by Don P. Bick
Chapter 31
It was still dark, with another hour or so left until daybreak. Uri was on watch and had just finished placing more wood on the fire. It wasn't all that cold but still the temperature did drop significantly during the night. The fire not only kept the cave warm, it was also kept burning to help ward off any animals that might be lurking nearby. Uri thought that unlikely due the closeness of the birds, however, none of them wanted to take any chances. The guilt they all still felt and shared over the death of their friend and companion, Ve-Kim, would probably never go away. None of them would make a mistake like that again if it was at all avoidable.
Uri decided to make the rounds one last time in the surrounding area. It would help keep him awake and give him something to do to pass the last hour of darkness. It took about three-quarters of an hour to complete the walk and about the time he finished the others would be getting up and be ready for breakfast.
"Well, are you guys going to sleep all day?" called out Gena from the fire, where she was going about fixing them all breakfast. "We are supposed to be looking for a bridge in case you've forgotten, not lying around like we're on vacation," a big grin on her face as she talked. "Of course, you'll probably blame your laziness on me or something. I don't know why, I'm ready to leave right this minute, while look at all of you, still sleeping."
Bran was the first one to wake at the sound of her voice, tripping over his big feet as he tried too soon to get up. His right leg was asleep and wouldn't cooperate. The others were sitting up looking at her through half opened eyes of surprise.
"Are you okay?" asked Twil, filled with trepidation that she was having a psychological reaction from something he had given her. He hadn't told the others, but last night he thought they might have to amputate her arm, if it had gotten any worse overnight. He had spent a very worrisome and restless night thinking about it.
"I'm fine! See for yourself," replied Gena.
Bran and Twil both had reached the fire and were looking down at her with skepticism on their faces. The arm had looked so bad the night before.
As the others crowded around, Gena held out her arm for them all to see. "How can that be," whispered Bran, as he started to touch her arm, but held back at the last second so as not to destroy the illusion or dream he must be having. The arm was perfect. The bandage was gone and there was no sign at all that anything had ever happened to the arm in the first place.
Twil was bolder. He grabbed her arm and in his eagerness to see all around it at once, twisted it a little too hard and fast.
"Hey, watch it! You're going to break my good arm," admonished Gena, her grin bigger than ever. "I don't know what happened or even how long we have been here. The last thing I remember is walking for what seemed like days after getting pulled out of the river. I'm fine. Really!" she added, looking up at their astonished and unbelieving faces.
Bran reached down and picked her up as though she were a child. Without her feet touching the ground he hugged her as though she had just come back from the dead. Bran had never shown this much emotion toward her before. Gena thought it felt natural to be in his arms. The others apparently thought so also for they all crowded around and joined in the hugging.
"What's going on?" called Uri, while entering the cave. Can't a working man get something to eat around here?" Uri asked, not knowing what else to say as he saw Gena standing there with tears running down her cheeks and a big grin on her face. Recognizing she was okay he walked over to her and gave her a hug as well. In doing so, apparently the excitement of the moment caused him to lose some control over his normally extremely calm demeanor. Two of the berries Gena had laid out for breakfast exploded, one of them covering Druc's hand with the sticky juices, as he was reaching for it. Druc jumped back as though bitten. Everyone erupted in laughter.
"Are you sure you are all right? Can you travel?" Bran asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. I feel better than I've felt in a long time," answered Gena, placing a loving hand on his arm.
Breakfast tasted great and shortly afterwards they were headed down the valley, all eyes constantly watching the sky, behind them as well as up ahead. They set a leisurely pace, not really trusting that Gena was completely recovered.
They had gone five or six miles when Twil hurriedly returned to the group. He had gone on ahead to scout. Immediately the others, seeing him hurry toward them, wanted to duck for cover. They expected him to tell them he had spotted the birds and that was partially true. He did spot the birds but that wasn't what he was so excited about.
"The eagle," was all Twil could get out, breathless from rushing back from his scouting trip up the valley.
They dropped their packs as they waited for Twil to regain his breath. "The eagle is up ahead about ten miles or so," continued Twil, still gasping for breath.
Twil was always in such good condition it surprised them all to see him breathing so hard and out of breath. He must have really been moving fast for quite some time, plus the excitement of the find after all these days of travel. It was a great day all the way around, what with Gena's arm healed and now the discovery of the eagle.
After a short break, they continued at a quicker pace, carefully watching for the birds. Twil hadn't actually seen them. He had seen their nest, not more than a couple of hundred yards from where the eagle was located.
There was a small rise a few hundred yards from the place where Twil had seen the eagle. As they reached the top they saw the eagle for themselves. At least it passed for an eagle. It was unmistakably the eagle they were looking for. It was a large rock formation in the shape of a huge bird. A single huge talon clutched the base of the formation, enclosing a cluster of smaller rock formations. Below the talon appeared to be littered with piles of rock.
It wasn't what Camran would have referred to as an eagle, and yet it was. None of the others had ever heard of an eagle as Camran had described one in an earlier conversation. The language in this land was the same for everyone. Perhaps the word "eagle" was being read by the others in a different way, but it didn't seem to matter because each of them instantly recognized the rock formation as being descriptive of the word "eagle."
Some two hundred yards to the north, as Twil had indicated, was the bird’s nest. It was huge, probably a good twenty to thirty yards across and ten to fifteen feet deep. It sat on a rocky ledge, one to two hundred feet above the valley floor. As Twil had said earlier, the birds were nowhere to be seen. They were probably out hunting, which meant they could return at any time.
Quickly they moved to the rocks and searched for a suitable cave in which to set up camp. They figured it was more important to find shelter and safety first, even though they were all anxious to check out the area below the talon. They found a cave about a hundred yards to the south of the eagle. There was a small stream not too far south of the cave and a strand of trees nearby. The setting was ideal, except for the bird's nest being so close to their camp.
Uri and Druc had a plan regarding the birds. They were being very secretive about it. They said not to worry about the winged creatures; they would deal with them when they returned. Both Uri and Druc went off to gather wood while the others set up camp.
During their last trip to the nearby woods to gather firewood Uri called out to Druc, pointing toward the sky. Sure enough the birds had returned. In one of the bird's talons was a large animal of some sort. It was still squirming. None of the seven had seen anything edible in the animal world as of yet, so they all wondered what kind of animal the bird was carrying. Perhaps they just swallowed them whole and their digestive systems were such that they were able to live off of things that people wouldn't think they could possibly eat.
Uri and Druc took the firewood to the cave and said they would be back as soon as possible. They asked the others to stay inside the cave until they returned. Druc said they were liable to make the birds mad with what they had planned. Neither explained as Uri grabbed a bundle from his pack, and both put a few extra
arrows in their quivers. Then they left the cave with loaded crossbows in their hands.
Uri and Druc stayed under cover of the rocks as much as possible as they approached the bird's nest. Their crossbows weren't going to be very accurate at the height the nest was sitting. It was also too high for the arrow to have any penetrating power left once it got there, although the arrow would go that far, straight up, fairly easily. With about fifty yards left to the nest they stopped to survey the area. The nest was a good one hundred and fifty feet up. There was no way from the side they were on to climb to a more advantageous position, so they slowly moved to the opposite side of the nest, trying not to arouse the birds.
Once on the other side, they immediately saw a way to get closer. There was a fissure in the rock wall that gradually rose from the valley floor and sloped to a spot just north and slightly below the nest. It was large enough for the two of them to crowd into and work their way up the rock face.
They located the beginning point of the fissure another fifty yards farther north. There they entered the large crack and began walking and crawling toward the nest and the giant birds.
Making as little noise as possible, they tried to stay out of sight as best as they could, while gradually working their way in closer to the nest. The going was not too difficult except in one area. There was a break in the fissure at one point and both had to jump across the open section. It was easy for Uri because he had long legs and little bulk to his body. Not so with Druc. As agile as he was he was still pudgy. Uri had to grab hold of him to keep him from falling over backwards into the hole, after he made the jump and landed on the edge at the opposite side.
It took a good hour before they were as far as they were able to go up the fissure. The nest was only about twenty yards away and maybe fifteen feet higher than they were. They wedged themselves into a crack for as much protection as possible in case the birds attacked. Uri opened and spread out the contents of the bundle he had brought along on the rock in front of them.
The bundle contained about a dozen small wooden cylinders, each about a half inch in diameter and three inches long. One end of these cylinders was sharpened to a very sharp point. In each of the points a small hole had been drilled, and a small wooden pin inserted. They then began wrapping these cylinders on to arrows with a thin, but tough thread. The sharpened point of the cylinder was placed in line with the arrow's point and tightly secured to the shaft. The tiny wooden pin protruded from the end of the cylinder's point. When the arrow pierced the bird's skin the pin would be forced back into the cylinder.
When all of the cylinders were attached to arrows the two companions looked at each other and grinned. They weren't as confident as the smile indicated, however. There was no way they could know if the invention would work without trying it out first. If it didn't work they figured they would be in trouble. The birds would more than likely not be very happy, as Druc pointed out. They didn't have enough of the cylinders for a prior test, besides trying it on a bird would be different than any practice test they could have set up. There was no doubt in their minds that some of the cylinders would likely fail to work. It would all depend on where the arrow hit the bird and whether or not the tips of the arrows penetrated deep enough, and with enough force to push the pins into the cylinder. If shot into the right places they would only need two of them to function properly.
The time they were dreading had finally arrived. They had no choice but to call attention to themselves. Druc let out a loud whistle and Uri threw a couple of rocks against the rock wall. Immediately one of the birds cocked its head over the rim of the nest. A hunk of an animal was sticking out of the side of its beak. It hopped up on the rim of the nest looking for the source of the noise. Uri and Druc took careful aim. Using a prearranged signal Uri whispered to the count of three and they both let their arrows fly.
The two arrows lodged in the neck of the huge bird almost in the same instant. The bird let out an ear piercing screech and took to the air. It flapped its wings a couple of times and then dove for the two men as they completed reloading their crossbows.
"Don't shoot anymore at that one until we see what happens," shouted Druc, as they both crouched lower into the crack, making as small a target as possible for the bird's long beak. The bird hit the rock wall with a tremendous force but was too large to maneuver itself into a position to get its beak into where the two men were doing their best to stay out of reach.
The bird fell toward the valley floor after the impact, but recovered before hitting the ground. In the meantime the other bird had taken to the air. He was circling overhead, watching all the commotion.
The wounded bird was the same one that had grabbed Gena a couple of days previous. They could tell from the partially healed wounds on the bird's leg. And knowing that made them feel better. They had talked about whether they could stalk the two birds and kill them. Neither had been very excited about the prospect. They finally decided that they would have no choice if they all were to leave the valley alive. The close proximity to the eagle's talon, where they would be for a while, made it even more necessary to get rid of them. They also thought perhaps it would be easier to kill them after what had happened to Gena. They discovered that wasn't true. Neither one of them liked what they were doing once they had started. They could hold no grudge against these creatures. It was simply a matter of survival and their mission was by far more important than sparing the lives of these two.
Once more the wounded bird tried to get in close enough to the two men to get its beak into the crack in the rock fissure. As the bird hit the wall the second time they both heard it. The two pops were very distinct, one right after the other, just loud enough to be unmistakable. They were devastating to the bird. The bird lost all control of flight. It tried to stay in the air without success. Its great wings continued to flap, amidst the increased screeching, as it crashed onto the rocks in the valley below. The bird flopped around for a few minutes then went still.
The other bird flew down to check out the dead one. After a few minutes on the ground it too attacked their position. Uri got off a shot hitting the bird in the breast, just before its beak hit the rock next to where he sat. The angle was no good for Druc to get off a shot. The breast of the bird was not their first preference as a target; although the arrow did penetrate and stick it didn't go in very far.
The bird recovered its fall and flew up to the nest, landing on the rim. He looked as though he was going to make one last stand for his territory and home. Whether out of anger or pain, the bird kept screeching the entire time. Druc pulled the trigger on his crossbow. The arrow hit true, sinking deep into the neck of the bird. Uri reloaded and fired one more into the bird's neck as well. Faster than it took with the other bird one of the cylinders in the neck exploded. As before, the bird lost control and fell off the side of the nest to the rocks below. Soon the bird was lifeless.
Neither of the two men was very happy about their accomplishment as they walked back into camp. They told the others the birds were dead and how they went about killing them. Uri explained about the cylinders and the chemical reaction that caused the explosions. Druc had brought a small amount of the two chemicals with him just in case they were needed. The Saturnian people used them to do some minor blasting in the rock for material. Uri went on to explain how they had hollowed out the wooden cylinders and made a separating membrane out of some dried fish intestines. When the arrow hit, the wooden pin was driven through the membrane inside, allowing the two chemicals to mix. As they mixed they produced heat until a certain temperature was reached. Then they exploded.
Uri and Druc moped around a little as they were telling their story. When they finished they all walked down to where the two birds lay. They were too large to try and drag off the rocks and bury, so they were forced to leave them lay where they were. Like the other animals they had seen so far the birds were covered with a scaly skin, no feathers. As Camran had thought earlier they reminded him of pictures
he had seen of prehistoric birds, with their large pointed wing tips.
With the birds gone they were free to check out the area beneath the eagle's talon. The group of seven left the dead birds and walked toward the spot the long and difficult days had led them.