"Can you imagine!" Skandranon sang as he flew alongside Kessrah. "We were briefed by Urtho himself, in the White Tower, and then we got to spend a night in one of the nicest inns in Ralendor!"
"And they bathed us!" Kessrah added happily as she did a quick air spin; just for fun.
Skandranon relished the ease of flight that comes from having clean feathers. Every bit of mud and grim had been picked and scrubbed from them. Their feathers and hair were then expertly dried and repaired.
"And they dyed our wing-tips." Skan added.
Kessrah chuckled and took a look at her own feathers. The general wear and tear of flying and traveling wears out the colors in feathers, and a dye job brought brilliant color back into them. She had her feather tips dyed back to a lustrous black, and Skandranon had himself died a golden yellow with red fringes. "I guess you like having pretty feathers huh, bird?"
"You bet I do." He called with proud smirk and pose.
"Oh, and its not raining!" Kessrah laughed. "We might as well make best of the time that we have with clear skies; will you be willing to tarnish your oh-so precious feathers in a race to that group of trees?" She stuck her tongue out at him and was off.
"You're on!" Skandranon yelled as he raced after her.
After several more days of blessedly clear weather, Skandranon and Kessrah were making good progress. They were within a day's fly of Lin'shala and began to recognize familiar landmarks in the countryside. But as they drew nearer, they began to smell smoke. It was nothing overly unusual; a farmer could have been burning his fields, some trees could have caught fire. But as they got closer to Lin'shala the smell only got stronger, and in this wet weather, a forest fire was out of the question. The two didn't speak, they didn't even exchange glances; keeping their growing anxiety to themselves. But when they were only half a candlemark from the village the air carried a scent more sinister. The smoke was laced with the scent of death. Skandranon and Kessrah could no longer block the emotions from each other; they only needed a second of eye contact to confirm the situation before they sped towards the village as fast as they could.
When they approached the outskirts of the secluded village, the signs of destruction were far too evident. Barns and houses had been burned, crops had been plundered and destroyed, and livestock was nowhere to be seen. But luckily, Skandranon had not yet seen any bodies.
As they landed in the village center all of the resolve and discipline that they had been trained with all but disappeared. They began frantically running through the barren streets, calling the names of those they knew and looking for any clues to where the inhabitants were.
His voice choked up with emotion, Skandranon mindsent; : everything has been destroyed... but... there are so signs of violence, no signs of struggle. Perhaps they were able to escape whatever came here...:
Kessrah abandoned her search thorough the charred rubble of the town's buildings and made a v-line straight for the academy at the Northern edge of town. Skandranon raced after her, until they were frozen with shock at what they found. Their school, their home, was no longer there. It had been burned to the ground. Kessrah lifted her head to the sky and let out an anguished gurgling wail, Skandranon remained silent. As he began to slowly make his way through the smoking rubble he could see signs that some defense had been mounted. :No... that means they were here...: The ashes and metalwork from barricades had been piled in front of doors, and weapons had been taken from their hiding places and could be found strewed on the floor. But still no bodies.
After a few moments Kessrah rejoined his side, and he sent her a mental image of what he had found. She nodded solemnly, and mindsent back; :perhaps they were taken prisoner?: Skandranon knew what she meant by that; if someone had taken them prisoner, then they could be rescued, and swift justice could be wrought on those who had harmed them. While making another examination of the ruins, the wind changed, and from the East the scent of smoke was the strongest. They walked to the crest of a hill and saw in the distance a foul pillar of black smoke. Skandranon sniffed at the ground, and although the overwhelming smoke clouded most smells, he saw on the ground a few small, fluffy gray feathers. They feathers of a fledgling Gryphon. His pupils dilated, and he let out a terrible shriek. He vaulted into the sky and raced to the source of the smoke, with Kessrah not far behind.
Skandranon lost all composure once he got to the sight of the bonfire. He vomited and collapsed to the ground, wailing and gurgling. Kessrah arrived only moments later and saw the fuel for the fire had not been wood, it had been bodies. The overwhelming carnage around the site combined with the sickly smoke made her dizzy, and she had to steady herself to stay upright. The bodies had clearly been taken here, executed, and then burned. All around were the signs of identification of her loved ones. The doll of one of Nall's daughters was trampled, feathers were lying in sticky pools of blood, and shreds of clothing and hair were strewn all around the site. Kessrah pushed around one gray feather in her palm while Skandranon cried in the background.