The Blackbird's Song

by Billy Wong

  They journeyed down stony hallways not that much different from those in big modern buildings, other than being rougher and orange. When they reached dead ends with nothing to show for their effort, they turned around and tried another route. Though he was curious about the circumstances under which Blackbird had grown up, he figured they shouldn't bring up things that might upset her right now and refrained from it. Instead, he asked what she did for enjoyment and found out even someone like her had hobbies. She liked to sing silly childhood songs she remembered even though she'd forgotten most everything else, and to watch and feed birds. The latter, she recalled, was why she had been dubbed Blackbird by another traveler she met years ago. Henry tried correcting her language errors, and when he found that she didn't get angry continued doing so. He doubted he could turn her into a silver-tongued merchant before they parted ways, but even a little improvement would make him feel better in terms of giving back something in exchange for her help.

  "So how you know if something is an artifact?" she asked after Andrew mentioned they were searching for them.

  "Enchanted and old tech items are usually harder to damage," he explained, "so if we find something still perfectly intact and not worn down after all this time, Henry will test it by scratching it with his giantsteel dagger. If nothing happens, then it's likely valuable and we'll take it back for testing. Of course, sometimes we figure out how to use things sooner than that." Like the curing ring, whose energies Henry had learned to direct before Grendel took it from him by force and senselessly wasted its potential.

  "The artifacts aren't indestructible, though. I've broke a couple."

  "Of course nothing's completely indestructible. It's just a simple scrape with a giantsteel edge shouldn't damage them." Henry looked at her. "But it should take a human enormous effort to destroy one under their own power."

  Her reply was simply, "Not really."

  Deep in and far from the entrance, they heard growling ahead. Henry readied his sword and shield and Andrew his spear as they came into a wide chamber whose ceiling curved unlike the flat ones of the previous halls. In the center stood what looked like a nine foot tall bipedal panther with six arms.

  "Think we should let her handle this one?" Andrew said, backing up behind Blackbird.

  Henry followed, but then noticed she just stared at the beast, her sword held low at her side in nothing resembling a fighting stance. "I don't know." To his alarm, he saw a tremor in her hand. "It looks like she's really scared..."

  It bounded forward, crossing more distance than its height with each leap. Andrew adjusted the angle of his spear. "Crap, we might be in over our heads again!"

  The creature was close, and would be on them in the next pounce. Henry prepared to step up to defend Blackbird. But as its legs tensed again, she moved. She exploded forward and sped past her target, a sheet of blood splattering the floor to her right. Behind her the monster's torso, separated from the rest of it, flopped to the ground. A moment later, its legs fell over. It seemed like she had waited for the opponent to commit, then countered with her own, faster attack.

  "You must have destroyed the giant snake with a similar strike," Henry muttered.

  She looked back. "Yes. My Dark Divider."

  He blinked. "Wait... you name your moves?"

  "Well, a visiting eastern artist called it that. I don't even know what a divider, I just don't have better name so it stuck."

  "Don't worry, I'll teach you what division is."

  "A division? I was talking about dividers."

  "So why were you shitting your pants if you could kill it that easily?" Andrew asked.

  She frowned at first, then seemed to realize he didn't mean it literally. "I don't like those. One of them clawed me good when I was little. Look under cape, mark across whole back."

  Henry lifted the cape, but as should have been expected her clothing underneath blocked the view of her scars. "Can I?" he asked, touching her collar.

  "Sure."

  Her shirt proven loose enough that pulling the collar gave him a decent look at her back. Damn. It was a great mass of scar tissue, pale lines and rough ridges overlapping each other dozens of times over. He hadn't been sure she could be hurt given how invincible she'd seemed so far, but it turned out she could and had been injured a lot. She sure didn't die easily, though.

  Andrew came to take a peek too. "Geez... all that must have hurt."

  "You get used to pain," she replied unemotively.

  In the back of the chamber was a pile of remains, mostly animal, a few human. The gear those carried looked to be torn, rotted or broken, and not very likely magical. No other doors led out of the room. At Andrew's disappointed expression, Henry said, "Hey, not every ruin can be expected to have valuables."

  "Yeah, but after coming all the way here..."

  "Well, we got to meet Blackbird."

  She giggled happily. Then she asked, "What about church man's spear? Didn't you say that might be magic?"

  "Guess we forgot about that." He smiled. "It might not be an artifact, but if it is a weapon of God, then we won't be going home empty-handed after all."

  They headed back. As they neared the exit, they heard familiar growls ahead. "Is that the mate of the one we killed?" Andrew wondered.

  "It sounds like there's a bunch." Henry raised his blade. "Maybe they live in a pride like lions with one male and multiple females that hunt. Anyway, get ready..."

  Blackbird ran past them. She didn't look enthusiastic, with knuckles white around her hilt, but after she disappeared outside sounds of tearing flesh and crunching bone filled the air. By the time the men caught up to her, several panther-things lay dead around her. She ran up a rock, kicked off it and turned around in midair to cleave another vertically in twain when she came down. Two more leapt at her from opposite sides. Just before they reached her, she spun with her sword out. Blood and guts flew everywhere. Three left. She dashed at one, jumped and impaled it through the face. Her momentum knocked it into its fellow behind it, which fell pinned beneath the body. She plunged her sword down through its chest and screamed, and the last monster... ran.

  "I guess you don't need our help," Henry said in a small voice, lowering his sword. He'd almost forgotten how inhuman she could seem during their trip through the ruins. She stood off her last victim and wiped her blade in silence. "So, we're going back now. You want to come with us for a little while longer?" He did like having her around, but it was also a practical consideration that they would probably be safer with her.

  She gazed at him, and the tension fighting those creatures put in her appeared to melt away. "Okay. I thank for the talking lessons."

  #

  Wincing from the pain of his grotesquely swollen side, ribs broken and nearly driven through his lung in spite of his armor, Grendel unlatched his holy symbol and opened it up so that the two circles were side by side instead of on top of each other. He hesitated to take the next step, but his report was probably overdue. Looking through the symbolic eyes of God, he saw the eaglelike countenance of the Archcardinal Demetrious seven hundred miles away.

  "You seem in pain, younger brother," the gold and silver-robed old man said. "However, I trust your mission was a success?"

  He shook his head. "I apologize, Your Holiness. But we encountered an unforeseen obstacle. A girl with unearthy strength intervened on behalf of the blasphemers. She trounced Clayton in two moves, there was nothing I could do."

  "And Clayton, is he..."

  "Dead."

  The Archcardinal's lips curled downward. "I suppose then it's a good thing he wasn't named an angel yet, for that would do our image no favors. Still, what wasted potential. This warrior, is she still traveling with them?"

  "I don't know. She seemed like a savage, not someone who would be at home in civilized lands. Still, I can't be certain."

  "I will alert the rest of our brothers, so they will be prepared for those men wherever they show up. But if the girl is with them a
nd as formidable as you say, I may have to call Rodrick in."

  Grendel started to think the Archcardinal already considered dispatching the church's mightiest warrior, but effortlessly disposing of Clayton, himself worthy of being an angel of God, was unprecedented. "And what of me? I can still retrieve the fugitives and the spear, even if the savage is around I'll figure out a way and-"

  Demetrious rolled his eyes. "Without help, after failing with it? You have one more chance. If you come back without results, your punishment will be severe."

  "Yes. I won't fail, Your Holiness."

  He closed the holy symbol back into its typical form, his teeth clenched in anger. After so many years of hard work, he had been close to being an angel if only he'd succeeded at this one last mission. Why did Henry have to make a powerful friend at such an inopportune moment? Maybe he should've slain him long ago, back when he let the boy's ignorant righteousness sway him. Hmm... if he captured or killed Henry and his friend now, the church would have to recognize his achievement and erase the black mark on his record. Not that it would be easy if that... aberration was around.

  Ah, well. If a risk to his life was all it took to make him accept failure, then he wouldn't be much of a man. He would put it all on the line. Though he might not be able to defeat an enemy in direct combat, he could still outsmart them. Remembering the stupefying power in the girl's arm, he grinned. A worthy challenge!

  #

  Because they figured the church would be sending others after them soon, they decided not to return the same way in favor of taking a path over the mountains to the east of the pass. It would take longer and require traveling through unfamiliar territory to get home, but it was what it was. Though the fit Henry and Andrew handled the strenuous climb adequately, it still impressed them how Blackbird treated the terrain as if it'd been no more difficult than flat meadow. She seemed to revel in the cool spring wind, and bounced giddily from rock to rock like a little tomboy showing off for her friends. "Skip hop hop skippity," she would hum, "all girls want to be pret-ty."

  At one point she climbed up to an outcropping off to the side, prompting Andrew to ask, "What are you doing?"

  "Don't worry, I'll catch up." She came back down with a flower in hand, which she must have spotted from afar. "Pretty, isn't it?"

  Henry smiled at the delicate yellow lily which should have been near invisible against the rock behind it. "You have a fine eye for color." He hadn't seen this side of her before, which was quite appealing compared to the fierce warrior they knew. He realized too they hadn't been attacked by monsters, other than when invading a lair, since they met her. Maybe even they knew to fear her.

  She also turned out to be a better cook than expected, although the seasonings of unknown origin she used to flavor the food were somewhat worrying. "What's that?" Henry asked when he saw her sprinkling blue flakes onto cuts of meat from a young goat she had caught by knocking it out with a thrown rock.

  "Beetle shells," she answered, and he blanched. But the taste wasn't bad, and he and Andrew agreed to keep an open mind regarding culinary matters from then on.

  It wasn't all smooth sailing. Once, a dove flew into their tent and the men tried to shoo it out without success. "Stupid flying rat," Andrew said.

  Blackbird snatched it out of the air and, before either man could say something, squeezed it dead. Blood squirted onto Henry's face, making him grimace in disgust. She tossed away the misshapen lump she held, eyes popped from their sockets and tongue lolling out of the open beak.

  "What the hell?!" Henry cried while Andrew stared dumbstruck. "I thought you liked birds."

  "I do. But since your friend complain, I assumed you want me get rid of it."

  "Not like that! I know you value human life, but the lives of other beings have worth too. You can't go around killing things without a second thought just for annoying you."

  She bowed her head. "It wasn't me annoyed. But I remember next time."

  They continued on. Even when they crossed the center line of the mountain range where it was always cold and hail driven by strong wind slashed their faces, Blackbird's girlish vigor remained undampened. Henry wondered what went through that head of hers. He had seen that she could be scared, or at least unnerved, but did she mull over things like people did? Maybe she just lived from moment to moment, unconstrained by the future or past.

  "Do you have a relationship with God?" he asked at one point.

  "Relationship?"

  "Ah, I mean, what is God to you?"

  Her expression grew uncertain. "What is he? Not sure. Think he supposed to be... big man in sky that watches. But if he watch and don't do anything, why I should care?"

  "Not everyone thinks God just watches. Some believe he protects humankind as well."

  "I not see it, doesn't count to me. God never come help when I could use, so my sword better friend than him."

  Henry shook his head, but also smiled at the innocence of her response. He thought Andrew might appreciate meeting another doubter of God, but judging from his face he just found Blackbird confusing. Maybe it would be easier to understand her if one just thought of her like a big kid.

  "So why didn't you ever return to civilization, if you're so strong?" Andrew asked when they had made it over and began down the other side. "You're not stranded out here, you could easily make it back. Don't you want to fall in love, have a family, anything like that?"

  "I don't need those things. I happy how I am."

  Henry didn't think she really was, considering how she seemed to relish their company. But he didn't want to press the issue, so they left it alone. Just before they would have departed the mountains, Blackbird sat down and said, "Time come for us to part."

  "What? We're almost back in civilization. You should come with us."

  "I can't go there."

  "Why not? You certainly don't seem like you hate people."

  She blinked, her gaze distant. "I don't. I liked being with you. But I can't stay with them."

  "Why?" Andrew asked.

  "I... I'm a murderer. Family in the tower? Monsters didn't kill. I killed them."

  Andrew backed away as if newly wary of her, but Henry held his ground. "That doesn't sound like you. Did you really, or is it just that you couldn't protect them?"

  Blackbird poked herself in the chest. "I murder them. Me. Monster like the ones in hole attack family, I kill. But dog jumped at me after and I grab jaws and pull head apart. Then child try to punch me and... dead before I realized what I hit."

  Henry imagined what had occurred and shuddered. After accidentally killing the boy, she must have been attacked by the rightly incensed parents. He wasn't sure why she didn't run away, but maybe she had been so lost in her battle rage, she just reacted. "How old were you then?"

  She wiped tears from her face. "It was a year, maybe, after I start living in the wild. I didn't know how go back yet, and after I learn I never let myself."

  So she had isolated herself willingly for most of her life... "You were less than ten when that happened." He reached out to touch her shoulder, and felt glad at least she didn't stop him. "It's terrible that they died, but you shouldn't keep blaming yourself. You didn't mean to hurt anyone, and I'm sure you have better control now. You don't seem like you would have trouble distinguishing between a kid and a legitimate threat. You should come with us and learn to live in society again."

  "What?!" Andrew said, surprising him as he'd been quicker to accept her than Henry at first. Of course, this was quite a disturbing revelation. "She butchered a whole family including a helpless child, and you want her to come home with us?"

  "People make mistakes, even if they're grave the intent matters. She didn't want to do it and besides, I'm right aren't I? You must have better control now."

  Despite the self-loathing still simmering in her eyes, she gave a short nod. "I haven't fought as angry after that."

  "See? We should give her a chance. If we don't, we'll be damning a perso
n for something they did when they weren't even ten years old."

  "I suppose you have a point." But the look he gave Henry said, But if she was so dangerous even then...

  "Well Blackbird, what do you say? Time to live like a human again?"

  She remained silent for a while, then shook her head. "I don't want to."

  "Come on, we already know what you did and are still giving you a chance. So you should also give yourself a chance." He offered his hand, but she slapped it away.

  "I already said, no!" Her voice shrank. "I know I'm a monster. I don't belong in your world."

  "But-"

  Andrew interrupted him. "Henry, let her go. I get what you're doing, but if you want her to be a human being, like you say humans have the right to choose too. She's a grown woman, you shouldn't try to force her to act against her will."

  "How can she be a grown woman? She hasn't had education since she was seven or eight."

  "She taught herself to fight like a demon, and had enough discipline to banish herself to avoid hurting others. I think she might be more mature than you give her credit for."

  Henry didn't know how much of what Andrew said was just to dissuade him from persuading her and thus bringing her along. But there was truth in the words, which he saw when he looked at Blackbird. She didn't cry or pout like a child, instead sitting there with a stoic visage like she knew what she was doing and accepted the consequences. He had been wrong about her. She might be childlike in some ways, but her inner strength was worthy and then some of being adult. Shunning human contact to protect others from herself—he doubted many would have the will for that.

  "You're sure you don't want to come?" he asked one more time. She didn't reply, but he knew what her answer was. "Alright. Take care, little warrior."

  "Henry, Andrew, you take care too. Don't worry about me, I be fine... always have been. Farewell."

  And thus, they left the mighty Blackbird behind them.