Feathers

Retribution

Sorren looked to Owl. "Has anyone...heard from Cat?" She knotted her hands together as they shook their heads solemnly. Owl had obviously told them what he had heard as well.

She slowly got to her feet, surprised that she was not quite as sore as she thought. "Thank you all for being so worried about me. Hopefully, the wolves will not come back again. I need to find out what happened to Cat. If you want to wait for me here, you can. I will be back soon."

Bear was already asleep once more and so could not protest.

It was not until she was several hundred feet from the cave that Owl caught up to her and landed on her shoulder. "I should go with you," he said. "I can tell you where I heard him. I should warn you, though. The probability of him surviving is very small, Sorren. I would brace yourself for what you might find. It was one cat against many wolves."

"I know. But he might have escaped," she protested, unwilling to accept that Cat, her dear friend, could be in shreds on the forest floor. She could not give up until she knew that there was no life in his eyes to be saved, even if it meant that the image was seared into her brain forever. "He could need our help, Owl. And if he is dead...well, then we would need to bury him. He would be very sad to know that we left his body out for the mice."

They traveled in silence for a few minutes as she walked swiftly, albeit sorely, through the undergrowth.

"Sorren," he said, more quietly because he didn't know who could hear. "Is there more to what happened with the Peregrines? It seems odd that they would release you so easily."

She waited a long time to answer, weighing her options and words carefully. Owl had always been trustworthy and she really did need his opinion. "There was a Gagra around here, not too long ago. You know that... I thought if the Peregrines and their king were killed by it, then their people would think the Ferals killed them and they would come to Deepfell. I should have come to talk to you about it, but it all happened so fast. I went to warn them that it was coming and that they should run, but they decided to kill it instead. I did not want to do this, but I also thought that if the Gagra was dead, it could not kill any of our friends. After all, it was a sick creature. I just had to make sure at least one of the Peregrines survived to tell the Flock Avians that the Ferals had nothing to do with it. We went to the quarry and ambushed it. When it was finished, I waited until they looked away to run.

"So, when the wolves came, I thought to lead them to the carcass to distract them while I got away, but it was gone, eaten already. I was in trouble and the wolves were going to kill me and they would have if the Peregrines had not arrived. I do not know where they came from, but they said that because I had warned them about the Gagra and saved them, they returned the favor by saving me and letting me go."

"I see," Owl said.

"You don't think it is a trick, do you?" She chewed on her lip. "I did not hear them follow me back. Bear is still sick and I cannot move him yet."

"I do not think it is a trick. I believe they were grateful you saved them, even if they did not know your motivation for doing so. If it was the king you helped, he might be trying to do the right thing to set an example for his men. A good king does not gain his subjects' affection with fear, but with noble acts and kindness. What would you have done in his situation?"

Sorren thought a moment. "I would have let him go. But I am not a Peregrine, either. We do things differently in Deepfell than they do in their city."

"We can only hope, then, that they were being honorable."

She walked on, the stiffness gradually fading from her body. They passed the main blackberry patch and turned towards Owl's tree. The rain had washed away most scents of the previous day and left everything smelling like sweet damp wood. If Cat was dead, they would not smell it so they had to scan the ground for tufts of white fur.

"Here," Owl said, suddenly. "His cries...sounded like they were coming from this direction. But the rain was so loud and the wolves were barking, so I cannot be sure."

He fell off her shoulder and glided over the grass, using his keen eyes to search for movement. Sorren moved bushes and plants aside, hoping she might even find tracks from the wolves or Cat. She came across a place where the ground around a depression was torn up by raking claws and the grass had been trampled by several feet. There were a few large pawprints, muddied and obscured by the rain, but no feline sized impressions. Sorren reached down into the pit, slanted under a fallen log and scooped some of the dirt out towards her. What had the wolves been trying to get at?

"Look, Sorren," Owl said. He dipped his head into the grass and plucked up a damp string of white fur. Sorren felt like a stone had dropped in her stomach.

She reached for another handful of earth and felt it break through to a cavity within, a den or burrow of some sort. The wolves had chased some poor creature, Cat most likely, into the hole and the rain had sealed it up.

"Can you see down there?" She looked to Owl, watching him hop down the decline and lower his round head on his smooth shoulders. His big eyes would be the only things able to see in there, if there was anything to be found.

"Something's in there. Or at least I think so. Are you going to stick your arm down there?"

Sorren shrugged. "I guess so," she said. On her belly, she lowered herself down and felt along the freezing tunnel with her fingers, moving through the grit. When they touched something soft, she jumped and pulled back, in case the creature would try to bite her for invading its home. Nothing happened. Slowly, she pushed her arm inside once more and found the still form, realizing that it was quite cold. The animal was at the extent of her reach, but she was able to find its shoulder blades and grab the scruff of its neck with her middle and index finger, pulling it towards her until she could cup her hand around the barrel of its chest. She felt the size and weight of the creature, glancing at Owl with a grim expression before pulling the limp black and white body into the light.

"Cat," Owl said.