Feathers of Bravery

Aihla

I woke up and for a second I panicked a little. Part of me thought yesterday was all a dream and forgot that we really were taken somewhere in the middle of the forest, met a crow who happened to be the prince of Baldir, faced off against a Kijod, flew to some unknown town that none of us have ever heard of and basically woke up in a strange nest. But it all came back to me before I could scream. At least the nest was comfy.

I waited for Jess and Meylo to wake up. Breakfast was brought in by the servant from last night along with the map we had asked for. Now I really needed them to wake up. There's just a little issue of us being nowhere near our kingdoms. We are not even close to the far markets of the west. From the looks of the landmarks on the map it appears we are somewhere in the south wild lands of the Geddo.

Geddo, it was one of the places that our tutors would say where the birds lost their way. By some evil and dark magick they had reverted to savage wild animals. Going as far as devouring one another. Yet here we are. Right in the smack center of Geddo, in Riverira. The only savage thing about this place seems to be that they don't have any running water. They have to retrieve it from the giant well that gets it from the stream. The tutors were right, this truly is a wild place.

Wow, leave it to me to somehow maintain my sarcasm in the midst of everything. My mother would be so proud. I'm sure my father would have something to say as well. Finally, they both begin to stir awake. First one to sit up was Meylo, Jess followed moments after. I waited for them to eat something first before I broke the news to them. This is going to be fun.

"So let me start off by saying good morning. How'd you all sleep?" I ask. Let me just work my way into that conversation.

"Surprisingly well. You two?" Jess replied.

Meylo just nodded as he was busy with his bowl, still stuffing his face. Reminds me a little like Rodo, don't disturb him while eating. Once he was done I figured it made no sense to keep prolonging in telling them.

"Ok, well just going to spit it all out. Apparently we are in Geddo. Yup, the southern savage wild lands. I don't know exactly which direction will take us home since we have no maps ourselves of this place and the only map they have is of their land too. So I'm open to any ideas at this point." I'm sure maybe I could've done that better but delivering bad-ish news is not my forte.

Both of them just sit still and are silent, but their eyes are practically bulging out of their sockets. Going on a few minutes now of pure silence. Well almost silence, there is the sound of the Inn being brought to life with all the servants and patrons waking up.

"What you're saying is that we are over a few thousand miles away from our kingdoms? That and we have no way of really finding home? So we should just toss a cube and pick a direction and hope it's the right one?" Meylo says finally breaking the tension.

I have no clue why we would toss a cube but maybe it's a crow thing and also it's not the biggest issue right now. What I'm worried about is that Jess still hasn't said a word. She's just twiddling with her spoon and bowl. Normally I can easily tell what she's thinking but right now I'm coming up blank. Just like her expression. Meylo goes to speak further but he follows my gaze and looks towards her and decides to not say whatever it was that he was going to.

"Jess? You alright there, you've been kinda quiet there? Jess?" I ask tentatively. If she doesn't make a witty comment or at least say anything in the next few seconds I'm going to start panicking.

Shaking her head, she finally looks up at us. "Yeah sorry. Just got lost in thought. Had to process everything. I mean how many times do you get told that you're in a land where beastly cannibalistic birds live? And I thought yesterday's highlights with dealing with a Kijod would be hard to beat." she scoffs.

Oh thank Lakshmi! Sarcasm, that's awesome. She scared me there for a second. Meylo sees my shoulders relax and he lets out the breath I didn't realize he was holding in. His shoulders also lose some of its rigidness.

"Not that tossing a cube up in the air hoping for good odds is off the table, but what's the plan?" She asks.

Am I the only one that doesn't understand this whole cube thing? But also, this is an open room. I can't be the only one to make a decision. This involves all of us. All of us have to agree on whatever we plan to do. I just hope though that we can actually agree on something.

"Well first maybe we should..."

It was de ja vu. All three of us tense as we heard bells ringing. What made it more worrisome was that with this unknown town, we have no clue how there signals work. For all we know, they are simply alerting everyone for a prayer gathering. That's not the case here when we hear screams and crying. Hastily we fly through the inn and outside towards the guard's held our weapons. Once out in the open, we could see the arrows piercing through the air. Some wouldn't hit their mark, only hitting doors, posts or even the ground. Unfortunately, not all were so lucky.

There were those that struck those around us. Right away we saw the pattern. None of them were kill shots. A lot of the birds were targeted in either the wing. Others weren't shot at all but got captured with either netting or by a chain that wrapped around their legs pinning them down to the ground. They were only being immobilized. No one was coming to kill or retrieve the downed birds. It was done to simply get them out of the way.

As soon as we get to the armory the main guard, the one that initially took our weapons didn't even need to be told what we were here for. The moment we bursts through the door he went to the locked door and handed them to us pleading. "Please help us!" he said. Like he had to even suggest. No way we were going to leave them like this.

"Jess, free as many birds as you can. Get to the chained ones first, have them help you free the netted ones. Meylo, how good is your sight?" I ask. Jess took off the moment I was done with her.

"Not as good as yours but very good." he replied.

I nodded. "Good, fly up and call out to us what you see. Let us know what we're dealing with. Help jess find any injured birds. Just call out, we'll hear you." Same as Jess. The second I'm done telling him he shoots straight up into the sky.

I push my body up against the building and take a deep breath, closing my eyes. I focus on everything that I can hear. The screams of the frightened townsfolk, the banging of doors and breaking of glass. Even the whistle of the arrows as they leave the bow. That's not what I'm trying to focus on though. Reaching for my charm, I say the words I need. "Exaudi inimicos meos". As the last word leaves my beak I exhale deeply as there's a little pain to my ears. We owls already have strong enough hearing as it is. The spell I just used not just amplifies it but is more specific.

It's similar to a locator spell. Only instead of seeing your enemies, I would be able to hear them long before they ever know I've locked in on them. This is much more preferred by me as an actual locator or sighting spell can end up being picked up on by whoever it is you're trying to find. Giving them the alert that they need to hide. But the audio spell, it's discreet. No one will know they are being monitored or tracked. Sure there's a bit of pain to it but all magick has a price.

The instant my pain fades I pinpoint all of the invaders. Time to go to work!