The Last: Endling #1

Byx’s family sleeps during the day and travels or works at night. Currently, the family is staying in a mirabear hive, which is a massive, wasp-like hive. Today, Byx is restless and slips outside the mirabear hive when she hears a noise that turns out to be four butterbats—flying creatures with shimmering wings. As Byx watches the butterbats, her mother, Maia, comes outside to check on her and tells her that the butterbats are migrating north. Wishing that she, too, could go on adventures, Byx expresses frustration at her small size and limited abilities compared to her other siblings, but Maia reassures her.

The dairnes plan to move north that night when everyone awakens because their pathfinder, Myxo, has heard rumors of other dairnes in the north and feels that this is their best chance to join up with another pack. Their ultimate hope is to find the First Colony, which, if it still exists, is supposedly located in a place called Dairneholme, on a sentient island. Byx eyes the edge of the woods and wonders what the ocean looks like in full sunlight. Despite her promise not to wander, Byx decides to take a look.

Byx makes her way to the edge of the cliff and is surprised to discover that the ocean seems to be endless and violent. Hearing a cry, Byx notices a small boat foundering on the rocks and battered by waves. The small figure in the boat looks like a wobbyk—a small, round creature with three tails. Byx understands that the boat’s owner is in serious trouble and will likely drown unless someone comes to the rescue.

As Byx watches the small boat struggle in the waves and hears the wobbyk call for help, she recalls a time when Maia prepared a dinner of wobbyk when meat was scarce. She remembers the meat being tasteless but satisfying. Byx considers saving the creature by gliding down to it using her glissaires, but as she considers the pros and cons, she suddenly catches the scent of humans on the air. Byx hears a dairne warning signal but doesn’t believe that it was made by a dairne. The humans approach behind Byx. She briefly worries that they are soldiers of the Murdano (the king), but she soon realizes that they do not wear his red and silver livery. Instead, she believes them to be poachers. One human entreats the others not to kill Byx, but the leader of the poachers strings his bow and fires an arrow at the young dairne, forcing her to leap from the cliff.

Byx glides down toward the struggling boat, arrows flying all around her. As she approaches the boat, it smashes on the rocks. She grabs the wobbyk’s paw and carries him with her to a small patch of sand revealed by the retreating waves. They quickly climb the rocks as the poachers continue to fire arrows at them, finally moving over a spur that hides them from view.

Byx and the wobbyk begin walking along the surf to hide their footprints, making their way to a place where they can more easily climb back up to the woods. Byx is concerned about returning to her pack. The wobbyk, who introduces himself as Tobble, expresses his gratitude and tells Byx that he was kidnapped by pirates while fishing with his siblings; he stole the small boat to escape. Tobble asks Byx what she is and does not believe her when she calls herself a dairne. Tobble claims that dairnes are extinct. Scenting the humans, Byx makes Tobble stop walking.

Byx and Tobble carefully approach the area, where a human boy stands alone. This boy, the poachers’ guide, is joined by another who chastises him for losing Byx’s trail. Two more men join them and debate whether they saw a wolf or a dairne. The young boy asks the older men not to kill the creature if they see it again, insisting that it would be worth more money alive, but they dismiss him. The older men walk away, but the boy stands alone and seems to look right where Byx and Tobble are hiding.

As Byx continues her trek home, Tobble follows. He tells Byx that because she saved his life, the Wobbyk Code decrees that Tobble must save her life three times in repayment. Byx refuses the offer and tells Tobble to go home, but Tobble refuses. Byx doesn’t know what she will do with Tobble once she arrives home, but she believes her pack will refrain from eating him. As they travel, they discuss some of the dairnes’ traits, and Byx explains that although her kind used to nest in trees, they now nest on the ground to allow for a quick escape from danger. Tobble shares that his people live underground and build great tunnels and rooms. As they talk, Byx senses trouble and drops into a gallop.

As Byx approaches her pack, she stops and listens intently. She doesn’t hear any sound, and this worries her because she knows her pack should be awake and preparing to travel north. Byx drops Tobble off her back and runs toward her pack. Climbing over a small hill near the nest, Byx suddenly hears terrifying sounds.

Peering down from the top of the hill, she sees the Murdano’s soldiers attacking the mirabear hive. As a soldier pierces her teacher, Dalyntor, with a spear, Byx sees the dead bodies of her family piled together. Enraged, Byx runs toward the hive to exact revenge, but suddenly, an arrow hits her right side; the missile is attached to a filament. A voice tells her to be still, but she struggles until she is hit in the neck, and the world goes dark.