Rieka shouted, “Coll!”
He looked back at Rieka in a daze.
“We can fly!” shouted Brann.
“NO!” yelled everyone. But Brann closed her eyes and again Coll felt the sensation of wings sprouting from Cub’s back…
“Enough!” snapped Rieka. She turned to Brann and slapped her.
Brann stared at her in shock, and Cub’s body morphed again and the wings disappeared. Behind them, Wolf reared up mid-leap, startled at this strange new Construct that seemed to change its shape in the middle of a fight. But then her working eye filled with fury again. Cub wasn’t fast enough, strong enough or fierce enough – he had no defences – and here came Wolf’s slavering jaws for the kill…
A deep roar echoed across the valley, booming and savage. Wolf pulled back immediately and turned with a yelp. Cub turned too and stared.
Dragon was there.
It seemed even bigger than before. Perhaps it was more patched – perhaps Wolf had managed to inflict some damage during their fighting – but it seemed strong. The old green and gold paint was almost entirely worn away now to a mix of greys. As it stomped towards them, Wolf cowered, turned, and fled.
“Run away!” shouted Rieka. “We can’t fight Dragon. Run away!”
Coll nodded and tried to focus, and Cub scrambled away in the opposite direction. Dragon passed them without stopping. Like Wolf, its deck was sealed with large metal plates, as it had been before, and he could see no crew – just the fierce, relentless, sharp-toothed mouth. It followed Wolf out of the valley. As it did, Cub tripped and tumbled down, shaking the crew inside, before finally coming to a standstill.
Coll slumped in his seat. His ears were ringing and his shoulders were agony where the harness straps had held him. He saw Alpha’s face in his head over and over. She’d stared straight at him and not recognised him. All she’d seen was an enemy Construct. Nothing else. Not even Coll. Her … her son.
“Ow…” muttered Brann behind them.
Coll’s jaw clenched. He unfastened his straps and turned on the girl. “You!” he spat. “You did this!”
Brann had a cut on her forehead and looked dazed.
Coll didn’t care. “Treacherous Raven!” he hissed. “Vicious Raven, this is what you wanted all along!”
Beside her, Fillan looked up. “It’s not Brann’s fault,” he said in a reasonable voice.
“Yes it is!” snapped Coll.
Rieka said, “Don’t be an idiot—”
But Coll turned on her now. “Stop calling me that!” he roared. “You did this, too! You’re the reason we’re even here! On this stupid thing, this stupid … Cub! We are Wolf! I am Wolf! She didn’t even recognise me!”
Rieka stared at him in confusion. “Who didn’t?”
Coll spun back and stabbed a finger at Brann. “You made wings again! You never believed in Wolf! You’re the reason she didn’t recognise us!”
“Coll, Brann’s one of us,” said Fillan. “She wouldn’t—”
Brann stood up and faced Coll. “It’s not my fault your stupid Wolf can’t see!”
“Yes it is!” he shouted. “She saw me! Alpha saw me!” He wasn’t even sure what he was shouting about.
“Then your Alpha’s as stupid as you!” snapped Brann.
Coll shoved her hard and she staggered back, tripped and fell to the deck.
“Coll!” shouted Fillan in alarm.
Coll ignored him. He stood over Brann with his hands clenched into furious fists.
“You’re not Wolf,” he snarled. “You are Raven, and Raven is dead.” She started to answer, but he shouted over her. “There is no Raven! Your crew left you, do you understand? You have no crew! Raven is dead, and so are you!”
Brann looked up at him, and her expression changed into a look of horror.
“Coll—” started Rieka, but Coll turned away, grabbed a tether and jumped down from Cub’s side. He hit the ground hard and stumbled away.
He walked a kilometre, perhaps more, hardly knowing what he was doing. His mind was a white froth of anger – at Brann, at Rieka, at Fillan even. It was cold and he had no coat, nor any way to make a fire. It was stupid. He refused to admit it. He kept walking as night fell, and at last he slipped and settled into a hollow, half under a thorn bush. He lay there, shivering and glaring into the dark, seeing Alpha’s face. She’d stared right through him. She hadn’t even recognised him.
Finally, he fell asleep.
When Coll awoke, it was bright. The sun already seemed quite high in the sky, but the air was cold.
Gradually the previous day came back to him. Finding Wolf. Wolf attacking them. Alpha. Alpha staring at him, cold and blank, seeing nothing but the Construct he was in, the enemy. And then the things he’d shouted at Brann. You have no crew.
Coll groaned and staggered to his feet. He’d been angry, of course. Brann had been taunting him, of course. And yet, in the new day, the anger was hard to hold on to. The taunting had lost its power. There were only the things he had said to her and her look of horror.
