The Open Sky: Eternal Forest Saga - Book 3

Chapter 22

 Sparrow and her Thorns worked throughout the day to scour their ruined city. Their first priority was to find survivors, though that effort bore depressingly little fruit. Only a small handful were found alive and, of those, many were too badly injured to survive extraction. Sadly, for many of those lost, the problem was with their wings. A faerie's wings were their greatest asset but were also their most vulnerable weakness. Faerie wings were fragile and a broken wing could not be healed. When a faerie lost the ability to fly, they lost the ability to function in the world. The forest was simply too big for a faerie to survive in without being able to fly. The Thorns found the bodies of a few faeries where wing injuries were all they'd sustained in the attack. Their mortal wounds were clearly self-inflicted.

The second priority was to salvage anything they could; anything they would need to move the whole tribe many miles from their own territory. Food, clothing, medicine, weapons, anything that was still usable and easy to travel with was taken, cataloged, and moved to the rendezvous point where the rest of the tribe waited.

It took Sparrow, Mantis, and eight more Thorns to carry a large bundle of blankets and warm clothes back to the rendezvous point. When the collection was set down it was distributed immediately. The sun was going down and the air was already getting cold. Each exhausted breath Sparrow exhaled clouded in front of her. Tonight was going to be the coldest night of the season so far, and her tribe had nothing but these salvaged blankets to keep warm. Faerie's required oil for fires since the twigs and leaves they could carry burned too quickly for sustained flames. Hardly any oil was salvaged from the city. The faeries would have to bundle up together to make it through the night.

In the morning, the journey would begin.

As the Thorns distributed supplies, Sparrow went to look for Dewdrop. She'd not seen her since that morning when they set out back to the city. The whole night she'd seemed numb. She was silent and expressionless. Her eyes, no matter where they gazed, were never looking at anything. Sparrow worried for her, especially since she'd had no choice but to leave her all day. Left alone to cope with the trauma of the attack, she worried about what her beloved would do.

Sparrow also couldn't ask anyone if they'd seen her, because no one knew her. The anonymity that allowed them to come together now aided in keeping them apart. As the sun continued setting and the world grew darker, Sparrow fluttered from branch to branch in the tree, checking one cluster of faeries after another. When that proved unsuccessful, she went to the secluded places that seemed empty and quiet.

That's where she finally found her. She was sitting alone, high in the tree. Her feet were crossed, her legs swinging gently off the side of the branch she sat upon. Just as before, her eyes were blank and without focus, staring into the blackening sky as though wishing for the darkness to consume her.

"There you are," Sparrow said with a sigh of relief. Dewdrop didn't move, not even turning her head to look at her. The darkening horizon seemed to have her in a trance. Sparrow sat beside her and put a hand on her knee. "When I didn't see you with the others I got worried." Dewdrop still didn't move or speak. Sparrow couldn't tell if she even realized she was there. Her hand still on Dewdrop's knee, she gently shook her leg. "Hey, talk to me, please."

"Did you find anyone alive?" Dewdrop finally asked. Her gaze stayed locked on the horizon and her voice sounded distant.

Sparrow sighed and hung her head. "Two. The healers are seeing them now."

"Only two," Dewdrop whispered to herself. "The High Priestess?"

"Gone," Sparrow answered with a heavy sigh.

Dewdrop shut her eyes tightly and looked away. "Then the last petal has fallen. You know what you must do."

"It's already done."