I just don't want it... to reach the Glade, he panted, mentally as well as physically as they made their way back towards the source of the smoke, more slowly than they had come. I don't keep much in my den there anymore but... still don't want to risk it. As long as he wasn't in the den when the fire burned over it would probably be fine, but he had some clothing that he kept in a bag there, and a few other odds and ends for when he slept in the woods in foxform and needed to transform back into manshape without going back to the Atheneum first. It had been his first home, after all, and still was one of the three places he laid his head.
The fire was easy enough to find, and the updrafts Amalia cleverly took advantage of aided the last part of their journey. The blaze had started to spread, racing up a nearby tree, and Jigano cawed fiercely as he tucked his wings and dove towards it, releasing his beetle awkwardly but with solid momentum. The fat, water-filled creature pinwheeled in the air, legs kicking slowly, before impacting a sharp branch that burst its bloated body and splashed water across the licking flames, dousing them from above. The two ravens who had found their own cargo - and were flying more strongly than Jigano - arrived a moment later. He ordered one to drop its cargo on the base of the tree to catch the remaining fire there, while its companion was compelled to peck a hole in its own beetle and douse a bush that was just starting to catch fire. Cruel? Yes, but effective.
The bard let his friend choose her own target, busy directing his pair of jays to drop their beetle from high up onto a creeping trail of flame that was smoldering through the dry undergrowth like an insidious, burning snake. Swiftly he sent his small murder back to collect more beetles, even as the third raven lumbered into view with a beetle of its own, to land and pop with its beak near the log, soaking the ground on the eastern side and stopping the flames from finding further purchase in that direction.
They burn, he acknowledged. But rarely. It is cooler there in the summer - Longheat, I mean. And usually less punishingly dry unless it's a year of unusual drought. The forests are more like the Greatwood, though perhaps not quite as lush. He pushed himself back into the air, flapping to gain height and see what they had accomplished.
Only a couple more trips, if it doesn't get ahead of us, he predicted. Do you think you can lead us to more of these beetles?
The fire was easy enough to find, and the updrafts Amalia cleverly took advantage of aided the last part of their journey. The blaze had started to spread, racing up a nearby tree, and Jigano cawed fiercely as he tucked his wings and dove towards it, releasing his beetle awkwardly but with solid momentum. The fat, water-filled creature pinwheeled in the air, legs kicking slowly, before impacting a sharp branch that burst its bloated body and splashed water across the licking flames, dousing them from above. The two ravens who had found their own cargo - and were flying more strongly than Jigano - arrived a moment later. He ordered one to drop its cargo on the base of the tree to catch the remaining fire there, while its companion was compelled to peck a hole in its own beetle and douse a bush that was just starting to catch fire. Cruel? Yes, but effective.
The bard let his friend choose her own target, busy directing his pair of jays to drop their beetle from high up onto a creeping trail of flame that was smoldering through the dry undergrowth like an insidious, burning snake. Swiftly he sent his small murder back to collect more beetles, even as the third raven lumbered into view with a beetle of its own, to land and pop with its beak near the log, soaking the ground on the eastern side and stopping the flames from finding further purchase in that direction.
They burn, he acknowledged. But rarely. It is cooler there in the summer - Longheat, I mean. And usually less punishingly dry unless it's a year of unusual drought. The forests are more like the Greatwood, though perhaps not quite as lush. He pushed himself back into the air, flapping to gain height and see what they had accomplished.
Only a couple more trips, if it doesn't get ahead of us, he predicted. Do you think you can lead us to more of these beetles?
