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...
The Drakon circled on a thermal, swirling in patterns around the creature far below. The not-Coppertail, not-Saberel creature. There were lots of them in this forest now, but somehow that didn't make this one any less special. She had been following it for... how long was it now? Days? Moons?
She didn't care, really. Winter would want to see the creature. She was glad it hadn't died. It hadn't had food on the land-dot in the middle of the sparkling water-snake, but she had caught birds and dropped them for it. Then the water-snake had gotten faster and fatter, and a broken tree had lodged between the dot and the rest of the land. Now the strange not-food, not-enemy creature was in the forest, making its way—not flying—west. She knew west. West had Winter. And that was good, because Winter would definitely want to see this creature. Giving another happy swirl, the Drakon flew a loop-the-loop and looked around for birds to feed herself. The not-Saberel, not-Saggitayria creature caught its own food now. She was glad. It ate a lot.
A motion in the distance caught the Drakon's attention. Normally her eyes would tune out things moving at Drakon speed, but she had not seen another Drakon in days. Moons? Shooting into the air, she dove to catch the flight's attention. They had shiny legbands and so did she, so they were part of the same flight now.
The other Drakons came over and she greeted them with a forest Drakon greeting. She was glad they were forest Drakons. Rock Flat Drakons had different greetings, and those were confusing. Before long, the forest Drakons were flying away again. Off to tell Winter. Soon the sun was flying much higher above her, and the forest Drakons were in the distance, coming back. The Drakon peered through the trees below them, spotting a flash of white. Winter was coming!
The not-Saberel creature was acting strangely, starting to back away and move its mouth as Winter came closer. The Drakon cocked her head. She was getting used to tuning in to its sounds. The creature's cackling cries had become a whine and a yelping. It sounded distressed.
Then it started to back away from Winter.
In a flash of wings, the Drakon dove. She hit the creature through a gap in the canopy, stunning it and breaking one of her wings. She didn't care. She held on as the writhing creature bit and snapped. It tattered her wings and began to scratch her shell terribly. Something stronger than her, deep in her mind, told her she could not let go. Winter was coming. This creature was meant for Winter and Winter alone.
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Sethral dropped her stick as the words in the sand in front of her blurred. "Whipper, get up here!" she screamed as Silversand streaked from the main tunnel. Flakes of stone pelted down from the ceiling as a deafening rumble filled the hall. The twins appeared after Silversand, coughing as dust billowed from wall cracks.
Sethral ran to the Stormhole entrance. Whipper had gone back for the fish bag moments before. She could hear the boulders of Stormhole's floor grating against each other. "Whipper!"
