We fled and scattered beyond belief,
And through the world's great wonders roamed,
But nothing can beat the sweet relief
Of family safe and love come home.
And family grows, like ev'ry tree,
A refuge for others without a place;
A home for those in greatest need.
Our weakness lies within our grace.
In the far north, a Whitewing fanned its wings. Spawned in fall, it came to this forest at the harshest time of year, and survived. Its rearmost wings were pure white, its body huge, and its lust for hunting as keen as the knife-edged wind. But prey was not to be found here. The hunter's instinct turned, its internal compass, once fixed on this forest, realigning its poles in reverse. It wanted to go south again. Back to its birthplace, where there would be prey.
Wings like a small Draygon's beat a thundering crescendo. In a moment the Whitewing reached the sky, oblivious to the stowaway clinging to its back.
Wing looked up as a the sky gave a familiar shriek. Sethral cannoned into him and wrapped around his neck.
He staggered back, laughing. "Sethral! Great Shelha, you grew!"
"Yeah, she did." Ryatzi trotted up, sounding rueful.
Wing tapped his back. The Saberel hopped on, hugged him tightly and hopped off again.
Wing nodded. "Yup, she beat you. You have my sympathy, kiddo. Sethral, c'mere. Let me hug you properly."
Sethral jumped off and flung herself on him from the front instead. Wing wrapped his paws around her.
"Is anyone else back yet?" said Ryatzi.
"Jay's on his way, but I don't know about the others. It is only North moon though."
"Yeah." Sethral pulled back and put her claws on the mutt's shoulders. "What are you doing back so early? The fort smells like you've been here for moons."
"I wasn't doing so well, and the Shield started burning again. What about you two?"
Sethral's happy energy deflated.
Wing looked around as Ryatzi crept up and pressed against his side. "Not good news, I'm guessing."
"PAON got attacked by upper-tier Drakons, and Ratty got framed," said Sethral. "I really hope it was someone from outside the clan. If it's not, then PAON has an inside creature working for Winter, that they now think they've gotten rid of."
"And you couldn't find out anything about them?"
"No," said Ryatzi.
Sethral went over and hugged him. "And how have things been here?" she said.
Wing sighed. "Well, Winter got back a quarter moon ago, though I imagine you've heard that already. She's collecting slaves again, has quadrupled the size of her camp, and is apparently very well loved by her followers. There's not much else to say."
Sethral poked him. "What have you been doing?"
"Staying alive, mostly."
"That's not what we heard," said Ryatzi.
Sethral grinned. "You're a ghost now, apparently? One who got caught by Winter on purpose two Wing moons ago so he could escape her prison pit and take all the prisoners with him. Also one who steals food, and who's impossible to sneak up on or attack because he has no blind spot. Sound familiar, Black Prince?"
"That sounds like a load of camp gossip having fun with itself," said Wing with a smile. "But yes, I have been stealing food. It's difficult not to when the only places with much food are in Winter's territory."
"Where's the border now?"
"Close. We're going to have to start watching ourselves outside."
"South star. South star, South star, South starrrr... there! Okay. So. South star is south, so face south and left is east..."
Taking a moment to sort out left and right, the creature identified left, then got distracted by a rustle and lost it again. Striving valiantly to ignore the sound, she repeated the procedure and drew a long arrow pointing left before leaping into the bushes. There was silence for ten heartbeats, then a pounce. The creature returned with something small and furry in her jaws. She found her arrow and circled it as if suspicious that it had been tampered with in her absence. It glowed with moonlit innocence. Seeming satisfied, she pointed her body carefully in the direction it was pointing and trotted into the night.
A rush of wind cleared the dust from the Rockhall window. Jay touched down as lightly as a feather and locked onto the main tunnel. Paws were sprinting up it.
"Jay!"
The two Coppertails collided and tumbled the width of the hall, chirping with delight. Jay flattened Wing to the ground. Sethral hurled herself into the fray, giggling, as Ryatzi pulled up half a tail-length behind.
"Dammit, Mossy!"
"Serves you right for bolting off without telling me what for! I get first hug!"
Wing had beaten her to that. Jay clamped the mutt beneath his wing and began to barber his face. Wing was purring. Sethral took her hug and hopped off to let Ryatzi have a turn; the Saberel planted himself on Jay's back and stayed there. Jay tucked his spare wing over him.
"Now we've got another fuzzball for Silver," laughed Sethral. Jay gave her a swat as she scrunched his fur. It had a full undercoat again.
Wing had taken over the grooming. Sethral braced for a hiss, but Jay just squirmed closer and leaned into it like it was water in a desert. He gave a silent chirrup when Wing paused.
"You're okay with this?" said Wing.
Jay nose-poked his chin.
That was a Coppertail grooming request. Sethral stepped back as Wing curled around the Raindai and started grooming him again. Jay had definitely lost weight over their time apart.
"How frozen is the north now?" she asked. She hoped Whipper was okay.
Jay pretended he hadn't heard.
Wing paused again and got nose-poked several times. He probed a spot on Jay's shoulder. For the first time, the Raindai flinched away.
"Bracken?" said Wing softly.
Jay pressed himself to the ground and lay still.
Wing licked the spot again gently, exposing a wound beneath the fur. "Why do you have a bite from Bracken?"
Jay's click was almost imperceptible. 'I do not know.'
"You..."
'I have not encountered her.' Sethral could not tell if the Raindai was embarrassed or scared. 'At least, not that I can remember...'
Wing tucked around him. Jay shuddered and pressed against his side.
"I think I need to have a word with Bracken," said Wing. "Were you hurt other than that?"
Jay shook his head.
"Can I see the bite?" said Sethral.
She got a reluctant yes and crept forwards to investigate. Bracken's scent lingered on Jay's fur. The bite was only a day or two old. It was also deep. It looked like Bracken had been holding on against considerable opposition.
Sethral related this to Wing through Long Night taps. 'Does he ever fight in his sleep?' she asked. Ryatzi certainly did.
"Not that I know," said Wing.
'I need a nap,' clicked Jay. He nudged the mutt. 'Can you come?'
Wing nodded. He almost tripped on the Raindai as they rose. Jay did not seem to realize how close he was pressing, or how concerned Wing looked as they left the hall together.
The Lowland sky was clear and fresh as the sun went down. Firebrand paced the raft's prow and peered into the distance. Past two more islands lay open water, stretching unbroken to every horizon but their own. Somewhere on its other side lay the edge of the Lowland basin. Firebrand checked the two lines secured to the raft's fortified prow. Both ran taut into the water, tugging the boat onwards at an unslackening pace.
"We'll be at the forest by sunhigh tomorrow," she said over her shoulder.
Taz rolled over and peered into the water. "Those things don't give up, do they. Wish I could run that long."
"You can," came a muffled reply from Fletch. "You've been tossing about since moonhigh last night."
"Well, what else is there to do? Sleep all day?"
Fletch lifted his head, amused. "Taz, what do you think Fibes and I have been doing this entire time? Save your energy. You'll have plenty of options for burning it off once we get to dry land."
"But that's so far away."
"What are you, Silversand?"
"Yes. I'm hungry."
"Then lie down and maybe you'll last a little longer," chuckled Firebrand.
Taz stuck out his tongue at her, flounced to the raft's edge and flopped down again. Silence fell, save for the lap of the lake and the occasional bird flying home to the islands for night.
The three Coppertails took turns on watch through the night. With the moon half full, the sky was awash with stars mirrored in the lake below. Predawn brought a cloak of soft grey fog. Logs loomed like shipwrecks. Now and then an island would haunt the gloom, the ghost of a storm-slain hilltop. At dawn, the sun burned away the mist to reveal the gold-soaked mainland opening its arms to welcome them across the water.
Firebrand gave Taz a friendly punch. "Good thing I didn't leave you behind the last time we were here, hey?"
Taz splashed her, triggering a water fight that lasted almost to the shore and spooked the towing-Scythes so badly, the raft bucked like a log ride. At last they reached dry land. Fletch freed the fish from their hooks while his companions dismantled the raft. Soon they were back in the log jam, picking their way over trunks as slick as snakeskins.
"The South Forest is going to take some getting used to again," panted Fletch, up to his belly in water. "I've gotten so used to being wet."
"You think you're used to it?" said Taz. "You fat frogwallopper, you weren't the one swimming for three straight moons to come and find you. An algae greenhouse, that's what I was."
"Well at least it didn't show," said Firebrand, eyeing his green fur.
Taz threw a mud clod at her. She ducked.
When the terrain was dry enough, the trio began to run. Taz had thought they might want more travel time, but Firebrand proved correct in the end: it was too cold for lounging.
It was in the Darkwood, three days in, that Firebrand started to slow. Taz grumbled as a sharp deceleration nearly ran him into her backside.
Firebrand cantered to a halt and put up her tail. "Shh. Listen."
The twins stilled their paws. A deathly hush settled over the landscape.
"Fibes, there's nothing there," said Taz.
"Exactly."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
Firebrand turned in a circle, her nose testing the air. "Taz, we're standing in the middle of the largest bird overwintering ground north of the Lowlands, and there isn't a single bird."
"Turn around slowly," said Fletch.
Sitting on a branch behind them were four fat, black birds. As the Coppertails widened their peripheries, more became visible, hunched in the shadows of tree branches and thick bunches of needles. Seeing them watching it, one bird gave a sepulchral croak. Three more answered it like echoes in a cave, and more answered these. The woods flapped, emitting three more birds. Fletch tapped his companions and began to back away. The birds followed the trio to the hunter-wood, then pulled up in a tidy line at the edge of the pale trees.
"Well that's comforting," said Taz.
They needn't have worried. No invisible forest hunters showed up, and by nightfall they were long past the pale woods and nearly out of the Darkwood. They bedded down for night.
Thumpthump.
Fletch's eyes snapped open. The clouds had broken, and silver and black patches drifted over the forest floor. The moon was a sickle blade. There was no smell, sight or sound of danger, or of anything that could have woken him. Fletch waited for several hundred heartbeats, then put his head back down on Taz's back. His whole body tingled. He could see it now. A shadow half a tail-length from Firebrand was closer than it had been when he had awoken. Fletch shot to his feet, snarling. The shadow was already gone, a Rocklander-sized outline bounding away through the trees. Fletch skidded to a halt as Taz and Firebrand leaped up behind him.
"Fletch, what in Shelha's name was that?"
"A creature." Fletch fought to keep his voice from shaking. "Sneaking up on you, Fibes."
She followed him into the forest. The creature's tracks were blurred by its speed.
"It could have been anything," said Firebrand. She sniffed a track. "And it covered its paws."
"What did it want with you though? The thing was my size! It couldn't take you alone, let alone the three of us."
Taz snatched something from behind a tree and dropped it again. He put his head against the trunk. "I don't think it was just aiming for Fibes," he said.
On the ground was a bundle of short ropes. Firebrand untied it. There were nine in all: two paw-ties and a muzzle for each of them.
"No, not that one; that's a lower class. Look for the big wings!"
"Like that one?"
"Yeah, that's one!"
Sethral folded her wings and dove. She hit the Drakon with clenched fists, driving it groundwards. Her wing snapped open. Seized in a cartwheel, the Drakon was flung to the earth with a crunch. Sethral grabbed another one and repeated the manoeuver without the spin. Ryatzi sent the second-to-last Drakon to dreamland, and both renegades whirled.
The last Drakon lay sprawled on the ground, lifeless. Perched on its thorax, a silver-furred creature was licking blood spots from her metal claws. She looked up cheerfully. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I take the last one?"
Wing jumped in his skin as Ryatzi scooted in the second exit, leaped from a tail-length off the ground and shot for the main tunnel. Sethral came in the window like an arrow.
Ryatzi pulled a direction reversal and made a beeline for Jay, yelping, "Hide me!"
Lightning arced off Sethral's back. "Get him, Silver!" she shouted.
The bolt and Sethral cornered the Saberel. He wailed as he was sat upon with two sets of paws—one Royal, one Saggitayrian—rubbing through his fur.
"Let me go..."
"And why would we do that?" said Silversand. "Then we'd just have to catch you again! Also, you shrank. Hey Sethral, team?"
"You bet! He never lets me do this. Such a waste, in my opinion. What's the point of having such nice fur if nobody's allowed to pet it?"
Ryatzi had given up struggling. Silversand eventually took a fur break to hug the life out of Wing and Jay. Sethral ruffled the Saberel from head to tail and released him. He threw his pelt a mournful look.
Wing chuckled. "Not gonna groom?"
"I don't know why I even bother. It's not like it ever stays that way."
Night fell. In Winter's territory, something small and black detached from the shadows, checked for danger and darted up a tree. Three Coppertails glanced up as it joined them. It shook its head.