64
Far from the firefighters, Tarkyn was sitting near the fire, dry and gradually warming up, his hands wrapped around a hot cup of tea. Because he was keeping a close guard on his outrage, a cacophony of distress beat unnoticed against his mind.
His first inkling was a gentle nudge under his arm.
He looked down to see a black nose poking up between his arm and his chest. Tarkyn raised his elbow in response to the creature’s insistent nudging, revealing a young badger, its coat singed and a livid red patch along its side.
As he opened his mind, the pain and fear of hundreds of burnt and displaced animals battered him. The forest guardian reeled under the impact. At first, he simply absorbed their misery, forcing himself to fully acknowledge the damage wrought by his brother. But after
