Missing

Chapter 17

The snap of twigs brought her attention back to the forest and the sound of trudging boots seeped out of the woods.

Henrik appeared from between the trees, pulling a bramble from his trousers and falling over in the process. Her stumbled over to Kestrel, flashing a smile as he flopped onto the log beside her.

Kestrel blinked slowly and filed his recent behaviour under 'strange.'

Furious padded out from between the trees and sat beside Moon who was resting on the tree trunk, his cheek feathers hanging off the edge.

Henrik inhaled loudly and closed his eyes restfully.

The view off the edge of the slope stretched far beyond vision.

"So, is Moondoor part of a whole new planet. I mean, the gravity is the same, plants and animals, days and seasons seem the same. This is late autumn, right?"

Henrik took a while to respond, "Yeah, we think so, for all that you just said." he added, "Different constellations mind. We haven't had a clear view of the planet. Tried sending satellites but one of the elemental religions prevented it. Saying stuff like 'defending the uncharted'," he chuckled, "I can't say I agree with them."

"I don't know..." Kestrel said wistfully. She frowned, "Wait, how does Moondoor get food?"

Henrik turned to face her, "Well... we have the currency: Craters, these can be turned into pounds and used. There are a few businesses run by elementals. Outpost shops. The closest one I know is the Co-op in Radyr."

"Huh, that's where I live!"

Henrik nodded and continued, "A load of Spirits teleport in and trade or buy stuff and then bring it back to the school. Then, it gets distributed across the village and camp."

Kestrel nodded.

Birdsong pierced through the air and winded its way through the snake-like silence.

Kestrel turned her attention to it and tried to translate it.

"Yeah..." Henrik cut in, "try not to do that, you'll end up with screaming threats to go away."

The silence fell again.

"How's your arm?" Kestrel asked Henrik, gesturing to his arm in aq1 sling.

Henrik nodded slowly, "Good thanks."

Kestrel rested her palm on Moon's feather crest on his forehead before standing up.

"We'd better get ready to head off again." she said, and Henrik followed. She wandered back into the forest until she reached the clearing where their tents once stood.

Merlin and Aquila had packed away everything and had laid a large map across the grass.

"So, we are here. School Moondoor is there." Merlin pointed to the centre of the map, where a small castle symbol was positioned. "The Village is there." He pointed a little south-west from the School. "Camp Moondoor is there." His finger landed north of the school. "The Northern Isles are there." Merlin gestured to the cluster of islands a little north from Moondoor Island. "The Jeger Camp is there." His finger skimmed over the North west of the map. "Kestrel, Allie, Killian and Henrik were held there." He pointed to a stretch of land beneath the Jeger. "And the Hidden South is roughly there, so

Ashstone is probably around here." Merlin gestured to an area south-east of Moondoor and sat back on his legs.

He folded up the map and stuffed it into his backpack, before perching onto Tan. Scooping up Henrik's backpack and handing it to him, then slinging her backpack onto her own back, Kestrel settled on Moon's back. Aquila clambered onto Zarya's shoulders. Zarya growled lightly.