What now . . .

Nom-Mee dropped the provisions praying there would be more to find in the forest or with Gruashe’s family, if he were not lying.
     She let go of the extra pack and grabbed the extra handhold as she heard it crash on the rocks beneath her.  Nom-Mee almost swore she heard Yeinar yell in the midst of the crashing.  She rested momentarily while she reconfigured her ascent and then traverse across the mountain face to the next range.  She wished aloud she had not left in such a haste without her chronicle or her map.  As Nom-Mee readied herself to take a new foothold with her unsteady left foot, she began to hear flapping.
      At first, she was excited thinking it was the bevy or the wedge coming to save her from her foolish ways, but as she turned to look in the moonlight, she saw not her friends, but thousands upon thousands of flocks of hydragety (hahy-druh-jet-e).  These worked for the Rock Monster.  “They have now found me!”  Nom-Mee screamed to herself.  This is not a dream.  She was not sleeping this time.  She found a small cave; not large enough for her, but small enough for her packs and one weapon.  Nom-Mee carefully climbed higher until she found a plateau upon which to stand in the moonlight.  She knew she was no match for the flocks, but she would not go without a fight this time.
      As the flocks approached, Nom-Mee arose to her full height, standing firm in her mlooks.  This day, especially, this day, she stood strong.  She grasped her weapon in her left hand, but not too tightly.  As the first wave came, Nom-Mee was able to knock many to the ground and continue to stand.
     With each hit, she seemed to grow stronger.  The second wave somehow died before getting to her.  The third flock readied to attack her from behind while the fourth came at her head on.  Nom-Mee was tempted to close her eyes, but at the last minute, she ducked.
     She slid into a small ravine below her as she heard the crash of the two flocks above her.  Nom-Mee found a passageway that she slipped into.  She continued to hear the hydragety screeching as they searched for her.  Her eyes began to adjust to the darkness as she felt her way.
     Nom-Mee could see a sliver of moonlight ahead as once again she began to climb.  She surmised she was now onto the second range.  She found a passage that led out, but she could no longer hear the flocks.  She wondered if she should dare exit.  She breathed in to escape the narrow crevice, with her eyes wide open.
     “Pain, I am feeling pain,” Nom-Mee said to herself as she felt herself falling.  “Grab something, anything, reach, stick out your weapon! WAKE UP!  WAKE UP!  This is not a dream,” she repeated as she bounced about the rocks on her descent.  She had not fallen as far as it seemed, but she was wounded, nonetheless.
     Non-Mee had landed on a ledge on a different range lower than she was.  She carefully pulled herself out of sight for she could still see the hydragetys and the sun would soon be rising.  There was a cave with a nushaggle (new-shag-gle) bush that provided food and drink for the weary and injured climber.
     Nom-Mee assessed her wounds.  She discovered several deeps cuts on her face and hands.  Her right ankle had been broken, but when she tightened her mlooks, it quickly mended by morning.  Her cuts were healed by the application of the leaves from the nushaggle bush.  With her wounds bandaged and her belly full, she hid deeper in the cave to sleep.  “Well, at least Terba would be happy with me,” she chuckled to herself.
     As the sun rose, the flocks searched harder still.  A young one circled higher and saw something glimmer in the sun on the next range.  He flew to have a closer look.  At first, he thought it might be a friend from the grove, but he wondered why he would be this far north.  Just as he was to get close enough to see, his captain called him back.
     “Gruashe!” yelled Yeinar.  “I told you, you were going to get us killed!  Did you see how close that hydragety almost came?”
     “We found her packs like I said we would.  I know I saw her other weapon over here,” said Gruashe.
     “What about her other pack that almost killed me as it passed us,” yelled Yeinar.
     “That is enough, you two,” said Terba.  “I only agreed to come, if we went to the lake to meet Nom-Mee not to kill each other before we get there.”
     “You are right, Terba,” said Bags and Nags together.
     Terba said, “Alright then, let’s find this weapon and my precious one, so we can get back to business.”
     Before the squad could get any closer, the ground began to shake . . .