The King with Six Friends

Furze

The landscape gradually shifted from an odorous swamp to a tall temperate forest. The trees here were dramatically taller than they were in the wetland. The canopy blocked out the sun, leaving the party to travel in a semi-twilight. The wide path was scattered with a few struggling saplings competing for sunlight.

Birds flitted in and out of the boughs, streaking over the dappled sunlight like comets. They were obnoxiously loud, screeching out at one another, especially in the nests harboring chicks.

"The birds are too loud to be normal," Edge murmured.

"Normal? This coming from an axe Morph?" quipped Kindle. Edge rolled his eyes.

"I suppose," said Agus, glancing around the canopy. "Since they're so far apart from one another, they have to be loud to hear each other?"

"Not like this." Edge mumbled uneasily.

"Pst."

"What?" Zar turned, expecting one of the others, but they were all a considerable length behind him. Confused, Zar continued down the path.

"PST!"

Zar drew his sword and pointed it at where the sound came. This was getting ridiculous.

"I need your help," creaked a tree next to him.

The tree needs help! Of course, why not?

"These birds won't let me rest, they won't let me hear my own thoughts," it wheezed through a knothole in its trunk, "Would you be kind enough to move the nests to the other trees?"

Zar sheathed his sword and gazed up at the tree's lofty boughs. The nests looked large- even from the ground. There were at least two dozen of them.

"Are you a Morph?" Zar asked.

"I am,"

Zar crossed his arms. "But if you can turn into a man, you could move the nests yourself."

The tree made a sound like a sad sigh. "I would, but I would risk breaking the eggs inside. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if that happened."

"Are you talking to a tree?" asked Edge. The others had caught up to his long strides.

"Yes, and I need help with relieving him of his nests," Zar replied, setting his pack down. "Agus, could you turn into an elephant and help lower the nests down?"

"What? Oh, yes," said Agus. "I can do that."

"Eryx, I might need you to reach the ones on the thinner branches. Could you do that?" Zar asked.

"Shouldn't be a problem for me," Eryx replied.

"Edge, I'll need you to take the nests that Agus gives you to put in another tree."

"Sure."

"What do I get to do?" Kindle asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"You-" Zar pointed at him- "get to keep them distracted-" he pointed up at the birds- "while we move the nests." Kindle's hair sparked as a wide grin spread across his face.

Agus lifted Edge and Zar up into their trees in his elephant form. Eryx slithered up the trunk as a dark serpent. Kindle burst into flames and leaped up into the air, scattering a flock of birds roosting on the branches.

The nests were very big, Zar found; big enough for a person to sit in. Inside the nests were chicks the size of a full-grown gull, despite their bald pink bodies. These were definitely not normal birds in these woods. When he tried to move the nest, the chicks screeched and pecked at his hands.

Eryx handed a nest to Zar, who handed it off to Agus, who handed it off to Edge, who placed each nest in a carefully selected branch. Kindle was having a hey-day chasing the large birds around the clearing.

The tree Morph patiently watched. His spirits rose as each small weight lifted from his boughs.

One of the parent birds realized what was happening to its nest and broke off from the flock.  It landed hard between Zar and the last nest, shaking the entire limb. It was at least as big as a greyhound and its wingspan even broader. Its ebony talons and beak gleamed ravenous.

The bird screeched. The piercing sound rang in Zar's ears and echoed throughout the clearing.

He tried moving back down the branch away from the clearly protective parent, but that was when the bird attacked. It struck again and again, clawing his back and head with its talons. He drew his sword to defend himself, only to have it knocked out of his hand. It clattered to the ground below. Suddenly, a fireball struck the raven, knocking it off of Zar.

Zar lost his balance as the bird's talons tore away from him. His hands frantically grasped at the branch. It held for a moment before the bark broke away, dropping him into the void.

Down he tumbled, breaking through branches and turning over and over. The ground and sky whirled into an unrecognizable spiral.

His ankle caught and he jerked out of free-fall. His head hovered a mere foot above the ground. Twisted around his leg was a thin, flexible branch from the tree Morph.

The tree gently lowered him to the ground and onto his back. Panting from adrenaline, Zar watched the tree as its limbs shrank back and the trunk collapsed. In the shallow crater of where the tree once was stood a stumpy man with a long white beard. He cradled a nest in his arms.

"I'm terribly sorry if I put you at risk," the old man apologized, walking barefoot to the elephant, "I should have warned you about the birds." Agus took the nest in his trunk and Edge placed it on a swooping branch. "I am in your debt, young man."

"You're bleeding on the back of your head," said Eryx, appearing behind Zar. He felt the back of his head, which was tender and sticky with his blood. The bird must have clawed deeper than he thought.

Zar ripped strips off his cloak and tied them around his head. Now his head matched his hands.