Wings of Boden

by Erik S Lehman

He blinked at me, and again … strangled sounds of a blocked windpipe.

  As I held my wide-eyed gaze on him, a strange sorrow knotted inside me. Never did I expect to witness life drain like minutes.…

  Fighting to breathe, he stumbled, rocked back and forth, blinked at me … Then flopped to the dirt and lay on his side, chirping.

  Staring at him through watery eyes, I fell to my knees.

  “What. No!” a panicked voice bellowed on the other side of Dakarai. I couldn’t see from who the sound came, but the voice flipped my heart. “Ellie, is that you?”

  A dream, maybe? No. It was Vyn, holding a flaming torch. He stood to the right of the fallen Dakarai in a T-shirt and slacks. The torchlight bathed his face with an ethereal golden glow as he added, “You don’t understand.” He went knees down to the dirt before Dakarai and began checking on the wound.

  A palm cupped over my mouth, I sat back on my heels in stunned silence, trembling. A minute later, I laid my hands on my thighs and my voice quavered, “Vyn, Is that really you? Please tell me you’re not a drek. I can’t kill you again. I just can’t.”

  “No, Ellie.” He tossed a glance my way, and turned back to observe Dakarai’s wound. “I’m not a drek”—he spread his white wings a bit—“See.”

  “But, I-I don’t understand. I killed Dakarai. I told you I would. Why are you trying to save him?” A spark lit, with a memory of how the drek had tried to take advantage of me, tried to rape me. “You, you are a drek! I know your tricks. Even dreks have wings.”

  He blew out a breath. “He’s—”

  “What happened,” another voice came from behind Dakarai.

  Others gathered around, murmurs of objection began to fill the room. Dreks? I wasn’t sure. They had hair, clothes, and healthy-looking bodies. Though they also had pointed ears. Some had dark eyes and some yellow.

  The torch flames lapped the stone walls with light and shadow.

  A thin female with long, dark hair, wearing dirty jeans and a stained T-shirt began to approach me. I jerked and scrambled back on my rear, pushing my feet and frantic legs through the dirt on retreat to the cave wall behind. Roots hung in front of me like a cage as I peered through the natural bars. I could feel sweat on my heated forehead, collecting in my eyebrows, trailing down and around my burning eyes. Bugs were crawling onto my wings. Fear kept me company, memories of Angie and me against the cave wall.

  “Elleria?” it asked in a tender voice.

  “Leave me alone,” I hissed.

  A drop of sweat stung my eye. I blinked, and blinked.

  “There’s something you need to know, dear. Dakarai is on our side.”

  “Yeah, I know. That’s why I killed him!”

  “No, no. Our side. Yours and mine. I’m not a drek, dear. I’m human.” She smirked. “Well, half human. Dakarai has been taking us away, bringing us up here after the dreks infected us. He’s been protecting us, taking care of us, bringing us food, escorting us to the cave spring for water. And there’s something else.” She moved closer, sending a nervous twinge through me. “He’s been watching you all your life, checking on you. He loves you, Elleria. He always has. He’s tried to tell you, but the language is a problem. He even sent a little white bird to you for your first drek kill.” A half grin tugged at her mouth. “That was my idea, by the way.”

  What! I wanted to scream, but tossed a forceful reply instead, “Yeah, that’s why he tried to kill me when I was little.”

  “Yes, he told us. He’s been working for forgiveness ever since. We know you stabbed his eye, and you tried to shoot him by the cave. He was only watching out for you.”

  With a side lean, I angled a look around her, watched “Vyn” while he worked on Dakarai. Then swung a glare back to her and snapped, “You’re lying. It’s another drek trick. Dad warned us about you. Get away from me.”

  “Mmm.” She paused to consider. “If I’m lying, why is Vyn still alive?”

  “If that’s really Vyn! And, oh, why would he take him in the first place? Huh? Why would he do that?”

  “Yes, I know. It must’ve been hard for you. But it was the only way. You see, Dakarai knew about Vyn’s serum. He had to wait though, until it was ready. He brought Vyn up here to save us, to heal us. I was the first one he tried it on, and I’m feeling much better now. I’m sorry he had to take Vyn the way he did. Any other way and an angel would’ve killed him. And we couldn’t go out there. The dreks would’ve turned us into one of them.”

  The words swirled in my mind as I tried to grasp some sort of sense out of this.

  What was she telling me? No, that couldn’t be.

  She backed up, seeming to give me some room as she said, “Come, I’ll show you.”

  “No. I’m staying right here. You’re lying to me. He almost raped me. I’m not falling for it again. And the first sign I see, you’re dead. Do you hear me?” With a flaming glare at her, I yanked my sword out of the sheath between my shoulders, clamped white knuckles around the grip and held it firm in front of me.

  She pinched her face up, saddened her eyes. “Rape? Oh, sweetie. I understand. You have no reason to trust me. I’m so sorry. Just stay here and watch.” She walked off, joined Vyn and the group of other, whatever they were.

  Studying the movements of what was supposed to be Vyn, I searched for any sign. He eased the spear from Dakarai’s body. “She didn’t hit a major artery,” he said, pressing on the wound. “I think I can stop it, but he’s lost so much blood. I’m not trained in the medical field, but I did watch Celeste and Angie work on Luca, so, I’ll just have to do the best I can.”

  Did he just say—? He did. Angie and Mom … My sword hit the floor and I bolted through the roots and into the room, stood above Vyn.

  “Vyn, Is it true? Did he, has he—?”

  Vyn looked up. “Yes. It’ true. They can understand him so they translated, must be the drek blood. Remember the cave with all the light, well, that’s the secret ingredient and he’s always been close by. He comes here during the day. Remember the yellow eyes?”

  “That would be me,” a longhaired brunette woman in a stained sundress and bare feet spoke up from the other side of the cave. She held a hand in the air, grinning as she blinked her yellow eyes. “I was watching. I’m sorry if I scared you, dear.”

  “But”—my confused gaze dropped to Vyn—“that was in the Crag cave?”

  “It’s right back there.” He did a head gesture to the other side of the cave even as he continued to press on the wound, and then angled his eyes up to me. “I’ve been gathering up those cocoons, and I knew you’d be looking for me so I waited up there. You came in the lower entrance. I should’ve checked. I never thought you’d go that way. They thought you were a drek, Ellie, so they ran away from you and hid back here. I don’t know why Dakarai didn’t tell them you weren’t. Matter of fact, I think he told them you were a drek.” He dropped a somewhat baffled look down on Dakarai.

  The girl from my dreams commented in a little voice across the cave, “Dakarai told me to go out and find the girl angel. He told me to play a game and bring her back here. And, and, he told me not to tell anyone.”

  Glances exchanged through the room, murmurs, in realization of Dakarai’s death wish.

  My gaze went down to Vyn. “But, what about the blood on your coat, and the angel bones?”

  “Yeah, that.” His lopsided grin showed a bit of guilt, maybe a little embarrassment. “I was trying to fight Dakarai when he first pushed me in here. He slammed me against the wall and cracked my head open”—I noticed the clotted cut on his forehead, a clump of matted hair—“I used it to stop the bleeding. And those aren’t angel bones. I really didn’t know what they were, until Dakarai told me they’re petrified light cocoons. I was just teasing you before. I’m sorry about that, Ellie.”

  See, that’s what happens when you tease me, I wanted to say, but said instead, “So, you were waiting for me, while you helped them?” I raked the hair off my face, tucked it behind
my ear, and had one more test:

  “Vyn, call me a princess.”

  He shot me a look. “What, do you think I’m stupid?”

  I smiled.

  Vyn gave me that blue-eyed squinting smile of his. Oh, that smile, that wonderful stubbled smile. Those winking dimples I’d thought I would never see again.

  Tears prickled my eyes; I squeezed my lids tight and blinked them away. I wanted to jump on him and never stop hugging. My Vyn. My love … was alive. But now wasn’t the time. I added some stern to my voice, “Well, we need to fix Dakarai then, now.” I couldn’t believe those words just came out of my mouth.

  CHAPTER 37

  Shrieks of this hunter had tormented my life. Now I knew they were desperate calls of love and friendship. Now, under lapping torchlight, I prayed for his survival.

  Memories seeped to the surface. He was a drek, but different. When I was a little girl, he would spend time with me in the flower fields, going on in his intellectual way, above the comprehension of an eight-year-old, and I’d smile and call him silly. He’d bend his skinny frame so far down, reach his long arm and pick a flower for me. Then he’d say in his drek voice: Someday, little one, the world will see how beautiful you are. For hours, he’d stroll with me, picking flowers and shooing away the other dreks.

  Confusion filled me as he lay on his side, dying from my spear. However, I had no doubt of his betrayal. The remembrance of his horrible look when he had tried to drag me to the clouds made that perfectly clear. Instinct, maybe?

  Was it worthy of my forgiveness?

  “Is he going to make it?” the woman questioned Vyn.

  “I don’t know. He’s lost a lot of blood.” Vyn reached out and lifted Dakarai’s eyelid with one finger, looked for signs of life. Then drew back, rose to stand with his head hung and shoulders slumped. “I don’t think he is.”

  Sniffling, I sent my gaze to the blood-soaked dirt floor, my heart saturated with regret. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I forgive you. Please don’t go.

  Fluttering torch flames painted the quiet room with light. Vyn checked and rechecked. Then stood up, looked at me, and exhaled the fateful words:

  “He’s gone.”

  A hiccupped sob loosed from my throat as I stumbled to Dakarai’s side, crumbled onto his wing and dropped my face into my folded arms. The musky scent of his feathers lifted to my nose as I silently begged, pleaded to hear his shrieks again.

  But there was only stillness. The fading warmth of his body on my cheek. And the knowing. He had saved them all. He had protected them and attempted to communicate his love for me. And I’d ended him. Sniffles and moans filled the room, while I wondered what they must think of me—the murderer. How could I live with myself after this? I vowed never to kill again at that horrendous moment.

  At the sound of indistinct voices from afar, I lifted my head, looked around.

  “Ellie, are you in here?” Mom’s desperate tone.

  Jaydenn, “She wouldn’t come down this far.”

  Dad, “Yes, she would. She’s on a mission to kill.”

  I got to my feet, stumbled to the other entrance, and stood with my gaze up the cave tunnel, murmurs behind me. Dad and Mom materialized out of the dark distance, a light glow to their bodies, Jaydenn and Luca just behind.

  “I’m down here,” I called out.

  “Oh, thank you, Source,” Mom said.

  “Be careful. It might be a trick,” said Dad.

  “No, that’s my, Ellie.”

  Mom ran down the cave, disregarding any possibility of danger. When she approached, in dirty jeans and T, I could tell she’d been crying, bags under red-rimmed eyes. Probably mine were the same. When I blinked, I could feel the dry grit. I squeezed my eyes shut, opened them, lifted my hand and rubbed my runny nose as I snuffled. Mom pulled me into a hug. In her embrace, I felt her heart racing, her breath shaking as she said, “I was so worried about you.” She drew back, cleared hair off my forehead. “Oh, Ellie, look at you.” She brushed at my face, tried to finger-comb my hair, palmed my cheeks, then kissed and kissed and kissed every inch of my face. Sentiments finished, she laid her hands on my shoulders, looked directly into my stinging eyes, and the mother look returned. “What are you doing in here?”

  A silent frown and sniffle was all I could manage in the depths of my shame.

  Even as Mom started to notice the room behind me, Dad ambled up to us, gave me a look. “I’m glad you’re okay, sweetheart, but you have to be—” He stopped short, gazed into the room. “What’s this? Vyn, and humans? Is that Dakarai? You killed Dakarai?” His grin grew wide. “You said you would, didn’t you.” He dropped a hand on my shoulder. “I’m proud of you. Now you can forget.”

  “Please, Dad, don’t say that. Just, don’t say that, ever again.”

  When a collective gasp blew through the room behind me, I wheeled around to see Dakarai’s wing twitch, and again. Vyn stood with and empty syringe in his hand, an expression of astonishment as he backpedaled away.

  “Stand back, I’ll do it,” Dad said. “Dakarai lied to us.”

  “No!” I barked, with a stopping hand to Dad’s chest. “Just leave him alone.”

  Everyone in the room eased to the cave walls, wide eyes all around.

  Dakarai’s upper wing twitched, and again, before he rolled breast-down on the floor with his legs tucked under. His head wobbled on his long neck, then swiveled around the room, until his vulture gaze stopped on me.

  And blinked.

  My ability to breathe stalled as I felt the air squeeze out of my lungs.

  He lifted to his feet. My hand clapped over a gasp when his red irises turned glacier green. His head and body feathers filled with rich brown tones. His legs turned to flesh colors and his beak hooked over sharp. The majesty of him lifted chill bumps to my skin.

  As I held wide eyes on him, it dawned on me: Oh my Source. The statue from the foyer.

  A sentinel stood tall before us; a glorious and confident hawk. His ice-green emotionless eyes blinked as he cocked his head and glanced around the astonished room. Light sobs of joy began to break the silence as one of the female humans collapsed to her knees with her face buried in her hands.

  “Well,” Dad croaked, “I, I don’t know what to say. So that’s what he meant.”

  I cleared my throat. “What?” Then followed his sight line to see something hanging off a stubbed root on the cave wall: A shield with a StarWing crest—crossed wings over a spear—and a dark uniform of sorts, next to a sword in a worn sheath.

  Dad shook his head as if clearing his mind, then lifted his hand and scrubbed his jaw in thought, narrowing his eyes. He eventually replied, “Just a vision I let go of a while back.” He paused. “It’s, that uniform. I think I know it from somewhere.”

  Dakarai clicked his beak, drawing the room’s attention. Standing tall, he leaned forward, stretched his neck toward me and telescoped his head. Hawk eyes the size of my fist locked on me. A twinge of fright ran through my wings so strong I almost wet myself. His beak opened a crack, and closed. In my mind, a voice said, Elleria Soepheea. The tone was deep, clear, and it nearly dropped me to the floor.

  Holding a bewildered stare on Dakarai, I whispered, “Is, is that you?”

  Dakarai drew back, stood straight and the voice in my head said, Yes, it is me. Only you can hear my words. Only the one that released the dark from me. You may forward if you wish, after I say my peace.

  Oh, my Source! He was talking … to me!

  Please accept my apologies my little one. I have only love for you, and always have. You did no wrong. It was destiny. I am at your service for eternity.

  “Why is she staring at him?” a human asked.

  “I think she’s reading his mind,” another replied.

  In utter amazement, I held my gaze on Dakarai. He swung his eyes around the room, landed them back on me.

  You see, I am not who you think. Noble blood once ran through my veins. Drekavac blood infected my soul, t
hough I knew I would spend eternity justifying my existence. Purpose became clear, visions sent from Source. I was to guard the light and wait for Vyncynte to realize. I came here, hung my uniform, and waited. My duty is you my little one. The honor is mine to be by your side, in our mission to bring a new dawn.

  “But”—I swallowed a lump—“I-I can’t kill anymore. I’m so sorry for what I did to you. I’m so sorry, Dakarai.”

  He clicked his beak with something that resembled a chuckle. No, dear, it was perfect. It was rightly so. I must say, it was a bit theatrical, entertainment, yes. But you see, my death was necessary, to release the dark that plagued me for so long. Vyncynte’s purpose was to provide the light—on a pause, his gaze intensified—Now we must. We must kill the hunters. We must end them, all of them. Along with the drekavacs that haunt and hunt the children, they must go.

  My chin dipped. I tucked some hair behind my ear, whispered the only word I could manage, “Okay,” then stepped over to Dakarai.

  His head lowered, beak bowed while I smoothed my hand over his neck feathers. I leaned into him, wrapped arms halfway around his neck as he angled his head to touch my side.

  After releasing the hug, I stood under his lifted beak and noticed everyone staring at us.

  Mom tilted her head to Dad’s shoulder while he rubbed her back and wings. Jaydenn and Luca seemed lost, as did the rest of them. At the feel of Vyn’s hand touching my back I turned to see him standing beside me with a crooked grin.

  He said with a bit of humor, “I guess that light serum stuff worked, huh?”

  Vyn caught me when I jumped onto him and linked my arms around his neck. My chin cradled on his shoulder as I said, “You have no idea what you’ve done. I love you so much.” Then the realization hit me like a cloud; Vyn, my love, my life, was holding me again. My Emotions spilled over his shoulder.

  Dakarai’s voice in my head, It was our purpose, Vyncynte. We should go now.

  After a moment of gathering myself, I released back from Vyn, wiped my face and forwarded the message, “Dakarai said it was our purpose, Vyn, and we should go now.”