Winter wants ~ it, Winter wants ~ it!
The Drakon circled on a thermal, swirling in patterns around the creature far below. The not-Coppertail, not-Saberel creature. There were lots of them in this forest now, but somehow that didn't make this one any less special. She had been following it for... how long was it now? Days? Moons?
She didn't care, really. Winter would want to see the creature. She was glad it hadn't died. It hadn't had food on the land-dot in the middle of the sparkling water-snake, but she had caught birds and dropped them for it. Then the water-snake had gotten faster and fatter, and a broken tree had lodged between the dot and the rest of the land. Now the strange not-food, not-enemy creature was in the forest, making its way—not flying—west. She knew west. West had Winter. And that was good, because Winter would definitely want to see this creature. Giving another happy swirl, the Drakon flew a loop-the-loop and looked around for birds to feed herself. The not-Saberel, not-Saggitayria creature caught its own food now. She was glad. It ate a lot.
A motion in the distance caught the Drakon's attention. Normally her eyes would tune out things moving at Drakon speed, but she had not seen another Drakon in days. Moons? Shooting into the air, she dove to catch the flight's attention. They had shiny legbands and so did she, so they were part of the same flight now.
The other Drakons came over and she greeted them with a forest Drakon greeting. She was glad they were forest Drakons. Rock Flat Drakons had different greetings, and those were confusing. Before long, the forest Drakons were flying away again. Off to tell Winter. Soon the sun was flying much higher above her, and the forest Drakons were in the distance, coming back. The Drakon peered through the trees below them, spotting a flash of white. Winter was coming!
The not-Saberel creature was acting strangely, starting to back away and move its mouth as Winter came closer. The Drakon cocked her head. She was getting used to tuning in to its sounds. The creature's cackling cries had become a whine and a yelping. It sounded distressed.
Then it started to back away from Winter.
In a flash of wings, the Drakon dove. She hit the creature through a gap in the canopy, stunning it and breaking one of her wings. She didn't care. She held on as the writhing creature bit and snapped. It tattered her wings and began to scratch her shell terribly. Something stronger than her, deep in her mind, told her she could not let go. Winter was coming. This creature was meant for Winter and Winter alone.
Sethral dropped her stick as the words in the sand in front of her blurred. "Whipper, get up here!" she screamed as Silversand streaked from the main tunnel. Flakes of stone pelted down from the ceiling as a deafening rumble filled the hall. The twins appeared after Silversand, coughing as dust billowed from wall cracks.
Sethral ran to the Stormhole entrance. Whipper had gone back for the fish bag moments before. She could hear the boulders of Stormhole's floor grating against each other. "Whipper!"
A streak of copper knocked her flat. Ryatzi fled the staircase holding a fuzzy ball by the scruff. He shied back from the boulder as Wing stumbled to a halt beside the twins and Silversand. The skylight offered the only shelter from the raining stone.
"Where's Jay?" shouted Fletch over the din.
"He was in his room!" Sethral screamed back. Whipper was tucked in a tight ball. She could smell his blood.
Jay appeared in the main tunnel. He leaped as a rock tooth smashed on the floor in front of him, then tripped backwards, trying to avoid the floor as pebbles rattled against his paws. His wings were pinned so tightly shut they must have hurt.
"Jay, over here!" shouted Wing. Jay pressed against the wall, shaking his head over and over again. Fletch tried to run to him and he bolted down the tunnel.
"What's wrong with him?" hissed Wing.
Moments later there was a shriek. Fletch reappeared and sprinted to the boulder on three paws. "Wing, he's terrified! He bit me and I can't take him on; please, do something!"
Taz pulled him close and he broke down sobbing. Wing cursed. Jay was a shadow in the tunnel again. He kept trying to get out, but each rock shard that struck him nearly sent him the ground.
"Jay, just run!" shouted the mutt. "It's safe here!"
Jay made it out of the tunnel entrance, got hit on the head and stumbled aside. There was a crack from the ceiling. Wing slammed into the Raindai as a rock tooth the size of Sethral smashed on the floor where Jay had been standing. Jay bit and kicked everywhere he could reach. Wing screamed in pain; Jay tore free and sprinted for the window. Wing went after him.
Taz, Fletch, Sethral and Silversand clung to each other on top of the boulder and shut their eyes. Rock teeth cracked loose and struck the floor like bombs. The Stormhole boulders screeched and ground against one another Sethral felt like the very world was going to shake apart... or at least the cliffs.
Thank Shelha, the cliffs stayed sound. Even the boulder did not move, wedged as it was in its rock cradle. After what felt like moons—it could only have been a few hundred heartbeats—the shaking died down.
The moment she could stand, Sethral leaped off Taz's back and looked around frantically. Ryatzi dropped Whipper and backed towards the wall. Whipper uncurled and flung himself on Silversand, sobbing. One of his paws bore a nasty graze.
Sethral put a claw on his shoulder. "Whipper, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere else?"
He shook his head. She pulled his paw from Silversand's scruff and looked it over. Thank Shelha, it looked worse than it was. Nothing broken.
"I fell," he whispered.
'I think Ryatzi saved him,' mouthed Silversand. Sethral turned. Panic leaped in Ryatzi's eyes as she dropped off the boulder. He backed away, then stopped retreating and crouched until his belly fur hit the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut. Sethral caught up and captured him in the tightest hug she could manage without hitting his injuries. Ryatzi went stiff, then began to loosen slowly. He felt confused.
"Thank you," whispered Sethral, and felt him relax a little more. He lowered himself to the floor and hid his face. He was still tense.
"I'm not going to hurt you," said Sethral.
There was no response. Sethral released him and sidled around to his side. She touched his shoulder. "Hey. You heard me, right? I'm not going to hurt you. Especially not after that. Don't be so scared."
Still no response. Sethral looked around, then had an idea and ran down to Stormhole. The moss-lined cave looked much like it had before the quake. Rocks that just moments ago been bouncing around like eggs had settled back in their places. Sethral tested each as she went, just in case, but they all felt sound.
Her thistlecloth was piled at one end of the crack under the stairs like it had been flung off in a hurry. Sethral fished it out and returned to the hall. Whipper was wrapped around Ryatzi's neck and the Saberel had his head up. His eyes darted to Sethral as she emerged. He pressed tighter to the ground.
Sethral sighed. "Here. You can have this back now."
She draped the blanket over him. Whipper tucked it in at the sides. The Saberel curled up and buried his face in it.
"Trust issues?" said Taz when the two returned to the boulder.
Sethral shrugged helplessly.
"Can you see Wing and Jay yet?" said Whipper.
"I can sense them, but they're not moving," said Fletch from the window.
"We should go check on them," said Taz. He, Fletch and Sethral all exchanged looks.
"I'll stay here," said Silversand. Whipper had clamped to her back and put his face in her fur again.
Visibility on the flats was cut to tail-lengths by dust as thick as spring fog. Sethral accepted a ride on Taz while Fletch probed ahead.
"Wing?" she heard him call after a time.
"Over here."
They found the two Coppertails on a patch of ground that shook less than usual when another aftershock rumbled through. Wing was lying in the dust, bleeding from bites on his neck, paws and shoulders. He looked dispirited to say the least. Half a tail-length in front of him was Jay, pressed to the ground and sobbing hysterically.
"Don't go near him," said Wing as Fletch took a step forwards.
"What's going on?" said Taz weakly.
"I was going to ask you the same thing."
"I've seen this before," said Sethral.
Creatures looked at her.
She looked at the ground. "Well, not with Jay, but... in my clan. There are Saggitayrii my age who still react to Drakons like this."
Wing glanced up. "Since what?"
"Since the Drakons starved, invaded our territories and killed half my clan. We call it the Drakon Winter so we don't pass those memories on to the younger kids, but it was really a war."
Wing looked at the twins.
"Don't look at us," said Taz, but the words didn't hold the bite he seemed to have intended. "We don't know his past. He's lived here since we two were kits. This place gets landquakes all the time. Not usually this big, but at least once a year. We've never seen him react like this before."
"We've never seen him during a landquake before," said Fletch.
"Well, maybe this is why."
"Well, he freaks out if I move, so I'm staying here," said Wing. "Can one of you keep Drakon watch? And are the others okay?"
"Whipper got a bad scare and a scratched paw," said Sethral, "and Ryatzi thinks I'm going to beat him up for saving Whipper, but otherwise we're all fine. How about you?"
She eyed the bites in his fur. It was no secret to anyone anymore that Wing had sensitive skin.
Wing shook his head. "I've got it easy right now."
Jay's wings were still paralyzed. Another aftershock trembled the ground and he shuddered violently. Sethral averted her eyes. She trudged away through the dust haze in search of a spire to keep watch from.
Wing was talking quietly to the Raindai now, occasionally edging a half claw-length closer to him. By the time Jay had quieted, the mutt was close enough to touch his forepaws. Asking permission first, he did just that, pushing Jay's paws together and bookending them with his own. The group settled in to stay the night. The moon came up blood-red, then faded to its usual cream as it rose and the dust settled. Jay woke every half moon's paw-length, screaming until Wing calmed him down and he realized the ground was no longer shaking. He finally fell asleep with his muzzle in the mutt's fur, as the first shade of predawn paled the western stars.
Getting back to Rockhall that morning proved impossible. The moment the group drew within ten tail-lengths of the cliffs, Jay would shy back, biting Wing and fleeing. Then he would be distressed at having bitten the mutt, and would evade recapture until Wing reassured him that it was okay. It was not—Wing had hardly slept that night even after Jay had settled—but the mutt had not even let Sethral touch the bites lest Jay see that they hurt.
Then when they finally got closer than ten tail-lengths, an aftershock sent rocks tumbling and smashing down the cliffs and sent Jay right back to the previous day's square one. Sethral had to leave briefly to find food, and commented that at least they had the blessing of an empty sky. The Rock Flat Drakons had joined their kin in the forest, hunting prey displaced by collapsed burrows and tumbled nests.
It took the rest of the day to coax Jay back into Rockhall. He promptly holed up in the most stable back cave he could find and refused to come out. Wing sighed and left to find them both food. Sethral cornered him at the second exit and wouldn't let him leave until she and Whipper—paw treated—had seen to his bites.
Sethral was surprised to find Ryatzi still in the hall. He was curled up in her thistlecloth against the base of the boulder, watching the goings-on with a face as unreadable as usual. The bandages she could spot had been changed quite recently, and judging by the cracked-open skull Silversand was playing with, and complete lack of other bones, he had eaten too. The Royal must have caught him something. Ryatzi was warming to the renegades, it seemed.