Disclaimer: I own Zircah Bladewing and her background. Anything you saw in the Immortals belongs to Tamora Pierce.

A/N: I am back at school tomorrow and mother has restricted me to an hour a week for the net and drawing and writing and reading altogether. Yes, she is evil. *scowls* Anyway, I will try my hardest to keep this going at a respectable pace, but you can see what this hour a week will do to my creativity level. So… please be patient and extra kind in your reviews. *weeps*

Chapter Nine: Strange Days

The night's rain had slowed to a drizzle by morning, but the air was still thick with moisture. The hurroks in their stables were restless, as were the Stormwings who were crammed into their roost to keep out of the rain. Zircah awoke earlier than she would have liked to their complaints and whining, and the frustrated mutterings of Rikash very close to her ear. Apparently he was trying to plan a shift change. She had convinced him to move into the drip spot that had been her sleeping place by lifting the bladed edge of her wing to rest threateningly along the scar she had left on his stomach last time. He had moved fairly obligingly, cursing like a mortal soldier. However, his mutterings had resumed shortly, this time interspersed with oaths whenever water dripped down his neck. Zircah sat grinding her teeth for nearly an hour before the shrieks, whinges and mutterings became too much to bear.

Now she sat and watched the raindrops slide past outside her leafy shelter. She felt as restless as the hurroks, whose angry thoughts floated up to her occasionally from the stables below. She hadn't minded the rain's soothing rush in the early hours of the morning when no one else had been awake, but now that the entire flock was up and screeching, all she wanted was for the rain to stop so that she could go out on patrol. She would only have to deal with two Stormwings who were generally petrified of her rather than having to listen to dozens of them whining about the weather. Her head ached sharply and at the same time she felt distant from the pain, as though the Seeing had not yet finished entirely.

There was a sharp shriek from the Stormwing mews and a loud burst of obnoxious cackling. Zircah rolled her eyes and opened her wings, deciding that she was getting away from her idiotic flock mates, rain or no. She took to the sky, wishing Tristan would allow them to use magic. She could have cloaked herself in fire to burn off the moisture from the rain. However, despite her disdain for Tristan, she didn't want to risk being sent back into the Divine Realms before she could complete her purpose here. She bore the rain seeping in between her feathers to chill her skin and flapped her sodden wings harder. Her wings were strong, and she was much lighter of build than most Stormwings. The mist of rain didn't affect her flight as much as it would have others'.

As Zircah passed over the mining camp, she noticed the oddly military formation of the ogres. Being counted, she thought sadly. It was not for humans, indeed, for any creature, to enslave another. She bared her teeth in anger as a soft-spoken male was viciously beaten. She could hear the shouted words of an overseer: "It isn't sick, it's gone! Where is it? WHICH WAY DID IT GO?"

The ogre cringed, but his lips didn't move again. Zircah could feel his distress, but she couldn't feel it herself. Instead, elation flooded her. Find allies… not just among the People, but among humans and immortals. An ogre had escaped from the camp. Her alliance would start here, by helping creatures she already felt for. Nothing else would be aloft today, she was sure. She opened her senses to the world around her and felt the tug of an ogre's consciousness at the limit of her range.

Surprised that the ogre had made it that far in a night, Zircah drifted surreptitiously in that direction, as though it was nothing more than an idle flight path because she had nothing better to do. She wove seemingly aimlessly through the cloudy sky, but she was tiring. She doubted that the mortals could even see her anymore, anyway, except as a vague, bird-like outline against the smoke-grey of the sky. As she drifted closer, she felt Maura's signature Gift several miles to the north of the ogre's signature. Zircah smiled. If asked, she was certain Maura would help her conceal the ogre's presence. She frowned as she sensed what felt like a basilisk nearby Maura.

Zircah flew faster, her wings clipping the crowns of several trees as the wind and worsening rain blew her off-course. She could sense the near exhaustion of the ogre as she gained on it, and the determination that kept her aching legs moving. As Zircah caught up to her the rain grew steadily heavier, masking the beating of her sodden wings but also obscuring her vision and making her flight even more erratic. She was nearly on top of the ogre when a blast of wind slammed her into a tree with all the grace of a mutant golem. She screeched in pain and tumbling top over tea-kettle to the unforgiving forest floor.

The ogre gave a cry of fear and surprise as Zircah crash-landed not ten feet from her. She stumbled and backed away from what she obviously perceived as a threat. Zircah tried to croak out a greeting but the ogre had already picked up a rock. "Liar Stormwing!" She yelled hoarsely. Zircah barely had time to get one wing up to ward off the chunk of granite before it embedded itself in her skull with enough force to brain her. Instead a sharp pain lanced through her already aching wings and she let out another screech of indignant pain as the ogre bent to pick up another rock.

"Stop! I've come to help you, not to hurt you!"

The ogre's face was hard with disbelief. "You lie." She said in half-learned Common. "You all lie! Ogres angry. We not like lies!" She raised the rock but her knees buckled as she heaved it forward and the throw went wide. The rock shattered against a nearby tree, showering Zircah with dust and chips of gravel. The ogre sank into a crouch, looking tired and miserable.

"I know they lied, but I truly want to help you. Shakith guides me, not those idiotic mortals." Zircah told her reassuringly as she righted herself clumsily. "My name is Zircah."

The ogre twitched her pointed ears. "How I know you not lie more?" She asked. Zircah sighed.

"You don't. Are you hurt?"

"Legs hurt. Back hurts. Feet hurt." The ogre listed her pains unashamedly. Zircah winced at the whip marks on the poor immortal's back. She extended her wings and her magic and set to work repairing the newest of the lashes. The older ones were healed over already, leaving cris-crossing scars across the aqua skin. Though she was tired, Zircah pushed her magic through the ogre's legs and feet to heal the cuts and bruises and ease the cramps there. Once done, she opened her eyes to find the ogre watching her carefully. "My name Iakoju." She said quietly after a while and bowed carefully, as though afraid she might break the Healing Zircah had wrought.

Zircah smiled tiredly. "You have until the rain clears before the flying patrols return, Iakoju, and those humans are too weak and lazy to search for you in this downpour." She gestured with a languid wing. "If we walk this way, we will come to friends of mine. They will help you." Iakoju regarded Zircah in solemn distrust for several moments and then nodded.

"We go this way." She agreed softly.

Zircah, relieved, started to walk reluctantly, knowing she couldn't fly in the rain as tired as she was now. She reached out for the basilisk near Maura, wondering what her mortal friend was doing in such strange company. Basilisk! Do you travel with a human known as Maura?

-- I may. Name yourself. --

Zircah shivered slightly at the icy mental voice. I am Zircah Bladewing. Lady Maura knows me. I mean you no harm. There was a lengthy pause.

-- Maura wishes to know where you are. --

I am coming with a friend. Please do not be alarmed when we arrive.

-- We will wait. --

By the time Zircah and Iakoju reached Maura, the Stormwing's taloned feet were aching abominably. After introducing Iakoju to Maura and greeting the basilisk Tkaa face to face, Zircah beat her wings several times to get herself to a thick, well-sheltered tree branch. Daine's body rested nearby, though her mind was clearly elsewhere. Zircah managed only the briefest of explanations before she dropped into an exhausted slumber.

Smoke rose from the tower in the valley, smoke that all the People and even the immortals avoided. Death came from that smoke as surely as from a bolt of lightning, and none dared risk passage through it. She dropped closer to it as storm clouds gathered above the valley, urged closer to the place of death by the angry rumbles of the same from above. As she neared, the rain began, but it burned her skin and made strange acidic hissings along her steel feathers. They sizzled ominously, and she found her wings were being eaten away. She plunged closer to the tower.

The scent of death grew more pungent and from the windows as the skies and earth trembled. Viscous scarlet liquid lapped over the sills of the tower windows, spewed from the cracks between the stones. The stone seemed to crumble, as though it was aging before her eyes. The tower top crumbled into dust and the scarlet poured from what remained of the stone. Somewhere she could hear Tristan and Ozorne laughing, but they were drowned out by the screams. Humans and People alike poured from Dunlath in a panic as the scarlet river engulfed the valley. Those caught by the red flood screamed horribly, holding up desiccated hands and arms to the skies as though pleading with the gods to save them. The red touched the lake and the water began to dry up. Fish bobbed to the surface as the scarlet tide swelled, drying the land as though every scrap of moisture was being sucked slowly from the valley. Animals screamed along with humans as their limb refused to obey them, collapsing in rotting, jelly-like heaps as the blood red liquid spread throughout the valley. The rotting sickness reached out its tendrils and the valley turned red, then brown and then, as she crashed to the ground, a dead uniform grey as the perfection that once was turned to nothing but dust…

The fear and anger that accompanied the vision wrenched her quite suddenly from sleep. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, her talons clamped so hard on the branch that the wood had given in and was crunching submissively between her claws. White spots flickered in the darkness in front of her eyes and she sagged, closing them again as she lost her balance and fell/floated to the ground with her wings outstretched. Iakoju was beside her, near the shelter that housed Daine's body. Maura was close by, whispering something to Tkaa as they stood by the shelter. She turned around from offering a small bag to Iakoju and grinned. Zircah blinked quickly until the spots had dissipated, folding her wings carefully. An inquiring cheep sounded from near her feet. She looked down to discover the dragon, Skysong. A smile flickered across her face with delight at the baby dragon.

"Dragonling, you look well since I last saw you." Zircah greeted Skysong, who trilled excitedly. The Stormwing's eyes crinkled as Skysong twined about her legs. Tkaa looked over one shoulder with interest.

"You have met Skysong somewhere before, Zircah?" He asked in a dry, reedy voice. Zircah nodded as she danced away from the dragon playfully.

"Yes. Her mother told me to care for her until Veralidaine came for her. It was only a day or so, but it was just after she was born, so I suppose she bonded to me a fair bit." Zircah's smile flattened slightly as she recalled that Rikash had been there with her. She hoped for the dragon's sake that Skysong hadn't bonded to the blond idiot at all. Maura looked interested, too.

"I didn't know you knew Kitten, Lady Zircah." She piped up.

"Only for a very short time, Maura." Zircah assured her. "I haven't had the chance to corrupt her proper-like yet."

The basilisk snorted in amusement. "For that we must be grateful. I can only imagine what her relatives would have to say, and none of it is pleasant."

Zircah grinned mockingly. "They're a bunch of old stick-in-the-muds anyway, aren't they, Kitten?" She asked, adopting Maura's pet name for the dragon. Kitten trilled and turned an amused bright blue. Tkaa sighed.

"The gods help you if they come to hear of this."

"Oh, leave be, Tkaa... you were saying that the dragons usually stay in their realm anyway, weren't you?" Maura interrupted. To Zircah, she added, "Tkaa's been teaching me about all sorts of things. Have a spice-drop?"

Zircah blinked at the sudden offer and at the bag that was held before her nose. She shrugged and opened her mouth so that Maura could pop one of the sweets inside. Being hand-less had its drawbacks. She savoured the strange but pleasant flavour of the mortal treat, rolling around in her mouth and resisting the urge to crunch the thing between her teeth.

"It's much more interesting than my lessons at home." Maura continued cheerfully.

Zircah was about to reply when she noticed the sudden reappearance of Daine's consciousness inside the empty body. "Veralidaine has returned." She commented softly. Kitten trotted inside the shelter as Maura and Tkaa peered inside the entrance. Maura grimaced in the dimness of evening and crawled inside the shelter.

"Oh dear. Uh - Daine, you, um, you shrank." She said haltingly from within the tent. Zircah heard a burst of squirrel chatter that sounded very rude and resisted the urge to smile. So Daine was able to put her mind into that of an animal. Zircah: ten thousand; Rikash: zero. Hah! Maura crawled out of the shelter hurriedly.

"She's changing... I can't look any more. Tell me when she's done." She said, clapping her hands over her eyes. Daine clambered out of the shelter.

"I'm done." She announced loudly, clearly pleased by this fact. Maura turned around and gasped.

"You're you! I mean, you were always you, but you were starting to look kind of... squirrel-ish."

"It is good you have returned. We have guests. Iakoju, this is Daine, the human Maura spoke of." Tkaa introduced the ogre. Iakoju nodded shyly. Daine's brows knit concernedly over her grey eyes.

"Are you cold?" she asked kindly. "We have a horse blanket somewhere." She bent to pick up her bow from where it rested on the folded blanket and offered the cloth to Iakoju with a reassuring smile. Maura looked loftily to Tkaa.

"I said Daine would welcome her." She said smugly. Zircah smiled, as yet unnoticed. Maura turned back to Daine to add, "Iakoju's our friend. She wants to help us get rid of Yolane and Tristan." Iakoju regarded Daine calmly, with none of the fear she had shown when she had first met Zircah and bowed, voicing her thanks in her soft, unobtrusive voice. Maura shook out the horse blanket and draped it around Iakoju's shoulders, tugging it into place with a series of gestures and clucks Zircah was sure she had learned from her nurse. "She's running away." She informed Daine needlessly.

The girl smiled, but the expression froze in a rictus of horror as she spotted Zircah at last. In a flash the bow was up and Daine was groping at her feet for arrows. Maura gave a cry of protest and lunged to tug the quiver out of Daine's reach. She was too slow, however, and Daine aimed her bow at Zircah, who was beginning to think about telling Shakith to bugger off and find a new prophet. She had had quite enough bows aimed at her in the past week, thankyou very much, and she didn't relish the ideas of pain and death at all.

"Don't move, Stormwing." Daine growled. Zircah sighed as Maura spoke too quickly for anyone to understand her in the hopes of defending Zircah.

"Don't shoot, Veralidaine - I'm a potential ally, too, though I certainly won't be if you insist on waving that bow in my face." She said calmly, a flutter of nervousness rushing through her stomach as she thought of the embarrassment of losing an eye or worse to this trigger-happy mortal child. Kitten trilled in protest, rising up on her hind legs in front of Zircah. Daine stared at the dragon in surprise.

"Kitten, get away." She ordered tersely. "What do you mean 'ally'?"

Zircah scowled. "I mean a person who is willing to help you with your plans, a friend, someone to rely upon when you cannot complete the required tasks yourself... are you getting the point, mortal, or do I have to repeat this a dozen more times?" Her temper and her tiredness was getting the better of her. "Put the bow down, for Mithros' sake. I'd like to have another chance at embarrassing the living hell out of Rikash before you embed that thing in my throat, you know." Daine blinked and then a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. Anyone who was going to taunt the Stormwing lord was all right with her. She lowered the bow carefully.

"All right." She said. "You're Zircah, aren't you? The Stormwing from the other day. I don't trust you, but I'll put up with you and your foul --" She paused, frowned, and sniffed at the air suspiciously. Then an expression of surprise crossed her face and she exclaimed, "Hey! You don't smell!"

Zircah rolled her eyes at the heavens and at Tkaa. "Are all mortals this tactful?" She asked pointedly, causing Maura to giggle and Daine to blush. "I take care to bathe often rather than pollute the air with the stench of rotting flesh." She said snippily. Daine came closer, bow still held in her hands loosely, sniffing. Finally she shrugged and walked back near Iakoju, where she frowned and sniffed again.

"Are you eating something?" She asked curiously of them both. Iakoju smiled slightly as Zircah stuck out her tongue with the spice drop sitting on the end.

"Maura give me sweet." Iakoju said. Maura grinned sheepishly and blushed.

"Well, she looked so scared when I found her, and I remembered what you said, about people being mean to them and maybe if someone was nice..." She trailed off, pink with embarrassment. Zircah smiled slightly. Wondrous... hatchlings like Maura make everything so much easier. She shook her head good-naturedly as Daine offered her canteen somewhat reluctantly.

"Iakoju thinks some of the ogres will help us." Maura offered hopefully to Daine. The wild mage looked to Iakoju.

"Why?" She asked, and the aqua-skinned immortal scowled angrily.

"Stormwings and Tristan lie. They say, come through gate, we give you farms to keep, so we come. Only farms here are rock farms, under ground. We say, don't want mines, where are farms? Tristan say, you farm what we say farm." Iakoju explained, her hands clenching into fists. Zircah made a noise of disgust.

"He would, that bastard." She spat disdainfully. Iakoju nodded vehemently.

"Ogres are angry. They send me from valley to find kin-clans. Kin-clans come help, bash lying men on the head." She said matter-of-factly. Zircah muffled a snicker. What she wouldn't give to see that day.

She smiled slightly as talk continued, as Maura offered her half of the feif to the ogres. The gods certainly had faith in their messengers, to try to bring about such changes after so long. She grinned slightly. Well, they're relying on me, for a start. That has to count for something.

Daine turned to look at Zircah. "And you? Why are you trying to help us?"

Zircah shrugged. "I'm a Seer. I don't go by my orders from my leader, I go by my orders from Shakith. Let's say I'm very interested in the same thing you were sent here for." Daine scowled. There was that word again: sent. "And I hate Tristan and what he's done to this place." Zircah added with a sneer. "And what Yolane and Belden have done to Lady Maura. I must be becoming sentimental, but I'm truly vexed at all this... and at what I've Seen is coming." She added ominously, though she saw no need to explain her visions to the girl.

Daine nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm." She replied vaguely, drifting off to her pack to dig out parchment and an ink-brush. Zircah spent the rest of the evening in peace as Tkaa taught Maura yet more esoterics, wondering how to explain her absence to her flock. For surely she would have to return. She grimaced at the thought. Perhaps in a couple of days. A break from those morons would be nice.

*

One of 'those morons' was busy wondering where one of his best Stormwings had disappeared to for the whole day. Not only had darkness fallen, the weather had worsened considerably since she had left. Rikash wasn't worried or anything - the gods knew that Zircah could take care of herself. It was just that this was weather that could have killed any number of other Stormwings and he was worried about her.

Of course, he would have been worried had any of his underlings disappeared, he reassured himself. After all, he would undoubtedly be reprimanded by Jokhun for losing a member of their flock. He frowned. Where in the Black God's realm could she be? Probably of communing with those damned tree-rats of hers. He snorted and elbowed someone harshly in the ribs. There was something good about having Bladewing nearby - no one dared come this close to this end of the roost. Now he had to struggle for breathing space. He scowled as the someone elbowed him back with a snarled, "Watch it, blondie!"

Rikash looked at Jakaal with death in his eyes, but toned down his glare when he realised that the stupid K'miri male might actually know something - namely, Zircah's whereabouts. He wondered how to best phrase the question and decided resignedly that no matter how it was said he was probably going to be taunted for it. "Jakaal, all the members of your flock are here, are they not?" He asked.

Jakaal quirked an eyebrow. He leaned forward and peered along the rail. "That's right." He drawled. "Looking for someone in particular, Moonsword?" Rikash gritted his teeth and imagined how Jakaal would look without all his limbs.

"Bladewing pulled a vanishing act this morning." He said, expertly offhand. "Just wondered if you'd had any disappearances."

Jakaal raised hs eyebrows. "She did, did she? Well. No... everyone's here so far as I can see. She'd have to be loopy to go flying in this weather. It's raining hurroks." He added with an amused smile. Rikash nodded and grinned uneasily. Stormwings and hurroks rarely got along. He hoped Zircah was having more luck with the rain.

*

Zircah's jaw was clenched in intense irritation as she half waddled, half skipped along a game trail that curled around both the mining and foresting camp. Bad enough that she had had to walk for miles before she found Tkaa and Maura yesterday, now she had to walk all the way to the western pass. She was in the middle of wishing very vehemently that she was back in the Stormwing mews when she noticed a faint call from one of the People.

What is it? She asked, a trace of annoyance in her tone. The call faded, discouraged by her snapping. A while later, she nearly crashed into Daine as the girl stopped and looked around, a frown on her face. Zircah could feel her speaking to someone, probably the creature that had called earlier. A dog raced out of the pines ahead of them and whined frantically. Zircah recognised one of Dunlath's hunting dogs.

As Daine conversed with the dog - named by the huntsman Prettyfoot - Zircah found that she could sense the entire pack of dogs calling for aid. Daine gave Tkaa a letter to deliver to the mage with the onion spell and then led them through the trees to where the dogs were gathered around a large pit. Zircah hopped up several branches into a tree so that she could see into the pit more easily and stifled a laugh at the sight of the filthy huntsman, Tait.

"Huntsman, you're in a fix." Daine called down to him. Tait looked startled. There were dark rings under his eyes.

"Laugh all ye like, girly, but get me out of here." He said tiredly, voice hoarse from all the yelling he must have done.

"I don't know," teased Daine. "May I ask if this was a wolf pit to start?"

Tait's weathered face grew dark with anger. "It was a lot smaller! And the trail-marks I put here t' tell me where the damned thing was got moved! If that was your doing-"

Daine looked affronted. "I haven't been next or nigh this spot, so don't raise your voice to me!" Zircah grinned at the mixed rage and chagrine that appeared on the huntsman's face as he realised she might leave him there. But the dog whined pitifully, though he had blocked Zircah out of fear, and Daine turned to Iakoju. "I have rope. Can you pull him up?"

Zircah cackled. "If she can't, I can." Tait looked up and yelped to see both an ogre and a Stormwing peering down on him. Maura looked over the edge and waved.

"It's all right, Tait, they're with me." She told him.

Tait's eyes near bulged out of his head. "Lady Maura? What kind of company are ye keepin' now?" He demanded in surprise. Maura scowled.

"Better company than is at home." She said cryptically.

"And what's that supposed to mean, miss?"

"Never mind. I'll tell you later."

Iakoju took the rope from Daine. "Man not too fat. I bring him up." She agreed.

"I'm not doing this for you, Tait. I'm doing for your dogs." Daine called.

"I don't care who ye do it fer, long as ye do it afore I turn grey!" Was the retort from the bottom of the smelly wolf-pit. The odour reached Zircah even from her branch.

"I'd make it easier, but the net over the valley detects even immortal magic." She said with a sneer. Iakoju wrapped the rope around her waist several times and dropped the rest of the rough coils into the pit for Tait to do the same.

"Haul away!" He yelled after a moment, tugging at the rope to be sure it was secured properly. Iakoju backed up so as to lift Tait smoothly rather than with the jolting of pulling the rope up with her hands and Tait cursed miserably as he slipped and slid while he tried to lessen the strain on the ogre by pushing himself up the side of the pit. The wolf-hounds surrounded the pit, eagerly awaiting the return of their master. The moment he was safely on the same level as them, they flung themselves at Tait with childish abandon, yipping joyfully and licking Tait's hands as he tried to pat them all.

"Have ye water? And food would be fair nice." He looked hungry, too. The dogs licked their chops at the mention of food and Tait brushed his hands roughly against their heads as they lay down around him, tongues lolled, watching their master with adoring eyes.

Maura gave him Daine's canteen. He swilled the first mouthful of water around and spat it back into the pit, then drained the rest of the canteen, giving a loud sigh of satisfaction. "Weiryn's Horn, I needed that." Zircah gave a start at the mention of the lesser god who had taken care of her for many years. Maura had already sliced some ham and cheese from Daine's rations, offering them to Tait without preamble. Prettyfoot's eyes followed the cheese as it went from his hand to his mouth. "Ye shouldn't be here. No offense meant." He added, nodding to Daine and somewhat more nervously to Zircah.

"Berate her all you like." Daine replied with a shrug. "If you can make her go home, it's more than I could do, or that Stormwing lord." Zircah's fangs dug into her lip as she watched the sky through the trees. That Stormwing lord was probably trying to figure out where in Mithros' name she was. The best fighter in the flock didn't just disappear for no reason.

"The nobles don't care for the land or people, bringin' monsters to keep their servants in fear..." He trailed off at an indignant snort and a glare from Zircah.

"Watch it, ground-pounder." She sniffed. "This monster is in better shape than you are right now, and she doesn't take kindly to being insulted by two-leggers who smell worse than a month-old battlefield." Tait grimaced, tearing up his ham for his dogs. Daine watched him, a smile coming to her face.

"Don't care for more'n cheese just now. M' throat's that sore from bellowin'." He said defensively. Daine cut off more cheese from the wheel she carried with her and pulled two apples from her pack. She cut up the rest of her ham and divided it among Tait's dogs. "...kind of ye." The huntsman muttered after a while.

"They're good dogs. They really love you, you know." Daine replied, a faint blush coming to her cheeks. Tait grinned fondly as Prettyfoot rolled on his back in ecstasy at the gift of ham.

"I know. They could've left me, but they didn't. They run off a bear last night, when it wanted t' come a-callin'. Give a man a hand up?" He added to Iakoju, obviously not the sort of man who was going to be caught being sentimental if he could help it. "M' legs went to sleep, bein' cramped down there."

On his feet, Zircah smirked as he winced. He looked up at her, nodding grudgingly. "I need t' get this stink off me. Will ye wait so I can wash? I've clothes and such hid by a stream nearby. I came out with no plans to go back. Don't like what's happening in the castle these days."

"Go ahead. We'll wait for you." Daine told him with a nod. She looked up at Zircah. "Can you keep watch, please?" Zircah nodded and started hopping through the trees to rest in one near the stream she could hear bubbling through the undergrowth. A few minutes later, Tait and Iakoju appeared, the ogre supporting the human carefully despite the smell. Zircah scanned the skies. It was bright and hot, the perfect day for flying. She frowned, seeing the tiny silhouettes of Stormwings on the distant horizon. In the other direction were hurroks. She couldn't feel them yet - they weren't in her range, but they were coming closer. She sensed out tentatively with her magic and found Daine's mind clinging to that of an eagle. Hopefully the girl would return soon, because they were just leaving her range and the hurroks were getting closer. She could make out the up and down motion of their wings now.

When Tait had finished bathing they returned to Maura and Daine, who was leaning against a tree as though dozing. As Zircah glanced worriedly between the sky and the two-legger, a feather pattern appeared on the girl's skin, like traceries in wax. As she watched, the girl was slowly becoming smaller. Tait murmured several choice oaths under his breath before he remembered Maura was there.

"Weiryn..." He muttered. "What power does this lass have?" No one answered as a now bird-sized Daine became covered in tawny feathers and her nose started to lengthen into a beak. Several of the feathers that had grown had dropped off. Maura, apparently used to this by now, picked one up and smiled.

"They're pretty, aren't they?" She said to Iakoju. Her smile widened. "Tkaa says they line their nests with them, and they eat fish." She said, proud of her knowledge. Iakoju's eyes brightened.

"Fish." She said simply. "Fish are good to eat... Maura come with Iakoju, I teach you to fish." Kitten trilled at them and clawed her way up into Zircah's tree.

"I'll call you when Daine awakes." Zircah said. "Please keep out of sight, Maura." She added as she felt the hurroks tingle at the edge of her magical radar. "You too, Iakoju..."

"We will, Zircah." Maura chimed. The girl loved learning new things, doing simple everyday things that peasant children learned before Common. Zircah flicked a wing at them in parting. The dogs, lured by the idea of fish, galloped after them. Only Prettyfoot remained to keep Tait company. The huntsman sat by Daine-eagle and watched her, picking up one of the feathers she had shed and running it through his callused fingers. After a while, Cloud looked up at Zircah.

Look after Daine. She ordered. I am going to graze near the stream while I have the chance.

You would trust a Stormwing to do this? Zircah sent, surprised by both the 'request' and by the pony's boldness.

You are People. Cloud sent with the equine equivalent of a shrug. She trotted off through the trees after the dogs, Iakoju and Maura. Zircah raised her eyebrows and shook her head in bewilderment. There was an eagle screech from Daine and Zircah's attention snapped back to the ground in surprise. Tait had obviously jumped, for he was sitting very straight with both fists clenched. Daine/eagle closed her eyes and slowly became just Daine. Tait offered her the slightly crushed feather when she opened her eyes.

"Sorry. Didn't mean t' scare ye, lass. Ye lost one. Actually, you lost a few. Maura has one." He added, referring inanely to the feather in a half-hearted attempt to ignore the fact that he had just seen a girl become an eagle and return to human shape again.

Daine looked around the clearing. "Where is she?"

"Iakoju took her fishin'."

Daine looked to her dragon. "Kitten, get Maura and Iakoju. Hurroks are searching the valley – they're coming this way."

"I can get the hurroks to ignore us." Zircah told them. "But Stormwings are coming this way, too. We must find cover to avoid them."

Daine looked to the huntsman. "Is there cover around here?"

"The laurel bushes can hide Maura and the dragon. There's a willow by the stream for Iakoju and the pony. The dogs can go where they like – I don't think the hunters will care about them." Tait replied as he stood, stringing the highly polished longbow he carried with him. Iakoju and Maura came crashing through the bushes. As Daine explained to them where to hide, Zircah tried to figure out where she would be best hidden. She glided to the thick branches of an oak with particularly thick foliage and chopped her way into its centre.

Hurroks, wingsisters, wingbrothers! She called with her power. She could sense surprise in the hurroks.

-- Zircahbladewing? – One demanded in disbelief. –You are lost and we search for you. Blondone and Darkskin asked us. --

You can't find me. Please, pass over as though there is nothing here. Ignore this entire area. It's very important, wingmates. You must, I beg of you.

-- Very well. We will pass over, but there come more of your kind. – One hurrok, the male who had advised her to kill Tristan, said. – We will chase them away? --

Thankyou, wingbrother. Zircah said, relief showing even in her mental tone. As the Stormwings approached overhead, Zircah could sense Rikash, Jakaal, Ludahn and the two that had attached themselves to the brunette, from Jakaal's flock. Screams and snarls and the hoarse, deep-throated whinnies of the hurroks exploded from above her head. The Stormwings shrieked insults at the horse-hawks before making their escape. Rikash was the last to go. Zircah stole into the mind of Flicker, sitting in a tree, and watched them go. My thanks, hurroks. She whispered again. The immortals flew around their area carefully for a further half-hour, carefully combing the forest and ignoring whatever they could see. When they finally left, Zircah breathed a sigh of relief and dropped out of the oak tree into the darkness. The basilisk had returned.

When Daine had finished talking with him, she spoke. "I fear I am being searched for as well. I will speak to Tkaa on my rounds if I sense him. Tell me if there is anything you require." She said. Maura looked regretful. To cheer her up, Zircah rolled her eyes and said with exaggerated vanity, "You know how Lord Rikash worries about us girls when we're out on our own, Lady Maura. It's like we can't disembowel things on our own!"

"Ewww!" Maura cried, making a disgusted face and giggling hysterically. Zircah waved a wing, danced away from Kitten and grinned at everyone.

"I won't betray you, Veralidaine, don't worry." She promised. Then she took to the sky in a flash of silver wings and dark brown hair.

***

A/N: RIGHT! *dead* By Mithros, this chapter was getting so long I thought I had best cut it off before it spiralled out of control! OO;; This was half a page of dot points… I had half a page more. =S I'll try to update as often as possible, but I dinna think I can promise anything. I hope I've characterised everyone all right. Please review and tell me what I got wrong! ;P