Holiday Advent Story 19

Hudson was standing on his back porch when Stephen the gnome came running from the woods. Stephen stood knee-high to Hudson and was forcing his way through six inches of snow. He took of his colorful hat with the fancy feather stuck in the side and waved it at Hudson.

“Good news,” said Stephen. “Today is the day.”

“What day?” asked Hudson.

“Exactly one day a year the clouds part and the storms pass on Thunderdeath Mountain,” said Stephen. “Today is the day.”

“That’s nice,” said Hudson not really getting what the cause for excitement was.

“It’s great,” said Stephen. “Let’s go. This will only last a few hours.”

“Where are we going?” asked Hudson.

“I just told,” said Stephen. “Thunderdeath Mountain. “The storms have cleared. We get to ride sleds down its slopes.”

Hudson enjoyed sledding so thought this could be a lot of fun. “Is it far?”

“Distance is not a problem,” said Stephen. “I’ve come prepared.” Stephen held up a small silver whistle. Stephen smiled and then blew the whistle. There was no sound.

After a moment Hudson heard a jingling sound from the forest. A huge red sleigh pulled by great shaggy dogs bound out of the forest and came to a stop in front of Hudson. It was a great sleigh; covered in furs, blankets, and pillows.

Stephen thanked the dogs and climbed into the sleigh. He turned and motioned to Hudson to follow.

Hudson took hold of thick iron handles and pulled himself up into the sleigh. He sat down on the large pile of pillows and sank in.

When Hudson was situated Stephen called out to the dogs. “We’re ready whenever you are.” He then glanced at Hudson. “You’ll want to hold on.”

The dogs barked and the sleigh lurched forward. As Hudson watched the world pass by outside the Sleigh he noticed that everything was moving so quickly. Far quicker than Hudson had ever traveled in any car. The scenery began to move so fast everything blurred into a a solid mass of colors.

Then, as soon as it had begun, the trip was over.

Hudson marveled at the area around their destination. They were on top of a great mountain. The area was covered with mounds of snow. There were signs pointing in every direction; each calling out the name of a slope: the Titan, Lucky Fred, Murder Valley, Dusty Rabbit, and several others.

Hudson recognized a few people walking around the mountain top. He spotted a couple of elves he’d met at the North Pole, Virgil the Dwarf King was about to launch down Titan on a sled that had a sculpted rams head on the front. He held a frothy mug of coco, drained it in one drink and then tossed the mug to one side to signal the ride begin. A few seconds later a hug troll shoved the sled off the side of the mountain. The only thing left of Virgil after that was a squeal of joy.

Stephen walked over to a stack of sleds, shields, snowboards, and skis. “Do you have a preference?”

“No,” said Hudson, but then a shape caught his eye. On one of the shields was the silhouette of a rams head with a set of great horns aiming forward. “Actually, I like that one quite a bit.”

“A shield ride,” said Stephen. “Want to try a Legolas.” Stephen grabbed the shield and took it towards the trails.

Hudson hurried to follow his friend.

“We’ll start you on the easiest route,” said Stephen passing a sign that read Murder Valley.

“That doesn’t sound very easy.” Said Hudson. “What about Dusky Rabbit? That sounds safe.”

“That’s one of the most dangerous runs here,” said Stephen. “The really tough ones are named after the first person to successfully reach the bottom. I once tried Dusky Rabbit. It took six months to relearn how to use the letter L again. I’ll never be able to figure out how that bunny did it.”

Stephen dropped the sled at the edge of the hill and plopped himself down in the center.

Hudson hesitated for a moment then sat down as well. “Should I push us off the edge?” asked Hudson.

“Nope, we got folks for that,” said Stephen. “GRIK!”

A large tree near the path stood up and walked to the sled. “Hello Stephen,” said the tree.

“Hey Grik,” said Stephen. “Can you give us a push?”

“Sure,” said Grik. “Fast or slow?”

“This is my first time,” said Hudson. “Maybe we could go a bit slow?”

“Got it,” said Grik as he positioned himself behind the sled.

“Never tell them it’s your first…” Stephen was interrupted when the shield launched forward and off the mountain.

For a few seconds the shield seemed to hover in midair before falling straight down. Stephen held his hands above his head and laughed.

The sled eventually tapped the snow again but seemed to bounce of a little but before settling back on the ground and hurtling down hill.

The area around them was covered in fir trees and the path wove back and forth as it narrowly missed trees, shrubs, wild flowers, and an astonished Moose. They roared down the hill so fast Hudson was convince they must have destroyed some amount of wildlife.

Before Him the path opened up and revealed a large ice tunnel. Carved from a mountain of solid ice the sled entered and was suddenly reflected back at them from every possible direction. Stephen look immensely happy while Hudson looked mildly terrified. The shield roared through the tunnel chipping off bits of ice and throwing up a long trail of snow behind them.

After the tunnel was a slalom through a series of boulders. The skipped over a frozen lake, and finally they came to a long thin trail.

“Here it comes,” yelled Stephen.

“What,” called Hudson?

“The Jump,” said Stephen pointing ahead of them.

Hudson looked at the path. A very short distance and coming closer was a white snow packed ramp. He didn’t have time to react before they hit the ramp and were air born.

The pair tumbled over and over before slamming into a mass of piled snow. The snow cushioned their fall and Hudson and Stephen were quiet again for a long time.

“Well,” said Stephen. “What do you think?”

“That was fun,” said Hudson.

“Want to try again?”

“Sure but it’ll take forever to reach the top on the mountain. “

Stephen smiled. “I told you; I prepared.” He held up a familiar looking silver whistle.”

end
Sleigh Ride