Though he hadn’t helped to build the perch, he had watched his friends – native-born and terrified of the Long Night – abandon shelter and safety and rush to fix it, risking their lives to do so. He knew it was important, and after the insanity and danger and prices they had already paid, his focus had narrowed to seeing it done, lest everything they had risked and paid in blood be in vain.
The antlers seemed to provide some protection, somehow. Magic, of course, divine or simply protective, and now wasn’t the time to experiment. Edy and Rory had raised the beam high, settling it back into place, and Jigano croaked and fluffed his feathers along with Amalia in excitement. He didn’t want to let go of the antler, but if he could hold his mind firm long enough to wrap the extra dangling ropes around the poles and use his beak to tie them off—
Not even Edy’s sneering could distract him from the bloom of hope in his heart. But the scream that pierced the night, knife-sharp and jagged as a sawblade could, as could the sudden pull of gravity as the antler he was perching on dropped suddenly to the ground. The raven flapped mightily but couldn’t even slow its fall, his clever toes wrapped tightly around it right up until it hit the ground. It was a short, swift drop, and he staggered along the antler’s length but kept his balance as he turned one bright blue eye up at his fiery friend in horror as she once again lost herself to the darkness within.
Then Amalia’s voice caught his attention and he looked to Rory
No, not Rory, not again
and a mournful wail burst from his beak. His stupid, useless beak, and his stupid, useless secrecy that was going to cost more than one friend their lives this night.
Edy was already in motion, swearing, shouting, casting magic towards two wounded humans who couldn’t protect themselves, and Jigano flung himself from one form to the next with an utter lack of grace, forcing feathers to shrink and harden, feeling his beak melt back into his face as his body expanded, legs lengthening and gaining muscle
it wasn’t fast enough
as Ama hit the ground and Edy came back to her senses
too little too late
and Jigano knelt on all fours in the snow, one hand on the antler and the other outstretched in useless warning.
He ducked his head, feeling madness of a different sort curdling through his veins, guilt and rage that needed no demons to stoke their fires, choking him to silence as he slammed his non-antlered fist to the ground, hearing the cackling all around them, kept at bay by… by the light of the antlers…
The bard looked up to see Edy lifting a limp Amalia and stumbling towards the Rathskeller – towards Isla, and Vervain, and those who might be able to do what he could not. That left himself and a maddened Rory and the ghosts in the night who were so seethingly, irrationally desperate to keep them from fixing the perch.
A perch Amalia might have just died to fix and protect, for a bird that might or might not come, but the books he had found with Remi had spoken of heroes. Of light bathing the settlement and keeping the very real monsters back. He had scoffed at them as being tales, but then, he had thought the monsters mere ghost stories as well. How wrong he’d been about the latter… and they were afraid of that damn perch being fixed.
But he could fix nothing while Rory cast around in a maddened daze, barely on his feet from the wounds Edy and Jigano had burned and torn into his skin.
Rory!
Jigano rose to his feet, shoving the antler into his shirt heedless of how the fabric tore and wedging it beneath the tight wrap of his belt to keep it against his skin as he scrambled across the snow to reach his friend and the antler Rory had dropped. Scooping it up, he grabbed the dangling end of rope from Esaia’s back and slipped around behind the hunter. He looped the rope around the antler and Rory’s hand, tying the two together loosely enough so that Rory could slip out of the loop easily if he needed to, but that he wouldn’t simply be able to drop or jerk away from the antler. With one hand still holding Rory’s to one antler and the other curved protectively around the other man, Jigano bent his head to speak softly, voice breaking with guilt and regret and breath warm against his friend’s ear. ”I am so, so sorry…” All the while Jigano used his body to shield Rory from any other attacks that might come at them.
Jigano changes to human form, stuffs the antler in his shirt and belt so it's held against his skin, and loosely ties Rory's hand around the second antler while shielding him with his own body.
The antlers seemed to provide some protection, somehow. Magic, of course, divine or simply protective, and now wasn’t the time to experiment. Edy and Rory had raised the beam high, settling it back into place, and Jigano croaked and fluffed his feathers along with Amalia in excitement. He didn’t want to let go of the antler, but if he could hold his mind firm long enough to wrap the extra dangling ropes around the poles and use his beak to tie them off—
Not even Edy’s sneering could distract him from the bloom of hope in his heart. But the scream that pierced the night, knife-sharp and jagged as a sawblade could, as could the sudden pull of gravity as the antler he was perching on dropped suddenly to the ground. The raven flapped mightily but couldn’t even slow its fall, his clever toes wrapped tightly around it right up until it hit the ground. It was a short, swift drop, and he staggered along the antler’s length but kept his balance as he turned one bright blue eye up at his fiery friend in horror as she once again lost herself to the darkness within.
Then Amalia’s voice caught his attention and he looked to Rory
No, not Rory, not again
and a mournful wail burst from his beak. His stupid, useless beak, and his stupid, useless secrecy that was going to cost more than one friend their lives this night.
Edy was already in motion, swearing, shouting, casting magic towards two wounded humans who couldn’t protect themselves, and Jigano flung himself from one form to the next with an utter lack of grace, forcing feathers to shrink and harden, feeling his beak melt back into his face as his body expanded, legs lengthening and gaining muscle
it wasn’t fast enough
as Ama hit the ground and Edy came back to her senses
too little too late
and Jigano knelt on all fours in the snow, one hand on the antler and the other outstretched in useless warning.
He ducked his head, feeling madness of a different sort curdling through his veins, guilt and rage that needed no demons to stoke their fires, choking him to silence as he slammed his non-antlered fist to the ground, hearing the cackling all around them, kept at bay by… by the light of the antlers…
The bard looked up to see Edy lifting a limp Amalia and stumbling towards the Rathskeller – towards Isla, and Vervain, and those who might be able to do what he could not. That left himself and a maddened Rory and the ghosts in the night who were so seethingly, irrationally desperate to keep them from fixing the perch.
A perch Amalia might have just died to fix and protect, for a bird that might or might not come, but the books he had found with Remi had spoken of heroes. Of light bathing the settlement and keeping the very real monsters back. He had scoffed at them as being tales, but then, he had thought the monsters mere ghost stories as well. How wrong he’d been about the latter… and they were afraid of that damn perch being fixed.
But he could fix nothing while Rory cast around in a maddened daze, barely on his feet from the wounds Edy and Jigano had burned and torn into his skin.
Rory!
Jigano rose to his feet, shoving the antler into his shirt heedless of how the fabric tore and wedging it beneath the tight wrap of his belt to keep it against his skin as he scrambled across the snow to reach his friend and the antler Rory had dropped. Scooping it up, he grabbed the dangling end of rope from Esaia’s back and slipped around behind the hunter. He looped the rope around the antler and Rory’s hand, tying the two together loosely enough so that Rory could slip out of the loop easily if he needed to, but that he wouldn’t simply be able to drop or jerk away from the antler. With one hand still holding Rory’s to one antler and the other curved protectively around the other man, Jigano bent his head to speak softly, voice breaking with guilt and regret and breath warm against his friend’s ear. ”I am so, so sorry…” All the while Jigano used his body to shield Rory from any other attacks that might come at them.
Jigano changes to human form, stuffs the antler in his shirt and belt so it's held against his skin, and loosely ties Rory's hand around the second antler while shielding him with his own body.
