Rannok looked up as the sky shivered violently. The sound rumbled through his stomach. Sasha furrowed her eyebrows at him. He tensed without meaning to and nearly tripped over a branch that snaked across the road.

"Haven't you seen a thunderstorm before?"

He shook his head 'no'. They'd run into one storm on the passing from Agatine, but he'd stayed below decks where the water stayed outside and he could only hear the faint creaking of waves crashing into the hull. The sky hadn't gone dark and rumbled like a herd of stampeding camels.

"You're not going to die, it's just rain." She frowned. "I'd forgotten Terres is a desert. We should find somewhere to go until it passes."

A sinking feeling settled in Rannok's stomach. He reached out to the crow for comfort. Flashes of sheets of water falling from the sky and trees falling from great flashes of light filled his mind. He shuddered. The road veered right, then veered over until it was balanced precariously on the edge of the mountain, spilling thousands of feet into the ravine below. Rannok swallowed hard. It was barely wide enough for one of them to pass, let alone both.

"I'll go first--"

"Someone is coming."

The noise reverberated between his ears, and he cursed the bird for not having said it out loud. It flew in front of his nose and ducked into the woods. He grabbed Sasha's arm and pulled her into the underbrush. 

"What are you--"

He covered her mouth with his hand and pulled her behind a rock. Her teeth sunk into his palm. He yelped and pulled it away again. Rannok glanced up over the edge of the stone into the road. A man led a dog on a loose leash. It sniffed at the spot across from them where they'd come out of the woods. 

"Am da," the man said, just loud enough for the sound to spill over the rock. Sasha's eyes widened. He held a finger to his lips and she nodded. More voices wafted over the rock. His eyes followed them as they led the dog into the woods. 

"They are too far to hear," the crow said after a long, anxious wait. Both of them let out long sighs. Sasha scrambled to her feet. Her eyes were dark and distant. She glanced over her shoulder toward the road. Rannok watched as her shoulders visibly relaxed.

"My father was with them," she said. The sinking feeling in Rannok's stomach intensified. He took her arm so she wouldn't fall as she scrambled into the underbrush on her one good leg. 

The sky made a sound like splitting wagon wheels, then brightened so much it nearly blinded him. Rannok clamped his hands over his ears. Every feather on his back rose in unison, his body tense as if someone had slapped him. He thought he'd forgotten the man dragging his legs behind him, or the sound the explosives made when they went off. But he could smell the black powder and hear the screams.

"Are you okay?"

Sasha touched his shoulder. Rannok flinched, then nodded his head. His palms felt cold and clammy. He'd be okay. He had to be long enough for them to get away from the road and away from the men.

"I'm fine," he said, though it was the most transparent lie he'd ever told. Concern radiated off the crow. He brushed it away and continued down another winding deer path. Something wet struck his ear. He'd barely wiped it with his finger when the sky opened and began pouring water down on top of them.

Rannok's chest exploded in panic. He glanced around for something to cover himself with, but the trees echoed back in silence. Sasha pulled him toward an outcropping of rocks sticking out from the side of the mountain, just where it had started to rise from the base. The trees were sparse here. Rannok pulled away from her.

"They'll find us," he said. Sasha rolled her eyes at him.

"It's a cave, come on." 

"Just follow her," the crow said. Rannok swallowed his fear and stepped into the rock outcropping. It tunneled hundreds of yards into the cave, so dark he couldn't see what was back there. Sasha collapsed against the wall and slumped to her feet, wincing and massaging her ankle. He couldn't sit still. A prickling feeling buzzed in the air around his nose. It made his hair stand on end and his skin shiver.

Rannok crouched down and covered his ears again, eyes clamped shut, trying so hard not to think of the iron stench and the look in the man's eyes as the world around him exploded in noise.

"Chesnut," Sasha shouted. Rannok opened his eyes again just in time to see the soaked and terrified animal barrel into the cave. Sasha stood and caught him as he entered. His huge, grey body spun around so fast it nearly smacked Rannok into the cave wall. He slumped down against it, heart hammering against his ribcage so hard he swore it was bursting.

The reaver's teeth touched his cheek. Its hot breath spilled onto his throat. Griffon's tortured screams echoed into the night. Another loud crack shook the air around him. Rannok dug his hands into his scalp and held his wings close to his body, certain he was dying where he stood.

"Please," he muttered. The crow watched him from his perch on a rock ledge. Sasha let the animal go. It took off into the back of the cave. She crouched down in front of him and stared into his face.

"Are you okay?" she asked. 

The air buzzed again. Lightning split the sky in two. A tree exploded into splinters a hundred yards away from them with a deafening crack. He wiped his face with his hands, desperate to wipe the memories away with the moisture that gathered below his eyes.

"Rannok."

He looked around them, body tense, desperate to see where the animal had gone. He could barely make out its shadow in the back of the cave. His entire body shook so violently it felt like his bones were coming apart.

"No," he answered. 

"You're okay, it's just a storm." Her eyes were rimmed white with fear, but she grabbed onto his hand anyway.

Another loud bang. Rannok squeezed so hard his knuckles turned white. The desert heat radiated on his shoulders. The taste of ash gathered on his tongue. Meria's body rolled off to the side as he moved it, her face laying in a pool of her own blood. He let out a heaving sob.

"We're safe, we're in a cave. The horse is far away right now. Relax."

But he couldn't. He couldn't forget the screaming or the reavers or the iron smell. He wanted the horse to go. He wanted the storm to disappear into the ether and take him with it. He kept his eyes shut, afraid that when he opened them he'd see another flash of lightning or hear a crack of thunder or worse. Much worse.

It took a long time for the rushing sound to go away, and for the bangs to get more and more distant until eventually, Rannok couldn't hear them at all. His body still shook like paper held in the hand of an old merchant. He let go of Sasha's hand.

"Are you okay now?" she asked. 

He wasn't sure of the answer, so he said nothing. The light outside the cave had dimmed until it was hard to see much. He was certain he would not sleep much tonight. The memories would come back as soon as he shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep. They'd wake him back up as soon as he'd gotten settled. 

"We will have to wait for morning to travel," the crow said. 

Rannok swore under his breath. They had no wood for a campfire, and what was outside was wet. His clothes were soaked and he was cold and scared. What little sleep he could have gotten drifted away from him on the wind.

"We'll be okay," Sasha said, though he wasn't sure whether he should believe her.