!!WARNING!! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS BLOOD, AND POSSIBLY DEATH. IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THESE KIND OF THINGS, PLEASE SKIP PARAGRAPH 3. 

A huge cougar prowled a few feet away. Ada hauled tail back to where we can come from. How was I gonna get it to go away? I thought for a few seconds, and then found a solution. I yelled at the top of my lungs and my myself look bigger by stretching my arms out. I grabbed the reins back in my hands as Velvet reared up, neighing loudly and snorting. 

The cougar's ears went back and it hissed wildly. I continued yelling as loud as I could, and at the same time keeping Velvet from bolting. I then remembered about the stick I had sharpened and strapped onto her back. I undid the small little knot i had holding it down, and grabbed it. I raised it into the air and threw it as hard as I could into it's face.

It went into the side of it's face, and scarlet blood welled from the deep wound. It yowled in pain and tried to claw it out. It collapsed onto the ground, and writhed around in pain, clawing at it. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the stick came out of the side of it's face, and it tried to get away. It stumbled blindly across the snow, leaving a trail of blood as it ran off.

I yelled in triumph as it stumbled away. I immediately jumped off Velvet's back and grabbed a few baby carrots from her saddlebag. I fed them to her and talked to her soothingly. "Your okay girl.. we're gonna be okay.. the cougar's gone and we can stop to rest for a while." I didn't think Ada would be gone for too long by herself. She would come running back to us sooner or later. I then shook my head to break my thoughts and got back to work. 

I swiftly undone Velvet's cinch and slid her saddle from her back. The saddle pad slid off with it. I set the tack on the snow covered ground and grabbed her body brush from the saddlebag. I tied Velvet to a skinny tree and started brushing her down real good. I smiled and hummed a tune as I worked. Velvet snorted a little as the snow started coming down harder. I furrowed my eyebrow and put me and Velvet completely under the tree. 

As we both got situated under the tree I pulled a water bottle from the saddlebag. I poured a little into my cupped hand and offered it to Velvet. She eagerly sipped it until it was gone. I got a small sip from the water bottle and then put it into the saddle bag for later. I looked into the saddle bag and grabbed my soft, fuzzy blanket. I threw it over Velvet's beautiful, spotted back. I looked back into the saddle bag and found a protein bar. I would have to be careful how much I ate. I didn't want to eat all I had. I gave Velvet a few more carrots while I was at it. I sighed. We were exhausted, and cold. 

I leaned against the tree and continued eating my protein bar. We rested for about an hour. I got up, stretching and looked up. I squinted my eyes, the snow was slowing down now, and it was probably around 12. We still had a few hours of daylight. The sun was brighter though, and it felt nice. The snow on the ground was melting, and was becoming all slushy-like. I let out a yawn and picked up Velvet's saddle pad and threw it over her back. I situated it and then grabbed her saddle, heaving it over her back. I tightened the cinch and clipped the chest plate to the front of the cinch. As I was putting her tack on, she drank the water that rested on the ground. Thank the Lord for the sun. It gave us water. 

I went and grabbed my bloody stick with a shudder and strapped it onto Velvet's back. I folded up the blanket and put it in my saddlebag. "Check.. Check.. Got that.. okay we're ready to go g- Ada!" Ada came up to me, purring and weaving between my legs. "It's good to see you girl. We missed you. We were actually just about to leave now. So, let's go ladies," I said, mounting Velvet. We trotted along the trail again, Ada at our side. A few minutes later. I whistled to a tune, my stomach rumbling, and then Ada ran off. I shrugged, and continued whistling. We slowed to a walk, and then after a minute or two, I saw Ada padding back to us, a plump squirrel in her mouth. I asked Velvet to stop, and looked down at Ada. She jumped up into my lap, and dropped the squirrel. "What a nice little lady," I said, smiling, amused. She meowed, as if saying, "You're welcome," and hopped back down from the saddle. 

She ran off again and me and Velvet continued on the trail. I looked down at the squirrel in my lap and let out a little laugh, looking into the woods. A few more minutes past before she came trotting back, another squirrel in her mouth. "Aw Ada, another one?" I stopped Velvet, and she jumped back into my lap, dropping the second squirrel beside the other. I put the two squirrels in my saddlebags, grateful. "We'll be eating good tonight, huh girl?" She meowed, as if agreeing, and jumped back down from the saddle. We set off down the trail again. 

I urged Velvet into a slow gallop after we got more comfortable on the trail. Ada ran full speed beside us, and a let out a laugh. "It's so beautiful through here girls, huh?" Velvet let out a neigh, started to run slightly faster. As we ran a little longer at the new speed, I looked back, noticing Ada had fallen back. I slowed Velvet to a walk and then stopped her, clicking my tongue for Ada. She ran up to us, panting. She jumped up into the saddle and settled down in my lap. I put an arm around her as we started out again at a steady trot. 

A little over an hour had passed, and the sun was slowly going down. I slowed Velvet to a walk and watched the beautiful sunset, and listened to the last of the birds singing. "I really do love nature.." As the moon started to replace the sun, we stopped at a small place where there was a decent sized tree with grass below it. I sighed. "It has been a long day girls. I think we should go ahead and make a fire." I hopped off Velvet and tied her to the tree that shaded the small area. I grabbed a bunch of sticks that were scattered around and put them in a big pile. I grabbed my handy knife from my pocket and lit the fire. How? It had a lighter on it! I grabbed the two squirrels and expertly skinned them. I held them in my hand and then grabbed the stitch from Velvet's back, using snow to clean the blood off. I stuck the sharpened side of the stitch through the two squirrels and set them over the fire.  

While that cooked, I untacked Velvet and brushed her. I let her take sips of water from the melted snow, and then gave her the last of the baby carrots, which was quite a lot, but, she needed energy, and if she wanted energy, she needed fuel, food and water. For about ten minutes, I got the weak, but green grass from the ground and set it in front of her. It was several handfuls. I brang every leaf and stem to her and after checking that it was safe for her to eat. I threw my blanket over her back while she ate. After I had done all that, the squirrel was ready. I found a large leaf and washed it off in the snow. I got the squirrel from the fire and quickly set it on the leaf to cool. Ada ran up to me, meowing hungrily. My own stomach growled in anticipation to eat, but we had to let it cool down. We didn't wanna get burnt. 

After a minute or two it was satisfyingly warm. I gave Ada half of one, and water in a cupped leaf. I ate one of the whole squirrels, and then me and Ada split the half of the squirrel that was left. The moon was high in the sky once we had all finished eating, and we were ready to sleep. We all laid down together, equally sharing the huge blanket, and drifted off into sleep.