The next three hours were a blur to Alice. She led the five of them through the Wind River Range at a shambling trot, frequently stopping to help put D back on the wolf's back or to help Bridgette with Colin's unconscious body. They spshed through creeks and rivers, trying to lose the wargs who trailed their scent, climbing again and again up the rocky mountainous terrain. She had never been so scared or so exhausted, everyone's lives riding on her ability to lead them out of danger through unfamiliar terrain.
As they reached the top of a climb, Alice looked down and saw a small bowl-shaped valley with a pond before the mountain rose again on the far side. Sighing, they began their descent, carefully picking their way down the rocky slope. As they reached the bottom, the wolf nudged Alice, nearly knocking the small girl from her feet, and started to trot into one of the steeper parts of the valley.
"No," Alice said. "Bad wolf. We have to keep going." Bridgette stumbled into Alice's back, not noticing that she had stopped moving, sending the two girls sprawling onto the rough terrain and Colin's still limp body flopping onto the ground. "Ow, watch it!" She gnced at Bridgette, whose eyelids were closed, her eyes rapidly moving behind them. She must have been walking in her sleep, exhaustion having cimed her as well.
"Fuck. What can we do? FUCK." Alice whispered to herself, looking around the valley. The wolf had stopped a few feet away, gncing back at her, and tossed its head into the air, then resumed trotting toward the valley wall. "Okay, what do you think, wolf? You've got a pn?" Alice felt foolish, talking to a giant wolf, but at this point she had no better ideas.
The wolf led her about a hundred feet away from where Bridgette and Colin y, where it had somehow sensed a small cave entrance. Alice grimaced. It might work, but it was going to be an incredibly tight fit to get the four of them plus the wolf in there.
From the next mountain, Alice heard a warg howling. It sounded like it was a few miles away, but it was hard to say with how the sound echoed through the night air. From her other side, she heard more howling, also distant but not comfortingly so. She had no good options left, it was time to pray to Aphrodite for a miracle.
The wolf nudged Alice again and stepped to the entrance of the cave. Alice sighed, figuring she had no better pce to hide and hoped this didn't come back to bite her in the ass ... or kill them all. The wolf id down, making it easier for Alice to grab the unconscious D from its back. Alice pulled the woman's arm over her shoulder, dragging the limp body into the cave. The entrance was tight, maybe six feet tall and as much wide, but about ten feet back the cave turned sharply, descending into the mountain and opening slightly. Alice wasn't able to see well, the moon's light not carrying into the second part of the cave.
"I really fucking hope I don't walk into a sleeping bear or some shit," Alice muttered angrily. "That would be so fucking dumb, what a way to end it all. I hope that damn wolf was smart enough to find an empty cave." She dragged D's body and leaned it up against a wall, before carefully retracing her steps, hands extended and feeling the wall as she went. As she exited the cave, she blinked in momentary panic because the wolf was gone, leaving her standing alone in a dark valley with wargs approaching.
Alice gnced around, then sighed in relief. The wolf was over by Colin, gently dragging the body by an ankle to the cave, careful not to bite down with its sharp teeth. "Thank you," she said, patting the wolf as she ran past it on her way to get Bridgette's body. Alice reached the unconscious barbarian and gnced down. Bridgette was still nude from the effects of her magical transformation, her body covered in mud, blood, the remnants of the magical pink semen, and scratched all over from rocks and trees in the mad escape. Thankfully she had stowed her greataxe in her storage ring, or else Alice would have had to leave the weapon behind.
Alice struggled to pick up Bridgette, straining and swearing, before failing and dropping her onto the ground. "Fuck she's heavy. I'd never tell her to her face, but oof. I mean, she's a muscur and busty sex machine, but maybe a few pounds lighter would be great. Eat some sads, babe." Alice tried once more, straining with all of her might, managing to roll Bridgette on top of her and struggling to her feet with a grunt, squatting the weight of her unconscious lover. "Come on, leg day, don't fail me now."
Bridgette's arms and legs dragged on the ground as Alice, hunched over with the weight, staggered forward toward the cave. She saw that the wolf had managed to completely pull Colin inside, ying the wizard next to D's body. Alice made it in, stumbling and dropping Bridgette painfully to the rock floor of the cave as she fell to her knees, gasping for breath. "Maybe next time I get a stat point, I'll put it in strength," she quipped to the wolf. The wolf blinked at her, its eyes somehow shining purple in the dark cave, as it gazed at her.
Alice struggled to her feet once more, dragging Bridgette's body to rest more comfortably over by D and Colin's. She then turned, sensing motion, only to see that it was the wolf. It had gotten up and moved, pcing its bulk across the cave's interior, blocking all light and preventing entry or exit. Alice stood awkwardly, unable to see in the pitch bck cave, shifting and gncing around, unsure of what to do. With a sigh, she carefully lowered herself to the floor, feeling her way towards the three unconscious bodies. She ran her hands across each, casting the remains of her healing spells onto them. As each spell cast, a small pink glow briefly lit the cave, giving her just enough light to see that they were all breathing and appeared to be retively undamaged.
With a sigh, she id down next to them, clinging to Bridgette's body, and whispered a quiet prayer to Aphrodite. Fi, please keep us safe tonight. We'll owe you one. Her eyes fshed pink momentarily in the dark cave, unnoticed by all, as she rested her head on Bridgette's bare chest and exhaustion cimed her as well.
