Reaglar

“Kreeee!”

Pearl, who had been sleeping, was suddenly awoken by a sharp sound from above her. Her eyes shot open but she remained laying down. A dark shadow soared across the sky.

“Kreeee!” It’s terrible scream rang out again. Pearl sat up, immediately knowing what it was. She quietly drew her sward and tried to prevent it from reflecting the moonlight. Every shrew had been awoken by this cry also, and were now brandishing their rapiers. A giant bird turned and came diving down, swooping so low that it made the boat’s rock. The shrews ducked just in time.

“Fleeee!” It shrieked.

“Did that bird just tell us to flee?” Thea asked still hunched over.

“Who cares? I’m not goin’ anywhere! If that pincushion flies at us again I’ll slice his beak off!” Ginth said courageously.

“You may just have that chance, mate!” Gypsum whispered hoarsely.

The gigantic bird was silhouetted against the moon. It soared there for a moment getting ready to make a dive again. It was a fearful sight. The bird let it’s wings ride the wind while it spread it’s feathers wide, it’s massive wingspan extended in all of it’s glory. It’s terrible curved beak and talons were exposed and they made the shrews cringe. This bird was a predator, a creature who grabbed up helpless beasts, flying with them to fearful heights, only to rip them limb from limb as they cried out and were silenced.

Quietly Gypsum got something from his belt. He stuck a stone in it and started twirling it around.

“Kreeee!” The huge bird was coming back again, making a beeline for Pearl’s boat. Pearl watched Gypsum and the thing he was twirling, which was too hard for her to see in the dark, though she took a guess at what it was. The shrew took one final spin and;

Whoosh!

The stone was loosed from Gypsum’s sling and it soared into the sky to meet the bird.

Crack!

The stone and the bird’s beak connected. The bird was thrown off balance and he fell earthwards, plummeting into a thicket of trees and bushes with a frightened screech.

“Make for the shore, shrews, I want to make sure this bird won’t be following us anymore,” Gypsum shouted pointing in the direction of the thicket. The shrews steered the boats to the shore and banked them. Leaving a shrew for each boat, the rest of them stole cautiously forward, weapons at the ready. Everything was quiet, no crickets or insects made a sound. Only the incessant noise of running water in the background told them that their ears still worked. Suddenly:

“Kreeee!” A thrashing in the bushes immediately told them where the bird had fallen. The bushes it had tumbled into snapped and cracked but held onto it’s struggling prisoner. Gypsum made a few hand motions to the shrews, signaling for them to surround the bird. He then sent Pearl a hand signal that he knew she would understand; wait here. Pearl was indignant. She sent Gypsum a look of surprise and disappointment but he had turned his head too quickly. Nonetheless she refused to obey the command and decided to follow anyway.

The thrashing continued as Gypsum told the shrews to stay hidden. They concealed themselves in the shadows under the trees while he got closer. He spoke in a loud voice,

“Ho there! Stop struggling, you’ll only make it worse.” Gypsum tried to sound as big as possible while still keeping himself hidden.

“Shut thy face, brainless rodent,” The bird returned. “You best not come any closer, foolish one, for when I break free I will be the last your eyes shall see!”

Gypsum was not taken back by the volley of insults that were clearly feigned courage, but instead countered it with courteousness. “I apologize for the state you find yourself in, stranger, but it could not be helped. You attacked us, remember? So guard your tongue, for you have no right to speak.”

This seemed to work on the bird. He stopped thrashing and was silent for a moment. Finally he spoke, “If you release me from this mess, I shall be forever grateful. What is more, I shall promise to always be of service to thee, if ever, and whenever, you find me.”

Gypsum considered this, but doubted his word. “What kind of bird are you?” He demanded.

“A red-tailed hawk, sir. Though, you cannot tell because it has not grown out quite yet.” The bird said the last words almost sheepishly, as if he didn’t want anyone to know.

“So you are an immature, is that correct?” Gypsum asked, fearing the bird less and less.

“Yes, sir. Mind you though, I fight no differently than an adult and if you were to attack me I would have no trouble…”

“Have no fear of that, stranger, we don’t intend on treating you the same way you would treat us. Where are your parents?”

The young one hesitated then said, “Gone sir, dead. Their death occurred last night.”

Gypsum thought he heard the immature sniffle. Now he had no reason to fear the bird. With his parents dead no one would try and save him, and with the lack of experience an adult carried he knew that the bird would be no match for him and the rest of the shrews. The previous attack had proven that. “What is your name?”

Obviously tired of laying amidst the sticks, the hawk tried a new tactic, “Thou shall not have that until you free me.”

“One moment before I do that. Pearl, you can come forward now!” Gypsum was surprised when Pearl emerged from the shadows directly behind him.

“Yes?” she asked trying not to laugh while he tried to hide his slightly shocked expression.

“What do you think?” He whispered to her, “Should we let him go, or kill him now and save him the chance of trying again later?”

“I have an idea. Why don’t you let me set him free, and if you see him trying to hurt me then you give the shrews the signal to attack.”

Gypsum thought of this then conceded to her, “Be careful though, these birds can be pretty quick.”

Pearl nodded, glad that he allowed her to do something. She drew her sword and walked over to where the hawk lay. As she stepped into his view, he drew back as much as he could and kept his eyes on her weapon. “Don’t be afraid,” she said, “this is to set you free.” Pearl watched his eyes as they never moved them from her sword. Without much of a warning she started hacking away at the branches in large, swift strokes. The young bird moved his wings to help her but did not move his head or feet, afraid that she would get offended and hack him instead. When she was satisfied that he was clear she nodded to him, letting him know it was okay to get up. She sheathed her sword again.

“Krach! Many thanks to thee!” The bird flapped his wings to stand but then winced in pain. “Hmm, seems my wing did not take well to the fall.”

Pearl drew closer and he let her inspect it. Sure enough, a stick, long, thick and pointy, was embedded in his left wing. Pearl touched it.

“Kreeee!” The hawk flinched so hard that it sent Pearl sprawling. In a second all the shrews closed in on the bird and stuck their rapiers close to him, daring him to make one more offensive move.

“Wait!” Pearl yelled above the shrew’s threats. “He didn’t mean to hurt me. Let’s take him closer to shore and out of this thicket. Where is Thea?”

By the time the hawk was out of the thicket, Thea had retrieved the medicine haversack from the boats. The healer shrew sat the bird down in a clear area and inspected his wound. She gently prodded and poked at the stick, testing to see if it would come out easily.

“It doesn’t look good,” she said regretfully, “The stick goes clear through the other side. I’ll be able to get it out, but there is a chance you may never fly again.”

The young hawk cringed at this thought. He was so young! Telling him he may never fly would be like telling him he may not live. However, the bird would not take that for an answer. “Krach! Thou shall remove the imbedded object and cover up my wing. After a few days I shall be as good as new!”

Thea shook her head at the bird’s simple mindedness. She didn’t want to tell him what she really thought of the wound. “I’m afraid it won’t be that easy, my friend. This stick is stuck in here pretty good, if I remove it, it will take a lot of skin and feathers with it. Even if I was able to do it cleanly, it would take months to heal.”

“Kreeee! That shall not happen!” the bird went into an excited frenzy. He pulled away from the healer shrew and flapped his wings vigorously. He stopped for a moment and took hold of the stick. He yanked and yanked at it until finally, with a big, thrusting pull he removed it. Flapping his wings again, he flew up into the air. This, however, did not last long. Within moments his strength was gone and he returned to the ground.

“Krach! You see, I have removed the fiend object.”

Thea saw. She also saw the trickle of blood running down his wing. The pain in his eyes was also clearly visible. She stepped up to him and inspected his wound once again. “You did pull it cleanly out,” she said after a minute, “but I still need to clean it and wrap it up.”

The young bird let Thea treat it with cold water and medicinal plants she had brought. she could tell he was holding back a whimper of pain. Thea next wrapped up the birds wing with a thick peace of cloth she had in her haversack. She was almost reluctant to use it on a beast that had attacked them rather than on a friend, but then again, he was almost a friend.

“There, all done. How does it feel, not to tight?”

The young bird tried out the new bandage. “Krach, it is perfect! You are a marvelous healer.” The bird complimented and Thea blushed slightly.

“Now tell me, hawk, now that we have set you free and treated you, what is your name?” Gypsum came close to the hawk and stared into it’s golden eyes.

“My name, is Reaglar.” The name sounded majestic and the bird said it proudly.

The rest of that night the shrews camped on the shore, not knowing what to do with Reaglar. It was true that he could not fly to chase them down, but leaving him to whatever the elements wanted seemed like murder. When the sun was about to come up Pearl approached Reaglar. He was as wakeful as she was as he overly preened himself in the early dawn.

“Ehem,” Pearl cleared her throat as she tried to get the birds attention.

“Ah, my rescuer is here! How may I be of service?” The young hawk stopped preening himself and gave a slight bow.

Pearl smiled at Reaglar’s flattering words, “Simply answers to a few questions.”

“Hopefully I shall give you the ones you want to hear.”

“First I have an important question; what do you catch for food?”

“Ah, now there is a touchy question. My parents ate rodents, beasts like shrews, squirrels, and mice. Hopefully no offence to you. I, for some strange reason, cannot stand the taste of them. They make me sick. I prefer to eat smaller birds and… other things.”

“Other things?” Pearl questioned almost jokingly.

“Well…” Reaglar’s voice dropped to a whisper, “I enjoy fruits and nuts and vegetables, not like other red-tailed hawks I know.”

Pearl laughed, relieved. “Reaglar, my friend, your secret is safe with me.”

Reaglar thanked her but was rather embarrassed at her laughter.

Pearl stopped laughing, “Thank you for telling me, I am very glad that you are not like other hawks you know. I am especially glad you are not like other hawks I know.” She took a deep breath and continued with her interview hesitantly, “When you fly around, how far do you normally go?”

“On occasions I make wide sweeps, I like to see what is going on in the woods. Most of the time, however, I choose to stay closer to my home. When my parents were alive I was allowed to go so far that they could see me when they flew above the treetops.”

“On you’re longer flights, did you ever have confrontations with vermin?”

“Why, yes I did.” Reaglar’s voice quavered slightly.

“Did you ever see a vermin named Death Swift, or any of his band?”

Reaglar drew in a sharp breath. “Death Swift did you say?”

Pearl nodded, prodding him with her eyes to tell her more.

“He is the very cowardly beast that killed my parents!”

A.N. Special thanks to InChrist-Billios for being my only dedicated reviewer. C'mon guys, I want to know what you think!