Chapter Four: Talons of the Sky

Year 203 of the 82nd Era, The Era of the Dying Lands; e82-203

Mid Spring

Scarlet Grove

Thunder rumbled overhead, rolling through the grey, mid-day clouds.

An azure feathered swiftthief eyass, who had been observing the happenings outside his burrow, yelped and dove back into his family's dwelling. He ducked behind his mother's dusky-cinnamon feathered leg, peering up at her with enormous goldenrod eyes filled with fear. "I don't want to go back out there, Mommy."

"You don't have to, Flooded-River." Pebble-Pouncer leaned down and nuzzled her child, smiling as she inspected the black dappled feathers on his back — a mix of his father's dark-azure dappling and her black vertical dorsum stripes and spine stripe.

A figure stood at the burrow entrance, silhouetted by lightning. Flooded-River screamed, tucking his face into his mother's side. The silhouette owner was the same size and shape as the azure eyass, just covered in dusky-cinnamon feathers and possessing shadowed-cinnamon vertical dorsum stripes and spine-stripe. She looked much like Pebble-Pouncer, including the faded-caramel underside and faded-cinnamon scales, but she had her father's jade-green eyes.

"Snapping-Ivy," Pebble-Pouncer hissed. "How many times do I have to tell you? Stop scaring your brother. You don't need to force him to go outside during a thunderstorm. You know he doesn't like thunder."

"Then he should get unscared." Snapping-Ivy tilted her head, green eyes locked on her clutchbrother's shivering form. "Mommy, Flooded-River is a scaredy egg. He needs to know how to face his fears, or he will get eaten by that giant red greatshadow."

"Snapping-Ivy! Don't say that!" Pebble-Pouncer pressed her only son closer to her side, hiding him with her liver-red wings as she gave her daughter a stern look. "Blood-Seeker has promised to protect us as long as we look after her eggs." The formel resisted the urge to glance at the three azure and speckled eggs beside her lone egg. "And Flooded-River is just a little scared of thunder, that's all. Lots of creatures fear thunder."

Snapping-Ivy sniffed, tossing her head back as she rolled her eyes. "And he's scared of greenjaw smallmouths, that family of quicktoes, and the roaring twoclaw that was far away from us. He doesn't like loud noises, Mommy. How will he survive if he runs away whenever something is loud?"

A rumble of thunder sounded overhead as if accenting Snapping-Ivy's words. Flooded-River pressed himself closer to his mother, whimpering into her dusky-cinnamon feathers. Snapping-Ivy rolled her eyes. "Come on, scaredy-egg." She stepped into the burrow, bit down on her brother's azure tail feathers, and pulled. "It's not that hard. Just step outside. The sky isn't going to eat you."

"No!" Flooded-River wrapped his wings around his mother, but his sister was too strong. He stared at Pebble-Pouncer in horror as she let Snapping-Ivy pull him outside where the thunder rumbled and the lightning flashed.

"You can do it," Pebble-Pouncer mouthed, knowing her daughter was right. Flooded-River needed to face his fears sooner than later.

"Mama?" another childish voice sounded beside the dusky-cinnamon swiftthief.

Pebble-Pouncer turned to her third child, Mist-Wanderer. The little formel was azure feathered like her clutchbrother and father — the same azure body, the washed-azure underside, the pale-azure scales, and even the dark-azure dorsum, just that Mist-Wanderer had her mother's vertical dorsum stripes and spine-stripe instead of her father's dappling. The spine-stripe, distinct between the three formels of the family, started at the back of their heads, ran the length of their spines, and tapered off at the tail tip.

"Yes, Mist-Wanderer?" Pebble-Pouncer answered her daughter.

"Why does the sky make big booming noises during bad rains? Where does the rain come from? Why does it fall from the sky? When will Blood-Seeker come back? Will my little sibling hatch soon? What about Blood-Seeker's babies? Are they going to hatch soon? Isn't it exciting that we're watching over her eggs? Did she ever tell you why she's not looking after them?"

Pebble-Pouncer silenced her azure daughter with a talon to the top of her snout. "Too many questions, Mist-Wanderer, and I don't know the answer to any of them. But…" She glanced over her shoulder where her azure and dark-azure-dappled mate was watching over the nest of four eggs. "Maybe your father knows the answer to a few of them."

"Okay!" Mist-Wanderer bounded to her father's side, climbing onto his half-asleep form and poking him with her tiny sickle claws. "Daddy! I have questions!"

Pebble-Pouncer shook her head, smiling to herself. She never thought children would be such a handful. And she never thought her pack would banish her nor that she would lose two eggs to swiftlegs. She never thought she would watch over the eggs of the infamous Bloody Beldam. But here she was. She would be lying if she didn't say she was at least curious about what would hatch from those eggs.

A scream pierced the air, jerking Pebble-Pouncer from her thoughts. An azure and black feathered body shot into the burrow, small claws poking her side as Flooded-River buried his face into her wing. Pebble-Pouncer held her son close as she stared at the burrow entrance. Darkness fell over them as the sharp smell of blood filled the air. Her feathers bristled, and a low growl resonated from her chest until the familiar scent washed over her.

A light-red scaled snout peeked into the burrow, only for it to withdraw a moment later. There was a shifting of position, and then a dark-amber eye surrounded by scarlet feathers stared at the swiftthief family through the burrow entrance.

"Blood-Seeker's here!" Snapping-Ivy shouted from outside the burrow.

Pebble-Pouncer spoke softly to the trembling youngling clinging to her side. "Flooded-River, go to your father. I need to chat with Blood-Seeker, and your sister."

"O-okay," the black dappled tiercel stuttered, tearing himself from his mother's side. He looked over his shoulder at her as if asking if he needed to leave her side. She nodded in confirmation, and he cuddled up to his father's flank as Mist-Wanderer continued to yap on about random questions.

"Can you give me a moment with my daughter?" Pebble-Pouncer pushed past Blood-Seeker's much larger form and out of the burrow to where Snapping-Ivy was. The dusky-cinnamon eyass was staring up at the clouds. "Why do you insist on pushing your brother to do things he does not want to do?"

Snapping-Ivy shrugged, not meeting her mother's gaze. "I don't know."

Pebble-Pouncer sighed. "Snapping-Ivy… why are you like this?"

"Forget about her." Blood-Seeker had settled down in front of the burrow, preening her feathers. "She is a rebellious eyass who lost two unhatched siblings to nest raiders. Let her be and maybe toughen up the tiercel eyass." Before Pebble-Pouncer could interrupt her, Blood-Seeker continued. "I have come here to check on the eggs."

Pebble-Pouncer tried to keep her feathers from bristling, but she could still feel them rising along her back. "Fine."

"And have you noticed your egg has begun to hatch?"

"What?" Pebble-Pouncer spun around and ducked into the burrow. Silent-Torrent was half-asleep, his azure daughter seated on top of him humming some ditty, and his son huddled close to his side, eyes wide and locked on the eggs.

Flooded-River looked up at his mother. "What is that noise? I think it's coming from the eggs. Are they all right?"

Pebble-Pouncer inspected her pale-blue egg until a small hole was revealed. A tiny, faded-cinnamon-scaled snout was just visible. Her feathers lay flat, and she let out a loud sigh. It wasn't unusual for parents to let their hatchlings go about hatching until they were about to breach their shells. It could take a hatchling an entire day or more to break from their shells. Still, a twinge of annoyance ran through Pebble-Pouncer. Why hadn't she noticed earlier?

"The eggs are fine." Blood-Seeker gazed into the burrow once more before standing up and walking away.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Snapping-Ivy leaped in front of Blood-Seeker's foot, hissing and fanning her cinnamon feathers.

The scarlet formel blinked at the youngling and returned the hiss with one deep within her throat. "Is it that you must threaten me each time I visit your burrow, eyass? Do I need to tell you each time not to follow me?"

"Why not? You're just going hunting, aren't you? And I want to see your pack!" Snapping-Ivy fluffed her feathers, trying to look as big as possible, even though she wasn't much bigger than Blood-Seeker's foot.

"Do you have a wish for death?" Blood-Seeker huffed, "And I dislike eyasses. Get back to your mother and father."

Snapping-Ivy bared her tiny teeth and jumped in front of Blood-Seeker's foot again. When the elderly formel stepped over her, she skittered after her long strides, trying to keep up with the much larger sickleclaw. "Can I watch you hunt?"

"I told you to leave."

"I don't want to."

Blood-Seeker spun around, jaws snapping a feather's width from Snapping-Ivy's snout. A low, rumbling growl resonated from her chest as she stared Snapping-Ivy down. "Go back to your parents, eyass."

This time, Snapping-Ivy stayed put.

The Scarlet Grove was quiet today, with only a gentle breeze and the soft chatter of aetherborn in the trees. Blood-Seeker had already hunted before she visited the swiftthief burrow, and her pack didn't need her among them for a while. As had become common over the half of a moon cycle, the alpha of the Pack of the Scarlet Feather needed a walk through her territory to think and clear her mind.

But her mind wouldn't become any clearer today.

A strange but familiar scent washed over her nares. It was a smell that reminded her of her childhood and something she had encountered not long ago. The smell would have piqued her curiosity when she was barely an adult, but now it twisted her stomach and made her bare her teeth.

Was there more than one loner in her territory? The obsidian-feathered male was an oddity and a stupid mistake that Blood-Seeker didn't think would turn on her as it had. But two females? Lightninghelms were bigger than some mid-sized sickleclaws and could threaten Blood-Seeker's pack. But the strange featherwings rarely interacted with anything but their kind and would know when they were in a greatshadow's territory.

The nostalgia of watching a lightninghelm with her singlecrest sister before the violet-eyed vixen's heart turned black bubbled to the surface. Blood-Seeker frowned at the memories as she slunk into the shadows of the trees. Lightninghelms were unlike any other earthborn. They were similar to sickleclaws, like Blood-Seeker, and even closer to that of keentalons, but simultaneously so different.

Their full title was Earthborn Clawhand Featherwing Skycaller Lightninghelm.

Skycallers were a strange group that only a few creatures knew about. Lightninghelms looked like keentalons, with sickled claws, powerful jaws, and similar hunting behaviors. Keentalons were their closest relatives, taxonomically, after all. However, they had strange hardened coverings on their skulls and fleshy appendages lining the sides of their heads. The whites of their eyes were colorful, and so much of them was a breathtaking iridescent black.

And they had wings. Wings not of feather, but of flesh.

They fascinated Blood-Seeker ever since the first day she saw one in the grove when she wasn't more than an adolescent. She learned little but absorbed as much as possible from the reclusive earthborn. Still, as the nostalgia overtook her, Blood-Seeker had to keep on her toes. Lightninghelm were at least half the size of a greatshadow, if not bigger, and they could fight. Hard. The two females she smelled were not her friends.

But that didn't have to mean anything. Blood-Seeker would just watch and learn for now. Hopefully, she could leave them off with a warning, and no violence would come about. If it came to bloodshed, her claws and fangs were ready.

The formel followed the scents further to the edge of the Scarlet Grove. They were mixed with fear, blood, and… eggs. One of them was gravid.

Blood-Seeker pushed further into the trees until she saw the two forms, one dark-caramel, one taupe. The alpha settled into the shadows and observed the pair. She had always been interested in lightninghelm, and maybe…she would learn more about the mysterious male that sired her eggs. If one lightninghelm had been in the grove less than a moon cycle ago, why wouldn't two more be connected to him?

The two formels were preening one another, the larger taupe feathered one curled around the dark-caramel one. The taupe lightninghelm rasped her tongue across a shallow bite mark on the other formel's left hip. Only soft hums and chuffs were exchanged between the pair on the very edge of the Scarlet Grove, too quiet for Blood-Seeker to hear.

The two females were mates by the closeness and affection the pair shared. It was unusual, but creatures of the same sex would become mates from time to time. Most thought nothing of it other than a worry about a bloodline not continuing. Still, other relatives often could pass on the heritage or even the mating of one of the same-sex partners to produce offspring. One formel did not have to worry about her bloodline, the distinct smell of pregnancy wafting from one of them.

A soft wind buffeted Blood-Seeker's feathers. She almost smiled as she relaxed within the trees' shadows and thick foliage. The Scarlet Grove smelled of greatshadow, even at the outermost edge, but that didn't mean the pair wouldn't be alerted by her fresher scent. However, Blood-Seeker was sitting downwind from them, so her scent wouldn't be as prominent. The alpha was content with watching and listening, just like she had done as an adolescent long ago. If the time came when she deemed them a threat, she could chase them off her territory, but for now, there was no need.

There was nothing unusual about the two lightninghelms compared to others of their kind. Both possessed glossy, iridescent black wing membranes that stretched between their three elongated fingers that made up their forehands. Smaller, wing-like appendages were attached to their lower backs, while four fleshy tail vanes adorned their tails. Thick iridescent black scutes protected the back of their necks, and a black casque covered their heads — a hardened covering like a helmet. Eight fleshy black appendages — auricles — of varying sizes adorned both sides of their heads, four auricles on each side.

The dark-caramel formel possessed a black underside, beige rosettes covering her dorsum, and a beige mask-like marking on her face. She possessed the typical black ringed tail, the other color of which was slate-blue. Her eyes, the most unique trait of all lightninghelm, were duel-colored. The sclera, white in all other creatures, was an evergreen, while her irises were a simple dim-caramel.

The taupe formel wasn't much different from her mate. Her underside was the same color as the rest of her body, her dorsum sported black rosettes, and her mask-like marking was a faded-taupe, similar in color to the scales under her feathers. Her tail was lilac-and-black ringed, her sclera cerulean, and her irises gaspeite-green.

The pair spoke to each other in the strange tongue of the skycaller. A mix of chirrups, hisses, and trills drifted between them. Blood-Seeker couldn't understand much but occasionally picked out a word or two. Her memory of the lightninghelm from her adolescence had blurred, but she still remembered some of the words she had learned.

"I can't believe he did this to you," the taupe formel muttered, her cerulean and green eyes narrowed on the bite mark she had been grooming that marred her mate's hip. "Didn't he understand what 'no' means?"

"He was a Head, Artemis." The dark-caramel formel rested her head on the ground, a loud sigh gusting from her lungs. Her evergreen and dim-caramel eyes cast skywards to the canopy. "I'm just so tired, Artie. We've been running for so long, and that bastard has been trailing us for days."

Artemis rested her head on her mate's warm, swollen flank. She closed her eyes, breathing in Hecate's warm scent, relishing in the soft smell of egg-scent wafting from her mate. It wouldn't be long before she laid the beautiful tiny azure and speckled eggs. Soon, she and Hecate would start a family together, but they had the Black Shadow of the Heads of their former fleet chasing their tails. What would he do if he found the eggs?

"Heads get whatever they want in our fleet," Artemis mumbled against Hecate's warm, dark-caramel feathers. "The formel they want to breed with that season, as much food as they can eat, and none of the Heads could do wrong in anyone's eyes. Until you came along."

"No. Not until you came along, Artie." Hecate lifted her winged arm and settled it on her mate's head. "You were the one I fell talons over tail in love with. You're the sweetest, most caring formel I have ever met. We went on that hunting escapade the first day you joined the fleet. I knew. I knew you were the one." She licked the top of Artemis's snout, a small smile warming her eyes, and continued speaking.

"But you remember I thought Aurelius was the most stunning tiercel I've ever seen. Aurelius and I even courted a little before you arrived. He was charming and knew how to make me swoon — any formel swoon. And he wanted me as a mate, and I wanted him as a mate when I first joined the fleet. But when you came along, all I saw was you, and… everything changed."

"You're making it sound like it's my fault."

"No. It's Aurelius' fault. He's the bastard that couldn't let go of his infatuation. He's the one that tried to force a mate-bite onto me. Besides, that fleet wasn't great after all. Five tiercels leading a fleet of all formels, breeding with a formel of their choosing every breeding season, making any of their sons leave before they reach adulthood, but keeping all their daughters…." Hecate shook her head. "I'm glad we left. There was something wrong, and I think I'm the only one that scratched the surface, and that's because of you."

"Why did you let him sire our children? You could have chosen one of the other Heads, but you chose him… didn't you think it would cause more trouble than it was worth?"

"I'm sorry, Artie. I didn't think it would go this far. I thought Aurelius would have been honored to sire our children. And he was, until he found out I had a mate. But I didn't think he would explode the way he did and chase us this far. And I thought it would benefit our children. They would be as big and strong as he was with that same charm and cunning but with your sweetness because you'll be raising them with me and teaching them all you know."

Artemis tried to smile back, but she could barely pull back her lips, the gesture turning into more of a sneer, eyes filled with so much sorrow. "He might be the sire to our children, but he's why we had to flee while you're gravid. I hadn't been in the fleet for over a few moon cycles and was already running away… again. It would have been nice to be well-cared for with the love of my life, raising a wonderful family. All I'd have to do would be to breed with a Head a few times." She grimaced. "I guess Zopyros or Eutropius would have been okay, but I wouldn't let either of Aurelius's two clutchbrothers near me."

"As I said, I think there's more to the fleet than that. Something's going on among the Heads, and I don't like it." Hecate lifted her wing and rolled onto her stomach, to which Artemis readjusted herself to sit beside her mate, head resting on her shoulder. "But we don't have to worry about that anymore. We left, and we haven't smelled Aurelius in days. Let's focus on our children and us. Maybe we'll even start our own fleet someday, huh?" Hecate pressed the top of her head under Artemis's chin. "Say, what do you think our kits will look like?"

"Hopefully like you," Artemis mumbled, eyes half-lidded as she enjoyed her mate's touch. "I don't want a black feather on their hide, one touch of silver in their rosettes, or even a dash of red in their tails. And I don't want to see any of them with black sclera or gold irises. Not black sclera."

"You know that's not how it works, Artie."

"Okay, fine. Maybe gold irises and evergreen sclera might pair nicely. Maybe dark-caramel feathers and silver rosettes would be okay too, or one that looked just like you but with a liver-and-black ringed tail. I don't want them to look exactly like him. It'll just give me a bitter taste in my mouth."

"But they are our children, and no matter what they look like, even if one looks like that bastard, we will love them all the same, right? We can't help who their sire is and all the trouble he's caused us."

The taupe formel sighed but managed a soft smile. "Right. I'll love them, no matter what they look like."

Blood-Seeker's focus faded as the pair continued chatting as she stared past them. She hadn't understood much, but she had picked out some words. Black feathers, black-and-gold eyes, liver-and-black-ringed tail… It described the male perfectly.

So, his name was Aurelius.

It was true. Blood-Seeker had foolishly mated with a large lightninghelm tiercel a moon cycle ago, resulting in the mix-blood eggs the family of swiftthieves was looking after. And it appeared he had been causing quite some trouble since he showed up in the Scarlet Grove some nights ago. The alpha was now connected to the two females. She and the dark-caramel feathered one, Hecate, shared the same sire of their children. It was an odd thought.

Once more, Blood-Seeker cursed herself for her stupidity as all the connections lined up. Aurelius had been alluring the night she met him in the cavern of Shards. Blood-Seeker always had an interest in lightninghelm. Still, with the recent news of her childhood friend rising among the ranks of carnivores as it neared the time of year when the violet-eyed singlecrest had killed Night-Ponderer, Blood-Seeker was vulnerable that night. Not physically but mentally. There was a turmoil of emotions swimming through her head when she left for a walk through the grove that night. The strange scent of the tiercel led her to the cavern where she met him. He was black feathered, just like Night-Ponderer had been.

They spoke no words as they stared each other down. Something must have dawned on him — Aurelius, who began the traditional courtship display and dance of the lightninghelm. Blood-Seeker, not a lightninghelm herself, didn't know how to take it and did not join, but she enjoyed the display. As the night grew on, the elderly leader of the Pack of the Scarlet Feather fell deeper into herself and let her emotions go. Letting everything go and not caring what happened during the night, not thinking of the consequences, not thinking that such a thing would occur to her because of the mating. When the act finished, the pair — greatshadow and lightninghelm — parted with no connections until Blood-Seeker found herself gravid.

Blood-Seeker stood, ready to turn away and leave the two formels be when movement caught her eye. Small and covered in dusky-cinnamon feathers and shadowed-cinnamon stripes. The eyass strutted through the foliage, looking this way and that, sniffing the air as she tracked something down.

It was Snapping-Ivy looking for Blood-Seeker.

The elderly formel almost sighed until she caught something spoken between the two formels. Artemis had sat up, cerulean and green eyes locked on the youngling. Her toothy jaws were parted, and a mixture of emotions passed through her eyes; hate, hunger, guilt, reserve.

"Artemis." Hecate rose alongside the taupe formel. "You don't have to. We can find something else. Plenty of prey here isn't… so much like us."

"But we're starving, and you need food, Hecate. Flesh is flesh. Besides, we are skycallers, not sickleclaws. We might look like them and keentalons, but we are not them. And I need to keep you well-fed. You are carrying our offspring, after all." Artemis leaned down and nuzzled Hecate's head, licking the largest of her auricles. She lowered her voice, barely whispering, "Besides, you know how much I hate sickleclaws."

Hecate stayed silent. It might be a youngling, and there wouldn't be much flesh on its bones, but food was food, and she would do anything to make sure her babies survived. The swiftthief eyass wasn't a lightninghelm, and that's all that mattered in the long run. With the smallest nod from her, Artemis turned back to stalking the youngling.

Blood-Seeker rose from the shadows, her lips peeling back from deadly curved teeth. Lightninghelm or not, she had a promise to keep.

Artemis leaped.

A shadow loomed over her. A heavy foot slammed into her side, smashing her back to the ground before she could spread her winged arms. A large sickled claw sliced through her iridescent black wing membrane and into her flank while powerful jaws clamped around the back of her neck. A low growl rumbled from deep within Blood-Seeker's chest before she withdrew her jaws, licking away the touch of blood from her fangs. Dark-amber eyes stared down at the lightninghelm pinned under her foot.

"You are in the Scarlet Grove, the territory of the Pack of the Scarlet Feather, led by I, Blood-Seeker, The Bloody Beldam. Leave, or I will slaughter you. The swiftthief eyass is under my protection." Her dark-amber eyes shifted to the dark-caramel feathered Hecate. "Even if you are heavy with eggs, I will not hesitate to take your life."

"Sickleclaw," Artemis hissed from under Blood-Seeker's foot, teeth bared. She knew the language of Thorntongue well. "All you big biters think you're so much better than us? You think you're so much better than us 'strange ones.' I'm sick of it all. When I was a kit and an adolescent, they all looked down on us. What makes you think you are better than us, huh? Just because you're bigger? Lightninghelms have a bite just as strong as you Sickleclaws' bite. We can fly. None of you can. Why do you need to see yourselves bigger and better than us?" Her voice raised in volume until she was screaming at the alpha.

Blood-Seeker was unphased until the younger female twisted just enough from under her foot and clamped her powerful jaws around the elder's ankle. Blood-Seeker growled in pain, releasing just enough pressure from Artemis's flank that she could wiggle out from underneath her foot.

"Now look whose blood is on whose teeth." Artemis flared her iridescent black wings, a hiss escaping from her parted jaws. Sunlight shone through the bloody hole in her wing, and dark blood stained her taupe feathers.

Hecate stepped to her side, joining her mate with a low hiss.

Blood-Seeker stared back, a flicker of something almost like amusement sparking in her eyes. "And what do you think you will do now? Take a young swiftthief's life? There is better prey to hunt that involves less trouble. Leave now, and keep your life."

Artemis did not heed the warning.

She launched herself at Blood-Seeker with a wordless screech, clawing and biting. Hecate joined the fray a heartbeat later. The formel might be gravid, but Artemis was her mate, and she would follow her to the ends of the world. Besides, it wasn't like a gravid female couldn't fight.

But…Blood-Seeker had decades of experience over them. The formel might be old, but she was still alpha. She was over twice the size of the two formals. She was a swift killer with no mercy, and The Bloody Beldam would have to strike again.

Screeching, hissing, and yowling filled the grove. The sharp smell of blood permeated the air. Among the fray, Blood-Seeker swooped in and clamped her jaws around Artemis's throat. With a jerk of her head, the alpha wrenched Artemis's head back with a sickening crack.

Blood-Seeker dropped the formel's body and turned to the stunned Hecate. "Is this what you wanted? I will give you a second warning since you carry offspring within you. Leave the Scarlet Grove or suffer the same fate as your mate." She accented her words with a low hiss, flashing her fangs still coated in Artemis's blood.

A storm of emotions raced through Hecate's evergreen and dim-caramel eyes. She lunged, a caterwaul surging from her throat. Jaws snapped at empty air, and Blood-Seeker shoved the formal away with a hip check. Hecate stumbled but continued to hiss and approach Blood-Seeker, flaring her wings. But the rage-filled spark had left her eyes.

She was injured. She was exhausted. And she was without her mate. The prowling greatshadow was hardly hampered by the few injuries. Only Artemis's bite wound bled crimson on the alpha's pale-red scaled ankle. If any, the rest of the wounds were hidden from view, her scarlet feathers hiding the wetness of freshly spilled blood.

"Run or forsake your children's lives."

Hecate backed up further and further, angry tears glittering in her eyes. With one last hiss, she turned tail, spread her wings, and took flight.

Blood-Seeker watched the fading form. When she could no longer see the slate and black ringed tail or the dark-caramel feathers, she turned to the broken body of Artemis. With a huff, she picked up the taupe formel and began returning to the heart of the Scarlet Grove.

It wasn't long before she approached the burrow of the swiftthief family and dropped the body.

"A meal to share with your newly hatched." Blood-Seeker's eyes narrowed when she spotted Snapping-Ivy among the three young swiftthieves, avoiding Blood-Seeker's sharp gaze. "And you should know that you almost lost another child today."

"What?" Pebble-Pouncer stuck her head out of the burrow, eyes wide.

"This." She placed a foot on the carcass. "Was hunting your daughter. I kept my promise. I let no harm come to your family, but…." Her eyes flashed to Snapping-Ivy. "There might be a day that I cannot. And maybe this youngling should learn not to follow adults when they tell her not to."

"Th-thank you," Pebble-Pouncer stuttered, not quite registering what was happening. First, her egg was hatching without her knowledge, and then her daughter almost got eaten. "Would…would you like to meet our newest addition?"

Blood-Seeker blinked but did not move from her spot.

With a soft coo, Pebble-Pouncer called to Silent-Torrent, who was still inside the burrow. He stepped out, a downy dusky-cinnamon eyass wobbly following in his footsteps. Jade-green eyes stared at his father, and a soft chirrup sounded from his tiny, faded-cinnamon-scaled jaws. He looked just like his mother but with black dappled markings like his father.

"We named him Bleeding-Dew."

Blood-Seeker snorted. Without another word, she turned away to return to her pack, leaving the dead lightninghelm for the swiftthieves to feast upon.

Artemis, Hecate, Aurelius, and Skycaller Lightninghelms (AKA Trodraco pseudos / Trodrake), belong to Trookay. Please go check out their stories. They are an amazing writer.

On another note, Trookay and my stories from the Entwined Collection are sister AUs. Many of our characters cross over into each other's stories. Blood-Seeker (Blood Stone in Trookay's story, Metempsychosis: It Whispers, a Land Before Time fanfiction) is a prominent character in their story. Many of their OCs are also featured in my stories, as seen here with Artemis and Hecate. Since our stories are sister AUs, some things will happen in one fic but not the other, but other things may be the same or similar.

Happy reading, and have a good day/night!