The group had spent most of the night building the shelter. Ted woke up to a mighty crash.
He jumped up, thinking that the airship had landed with catastrophical results. However much he wanted to punish the mutinous marooners, he still needed them alive in order to be able to punish them more severely.
It was not the airship.
Madorn and Lumpy had cut down a tree with the handaxe that had apparently been left behind by the cultists.
"The Air Snake got a hold of the tree," Mad said, like that would have explained anything.
Ted looked around. It was morning already, and while his brain screamed for more sleep, his body jolted into awareness of his surroundings.
The tree had indeed been affected by the presence of the Air Snake. The branches still attached to it were vibrating. It looked funny and scary at the same time, a tree having some form of a seizure, but Ted certainly understood the need to cut it down.
