Chapter 60: Ye Old Rickety Bridge

As the patrol began travelling north still, a sudden chill came upon them. It began to get cold - not as cold as Mt. Ice, but still, pretty cold.
"You guys all feel that chill?" Fan asked.
"Of course we do," Dust nodded, shivering.
"That means we're getting-"
"What, nearing another mountain?" Rusty asked, shivering.
"Er, no, we're getting closer to the Water Tribe," Fan explained.
"Good, I can't wait!" exclaimed Charlotte.
"Is the Tribe underwater?" Dust asked.
Stone shook her head. "That's got to be one of the stupidest questions I've ever heard. What's your IQ, anyway?"
"Um... I think mine is... 4.5?" Rusty screwed up his face in concentration.
"No, no," Dust turned to Rusty, "that's what our mother said she thinks our IQ is if we put both of ours together."
Ash couldn't hold back a laugh. Nightgale chuckled too, and Slice gave a little snicker of laughter. It seemed the rest of the patrol was trying not to laugh.
Finally, the patrol exited the forest, and a strong wind hit Ash. He closed his eyes tight, and then opened them once the wind was gone.
Ash gasped as he saw a rickety bridge was in front of them. There was a cold canyon below, and it seemed bottomless.
"Wow, that's a big canyon," Rusty remarked. "Anyone here scared of heights?"
Flare grabbed a rock and pushed it over the edge. It fell down, and the patrol never heard the sound of it making contact with any floor. Ash shivered; partly because he was cold, and partly because he was spooked by the bottomless canyon.
"Er, let's get moving..." Stone suggested. She put a paw on the rickety bridge, and it made a creaking noise. Stone flinched and put her paw back on the ground.
Ash tried to look into the distance, but he saw that the bridge led into mist. It was so cloudy, it almost seemed as if the bridge never ended.
"Well, the Water Tribe isn't going to help themselves," Crystal shrugged. She put two paws on the bridge, and it creaked again. Cautiously, Crystal kept walking across the bridge.
Rusty quickly followed Crystal. "We got to be careful, the bridge could break," Rusty warned.
"Er, yeah, I'll be careful," sighed Crystal, and she kept advancing across the bridge.
Slowly, the rest of the patrol followed. Eclipse flinched a few times when the bridge creaked, but kept moving. Ash had to admit that he was pretty scared of the bridge breaking, too, and flinched a lot of times. He kept moving.
"Hey, Airia," Fan turned to the winged wolf, "stay under the bridge and hover there. If anyone falls, catch them, okay?"
"But what if the whole patrol falls?" Airia asked, jumping off the bridge and flying in the sky.
"Um, we'll handle that one when we come across it," Stone shrugged.
Great. If we all fall, we'll probably be too much for Airia to carry. Ash told himself, scared.
They advanced towards the fog. It was now very hard for Ash to see; he could only see the shadows of others in front of him.
"Ouch! That was my tail, Flare!" came Crystal's voice.
"Sorr-EE, I can barely see in this mist!" Flare protested.
"It's okay, Crystal," Rusty's voice said calmly.
Finally, after what seemed like a moon of walking, they finally made it to what looked like an icy yard. It was surrounded by pillars and halls with open windows in it. Everything was ice blue.
"Welcome to the Water Tribe," Willow nodded.

Author's Note:
BOOYAH. Like the chapter title? XD