Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Sleep, Baby

After staying alone for two hours, the little girl realized her situation.Grandpa and another young wizard took Nicole to the edge of a small saltwater pond, left her alone, and went back.Nicole will not be able to return to the place where she camped last night until noon the next day. At first, Nicole thought it was just one big game.She carefully counted the contents of her leather bag, and secretly divided the food into three parts, today's dinner, tomorrow's breakfast and tomorrow morning's snack.Not much food, but enough.She looked at the small bottle of water again, and it was not too much.A spring, or better still, a clean stream could be found, and that would suffice for any occasion.

The second thing Nicole did was to find out where she was.She paid special attention to the surrounding markers, which allowed her to determine the location of the pond.Nicole was an orderly little girl, and when she was at home she used to play in the woods far from the house.In her room, there is also a map of the woods that she hand-drawn, and she used to mark many of her secret places with some five stars and circles. Nicole saw four saiga grazing peacefully in the sun.Subconsciously, she wanted to find her mother, to show her what a beautiful animal she had found, but her mother was not here.Only then did she suddenly understand how lonely she was.Looking at the horizon, there is no trace of human beings.

"Only me." This sentence kept echoing in her mind, and she felt a sense of despair.She tried her best to calm down the emotion and looked into the distance as far as she could, trying to find some signs of people's activities, but there was none.In her field of vision, on the prairie, there are only birds looking for food, and animals in twos and threes grazing in the distance.She felt frightened and her body began to tremble slightly. She thought she should look for fresh water, so she walked towards a large wood on the prairie.On the open and empty prairie, the little girl has no concept of distance. Every thirty minutes she walks, she stops and looks back to make sure she can still find her way back to the salty pond.She was surprised to find that the woods were still so far away, as if they were not getting closer at all.

As she walked and walked, the sun slanted to the west, and dusk began to cover the endless prairie.Tired and thirsty, she stopped to drink some water.The tsetse flies were buzzing around her face, and she couldn't get them off.Nicole took out the two ointments, sniffed them, and rubbed the worse-smelling one on her face and arms.It seems that she made the right choice, those pesky flies are really afraid of this thing and stay away. After walking for four hours, when it was getting dark, she finally came to the edge of the woods.She was excited to find that she was lucky to walk on an oasis.Surrounding this oasis is an endless prairie.In the middle of the forest, a spring was gushing out of the ground, forming a small pond about ten meters in diameter.The overflowing water made a shallow turn, turned into a trickle, and submerged into the prairie again.

By this time Nicole was exhausted from walking and drenched in sweat.How tempting this clear spring water is, she didn't have time to think about it, she took off her clothes, only put on her underpants, jumped into the water, and swam. The cool water revitalized her and washed away the tiredness in her tiny body.She dipped her head in the water, closed her eyes, and swam as if it were a swimming pool on the outskirts of Paris.She usually goes to the swimming pool once a week and plays various water sports with her friends.These memories comforted her gently and made her very comfortable.

After a long time Nicole turned over and stroked the water with his hand.She opened her eyes and stared at the small tree in front of her.The setting sun is flickering and dancing among the branches and leaves, revealing magical colors. Little Nicole, seven, stopped swimming to tread water, looking around for her clothes.Why are there no clothes?She is strange.Searched carefully again, still nothing.She began to recall and determined the exact location when she came just now, where she had put her clothes and antelope skin bag.But where are the clothes?Nicole climbed ashore quickly and looked around.

"Definitely this place. My clothes and bags are gone." She panicked, tears welling up like springs.She closed her eyes and cried hard, just wanting to wake up from this nightmare; hoping that when she opened her eyes, mom and dad would be in front of her.But when he opened his eyes, he saw that this small pond was still in front of him. A little girl, half naked, all alone, out here in the wilds of Africa, with no food, no water, no hope of rescue till noon tomorrow; besides, it will be dark. It was with great difficulty that Nicole held back her tears and controlled her fear.She decided to find her own clothes first.Where the clothes used to be, several fresh animal footprints were found.Nicole could not recognize the animal, and she thought it must be one of those lovely antelopes she had seen on the prairie just that afternoon. "By the way, this pond may be the best water source in this area," the little girl speculated. "They come here to drink water and are very curious about my things. When they heard the sound of splashing water when I was swimming, they scared away."

As the light got darker, Nicole searched along the trail.An uneven path winds and turns through the woods.Nicole walked deeply and shallowly for a while, and found her leather bag and some of its contents abandoned by the side of the path.The leather bag was torn open, the food was gone, the water in the vial was almost drained; everything was lost except the root and the ointment.Nicole drank what little water was left in the vial, and held the vial and the root in his hand.She threw the ointment away because it was all messed up and dirty. There was a sound in the distance, right in front of her, and she immediately continued to move forward.On the way, she heard the barking of a small animal, which was very close.The path hides into the grassland fifteen meters ahead.Nicole opened her eyes nervously, as if something was moving in front of her.But, can't tell what exactly it is.She heard the barking again, louder this time.She crouched down and crawled along the path.

There was a patch of land at the edge of the woods that was fifteen meters above the grassland, and from there Nicole could clearly see where the sound came from.sky!Two lion cubs are playing and tearing at her green clothes.On the other side, the mother lion is on guard, looking directly at the shimmering prairie. Nicole's eyes widened, petrified.She realized that this wasn't a zoo!She was out in the open fields of Africa, within twenty meters of the lion.She trembled with fear.She slowly moved her body inch by inch, and backed away without making a sound, for fear that the lion would find out.

Back near the small pool, she still resisted the urge to jump up and rush into the prairie. "Then the lion will surely see me," she thought horribly.But what about at night? "In the woods, I'll find a ditch. Get off the path and lie still, and maybe I'll be safe," she thought. She still clutched the vial and the root in her hands.At last Nicole came softly to the spring, and she drank and filled the little bottle again.Then she did find a ditch.Lying in it, she felt safe.The tired little girl fell asleep. Suddenly, she woke up with a start, and the bugs covered her whole body.She rubbed her bare stomach, which was covered in ants, with her hands.Nicole screamed.Immediately, she realized that she would startle the lion.It was late, and at that very moment, she heard the lion rushing through the bushes, searching this way.

Trembling, the little girl scraped the ants off her body with a branch, and when she looked up, she saw the lion staring at her, with terrifying eyes shining faintly, piercing the darkness of the grove. Nicole nearly passed out.In fear, she somehow remembered what her grandfather had said about that plant root.So she stuffed the soil-covered root into her mouth and chewed hard.The stuff tasted disgusting, but she swallowed it down. Nicole ran recklessly through the woods towards the pond; the lion pursued her.Nicole ran so hard that the branch scratched her breast and cheek; she slipped, got up, and ran on.When the pond arrived, the water splashed, and she ran straight to the center of the pond. She flapped her arms vigorously, as if flapping wings.For a split second, she felt like she had become a heron, lifted off the ground and flew into the night sky.Looking back, the lion was staring at her in bewilderment. Nicole smiled, spread her wings, and flew over the woods.The prairie in the dark night is just below her, with a panoramic view.She flew over the saltwater pond, turned west, and saw the campfire.The screams of birds she uttered pierced the silent night. Grandpa was woken up. He watched anxiously the frightened lone bird circling high in the air, and seemed to be calling loudly: "Ronata—!" But Nicole didn't respond.She wants to fly higher, higher, above the clouds. Beside the clouds, the bright moon and stars are watching her, beckoning to her.She seemed to hear the sound of music in the distance, and the crystal-like "ding, ding" of the bell, and she flapped her wings harder, rising higher and higher.Gradually, her wings could not fly.Suddenly, the wings turned into the wings of a rocket; her tail feathers also turned into a fire-breathing arrow tail.The ignition was fired, and she flew high into the thin air, out of the atmosphere, away from the earth.She became a silver shuttle, thin and smooth, leaving the earth far behind. The music was louder, it was a grand symphony.The music is harmonious and magnificent, and it merges with the earth behind Nicole into a moving picture.She heard someone calling her name. "Who is calling?" She wondered, who would call her here?The sound came from the side of the moon.She changed direction and flew into deep space.She lit the fire again, skimmed the moon, and turned her back on the sun.Her speed increased exponentially, and the sun shrank behind her, becoming a tiny point of light before disappearing completely.Darkness surrounded Nicole as she surfaced, gasping for breath. The lion patrolled back and forth by the edge of the pond.Nicole could clearly see the strong muscles in its shoulders and the vivid expression on its face. "Leave me here alone, please," said Nicole, "and I will not harm you or your child." "I smell you," replied the Lion, "that smells in my child's toys." "I'm a kid too and I want to find my mother and I'm scared," Nicole continued. "Come out of the water," answered the Lion, "and let me see you. I don't believe you." Gathering up her courage and keeping her eyes fixed on the big lion, the little girl walked slowly towards the shore.The lion didn't move.When the water was waist deep, Nicole folded her arms and began to sing.This is a peaceful and quiet song.When I was a child, my mother said good night, put her on the crib, dimmed the lights, and would softly sing this Brahms lullaby. At that time, Nicole would see some lovely Small animals, accompany her to sleep. "Gently put you down, go to sleep, baby... In my dream, I will guard you; in my dream, I will bless you." The lion swung its hips, threatening, ready to pounce at any moment.Still singing softly, the little girl walked towards it.Nicole stepped onto the shore, only five meters away from the lion.The lion turned around suddenly, jumped and ran back to the grove. Nicole still walked and sang.This soft melody calmed her and filled her with strength.After a while, she came to the edge of the prairie.When the sun rose, she finally returned to the saltwater pond.She lay down in the grass and fell asleep. Grandpa and the wizards found her, naked and in a deep sleep.At this time, the sun was already shining brightly. The past seems like yesterday. It has been almost thirty years, but the experience gained from it is still valuable.She lay on the Newton's bed with her eyes wide open, thinking about it all the time. When the seven-year-old girl was plunged into a completely strange and dangerous world, she learned to fight for survival. "All I know is never to give up," Nicole said silently. "Why should I be here looking at myself? It was a lot worse then than it is now." Reminiscing about her childhood experience gave Nicole an unexpected strength, and she was no longer depressed and depressed.Once again, she thought back through the entire procedure and tried to develop a plan to find out what went wrong.She forgot loneliness. Nicole knew that she could only conduct a thorough analysis of the Posov incident if she stayed on board during the first assault.So she decided to talk to Brown or Hellman about it early in the morning. Gradually, the exhausted Nicole fell asleep.Dimly, she hummed a soft song—it was Brahms' "Lullaby."