AERIE: Book 01 Part 03

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My arms swiftly tire. I have flown over the tall mountains and now glide slowly down to the coastline below. The sun is setting, and I worry I cannot count the days since she left. Every day wasted at the lake when I could have been searching.

"Not wasted. You fly now. Find something to eat boy-man." I can imagine Merler's voice scolding me.

Swooping low over the ocean I see shimmers of silver flashing in the waves and dive into the cold water. A short time later, I warm myself by a small fire over which the fish cook in the smoke as Merler had shown me. My suit is drying over a branch of a tree. The sun dips into the ocean and a green fire plays on the dark water as I take up a skewered fish and hungrily bite at it.

I am finishing my second fish when I see it. An avian circles high above me in the night sky. Perhaps it is drawn to my fire. My stomach is full, and I am exhausted from the day's flight, so I lie back in the dune and rest.

A noise wakes me a short time later. My eyes flick open, and he is crouched opposite my fire staring at the remaining fish. He has drab brown feathers and short blond hair. His eyes frighten me the most. They are red. Not like Eris's eyes that seemed bloodshot as she approached her fledging, but the whites of his eyes are fully red and his irises dark. They are fixed on mine and he seems coiled ready to fight.

"Eat." I tell him as I slowly sit. He leaps backward into the air and watches suspiciously as I pick up a skewered fish and offer it to him. "Eat."

His foot snaps out and grasps the fish as he hovers there watching me. I retreat and sit beside my fire. He lands on one foot and takes the fish from his foot to hungrily devour it. I nod and point at the remaining fish, "Eat."

He gathers courage and approaches to snatch another fish. His eyes watch me intently as he snaps at the fish and eats it bones and all.

"I am Todd." I tell him. He makes no reply but cocks his head to one side and watches me as I pick at the last fish. When he has finished his fish, he throws the head onto the beach where crabs squabble over the remains.

"Human." He points at me.

I nod.

"Question, human here?" I had been told that some Avian did not speak Galactic Pidgin very well.

"I search for my mate."

"As well." He nods. "Lyrin. She swarms." He points north along the beach. "Many fights. Death for you."

His arms are messes of recent lacerations that are healing slowly.

"Why death?"

"Question, human fight? Us fight air, land, scrish!" He claws his talons fiercely. "No scrish." He points at me. "Die easy."

"Maybe, but I will find Eris and die if I must."

He taps his head and smiles. "Human think Arcadian. Maybe not die. Question, found her?"

"No." I shake my head and tell him of my vision.

"Swarm close. Human find."

"Show me!"

"Is night. Will die. Waves. Wind. Danger. Men rest night." He shrugs.

"Then tomorrow. Will you show me tomorrow?"

"Human find place. Easy." He points north. "Haha. See feathers. See fighting. Easy."

We sit quietly. I don't know what he is thinking but my heart beats wildly know she is near and alone in the dark night. Every fibre of my being draws me to search for her.

"Human place good. Fire good. Dry here. Rest. Fight new day. Question, Tching stay human place?"

I shrug. "Okay."

"Human give Tching food. Not fight. Question, human fish?"

My nod puzzles him. After long moments he asks, "Question, human dance?"

"Dance?"

"For female." He stands and performs an outlandish display dance with his feathers and arms. As he does, I see his genitals extend as he struts and stiffly flaps his arms. It reminds me of pigeons courting. When he finishes, he sits again, "Human dance good or female no."

"I know nothing about dancing."

"Human watch. Learn. Question, human get fish, Tching get dance."

"Yes. You could teach me?"

He shrugs. "Tching try. Now sleep."

I watch as he hollows a bowl shape in the grassy dune and folds his arms around his curled-up body. Sleep eludes me long into the night. A terrible tugging draws me north and my remembered vision of Eris alone and frightened calls to that same nine-year-old boy who appointed himself her protector many years ago. I dream of her back then and wake to an empty beach.

Washing sand off in the ocean, I look north and see the beach terminate at the end of a wide arc of golden sand. Above the sand stretch giant cliffs that reach into the clear white sky. Even from here I can see the tiny, dotted forms of avians flying up and around those cliffs. Deep inside I know she is not one of them. But deep inside I know as well that she is very close.

It is midday by the time I have flown along the empty beach and closed upon the broken headland that stretches into the sky and out over the sea precipitously. The rocky shore is uninhabited but avian circle above in the sky in an innumerable swarm and the rocks are littered with feathers that fall like slow rain. I am drawn outwards from the headland though, toward the east out over the empty sea. I seek that island of rock on which my heart is held in Eris's hands.

I fly on over the water and feel that link get lighter and lighter as I know her nearer. The sky is just as empty as the ocean. She is not here. It cannot be and yet it is. "Stupid human." I berate myself silently, "Thinking you have instinct." And I turn back for the distant shore. That link draws tight again, tugging me back to the empty ocean and I circle searching in wider arcs for anything that could be her island.

Desperate, defeated, exhausted, I turn once again for the shore and return to my 'human' camp. I fish to pass the time and feel successful at least at one thing. This evening my little fire is surrounded by ten small fish on green stick skewers, and they smell delicious. I have made a lean-to from fallen branches and wide leaves. My wing suit requires a few repairs. There is a small hole stretching from the stitching under my left wrist.

One of the things that Merler packed into my basket was a roll of cotton and a needle. I put them to good use and do my best to patch up the suit. I'm focused on the stitching when I'm joined again by Tching.

"Shit, are you okay?" I blurt. There is a long gash down his face and the feathers on his thigh are matted with blood.

"I fight. Lyrin watches. She..." He collapses on his back and his eyes close.

When I inspect his leg, I find a gaping wound that runs at least eight inches along underneath the feathers. I use my wing suit to line my basket and bucket up some salty ocean water to clean his wound. The sand beneath him turns red with all the blood he's lost into his feathers and that which still seeps from his injury. Satisfied his wound is clean, I take my needle and thread up yet again and set about pinching the gaping rend back together.

I'm no doctor or seamstress but eventually I am satisfied that his bleeding has stopped. I can do no more for him. There is a small stream set back in the forest. It is almost dark now but light enough for me to find my way and refill my water bag. He swallows at least when I dribble small bits of water into his mouth. Still, he sleeps, and I hope I have done enough for him.

My mood is low, and I fall easily into dark dreams beside the wounded Avian.

In the morning I wake to find him sitting up eating one of last night's fish and picking at the feathers on his thigh. My water bag lies beside him almost empty, and I sit and startle him.

"Question, human fix Tching?"

"Some stitches. I'm not sure how well I did. You should have anti-biotics to prevent infection." I'm turned away pissing in the dunes.

"Tching feel good. Not fight yet. Good. Maybe fight next day."

"You said Lyrin was watching?"

"Yes. We not all imprint. A bit. Not enough. Lyrin look many Rogue."

I sat and took a fish from its stick and chewed at its dry flesh.

"Human find mate?"

"No." I hung my head. "No."

"Question, not?"

I told him of my flight out into the ocean and the way that the pull eased the closer I got but there was nothing to be seen.

"Human is... Ah... Tch Tchat... Up. Look up."

"Up?"

"Human is good place, not good up down. Look up."

"She is on an island, Tching."

"Many island up." He points his finger up in the sky. "Today human look up. Go place good then go up. Tching rest. Lyrin play game. Maybe no Tching one day make Lyrin think."

"Game?"

"Lyrin like Tching fight many male. Is mean. Leg no good. Tching eat fish and rest."

"Good idea. That was a beauty of a gash on your leg."

"Rogue get mean. Many female mated. Many rogue now rape. Three rogue want rape Lryin. Tching fight very hard. Lyrin laugh. Tching eat fish. Lyrin hide one day. Learn."

"Bloody hell."

"Yes. Human go. Find mate. Many quick. Up." He points his finger upwards again and laughs. "Human many smart for human. Not smart for avian. Not think wings."

I have my wing suit on in moments and I fetch Tching four more fish in thanks for the fresh hope I'm feeling.

"Tching can cook. Human go." There is an urgency to his instruction that echoes within me too. Usually, I have to consider a lot of things before trying to fly and psych myself up for it. Today I simply turn into the wind and step into the air as Eris did that last evening.

That rubber band of deep connection that pained me drew me out over the quiet ocean. I flew with all my aching need to find her until it eased and then started growing again. Circling, I found some warmer air rising up off the water and rode it ever upward. Past the great seabirds that shared my thermal. Past the few clouds that had gathered that day, I climber higher and higher until the horizon had a pronounced curve to it.

The finger of broken headland kept encroaching upon me the higher I flew. I saw avian duelling and dancing and some mating on the broken outcrop of rock. It was like watching a seagull colony back on earth. The higher I went the more thinly the outcrop was populated. The air grew cold, and it was harder and harder for me to fly.

I remembered how I felt when I climbed for mushrooms that day. How far above the lake I was and how terribly thin the air felt when compared to normal. My breather! I needed to land somewhere and remove it.

Gliding over toward the finger of headland that was tapering to point, I landed a good fifty metres or more from two Avian who were dancing for a female's attention. At my intrusion, they both stopped and turned menacingly. One approached, with his legs drawn up and their talons clicking as he hovered closer. The other chose the distraction to put more effort into his display.

This Avian was coloured similarly to Tching and his eyes were just as red and furious. His long challenging scream curdled my blood and put fear into my heart. This was a rogue in the full grip of his fledging.

He was still hovering three metres away and I thought perhaps this was a territorial display, so I stepped carefully backwards with my hands up in front of me. "Back off sunshine. I aint here for trouble. Settle down mate."

But trouble I got. In an instant he had crossed the small distance and his powerful legs lashed out. His talons tore at my shoulder, and I screamed in pain. My scream seemed to give him pause to retreat a small way. Whether he thought me defeated or perhaps a threat, I did not know. The pain from my shoulder and the thought that he might end my quest to find Eris brought down that familiar red mist.

This time when he flapped closer to snatch at me with his legs, I rolled beneath him and stabbed into his back with my claws. His screech of pain filled the sky and the female and male nearby stopped to watch. His hands sought to grab me but now he was on the ground, he was in my environment. On solid ground, he needed those feet to stand, so I blocked his raking attempts to catch my shoulders or throat. Each time I blocked, the blades in my gloves found purchase in his flesh.

Slowly his attacks tired. Eventually he withdrew and sat upon the ground. My chest rose and fell with the exertion and then the pain crept in. The mist rose and with it and the massive damage to my suit and forearms was revealed. The suit hung in tatters from my arms. My arms were a battlefield of horrible wounds. I could barely catch my breath and the other male was now advancing.

I checked quickly for the basket at my back, worried I had lost it in the skirmish. Erry's egg was in there. Her feather. I felt like they were my lifeline to her. Perhaps they were my handle on the thing that stretched between us.

This second male was smiling. He knew that I was injured and tired. He laughed out loud and settled to the ground a short way from me.

"Stupid human. You don't belong in the sky. I will send you back to the dirt where you belong."

My breath was laboured and the pain intense. I scratched quickly at my breather and placed it in my basket. It felt like it was choking me. He leapt in my moment of distraction and landed behind me. A single talon swept in a bloody trail across my lower back. A hand closed on the back of my neck and in the instant, I grasped his wrist digging my blades in deeply and smashed the torn forearm of my other arm into his elbow.

As it hyperextended his face fell in shock. We could all hear the breaking bones.

"You've killed him." The first attacker said from his seat on the rocks. "He will die."

"No, he won't. It's just a broken arm." I huffed and coursed with energy as my attacker held his arm and grimaced.

"You don't understand. We are not like you. He will die now. It is like puncturing your human lungs for us to break a bone."

"Perhaps he should have thought about that before offering to throw me from this rock."

"What will you do now? Do you want this female? Is this some bird flu thing? You want to fuck an Avian? Piece of shit human."

"No, I seek only my mate. I was attacked."

They were still sitting there, one holding his arm and one tending to it, as I sat and tried to stitch my suit back together. It was tough material and took quite a lot of sewing. As I sat watching them watch me, I saw the wounds on my arm healing before my eyes. There was no twinkle of stars. I felt no impending darkness.

Gradually, the adrenaline cloud lifted, and remorse filled me for this fellow's injuries. The female hovered nearby in front of a hole in the rock that she had built a makeshift straw bed in front of. As I sat and attended to my suit, I noticed more than once she turned and flared her bright silver and teal tail at me.

"Show me your arm." I told the injured Avian.

"Tch Tchat... For what reason, human." He actually spat on the ground.

"I want to help."

When I touched him, he flinched, and the pain echoed on his face. It looked much like the upper arm had broken fairly cleanly. I found some sticks and grass and had him lie on the rocks. I cut strips from my loin cloth and splinted his arm as best I could.

"What will you do now?" I asked him.

"I do not know. I will be killed if I try to walk down from here and I cannot fly."

"Will you help me take him down?" I asked the second Avian.

He scoffed. "No, I will stay and take this female."

"We may both be killed if I attempt it myself."

"So, let him die."

There was nothing for it. A deep part of me screamed that I should keep exploring up. I felt her so very close. But a human part of me could not leave this person to die.

"You will hold onto my back. I will fly you down. Is there somewhere we can get you help?"

"There is a medical outpost near the middle ground. If you follow the spire down, there is a lake and tents. Can you do this thing? I could not carry another."

"I don't know. But I know I have to try."

"Humans are stupid."

"Perhaps."

He climbed upon my back and felt just like a small boy playing piggyback. Stepping off the side of the spire I fell into a slow glide. I tried to remain as level as possible and follow the jagged chunk of rock toward its base. Gentle warm breezes helped me rise now and then and so long as I didn't get too close to the rock, other avian, apart from turning to watch the spectacle of a human with an Avian on their back, left us alone.

"There human." He pointed and I followed his gesture down to land roughly on my face and pass out cold in front of the gathered Avian spectators.

~*~

"Twit, twit, twit. Human..."

"Human wake up."

When my eyes follow the instructions, they open to find Sarika.

"Sarika?"

"Oh... Have you met my daughter?"

"Daughter?"

"Yes. Perhaps on earth. She is there at the moment studying."

"Yes. She marked my- where is my basket?"

"It is safe. Under your bunk. The egg is safe. And you know my mother too? The gloves you wore were my fathers. Titanium from his earth."

"Merler. Yes. She taught me-"

"To fish?" She giggles and checks a machine near my head. "Always with the fishing."

"Am I hurt?"

"Only a little. You must wear your breather though. Our atmosphere is like a drug to humans. It lets you be much more than human, but it eats at you as well."

"How long have I slept? I must find her." I try to rise and find I'm strapped to the bed. "What the?"

"You were dreaming terrible things. Her name is Eris. What is yours human?"

"Todd. Todd Parker."

"Well Todd Parker, I am Mavisk. We have a gift for you."

"A gift?"

"Yes. My colleagues were very moved by your act of helping a combatant rogue when you could have simply not. It is not an Avian thing to do. Empathy is... alien to us in these situations. We have improved your wing suit. Do you like it?"

When she held it up, I'm afraid I laughed. It was covered with the many fallen feathers that littered the ground.

"We sewed them into the material. It will keep the water off you and will give you more lift." She seemed a little annoyed at my laughter.

"It is... Will it work the same still? I like..."

"It should work better." She snapped.

"I am sorry for laughing. Is the boy okay?"

"No... Not really. He will live. Your splint saved his life. But he may be cursed to remain rogue. Many female rogues will not entertain a broken male. If he does not mate, he remains rogue. It happens frequently. They fight too hard, and this thing happens."

"That's terrible."

"It is. But your kindness is worse to him. It is noble and good, but he feels perhaps he should have died."

"Damn."

"Damned if you do, and damned if you don't. You followed your instincts and did what you thought was right. Perhaps you are more Avian than you appear, human. Are you feeling up to walking?"

"More than okay. I need to-"

"You need to wait. It is lashed by storms and rain and far too dangerous at night. She is safe inside her cave."

"You know this how?"

"I am my mother's daughter." Her enigmatic smile is almost mocking. "How you met all three of us is something strange. Do you believe in fate? The great stories?"

"I have no idea. All I bloody well know right now is that Eris..." the emotion of the last week explodes down my face in a waterfall of unbidden human feeling.

"Shh... She can feel you too. It goes both ways this thing. Many of the swarm are not imprinted and they are savage, as you found this afternoon. Some such as you and Eris are fated. Some of the fated find each other quite quickly and are spared the trials. Some face great trials so that they can live great lives. You are fated for greatness, I'm afraid."

Shakily, I leave the bed I have occupied for unknown days and stand on legs that feel a little foreign after all the time I've been flying lately.

"Here." Mavisk smiles and puts a hand on my shoulders to help me. "Oh." She scratches an itch I didn't know I had. "Come. I have things to teach you that my mother couldn't."