Redhawk Caldera When the summer ends.

She didn't hear the sound of impact, of course, nor the loud grunt that accompanied it. There was a wave of pain that rattled through Towhee's body, only to subside quickly. Moving gingerly, she tried to pry herself away from the tree to assess the extent of her injuries, reassured a little. It had felt like a bone-cracking hit, though there was so little pain.

A bolt of fear spread through her when the Beta found herself struggling simply to rearrange her own body. Fighting against mounting panic and a frantically beating heart, Towhee managed to figure out that her left side, near her spine, had taken the brunt of the hit. She could see the tangled fur with bits of bark in it, the shallow scratches and even a few threads of blood. But she couldn't feel it. In fact, her entire left hip and hind leg were tingly and growing number by the second.

Somehow, she managed to get herself seated upright, though her left leg splayed uselessly to the side. Towhee nosed herself—ignoring the wound, although she knew she should clean it—to get an idea of how far the numbness spread. Even as she performed this evaluation, she wished Raven were here. Then it struck her: Ceara dabbled in medicine!

She had practically forgotten her two companions. It took several tries to get past the dry spit in her mouth and the lump in her throat, though eventually Towhee managed to send up a weak, wavering howl that sounded distinctly like a beheaded chicken's death throes.