Equity gasped, and so did Kaede.
"Equity?" Kaede asked, shocked.
He broke into a small smile and Equity hugged him with one wing.
"Kaede! I knew I can always count on you," Equity said, beaming.
Thorn snarled, stroking Feather's snout. She groaned quietly, then not at all.
Kaede grabbed Feather's paws, immediately recoiling.
"There's venom inside of her. Cokko will know what to do. Follow me," he said in a less-than-commanding voice.
He took off, leaping and bounding, as if he knew every tree and leaf in the Forest.
"You heard him, follow!" Equity glowered.
Equity and Thorn heaved Feather onto Equity's back, knowing she was strong enough to carry her, and started running, Acorn and Moss pounding behind them.
Equity kept her eyes locked on Kaede, he was easy to lose, him being camouflaged so well.
She knew Kaede, she knew Kaede very well. In fact, she knew where they were going, she knew many things.
And she was so excited for all of them.
At last, after about ten minutes of running, the six Jickeys came to a clearing.
Kaede imitated the call of a Screech Owl; a long, shrill shriek.
Eleven other Jickeys came running forward, each wearing a medallion similar to Equity's and a big, black X painted on their right cheeks.
The only one that caught Feather's ever dwindling attention was their leader, a pale blue Jickey covered in little white, oval flecks with a scar over her right eye.
Equity couldn't repress her grin even if she tried.
"Frigid!" she cried, even though she tried so hard not to.
The blue Jickey gave her a soft, knowing smile before fixing her attention on Feather.
Feather tried to say something, but the words wouldn't come. Thorn pressed his ear to her chest, trying to find her heartbeat. It was there, but it was slow.
"Help her," he cried desperately to the Jickeys with medallions. "Someone please help her!"
A worn brick colored Jickey raced forward, gently snatching Feather from Thorn and racing her to the foot of a huge, mesmerizing Fountain.
It was then that Thorn noticed how the clearing was remarkably healthy, a place of eternal spring. It was like the water from the Fountain was... Healing.
Well, Nether, he thought.
The worn brick colored Jickey fussed over Feather, feeling her pulse and whispering frantically under her breath. Acorn rushed to help her, as well as an aqua Jickey missing her right wing and a silvery gray Jickey with white freckles and a blue nose.
"What should we do, Cokko?" the Jickey missing a wing asked, panicked.
The worn brick Jickey, who must've been Cokko, replied, "Stay calm. There must be a way to undo this."
She turned to Acorn.
"What happened to her?"
"We were crossing the River of Blood to find the Orb of Preservation when Feather was bitten by a Kings Piranha, though I treated the wound with Giana Mushroom juice," Acorn reported flawlessly, not a single crack or tremor in her voice. So she hoped.
YOU ARE READING
Saviors of the Forest
Fantasy"Five wolves with wings at the edge of the wood, they are the ones to bring forth the greater good. The Inventor's coat is gray, like a dying ember. The Crafter's coat is white as December! The Magical's coat was the color of luck, while the Healer'...
