Fly With Your Heart

Chapter Eleven

     "Help! Help me!"

     The cry cut through the air like a talon. I raised my head up, looking around for the source. I recognized it as eagle, for I understood it, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. What was that? Who was that? I thought frantically.

     "Help!"

     I launched into the air, flapping my wings madly. I rose higher into the sky to see around me. I began circling. The mountains rose high above me, disappearing into the darkening sky. Snow began to fall, blurring the sky to white. Whoever was out there would be nearly invisible by now.

     "Where are you?" I called, twisting my head left and right.

     "Up here!" I looked up, and sure enough I saw a small, brown dot moving in the sky. I power flapped my wings, reaching the stranger in no time. My heart lurched when I recognised what it was.

     It was a chick, a golden eagle chick.

     Her feathers had not fully grown in, and she could barely hold her wings up. I flew closer and examined her wings.

     "What are you doing?" I asked, although I had a pretty good guess.

     "I-I flew before I was ready!"

     I panicked. Where did she come from? Is there a way to get her home? I looked at her again, and my heart sank. She was quickly losing altitude, and I feared she would fall to the ground completely. "Alright, here's what I'm going to try to do. What direction did you come from?"

     The chick looked behind her, and nodded. I swooped down so that I was gliding at her speed above her. I reached down with my talons gingerly, and, just as I had seen my parents do to Yôtin many a time, I folded her wings to her body.

     She shrieked in fear as she began falling, and tried to open her wings. I hissed, and quickly grabbed her in my talons. She was half my size, and I was glad. Not much bigger and I wouldn't be able to support us. I grasped her firmly, and in one swift motion I banked.

     The young eagle wailed loudly, "will you bring me home?"

     I looked for the ground nervously, unable to find it, "where did you jump from?"

     She closed her eyes. "Uum... higher up."

     "So if I flew straight, I would find a mountain?"

     "Yes," she answered, "then you'd fly up. We live in a cleft in the rocks."

     I nodded, even though she couldn't see, and continued forward. The winds grew stronger, and the sky darker. The clouds grew heavier with snow, and yet still more fell. As I flew, I was painfully brought back to my own first 'flight'.

     I had jumped from my nest, glided until I couldn't, then been struck out of the sky by the Featherless Creatures' energy. My eyes blurred with tears, or perhaps sleet, but I didn't care. I stifled my sobs and plowed on through the snowstorm.

     The chick in my talons shivered. I thought she was cold, but I couldn't hold her closer to me, so instead I decided to talk to her. "Shh, shh, it'll be alright. Soon, you'll be warm and safe."

     "No! You don't understand, what if I never see my parents again? And what of my brother?" My heart seized at the mention of 'brother.' Yôtin... She cried harder, and I didn't try to stop her. I wasn't even sure we were flying in the right direction.

     Just then, by some miracle, a rock appeared in front of me. I cawed in surprise, veering up and hovering. The sleet pelted down on us, blurring our vision. I swiped my transparent eyelids across my eyes and squinted. Ahead of us a huge dark shape loomed. I glided forward then flew up as a cliff came into view.

     Slowly, I climbed higher, and higher in the sky. The chick in my talons fell silent, as did I. My wings had never become sore from flying before, but now my muscles ached with a foreign feeling. This eagle is heavy! I thought.

     I passed a huge crack in the rocks, and the chick suddenly grew exited. "There, there, that's it!"

     "Are you sure?" I asked, mindful of the time not too long ago when I thought I was back home. The chick nodded eagerly. So I dropped down, landing on the slippery floor. She wriggled out of my grasp and hopped further inside. I skeptically walked after her, cautious. I didn't want a random cougar to leap out at me.

     But there was nothing, except for a nest.

     The chick settled down in it, shaking herself to rid the water. Her drenched feathers sagged. I looked around. It certainly looked lived in, with claw marks across the floor, along with sticks, leaves, and whatnot.

     "When are your parents supposed to come back?" I asked.

     The little eagle shivered as she spoke, "b-before s-sundown." I glanced at her, and noticed that beneath her wet down her skin was blue. In this weather, she would soon freeze.

     "Can I sit on you? To keep you warm," I stepped closer, and the chick looked at me in the eyes.

     We stayed like that for a long time, until a gust of wind slammed into us. I was almost knocked over, and the chick shivered again. "Yes please," she said in a small voice. I fly-hopped over, settling on top of her. I placed my wings on either side of her and together we kept each other warm. While the snowstorm raged in front of us, and I quietly asked her questions.

     "What's your name? Mine is Kîsik."

     The little eagle looked up at me, then whispered, "Nîpisîy."

     "That's beautiful. You mentioned a brother, where is he?"

     "He moved out a moon ago. But he was coming to visit today! Mum and Pa were hunting... and I got bored."

     I frowned, "so you decided to fly? Have your parents never told you that it's dangerous if you don't know how yet?"

     Nîpisîy sighed. "I know, but... for a moment I thought I could do it. My parents told me to 'fly with my heart', and I thought I finally figured it out." She paused and looked at me happily, "I bet you could tell me!"

     My golden eyes dimmed with sadness. I wanted to, to give her hope, but like Kinosew said, it's better if one finds out on their own. "Sorry, I can't. You need to become wise enough to learn yourself."

     She frowned. "But I'll die of old age before that happens!"

     I looked her straight in the eye. "I didn't. And neither did your Mother, or Father, or any other golden eagle I know! Now, I'm sure you've had a long day, so just rest up, okay?"

     Nîpisîy nodded reluctantly. "Fine..."

     I sat in the same position for hours, reflecting on my life, the choices I had made, and eventually decided it was worth it. If I had not flown when I wasn't ready, this young eagle wouldn't have survived her predicament. I just hoped that this really was her cleft, and that she would see her parents again.

    Even though I never would.