Hammer and Feather Ch. 14-21

Amtalia laughed and looked more at ease. "She's at least as frightening as a dragon when she wants to be."

"Father says that when you look at people while wearing Syreilla's Eye you see them for what they are. You can tell a thief when you see one, and you can see a man that's a danger. He told me that Lady Rook looks like dragon's fire shrouded in black smoke. That's why he calls her the Lady of smoke and flame. It's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. Juddri Grimgrip saw it too when he wore the circlet once. He said he'd never seen anything as dangerous or as beautiful and that when she turned her temper on the bandits that had attacked them and tried to kill her brother... He'd wanted to take his axe to them, but by the time she was done he pitied them."

"Kwes mentioned that he was injured and she healed him."

"Juddri told me the story. It was a mortal wound. Lady Rook and Lord Cyran rescued them from the bandits and then she healed the wound so well that it went from a gaping belly wound to just bad bruises."

"He has a small scar." Amtalia looked at Belthamdir and then at Tirnel. "She never mentioned that she saved his life and he never told me it was that bad."

"When I met them he was lying in the back of the cart and he looked unwell." Edun smiled ruefully. "I asked if he was going to die and he said he wouldn't dare. Lady Rook would scold him if he tried."

Breakfast began again in comfortable silence but the glances the half-elf sent to the tent flap told Nali she was still worried. After the meal had finished, Nali started to help Amtalia clean up a little while Belthamdir watched Tirnel and Edun pull out the peculiar game on the cloth at the table.

In the quiet, the sound of the shocked murmur rising around them was loud and an elf scrambling up the side of their tent to the top brought them outside. The elf on the tent was staring in awe. Nali caught a glimpse of a flame in the sky disappearing from view.

Baduil made a sound like laughter.

"A giant bird made of flame..." Tirnel stopped Belthamdir from trying to climb the side of the tent to get another glimpse.

"Syvezar said she intended to fly..." Edun glanced down at Nali. "I didn't know she could."

"Father said if you tell Lady Rook she can't, she will to spite you. It doesn't matter what it is. It's why he can't look through Syreilla's Eye and try to see what she might do. It looks like spider webs. She might take any path, even straight through a wall."

"That was Lady Rook?" The elf leapt down, staring at them both.

"With her Eye, you can see what she is. She's made of dragon's fire and smoke. She must have dropped the part she usually wears to walk around people to be able to fly."

Baduil made the laughing sound again and Nali grinned.

"Be glad she's on our side." Magpie came around a tent at a trot with a grin on his face. "Did you see her?"

"We caught a glimpse." Edun shook his head. "Did you know she could-"

"No! Father is going to have his poets telling tales about that."

"Navisse will have songs sung about it whether she succeeds or fails. Just the sight filled me with hope." The elf looked into the distance with awe. "How do you leave an offering for her?" He looked at Edun.

"Ask her priestess." Edun smiled down at Nali.

"She doesn't ask much. Be kind to children and carry a feather for luck." Nali flushed, feeling awkward under the man's curious gaze.

"Be kind to birds too, Oreldir." Magpie spoke up with a smile, "She told Ruinir never to point his weapon at another bird as long as he lived."

"I can do all of that." The elf laughed and inclined his head. "I'll speak to the others about having a shrine built that we can leave food for birds on as an offering. And prepare to have your daughter spoiled, Kwes."

Amtalia looked a little pale as she took their daughter from Tirnel and went back into the tent. Magpie made an annoyed face and bowed with a flourish but before he could speak, Oreldir pointed at the sky where the bird had disappeared. "Black smoke."

"Lady Rook is kind if you're kind and if you're not you burn." Kwes' smile became an unpleasant baring of his teeth that reminded her of Lady Rook somehow. "When she's on your side you don't have to be afraid of anything."

Oreldir's awe returned. "Come with me, Kwes, I want to have something made by the time she returns." He glanced at Nali, "And a feather in my pocket."

"I want to finish my breakfast. If my wife kept any for me. I'll find you after." He grinned and Tirnel beckoned for him to come into the tent.

Edun smiled at her and looked around for a moment. "I suspect they'll create a festival in her honor, a children's festival. And the thought of shrines to her where people leave food for birds as the offering pleases her grandfather greatly."

"It's a good idea." Nali flushed, "I wish I had remembered that she told the elves not to harm birds."

"She'll have priests among elves, humans, and dwarves by the time she's finished. I suspect each will have their own way of making offerings to her." He gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "What would she ask of dwarves, other than being kind to children and carrying a feather?"

"I... I don't know. I'll have to ask her."

He laughed and nodded. "Wise. Though it may come to you at the right moment.

"Why don't we take a walk? I can take you on my usual morning route through the tents and we can try to speak to the priests again. Eristien sleeps late. It should be safe enough."

They didn't get far before Baduil flew to land on Edun's shoulder, startling him.

"You're looking after him now?!" Nali eyed the bird with a little bit of annoyance.

The raven peered down at her curiously as if baffled by her attitude.

"I think he's looking after us both for the moment." Edun laughed. "She mentioned needing permission for Baduil to look after you but not needing it for him to visit me."

"Oh. Orsas Fellforger mentioned that she wasn't supposed to have Baduil look in on me often. She told him, Baduil only looked in on me once. For twenty years."

The priest beamed down at her around the large bird. "That sounds like Lady Rook. It bothers her when she isn't allowed to look after people. I know she can be terrifying to some people, my mother had the occasional nightmare about her for years after her visit, but-"

As they approached the circle of brightly colored tents Nali felt a twisting in her guts and the sound of his voice faded out for a moment.

She stopped and frowned at them. "Something..."

"We'll visit with Doronel. She's safe. We've become good friends." Edun kept walking and Nali swallowed her protests.

Baduil flew to perch on a green tent as Edun headed toward a blue one. He entered and Nali paused outside the flap looking around at the others. Her heart was racing and she felt a little ill. The elf that Edun had told her to be wary of came out of the purple tent and started toward her with an unsettling smile.

The raven took flight with an angry call.

"Little one, Rielle wished me to find you and you came to me! How fortunate."

Baduil flew at the elf, distracting her for a moment with his attack. Nali grabbed frantically for her feather. The bird was knocked away and made loud, terrible noises bringing elves and Edun out of the other tents. She was pulling the feather out as the elf woman seemed to cast something at the protesting elves. It felt like a blow to the chest knocking the air out of her and stars exploded in her vision before it went black.

Nali took a deep painful breath, opening her eyes to find a smirking human woman in armor leaning over her.

"Wake, Nali Rookfriend. You have a choice to make."