Wordcount: 302 words
Rating/Warnings: PG-13
Summary: Please note, this is currently a very rough draft. There will be spelling and grammatical errors afoot as well as flat out bad writing, info dumps, plot holes, flat out contradictions, and uneven characterization and pacing. (Content is also subject to constant change as I take an editing chainsaw to the story.)
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Now What (Take 2)
“If it’s war, we can simply as for quarter.” Pointed out one of the leaders of the refugee groups. “None of us are fit to fight; if we were we’d be back at Pine Reach with the army. We’re the leftovers, no one expects us to do anything but rest.”
“But if there’s an army there, we need to warn Pine Reach” another objected. “We can’t leave them open like this.”
“If there’s anything there at all.” Someone else pointed out. “I am still not sold on the geese.”
“You were not there,” another person snapped. “I say we send one of the foxhawks back, they can fly faster than any of the draft animals can run.”
“If we go,” Flame pointed out mildly, addressing the entire group, “who will stay to protect you?” The foxhawk moved into the group that had been debating for the past few hours. “Also, there’s a very good chance any runner we send will be picked off long before it gets to Pine Reach.”
“All the better to send a foxhawk then,” they objected. “There is no way they’d catch you.”
“Has it seriously occurred to none of you that whatever has happened to Two Beaches is highly unusual?” Flame snapped. “If this was a simple attack they would have raided the town and moved on. There is no reason to hold it unless the location itself is important.”
“But there’s nothing in Two Beaches,” they objected. “We’re too far from the capital and the port’s too bad to bring ships into. There is no trade to blockade either, so neither Wolf nor Lion stands to benefit from it. ”
“And there are no flags.” Someone pointed out.
“Yeah, if it was captured there would be flags.”
The conversation rumbled back to a boil with that.
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