by Perrin Briar
It dangled in front of their nostrils. Zoe pulled the lump of meat away. The chicks jumped for it and almost reached it. Zoe could barely keep it away from them. They were not her intended catch. She pulled on the line and drew it up to head height—perfect snapping distance for the parents.
This was her chance, Zoe knew. This was their only chance.
Come on, Zoe thought. Take it. Come on. Be greedy you dumb animal.
The remaining Humungo snapped at the squirrel, missed, snapped again, and swallowed it whole. The vine protruded from its beak. The bird pulled back and snapped at the vine, but its beak was not sharp enough to sever it.
Zoe tugged hard on the line. She felt a sudden jerk. The bird squawked and leapt back, pulling the vine with it. It thought it was choking. Perhaps it was. Zoe pulled harder on the vine, but not so hard that it might dislodge the meat.
The bird flapped its wings, leaping back and taking flight. Zoe followed it, running up the slight rise of the dimpled land.
“Bryan!” Zoe said. “Give me a lift up! Quick!”
Bryan cupped his hands and crouched down. Zoe came running at him. With all the strength in his body, Bryan felt Zoe’s weight in his hands. He lifted at the same time Zoe threw herself up into the air. It wasn’t nearly close enough for her to pass into the next world’s gravity field, but it was enough to give her a head start.
The Humungo parent bird took flight, and brought Zoe up with it, taking her away into its own world. As Zoe rose, she felt the force of gravity weaken, and then shift, pulling against her in the opposite direction.
The giant bird pulled down, going into a dive. It was exactly what Zoe needed. She felt her stomach lurch as she passed through the switched gravity field of the world above her. The world their kids belonged to. She was closer already.
“Yes!” Zoe said.
The smile fell from her lips as she realized the full consequences of her success. She was high above the ground, above the mountain, and falling. Falling fast. The heat of the sky gave way to the icy cold of the mountaintop.
Gravity’s twin pulled her toward the large landmass below. It was big, powerful. She fell past the bird. She tightened her grip on the vine, preparing for the jolt. It came. She was ready. She prayed the vine wouldn’t snap or come loose. It didn’t.
The Humungo dropped a dozen feet in the air under Zoe’s weight. She swung through the air, holding on for dear life. She began to swing back. She was terrified.
On the second swing forward she began to pull herself up the vine, hand over hand, toward the Humungo she was attached to. Looking ahead, she could see it had almost chewed through the vine. But it was still holding on by a few stalwart strands.
The bird caught sight of Zoe out the corner of its eye and squawked, no doubt unused to being the hunted. It turned, entering a spin, to dislodge Zoe. But she wouldn’t let go, and climbed the final few yards to the bird’s broad back.
She sat there a moment, exhausted beyond words, letting the bird’s head provide some protection against the strong buffeting wind. She regained her breath, her lungs burning.
Semi-restored, she pulled on the vine to wrap it around the bird’s neck to make a stronger leash. She was surprised to find the vine possessed a weight she did not expect.
She looked back to see a lump on the other end. Bryan, clutching the line between his hands and legs, waved. He hastily gripped the vine again with both hands.
“You bloody fool!” Zoe said. “You’re going to get yourself killed!”
She waited until the bird doubled back on itself before she could wrap the vine around the bird’s neck two more times. If Bryan insisted on coming along on the journey, she might as well use him.
Zoe pulled on the vine and took the bird into a dive, toward the large bulbous shadow of the large chick as it spun end over end.
40.
WAYWARD FLAPPED his wings, rolling end over end. His wings were far too small to support himself, but with Aaron and Cassie’s extra weight, he quickly identified south. He worked his wings as hard as he could muster. Though they were still falling, it was at a slower pace than before.
Aaron and Cassie sat on either of the giant chick’s legs as they floated down, down, down. After they passed through the mist the view was clear and beautiful. But something was happening in this adopted world of theirs. Red rivers streamed over the surface in the distance, racing toward them at an incredible rate.
“This isn’t so bad,” Cassie said. “So long as our little engine doesn’t give out.”
“He looks okay to me,” Aaron said.
“For now,” Cassie said.
She frowned.
“Did you hear anything when we were on the mountaintop?” she said.
“No,” Aaron said. “Why?”
“I thought I heard a voice,” Cassie said.
“Whose voice?” Aaron said.
“Father’s, I thought,” Cassie said. “Before we jumped.”
Aaron thought about for this for a moment.
“Maybe it was the wind,” he said.
“Maybe,” Cassie said.
Screeeee!
Cassie looked up. A parent bird flew directly for them, beak facing forward, wings tucked in close behind. A jet plane couldn’t have fallen any faster. It flew past them and pulled up, slowly extending its wings. It circled around and came at them.
“She’s coming back,” Cassie said.
“What’s she going to do?” Aaron said
“Try to knock us off its chick,” Cassie said. “It’s what I’d do.”
“Nice to see you’re in tune,” Aaron said.
The parent bird swooped in and flapped its wings, drawing up alongside the flailing chick, which cheeped in earnest. The Humungo snapped at Aaron and Cassie in turn, attempting to pull them loose, but they latched on tight to Wayward and kicked at the parent with their feet.
The parent bird shook her head and positioned herself under her chick, which settled down and took position on its broad back. The parent bird flapped her wings and began to draw them up into the sky again—back to the nest. But they couldn’t go back there.
“Push Wayward off!” Cassie said.
She and Aaron pulled at Wayward with all their strength, and managed to get him off his mother’s back. He resumed his frantic flapping once again. The parent bird hissed through her nostrils in anger.
“Steer Wayward toward the mountain!” Cassie said.
The sooner they got to the mountain, the sooner they would have their feet on solid ground again. Cassie tried not to think about the other creatures that might be waiting for them, watching them from the shadowy crevices on the mountainside, getting into position to consume them. It was their only hope of survival.
Cassie held onto Wayward’s leg and pulled herself up. She forced her weight down. The chick cheeped and tried to straighten himself up again to continue his descent. Why did it have to be such a stupid creature? Cassie thought. They were trying to help it.
She tugged on its feathers to force it in the right direction, but it was having none of it. They needed to get to the mountainside before the parent bird could swat them from the sky.
The Humungo flew by in a desperate flyby. Her claw found Cassie’s arm and scratched her. She lost her grip and fell, but one arm found a handful of bright feathers. She dangled by one arm.
The parent bird swooped up in a wide arc, preparing to come in again.
Aaron reached down for Cassie.
“Take my hand!” he said.
Cassie stretched, but it was out of reach.
The parent bird made her familiar hunting Screeeee! noise again, drilling down through the air to smash into Cassie’s flailing figure. Cassie looked down. She was still an intimidating distance from the ground. This was going to hurt.
A single body length out, the Humungo raised her claws to snatch at Cassie, when something swung into the parent bird, causing her to squawk a muffled wheeze as she was knocked off co
urse.
Cassie concentrated on getting back into position on Wayward’s extended foot before looking at who, or what, had rescued her.
“Swing toward the mountain!” Bryan said.
Bryan was swinging from a vine, like an out of shape Tarzan, suspended from the second parent bird, which was being flown by Zoe!
“Please tell me I’m not hallucinating,” Cassie said out loud.
“If you are, I am too!” Aaron said.
He waved at their parents before focusing on the task in hand: getting Wayward to the ground safely.
41.
“WE’VE ONLY got one shot at this,” Bryan bellowed.
With the wind rushing past both their ears it was difficult to make out each other’s voices. The little chick the kids were clutching onto was heading farther away from them, falling like a rock.
“Hold onto your hat,” Zoe said.
With Bryan hanging from the vine, he would make an ideal wrecking ball. Their only other option was to coerce the bird she rode into attacking its partner. She didn’t believe she could do that.
Zoe steered the bird, flying directly down. It was the fastest route to where they wanted to go. Bryan felt the soft tug of the vine as they descended, snapping around and dragging him down. He knew the importance of speed, but did Zoe need to be so reckless? If they didn’t hurry, they weren’t going to be able to rescue their kids in time, so he supposed they had little choice.
The bird fought against Zoe’s control, but she maintained a tight grip and tugged on the vine, choking the creature. It hacked, before following her lead. Zoe felt her bum lifting up off the bird. She gripped the bird’s feathers tight and gritted her teeth as the air beat against her. She turned her face to the side to see the vine snaking out behind her.
She felt the snap of the vine on the bird at Bryan’s weight. The bird squawked. It hadn’t been expecting the tug. Zoe’s focus was always on the falling yellow blob on the fringes of her vision. She hoped Bryan was ready. It was his moment of truth.
42.
BRYAN HAD lost his lunch three times already, which was odd, if for no other reason than he didn’t recall ever having lunch that day. The third time he’d spewed he’d been unable to turn his head in time. Zoe had decided to perform an impromptu suicide death roll, and so his vomit had splattered all over himself.
There was no time to worry about that now. He gripped the vine tight, though it was already wrapped circulation impedingly tight around his waist. He was going to have some trouble letting the vine go when it came time, when he would need to grab the kids. He would deal with that bridge when he came to it.
If he even came to it.
The fluffy yellow blob was rushing up in his vision. He had to squint to see through the icy air. It was difficult to think under such circumstances. He wrapped the vine around his right leg, hoping it would hold. He let go of the vine with one hand, a test maneuver. He felt himself lifting away from the vine. The coils around his leg didn’t come loose. Perfect. Now he just had to be crazy enough to attempt his gambit.
The chick was rising fast—or rather, he was falling fast—and Bryan let go of his vine and stretched out his arms. The vine held fast. He could reach out with both hands. He was ready.
“Okay!” Bryan shouted.
The bird dipped immediately. Zoe was making her maneuver. It’s amazing how two people can be linked, the way he and Zoe were. They hadn’t discussed what it was they each wanted to do, and yet they both knew what needed to be done, their part in it, and how they would have to carry it out.
Bryan felt the familiar movement of his stomach as it lurched out behind him, and his lunch—the one he couldn’t even recall consuming in the first place—began to rise in his throat. He could taste it, and it make him feel even more sick.
He’d found himself joining the circus. He hadn’t had any training, and yet he was expected to carry out the greatest trick in the roadshow’s repertoire. He was game. If he wasn’t, who would take his place? Please put your hands up, Bryan thought with a chuckle. He shook his head. He’d lost his marbles.
Bryan moved his arms and legs to either side to steady himself as best he could, a skydiver in freefall. The yellow blob was a fuzzy mass. As he neared it, the mass rolled over. It was his first up-close view of it. It was a giant chick, and clinging to one of its legs was Cassie.
The chick was working overtime in flapping its wings, trying to stay airborne. But Bryan could see it was a losing endeavor. The chick’s wings were small and the fall it still had to make was far.
The other Humungo parent was swinging toward the chick, its claws fully extended. Bryan swung on his vine, and was tempted to beat on his chest and bellow the famous Tarzan call, but refrained, and focused on the task in hand. He struck the bird, curling up into a ball with his elbows and knees protruding.
Cassie had her eyes shut tight and clutched the chick’s leg in her arms. Bryan was relieved. The bird continued to turn, rolling over in the air, its eyes closed and unconscious. Bryan was alarmed to find its right leg did not hold Aaron, as he’d expected.
Aaron was missing.
43.
THE OTHER Humungo bird above her screeched. Zoe knew it would be coming for her first. She didn’t allow her bird to slow, and instead pulled up on the reins, forcing the bird up, straightening it out. The bird above her cried as it overshot, its sharp claws grasping and missing her head by inches.
Its wing feathers fluttered, signaling it hitting the brakes. It stretched its claws out again to take another swipe at Zoe. There wasn’t enough time to change direction. She fell to one side, bringing her bird around. The claws whistled past her ear, and her bird swung in a tumble roll, turning upside down.
Zoe felt herself losing her grip under the powerful centrifugal forces, but forced herself to hold on tight with her knees and straightened the bird up. She dreaded to think how Bryan was doing at the end of the vine. She was relieved when she felt another tug as Bryan swung through the air behind her.
Bryan’s weight and movement in the swing was smooth. The ground below them was rising up fast, green but choked with red that filtered through the country like veins under an old man’s sickly skin. Zoe felt dizzy, her head growing weak with lack of oxygen.
“...oe!” a voice shouted.
And then a few seconds later:
“Zo…!” the voice said again.
A few more seconds passed, and then again, but quieter this time:
“Zoe!” the voice said.
It acted like a marauding war siren. Zoe snapped upright. She blinked, the line in the distance resolving into the horizon. The wind brushed against her. She felt more alive than she had in years.
She checked over her shoulder. The second Humungo was reaching toward her again with its wicked talons, beak opening in anticipation of the approaching meal. Its eyes were wide, to take in every ounce of information it could.
Zoe didn’t think. She relaxed, letting her body react. She felt the feathers in her hands and twisted them, sharp. To the right. A few came loose in her hands. The bird beneath her screeched. It twisted, peeling right. The talons of the other bird grazed Zoe’s arm as her bird barrel rolled.
44.
AARON BLINKED awake and knew immediately something was wrong. But then, you didn’t need to be a genius to recognize the futility of a situation when you were in freefall, spinning end over end, unable to get your bearings.
Then it all came back to him.
He’d been clutching the leg of a Humungo chick, holding on for his very life. Then he’d simply let go. It hadn’t been a decision on his part. Darkness had swept around him in a flowing cloak and he’d simply fallen. Fallen unconscious.
Cassie had still been clutching Wayward’s other leg. And there had been someone else… Bryan! Aaron thought. But how was that possible?
His heart leapt. They weren’t doomed. Yet. Though with nothing to cling to and the ground rushing up to meet him, Aaron supposed
it wasn’t but a matter of time before he was doomed.
Their parents had come to rescue them. And they would, if it was at all possible. He needed to buy them time. He thrust his arms and legs out, and though he spun end over end, he always turned his limbs into the air, causing as much resistance as possible. It was all he could do. He had to hope they reached him before the rocks below did.
45.
ZOE MANEUVERED her bird underneath the falling chick. Bryan was already with Cassie. He helped pry her fingers off the chick’s leg and dropped her onto the back of the parent bird behind Zoe. Cassie wrapped her arms tight around Zoe’s waist.
“Where’s Aaron?” Zoe said.
“Down,” Bryan said. “Hurry up. We don’t have a moment to lose.”
Zoe was already peeling away from the exhausted chick as she turned the bird into a steep fall.
“Hold on, Cassie,” Zoe said.
Cassie held on even tighter, shutting her eyes and burying her face in Zoe’s back. The bird and Bryan were falling at the same speed beside one another as they descended toward the small flailing figure rapidly approaching the unforgiving bubbling red lava flows below.
Aaron grew large fast. Bryan was the first to reach him, and slowed his descent as he hurtled into him. He gripped hold of his jacket, and then drew him in closer, until he could wrap his arms and legs around him. They both held out their arms, and the air resistance helped slow them.
Zoe was already peeling away, pulling up gently, to take Bryan and Aaron’s weight. The vine caught, and they swung in a wide arc. They were swinging too low and were going to strike the ground. Zoe pulled her bird up, but not fast enough.
“Pull up!” Bryan said. “Pull up!”
He wrapped his arms tighter around Aaron and rolled in the air, so his back was to the approaching treetops. Bryan grunted as they slammed into them. Zoe pulled the bird up, and they floated over to a clearing. Aaron helped remove the vines from Bryan’s leg. They shuffled aside as Zoe brought the bird in to land.