Free Night Calls the Raven (Book 2 of The Master of the Tane) by Thomas Rath

could slide off, Teek just dropped to the ground and then curled himself into a ball and wept. Tchee crouched down next to him laying her soft feathers over his body for warmth and comfort. And that is how they both stayed for the remainder of the night.
    The next day dawned cold and clear. Teek rushed through a quick meal of dried bread and cheese and washed it down with a cold drink from a nearby stream he hadn’t seen when they landed. The feeling of sorrow and loss that had built to a crescendo the night before was still rooted firmly in his breast but his eyes would no longer produce the tears to release his feelings. Though feeling somewhat silly and fatalistic for having collapsed as he had, he still couldn’t shake the ominous emotion. He knew it had to do with his family and the flashes but he was unable to face what it might all mean. He still had hope that he would find his mother smiling at the door of their hut and his brother and sisters crowding out to knock him over with their hugs and kisses but it was all overshadowed by dread.
    Tchee let out a tight snort and then dropped her wing. Teek ignored it though and instead wrapped his arms around her neck. “Where would I be without you, Tchee? Thank you.”
    The powerful Roc responded with a low rumbling coo and then tilted her head to rub gently against his cheek. Teek enjoyed the slightest feeling of comfort for a brief moment before turning and climbing onto her back.
    As they gained altitude he searched for the hazy smoke but could not see any sign that anything was amiss. He kept up his search for hours but to no avail and had to finally give up when his eyes started to blur and his head started pounding.
    By noon they reached the Maddox, a large lake just beyond the Underwoods that generally marked the beginning of the Teague swamplands. This was also the place where Teek had first met Tchee when he’d freed her from a poacher’s trap. By all accounts, he should have felt a welling up of excitement building in his chest by their closeness to home but instead the feelings of trepidation were only getting stronger. They should make it to his home just before dark but what would he find there? He had already determined the flashes had to have come from the area around his home. Twice he actually considered turning back and never returning. If he never discovered the truth he would be spared the pain if his forebodings proved accurate. But he knew that not knowing would be an even greater burden to carry and he could not leave his mother to wonder about his own fate. “All will be well,” he whispered, though in his heart he knew he didn’t believe it. Something terrible had happened and no amount of denial would change the truth of it.
    As Tchee flew over the swamp, things started to become somewhat familiar. Teek had never set his traps out this far but he thought he remembered some of the area from when he had first snaked through it at the start of his appeasing journey. Tchee stayed low skimming over the tops of the trees giving Teek a chance to find his way back to his home. It was different, to be sure, from a bird’s eye view, but he was beginning to point out areas he knew. They were going in the right direction. He could feel his trepidation rising.
    Suddenly the giant Teague trees simply disappeared. Tchee squawked and Teek gasped. They were gone. In all directions the trees were just no longer there. All that remained were burned up stumps just barely peaking over the water. Teek gripped Tchee’s feathers in his trembling hands his mind unable to comprehend the scene before him. An area stretching in all directions for close to a mile was no longer there. It was gone. Twee’s tree, the elder’s council area, the whole town were all completely wiped out. It was as if a giant hand had reached down and plucked the whole Waseeni race right out of the swamp.
    Teek pointed farther in and to the right. “Go over there!” Tchee banked slightly