Storm Season | Shelha Series 2 | ✔

Night Insects

"Taz, you awake?"

Taz bolted upright and immediately regretted it. A paw pushed him down again. "Don't sit up yet," said Firebrand.

Taz let himself relax into the soft mattress until his hindquarters stopped spasming. They were indoors.

"Don't go back to sleep on me," said Firebrand. "You've been delirious for a day and a half and I need someone to talk to."

Taz opened one eye to give her a look and swallowed his reply. Firebrand's fur was rumpled and she looked like she hadn't slept in days. She was staring at her paws.

The memory of what he had blacked out to was settling back into his consciousness. Taz had to force himself to speak. "Where's Reedwind?"

"He's alive. That's all they can say at this point."

"The Leslanders?"

"I killed one. The Scythes got the other."

"The..."

"Scythes. The killer fish."

Taz lay back. The room they were in was bare, just four walls, the bed he was lying on, and a crystal-paned window. One of the panes was cracked. "I've been out for a day and a half?"

"Three and a half. You didn't wake up for the first two." Firebrand glanced up. "The healers said you never got your Whitewing wounds properly seen to. Is that true?"

Taz nodded. When Firebrand looked at her paws again, he shifted onto his front and tapped the space beside him. She hesitated, then came forwards and curled up in it, putting her face in the blanket. Taz wrapped his tail around her.

The villagers brought them food for the next few days. Taz wasn't allowed back on his feet yet, and Firebrand had tried hunting but failed to catch anything. Eventually, Taz convinced her to stop trying.

By the eighth day after the attack, Reedwind had stabilized, though the healers were unsure if he would ever wake up again. They agreed to keep treating him indefinitely after Firebrand told them what he had been through, proof that he would keep fighting. Taz was released from bedrest three days later. Firebrand supported him down to the waterfront, where they found their raft cleaned and reinforced by the kindly villagers. A bag of food was waiting on it. They set out again that evening, across the water.

The islands were becoming larger and closer together now. Often they were separated by little more than marsh, though deeper sections were still the norm between chains or clumps of almost-connected islands. Boats were in high demand and short supply. The Coppertails' raft disappeared the first time they were both forced to leave it, one to go after a child who had fallen off her parents' boat, and the other to distract the Scythes with the help of rock-tossing villagers. The Rivrit's mother was in hysterics as Firebrand carried her daughter safely to shore. Taz's quick thinking in discovering that Scythes hated loud and sudden splashes was praised by all.

When the raft was found absent, the villagers immediately offered to build another with parts of their own watercraft, but Taz and Firebrand declined. It would only be stolen again, after all, and walking was starting to become the more efficient means of travel. With one less worry to weigh on their shoulders, they joined the slow but steady flow of refugees making their way south towards higher ground.

It was an experience like Taz had never had before. He and Firebrand helped everywhere they could, carrying packages, towing boats, or taking children off their weary parents' backs for a time. Every Lowland child loved Coppertail rides. It was a universal but anonymous community, in which you offered your help because you knew that anyone would help you too. Food was shared, boats were shared, and blankets were pooled into communal youngsters' nests each night. Firebrand got the occasional rock thrown at her, but for the most part the fact that she was not attacking anyone was all the reason anyone needed to trust her.