The girl hesitated, and then put down one of her knives and took the bowl. She sniffed at it, then took a sip. Then she made a sound that was like a sob, dropped her other knife and grasped the bowl in both hands. She ate it without a spoon, drinking in huge gulps, gasping in between.
Coll glanced at the knives. Could he get to them while she was distracted? But Rieka put her hand on his arm.
“It’s OK,” she said, half to him and half to the girl. “It’s OK.”
The girl took a last gulp, tipping the bowl up to catch the drips. She started to breathe normally, and then gave Rieka another small nod.
Rieka smiled again. “What happened here, Brann?” she asked. “Where are your crew?”
The girl’s face deepened into a scowl.
“Dragon,” she snarled.
She spoke in short sentences, as if unused to hearing her own voice. She hadn’t eaten in three days, she said. And the weeks before had been frantic, desperate. Raven’s territory was far north of here, beyond the the Salt Cliffs, but Dragon had attacked them.
“We knew Dragon,” she muttered. “Dragon is weak. Dragon is foolish. But…”
But this Dragon had defeated them, and Raven had been forced to flee. Down past the settlements of Fastvale and Beak, down through Sorrow Forest, with Dragon constantly at her feathers.
“It wouldn’t stop,” she hissed. She looked angry, but there was fear in her voice. “There’s something wrong with it. It’s not like us. We gave way, but it kept attacking; it wouldn’t stop! Again and again, until it forced us out of our own land, down into Hyena’s. We thought if we could get Hyena between us and Dragon… But Hyena ran too. And then we were in Wolf’s realm, and still it followed us! We were tired, and we needed repairs…” She glared at Coll. “Then the dog attacked us.”
“You were in our territory!” he snapped.
Rieka coughed. “Tell us what happened next,” she said softly.
In the flicker of flames the girl’s face seemed to shift: the black paint around her eyes, the white of her skin, the trails of dark hair, her gleaming eyes. She became half bird. “We needed supplies. We saw some of the dog scouts, and we watched when they found the Cache. But Dragon came again. We were so tired. We were…” She blinked. “Dragon destroyed us,” she whispered.
Nobody spoke. Coll found himself imagining what it would be like to see Wolf broken like that. Of course Wolf wouldn’t get broken. Wolf wasn’t Raven. But…
“Afterwards, we did what we could,” she said. “Claw said we could survive and rebuild—”
“Claw?”
Brann frowned. “Claw. Our leader.”
“You mean Alpha,” said Coll.
“I mean CLAW!” shouted the girl.
Rieka lifted a hand. “Sorry,” she murmured. “Wolf is different. Go on.”
The girl glowered. “Claw said we could rebuild. They sent us chicks to scout out, on the first night. But I went too far, and – and – and when I…” She stopped. “When I got back … they were … gone.”
“What do you mean ‘gone’?” demanded Coll.
“I mean they weren’t there!” she shouted.
Coll sighed. “She doesn’t know,” he said scornfully. “All that and she doesn’t even know. Or she’s lying.”
“I’m not lying!” The girl raised her fists as if getting ready to attack again.
“No, of course you’re not,” said Rieka, giving Coll a warning look.
Coll stood up. “Fine,” he snapped. “She’s not lying. She and her stupid bird brought Dragon here, she’s the reason we’re in this mess, and she knows nothing. Is that it?”
“It was Dragon,” muttered Brann. “Dragon took them.”
Rieka frowned “It can’t have been. Dragon went after Wolf.”
Brann set her jaw. “Dragon,” she insisted.
Coll sighed. “It’s late,” he said. “We should get some rest.” He stared out into the darkness, then at Rieka. “We should keep watch. You and me take turns.”
Rieka nodded, and Coll was relieved. This Raven girl… For all her kind words, Rieka didn’t quite trust her either.
The night was quiet. The Raven girl moved to the edge of the circle, just enough to feel the warmth of the fire, and sat with her cloak wrapped tight round her, glaring at Coll. But after a while her eyes drifted closed and she slept. Or pretended to – Coll couldn’t tell. Coll settled down. His stumps were tired and aching, but he kept his prosthetics on, ready to move, and he slept lightly.
She was still there in the morning. Coll realised he’d been hoping she would flutter away, or whatever birds did. But when he awoke and looked around, she was glaring at him again. He grunted, got up and made porridge. Fillan added some sweet berries he’d foraged. He was delighted to have found them, and showed them to Coll, and then to Rieka, and then, after a small hesitation, to the girl. She looked at him blankly.
“It’s OK,” he said in a helpful voice. “They’re not the poopy ones.”
She frowned in confusion but ate the porridge.
Coll examined Raven’s remains as they ate. It had been bothering him from the moment he saw it – the neck snapped backwards, the half-missing wing. The feeling of decay.
