Dreamland

We spent some time telling stories and joking until we finished our food. It was a pleasant sunny late April afternoon. We were basking in the sun and drinking the last drops of juice when Tom had a brilliant idea:

“Hey, how about we eat some berries?”

This took me by surprise:

“Berries? So early? Here?”

Tom grinned back:

“Sure. Wild strawberries. I know a place where there are lots of them. I guess some are already ripe!”

Mike wasn't so excited about the idea. He eyed me:

“Can you walk barefoot through the forest?”

I was getting to know them: Mike was the quieter, reserved type, and Tom was the more active, exuberant, and unrestrained type. I shrugged: a little activity would do me good.

"I should be fine. Let's go get those berries!”

We walked for about fifteen minutes on a wild path through the forest until we finally found the promised berries in a clearing. It was not such a bountiful harvest, many berries were still green or pale green, but some were ripe and tasted good, with a distinct aroma.

“There's another place about five minutes from here. Should we check on that too?”

Mike looked at the sky:

“I don't know, it looks like it's going to rain sooner or later. Shouldn't we go back to the cabin?”

“Nah, I guess we still have more than one hour before it starts raining. Most of the sky is free of clouds.” - Tom said, yet he asked me for my opinion, too - “Lores, what do you think?”

I shrugged.

“I'm OK each way...” - as Tom's face fell, I corrected myself - “Well, OK, let's go for the strawberries!”

We followed Tom on another winded path through the forest. It was smooth and pleasant to my bare soles, and indeed in another glade, we found lots and lots of wild strawberries.

“Yai!” - said Tom, satisfied, but just as we started to eat, the first raindrops began to fall.

“Oh fuck! I've told you!” - Mike grumbled, looking at the suddenly darkened sky - “Let's go back!”

“You don't think it's going to stop?” - Tom wondered, looking up at his turn.

As if answering him, a real deluge fell over us.

“Fucking fuck! I guess that's a no!”

Heavy drops drummed all over me.

We started to run towards the cabin. After the first ten seconds, I was completely wet, water flowing under my blouse in small cold rivulets, and I started to tremble. I do have Cala's strong and fast body, but that does not include any special cold protection. OK, she did have cold resistance, and that helped me better endure it.

Five minutes later, the deluge subsided to a drizzle, but it was too late to save the day; we were already completely drenched. In an inconvenient show, my nipples clumsily tried to pierce the wet blouse, I had a hard time keeping my balance in the cold, slippery mud, and my teeth were chattering a staccato.

At that moment, Tom, in a show of bravado, spoke through chattering teeth:

"A photo! A photo, please; we have to immortalize the moment!"

Well, if he's thinking about taking pictures, it means he's not really that cold. As we stood there, I saw Mike checking his mobile too. He shook his head.

"What?" - I asked him. Does he want to take some pictures too?

"I thought about asking Hew if he is on his way, but there is no connection in this damn forest."

The visibility decreased dramatically, and we nearly missed the path a couple of times. As the way was harder to find, Tom became more nervous and hesitant. When a thick fog settled over the forest, and it began to snow, he lost his way.

He was leading us now in the wrong direction, and I could not convince him he was wrong.

My feet slipped again and again on the muddy ground, and I fell a couple of times, but they fared not better. I winced when I heard their sloshing shoes. They were visibly drenched and shivering. Tom slipped and fell again, dragging Mike with him. Cursing, they both stood up, their eyes red from tiredness.

“Fuck, I did not know it would be so cold!” - Mike cursed and looked around - “Is this the right way?”

I protested:

"No! I told you we are drifting away; we already passed the cabin."

Tom shook his head:

"It cannot be; I know the way!"

I snorted. Going so slow, forced to keep their pace, I was not generating enough heat to keep me warm, and Flo was not much help. She had no spell to simply keep warm. Yes, I could have burned down a tree or lit a giant fire. Transform stones into lava...

Tom's yell interrupted my musing. I turned to see him strewn in mud.

"What happened?"

"I sprained my ankle. Fuck!"

"Can you walk?"

He tried to stand and sat back in the mud with a pained grunt.

"Nope. Leave me here. You two go and find help!"

I watched his purple lips.

"You are not looking better!" - he said as if he knew what I was thinking. He looked around, trying to find a place to sit that was not wet.

I'll have to decide what to do. Do I reveal myself? Or do I try to solve it as much as possible as a normal human being? Cala was sure she knew the way to the cabin, so I let Cala take the lead.

"Let me carry you!"

"What? You can't?"

"Let me carry him, I..."

"Look, Mike, we'll carry him in turns, OK? I start. Tom, be so kind and help me."

To their surprise, I could carry him. True, I was walking now with a wider gait with him in my back, but at least he was keeping me warm. He tried to protest from my back:

"That's the wrong way!"

I snorted:

"You have no voting right; you are being carried!"

It should still be daylight, but everything was nuances of grey and dark grey around us. The ground was not freezing, but here and there, small patches of white appeared along the path. It was difficult to keep my balance, and I had to kneel a couple of times.

"Shouldn't I take over?" - offered Mike

I hesitated.

“No. We are close!” - I said to encourage them. It was about a five-minute walk, but now it would take about ten minutes.

All in all, when we finally reached the cabin, it was after more than one hour of walking through the mud, and we were utterly drenched, tired, and shivering. I don't think it was below zero degrees Celsius, but the humidity made it appear that way, and I was afraid we might get hypothermia. My hands and feet were feeling numb, but with Cala's resistance to cold, I was more afraid for the boys.

The much-expected car was not there. I placed Tom on a bench and entered the cabin. I heard them talking from outside:

“Where's Hew?” - Mike grunted, staying in front of the cabin

“Maybe the road was too bad for him to get here?” - Tom said, looking at the newly formed streams flowing around the cabin.

“He has a fucking jeep!” - Mike yelled as if trying to conjure the car through sheer anger.

Inside the cabin, it was just as cold as outside.

I searched with my numb hands through the drawers, but there was not much to find. Some dishes, cutlery, and a couple of pots. Wine and some alcohol. No clothes to change into, one blanket over the only available double bed, and a couple of towels in the bathroom. Of course, no warm water.

By the time I got back in the room from the bathroom, the boys were already there, shivering, sitting on two chairs. Mike had found a bottle of whiskey and drank from it. He handed it to me:

"Drink! It would help put your blood in circulation!"

As I drank, he wanted to sit on the bed.

"No!! Undress! Don't go to bed with those wet clothes!"

"What? I don't want to go to bed?"

I sighed. There was a fireplace but no wood, and I've seen no hatchet. There was only one solution I could see:

“Guys, take off your clothes and get under the blanket."

I was horrified by Cala's proposal, but she ignored my feelings.

Tom's head bobbed up and down with the shaking as he replied:

“But? Should we not wait for Hew?”

I shook my head.

“We wait under the blanket. You don't want to stay in those wet and cold clothes! Only in this way could we escape without pneumonia. All the clothes on the chairs to dry.”

I undressed my wet blouse and pants, giving an example, and started to dry my skin with a towel. For a few seconds, only the sound of the rain was heard. Then they followed suit.

I vigorously rubbed my scalp with the towel, trying to warm it up. I sighed:

“Shorts, too, Mike!”

“But...”

I threw him another towel:

“Those are wet, Mike; I don't want anything wet under the blanket. Take them off and go under the blanket, but before, scrub your skin dry!”

I did not expect them to be so shy. They looked at each other, then took off their pants and, without looking at each other, went under the blanket, where they began to tremble so that I could hear their teeth chattering. All this under Cala's amused eyes.

Tom cursed:

"It's so damn cold!"

I took the bottle of whiskey and went under the blanket between the two.

"Come closer!"

I took my towel and scrubbed Tom's scalp.

"You're still wet!"

They were even colder than me.

“Wow, you're warm,”- Mike managed to whisper between chattering teeth.

I took the bottle and gulped down some more whiskey.

“All that food she swallowed has to pay off somewhere.” - Tom pondered, teeth chattering from the other side.

He got the bottle as a prize for being able to make a joke. I made a kind of turban out of the towel, trying to protect my brain from freezing completely.

We laughed at Tom's joke and continued with another round from the bottle, but Mike started coughing hard. Tom echoed. Fuck, they'll get seriously ill. What could I do?

After about half an hour, we were feeling a little better, but it was still cold, and Hew was nowhere to be seen. Our body heat won't be enough unless I display some magical powers I don't want to show. Or should I? But then what? What spell could I use?

I extricated myself from their embrace, under their protest, and hurried outside. Tom wondered:

"What are you doing?"

"I'll be right back!"

It was still drizzly with some falling snowflakes now and then, visibility under ten meters, and getting dark. I ran as fast as I could inside the forest. It was a weird feeling to run naked through the grey landscape and finally let the power be felt. My heart finally started to properly pump blood into my veins.

After about five minutes, I stopped and let Flo conjure a thunderstrike on one tree. The poor old tree practically exploded.

I gathered a handful of half-burned branches, broke several to the right size, and ran back with my charge to the cabin. Vapors rose from my skin as if I had come outside a sauna.

Tom cocked his head and looked at me.

"What did you do?" - he asked.

As if he could not see the branches.

"I ran and collected some wood for a fire."

"But there are no matches?"

"I found some."

Mike seemed to have been awakened by our talk:

"Should I help?"

"No, stay put; I'm almost done."

I didn't want them to watch me start the fire.

I put more twigs and branches in the fireplace, let Flo conjure up a minor fire, and then wiped my body with the towel.

The branches did not burn well, sizzling and making a lot of vapors, but at least they burned.

I rejoined the boys under the blanket; we took another couple of turns at the bottle, and then slowly, we all fell asleep as it got warmer.