by Dawn Chapman
The wound was deep and bloody, and already red and infected. I pulled my dagger from its hilt. With a wince, I slit into the wound and leaned over to vomit. How it could be so bad and infected already, I had no clue, but if I didn’t stop this now. I would lose my leg I was sure of it.
The red splotch flashing in the corner of my eye showed 28. Was this it? Would it get to 30, and then death? The pain was horrendous, but I risked all. I squeezed it until I got the fresh blood running through it, and then I rinsed it off with fresh water from the river. It would have to do. Ripping a sleeve off the shirt, I managed to bandage it up somewhat. I brushed off my other clothes best I could and dressed. There was no sand here by the river, so maybe if I stayed close, I would be okay.
My thoughts drifted to the others, though. They’d be looking for me or would they be going on without me?
Time passed, and the splotch stopped flashing. It was back to 24.
I sighed. They didn’t have the time to go searching islands for me. And as much as I wanted to be a part of their mission, it seemed the world of Puatera had other ideas.
I leaned back, wallowing in self-pity and loss, and there I saw the flash of something else moving in the sky.
Was it a bird?
Yes, it was—some kind of small eagle. It seemed to be fleeing away from something, and the closer I looked, yes, there was indeed something much larger on its tail. It crisscrossed in and out of the trees, and then the other creatures veered away, and the smaller eagle slammed into one, not much more than two hundred feet away.
I ran towards it as best I could, more of a hop, skip, and a jump. I could only think it was injured, dying, and I didn’t want the big thing to eat it. That was if it came back, which it didn’t seem to want to do, its shadow vanishing.
When I got closer to the bird, I could see it wasn’t dead, but it was injured. One of its wings had a tear, its breathing almost as erratic as mine.
I snapped a twig, alerting it to my presence, and its eyes widened in fear. I didn’t get any closer though, my own leg hurting.
The red splotch was back up and flashing at 28.
“Hey there,” I whispered to it. “Don’t panic. I won’t hurt you. I don’t have the energy,” I said.
It stared at me, its piercing eyes so sharp. It sat there, and calmed down, waiting.
I did the same, and then I reached for the fruit, still slung at my side. Its eyes perked up, and I could see its interest in the fruit. I pulled out the dagger and pierced the flesh. I then cut it and halved a chunk out so I could offer it to the bird.
It looked at me as if I were the devil. It wouldn’t approach at all, yet its wing was extremely injured. All I wanted it to do was to help it get better.
The bird did edge closer after a few moments. As I tried to eat my own fruit, I could see it growing more curious, so I made more eating noises as I chomped the fruit, then spitting out the seeds. It seemed to notice this, and I held up one of the darkened seeds for it to see. It was then it almost ran at me for them. I pushed back and let the seeds fall to the ground before us both.
There was a slight squeak as the bird moved in closer and started to eat the seeds. It gazed up at me only the once and continued to eat. I wondered if I could treat it just as I had my own wounds. Would it trust me enough to let me take it to the river? Was it wild or a kind of a pet type of creature?
I had no clue. No one else was with me to ask. All I could tell was it resembled an eagle. I had no idea of the kind either, or to the size it actually should be. Here, it seemed small. And I thought young. It’s feathers still had pins in them, and some not fully formed—either that or it was still part of the mating season or something.
I pulled out several fresh seeds and held them in my hand. I didn’t know if it would take them or peck at me, but surprising, once it looked at me, I could see the initial panic from being chased had gone.
“I won’t hurt you,” I said again and again.
It edged forward and took the seeds surprisingly gently from my open hand. When there were no more left, it glanced to the fruit, and then back at me.
I shook my head this time. “No, you get more fruit if you come with me,” I said.
I lifted my arm out and lowered it flat to the floor. I had no doubt whatsoever that the talons attached to its lovely long legs were deadly, but it seemed to be gentle enough with the seeds. So, I risked it. I then tapped my arm with a finger. “Come on.”
It didn’t move.
“Come on, and I’ll let you have some more seeds.”
It looked back to the fruit, and then with one tentative outstretched set of talons, it carefully stepped onto my arm. When it had both feet sitting on me, I lifted it off the ground, and with my other hand, I managed to push myself up from where I’d stopped to sit. It was hard to hold onto the bird, walk without wobbling too much, and to hand the fruit over. I was astounded when it took the fruit from me with one bite, then with one foot held onto it while it continued to eat. I walked slowly back to the river.
Once I was there, the bird fidgeted a little, though its wing still hung limp. I hoped it wasn’t broken and was just a cut.
I placed the bird down carefully and passed it a whole fruit this time. It seemed to turn its back to me, to give me access to its wings. I had no clue what I was looking for, but gently, I opened up the undamaged one. There was a beautiful set of feathers, and I could see the immense size of the creature, easily spanning two feet from tip to its body.
“You’re beautiful,”
Then I touched the end feathers of the injured side. There was still a little blood dripping from it. I knew birds didn’t have a lot since they were so small, so every drop counted. Like every bit of mine did.
I opened it up slowly. The blood loss was evident. Its feathers had started to matt, which wasn’t nice either. And then I saw it—closer to its body were two damaged feathers, bent and bloody. I remembered once a friend of mine had a parrot, a small one, maybe a cockatiel. And it had damaged blood feathers. Was that all this was? If that were the case, I remember she told me that the damaged feathers would have to be pulled, but I had no pliers or anything. I didn’t know if sheer strength alone would be enough or if I was going to get bitten or clawed to death if I tried it.
No, I saw more blood drip, and I had to do something. It was the feathers or me.
How to restrain it was going to be a different thing altogether.
I tugged off my shirt, then reached over, picked up the bird, wrapping it tightly but not too tight for fear I’d kill it. It didn’t flinch, or move, or do anything. With one hand, I managed to spread its wing once more, located the feathers again, and although when I reached into the section where the broken ones were, the bird squeaked. I just did the only thing I could—I did the job quickly. I gripped the two feathers, though they seemed tough, and I yanked down—as damned hard as I could. The bird really let out a squawk. I let it go, but it didn’t fly away. However, talons had dug in deep. I now had pinpricks in my leg as well as the throbbing wound. The bird’s eyes held my gaze, and then it blinked—a single tear. I watched as that tear hardened in the air, and I reached out to catch it with my hand. As I did so, a pop-up flashed across my view, and the overwhelming flash of that gold star and music made me laugh.
BONUS
1 KARMA POINT AWARDED FOR YOUR BRAVERY.
AKILLIA, YOU ARE AN ANIMAL QUEEN.
The tiny tear rested in my hand, and then I noticed something else. The bird had lowered its head to me, fluffing its head feathers.
With one finger, I gently touched the top of its head and watched as its eyes closed. It was content, I heard tiny grinding noises and knew it was a happy thing. I stroked its feathers for a while, and when I found one that had its sheath still closely wrapped around it, with two fingers, I gently broke them apart. This seemed to make the bird even happier, and it leaned into me. I let out a giggle, and it looked up, moving its head from side to side.
�
�I have no clue what to call you,” I said to it. I’d no clue if it were male or female. Or what it was indeed doing out here on this island.
Then, I noticed I could see his description.
ZURATH — FIRE EAGLE FLEDGLING
I couldn’t help but smile. There was also something else there.
He was indeed a youngster. He was strong and very intelligent, but the blood loss had done him in, same as me I would have guessed.
My red splotch had dipped back to 24.
Chapter 23
We need food,” I said. “And something much better than just fruit. Meat to replace the blood loss.”
My splotch had gone below twenty now, but I was still lethargic, all the muscles in me ached, and worse, my head pounded.
The only thing I could think of that might help the both of us heal was food. I wasn’t certain if I was good enough to trap a rabbit or, as I gazed into the water, catch a fish, but I’d try. Taking some time to think about how to do this, I hobbled about and gathered pieces of equipment as Zurath watched. I folded the large leaves from the trees over and wound them tight into a large bowl-shaped object. It wasn’t very strong, but it would hold some animal for a while. Then, with my dagger, I tucked some slithers of the stringy part of the leaf around it. I ran it around past a rock and then went back to laden the trap with some fruit.
I had noticed rabbits and things creeping around just as it went dark, so I knew it would work. At this moment in time, I’d pretty much eat anything—even raw if I had to. There was no way I could start a fire around here before dark. There was no way—those creatures would be back to slaughter me as I tried to eat.
I decided to try my hand at fish trapping. I had no idea if there was anything even in that cool water, but I would try.
I stood above the flowing coolness and watched carefully. There was indeed fish. I could see them. Maybe I would be able to pluck one out if I cornered it like a bear did. I’d have time to try before the other critters were out.
Zurath watched from afar as I harnessed my pendant before getting into the cold water. It was just below where my cut was, and I was glad of that. I pushed further in until I could see where the fish swam, and where I thought I could lie in wait.
It took me about thirty minutes before the school of fish came close enough. I was so hungry, I wanted to eat them out of the water, but I waited. It would be no good to strike and not throw something to the side of the water’s edge.
Then, just as I felt one of the fish nudge the side of my leg, there was a little squawk from the bird. I dove in, made a scooping action with my arms, and pulled upwards. I had something in them, I knew it, I felt it—then I felt teeth too. The darned fish were trying to bite me as I yanked them into the air.
Two of the fish flipped high over end, yet only one managed to land on the side of the bank. The bird hopped over very quickly and landed a killing blow. I climbed out of the water, terrified the fish were some kind of flesh eaters.
I looked down at the bird, his eyes gleamed at the prize, and I pulled out my knife, quick to gut and clean it as we had back in the camps over the past week. I did observe the sharp teeth as I cut off its head, passing the head to the bird to do with as it pleased. I would doubt that eating that would do me any favours.
The fish flesh was sickening to swallow. But we both managed to eat it with no real issue. I pushed the rest of what I couldn’t eat to one side and watched as he picked it clean.
“Growing boy, huh.” I smiled. And together, we managed to move back to where I would wait for the rabbit creatures. I hoped their teeth weren’t so big and that catching one of those was just as easy. Maybe lighting a fire was a good idea after all. We could cook on it and then hide up in the trees. The creatures of the night might stay away from us as they would be attracted to the light.
I leaned back on the side of a fallen tree, my eyes tired, and my leg still aching. I closed my eyes, waking only when I heard the snap of the trap. When I looked, there was Zurath with his beak attached to the pulling leaves. What?
I laughed at this and almost wanted to hug him. Pushing myself up, I quickly slid across to the animal trapped in the bowl. It had already started to chew its way out. I found my dagger and readied myself to strike at it.
Then I flipped the lid.
What I saw wasn’t the typical furry rabbits of good ole Earth, but something of a monstrosity. It was bigger than I thought too. . . And its teeth! Oh, my God. I slammed my dagger into its head. It made a crunching squelch and blood spurted everywhere.
Gross.
Zurath hopped over, stretching his wing out, tentative, but confident of himself now. I’d get the prize cleaned up, and into a roasting pit before he knew it, but of course, he waited for all the bits I didn’t want to use.
It wasn’t easy to gather dry wood for it, and it wasn’t easy to get one going. I was never a boy scout, and I’d never once wanted to go into the bushes and learn to survive. So all the things I was trying were from what I had seen on TV, using a wooden stick, a rock, some really dried up bush to try to get things going, and then blowing air once I saw any sign of smoke.
It all took so, so long, and night really was upon me before I knew it. The smell of the meat cooking was great, though. We both sat and tucked into fruit I had gathered while waiting. I made a bed as best I could in the shelter of a large tree and started to think about a plan of attack if that Creviok came back.
I didn’t know how birds really looked after themselves, but what I noticed was his constant preening to try to get the blood off him. I was sure if I hollowed out one of the fruit husks, I could warm up some water and wash it better than he was managing, so I set about doing that while he perched higher on a branch. He wasn’t too happy in flying yet, so I’d lifted him up. Not so easy trying to get a large bird into a tree when they have talons. If he were going to stay with me, I’d need something nice and thick for arm protection like what some eagle or falcon trainers I’d seen.
That’s when I thought about the animal’s pelt. It might turn into something decent if I could learn how to cure the leather and sow.
I didn’t want to learn. I needed to get off here and back out to the others.
Maybe they’d see the fire. Maybe there would still be some hope.
I decided to make that fire the largest damned thing I could. I pushed wood stack after stack into it and was much happier by the time I was ready for sleep. It was big, it was high, and I don’t think any creature of the night would dare come near it or us.
Finally settling down, I pulled off bits of hot meat and settled into the made bed.
This time Zurath actually managed to hop on down using his wings. I was happy as he edged over to the cooked rabbit. I pulled off pieces, and as he went in to get them from me, I shooed him away. “Wait, it’s too hot for you,” and I blew on it, he seemed to understand and took a step back.
The meat was well cooked but had a strange taste. I ate it anyway, not caring much at all. The more I ate, the better I started to feel, and my leg ached less too.
My splotch was down to 15. I watched as Zurath’s eyes glowed in the dark. It seemed he didn’t like the dark. Maybe the glow of his eyes helped him see better at night, though. I really needed to know more about this Fire Eagle. I wondered if I stared at him then maybe, I’d get a character sheet or something. Anything.
So, I did. I tried to concentrate and see more of what he was, and then I got a real surprise.
There was his name and a tab. So I clicked on it.
ZURATH WANTS TO CONNECT MINDS WITH YOU.
ACCEPT Y/N
I clicked accept and waited for something to happen.
Would he talk to me?
No, there was just more information about him there.
YOU HAVE BEFRIENDED ZURATH. THIS STUNNING CREATURE IS MUCH LIKE THE PHOENIX OF OLD. BUT HE’S JUST A BABY, HIS POWERS AND WEIGHT ARE STILL UNDERDEVELOPED.
TO GET THIS FAMILIAR TO BOND WITH YOU,
YOU MUST CARE FOR HIM AND PLAN HEALTHY MEALS TO SUIT HIS FIRE APPETITE. THAT MEANS LOTS OF MEAT. IF YOU CAN’T GET MEAT, YOU WILL LOSE HIM.
“So, Zurath the Fire Eagle. I have no clue as to what that means, but you’re just a baby.”
When he almost hopped over, like a bouncing tiger, I laughed and patted my good leg. He hopped right on and pushed his head into my hand. I sat and scratched it for quite some time until it started to sound like he was going to sleep.
“Come on,” I said and offered my arm. When he reluctantly stepped up, I placed him back in the tree. He would feel much better going to sleep there I was sure.
This time, when I settled down, I noticed something out on the horizon. There was something, and it was heading this way. I pushed up and excitedly tried my hardest to see if it was a ship. I couldn’t tell, though. It was too dark, far too dark. And the fiery glow behind me made it even harder.
“Zurath,” I whispered into the trees, “I think we’ll be okay. I think that’s our rescue!”
There wasn’t even a peep from the tree.
I perched waiting and watching as the light on the horizon drew in closer. It seemed to take a while, and the fire died down a little. I plucked more meat from the pit I had dug and ate while I waited. Then I heard something. It wasn’t the Creviok, thank goodness. It was splashing and more—shouting.
Then more shouting, and I recognised a voice—Abel!
When I finally saw flashlights appearing on the beachfront, I was ecstatic. It had never felt so good to see someone. I wouldn’t leave the fire, though, not with my leg as bad as it was, and I couldn’t leave Zurath anyway. He was mine. I’d make sure he grew up to be a stunning healthy creature.
When the voices grew louder, I shouted, “Abel,” and I heard him running towards me.
His large bounding steps and he was in front of me, his big wide arms pulling me in. “We thought we’d lost you forever.”