His teeth were sharp but not as sharp as they had been, just a few of his teeth before and after his canines sporting points. His horns had fat new points like he was getting back to his old Elkfen self. I’d never tell him, but the more he became his old self, the more I worried how well he’d be able to fend off the more vicious, adamant anti-Christmas-y beasties we shared space with.
“Almost didn’t get it this time,” he muttered, a worried frown marring his tan eyebrow fuzz covered dark brown brow. Shnikel was speaking full sentences, his voice deep but not gruffly so like before, and while he was large, strapping and muscular, going back to his Elkfen self he’d lost that edge the Krampus side of him had loaned him.
At the look on my face, he smiled and pecked a kiss to my lips. “Don’t look so worried. It’ll be fine.”
But would it?
He’d also discovered in a fun twist of events he no longer possessed the ability to keep me warm as he once had, ahem, by certain means. It was a trait that solely belonged to a Krampus. The thick pelts I huddled up in helped but it just wasn’t the same. Days had passed since that first night. So many I’d lost count. A month or two at least. There was a strange buzz about the caves today. Something was off.
There were other beasts among the Krampus mountain dwellers, large, Abominable looking Yeti types. Insanely tall and built like a brick wall, wide shoulders, long arms, thick trunks for thighs, covered in a fluffy mass of white fur, with fat tusks jutting from their lower jaws, I’d only seen a glimpse of one myself, though from the sounds of it there were others. They tended to keep to themselves and allowed the Krampus to share prime real estate with them so long as they kept to their designated area. Shnikel had run into more than I cared to think about but insisted that despite the thing they did with their mouths—some thing they did with their faces to warn off others that Shnik let slip before he’d realized I had no clue what he was talking about, and now he wouldn't tell me, like he didn’t want to frighten me—and how they might look, they were mostly harmless. Their roars were distinct from a Krampus’, loud and bellowing, like a long blasting horn. That howling bellow was deep to a Krampus’ rasping warning growls and chest vibrating snarl.
A Baumbel, as the Krampus called them, you felt their anger from across the cavern. Cave walls shook.
Had one of them gone postal and killed a Krampus and now they were all on edge? Even Shnikel, who wasn’t prone to fits of anxiety, was looking anxious.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“You remember that pit I dug?” he asked, glancing over in the secret compartment’s direction.
“Yeah,” I said slowly, a curious look overcoming my face.
“Well, I dug another one just in case, and found an entrance to one of Hinter’s old underground tunnelways.” Another look at the secret compartment. “I think I have a plan, but I’ll need some time. There are some things that need to be done first…” His ear cocked and he jerked his head towards the tunnelway that led to the main cave mouth. There were several mountain cave exits but the largest one was used the most and the easiest to navigate back from. “About that compartment,” he whispered, right as a loud thudding sounded and a mess of fruit began shooting into the room.
I watched as fruit after fruit pelted the room, until there was a pile of them.
Curling his hand around my mouth, mouthing for me to keep quiet, he crept to the compartment he’d dug, lifting the snow dusted top, and dropped me down inside it to jump in after me. Scooping up handfuls of loose gravel, grit, and snow that was blown in over the lid, sliding the top firmly shut, he motioned for me to go down to the farthest end of the tunnel, until the crystal bits embedded in the dirt walls of the crawling room only space this far down grew dark.
Turning back to realize Shnikel was still near the lid, staring up at something from the gap spilling light in with a tense look on his face, I quietly scooted back down the way towards him.
It sounded like a frenzy out there, snarling and snapping, chomping and crunching as the fruits, mostly apples with a few plums mixed in, were all gobbled up. And then, as fast as it had all started, there were heavy thuds and then nothing.
Glancing down the tunnelway to find me a few feet from him, Shnikel scowled but put a finger to his lips.
Soon the steady breaths of incapacitated Krampus reached our ears. Minutes passed and I wondered if that was it, and then it was like a parade of quick steps. The staccato of them, sharp clipping clicks, like small footed marching feet, echoed. My ears pricked. Holding my breath, I strained to listen.
A foot separated us now. Another glance at me and Shnikel gave me an exasperated look. Shaking his head as I gave him a sheepish smile, he turned back to whatever he was watching. A strange, steady snick sound rent the air. Shnikel winced at whatever he was watching. Grimacing, glancing away, he found my gaze once more.
‘What’s going on up there?’ I mouthed, but he just shook his head.
Louder, heavier steps issued, a single pair that fell with loud stomps. Shnikel stiffened. Swallowing thickly, he looked like he was forcing himself to watch as those steps were loud enough I knew the person, being, was in the main cave room we resided in.
There was the sound of shuffling, like something being dragged, and weird popping noises.
Shnikel swallowed thickly. He looked ashen, pale even beneath all that fur.
Our gazes met again and held.
Ignoring the question in my eyes, he dropped down, motioning for me to go with him further down into the tunnel. Just at the mouth of the point we’d need to duck down for crawling space only, he gathered me up, wrapping my pelt around me tighter, and just held me close.
Wrapping my arms around him, realizing he was trembling, whatever he’d witnessed shaking him to his core, I pressed a kiss to the middle of his furry chest.
There, huddled in the dim light from the crystal-like bits, he whispered those three little words that I’d found creeping in on my thoughts more and more of late. Was it too soon? Could it happen that fast? All I knew was, I cared about the male, dearly, and couldn’t imagine myself without him, even if it meant staying in Hinter so we could be together.
“Love you, too, Shnik,” I whispered back. Tilting my head up, his mouth met mine in a sweet, tender kiss.
After more time passed, the odd popping noises and dragging sounds ceasing for a tinkling, shuffling sound, and then retreating steps and nothing, he stared at the lid to our hidey-hole with a haunted look. “You trust me, don’t you, Lumi?” he said finally into the silence that followed the odd turn of events.
“Yes,” I said simply.
Letting out a deep breath like he’d been holding it, he nodded. Dragging me into his lap, until we were both snuggled up in the pelt around my shoulders, he nuzzled and then pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Good.”
Chapter 13
Maybe it was just me, but Shnikel was being weird today. He’d been off kilter, in fact, since we’d climbed out of the hidden compartment a few weeks back to find the Krampus’ numbers were significantly diminished, at least by half, and a strange layer of sparkling silver stuff, like a glitter confetti, craft herpes tragically gone wrong of epic proportions let loose, had overtaken the place.