Feathers

Crow's Company

Sorren put her ear to his chilled chest and listened, Owl watched her face for any expression. She frowned, lifting Cat's head up to her lips until his icy nose touched them and felt the faintest puff of breath.

"He is alive," she said excitedly.

Owl hopped closer in joy. There was a chance for Cat yet, even if it was a slim one.

Sorren pulled his soaked body up against her chest, ignoring the red and brown blood that covered his fur, holding him securely in case his back was injured. Paws downward, he hung from her arms, his face buried in the crook of her elbow, unconscious.

She walked hurriedly back towards the cave, worried that if she ran, she would jostle him and cause more damage.

"I will make sure the way is clear," Owl said, taking off, swiftly vanishing between the trunks.

Sorren's heart pounded with anxiety as she hurried back to the cave, knowing that the minutes were precious. The weight of fear and exhaustion had momentarily been lifted from her shoulders in this new crisis situation. She could rest later and she could heal later, but if she did not help Cat quickly, he might not have a chance to do either.

Owl reappeared, scaring her half to death, circling overhead with a soft whirring sound to let her know that the forest had yet to be revisited by the pack of marauding wolves.

"Bear is so sick, Owl. Too sick. And Cat's wounds are so deep that if I don't clean them right, they will become infected beneath the stitches and then he, too, will be fighting for his breath. Badger can stay here while I am gone to protect them. But if I don't go, I will not be able to make them well. I need medicine. I am afraid they will not make it without it. 

"Just like I did on the night the wolves came, I have to decide whether or not to take a risk. I am well and able to help them, so I will go. Do not caution me, because I know what is out there and what could happen if I go. But they would risk the same, even greater, to help me as they have before," she said, scooping up the sack full of blackberries and her entire store of honey wax soaps. She made sure the wolf pelt was tied securely to her back. 

The medicine she needed would have to be very strong, nothing she could make from herbs, and it would be expensive. If a bear's immune system was losing to the sickness, it was as nasty and vicious as a hungry Gagra.

Owl couldn't think of anything to say and sighed. He shook his head, eyes pivoting one way and then the other, but waved her on with his talons.

"I will be back very soon, I promise," Sorren pledged. 

With a final look at Bear, barely breathing, and Cat, unmoving by the fire, she turned and rushed out of the mouth of the cave and around the side of the hill. An ash tree grew there, bigger in diameter than Bear was long, the grooves of it's bark big enough to grip easily. Sorren knew every foothold on its trunk anyway. One of its upper branches would provide enough clearance to glide out over the tops of the other trees around it so that she would not have to fight through branches to rise out of Deepfell.

She paused on a high limb and held very still, watching the forest floor that spread out before her like and green carpet for any movement. A quarter of an hour moved by, marked by the pace of a snail as it crept along the bark without hurry. Sorren had to force herself not to stare at the glittering trail of silver it left behind. It was much too easy to get distracted with daydreaming than to imagine that Peregrines had stumbled close to her home. Indeed, there were none to be seen, but she felt uncomfortable at the thought.

Energy pooled in her thighs and like Cat, she agilely sprang into the air, clearing the leaves with little more than a rustle. It would go unnoticed amongst all the other noises of the day.