Ule and Moeee flew through the trees.

  “Well?” boomed Montadie, while they were still airborne.

  “It is as the cat told,” said Ule. He settled on a snow covered branch, talons first, and shook out his feathers. Moeee fluttered down to a fallen trunk. The gleaming moth was less bright than usual, although that could have been just the lemony glow of dawn fighting against his usual radiance.

  “Worse,” said Moeee.

  “How could it be worse?” demanded Rotfoot.

  “There is an entire sect of demonic rats,” said Ule. The owl spoke slowly, eyes glittering as he gazed down on us, his voice measured. “Taken root beneath the ruins and burrows to the south. For-Molsnian the rat king leads them, as Jenkins said. It is him. There is no doubt. We saw him with our own eyes. He wears a crown of gold and has red gems in place of eyes. He is as hideous as the stories tell, with many tails, each fat and fleshly.”

  Montadie shifted, anxiety radiating off her like mist from a morning bog. “Were you able to remain unseen?”

  Ule looked at her, unblinking.

  “Yes. But For-Molsnian is powerful. If I was to estimate I would say at least a Skyrunner-”

  The toads and some of the Awoken gasped and murmured amongst themselves. Montadie looked troubled.

  “What’s a Skyrunner?” I whispered to Wuot.

  “Late cultivation stage,” she said, her eyes distant. “After Radiant comes Dreamchaser, then Skyrunner then Starwalker…”

  I gulped, unable to fathom how powerful such a being would be. What stage was Montadie? “And after Starwalker?” I whispered.

  “After Starwalker you Ascend and become one with the heavens.”

  “The rats are confident in their numbers, in their pestilent cultivation,” Ule continued, and the glade hushed once more. “They make no attempt to mask their presence or hide their activities.”

  “So what?” shouted Moonsap, hopping in agitation. “Montadie can deal with a pesky nest of rats! We will run them out!”

  “I believe there is more?” said Montadie.

  “It is not just the rats,” said Moeee, flatly. “For-Molsnian did not lead his hordes to our fair forest by accident. The Heavenly Parasites are mere opportunists, dangerous yes, but…they were drawn to the area by the dark designs of a two-legger necromancer. They feed off his crippled leavings, feasting on the haunted remains, sucking wounded souls dry and twisting them to their own wiles.”

  “So I will kill the necromancer,” said Montadie. “Then take care of the rats.”

  We all nodded approvingly but Moeee had not finished.

  “The necromancer has made a bargain,” he said. “This death mage reeks of Old God. And not just any Old God - the dark god of chaos, the unhinged madness, the bloated parasite made divine, the Whisperman himself. The Whisperer’s influence is in those ruins, and it has taken hold. The evidence is clear.”

  Montadie drew in a sharp breath.

  “The Whisperer?” I asked into the hushed silence.

  “Shhhhhhhhh!” said all of the mean toad girls at once, their eyes bugging out as they looked in all directions at the same time. I looked around but could not see anything but the dawn touching the icy branches with soft fingers of gold.

  “Who is it? What is it?”

  “The Whisperer is a two-legger god. A powerful one. One of the most ancient,” replied Montadie. “One of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous. He governs death and madness.”

  “He is hungry,” said Moeee.

  “He would devour everything,” said Ule. “He would devour us. Me. You. The world. Everything.”

  “And For-Molsnian worships him,” squeaked Lavellan. I had never seen the water-vole look so shaken. Her voice was so high-pitched it hurt my ears. “He has invited him here. The necromancer, the god, the rat-king. They are all hungry for what should not be.”

  “But are you sure?” said Montadie, her gaze fixing on the winged travellers. “This changes things.”

  Moeee and Ule nodded. “We are sure.”

  “We saw not only demonic rats but at least one draugr, as well as several unruly spirits,” said Ule. “The necromancer is gathering his power. We dared not go closer.”

  “Not that we would have known what we were looking for,” added Moeee. “We were lucky to escape unseen as it was. And Jenkins was lucky to escape with his life.”

  Everyone looked at me.

  I shrugged. I knew it was not luck but skill. Well maybe a tiny bit of luck, but I was not sure why everyone was acting quite so seriously? The rats had been horrific, and the king squeaker might be powerful, but I could not imagine anyone taking on my teacher and winning? Even backed by a fancy hungry god.

  “What’s a draugr?” I asked.

  “An unnatural being,” said Ule.

  “A dead thing given life,” said Moeee.

  Montadie sighed heavily. “A draugr is a creature snatched back from the peace of death to trouble the world once more with its footsteps.” She looked more disturbed than I had ever seen her. The twinge of unease settled in my stomach and bloomed into a most uncomfortable feeling. I did not like this.

  “These are…heavy tidings,” she continued. “Demonic rats are one thing, for the sanctity of the forest I would fight For-Molsnian but this - this is beyond my strength.”

  “What?” breathed out one of the toads. I did not look to see which one. I did not understand what Montadie meant and it seemed like I was not alone.

  Even the small folk on their shrooms were still, eyes wide, for once all play forgotten.

  “We must leave at once,” she said.

  “But- why?” said Nadders, the little snake looking as confused as I felt. “Even if they are dangerous they are not here?”

  “They are far away. Perhaps they will never come?” added Moonsap, hopefully. “If they are not provoked.” She glared at me, as if I had asked to discover them.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Why should we leave our home?” asked Hangbelly.

  “You do not understand,” said Montadie. “Listen to me. They may not come now. They might not come tomorrow, or the next day, or even a year from now. But come they will, and once they come the flood will not be held back. This is bigger than a small sect of demonic rats. Bigger than a pestilent rat king. If such a destructive Old God is involved there is no hope to be gained by staying. No sanity in presenting yourselves as bodies for the slaughter. Listen carefully my students, my loves: to stay is to die. Do you want to be draugr?”

  Her words lingered in the stillness of the glade.

  “I don’t want to die,” said Skoll. Hush patted him with an understanding paw. My little sister looked equally distraught.

  “Then that is why we must leave,” said Montadie, looking around at us all, the frowning toads, the anxious Awakened. “Do you understand? There is nothing to be gained by staying here.”

  Far off, in the treetops some birds were singing as the weak rays of winter sun pierced the frosty canopy. The sound seemed weirdly merry and normal. Almost uncouth.

  Montadie breathed out, her voice gentling as she looked at us all. “All is not lost. We will find new homes, find sanctuary elsewhere. The world is big. This is just one tiny corner of it.”

  “I don’t want to go though,” said Skoll. He looked so confused I actually felt sorry for the wolf pup. Although he was less pup now and half wolf. My own mind was racing.

  “But-” Wuot’s voice cracked.

  “This place is doomed. Accept that. But you will all survive. The heart of this place beats in you all. You are what make it special, and this we will save and we will continue our lessons. We will mourn, and then we will move on with our lives. All that is left behind can be made anew. We will rebuild. We will cultivate. All will be well, you will see. The future awaits us, in another place. Now go and prepare.”

  Nobody moved, everyone just staring at her.

  “I am so sorry my students.”

  “There must be something,” said Lavellan. “You are powerful, you are strong.”

  “What level is she?” I asked the air.

  “Skyrunner,” said Moonsap.

  “There must be something you can do,” Lavellan was saying. “That we can do? We can all fight, all of us together, to protect our forest!”

  “If it was just For-Molsnian.” Montadie shrugged, her enormous eyes shimmering.

  “I do not fear death,” I declared, puffing out my chest. And it was true. I knew death was not the end, I had died before and knew I would again.

  “You might not fear death,” said Montadie, severely. “but you should. You are young Jenkins. You do not understand what you face. Death by itself is a sadness, to be mourned but this is no normal death. This is absolute death, the destruction of your soul, your spirit. Death at the hands of a Whisperer’s servant takes your soul out of the natural cycle of reincarnation. They feed on souls like an energy source. It is painful, it is destruction, it is the corruption of your very essence. No. We cannot risk it. We are leaving this place immediately. I cannot protect you here, but I will protect you as best I can by helping you leave.”

  She looked around at our shocked faces.

  “What about the humans?” asked Wuot. “This is their home too. Would they not fight?”

  “Two-leggers are stupid,” sniffed Rotfoot. “Have you ever tried to talk to one? Just blah blah blah noises.”

  “Do you think they would even notice?” asked Moonsap.

  “They don’t know how to cultivate,” said Hangbelly, scratching at her side with one slimy foot. “What use would they be?”

  “Some of them are tough,” said Wuot, stubbornly. “Some of them have magic.”

  “Like my Maud,” I piped up. Although my Maud’s track record with squeakers was not encouraging. She was not a warrior. I could not imagine her tackling a demonic rat. I deflated a little. The three mean toads gave me a trio of scathing glances, as if they could hear my thoughts. “We could find some human warriors to help,” I said, ignoring them, and looking pleadingly at my teacher.

  “Don’t be stupid,” said Hangbelly. “Montadie can’t show herself in a human settlement, and if she ambushed one in the woods it would be more likely to attack her than communicate. And then she would just have to kill it, it would be a waste of time.”

  “Well-” said Ule, glancing at the enormous toad. “Someone could turn into a human and tell them. Humans are more likely to listen to other humans.”

  We all looked at him. Then our heads swivelled towards our mentor.

  Montadie shifted in her hole.

  “I suppose I could,” she said thoughtfully.

  “What? How?” The glade broke out into exclamations and chatter.

  “Didn’t you all know we could do that?” said Ule, smugly.

  “We can’t do it,” said Moeee. “Our cultivation is not yet advanced enough. And neither is yours.”

  “But Montadie can?” I asked. “We will be able to assume human form? One day?”

  Moeee and Ule both nodded.

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about the concept. It was very interesting but I could not really see the benefits. Other than communication. My feline form was in all other ways obviously superior. And surely I would find other ways to communicate my needs?

  “I suppose it will do no harm to try,” said Montadie. “Not that I think it will make any difference.”

  The giant toad shut her enormous bulbous eyes. Her face screwed up momentarily with a pained expression. I thought she might be about to be sick and moved back a little, hopefully out of range. But instead her body shivered. The ground tremored, the moonlight flashing across her skin, and then, just like that, she was gone.

  Not gone, I realised, just bizarrely diminished.

  Where moments before a giant toad had been now there stood a squat, rotund two-legger woman. She had frizzy hair and a lot of warts. Her skin had a faint greenish tint, if you looked at it sideways. Her eyes were just a little bit too large, and spaced a little bit to far apart.

  We all leaned forward to look at her. It was hard to believe this was still my teacher.

  The mean toads wailed about her smooth pink ugliness. Skol sniffed suspiciously.

  “Now I must be fast,” said Montadie, and her voice sounded strange. Like her form it was smaller, quieter, less impressive, although still touched with power that belied the monster within. “I cannot sustain this form for long, and then I will not be able to do it again for many moons.” She turned, digging in the muck with her small, pink hands and cursing. She pulled out something hidden in the roots of a nearby tree and held it up. Some kind of garment.

  “A lesson for you all,” she said, as she shrugged it on. “Two-leggers get upset if you walk about without wrapping yourself first.”

  The glade was silent.

  “Why?” Nadders asked.

  “I don’t know,” said Montadie. I, too, thought it was strange. The Small Folk had a tendency to don clothing like two-leggers at times but theirs seemed to be mostly… decorative. It rarely covered much and usually took the form of a hat, or a waistcoat, or a single shoe. Statement pieces with no function. The older, larger Small Folk sometimes wore more, to be fair. I had never thought about it before. I decided clothing must be a cultural peculiarity.

  Montadie looked even weirder wrapped in what I recognised as a lumpy homespun dress. I wonder if she had nicked it off a washing line or asked one of the pixies to do it for her. She drew out a leather bag, from the depths of which she drew a round piece of metal and showed it around to us all. Maud had a few of these as well, although hers weren’t as shiny.

  “Lesson number two: this is a coin,” she said. “Humans really like these. Communication with them becomes much easier in the presence of these metal rounds. Remember this for if you ever chose to walk in the human world as a two-legger.”

  “Ew,” said Hangbelly.

  “Now go,” said human-Montadie. “I will find a gathering house of humans and alert them to the presence of the demonic rats. I will impress upon them the seriousness of the matter and ask them to send fighters. Perhaps they will listen. But I must make haste before my form reverts. All of you - go home. Find your families. Find your friends. Explain as best you can. Tell them they need to leave. Meet me here at dawn tomorrow and we will travel together away from here. And we will find new homes, I will make sure of it. I have somewhere in mind, but quickly now-”

  We all continued to stare at her human form. My heart was awash with emotions. I know I had not fully processed her words. I had arrived with what I knew was bad news, but now-

  “What are you waiting for? Go! Go!”

  We scattered. Montadie's weird warty diminutive form striding off into the trees in the direction of the largest two-legger settlement beyond the village.

  I met my siblings in the trees.

  “I will tell Mother,” we all said together.

  “And the others,” added Thimble.

  We set off towards our respective homes.

  And thank you to Altair Polaris for the awesome review! May you never be parted from your cats, and may their floof always be floofy, and their murder mittens benign!

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