James helped Yoyo recover, then handed him his knife. “You keep this for now, okay? And don’t be afraid to use it if they get close!”

Yoyo nodded. Holding the knife seemed to calm him down. At least it was something to focus on beside the gathering swarm of death above their heads. Meanwhile, Tena managed to grab a few sticks for self-defense. She offered one to James.

“No, I can’t,” he said, declining. He knew he wouldn’t be able to wield it effectively. Besides, the blue glow radiating from the pendant was James’ protection. Whether the magic granted him special powers or not, he wasn’t sure, but seeing the light gave him the courage to act instead of cower.

“Look!” said Tena, her gaze toward the sky.

More and more stirge flew through the canopy to join the swarm, their number well into the hundreds, and the pattern of their collective flight resembled a black funnel cloud. The visual was like seeing a flock of starlings in the Risanburg hills. James knew starlings flocked for protection, but was this behavior typical for the stirge? Would the beasts attack in force once the swarm was done forming?

Glancing around, James tried to determine the best escape from the danger. Running straight into the forest was his first thought, but it was dark and the terrain was unfamiliar. Besides, the stirges’ flight speed already proved faster than his legs. He had no confidence they could outrun great numbers of the beasts—it seemed like a gamble that would end in disaster for the slowest among them. There had to be a better option.

“We have to go now!” shouted Harley. She signaled for everyone to follow.

“But where are we going?” James protested. “They’ll catch us in the forest!”

The black funnel cloud of stirge was growing larger by the second, the smoke from the fire seemingly rousing them from their roost. Without a clear view, it was hard to see exactly where they were coming from. Was their roost in the bushes or in burrows along the bank? Or were they coming from a cave within the outcrop?

James looked toward the rocks and gasped. They had left Chocolate on top of the outcrop alone. The poor goat was standing on the edge, bleating, too afraid to jump. He began sprinting toward her, intending to help get her down.

“That’s the wrong way!” shouted Harley.

“We forgot Chocolate!” James yelled back.

The goat’s bleating became more desperate as James reached the base of the outcrop. She seemed scared. Terrified. Not only of the stirge, but also the smoke. Hot ash swirled in a sudden wind, the air currents beneath the swarm as erratic as their fluttering wings. Harley shouted commands to jump, but it only resulted in Chocolate taking a step back from the edge.

“Jump! Jump!” insisted Harley in frustration. “Why isn’t she listening?!”

“She won’t go if she’s too scared!” Tena said, dropping her sticks and beginning to climb.

James tried to climb too but he didn’t get far. The sharp pain in his arm stalled his progress. He had no grip strength either, the feeling in his hand like pins and needles. Instead, he encouraged Yoyo to go, and before long his brother and Tena had Chocolate standing near the edge. The satchel was clasped to her back. All that was left was to jump.

Resisting with stomps and near constant bleating, Chocolate refused.

“She’s scared of the fire, Harley!” shouted Tena. “Throw away your stick!”

“But that’s the only thing keeping me safe!” Harley replied.

His sister’s words sparked a revelation for James—not only was Chocolate afraid of the fire, but so were the stirge. The swarming behavior was defensive. The beasts weren’t being roused from the smoke, they were fleeing their roost like critters escaping a wildfire.

That didn’t mean they wouldn’t attack later, but for now the safest place to be was near a fire. The campfire had done well to keep them safe before and it offered further protection if they were to spread out the flames to the perimeter. How long the kindling would last was uncertain, but staying put was a better option than running into the forest without any protection at all.

“Wait! Don’t jump! We’ll climb up!” exclaimed James, signaling them to move back from the edge. “Start spreading the campfire!”

Yoyo’s face looked confused but Tena seemed to understand, her hands tugging Chocolate away by her halter.

“Spreading the fire to do what?!” exclaimed Harley. “Scare them away? If the wind keeps blowing the ash around, it’ll catch this whole place on fire—we’re trading one death for another!”

She had a point. An uncontrolled forest fire would be a disaster if they stayed put. He imagined an inferno sweeping the forest, the flames engulfing the rock. Even if the heat didn’t burn them to a crisp, they wouldn’t survive the smoke inhalation.

It was a lose-lose situation, but there was one thing on their side: the pendant.

“The pendant won’t let that happen!” said James in a burst of emotion. “How else can you explain the fact that Yoyo’s alive? Or that we’re all together? It must be the pendant keeping us safe!”

The angst in Harley’s face relented to a calmer expression as if she accepted the explanation as truth. James couldn’t know for sure, but he believed it as such, and saying the words out loud only served to strengthen his resolve.

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Suddenly the air currents picked up speed as the fluttering of the swarm reached a deafening intensity. Not only did the beasts blot out the moon, but the shape of the peaking swarm resembled a black tornado tearing a hole through the canopy. There was no time left to idle at the base of the outcrop—they needed to climb.

Harley leaned her flaming stick against the rock and started up, but James struggled to gain more than a footing.

“What’s wrong?” asked Harley.

“I can’t pull myself up!” said James.

Stepping back down to the ground, Harley locked her hands together and held them low by her shin. “Step into my hands!”

James followed her command, anchoring his foot in her hands so she could lift him higher. He steadied himself on the rock, then stretched toward the top and found a grip with his left hand. Kicking off Harley to shift his weight over the edge, he made it to the top. She cursed out his name.

“Sorry!” said James.

Still cursing loudly, Harley started her own climb again. James dropped prone and leaned over the edge, extending his hand to help her. She grabbed it firmly, then pulled herself up, and he held on tightly until she was safely beside him.

The single campfire was gone. Instead, there were ten piles of kindling burning; the piles arranged in a circular layout with enough spacing to lay down in the center. Yoyo was already there with a wool blanket covering his face from the smoke. He beckoned them over with his hand while Tena wrestled with Chocolate to lie down.

Sharing Yoyo’s blanket, James prayed for the plan to work, for the brushfire to stop spreading, for the swarm to leave. Relief came first from the noise as the deafening flutter lessened. The rising column of smoke was forcing the swarm higher, and the formation of the swarm had changed from a tornado to a floating cloud of constantly-changing shape.

The smoke by the bank of the pond kept rising over the rock but nothing appeared on the other three sides. James took it as a sign that the forest around them hadn’t caught fire yet. Time felt on their side as the kindling on top of the rock still had hours left to burn. He had himself and Yoyo to thank for that; their preparations before nightfall were worth the effort.

Gradually the wind weakened as the black cloud-like swarm dispersed into the night. The now weakened air currents struggled to carry embers and ash, greatly reducing the risk of an inferno, and the fire by the pond hadn’t spread beyond the shrubbery and grass. On top of the rock, the red glow of the kindling fires mixed with the blue glow of the pendant, and a white moon beamed bright through the hole in the canopy above.

As it became clear the immediate danger had passed, James’ focus turned to the throbbing pain in his right arm. Rubbing the skin where it hurt only made the pain feel worse. He tried to ignore it, choosing instead to focus his attention on how everyone else was doing.

Yoyo was huddled with his blanket and holding James’ knife. Luckily he didn’t have to use it, though James gave him a pat on the back as if he had. He went to Tena next, her breathing calm as she gripped Chocolate in a tight embrace. James looked at Harley last, feeling concerned by what he saw. She was wincing in pain while squeezing her hand.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Harley shot him a glare. “This is all your fault, James! What were you doing?!”

“I didn’t know all that would happen.”

“Didn’t know! You’re supposed to warn us of danger, not go looking for it,” Harley sat up straight, her glare turned to a permanent scowl. “Use your head for once in your life.”

“I did use my head! Yoyo dropped the pendant and I was helping to get it back.” As he took off the necklace to return it to Yoyo, the sharp pain rushed into his right arm again. “Ouch!”

“Stop faking,” said Harley. “You’re not getting any sympathy from me.”

“I’m not… something’s wrong with my arm...” Suddenly he realized his arm pain wasn’t going away anytime soon. This wasn’t a typical pain, nor a normal bruise. The next thought that popped into his mind was a broken bone. And what if it was? There weren’t any doctors here to fix him up. Feeling terribly frightened, he started to sniffle.

“Shhh, shhh. Let me see,” said Tena.

He wiped his eyes as Tena began her examination. The swelling started at his wrist and ended halfway to his elbow. She poked and prodded with curious fingers, and applied pressure along his arm until the pain intensified to a shout.

“Ow!” James winced.

“It’s broken,” said Tena.

“How can you tell?” asked Harley.

“It’s swollen here and tender there. I’ve seen this before. He needs a splint.”

Tena rushed over to her satchel as Yoyo took her place as the examiner. He held the glowing pendant in his hand like a flashlight, searching James’ arm for more information.

“Can I touch?” Yoyo asked.

“No way!” said James. “No, no, no, definitely no touching. It hurts you know!”

Yoyo brought his face an inch from the swelling and squinted curiously.

“It’s not like a cut,” said James. “It hurts inside, not on top—you can’t see it.”

Tena returned with a collection of materials, including a length of straight oak, wool wrap, and twine. She fashioned a splint that looked as good as the real thing, but when she was done, his arm didn’t feel any better. The dull throbbing lingered.

“Is it supposed to still hurt?” asked James.

“It’ll hurt less in the morning,” said Tena as she adjusted the twine that held it together. “You all should rest. I’ll stay up and keep watch.”

“But what about Harley?”

“She’s hurt too?”

“I’ll be fine,” said Harley. She pulled on the rag wrapped around her right hand.

“A soak and fresh bandage would do you well,” said Tena as she brought the wool wrap and a pot of water. “A warm soak is best—you’ll have to tell me if it’s too hot. Now let’s have a look.”

Harley spread the fingers on her hand and tugged at the start of the rag. She began to unwrap it, carefully removing the soiled layers that clung to her skin, and when the rag finally came off, Tena gasped.

A festering black wound oozed on Harley’s palm, irregular in shape and ripped open. White pus drained from the wound as a bright red color outlined the edges. Harley whimpered, tears welling in her eyes. Tena’s pleasant tone vanished.

“I need you two to brush Chocolate while I tend to Harley. Go ahead. Hurry off,” said Tena.

James stared at the festering wound.

“James,” said Tena, grabbing his shoulder. “Go now. Take Yoyo with you.”

With a queasy stomach, he nodded his head. Why Chocolate needed brushing he didn’t know, but he wasn’t about to argue—Harley was now sobbing. He led Yoyo away and did as he was told.