It's not supposed to snow in the South Forest, but the weather in the second-emptiest corner of Shelha is not the only thing behaving strangely. When an ex-tyrant started acting up again, Sethral had hoped it meant the end of lazy days and monotonou...
Keep your wits about you when the night pack wails.
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The sun was an overripe orange fruit dropped on the horizon when Sethral entered the main hall. She rubbed her eyes and shielded them from the glare. Silversand was running laps, bouncing off walls and occasionally the boulder. On purpose, of course. Taz was on the boulder and Fletch was watching Drakons.
"You were right," he said when Sethral joined him. "I'd never noticed. Why do they do that?"
"Stop watching the ground? Because the shadows get too long, and the wind makes them jump all over the place. Drakons are sight hunters, so it confuses them. They leave off for the evening and pick up hunting again when it gets dark."
Long enough for she, Whipper and Silversand to get in the forest and the twins to camouflage. Sethral smiled. What the twins' colour would be under a layer of red-brown dust was something she was sad she wouldn't see.
Silversand barreled into the window alcove. Sethral was about to growl when a shadow brushed against the Royal and deflected her as easily as a gnat in a breeze. She yowled into the wall, bounced off it and ran away giggling.
"Thank you," said Sethral.
Whipper materialized from the shadows. "She's not hard to redirect. Just turn her around and she'll go another direction."
"You've dealt with creatures like this before then." Sethral flicked a wingtip out the window. "On a different topic, we should leave soon."
"I'll get Silversand."
He was immediately lost from sight. He didn't look like he was trying to hide, but somehow he always managed to move like he had turned the colour of whatever he was moving on.
Silversand was gotten, and before the sun had sunk another paw-length, the renegades had dispersed. Sethral fluffed her wings in the fast-darkening forest and tried not to look nervous. Both of her companions had night vision. She glanced back over her shoulder to find Whipper watching her. "Diurnal?" he said.
"Strictly."
Whipper collared Silversand as the cat was about to blast away. "Go slowly. We don't want to make more noise than we have to."
"If you have energy, find us a sleeping spot," said Sethral.
Whipper released Silversand again and she whizzed off into the forest. Not silently, but quietly enough.
Sethral found herself alone with the Forester. She averted her eyes. "Um... thanks for leaving me that trail the other day. You probably saved my butt from the Drakons."
