A few hours earlier

River and his group have been travelling in silence for hours. He couldn’t say whether it’s a comfortable or uncomfortable quiet, though. They are all attentive to their surroundings; every one of them knows the danger of their environment intimately. It is a good reason for silence: even if their communication is a lot quieter than that of the noisy human, it is still audible.

Well, it used to have to be – these days with the Bonds facilitating communication it’s a different story.

They remain silent regardless.

River suspects another cause. Though most of his kin have come around to the new way of things, not all have been so willing to acknowledge his leadership. The Honoured Pathwalker – no, just ‘Pathwalker’ he tells himself – for one has not been so happy about it. Lee is another. They obey because they must, but River doesn’t doubt what would happen if the Bond broke.

The Unevolved are happy with the change in status quo, much as Catch had been – the opportunity to eat without needing to fulfil a quota of resources is key in that. River senses discontent among the Evolved, though, as if they fear that the order of the world has been turned on its head. Some of the Unevolved, too, are uneasy, as if fearful that they have done something wrong.

The closer they get to the village, the more the unease mounts – it is one thing to accept new, beneficial rules when far from home; it’s very difficult to do so when returning to it.

But is this home still?

For the others, yes. For River himself….? He finds he cannot answer, good memories of the village and convivial moments shared with other villagers juxtaposed with warm moments and camaraderie with Markus’ band of hunters. And he has a number of bad memories of the village, but very few of them with his master’s group.

They are approaching the village. River has been noticing familiar landmarks for a while, the trees and rocks he has used to lead him home since he was a hatchling. They do not pause.

It has taken almost two Egg-rises to reach this point, the need for them to go around the furthest reach of the Forest of Death necessitating them to go a good distance out of their way.

Joy had complained about that, demanding why, if River’s master – their master – was so powerful, they could not just go through the trees. The answer had come within the first Egg-rise.

A plume of smoke had been the first thing they saw, stretching up to heaven above the forest canopy. They hadn’t known what it was then.

Next had come the rush of beasts, maddened and terrified, stampeding out of the forest. These were the beasts which were obviously too small, or too weak, or otherwise not interesting enough for the forest to kill. The villagers had to pause to weather the storm, the Warriors acting as the first line of defence as they huddled behind a the trunk of a large tree.

Fortunately, the beasts didn’t seem interested in fighting; they simply wished to get away. From what became all too obvious.

The light was what they saw first, a reddish, orangey light which flickered and made their shadows fall oddly. Then they felt the heat, the waves of it that emanated from the forest to their sides. And then they saw it: the life-devourer.

This one was the real deal. After having seen and made so many small fires for his alchemy or his master’s cooking, River had started wondering whether his memories were faulty, if the life-devourer wasn’t actually as terrible as he had remembered.

What he saw then reminded him of just how terribly powerful the life-devourer could be.

They had backed away from the flames which licked out, expanding the body of the devourer faster than they could run. River didn’t think he was alone in fearing that he would never see another Egg-rise. He’d cursed himself for not running with the beasts earlier, for not having let the others run when they wished too.

And then…he saw the power of his master – as he was sure this was Honoured Markus’ work.

The flames had spread to the edge of the Forest of Death’s domain…and there they had stopped. Though the leaves of the normal forest trees had withered, their branches blackened and singed from sheer proximity to the heat of the life-devourer, they had not caught light.

The villagers had paused, their desire to flee quenched. They had stared at the fire, just as River had. It truly was magnificent, and all the more so because of the sheer control that they could sense behind it. A river of fire which could so easily burn them to the same ash that they could see the trees crumbling into, yet it was held leashed, bound to the will of the one who controlled it.

River felt awe go through him and through the Bonds of the others he was connected to.

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They bore witness in silence, watching as the edge of the Forest of Death was burned, the trees showing their vulnerability to fire in the speed that they were consumed. And then, once the fire had taken its due from each of the trees, it died, the flames reducing to nothing more than glowing embers.

Still the villagers stood staring, for what was revealed after the curtain of fire disappeared was just as awe-inspiring as the control of the fire had been.

Where a dense forest of trees had been, there was suddenly nothing more than a blank, featureless field of grey ash that stretched as far as their eyes could see. With his enhanced vision, River was able to catch sight of flickers of red and orange far in the distance – the life-devourer hadn't finished its work. Neither, apparently, had his master.

Yet in that place, where the villagers were, the Forest of Death was no more.

“This was your master’s work?” Lee had asked, his spikes muted, awe still flickering through them.

“Yes,” River answered simply.

“Would he be willing to teach us, do you think?” Joy asked moving to face River directly, greed and awe warring for dominance in her spikes. River hesitated.

“My master is generous,” he said finally. “But only with those who are as committed to the group as he is. As I am. You know that he taught me to set a fire, and would have taught me magic if I could learn it.” He couldn’t answer for his master, but that is what he had seen of Markus’ approach so far. Joy seemed satisfied enough with that answer, as did the others who had heard it, the Unevolved seeming almost as interested as the Pathwalker.

River had felt a brief pang of fear go through him at the thought of his master taking another assistant and replacing him. A moment after, he had chided himself – his master had said and proved multiple times that he valued River, that even if he gave others attention, he would not cast River aside.

They had continued loping through the forest not long after that, and had made camp soon after the Great Egg had disappeared below the mountains, maximising the amount of travel time. River had felt a change in the Bonds connected to him, a sense of awe never fully leaving them, joined by hope. At the same time, he sensed increased conflict within the Bonds of the Evolved, though the details escaped him.

Now, as they prepare to put into place the plans they discussed in the darkness of last dark-fall, River takes a moment to once more touch the Bonds which he can control.

While they are still connected to his master, as a team-leader, they seem to go through him first. It’s taken quite a while for him to get used to feeling the emotions of his kin constantly – like he is being forced to watch their spikes all the time. He doesn’t understand how his master can cope with so many Bonds feeding their emotions to him, but maybe he knows a way to mute them.

For now, though, it’s important for him to know how his kin are feeling since, potentially, his life will lie in their claws. While he can control the actions of the Pathwalker and two Warriors with him, the same is not true of the Unevolved. And even with the control, there is much damage which can be done – River himself is held with a Dominate Bond and knows exactly how much wriggle room there is in it. Not that he’s ever taken advantage of that.

Reaching a spot that they know is only a short distance away from the village, but is not yet actually in sight of it, they pause. River withdraws from his sense of the Bond – with no indication that any appear to be planning to betray him to the Pathwalkers who seek his head, he will just have to trust his kin.

He feels a brief sense of grief that he needs to consider his own kin as enemies, but pushes it aside – he knows he is doing this for the village’s good. And they will know it too before the end.

“Right,” says River quietly, facing the group of villagers. “Yells-a-curse, it’s up to you now. Remember, quick in, see what’s going on, then quickly come out again and tell us what you’ve found out.”

“Yes, Runs-with-the-river,” the Unevolved assents, lifting his chin briefly. “I understand my task.” River nods briefly, then feels a flash of…something at the realisation that he’s picked up some of his master’s physical movements. He pushes that to the side too.

“Give him the carcass,” River orders Lee – the biggest villager has been charged with bearing the body of the beast they killed only a short while ago. It’s Yells-a-curse’s reason for returning to the village and he accepts it with a bit of effort.

Then, setting off, the rest of them hide in the nearby bushes – they don’t want to be found before they know where the land lies in the village.

River can only hope that Yells-a-curse will be back soon – and that no one realises he isn’t meant to be there at all. That’s why, after copious debate about the right approach to take, they had chosen to send in an Unevolved adult.

After all, everyone would know which Pathwalker and Warriors had been sent to chase down ‘the traitor Runs-with-the-river’, but would they remember which Unevolved had gone? It would have been even better if Catch had been able to scout for them, but he had stayed with Markus. River is glad of that, despite how much more certain the plan would be with Catch – his master needs to be protected and River is certain that Catch will do so with his life.

However, it does mean that there is a chance that someone will realise Yells-a-curse isn’t meant to be in the village and the whole plan will come tumbling down around their jaws.

As a result, River finds himself unable to be completely still. From the tension he senses over the Bonds which he keeps checking with almost frenetic frequency, he is not the only one feeling concerned that their half-dead corpse of a plan might escape their claws.

The Great Egg moves across the sky, heading once more for the mountains; the tension mounts still higher.

They wait.

The Great Egg dips below the mountains; its disappearance heralds the return of darkness.

They wait.

The white glow of the first Spirit’s Eye rises and pierces the darkness, making it almost as bright as day to their dark-adapted eyes.

They wait.

When they hear the sound of feet drumming towards them across the forest floor, River hears a shift from all his kin hidden around. Finally, something is about to happen.

Yells-a-curse bursts into the clearing, his eyes wide, his spikes flashing with alarm.

“We need to stop it! The Honoured Shaman she’s….she’s gone mad.”