-active imagination. Cara turned back around, and continued walking. She took another few steps before she heard a heavy crunching sound coming from behind her; more footsteps. Whatever made them sounded like it was moving at a similar pace, and was much larger than she, or at least, far noisier, and not at all attempting to mask its movements. Cara turned to look over her shoulder again, and there, off in the distance, perhaps fifty feet away, was a polar bear. Cara's eyes grew wide. "Petch," she whispered into the cool wind. Why did they have to send out the bloody polar bears? Cara's brain cried. She couldn't exactly fight the polar bears with her magic, as she could the fools she had met in the pen. Well, technically she could, but it wouldn't be a very good idea. Cara froze, her arms hovered at her side as she turned back around. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Perhaps if she doesn't move, it won't notice her, and will simply move on and leave her alone. Cara stood, doing her best not to sweat; to move, to give away her current location. The bear growled. Petch! Does that mean it saw her? Cara turned her head left and then right, there didn't seem to be anyone or anything coming from that direction. But she did hear something else. When Cara had turned to face forward again, she noticed yet another polar bear. Another one? As if one of those over-sized white bears wasn't enough? TWO BLOODY POLAR BEARS, come to kill Cara? Or erm... capture Cara and then turn her in? Perfect, just what she needed right now. Cara's breath caught in her throat. She had definitely spoken too soon. She looked all around her again, certainly there had to be a way out of this mess. |