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A week after coming down from the mountain, everyone looked melancholy. A tempest of rain poured down through the sparse canopy above the animals as they walked and, in the case of the otters, swam towards Fenbury. Reya tried to tag along next to the shore to start a conversation, but she might as well have been talking to a group of sloths. They didn't seem interested.

Mydya in particular looked like she was about to explode from pure intensity. Reya was afraid that the roasted lizard she ate at breakfast was going to snap in half from how hard the skunk squeezed it. Although Reya was dying with every second she looked at the wound-up skunk and didn't try to talk to her about what Mephit said, the otter girl figured that she'd only do more harm than good. Besides, she didn't want Mephit to find out that his sister had overheard him.

Reya eventually slunk back off to the middle of the swiftly moving river to talk to Torren in privacy. Torren looked off through the fog to the blurry outline of Mephit with sympathetic eyes as she told him what the skunk had gone through.

'He must have been hurting really bad,' the bigger otter hesitantly signed.

"Yeah," Reya agreed through the deafening rain, "I can't imagine what it was like growing up with that secret."

'He told you, though,' Torren absentmindedly gestured.

"Yeah, it's weird. I've only known them for a few days now. And that was something he didn't even tell the badger ranger lady, what was her name? I mean, it sounded like she was a mother to him."

'You make an impression on people. He really trusts you.'

Reya looked at the mute, floating on his back as the rain drummed down on his chest-fur. He was still a mystery to her. An enigma who showed up on her doorstep and disrupted her ordinary life. She knew more about the past of Aris, the skunk twins, or even Jack than she knew about him.

"Do you?" She muttered under her breath.

'What?' He floated closer to her.

"Do you trust me?"

Torren looked at her, shocked. 'Of course!'

"But," she started, "but I know nothing about you. You just said that Mephit's gotta trust me since he told me all that stuff about himself, but what about you? You won't tell me anything! You know everything about me!" Her heart beat like a drum.

Torren stared somberly into the sky. 'Do I?'

"Yeah, I'm a useless limping bitch who never shuts up!" She didn't know where her words were coming from. Torren started to say something back, but Reya cut him off. Her voice started to quiver. "You're my only real friend, Torren. You're my only real friend and all I really know about you is your name."

Neither of the otters spoke for a while.

'If I ever confided in anyone it'd be in you.' Reya opened her mouth, but didn't say anything. He waited for a minute before beginning to sign again.

'I just want to move on. If you really need to know something about my past.' He paused. 'I want you to know, you're the first good thing that's happened to me since I can remember.'

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to -"

'It's okay.'

They floated along silent alongside the chaotic noise of the rain. However, Reya couldn't stay quiet. She grew more and more agitated with her inability to think of something to say. Why were her words failing her now? She never had trouble finding something to say, let alone with Torren.

And then Mephit screamed.

Reya and Torren shot towards the shore like arrows. They could make out the blurry forms of their new friends through the storm as well as the two brown blotches racing towards them.

She was on solid ground before she knew what was happening. Mephit was backed up against a tree; Mydya and Siv were between him and a large brown wolf. It slowly paced a half circle around the two tense animals; it's piercing blue eyes scanned back and forth for an opening.

Aris was circling around a different pair of wolves. Reya could see the long metal claw extensions glittering in the rain. One of the wolves paused for a split second, its muscles tensing.

Reya was about to call out a warning when she saw Torren's teeth dig into its tail. The wolf howled and twisted around to face the spotted necked otter, its claws swiping where he had been only a moment before.

The other wolf glanced at its companion and Aris took advantage of the distraction. The ranger darted forward, slashing at the wolf's face. His opponent ducked backward, but not before blood was drawn from a grazing blow to its muzzle. It bared its teeth and circled away, setting Aris's back to Torren's fight.

Suddenly, Reya's breath was knocked out of her. Something had barreled into her side, knocking her off of her injured paws. She looked up, expecting the worst, but saw the black fur and white stripe that she knew was one of the skunks. It leapt off of her and she scrambled to her feet. There were more enemies than she had thought. Siv was squared off with the wolf she had seen before, and now a fourth was right where she had been standing a moment ago.

She backed up towards the river. Jack was nowhere to be seen. Mydya was the one who had knocked her over. Mephit was racing towards the river behind her. Reya's mind started to blank when a fifth brown furred beast jumped out in between the male skunk and safety. There were too many.

She ran, limping, to Mephit's side. He glanced at her for a moment, but didn't dare to take his attention away from the slowly approaching wolf. Reya bared her teeth and hissed. The wolf didn't even flinch. She couldn't imagine that the muscled animal in front of her was even slightly intimidated by a limping small-clawed otter with swollen paws and patchy fur.

The two animals stared at each other for several seconds before the wolf backed off into the forest. Aris stood next to her, his muzzle rippling with a snarl and his metal claws dripping drops of blood and rain.

She glanced over her shoulder. Torren was still dancing back and forth with his opponent. Siv had maneuvered himself next to Mydya, the pair of them slowly circling back and forth with a pair of wolves.

"Go!" She shouted at Aris. Her voice sounded so quiet in the midst of the downpour. She wondered if the beagle heard her at all, but he quickly rushed off towards Siv and Mydya. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought of Torren fighting alone, but she knew that it was the right choice. Torren seemed like he could handle himself until Aris was able to intervene. Mydya, as mature as she acted, was still a child.

Reya shoved Mephit forward with her shoulder. He took the hint and ran towards the water. Reya followed him, her eyes never leaving the brush where the wolf had disappeared into the forest. She expected the flurry of fur, teeth, and claws to fly out at her at any moment.

The small skunk paused at the edge of the water. Without warning, Reya bit into his scruff and dove forward, pulling both of them into the raging current.

Everything was suddenly quiet. The torrential rain striking into the water above her sounded like the pitter patter of claws on wood. She could feel them moving along with the rapid current, but this was the otter's domain. She felt comfortable here. However, the skunk obviously didn't.

Mephit flailed underneath her. Bubbles rose in front of the otter's face. Did he hold his breath? Panicked, Reya darted for the surface, swimming as fast as she could while dragging along the waterlogged skunk.

She burst back into the air, sound once again pounding into her ears. She held the skunk's head as far up above the surface as she could manage. She heard him gasp for breath as he was assaulted by wave after wave of river water. She shook him once, hoping he'd get the hint hold his breath, and then dove back into serenity.

She hadn't realized just how strong the storm's current was until she had to drag a sack of wet fur through it. However, she swam with strength that she didn't know she had. Her body twisted like an eel. Her rudder tail pushed the two animals forward with powerful swipes through the surging water.

She pulled the coughing and sputtering skunk up onto the shore.

"Can you breathe?" she demanded. He coughed again, water dripping out of his open wheezing muzzle. He nodded.

"Good."

"Are you -"

"I can't go back," Reya bitterly hissed. "If I leave you here, you could die! Everyone could be dead! I need to be here to pull you back into the river if I have to." Reya stopped for a moment to catch her breath, but then looked at the skunk with fierce determination. "Let's go. We're walking back upstream."

"But isn't that dangerous?" he stammered back.

"We're on the opposite shore."

"Oh." Mephit looked down.

Reya didn't hesitate and started to limp back towards her friends.

"Have you heard of Arctos?" She asked, the tension evaporating from her voice.

"The god of battle?"

"Yeah. I've been thinking about the gods a lot more lately. I never really used to. I mean, my life was really normal so I never had to. But, you know, I'm just praying right now that the great bear Arctos roars for them. Torren's going to hear him, I'm sure of it. Aris too."

"Yeah," Mephit agreed, "they're definitely brave enough to hear him. I mean, Aris already got one of the wolves before we ran! Did'ja see?"

Reya nodded.

"I," Mephit's voice trembled, "I just wish that Jack heard."

"What happened?" Reya asked, startled.

"Mephit looked up at her with pained eyes. "You didn't see? Jack, Jack was the first one they got. They bit out his throat and I didn't even have time to think before they ran at us! Jack's dead!" The skunk began to sob.

"We have to keep walking," Reya commanded. She wanted to stop. She wanted to comfort the skunk who had just seen another life torn away from him, but she didn't think she could. She had a lump in her throat the size of a clam and her eyes were staring to water.

Reya looked up into the thick white fog as sheets of rain pelted her fur. The nice thing about the rain was that Mephit couldn't see her crying.

She had only known Jack for several days, but she felt a connection to him. He had carried her up and down from the mountain, listening to her talk and laughing at her jokes. He had an aura of friendliness; she felt like he'd go to the ends of the kingdom to help even a new friend of his.

However, she'd never know for sure.

"When did you meet him?"

"A few years ago. I was trying to hide from some kids and Jack let me into the stables. He waited them out with me and told me about how he worked in the quarries at Fenbury and how he was moving out to Lenwick to try and find a herd outside the borders. He didn't wanna have to carry things around anymore. He told me all sorts of stories, I mean when I came back other times to see him again he'd tell me different legends and tales. They were always about deer at first, but then there were a lot about horses and cows and elk. I think he was getting them from other animals in the stables to tell to me! I," he paused, "I can't believe he's dead."

"Wow," Reya muttered, "I'm really sorry, Mephit. He sounds like he was really important to you." She paused, wondering for a moment whether she should continue. "I also lost a friend recently."

"What happened?" he sniffled.

"Some freak thing with a doctor who turned out to have something against her, or was just evil or some stupid thing. I don't know. She was my best friend growing up. I played with other animals from my town and from the rabbit warren that was a bit to the east, but I always felt closest to her."

"What happened to the doctor?"

"He's being sent to Fenbury in a cage. We're supposed to meet with the rangers there to help them decide on a punishment. We were on our way there when everything went wrong and we had to run from Lenwick. I don't even know what I want anymore. I mean, I want to see that stupid mole locked up forever for taking away my friend, but after going through all of this I'm just exhausted. I don't know if I want to show up in town at all with that filthy ground rat living there."

"Reya!"

"I know, I'm sorry," Reya said, her eyes shifting down to her paws, "I shouldn't talk that way about moles. I just can't help but see his weird pale snout every time I try to think of Sylvia. I hate it."

"Yeah," Mephit whimpered.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to think about, I just wanted to tell you about my friend. I mean, I think she'd like knowing that I'm passing on her memory to other people."

Mephit nodded.

"Jack too! You told me all those things about him that I never would have known before. We've got to carry on their memories. It's all we've got left of them and maybe people can learn something from how Jack treated other animals. He was a good deer."

"Yeah, he was."

"And to think that sentient animals did it too," she growled, "it makes my blood boil."

"They were sentient?"

"They had to be! I haven't seen a feral predator in Haarshollow in my entire life, let alone a whole pack. And those eyes, those yellow beady eyes just looked like they could think. I know that they were sentient."

"Why would they do something like that?"

"I don't know," Reya muttered somberly, "all the northern wolves moved south of the mountains after the treaty, so they must have been from the Lenwick riots. And they got what they wanted, right? Jack's dead."

Reya stopped and stared across the river. Shapes moved on the opposite shore, but she couldn't quite make them out in the heavy fog and pouring rain.

"Hey Mephit, I know I said you should stay with me, but -"

"You've gotta check."

"Yeah." Reya nodded somberly. "If anything happens, jump into the river and scream, okay?"

"All right."

Reya leapt back into the flowing river. She nimbly darted towards the other side, compensating for the strong current like it was nothing. Without the flailing Mephit to show her down, she moved more freely in the water than a bird in the air.

She poked her head out on the other side and the twist of anxiety in her stomach immediately dissipated. She saw everyone moving around and alive.

"Torren! Aris!" Thank the gods you're alive!" She cried out, pulling herself onto the shore.

Torren ran over to her and nuzzled her.

'You're safe!'

"Where's Mephit?" Mydya shouted, her body shaking.

"He's on the other side. I had to see if it was safe!"

"Go get him! Who knows what could be out there!"

Reya sheepishly agreed and dove back into the raging river. Torren followed her, swimming close to her side as she cut through the water towards opposite shore.

"Mephit! Everyone's okay!" She announced as soon as her head poked out of the water on the other side, "we're gonna bring you back now."

The skunk sighed in relief and let Reya pull him into the water by the scruff of his neck. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut and small bubbles escaped his muzzle, but he didn't flail like he had the previous time.

Mydya was waiting on the other side. She looked almost as if she didn't believe that Reya would bring Mephit back in a single piece. However, her muscles relaxed as the sopping ball of skunk uncurled himself and breathed gasping sputtering breaths. Mephit meekly protested as she roughly pulled him to his feet.

"We need to move," the skunk girl said with conviction.

"You're right," Aris agreed, "we should cross the river when it grows narrower and travel inland. Hopefully this storm will put whatever that was off of our scent."

"Was that the army?" Reya asked, "I thought it would all be cats!"

"I don't know what the hell is going on, but we need to get to Fenbury as soon as possible. We aren't safe here."

"What about Jack?" Mephit demanded. Aris shifted his eyes away. Instead, Siv spoke up.

"We don't have time. If we don't leave right now we'll die too."

"But he doesn't deserve this! If one of us died, he'd do whatever he could to see them put to rest properlike! We have to do something!" Although the rain made it difficult to see tears in his eyes, Reya could hear the pain in the skunk's voice.

"We can't," Siv said coldly.

"Listen," Reya offered, "we don't need his body to pay him respects. Once we're safe we can hold a vigil for him. I hate leaving his body here too, but I think that Jack'd be happy to know that he's resting with proof that he saved us."

Mephit violently shook his head back and forth but he didn't say anything. Aris sighed and started to walk.

"Mephit, please," Mydya said, "we need to go!"

Mephit looked for a moment like he'd refuse, but he turned around on his shaking legs and began to walk downstream behind the beagle. Reya slipped back into the water. Torren followed. He tried to hide his expression as he submerged into the river, but Reya saw him wince.

"Torren, are you okay?"

'I'm fine, don't worry,' he signed, 'I just got some scratches in the fight.'

Reya ducked underwater so that she could see more clearly. Blood dripped out of long gashes on his side. They didn't look deep, but her heart began to throb anyway. One of the cuts along his shoulder ran dangerously close to his neck. Had she been that close to losing him?

She shook her head. The small otter knew that it was futile to look at his injuries right then. Right now it was most important to get as far away as possible. However, she couldn't stop looking over at the crimson blood trickling out into the current as they swam on towards Fenbury.