Fire in Shadow
an excerpt

The woods that morning were crystal clear, the last of the mist dissipating before the sun was even over the crest of the hills, and the young one was hoping from branch to branch, a flicker of shadow, then light as he moved about woods.

Occasionally, he stopped and cast about for sign of trouble, but he was not expecting any. This was his dam’s territory, and at just over 1000 years, he was still young enough that his visits would be tolerated, especially since his dam had a new litter that needed to be babysat while she hunted.

He cast about again and recognized the fading mind-scent of a sister in the morning air, then sent a shower of white sparks as he sneezed from a drop of dew landing on him. The sparks startled a doe who was feeding on the early summer meadow grass and she took off for the cover of a thicket. The young one considered giving chase, out of pure exuberance, but sneezed again and decided that perhaps it was too early in the morning for such a chase.

White sparks marked his passage in the dew drenched leaves and every so often he stopped and emitted a burst of energy, brightly flavored with an inquiry at the end. Not yet receiving an answer, the young one paused to check out a burrow of small minds near the surface of the ground. A field mouse, with six babies squeaked in consternation and backpedaled until her body blocked the hole where her babies where sleeping. A bright flare of blue energy and seven minds passed onto another journey while the young one ate his breakfast.

Finally, an answer to his inquiry came and he flitted on his way, a brief shadow passing over the trees and meadow until he came to a protected fen. The impossible mesh of branches and rocks was an ideal nesting spot and had been used so before. It brought happy memories to the young one as he started toward the protective curtains of leaves.

In the darkness, the mother waited for her babysitter, but no longer with hungry impatience. She sensed something not quite right, some thread of warning in the morning air. She flattened herself over the tiny gleams of life that were her young, darkening until the small den was as black as night.

The babies went quiet as the mother sent out an anxious warning to her grown son. She received his puzzled response and sent a single dark flavored urge to hide out into the world. The woods fell silent, all the creatures of the earth and trees responding to that dark impetus.

The mother waited, her fear for her grown child and her new babies growing. She jerked as the ground trembled and a violet colored scream filled her burrow. Her babies clung to her in terror. She jerked again, this time a vocal noise like she had never heard before filled the morning, a mind with great potential opened to her own, and her son was suddenly gone.

The mother held her babies close, waiting for the terror to reach them. If she moved, her young would be exposed to this horror, but if she stayed… Indecision held her frozen.

Slowly, a chirrup sounded near her burrow, the mind of a mud dweller stirring itself. The buzz of an insect’s wings sounded, it’s tiny, single goal oriented mind reached her, and the sounds of the forest began to return. The mother stirred, stretching out a trembling shadow to the outside, sending a frantic call. Again and again, she sent the call, until finally she accepted that there would be no response.