Once again a queen, Winter has a budding army and plenty to offer them to keep them loyal. Besides expanding her territory, she is using her forces to chase specific creatures for reasons nobody knows. None of them seem to be connected.
The changes...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The renegades took their time across the South forest. It was Copper moon now, and dead leaves made drifts on the forest floor. The river might be swollen with water off the South flats, but the drought had not broken.
Around midday, Ryatzi appeared for the first time in days with a Drakon wingshaft in his mouth. So Saberell did eat Drakons after all. Jay plucked a tuft of Drakon feather from the Saberel's fur and dropped it inconspicuously on Wing, then put his head on the mutt's shoulder. Wing licked his cheek. Ryatzi discarded his wingshaft 'bone' and left again. He did not seem concerned about the fact that his fur practically glowed in the sun, or that Whitewings were sight hunters who looked for that kind of thing.
There was another storm due to shadow the Rocklands that night. Jay seemed keen to reach the Rock flats before they dried the next morning, but he would not explain why. The renegades crossed the cliff passes before the sun rose. When a distant Drakon flight indicated they were out of Whitewing range, Jay stopped, flicked his tail in the air and sent a long-distance message three times to nowhere. Then he pulled Wing to the cliffs, pushed him down and lay on him.
The sun came up, sending the wiggly lines of heatwaves dancing skywards. Silversand attacked small mirages, then jumped on Wing's back complaining that her paws were hot. He let her stay, but threatened to dump her on Sethral if she started wiggling. Sethral sprang at Ryatzi, who had started 'coughing' rather hard at the threat. By the time the fight wore out, the sun was well above the horizon and both were panting in hot fur that was entirely their own fault. Silversand had the guts to comment that Sethral looked like she'd been dipped in rivermud, the patina of red dust turning her green fur an unpalatable shade.
Sethral scowled. "I'm getting you back for that as soon as we're somewhere cooler."
Jay tensed suddenly. He leaped to his paws and put himself between the flats and Wing as the heatwaves shimmered and a tall, slender female Coppertail stepped from thin air three tail-lengths away.
Silversand nearly screamed.
"Get behind me," said Wing. Silversand clung to his neck as he rose. Sethral and Ryatzi hastened to obey.
The female was a head taller than Jay, closer to Wing's height than anything. Sethral struggled to reconcile the facts. One, Flatlanders were never loners. They required herds. Two, they weren't territorial. And three, they didn't form power structures. Jay leaped back hissing as the female snapped at him. Her 'lazy' snap was awfully fast.
