Firefly | Shelha Series 5 | ✔

Chapter Eighty-Five: A Ship

Taz had to grab Firebrand's tail to keep her from deserting them. "Where's Dusk?"

"He sent me back. I think he's spying."

"Are there creatures to spy on?"

"I—" Instinct. So probably yes. "He didn't say what he was doing. But it felt like spying."

"Then he's probably spying," said Sethral. "That idiot. If there are creatures about, we need him back here, now."

"Please don't," pleaded Whipper. His voice had been too low to hear up until now. He had both forepaws knotted in Phoenix's fur.

Phoenix's breathing was like butterfly wings, almost too fast to follow. His paws were pressed to the ground so hard they made divots. Something snapped in the forest and Whipper was flung back; there was a red blur, a click, and the Pyrya went statue-still.

'Sorry, Phoenix,' flicked Silversand. On her outstretched paw, her gauntlet had been clipped to snake form.

Taz cautiously approached the frozen Pyrya and touched him. He didn't move, and when Taz took his scruff and pulled him down again, he went with the motion as if molded from clay. Everyone else sank slowly with them.

Everyone except Whipper, who had disappeared.

Sethral knew she had moved a bit too quickly as she jerked her head around. Suddenly, there was no sign of Firebrand either. Her eyes returned to find a gap where Ryatzi had been. She was about to freak out when a Long Night hiss behind her said, 'Here, now.' Her body obeyed so fast she felt like smoke. Dusk left her and spirited the rest of the renegades into the bushes. They regathered in a Forestair clearing.

'Silver, let him go,' flicked Dusk.

'No. He'll bolt.'

Dusk shot Taz a look. The Rocklander got a hold on the relaxing muscle in Phoenix's scruff, and the Pyrya's legs gave out on him. Silversand un-snaked her gauntlet. Phoenix started to cry softly. He was trembling.

Dusk scanned the forest again, then started pointing to each of them. 'Taz, stay with him here. Fletch, help keep Feefs calm. Loki, Ryatzi, on guard. Whipper, find a tree and hide; if they get attacked, come find us. Silver, Sethral, Firebrand, you're with me.'

'Where are we going?' flicked Sethral.

'To find Firefly.'

Sethral planted her paws. 'Explain.'

'The forest around us right now is swarming with Forestairs. Halo's here, and she and the others keep milling back and forth like there's something here they want us to find. I want you and Firebrand because you're our two smartest observers, and Silver because she and I are the only ones who stand a chance against bows if we're found first.'

'By who?'

'I don't know.'

'Trust read, Sethral?' flicked Firebrand, dropping her bag on Fletch for safekeeping.

'If I'm getting the Forestairs, which I probably am, I don't think they're trying to trap us. I don't like this place at all, though.'

'It's too quiet,' flicked Silversand.

There was nothing quiet about the jungle. The heat seemed to soften Sethral's body, letting the penetrating whine of the sunhigh chorus run strings through her head and her hearing and her suddenly throbbing wing. The sound changed depending on which way she turned her head. Firebrand nodded to Dusk, who slid down a Forestair trail like a shadow.

The soupy air clung to Sethral as she struggled to keep up. Already she felt dizzy, and she could feel a headache budding between her eyes like a malignant tumour. The air felt too thick and too thin. It escaped her, leaving its humidity in its stead, so her lungs felt empty before she even breathed out. Dusk had wet his fur in a stream somewhere, and Sethral wished with every fibre of her being that she could do the same. They stopped abruptly and she swayed on her paws. Now the forest was rushing, whining and ringing.