melliel 's team had been nearing caliphis when it hit them , seizing them like so many shed feathers and sucking them back the way they 'd come , along with every other sky-borne thing in its path-birds , moths , clouds , and , yes , even stormhunters-as well as many things that the surface of the world had not been gripping as tightly as it might , like trees ' entire blossom bounties , and the very foam off the sea .