Fly With Your Heart

Chapter Five

     "Yôtin!" I chirped. "Come and play with me!" My brother turned to look at me, his brown feathers fluffed up.

     "What do you want to play?" He asked. I thought hard, until an idea came to me.

     "You be a hare, and I'll hunt you!"

     "That's a dumb game." Ispatinaw hissed. It was a very rainy day today, and all three of us were supposed to stay home. Even though I was only three sunrises old, I loved to play boisterous games. 'Chase' was a great example. Just yesterday, I had nearly slipped off the ledge trying to out-maneuver my brother.

     "No it's not," said Yôtin. He always stuck up for me, and I had a feeling that Ispatinaw was jealous. She probably wanted all of the attention. After all, she was flying already, and Yôtin and I weren't.

     That didn't matter to me. I would one day fly. Soon. I hopped over to Yôtin. "Can we play now?" he nodded and covered my face with his wing.

     "Don't look, Ispatinaw will tell you when I'm ready." I nodded and closed my eyes, tucking my head under my stumpy wing to cover my ears. After a while, I heard a long, low, whistling sigh come from my older sister. She walked over to me and nudged me.

     "Go find him squirt." She went to sit at the end of the ledge, glaring at the rain. I pranced around gleefully, checking each nook and cranny. When I couldn't find him, I turned to ask Ispatinaw.

      "Ispatinaw? I –"I stopped. She was gone. "Ispatinaw?" Had she flown away? I was trying to puzzle it out, when I realized: I was alone.

     The wind howled around me, and it hissed with my brother's voice. "Kîsik... you left us, Kîsik, you selfish bird. What a fool – flying just after you fledged? We're very disappointed, Kîsik..."

     "No," I tried to reason, "it wasn't like that! I only wanted to..." I trailed off, realising he was right. I had been selfish, and stupid. Just then, I heard a loud crack! An awful stench filled my beak, and pain rippled through my body. I cried out in agony, paralyzed. Then, everything went black.

. . .

     I woke up, terrified. The pain still lingered, but it was more of a dull throbbing now. My memory had brought back a fierce longing to see my brother again, and my heart ached. I blearily opened my eyes and looked at my surroundings.

     Smooth, pure white walls surrounded me on four sides. After living on a mountain, I was used to huge open spaces. Here, I felt confined.

     Trapped.

     There were ledges along one side of the room, covered in all sorts of oddities. I was on a raised ledge in the centre. Above me, the sun shone. Squinting at it, I realised that it wasn't. It was sort of like the eyes that the strange animals had. I was laying down, and I tried to stand up. It was then that I realized that I couldn't move.

     What is this? I thought, panicking. I was wrapped in a hard white shell – almost like my egg – only thicker, and not round. I shrieked in agony and fear, trying to move, trying to escape.

     "Help me!"

     Suddenly, a shape in one of the walls opened, and a creature I'd never seen before rushed in. It had a mope of yellow fur on its head, and four long spindly legs. It wore a long, white fur, but had no feathers. How odd. I screamed again, twisting my head to try and get away. It made a low murmuring noise in its throat, trying to soothe me, but I wasn't fooled.