Flash Fiction #393 -- Lost in Elsewhere/Part 3

Welcome to the new adventures of Mark, Maggie, and Edmond the talking cat.  There are three sets of adventures on the Joyously Prolific Blog.  You can find them by searching for Surviving Elsewhere, Journey to Somewhere Else, and Saving Elsewhere -- or you can find the entire set here: Tales from Elsewhere -- and you can buy the book for $1.99 with this coupon code WN38F (not case-sensitive) which you enter prior to completing their checkout.  (Good until December 31, 2020 -- pass it around to your friends!)



The snarling creature landed with a head roll, and I saw claws flash in the diffuse light.  Huge.  It growled and stood, so snow-covered so that even the face showed nothing but eyes and the flash of teeth --

I wanted to back away, but there was nowhere better to stand.  Maggie moved to my side.  Edmond tried to burrow into my jacket, and Five disappeared into my pocket.

We were not prepared to face monsters.

The thing stared at us and blinked.  Then it gave what could only be a frustrated sigh as it shook the snow from his body.

"What have you people gotten me into this time?" Lord Snow demanded.

Maggie gave a cry of relief and threw herself at the unhappy snow leopard.  She wrapped her arms around his neck.  The snow leopard looked startled. 

"We're glad to see you," I said and kept from doing the same as Maggie.  "I don't think any of us tried to call you here, Lord Snow.  I'm sorry you got dragged in --"

"No, not your fault," Lord Snow admitted and looked around with narrowed eyes.  He and Maggie came back so that they gathered in a little circle.  It seemed warmer now that the huge snow leopard was with them.  "I set a spell of my own so that if any of you came to trouble in Elsewhere again, that I would be pulled to you.  It seemed wise at the time.  And this does look like trouble."

"I'm not sorry you are here," Maggie said, a hand on the Snow Leopard's head.  "Thank you.  I can't get any indication of where we are, Lord Snow.  We were starting to walk in the general direction from which we came, but as far as I can tell, there's nothing but more snow out that way.  Or any other direction.  Are we in Lord Ice's lands?

Lord Snow looked around, his eyes narrowed.  He even walked up to me, looking past where I stood to where we'd been thrown.

"How --" Lord Snow began.

Five pushed her head up out of my pocket.  "Hi!"

Lord Snow puffed up and leapt backward a good ten feet -- a very startled snow leopard.

"I scared the big kitty!  I scared the big kitty!"

"What in the name of the Gods --" Lord Snow said.  His fur was starting to settle back down.

"Talking, winged kitten," Maggie said and took Five from my pocket to hold her out in view.  She batted at the snowflakes.  "I'll give you one guess how that happened."

"Edmond, whatever were you thinking?" Lord Snow asked, slightly bemused now.

"I wasn't thinking," he admitted.  "That's pretty obvious.  This is Five --"

"Five?"

"Five of Six.  The others are not with us."

"Well, not so much a disaster as I expected," Lord Snow said.

"I'm not a disaster!" Five exclaimed with righteous indignation.  "I am a good kitten!  It could have been Two instead!"

"She does have a point," Edmond agreed.

Lord Snow came closer to the kitten in Maggie's hand.  It occurred to me that Five had no idea that she ought to be worried about big things that could be dangerous.  We'd have to teach her quickly if this adventure went on for long.

"I am pleased to meet you, Kitten Five," Lord Snow said with a bow of his head.  "I have known your illustrious father for some time, and I hope you will find this adventure as exciting as our others."

Edmond snarfed in disbelief but changed it into a cough when Lord Snow gave him a sideways glance.

"It is cold out here," Lord Snow said.  "And your father is not as young as he used to be."

"Hey!" Edmond protested.

I hid my smile while Lord Snow looked around again, sniffing the air and even the snow.  We had it up above our ankles, but it felt like more snow below us, packed down by more snow -- a vast flat glacier that didn't appear to be moving in any direction.

"We are, I believe, at the very outer reaches of Lord Snow's lands," he finally announced.  "This is where Winter begins, and it is not a safe place to linger.  However, there is a problem.  Even if I pointed you in the direction of home -- and I'm not sure even I could -- the boundaries are made to keep things inside this area.

"Dangerous things," I said with a sigh.

Lord Snow glanced at Five as though he thought we should not be saying such things in front of the kitten.

"If there is anything dangerous," I said and drew his attention, "then we all need to be aware of it and careful."

"Ah, yes.  Of course.  Pay attention Kitten Five."

"Yes, sir," she said with a quick nod.

"Didn't learn her manners from her father," Lord Snow said.  Edmond sighed this time.  "But there is hardly anyone I would rather have by my side than Edmond, Mark, and Maggie.  We are all resourceful.  Right now, my friends, I think we would do best to head the way you started.  All directions lead Lord Ice's lands.  If we are lucky, the trouble there will be over before we arrive."

"Trouble?" Maggie asked.  "I had just come back from a Council meeting, and no one from Lord Ice's lands had shown up."

"Trolls, icelings, snowbirds -- all manner of creatures are stirred up, but we don't know why," Lord Snow admitted.  "I was out scouting when I inadvertently took this side trip.  I thought I had fallen into some trap."

"Then we need to get you back," I said and stared at the flat white world all around us.  "I suppose we better get walking."

"Let me go ahead," Lord Snow said.  "I know the feel of the snow better, and this is a dangerous land."

We did not argue.  We just walked and walked.  At least there was magic to stay warm.

And then Lord Snow disappeared.