Journey to Aachen part 4

Rufus and Liana were wondering hopelessly in the cold forest. They both had impressive divine powers that kept them warm. Any other person with weaker divinity would have frozen to death a long time ago since divinity makes a being more resilient. Still, this could only slow down the inevitable demise.

Slowly the harsh climate was starting to win, with Liana having a hard time. Rufus saw this and urged her to keep moving, for if they stopped, their body temperature would start to drop.

Liana kept both of them warm thanks to a small light she had created, but this made her tired as time kept going. Soon, Liana collapsed into the snow dead tired.

She was breathing heavily with Rufus pondering what to do. He then gave his shirt and wrapped it around Liana and started to walk forward with her on his back.

~~

Back in the castle town, the greyhound knights ran out from the city with large dogs being walked by them.

"Are you sure these hounds can find them?" Doreen asked as she joined, Edward and Haley, to try and find Rufus and Liana.

"These are Aurelian greyhounds. They are bred and trained as great tracking hounds and are sure to find your king," Maxim explained as they headed out.

~~

Rufus was hearing as Liana was not anymore breathing heavily. He touched her forehead and felt that she had a high fever.

She was getting too weak and had to get somewhere warmer for shelter. He also was getting weaker with his legs starting to get numb from the cold weather.

Rufus couldn't anymore feel his cheeks and knew they didn't have long before they were dead. The wind started to blow even harder and when snow hit his face, the felt like needles, making it almost unbearable. Breathing hurt his lounges as the air was cold and dry.

Then he heard a large sound from a little ahead.

A giant bear, with white fur, stumbled forward. It was a large polar bear, a species of bear that only lived in the far north.

The beast growled and looked angrily at the two weak humans, but didn't seem like it wanted to attack. It wanted to be left alone and not be harmed and signaled it by growling.

Rufus still had an idea of how to save them. He placed the wounded Liana on the snow gently and started to slowly walk forward. His steps were heavy and felt as if he could barely stay conscious anymore.

The polar bear grew threatened and charged at the weak Rufus. With its large palm, he struck at the badly weak Rufus who flew against a tree.

Rufus was too weak and too slow to be able to fight, but he still tried. The bear once more charged at Rufus who was able to roll away before the bear could attack him.

Rufus got up and tried to conjure a divine sphere, but was too slow. The beard came at him and bit into his shoulder, causing immense pain.

Rufus was holding on to the bear's head, hoping that with his divine powers he could at least blow its head off, but was even too weak for that. As the bear's teeth were starting to get ever close to Rufus's arteries, a shining spear flew at the bear from its back, puncturing it.

Rufus looked back and saw that it was Liana who had conjured the last of her strength. Liana then closed her eyes and fell unconscious.

Rufus then was determined to do his best as well. He then yelled and started to force his divinity out. As he did, the head of the bear exploded, it collapsing to the snowy ground dead.

Rufus then quickly ran to Liana and carried her to the corpse of the polar bear. Rufus then pushed her unconscious body inside it and then he slid himself inside to keep himself warm.

As both Liana and Rufus were inside the bear's corpse, the cold breeze intensified outside. The thick fur and still lingering body heat kept them safe as they hoped someone would find them on time.

~~

As the day turned to night, small lights could be seen closing on the corpse of the giant polar bear. It was the greyhound knights with their tracking dogs.

"What the hell is that thing?" Edward yelled as they saw the giant polar bear's corpse.

"Who the hell cares. We are here to find Rufus, not some dumb dead bear," Haley yelled back.

Maxim then got closer to the corpse to inspect it.

"I bet your dumb dogs just smelled another animal and came here because of it," Haley said back while being frustrated.

"I wouldn't doubt our hounds that easily. They did their job perfectly if you would just inspect this corpse here," Maxim pointed out.

Doreen, Edward and Haley came close to the corpse. From the open neck, they saw Rufus passed out, holding on to the unconscious and weak Liana, to keep her warm.