Lantern

Sometimes when Zuriel and I go out flying at night we see a small light in the forest, but it always glimmers out after a moment. Zuriel said we shouldn't bother to go after it, shouldn't go looking for trouble.
But one night the light didn't go out. It stayed on for about a minute before Zuriel decided we should look into the matter.
See, Zuriel loves consistency. It's really all he has to hold on to, his life line. So when something happens at the wrong time or even at all, he gets irritated.
We set down a distance away from where we had seen the light, making our way through the forest until we saw the lanterns flame seeping through the trees.
I crouched down behind a bush to watch, Zuriel following suit.
Soon a man came into the clearing carrying the lantern we had seen before. He was followed by a few other men, and when they began talking in hushed voices it was clear we were in danger.
Zuriel tugged on my hand after a few moments and I backed up slowly, carefully opening my wings. Seconds later we were in the air, headed home at an alarming speed. We slowed down near the tavern, landing and ducking through the door quickly.
Reuben looked up from where he had been sitting, talking to Lark over coffee. He smiled at me, but the smile faltered when he noticed our expressions and how out of breath I was.
What's wrong? he asked, getting up to walk towards us.
There was a man. Several men, and they had a lantern, and they were talking about destroying the resistance, so we flew back as quick as we could. I gasped, coughing at the end of my sentence.
I didn't think anything was wrong, but when I glanced down I saw blood on my hand that I had just coughed into, and something warm trickled down my chin. Zuriel scooped me up and rushed to the door, jumping into the hatch and squeezing down the staircase. I slowly slipped into unconsciousness, and the last thing I heard was Zuriel shouting at someone to help me.
And in my dreams, I saw a lantern.