“Shame on all four of you, hahaha, er, hmph! What on earth are you doing, heeheehee, ahem! Gaffer, will you stop trying to eat that infant’s head and remove the pancake with some flou-flou-hahahahaoheehee! Flour!”

As she spoke, a pancake dropped from the ceiling squarely onto her nose and hung there like a tablecloth.

The five of them sat down upon the kitchen floor, laughing uproariously, holding their aching sides as tears rolled unchecked down their cheeks.

“Waaaahahahahohohoheeheehee! It’s a good job we hadn’t ordered porridge for breakfast.”

“Hoohoohurrhurrhurr! Nor soo – soo – hurr, hurr, soup, missus!”

The happy laughter rang spontaneously out. It was a great relief to have a pause of merriment after so much siege and sorrow.

*   *   *

Far out upon the western plain, a great dark red bird crashed to earth among the dandelions and kingcups and lay among the yellow flowers like a red sandstone rock. The great bird’s sides heaved and her neck pulsed as she greedily sucked in air. Her eyes dilated and contracted, fearsome orbs of tawny umber, flecked with turquoise and centered with gleaming black, as she scanned the blue sky above for predators.

One wing tucked neatly across her back, the other hanging limply at her side, she made a flapping run and gained the air. The red bird flew with a painful rolling motion, the injured wing flopping lower than the good one. Flight was becoming too difficult to sustain, so she came to earth again, this time in a rolling heap of feathers as she struck the plain floor, scattering buttercup petals in all directions.

The great bird rested momentarily, her huge curved beak gaping open, tongue hanging to one side. Doggedly struggling to her legs, she walked for a while, the injured wing trailing limply in the dust, her eyes fixed upon the building in the distance at the woodland edge. It was not so open there. Her beloved mountains were too far away, so she would try to make the building before sunset. There would be places where she could lie and rest, nooks and crannies where she could not be caught out. The open plains made her feel vulnerable; in flight she was a redoubtable hunter and fighter, but crippled like this she could only keep low and hope there were no flocks of other birds abroad that would relish the chance to attack an injured bird on the ground.

Flapping and hopping, scrambling and crawling, the great red bird made her way east towards the building which offered refuge.

*   *   *

On the far flung south reaches of the plateau lands, dawn broke placidly over the copse. Matthias rose and picked up his sword.

“A good day to settle business, Orlando.”

The badger shouldered his axe. “We travelled a long way to see this dawn, my friend. A good day.”