//------------------------------//
// éclair de lumière 
// Story: Quete 
// by Comrade Bagel Muffin 
//------------------------------//

Escutcheon gently put Tilda down on the driest rock he could find. The storm outside had increase in ferocity, and the storm beast hadn't relented in its attempts to snuff out the two intruders. He paced back and forth, his eyes never leaving Tilda. Her breathing was haggard and weak. Each one seemed like it would be her last.
"Please be okay." Escutcheon walked up to her, and put his head to her scorched chest. His ears flopped back.  Her heart beat was irregular, and slow. "Tilda I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. This is all my fault if I hadn't tried to end the storm, you'd still be at home with your kids." He started to cry when he realized that Gilda, Gildan, and Griffa were going to lose the mother because of him. "No, no stay focused I can fix this, I just need to focus and stay calm." His ears drooped again. "How am I supposed to fix this. "What would Father do?"
"Dad would have done something awesome, and turned that storm wolf into a nothingness, and he wouldn't even be in this mess. Not helping not helping not helping!" He started hitting his head. "Wait a minute. Pace if he were here he could help. He helped me." He looked back over at Tilda and gulped. He knew the spell. It was what had got him into all of this trouble in the first place. He was afraid, afraid to use it again. "If I don't she'll die." He closed his eyes and steeled himself. He was going to use it one more time and this time he had to use it on someone else, and it had to work right. If it didn't he wouldn't know about it and she'd be dead.
"No it's going to work this time. It has to work this time." He closed his eyes and remember everything that Mother had taught him about the spell. He visualized Tilda's home her table with an assortment of meats. He focused making sure that it was real. Then he began to cast the spell his horn lit up, as the advanced harmonic tunes were woven. He need this to work, Tilda needed this to work. He knew he'd be burned out, but that didn't matter right now. HIs golden aura enveloped Tilda his face scrunched up. There was a golden flash. He fell on the floor slowly leaving consciousness he smiled at the empty spot were Tilda had earlier lay. He passed out alone in the cave as the storm raged on outside.