Riley's Journey by P.L. Parker, Sandra Edwards Page A

turned and in doing so, the candle glow danced off a large form, covered in fur, filling the tunnel. Riley screamed and fell backwards, the candle dying out as she fell. Scuttling backwards, she groped in the dark for anything she could use as a weapon.
    “What are you doing in here?” Nathan’s voice calmly came out of the dark.
    “ Oh my God, Nathan ! You scared the be-jesus out of me!” Riley almost fainted in relief, so thankful was she to hear his voice.
    Nathan’s hand found her in the dark and he helped her to her feet. “Sorry, but there’s something I wanted to show you so I came back to get you.”
    “Well, next time make some noise and let me know you’re behind me. I thought a bear had me!”
    “I didn’t know you were so skittish or I would have made noise as I came down.”
    “Skittish? I’m not skittish! Generally, I’m a very calm and collected person, in my real life, that is.”
    Nathan moved along the tunnel, holding her hand to guide her along. He seemed to know every curve and obstacle by heart so they moved easily through the twists and turns.
    “What possessed you to come in here?” Nathan asked again.
    “I was a little bored and you talked about an escape route and since I had some time, I thought I should be aware of its location, just in case.”
    “You should! But ask me to show you next time. It’s kind of tricky to maneuver in here if you don’t know the layout.” They turned a corner and light from the opening to the spring room softly lit the tunnel.
    Riley almost ran into the spring room, immensely grateful to be out of the tunnel. “Now, what did you come back for that you had to scare ten years off of my life?” Bending over, she swished her hands frantically through her hair, praying that she hadn’t picked up some hideous crawling creature in the tunnel. Nathan watched in amusement. He hadn’t realized she was so easily frightened.
    “It’s a surprise! Get dressed in your outer clothes and you’ll see. I don’t get to see this very often and I thought you would be interested.” He gathered up some jerky and a water bladder. “We can have a picnic along the way.”
    Riley raced around, adding layers in anticipation of the weather outside, excited at the prospect of an outing and the expectation of a surprise. She followed him out of the cave and into the sunshine. It was a beautiful but very cold day, the snow considerably deeper after the recent storm. A slight breeze blew, lifting her hair gently from her already rosy cheeks. Nathan bent down to tie some homemade snowshoes on her feet then they started off.
    Having never worn snowshoes before, she tripped a number of times until she got the hang of it. Nathan moved easily while she scooted along like she had a stick up her fanny, but it worked for her. Nathan’s face twisted in amusement as he watched her progress, but he was careful not to say anything to belittle her technique.
    Nathan took a course heading north, along a track he had made earlier. Riley followed behind Demon, in her usual place. At the edge of an overhang, Nathan pointed, “Look out there, can you see them?”
    Riley’s eyes adjusted to the glare. She could! In the distance, a herd of what she thought looked like giant deer moved slowly through the snow-covered expanse, towards the tree line. From her vantage point, they looked enormous.
    “Those are Megaceros, I believe they are called. I call them moose, but if I remember right, they are actually deer.” Nathan explained. “They can stand ten feet tall and have an antler span of eleven feet. Pretty impressive! Now look to the right! Can you see them?”
    Maneuvering around, the others were obviously planning to attack the herd and had positioned themselves in readiness.
    “They’re actually going to attack those huge animals?” Riley gasped. The others seemed so small in comparison to the behemoths. She watched as the drama below unfolded.
    “They’ll try to force one of the