A dear friend has become a deadly enemy, and Winter has taken control of her ally's assassins. The renegades are left with no choice but to flee the forest they call home. But Winter's most feared weapons may not be obeying her of their own free wil...
Another three tail-lengths in, they found themselves in a small grove of trees. Firebrand held up her tail. A strange shuffling and squeaking was making its way though the plants towards them. It moved quite fast, but zigzagged back and forth, pausing frequently to snuffle at things. At the grove's edge, the vegetation caught it. The squeals spiked, and the creature thrashed and flailed until it plowed out into the grove.
The size of a plump Hollow, it was a brown-furred critter with short legs and a pointy snout. Lying flat all down its spine was a mass of thick, white quills. It must have scented them, for it froze at the grove's edge with its nose in the air. Ryatzi flew from hiding. The creature squealed loudly. Its spines shot up to form a prickly sausage the length of its back. It shook them until they rattled, and bared rodent's teeth.
Ryatzi danced forwards. The creature lunged, and they circled each other again. One paw shot out. Suddenly the creature was on its back, and a wild squealing pounded Firebrand's skull. Dirt and leaves sprayed everywhere. When the melee ceased, the creature lay dead on the ground. Ryatzi stepped back, lay down and began to lick one paw gingerly, parting the fur around the ends of two broken spines. He nipped each and pulled it out. "Glad I haven't completely lost my touch."
"That was amazing."
Firebrand skinned the creature while Ryatzi licked his paw until the bleeding stopped. She pushed the catch towards him. He pushed it back. They shared again. When Ryatzi had finished half his portion, he dropped the rest in front of Firebrand and fell asleep on her back.
Midway through her meal, a rustle made Firebrand glance up. It was nearly dark out, and purple shadows softened the grove. The rustle built to a crackle, paused, and crackled again. All at once, a dead leaf the size of Halo folded up and vanished into the ground. Firebrand stared. The rustle began again, on her other side. She looked just in time to see another leaf whip out of sight. She growled.
The grove stood silent. Firebrand gathered the rest of her meal and snuck towards the path she and Ryatzi had made coming here. A chewing sound made her look back. A plant at the grove's edge wobbled and fell over. Slowly, as if drawn by a string, it slid away into the grasses.
The cave, when she returned to it, was empty but for the sleeping forms of Dusk and Wing. Firebrand left Ryatzi with Wing and followed the sound of laughter to discover a set of stepping-stones leading out the cave's opposite side. She plunged through the waterfall on them. Before her opened a grassy bank like the one she had just left, edged by a small beach. Renegades tumbled up and down the far end of it, laughing and pouncing on things in the sand.
Whipper popped from the vegetation beside her. "Kick the sand!"
She scooped some up and flicked it at him. Bright blue sparkles lit up all through it. Whipper batted a wave of sand back. Tiny lights cascaded over Firebrand's paws. Together they romped up the beach, kicking sand ahead of them and dancing through the fleeting stars.
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