Baldrick and Sneezle walked down the small and winding path that lead home. There had been a strange silence about the forest ever since Baldrick had said goodbye to his family, it was seriously unnerving to Sneezle, who's teeth now sat on edge. Sneezle felt as if he had been judged by his friend's family and found poorly lacking, he was in a rather foul mood as a result. Thinking of the look on the Baldrick's Mother's face made Sneezle think of the looks he had been getting his entire life, a profound mixture of pity, annoyance and distaste, he'd gotten the same looks from his father, mother, what few friends he had. Sneezle just wasn't a big beefy son with lots of guts and glory on the side, he was, different and that hurt Sneezle, somewhere deep down.
Reaching up, Sneezle plucked Baldrick from his shoulder and held him in front of his face, under each of his arms. Trying to use his mind only this time, Sneezle thought "But you, you didn't think I was incompetent the moment you saw me, did you?"
Baldrick tilted his head at an angle that implied that he was thinking, before he nodded and replied "No, I just thought to allow you a small amount of care, before you passed out of this world. I didn't know this would happen."
Sneezle smiled and sat Baldrick upon his shoulder, resuming his plodding steps down the steep path. It was just as Sneezle decided to stop for a rest, sitting against a large boulder that had long been there, that the rumbling began to occur. From all around him the trees began to sway mightily, as if an angry god had blown on them and now they shivered with fear. The ground underneath Sneezle's boots began to tremble, as if the earth and rock underneath his feet was a giant dog who had just gotten out of a pond and was shaking the water from it's coat. Limbs began to snap and plummet to the ground all around Sneezle, as the rumbling worsened, caused by the rockslide, but unknown by Sneezle.
Suddenly, Baldrick looked up as a crack sounded from above them and a great tree limb began to fall towards the pair. Reaching up, Baldrick tugged on Sneezle's ear, while screaming "RUN!" in his mind. Sneezle bolted forward, barely avoiding the branch, which smashed into the ground where he had stood only a few seconds ago. All about the forest, trees were uprooted and began to roll downhill, taking other trees with them. Animals ran about in blind panic, as they saw their brethren taken up in the downhill tumble. Baldrick pulled on Sneezle's ear again, once more insisting "RUN!".
Sneezle began a clumsy half run, trying to keep his footing as the ground continued to shake and rumble. Now it wasn't the original rock slide that had threatened the legends that caused the rumbling, but the tons of rock, dirt and debris that had been dislodged outside of the valley. Sneezle looked up and merely had time to dive to the ground, as a giant rock flew just above his head, moving on to crush a running deer under it's giant weight. Sneezle cursed the luck that brought him up here. On this mountain, the slightest little jolt in the earth could cause massive landslides, because the entire mountain was made of loosely packed rock and dirt. Suddenly, Sneezle realized the kind of danger Baldrick was in, so he reached up and snatched his friend from his shoulder, holding him between his two cupped hands. Sneezle began to run again.
All around Sneezle, boulders, trees and animals crushed in the massive rush of stone and wood and sudden death rushed past him, rolling downhill. The small teenager could feel the tiny life he clutched between his hands and so he pressed on, putting one foot in front of the other and swinging his shoulders, trying to get enough momentum to carry him out of the forest, which was slowly beginning to topple down around them. Sneezle saw a branch fall in front of him and he threw himself over it, more then jumping. He landed in a roll that knocked the wind from him. Sneezle gasped for breath, but it wouldn't come to him for a long moment, so he simply curled around his hands and tried to keep his friend from harm, as he prayed for the rumbling to stop.
As suddenly as it had begun, the tumble of rock and wood stopped, allowing Sneezle to lie motionless as he caught his breath. He didn't want to stand a survey the horrific damage the landslide had caused, didn't want to face the sheer might of the mountain again.