It's not supposed to snow in the South Forest, but the weather in the second-emptiest corner of Shelha is not the only thing behaving strangely. When an ex-tyrant started acting up again, Sethral had hoped it meant the end of lazy days and monotonou...
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Jay had vanished again by the next day. Sethral had taken custody of the trap, and spent most of the morning holed up in her room inspecting it. Whipper, Silversand and the twins were playing a paw-slap game in the main hall when she emerged.
"No idea," she said, tossing the trap into the middle of their circle. Creatures shied back. Taz eyed the metal device warily.
"What," said Sethral. "It's not set. It won't hurt you."
When the twins and Whipper continued to refuse to come forwards, Sethral rolled her eyes and pulled the trap out of the circle's centre. Creatures relaxed.
"What did you find?" said Silversand.
Sethral pulled at the device's pieces until it was laid out before her in some semblance of order. She patted a metal ring. "It's Lowland-made for sure. My guess is that Winter commissioned it while she was down there this cool season, and then brought it back for testing. She probably had the Drakons plant in the Rocklands, which would explain why it didn't catch Taz. It wasn't very well set."
"So you do think it was Winter?" said Whipper.
"I would think so. It couldn't be the Drakons, because getting this back from the Lowlands would require crossing other flights' territories without giving up their cargo. That, frankly, doesn't happen. And who else goes between the Lowlands and this part of the South forest? Besides you guys and me," she added, waving a paw at Whipper and Silversand.
Taz had shifted closer to get a better look. "Not to change the topic again, but how does this thing work? I'm kinda curious what it would have done to me if I'd been caught."
Fletch smacked him.
Sethral began to rearrange the linked pieces, fitting some into others. She had to lean on the last one to slip it into place. Then she stepped back, picked up a stone that Silversand had been playing with, and tossed it into the device. Creatures jumped in their skins as the trap leaped, clamping the rock in a metal cuff. Sethral picked it up. A chain trailed from its side.
