Heartbonding Trial 2 || Darkest Before Dawn

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The rhythmic sound of her peg-leg on the deck of the once-abandoned ship was like a measurement of time; evenly spaced. The sounds were growing closer together the brighter the sky became. She should have been back by now. Something was wrong. She had felt her long-time friend move in the night, followed her shape disappearing into the jungle without a word. Split had been restless as of late; Twine knew better than to push her too much. She knew the grey and white loon well, but there were still times that she felt as though there was an aspect about the larger loon that she didn’t recognise at all.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

She had been gone for so long though. Twine paused, her tail coiled anxiously around the stump of her right leg. Something just wasn’t right. She should have followed Split, at least for a little while, to make sure that she was okay. She knew that there was something wrong. The tiny loon hissed between her teeth, a rare sign of frustration and fear.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

As the first rays of dawn broke over the bay, Twine at last saw movement from the edge of the jungle. Her heart soared – Split had come back! But something…something was still off. As Split staggered on the sand, Twine screeched a warning call to arouse her pack mates. Fish was the only one left, she remembered, but it was the last thing on her mind.

Twine all but threw herself from the first floor of the ship, her tiny paws raking against the sea-salt wood. She burst into the opened hull, wet sand exploding from the force of her arrival. She pelted towards Split, her tail curled in concern. She couldn’t even voice a question, rather chittering anxiously as she guided her wounded companion back into the safety of the boat. It was in the warm morning light that she anxiously surveyed Split’s injuries.

Her tail curled around her stump as she gazed, wide-eyed, at the extent of the damage. Scratches and cuts across her body, blood splashed against the necklace she’d given Split not a few weeks before. She stared open-mouthed in horror. Who – what? – could have possibly done this? And why? Twine had only ever seen Split as a kind loon – there was no one she could think would want to injure her friend. Anger stirred in her stomach, but she pushed it aside. There were more pressing matters.

Gingerly, she sat on her hind legs and gazed up with tears welling in her eyes. She could tell that it was not quite Split that sat before her now, with her teeth bared in pain, but it was at the same time. The red light of the sun only served to cast the wounds in a harsher light.