The forest had grown quiet as the afternoon warmth fell upon it. Wind ruffled through the trees, but the forest was otherwise still and silent.
A dark horse with a cloaked rider trotted quickly through the undergrowth, stepping easily along the mountainside with unearthly grace. Their was an urgency to their stride, and even the horse seemed to be looking about in search of soemthing, its black nostrils flaring.
The rider caught sight of something to the left, and pulling a bit on the reins, he clicked his tongue. The horse responded quickly, leaping over roots and circling quickly around a tall patch of huckleberries. The rider dismounted to investigate what he'd found.
It was the tattered remains of Calley's backpack, slashed through with long claws, torn apart with sharp teeth, and coated in dust. He left it alone, going instead to the nearby tree, which had been stripped along its lower runk of all bark, and bore long, deep claw marks and chippings where long incisors had dug in. A small hatchet lay on the ground.
Looking up through the branches, he saw a limp form.
* * * * *
Calley rose from her sleep with a pounding headache, sore and stiff all over. Nips was asleep in her lap, wedged between her body and the treetrunk.
"Hey... you okay...?"
It was an unknown voice, a man's, quiet yet full of concern and urgency. She looked down the tree a bit and spotted him; he was a ranger clad in browns and greens, his cloak a dark green. He was perched on a limb about 10 feet down from her and a little ways away, watching her carefully.
Calley looked at him confusedly, then remembered why she was in the tree. She looked down quickly, hugging the tree tightly, choking a bit at her memories and getting dizzy as she looked for the kokot.
"Hey, hey, it's gone now, it's gone, it's just us..." the ranger said quickly and soothingly. "It's gone. Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Calley closed her eyes tightly and just hugged the tree for a few seconds, then nodded. "I... I'm okay... I think... Peiro? Wh-where's Peiro?"
"Who's Peiro?" he asked as he steadied himself on his limb, checking his gear.
A lump under Calley's cloak moved closer to her, a quiet squeak announcing itself to be the drakling.
The ranger nodded to himself. "Can I come up to you?"
Calley, a hand behind her to hold the perched Peiro, looked down at the ranger and nodded somewhat tearfully.
"Okay, I'm climbing up to you," he replied as he began to slowly work his way over to her. He stood on a limb below her, a hand around the tree's trunk for balance and a hand holding out a canteen. "Take a sip..."
Biting her lip, Calley nodded and took the water bottle, her one arm still wrapped around the treetrunk.
"What's your name?" he asked, his eyes searching her up and down for injuries.
Calley finished taking a long sip, then held the bottle to Nips. "C... Calley..."
He smiled a bit, nodding. "Good, good. I'm Giacomo... I'm a ranger. Where are you from?"
"Laral... Laral Guide Hall..."
"Do you know where you are?"
"Um... in a tree?"
Giacomo smiled again, but was concentrating on surveying the girl for injuries. "Okay, Calley, now I'm going to take your foot. Can you feel this?"
She looked down, a bit confused as he pressed the toe of her boot, but she nodded. "Yes..."
"Can you flex your foot for me? Both of them?"
She did so, figuring he probably had a medical reason behind asking her to do such strange things.
"Good, good," he said. "Does your head hurt?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember how many others were with you? Was there anyone else?"
"No, no, just us..." Calley responded, taking another sip of water. It felt good on her sore throat, and Nips was coming around, staring lethargically at Giacomo.
Calley looked back at where Peiro had yet to emerge from under her cloak. Giacomo offered to take the bottle, and she handed it to him before reaching back with her newly freed hand to lift the tail of her cloak. "Peiro? You okay?"
He blinked in the light, his small arms wrapped around her waist and his wings drooping over the sides of the treelimb. Dried blood stained his mouth and the creamy scales of his neck, streaking down and staining the treelimb as well. There was a small rip in one of his wings, as well.
"Peiro! Are you okay?"
The drakling just nodded.
Giacomo grimaced at Peiro's injuries but wasn't surprised. "Do you think you can get down right now?" he asked Calley, looking back to the girl.
Calley looked down, wincing as the pounding in her head returned. "Maybe..."
"Do you want me to take Peiro and the erinacci down first? Can you hold on up here while I take them and then come back up to help you down?"
Calley nodded, putting a hand back on Nips. Giacomo reached out to lift Peiro from the treelimb. Calley pet Nips once for comfort. "Go with him, Peiro, it's okay... can you hang on to him...?"
Peiro moaned a bit, disliking being removed from Calley's side, but he climbed up Giacomo's shoulder to nestle into the hood of the ranger's cloak. Giacomo took Nips up carefully as well, visually checking the erinacci for injuries as well as he held the maow to his chest with one arm.
"Okay, Calley? I'm going to take them down to the bottom and then come right back up for you. You stay right here, okay? I'll be right back..."
Calley nodded and watched as the ranger carefully made his way down the tree. They were high up in the tree, atleast 4 stories, and she tried not to look down for too long. She just hugged the tree and steadied herself with long breaths, wishing she'd never left home.
* * * * *
