Hawk's Nest (Tremble Island) Read Online Free PDF Page B

to the place where a healer was needed as soon as one could be found.

Chapter Four
     
    Fern sat alone outside the door to her hut. Beside her was a sack, and she greeted Con as he approached. “I will go with you tonight, the others are busy with preparations for the coming time, and mine are complete. I have seen the need and will help.”
    Con was disappointed, yet Fern would be the best person to offer aid and comfort to the victims with Hawk. He took the small bundle of cloth in his hand and placed it into her sack, then took on his feathered body, nudging the woman onto his back. For one so gnarled and weak, she held onto his feathers in a death grip that was almost painful to him. He had instructed her to hold on, and she was following that directive to the letter. As they began to soar, Con could see four owls and two hawks already making their way over the treetops toward the direction of the burned homestead. With his added wing size, he easily came above them, eventually passing them, as they all drew closer to their destination. He circled the structures before landing yards from the small camp Hawk had set up with the pitiful creatures they had found. He kept Fern on his back until they reached the smaller area, and Hawk approached to assist her from her feathered perch.
    The others began to arrive, and Hawk gave instructions for them to find the people who had fled through the forest such a short time ago. “You are to find those that caused harm to these children and bring them to me at the Hall. They will be tried and made an example of, this will not be tolerated in our lands.” He suspected the people were actually humans who had given birth to the four young dual beings, and that was probably why they were chained and half starved. Wolves and dragons could not eat cooked foods in their animal skins. The meat, while not poison, was not enough to sustain life for long. How they had stayed alive so far, was a miracle. “They cannot have gotten far, but were traveling at a good clip at the last time Con and I seen them running. If they resist and you have no other choice, kill them. They will still prove useful as a portion in the Wizard’s boneyard fence.”
    Fern took over the camp, she gave Hawk and Con the task of finding fresh meat for the three animals, and when they were in front of her she bled the meat into a small pouch one at a time. She added liquid to each pouch and trickled the concoction into the open jaws of each creature. The wolves were easy, since they were too weak to do more than attempt a growl when Con held their jaws open for Fern to administer her potions. The little dragon was another story. It wanted nothing to do with any of them. Everyone was surprised when the wild human child pushed Hawk away from the little creature and reached out to soothe it. She made cooing noises and sat down, pulled the small body onto her lap, and held out her hand toward Fern. Con quietly told the older woman what was happening and took the pouch, handing it to the girl, who in turn fed it to the small scaled creature. When she pointed to the fresh meat that sat on the rock, Con tore a chunk from the hindquarter and handed it over. They watched as she tore tiny bites from the meat to give to the baby in her arms.
    It was obvious that all of them were young, how young was the surprise. Fern told them with a laugh, “The tiny scaled one is but a few months of age, and the wolves are twins I believe, they might be a season old. The girl child is at least five winters. There is something unusual about her, something I have yet to encounter. Only time will tell us what her other natures may be. I believe her to be fierce whatever her nature matures into.”
    Hawk handed the girl a cooked haunch of meat and she snatched it from his hand quickly, and devoured the still warm meat. She even chewed the gristle from the ends. Fern told him not to give her more, even though she stared at the remaining meat on