Shai Soi

Chapter 20

The ground raced towards my face a little to quickly. All the while I'm thinking I'm flapping. Flappy bird. Feathers. Wings. I was uncomfortably much closer to the ground than I wanted to be. Come, wings. I'm a bird. I'm going to... ahhhh!

I shut my eyes right before impact. A cat always lands on her feet, right?

I waited for the crunch of bone against rock. The jolt of pain running down my flexible spine. Or at least my watering eyes as I rammed my nose into the dirt. But it never came. A light breeze groomed through my fur... no, my feathers. I opened my eyes, faltering in my smooth dip by my surroundings. Everything was twenty times sharper and more vibrant. Every speck of dirt stood out as clear as scattered soccer balls. I could count every gleaming black/brown scale that rippled along the cobra's body. It was invigorating. That is, before the falcon swooped out of the sky.

Sharp talons stung my sides. The beat of another set of wings pounded in my ears. I lost control of my own wings and careened towards the earth. The harsh green of the forest and the beige of the dirt blurred in my vision. I righted just in time to slam into the earth, once again human. (If you broke a bone in animal form, would it still be there when you changed back?) I wasn't super excited to find out.

Ouch. That'll leave a mark... or a dozen.

I didn't have time to favor them. There was that stupid snake waiting for me. It's gigantic hood expanded making it look supreme. My instincts took over. Suddenly, I was a lion lunging away from another strike. When the falcon's shadow overlaid my own, I turned into the first animal that came to mind. My nose elongated into a tremendous horn. My skin turned leathery and grey. Rebecca the Rhino reared, emitting a sound I didn't know a rhino could make. I didn't know why I thought rhino, maybe The Lion King was still on my mind. Thankfully, this bird didn't run into my butt like Zazu, I merely scared it away. It squawked and flapped into another round about.

Wait, where was...?

AH!  The cobra's fangs missed my hoof, (do rhino's have hooves?) by an inch. I swore I felt something wet splash against my underside. Was that venom?

Back into lion form, I darted away from the reptile ducking as falcon came in for another swoop.

Okay, I'm getting aggravated. What are they doing, tag teaming? Since when are cobras native to this area?

I avoided another attack from the snake. The bird nicked my shoulder. Uh, ouch!

The cat in me jumped onto a tier. Higher ground, you need to get on higher ground.

Arnold screamed, It's a bird! You can't get higher unless you fly above it, dimwit.

Thanks, Arnold, your very helpful.

I leaped higher. Up one, two, three, four... Wait a minute. Tiers? I observed the area more closely. A semicircle of stone levels enclosed an open field that ran out into the forest. The rock spires looked more smooth than before, like columns half hewn into the rock. The cliff face was smoother than what it first appeared too. They resembled stadium seats of a football game.

Wait. Is this an arena?

Everything my parents said about the test came back to me. How they wouldn't answer my questions directly, how all I had to do was shift skins in front of the Council. But there was no Council to begin with. My parents weren't here, no body was here! Except for that stupid cobra and that stupid falcon...

Oh... this was so not funny.

I descended the tiers, slowly and elegantly pissed off. When I returned to ground floor, I shifted back into human form. With an eye on the snake and the falcon, I walked to the center of the arena and faced the cliff. Yes, those were definitely rows. I just hoped I was facing the audience instead of empty space.

Crossing my arms I said, "This was one crappy test."

Where there had once been eerie silence other than the flap of the bird's wings and the scratching sound of the cobra, noise erupted from out of no where. The shadows of the cliff face condensed. It took me a second to figure out what was happening. The shadows appeared to spit out people. Fifty humans materialized behind the tiers of stone. All of them laughed in amusement. If I wasn't so mad right now, I would've turned into a turtle and hid in my shell. And probably never come out until winter. But, no, I just glared as my parents were barfed up by the shadows.

I knew I could use shaok to tell them that this was so not cool, but I let my stare do all the talking.

Warm breath hit my ear. "Well look at-"

I guessed my intincts were still on high setting, because I did the first thing that came naturally. I grabbed his arm and flung him over my shoulder. Thump! He landed on his back.

Someone laughed, coming up to my side. She was smart enough to not get in judo-flipping range. "See, what'd I tell you. Never mess with a Newling." She looked over at me. "I've never seen him so surprised before!"

She kicked his shoulder. "Get up, Nathaniel."

Nathaniel? I looked closer at him. Yes, green eyes, messy hair, annoying smile. And then I realized the girl was Sadie. But that didn't make sense. How were they both here and... wait... what?

"Dang, Rebecca." He rolled his shoulder. "You're much stronger than you look."

"Do you want me to hurt you again?" I snapped.

Sadie laughed. "This girl's got some spunk."

"You've no idea." Nathaniel winked.

"You two are shai? "

Nathaniel mockingly bowed. "With pride."

"But how'd you... what the..." I remembered Sadie and Nathaniel's shared glance in the lunch line. How when the cobra, who I now knew was Nathaniel, looked like he was amused at my test. Anger sparked in my chest. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it would be 'against the rules.'" Nathaniel put quotes around that. I caught Sadie roll her eyes. Nathaniel smirked at me. "Plus, I thought it'd be fun." He ducked before I could punch him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa save the confidence for our audience." He gestured with his good arm at the crowd,  which had fallen silent. "Come on, Newling. Time to conclude your Tannces."