A Flight of Raptors (Paws & Claws Book 2)

by Ralph Vaughan

  Yoda trotted over to Levi and Sunny. “Someone help me get his bird out of my hair; he’s cramping my style, and my coif.”

  Levi disentangled the battered bird from Yoda’s wild fur, then dragged it over to Sunny, who laid a big paw on its chest, hard, forcing a pained grunt from out its lungs. Almost instantly, Vortex’s eyes shot open and he started to struggle, for all of two seconds, till he saw the Golden Retriever holding him down and two other dogs near his head, one of them the wild-haired runt he had been ordered to kill. He settled down and watched the three canines warily.

  “We’re still hungry up here,” Smokey called.

  “No they’re not!” Clutch shouted down.

  “Shhh!”

  Levi smiled. Since there was always a full plate of cat food by the back door – one of the reasons why Smokey spent so much of his time in the gated driveway – he doubted the two cats were either very hungry or on the verge of devouring the Hawk, On the other paw, there was no reason Clutch would know that, and certainly no reason to tell him.

  “Bring that one down here with the other two please,” Levi instructed.

  “Off the arbor,” Smokey told Clutch.

  “Just drop to the ground,” Groucho said. “Don’t try to fly off because we’re coming down right behind you.”

  “When you get to the ground, walk over to where the others are,” Smokey said.

  “Walk?”

  Smokey growled in the Hawk’s ear.

  “Okay,” Clutch acquiesced.

  Clutch did as he was told, hopping down from the arbor, only using his wings to break his fall. Preceding the two cats, who flanked him with tense quivering muscles, Clutch ambled over to the others with as much dignity as a Hawk with an ungainly gait could muster, which was not much.

  “Should we put them to sleep?” Yoda asked, giving Levi and Sunny a sly wink.

  “I’m not sure,” Levi drawled.

  “It would solve a lot of problems,” Sunny pointed out.

  “No, you don’t want to do that,” Clutch protested.

  Levi tilted his head in surprise. “Why not?”

  “Because you dogs are supposed to have rules against things like that,” the Hawk pointed out. “No unnecessary killing.”

  “Precepts…of…Anubis…” Vortex gasped.

  “Well, that is true, technically speaking,” Levi admitted. “But, you know, those are really more guidelines than actual rules, and most dogs tend to break the rules rather than keep them…just like everyone else.”

  “We never did anything to you,” Clutch pointed out.

  Levi stared hard at the three grounded Hawks.

  “I’m sure they wouldn’t have really done anything to the yapper,” Clutch said. “I think they just wanted to scare him…to get you to bring out Benedict.”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Swoop averred. “We just want Benedict so we can take him back to the colony.”

  “He…has to…go back,” Vortex managed to mutter.

  “We talked a good while with Benedict while awaiting you and the others,” Levi said. “He does not want to go back.”

  “That’s because he’s a coward!” Clutch blurted.

  “Because he doesn’t want to be your slave?” Sunny asked indignantly.

  “We protect the Parrots,” Swoop protested. “In return, we expect them to work for us. It’s an arrangement.”

  Sunny started to protest, taking the side of the injured Parrot, but Levi interrupted.

  “Why do you call Benedict a coward?”

  “Why don’t you ask him?”

  “I’m asking you.”

  “Because he abandoned his friends and family,” Clutch answered. “He sneaked off on his own, even though he knew what Ripper would do. He’s selfish and cowardly. That’s why he had to be brought back; the others have to believe that Ripper is serious.”

  “Is that what Gyre was doing, taking him back?” Levi asked.

  “It sure didn’t look like it!” Sunny interjected.

  “Gyre gets rough, but Ripper told him to bring Benedict back,” Swoop explained. “What Ripper says is law.”

  “I thought the law was the Way of the Thunderbird,” Levi said softly. “Is that not the guiding natural law of avians?”

  The three Hawks glanced at each other nervously, then looked to Levi.

  “Just legends,” Swoop said. “Myths.”

  “There’s no such thing as the Thunderbird,” Clutch said.

  “Just stories for chicks,” Vortex added.

  “I had my doubts about the intelligence of you Hawks in following someone like Ripper,” Levi said.

  “First class psycho!” Yoda muttered.

  “But now I’m wondering if there is any hope for you at all,” Levi continued. “In denying there is a higher power than yourself, you commit yourself to a life without the possibility of redemption or acts of nobility. If you truly believe there is no natural law to which you are heir, then you are just outlaws who will live for yourselves…and then you will die.”

  “Ripper says that’s the way things are,” Vortex said. “Life is a hunt…kill or be killed.”

  “There is a certain nobility in hunting, being part of the wheel of life,” Levi admitted. “There is order in the play of predator and prey, but there also has to be law, otherwise the sacrifice becomes murder. Besides, you should be smart enough to figure out for yourselves that you can’t be both slavers and hunters.”

  “But we’re not…” Clutch started to protest.

  Levi lunged forward, baring his teeth and barking savagely. The grounded Hawks cringed and fell silent.

  “What to do with you three,” Levi mused. “Were we to adopt the same view of the world you claim, we should just let Groucho and Smokey invite some friends over and have a big dinner party. Three fat Hawks…a dozen hungry cats…sounds about right.”

  Both Groucho and Smokey purred.

  Clutch shivered, tried to move away, but could not.

  “Like I said,” Sunny reminded them, “it would solve a lot of problems.”

  “Ripper would be three Hawks down,” Yoda pointed out.

  Smokey and Groucho closed in behind Clutch.

  “But we don’t believe in the world as you see it,” Levi said after a moment of tense silence. “If we were to treat you as you so richly deserve, we would be no better than you…and I can’t think of anything worse than that.”

  Levi lifted his muzzle in a signal to the others.

  The two cats reluctantly backed away from Clutch.

  Sunny rose from on top of Swoop and Vortex.

  Yoda, who had had his muzzle just inches from Vortex’s beak, moved to stand beside Sunny.

  “You’re…” Swoop gasped as Sunny’s weight lifted from him and he sucked in much needed air.

  “You’re letting us go?” Vortex asked, cocking his head curiously at the canines.

  “We’re giving you your lives, not for your sakes but for our own,” Levi explained. “Remember that; and also remember that we saved you, not Ripper. Now, get out of here.”

  When the Hawks were slow to move, both Sunny and Yoda let loose with a fusillade of barking. Normally Hawks need some room to get skyborne once grounded, but these three practically levitated straight up. After circling on updrafts to gain height, they soared to the east and were soon lost to sight.

  “Dogs!” Smokey spat, and took off, Groucho bounding behind him.

  “As much as I hate to agree with a cat, Smokey has a point,” Yoda said. “We’ll see those three Raptors again.”

  “Yoda may be right, Levi,” Sunny said. “I know you were trying to appeal to their better natures, to make them see the error of their ways, but not everyone has a better nature.”

  “Yeah, Levi, what makes you think those three are any better than Ripper?” Yoda demanded.

  “I don’t know that they are,” Levi admitted. “They may not be. When we see them again…if we see them again, they may be bound and determine
d to spill our blood.”

  “Then what is gained by trying to appeal to their better natures?” Sunny asked.

  “I wasn’t appealing to their better natures,” Levi explained. “I was planting seeds…we’ll have to wait to see if any take root.” He headed back toward the house. “We need to talk further with Benedict…and he needs to answer some questions.”

  The other two dogs followed after him, but Yoda paused, turned and looked the direction in which the Hawks had vanished.

  “The neighborhood cats would have loved a dinner party,” he sighed. “Oh well.”

  Chapter Four

  “Somehow, I feel you have not been quite honest with us, Benedict,” Levi said.

  “What…what do you mean?” the Parrot stammered.

  “Are you sure the Hawks enslave the Parrots?”

  “Yes, absolutely,” Benedict replied. “Everything I told you is entirely true.”

  “Including how you escaped?” Levi asked.

  For a long moment, Benedict was silent, gaze raised, not looking at any of the dogs who had risked their lives for him. Then he lowered his brown-hooded head and sighed.

  “If the Hawks told you I am a coward,” Benedict finally said, “they are correct.”

  Sunny cocked her head. “I’m sure you’re just a little overwrought still from…”

  “No, I cannot lie to you, my friends,” the young Parrot interrupted. “The three of you have placed yourself in harm’s way for my sake, and…and I owe you the truth.”

  “Well, out with it then,” Yoda yapped. “If there’s a thorn in your paw, best to get it out quickly.”

  “Paw? I don’t…”

  “It’s an old canine saying,” Levi explained. “If something hurts, get it over with quickly. Now, Benedict, as you were saying…”

  “I told you earlier that I escaped from Gyre during a mission and that I was on my way to get help,” Benedict continued. “I confess that I lied. We were all in the aerie at the Vogue Theatre when I saw a chance to escape, a moment of inattention by the Hawks; I slipped out and flew away.”

  “Well, you were escaping, weren’t you,” Sunny said, still gazing at the Parrot with soft amber eyes full of compassion.

  “It’s natural for a prisoner to seek freedom,” Levi said. “It gives hope to others.”

  “Besides, you were looking to find help for the others of your tribe,” Yoda pointed out.

  “No, my friends, you do not understand,” Benedict replied. “Those few who saw me escaping pleaded with me to stay, for they knew what would happen to those I left behind. My escape did not fill them with hope, but with fear and dread.”

  “Benedict, exactly what are you trying to say?” Levi asked. “What have you not told us?”

  “I did not escape from captivity with the intent of finding help for those left behind,” Benedict answered. “I abandoned them to their fate, deserted my family and friends. I had no intention of returning…ever, even though I knew everyone left behind would be punished for letting me escape. I condemned them to Ripper’s ire, and now I have brought calamity down upon your heads. Because of me, the Hawks are now your enemies and have dedicated themselves to your destruction.” He sobbed piteously. “I am so sorry, my friends! Because of your kindness, you are now doomed! I am so very sorry!”

  The mammals in the room looked at each other, from one to another.

  Then the dogs laughed heartily, and even the two cats joined in.

  Benedict ceased his wailing and gazed at the assembled animals with an expression of utter shock and amazement.

  “Obviously, I have not made myself clear,” Benedict murmured. “You do not understand – I am a coward who has doomed my tribe to tortuous punishment and you to injury or death at the talons of the Birds of Prey.”

  Again, the dogs and cats laughed, Little Kitty so much so that she once more fell off the sofa. Fortunately, again, she fell on her head; then she lay on her back beating her paws against the air like she was running at sixty.

  “Are you loco?” Benedict demanded, thoroughly confused by the reactions of the detectives and staff of the Three Dog Detective Agency. “Do you not understand?”

  Kim smiled. “It’s clear you do not understand these dogs.”

  Little Kitty stopped rolling on the floor like a lunatic and flopped onto her paws. “Or us cats!”

  “Doomed by a flock of big birds!” Sunny snorted. “I never heard anything so silly.”

  “Big Birds!” Yoda guffawed. “And these guys are yellow too!”

  “I’m pretty sure ‘Doomed!’ is what shot through Swoop’s and Vortex’s minds when they felt eighty-five pounds of me resting squarely on top of them,” Sunny claimed. “Doomed indeed!”

  “I don’t have room for doom in my dictionary!” Yoda yapped.

  “All right, everyone, all right,” Levi interjected into the levity with a gentle chuckle. “We’ve all had a good laugh.”

  “We definitely needed it after that fight,” Sunny said.

  “And I think Benedict might understand us a little better now than he did,” Levi continued. He looked at the young, confused Parrot. “Or not, I suppose. Look, Benedict, to us, those Raptors are just another bully gang.”

  “And we’ve had our share of experience dealing with bullies,” Sunny said.

  “And gangs,” Yoda added.

  “”The point is,” Levi explained, “we’re not going to roll over and show our bellies just because some birds think they are better than us, but neither are we going to sink to their level, to become bullies to fight bullies.”

  Benedict shook his head confusedly. “I do not see how you can fight them at all, what you can do to keep them from imposing their will on us…or you, for that matter. They will not hesitate to slash with their talons, to rip with their beaks…and they can fly.”

  Levi chuckled. “Benedict, the creative force which fashioned the universe and all that is within it gave each creature the physical and mental attributes to survive, but there is nothing that makes one animal superior, or inferior, to another.”

  “I am not sure I understand,” Benedict complained. “I have always been taught that birds are better…well, at least different from other animals because we can fly.”

  “Ridiculous notion.” Sunny said.

  “If you think…” Yoda started to say.

  “But among birds there is what you would call a pecking order,” the little Parrot explained. “Aside from the threat of violence, it is the basis of what keeps the others of my tribe in line, what allows the Raptors to control so many when they are so few.”

  “You have much to learn, Benedict,” Levi said, shaking his head slowly. “Our species may be defined by how we look, whether we can fly or discern smells or run fast, but none of that determines who we are, the nature of our characters. Who we are, who we really are in our heart of hearts, is defined by what we do, how we treat others, how often we move beyond our own selfish wants and desires.”

  “We choose to help others,” Sunny added. “That defines who we are, not our breed.”

  “Nobody is born good or noble,” Yoda said. “It’s a choice.”

  “I’ve known goldfish who have more character than those Raptors who style themselves the lords of the air,” Levi said. “Do you understand what we are trying to say?

  “I…I think so,” Benedict replied. “My grandfather speaks often of the great spirit of the upper airs, the force whom we call Quetzalcoatl, or Thunderbird, how in his eyes all creatures are equal, how there will eventually be a judgment and a reckoning for acts of cruelty and rapaciousness that are committed beyond the need for survival.”

  “You grandfather sounds like a wise old Parrot,” Levi commented.

  Benedict looked away.

  “What is it, dear?” Sunny asked. “What pains you about what Levi said, little one?”

  After a long moment, Benedict turned his muted gaze upon the amber-eyed Golden Retriever. “I always counted Grandf
ather a fool for his words.”

  “Harsh,” Yoda breathed.

  “For letting us suffer under the yoke of the Birds of Prey,” the Parrot continued. “His hope was for the future, for the world to come, but I wanted to escape…not later, but now!”

  “Just tell us how you really feel,” Little Kitty quipped, channeling her inner Yoda.

  “Leave him alone, Little Kitty,” Sunny warned. “You can tell how terrible he feels about this.”

  “I do feel terrible,” Benedict confessed, a startled expression on his avian face, as if he had just now himself realized the nature of the conflicted and turbulent emotions swirling through his small frame. “I have been cruel and dismissive of Grandfather, have thought him weak.” He paused, then sighed deeply. “I wish…”

  “What, Benedict?” Sunny prompted.

  “I wish I had not deserted my tribe,” Benedict finally replied.

  “Do you want to go back?” Levi asked.

  “Are you nuts?” Yoda challenged. “After tangling with those birds you know what they are capable of. If Benedict goes back…”

  “It is Benedict’s decision to make,” Levi interrupted, silencing their protestations with a sharp alpha voice. He looked to the Parrot. “What about it, Benedict? Personally, I think you would be making a mistake by now returning to the roost, so to speak, but if that is really what you want, we can make it happen. By the same token, we can also abandon your tribe to their fate…”

  “Levi!” Sunny snapped.

  Levi growled, not menacingly, but indicating he was making a point that had to be made.

  “We can find you a home where you will be safe, where you will be well cared for and fed,” Levi continued. “Where you can put out of your mind forever all fears of the Birds of Prey, all concerns about your friends and family. We can do that…if that’s what you really want.”

  Benedict looked around, took in the expectant gazes of the canines and felines in the room, then shook his head.

  “I thought I knew what I wanted, just to escape and forget about those who stayed behind, but…”

  “But…” Levi prompted.

  “I…I want to help my tribe,” Benedict finally said. “I want to go back to them, but free, not enslaved; unafraid, not terrorized.”