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

and headed in the direction he pointed. His family lived on the outskirts of the town cluster, there was still hope they may have escaped whatever had caused this.
    He peered ahead trying to put his family hut in the trees ahead but as they neared the edge of the treeless crater he knew that all was lost. They had gone too far. He recognized the area that was now the edge of the great void left behind. It was beyond where his tree was. “No,” was all Teek could say. His mind would not accept what his eyes plainly saw. They were gone. His family and all those he knew and loved were just no longer there. What could have done such a thing?
    Tchee circled back and dropped down just over the water. She was searching for survivors but Teek knew that it was hopeless. If whatever had done this hadn’t killed them, what lurked below the swamp water surely would have. He briefly considered the possibility that some may have escaped in their canoes but quickly dismissed it. There would not have been time. They were gone. He was the only one left.
    The dread he had been feeling since the day before was now replaced by a strange emptiness that was almost too painful to bear. “What could have done this?” Tchee banked to the right and then circled back for another run. Teek leaned against her neck trying to absorb what had happened. He wanted to cry and let all the hurting out but for some reason he couldn’t. Tears would not come. No longer would Bink, Eeni or Jina rush him as he returned from his traps. No more would his mother hold him and tell him what a good boy he was. They were gone, never to come back. What was he to do now? Where would he go? There were too many questions and not enough answers. Tchee banked for a third time but Teek put his hand against her neck. “No more. They’re gone.”
    Tchee pulled up, lifting higher into the air, and then lit softly onto an outstretched branch bordering the empty area. Teek slid off easily, grabbing another limb that dropped down, and looked across the clearing. The sun was starting to fade on the horizon bringing with it the chirps and shrills that he was accustomed to when night fell on the swamp. It was as if all was as it should be save for the vast emptiness in the swamp and in his heart.
    *     *     *
    The next day Teek woke with the sun just as it was beginning to rise. It was still a shock for him to look out at the nothingness that was once his swampland home. His sleep was fitful at best giving him only moments of rest in between the nightmares that invaded his dreams. Every time he dropped into sleep he saw his mother huddled in their hut with his brother and sisters held tight to her and calling his name as fire dropped down from the sky all around them. He saw the ball of fire crash through the roof lighting everything at once and then he would wake up with a cry. Over and over again the dream replayed itself in his mind giving him no rest and no comfort.
    He felt numb. He just wanted to sit in that tree and die. He wanted to wait there until the skin rotted from his bones and relieved the massive weight that dragged on his heart. Then, suddenly, it hit him. He couldn’t stay. He was the only one left. He was the only one who could fulfill the great responsibility that was now almost a crushing weight. They all had to be appeased—not only his mother and siblings but everyone else who had lived there, his whole race, they all had to be appeased. It was too much. How could he do such a thing? How could he appease them all? It would take a lifetime. But a lifetime is really all he had left. There was no choice. It lay upon him.
    Reaching into his pack he pulled out the diamond that Helgar had given him. Hefting it in his hand he stared at it for a long time as if seeking answers from within its brilliant surface. Then as if by an oracle, it came to him. The dwarfs. They were the only ones who could help him. He would work the mines his whole life if he had