The Shift

A fanfiction by SilverWings

Chapter 11-

The heat was gone. That was the first thing Tealfeather noticed. The harsh heat if the desert had been replaced with a cool mist blanketing her surroundings. A slow-moving river ran nearby, cutting through the green, albeit dark, plain. Teal assumed it was night, although she couldn't see any stars. Teal drank deeply from the river, almost falling in as a result of the throbbing in every muscle of her body. "Am I... dead?" Teal wondered aloud.

"If you're dead, I'm dead too," a familiar voice said ruefully.

"Greyfeather!?"

Teal spun around just in time to see the majestic cream raptor stalk out of the bushes, a dodo dangling from her jaws.

"You have it," she said, gesturing to the dodo with a nod of her head, "I've already eaten one."

Teal stared at her friend curiously.

"Maybe you're dead too." she said finally. "Goldfeather?" she half-yelled.

Greyfeather winced.

"No, we're definitely alive. *It* happened again, whatever 'it' is. The same thing that happened before. The rest of the clan is over there. I... was one of the first to wake up."

Grey slowly stood from the crouch she had settled in and began to lead Tealfeather back to the rest of the clan.

A growl came from a nearby tree, and Teal saw Bloodfeather standing uneasily on one of the lower branches. "Let all raptors strong enough to attend meet at the base of this tree!" he called.

A small handful of raptors assembled, and Teal saw with a stab of sadness that many were either still sleeping or too weak to come. "As you all know," Bloodfeather began, "my deputy, Mintfeather, was recently killed. It is time for me to appoint a new deputy. For this role, I choose Tawnyfeather."

A murmur of congratulations and sadness swept through the assembled group. It was good that Tawnyfeather would be the new deputy, but the mention of Mintfeather brought sadness to many. He had served his clan until the end, and left behind a partner and two eggs, that had now hatched into Indigofeather and Silverfeather. His death was still a shock.

"It is also time for the partnering of young Bronzefeather. He has grown into a fine young raptor, and from now on his partner shall be Greyfeather." Tealfeather looked up in surprise. She had almost forgotten about Bronzefeather's partnering.

"Greyfeather, Bronzefeather, come here."

The two raptors nervously walked toward their leader.

"I now pronounce you partnered. Congratulations to Tawnyfeather, and these two, of course."

Cheers went through the growing crowd, but no-one was louder than Teal. She pushed her way through the crowd until she was as close as she could get to her two best friends.

"Come with me. Now." said a voice on her left. Bronzefeather grabbed her arm.