Frost on the Grasslands | Shelha Series 1 | ✔

Chapter Eleven: Copper and the Black Prince

"They're nuts, and I'm pretty sure only a few Rockland-dwellers know about them," said Taz. "We're two of those creatures, and Jay is another. He was saying if we could get in, we could probably get the Coppertails and then get halfway to Rocklander's Maze before having to break cover again, which would give the herd plenty of time and space to make a break for it. How well do you know Drakons?"

"They're my freaking counterpart, fuzzhead. You need me to predict their motions so you guys can sneak into the tunnels?"

"Almost," said Fletch. "The problem is, the tunnels aren't connected to the tunnel-rocks network, so we'll have to either collapse one or dig. Do you know any good Drakon diversions?"

"Other than myself?"

A counterpart was the best diversion, but that would mean giving herself in like Whipper and Silversand had. Or worse. Sethral wished she had her mentor Talin to tag-team with. "Suppose I said I'd worry about the Drakons," she said. "Would you guys have a working plan by tomorrow morning? We can't do this by night or we'd just be screwed."

Fletch and Taz exchanged looks. "We would," said Fletch.

"Cool. Now. Jay looked super upset back there. Is he going to help you? And if so, what kind of problems is that going to cause?"

There was silence.

"Taz. Fletch. Answer me. Is Jay going to help you?"

Taz put his forehead on his paws and Fletch looked away.

This was not the first time this had happened. Sethral looked from one to the other. "How long have you two been guarding Jay on this landscape? You know a lot more than you're telling me right now."

"He's been here since we were kits," said Fletch. "He was a little younger then than we are now."

"And at the bottom of it, it has to do with Winter, doesn't it? He disappears whenever we so much as talk about her."

The twins both flinched.

"You can't hide it, you two."

"Please don't make us do this, Seth," said Fletch. "We don't want to break his trust."

"If there's a risk of sabotage from him, I want to know about it. I'm not putting my life on the line to risk everything blowing up in my face. If Jay has issues with Winter and you two can't handle it, that could be a serious problem. Is there anyone else who helps you?"

"If there was a single creature who could control Jay and convince him he'd be safer in this group than running around alone, we'd have made friends with that creature a very long time ago," said Taz. "Basically, no. Fletch, I trust her! Let me talk!"

Fletch flinched back. He had attempted to silence his twin.

"Listen," said Taz. "We need to get Jay into this group. He needs it. And Fletch, that's not going to work unless we go out on a limb and trust Seth, Silver and Whip as much as Jay obviously does. Seth, yes he's coming with us, though there's no guarantee he'll stick to the plan so it's more like we're going with him. There's a huge risk of it blowing up, but we're deciding to trust him anyways. There's no way he'd let Winter capture this herd and then sit back and do nothing about it. One, he cares a lot more than he's showing, and two, if Winter gets a description of him out of those Coppertails, he'll freak out and we'll probably never see him again. I'm not going to let that happen. I don't care if he gets dangerous because I give away his secrets; sharing them right now might be the only way to save us and Jay if this rescue goes to shit. He's a pain in the ass to deal with, but I'm going to try!"