21) Slimy Sludge

Slimy Sludge

We were trotting behind Khaos, chatting silently about our chances to soon arrive home, which hopefully laid behind the forest on the other side of that.. "River...?!" Khaos mumbled, stopping. We also pause, staring with open mouths at the.. river... which was in fact not a river. Or well- It WAS a river indeed, just not the one we expected. "Where is the water?" Astoria asked slowly, at the same time where Namir said "Why is the water green?" I stare at it myself, and Khaos slowly steps closer. "This is no green water." He said calmly, answering Namir's question. He lowered his head, sniffing the green stuff. "This is.. very slimy." The whole river was filled with what looked like green slime. It was truly a slimy sludge. "What are we going to do now?!" Arctic exclaimed. "Maybe we should just... swim through to get to the other side?" Müsli asked carefully. I step forward, saying calmly "I will try if we can just walk through." Khaos immedatly shot forward between me and the slime river. "No." He said as stern as I ever heard. "NO don't do it!!" Yelled Astoria. "You don't know if it will kill you," Namir supplemented helpfully. "Nobody, nobody of us will risk their life." Khaos said coldly, staring at me in warning. "Nobody will touch this slime, not even with a strand of their hair!!" He yelled at us, which made all of us stumble backward a few steps. "Okay okay... calm down big guy!" I said, not too happy about his demeanor. "I am very sure that nothing would happen!" Namir just shook his head "Yes of course you know, you always know everything huh? You don't know if its poisonous!" "Well I would have noticed then would I?" I answer, turning around, away from the river. "You don't know if its a poison that's slowly killing you!!" Astoria added, following me and ushering Müsli and Namir to follow as well. "What is the plan now?" I ask, looking at the others, but mostly at Khaos. "We will walk along this river, till it gets small enough to jump over." He answered simply. "Maybe we even find a bridge," joked Arctic. "I think that would be a bit too lucky for horses like us, especially after we had not a single ounce of luck this night!" Argued Astoria. "I think we were very lucky.." Said Müsli silently. Khaos smiled a bit, nodding slowly. "That is very true. Nobody got hurt, nobody got lost. Nobody got killed. We are all alive and well and together." Khaos said. I secretly had to agree with that. But the situation in itself - lucky or not - was worse enough. "I'm sure we will find something to cross this slimy thing soon" I add, looking around and side eying this.. river. What a weird, weird situation. "I never saw a slime filled river before." Said Arctic, who seemed to try make a bit of small talk. Nobody really answered him, just some "hmms" here and there were audible. We silently walk along the slimy rivers edge, on the safe grass. If I had to be fully honest, it was probably better not to try to walk through it. But I would of course not admit that to Khaos. "There! The edge of the forest! Maybe the slimy sludge gets smaller there between the trees?" Namir said, looking around at us. "Good Idea! Lets check that," Astoria answered, trotting together with Namir in front to the tree line. Khaos tensed up, but he let them go, even to he didn't took his eyes off of them. He was a very good leader, and very good at keeping everyone together all the time. I take a deep breath, shaking myself and yawning. It was a very stressful night and I craved sleep, A good bed of new fluffy straw, and some good food from the halloween feast. The others didn't looked any better, Müsli stumbled more often than before, Arctic looked like he hadn't slept for a week and Astoria.. well.. looked just like always, if we ignore her worried side eyes onto the slimy river. I sigh, reaching the forest edge. "Nothing!" Yelled Namir, coming back towards us. "The river seems to transform into a lake there. So we should probably go back an-" everyone sighed and Müsli said angrily "No I don't want to go back again to those maniac plushies!" I had to laugh, and Arctic laughed too. Khaos looked at us sharply, nodding towards Namir. "I understand. Let's walk a bit more into the forest, and if we don't see the end of the lake, we turn around. But I would rater continue in this direction, than into the other." He said. I nod, the other direction felt even to me off. There were mountains and seemingly endless hills. The forest on this side had something calming and familiar. Namir just nodded, trotting off, leading our little group deeper into the forest, following the slimy river very closely, which then got broader and broader, transforming into the lake like Namir had said. We follow the slime for a while, and talking silently to each other about what this slime could be. All in all most of us belived that it was poisonous, except Müsli, who guessed that it's maybe even edible, and from the carnival. We all share a look with eachother, but weren't commenting at this theory. He seemed to be very hungry. "The.. slime river is getting smaller again." Said Khaos after a while. "Finally!" Sighed Astoria, at the same time with Arctic. Both started trotting ahead in hopes to see a possibility for crossing soon.