We’d been so caught up discussing possible war that none of us had seen Bracken and Race take off to find food. I only knew none of us had seen them because we all jumped when Race dropped several hares on the ground closest to the fire. Their heads hung awkwardly; their necks broken.
Each man picked one up and proceeded to tear away the pelts, as if ripping paper. Bracken tossed a glob of guts into the fire. When he caught me staring in disgust, he only said, “What? You have to burn the innards to keep the scavengers from sniffing them out.”
Then he brought the skinned animal up to his lips as if to eat it raw. Shadow cleared his throat. Picking up a stick, he skewered his and then one for me and placed them over the fire to cook. The other men followed suit, and I knew I had to say something. I couldn’t make them feel bad for being who they were. Eagles ate raw meat. Plain as that.
“It’s okay, guys. Eat however you want to eat. Don’t let me stop you.”
“No worries, Meen. We forget how skittish your kind can be,” Crest said as he leaned over to ruffle my hair. When exactly had I reached little sister status? It wasn’t that long ago the man had wanted to ‘get with me’ too.
Not to mention he was right. No way in hell was I consuming raw rabbit, so “skittish” fit. While we waited for the meat to roast, I contemplated whether to open my attaché or the book again. Down to my very bones the knowledge laid within me. I couldn’t do any more with the volcano until I found that man. So, I opted for the book again.
The first brew—a recipe which with all the leaves and bark and roots looked more like a tea—I came to read: For Clarity in the notes. This was a tea to find clarity. Okay. I was starting to understand why Avalon slipped me the book.
Clarity could probably come in handy on this little excursion. There were detailed illustrations of every plant I needed to find to brew the concoction. Roots, berries, leaves—Berries? I loved berries. Farther back in the book, a page had been bookmarked, which I hadn’t noticed at first because the mark had slipped down between the pages it separated. What a blessing for me to have discovered it. A healing spell. Albeit a complicated healing spell. So many ingredients, this looked more along the lines of a ‘brew and bottle before you leave home’ rather than a ‘whip up on the fly’ kind of potion. Still, considering I didn’t think I carried an eagle offspring as of yet to protect me from contacting some awful illness like avian flu and we could all be injured, a healing tea seemed like a smart idea.
“I need to find plants,” I told Shadow.
“There are plants all around us, eaglet.” He laughed.
“And as pretty as they are, not exactly the ones I’m looking for.”
He leaned forward to pull one of the roasting spits of meat from the flames. Even though I kept a mostly vegetarian diet, or I had before going to Cloud City, my mouth watered from the tantalizing aroma.
“Here.” He handed me the first stick and pecked my cheek before bending away to snatch his dinner too.
Never having eaten meat fresh off the fire before, I got a bit too overzealous and ripped off a huge chunk, scalding the roof of my mouth in the process. I began to cough, which in turn, caused the choking. All while I cried and fanned my mouth. A hand shot at me holding a soft pouch.
“Drink.” It was Bracken handing me the soft pouch.
The cooling water doused the searing heat in my mouth.
My breaths came heavy and when I could speak again, I did. “I could kiss you,” I said to Bracken.
At the sound of Shadow’s growl, however, I looked between him and Bracken, and backtracked. “Or not.”
“Better make it not,” the lighthearted Bracken teased back.
It was good he could understand his friend kind of couldn’t control his reactions now that we’d mated. I belonged to Shadow.
To calm him, I lifted the meat to his lips. We shared bite for bite off of each other’s dinner until I’d eaten roughly about half a hare and my belly felt ready to explode. He plucked the uneaten portion from my hand, double-fisting the sticks until both were stripped of every last delectable morsel.
I took the opportunity to listen for the man in the volcano again to no avail. Radio silence.
Radio silence made me fear for his safety even more than when I’d first heard the cry for help. But there wasn’t anything I could do for him right now.
What I could do, I’d do for me… for my family and potentially for him when we found him. And that was to brew potions. Time to start scavenging. Clarity and healing—ho! “Food done. Time to collect ingredients for teas.”
“It would be my honor take her,” Bracken offered. “I mean if you want to take this time to strategize with your brothers.”
“Thank you, but I will go. She is my mate and we have not had much in the way of alone time since the pair-mating.”
Bracken patted his friend, my man, on the back and I couldn’t help notice the glint of ‘go get ’em!’ in Bracken’s eye. As if Shadow and I would drop to the ground once out of view and go at it. Please, hardly the time or place.
Holding my arms out, each man grabbed a hand to haul me off my butt and the dirt. Bracken dropped one hand. Shadow didn’t.
Shadow also took this time to feel me up by slapping at my derrière. “You have a little dirt there.” He laughed.
“I’m sure I do,” I grumbled back, not from being angry, but because every slap to my backside turned me on that much more. But as before, this was neither the time nor the place.
Hand in hand, we walked some of the more accessible passes and climbed where there were no paths, making our way around the mountain to look each plant over. We carefully examined the drawings in the book when we thought we were onto something.
Thank goodness for his eagle eyes, as the light began to dim. I was so caught up in searching, I neglected one of the basic rules of wilderness: see where you’re going and trail where you’ve been. Lord knew I’d have a hard time finding my way back to camp if not for Shadow’s tracking prowess.
Having found all the leaves, roots, twigs, and berries for the clarity tea, we had about half the list of healing to go when the ground began to shake violently. A quake, a big one. Little rocks dislodged, sending the larger, deadlier boulders careening toward us. Shadow pulled me to the left when a chunk of mountain rolled like it had a mission and its mission was to crush me, narrowly missing by centimeters. Way too close for comfort.
“We have to get back,” he yelled over the rumbling that didn’t seem to end. A tree came crashing down right as Shadow picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, carrying me off he ran on much surer feet than I’d have, dodging debris by kicking some and jumping over others. He slid us under a large rock overhang, thick enough to remain stable, and created a shallow cave.
My mate wrapped his whole body around mine protectively and held on. “I love you,” I shouted just in case we’d reached the end of our journey on this Earth. Because he really needed to remember, now more than ever. Human form, bird form, it didn’t matter. I loved this man with everything in me.
I’d have given this man a family. I’d have given him eternity. Tears started to sting my eyes from that thought, though if he asked, I’d swear till I was blue in the face that they were from rock dust and nothing more.
Good thing he didn’t ask.
“Every breath I breathe is for you, eaglet,” he whispered in my ear, although with the mountain falling down around us, it probably wasn’t an actual whisper. Then he sealed his words with an eagle’s kiss. The one only for me, only ever for me.
I closed my eyes, at peace. I didn’t want to die, but if I had to go, it happening in Shadow’s arms seemed the best way. Then I held my breath, waiting. And… nothing. As in nothing happened.
Except finally, finally the rumbling ceased. Like someone switched off the machine. Shadow looked at me. His beautiful face morphed with what I’d call concern right as I became aware of the warm oozing down my face. Somehow, I’d cut myself and hea
d wounds bled a lot. Judging by the red smears staining his skin and clothing, it had happened before we slid inside the cave.
My head felt woozy, kind of like I might pass out. That was when I placed my hand to the rock wall to steady myself and I heard it, faint—oh-so-faint—but I heard it. “Help me.”
“I’m coming,” I called to him in my mind, but I thought out loud too. “Shadow, he’s back. He’s calling.”
“We have to stop the bleeding and find the others. There is nothing we can do right now.” He meant business, whipping his shirt overhead and tearing off a long, wide strip which he wrapped twice around my head and tied to keep the makeshift bandage in place. “That should hold until we get you to safety.”
Part of me wanted to argue knowing we had to get to that man, but mostly I agreed with him. We had to find out if our family made it through intact.
What we didn’t expect stepping out of the cave was to be surrounded by giant ravens. Their beady eyes glared at us. Glassy and unnaturally black.
Their menacing caws ripped a path through the air, a violent assault on my ears. Starting with the one I assumed to be the leader, they joined in one and two at a time until every raven shouted at us out of sync. My eardrums vibrated to the point I feared they might rupture. My head hurt so badly, I thought I might puke.
And then, to my horror, I actually puked. Doubled over and—blach!—regurgitated rabbit. It shocked them enough to allow Shadow to transform, grab me with his talons, and launch us into the sky. We cleared the devastated mountain in seconds, but the ravens pursued with great speed.
Another mighty caw ripped the air. Their leader shouted, “Attack!” Seeing as they were birds, I shouldn’t have understood him, but I absolutely did.
Ravens, wings closed, dive-bombed, hitting both me and Shadow—our heads, backs, wherever they could hit, they hit. The attack kept coming, relentless. Shadow dodged and spun, but with his injuries and my added weight, he dropped several times. Holding me meant Shadow couldn’t protect himself and he needed his talons free.
Five of those nasty beasts orchestrated an attack on Shadow at once, taking out his left wing. Pain shone through his eyes as he struggled to keep us aloft. With my weight and his one working wing, we didn’t stand a chance and plummeted toward the earth.
I heard him utter one word, “Bushes,” before he tossed me and I tumbled like a ragdoll in a wind storm. But his aim hit true. The bushes would cushion my fall somewhat, but only if I slowed down. Weight plus gravitational pull equaled increased velocity.
Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic. Easier said than done when I could predict my ETD—estimated time of death—in less than a minute. As I hit the tree line, I reached out to touch the leaves or branches. Friction burned the skin off my fingers, and because I winced at the pain, I didn’t see the bough until too late. My hand smacked hard and something snapped. My hand bent back at an unnatural angle.
Control it, Meena, I ordered myself. Slow down. I slowed down, all right… when I crashed through the tops of the bushes. Twigs snapped or whipped at my face. Slow, Meena, slow. I hit the ground. In a split second… darkness.
Chapter Thirteen:
Let the Healing Begin
A humming sound roused me. I tried to open my eyes. But my head felt foggy and everything hurt. Nothing made sense. Buzzing? Mumbling? Wait, I really couldn’t see. Why couldn’t I see?
My eyes, heavy and crusted, refused to open. I tried to lift my arm to wipe the crust away and my arm rejected my muscle’s simple request. A simple request to move from my side to my head. Several times I struggled to raise my arm. Each one failed. Each. One. Panic rose like a vicious beast to surface, but no matter how I felt on the inside, nothing showed outwardly.
Nothing except the tears forming behind my eyes that had no way to fall. The tears wet the crust sealing my eyes shut, eventually dissolving and washing it away. Though it took every ounce of power I could muster to open them no more than slits.
With my vision blurry, pretty much all I could make out were dark shapes that I was reasonably sure belonged to men. Legs and torsos. What men, I only guessed and hoped. Please let it be my family, I prayed to the universe. To any omnipotent being that listened.
There was more mumbling and then, “…awake.” Awake. I heard the word awake. I heard the word awake.
I heard—a form dropped down next to me. A warm hand caressed my cheek. “Eaglet, my love. You’ve come back to me.” Shadow touched the tip of his nose to mine and he gave me my eagle’s kiss. “I thought I had lost you,” he whispered, and for the first time since knowing him—admittedly, it hadn’t been that long—tears formed in his beautifully deep amber eyes. He allowed the few to fall freely. “I couldn’t…” He pressed a deep, tender kiss to my lips rather than admit his truth to me.
The man didn’t have to admit anything, being not just his mate, but apparently the reincarnated soul of the original witch Wilhelmina to his original Roc, I knew intrinsically. He thought he couldn’t go on without me, that he refused to go on without me. And that thought scared me. The world needed my Shadow, whether I stayed alive to see him lead or not. Shadow was a born leader, born to be a leader.
“I’m here. No plans… to go anywhere,” I said, falling into a shallow coughing fit. It hurt to breathe too deeply. Who was I kidding? Everything hurt. From toenails to split ends.
He moved his hand to my forehead, pushing back my bangs and tucking hair behind my ear. “Shh… do not try to talk yet.” The pain in his eyes, the fear in his voice, could seriously drive me to a fresh bout of tears. Without breaking our eye contact he called out, “Crest, the tea please.”
Crest. Oh, good. Memories came back slowly, but they came back. Shadow and me on the mountain when the quake hit. We hadn’t known if his brothers were hurt.
A few moments later, Crest walked up to stand at Shadow’s side. Although my eyes still felt heavy, my vision started to clear. Rogue moved behind his two brothers.
“Here,” Crest said. “Let me help her.”
Shadow nodded and stood. That was when I noticed his left arm in a sling cinched close to his body. “Are you—?” I started to ask.
“I am fine, eaglet. Do not worry about me. It is you who needs to rest.”
Crest moved to sit in Shadow’s vacated spot. “We have been taking care of him. Not that we could get him to leave your side for more than a pee break.” He looked up at his brother and laughed when Shadow lightly slapped him on the back of the head. “Hey, anything I said not true, big brother?”
“Sorry about these knuckleheads, Meena,” Rogue said. Leaning in, he kissed my forehead. “Drink the tea, will you? Give my brother peace of mind.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Crest brought the cup to my lips. It tasted of twigs mostly. Peppery and a hint of some kind of mint, maybe. It wasn’t very tasty, but I guessed that wasn’t the point of it, either. “This is the healing tea, Meen. We finished collecting the ingredients from that book.”
“We called our mother,” Rogue said. “She wanted to come down to treat you and Shad, but Father refused to allow it, the situation being what it is. And as we are far from witches, the brew’s potency lacks the oomph you or she could bring to it, but we tried our best.”
“He had every reason to deny her. If my mate could move, I would send her home and not allow her back until we saw the threat vanquished.” Shadow moved his good hand back to stroke my cheek again. As if he didn’t just say he ‘wouldn’t allow me’ to do something?
Uh… back that train up. He and I talked about this; I made my own choices. He either supported them or he didn’t. I understood his fear. If he’d been the one knocked unconscious, I’d want him as far away from the danger as possible too. But we both knew far too well that me leaving was off the table.
“How long have…?” I felt like I had an anvil resting on my chest, making it not only hard to talk, but to breathe. “Have I been out?”
“Three days,” all three men sa
id at once. Yikes. Three days? No wonder; his acting the dominant husband made total sense now. It still didn’t mean he held the right to make decisions for me. Grown woman here. I could drive, vote, and even own property. Shadow, Shadow, Shadow… I sensed a feminist refresher course in your future. Just not today. My body hurt. My brain even hurt.
Crest brought the cup up to my lips for another sip. I tried to drink the rest, coughing at about half, and spit the remaining all over his shirt. If one could feel like death, how I felt now pretty much summed that up.
“We left Race and Bracken at the campsite on the mountain to scope for more enemy.” Rogue said.
“So, we aren’t on the cap any longer?” I asked.
“We had to move you somewhere safe, my love. Keeping you secret. The ravens thought they killed you. Probably because I thought they’d killed you.” Shadow’s hand came to rest on my head again, stroking my hair back.
“Have you told Race or Bracken?” Six complete words without coughing or needing to take a breath? That meant, although it still hurt to speak, my strength had to be coming back a little.
“We move once a day. If we keep mobile, the chances of the enemy finding you decreases,” Shadow said, his hand stilled as he bent down to kiss my forehead.
“Please bring me the book,” I asked my mate. The sky took on an ominous red. “Is it morning or evening?”
“Morning or evening? Why?” he replied.
“Because I need to know.” I tried to push up from the pelts he had me lain across, but with firm pressure to my shoulder, Shadow kept me grounded.
“It is morning. Late morning, but morning.”
Shoot. “Red sky in morning, sailors take warning. One of my foster dads used to say that. He was a fisherman in the gulf. Shadow, look at that sky. There’s a reason that poem was passed down through the years. It’s rarely wrong.”
Shadow and I both turned our heads to look up at the expansive… Well, to be honest, it reminded me of a lava field above our heads.
Flight: The Roc Warriors (Immortal Elements Book 1) Page 13