Chapter 3

'Turbulence'

Time passed, and still far away from White Deer Park, Perry lingered around the airport where he had met the female falcon, Swift. He had seen her again... more than once; and more than once too did Perry assist in her job of diverting (or killing) any other bird that came too close to the airport runway.

During this time Perry and Swift had also grown closer as friends, and exchanged stories of their past and experiences, although it was more of a one sided conversation… Swift was so interested in Perry's explaining of his and his friend's long journey to the Nature Reserve that she barely wanted to tell him about herself. To Swift, she considered her life to be rather boring compared to Perry's; but even so, Perry still met with her every day, and they were now virtually spending almost every moment of the day together, from when Swift's handler would let her out in the morning from when she returned at nightfall.

Perry was overjoyed with his friendship with Swift… but of course Perry wanted more than just a friendship. Although he had met no other falcons in his life, he felt there would be none like her. Swift was beautiful, caring… a little hot-headed but Perry kind of liked this, and she flew with such grace and elegance that matched no other bird. Perry couldn't help it… he was in love. He only feared that it was unrequited and Swift wouldn't feel the same way.

But Perry didn't know that. Swift was impressed by him, his ability at hunting and flying; Perry even knew several advanced aerobatic manoeuvres she herself hadn't even learned and was astounded that he had learned these on his own too. Swift's admiration for Perry was mainly because he was wild. She had been in captivity all her life and had no clue of the world outside her job or outside living with her handler. It's not that she didn't like her life as it was, but she had been contemplating what her life would be like if she lived wild… with Perry. It was no use escaping her feelings either. She liked him… a lot… but what to do about it she had no idea…

It soon came the time when Swift was now comfortable enough for Perry to meet her handler, especially since Perry had been helping with Swift's job. She had only left it till now because she wouldn't know how her handler would react to wild falcon or Perry would react to being round a human. It still took Perry a bit of convincing and it hadn't been the first time Swift had tried either…

"...Come on Perry, I want you to meet him!" Swift tried to persuade him.

"Your handler? Really?" Perry replied with an unconvinced moan, "I dunno…"

"Oh go on Perry... he's a nice guy, he's not like other humans,"

"I still don't know… it's not like I've had any bad experiences with humans, but… I still don't know how he'll react,"

"Perry, we're the same species… you're no different than me and I basically live with him,"

"You're sure he'll be fine with it?"

Although Swift wasn't sure of the answer, she replied positively; "Of course he will,"

"Absolutely?"

"Yes!"

Perry looked at her still with an unconvinced expression as Swift only smiled at him.

Eventually, Perry gave in "Oh," he now smiled back, "alright then,"

The next day, as it came time for Swift to go back to her handler, Perry accompanied her. It was nearing sunset and the orange haze of the sun illuminated a thin layer of clouds in the distance. The airport runway was now illuminated with its assorted colours of light, guiding all approaching aeroplanes to a safe landing.

The area they went to was a secluded section of the airport, the other side of the runway to the glass clad structure of the airport terminal. It was the quietest place in the airport's perimeter… that's not saying much considering the landing and taking off aircraft still made a stupendous amount of noise. Swift and Perry perched on a wood log fence which marked the boundary of a small gravel strewn car park, with very few cars on it.

A human soon appeared the far side of the carpark, walking calmly towards where Swift and Perry were perched on the fence.

He held out his arm and called out; "Swift!"

Usually Swift would fly over to land on his arm, though this time Swift remained where she was, perched on the fence next to Perry. It was then when her handler noticed the addition of a second falcon.

"Interesting," the human muttered to himself. He lowered his arm and continued to walk over.

Perry was feeling uneasy, but stayed silent and looked between Swift and her handler as he walked calmly over to them. As he came closer, Swift then decided to fly over, the human holding up his arm for her to land on the thick leather glove he wore.

"Hey girl," Swift's handler greeted her, "I see you've made a friend then," he said cheerily.

Swift then flew back to the fence next to Perry, her handler slightly chuckled at her clearly excited erratic behaviour.

The human approached again slowly; Perry lightly backing away and warningly extending his wings and looking towards Swift. Swift only gave him an encouraging look… it was all he needed to ensure him everything was ok. The human looked at Perry, quickly speaking out;

"You are handsome fellow," he smiled.

With this compliment, Perry felt less tense… it made Swift smile widely.

The human continued to look over the stranger falcon, making eye contact to establish he was no threat. He took an interesting look at Perry's right wing, noticing the slight injury that (although healed) still remained from when the fox had bitten right through it.

"Let me see that wing," the man said calmly, opening his palm in front of Perry, close enough for him to retract it if Perry lashed out.

"Is he serious?" Perry looked to Swift, not that the human could understand them.

"Yea, don't worry, he won't hurt you," Swift smiled reassuringly.

Perry looked back to the human and turned so his right side was facing him allowing Swift's handler to examine his wing. The human was very careful, being very gentle and not doing anything sudden that would startle the wild falcon.

"Hmmm… I see someone has had a good chew on your wing-" the human diagnosed.

"Wow, he is good," Perry remarked to Swift, clearly impressed by the human's ability to notice the injury, let alone how it happened.

"Told you," Swift smiled widely.

Her handler then let Perry's wing go, allowing Perry to fold it back against his body.

"That's well healed on its own though..." The human spoke again, "couple of misplaced feathers but nothing major… seems you've had quite a few adventures little guy," he finished with a smile.

Perry almost smiled back at him, although was a little unsure of being referred to as 'little guy', he took it in stride as another compliment. Swift was overjoyed the meeting had gone so well, and it continued to go well until Swift and Perry bade each other farewell for the night, and Perry flew off to hunt and Swift went home with her handler.

Over the next few days, Perry still accompanied Swift to meet her handler when she would return to him. He didn't mind the opportunity to actually interact with a human, but he did think that Swift's attachment to her handler would stop him from making any sort of progress in establishing a romantic relationship with her… it was a complicated situation, but what Perry liked about it was just getting to see Swift every day.

On one particular of these days though, Perry and Swift met up as usual, not knowing that by the end of the day, both of their lives would be changed forever…

On an average clouded sunny day, both falcons were patrolling the edge of the airport boundary on another busy day for the airport. However in the distance, a huge murmuration of starlings was approaching the perimeter, clearly unaware of the danger from the gargantuan aircraft… and the danger they posed to the aircraft themselves, especially since one was taxiing for take-off. Swift and Perry, without any words, went into action immediately.

Moving swiftly as a group and now over the end of the runway, the starlings then saw the two menacing peregrine falcons approaching them. Just Perry and Swift's presence alone was enough the send the starlings clear of the runway in a sort of orderly panic… it took barely a few seconds.

The two falcons were so involved with again successfully performing Swift's job together, they were oblivious to the activity on the runway behind them, and the danger the starlings were just saved from, the two falcons had now put themselves in…

The plane that was previously taxiing had just taken off from the airstrip, heading towards the two birds. They both didn't notice the metal behemoth's deafening roar before it was too late to move out of the way.

Perry turned instantly as he heard it.

"Swift look out!" he quickly remarked to her of the danger with a loud shriek.

As the plane cut through the air, Swift and Perry were caught in its wake. Perry was very nearly sucked into the menacing spinning turbine of the jet engine, but quickly dived, allowing the plane to pass over him cleanly. The acrid smelling wash from the jet engine and the aggressive turbulence in the air knocked him off balance and caused him to fall slightly, but he managed to regain control of his own flight after the plane had passed.

However Swift was caught above the plane and dragged along the fuselage, taking a slight knock to the head, she became disoriented. She hadn't realised that, despite the chances, the strap around her leg as part of her falconry gear had gotten caught on one of the planes antennas. Suddenly she was slammed against the planes body, unable to move as the fast flowing air pushed her down.

"PERRY!" she managed to scream out before the airliner began carrying her further into the sky.

Despite through the deafening roar of the jet engines, Perry heard her cry, and with his falcon eyes could see her being dragged away. Perry took pursuit of jet… but it was a futile effort. The aircraft was much faster than him, and could certainly gain altitude faster than him. But Perry never let the plane out of his sight; Swift was in trouble, and he would save her… he only wish he knew how.

Swift still struggled to free herself from the planes antenna. The strap around her leg was what was caught on it. The fast moving air still had her pressed against the fuselage, she could only move her other leg to try and release herself. The plane continued to climb, and soon, the air became so thin Swift began finding it difficult to breath. Becoming increasingly lightheaded Swift put all her strength into freeing herself, eventually reaching far enough to unhook herself from the antenna. However when she gained her freedom she was suddenly swept away along the rest of the aircraft, violently hitting her head on the tail wing, knocking her unconscious. Swift now fell helplessly and unconscious from 30,000 feet.

Perry's pursuit of the aeroplane was futile, he could still see it… but only as a speck of black, high above him, but he still followed. The increasing belief that there was nothing he could to save Swift was beginning to overshadow his determination. However, before he was just about to give in to that fact, he saw another small speck appear in the sky not too far from what was the plane. It seemed to be falling… falling fast. Perry thought it could be Swift making a stoop, but the speck fell uncontrollably without any elegance. He didn't expect it to be her, but as he examined it further while the speck continued to fall, he could see now… It was Swift.

She still fell unconscious, tumbling through the air as a falcon shaped ragdoll. She fell past Perry, already falling at terminal velocity. Perry entered a stoop in an effort to catch her, quickly accelerating and meeting Swift in the air. But so as not to hurt her by using his talons Perry caught her by wrapping his wings around her… but he still needed his wings to fly. He was now tumbling too… but at least he had caught Swift and he was conscious. Perry looked around to find how close the ground was, finding it to be closing fast.

"SWIFT! … SWIFT WAKE UP!" He shouted directly into her face, both to try and wake her and be heard over the loud rush of the air as they continued to fall through it, closer and closer to the ground, now no more than a thousand metres away.

Swift stirred slightly, opening her eyes to meet Perry's gaze. She was still a bit disorientated but enough to hear Perry shout at her again;

"HOLD ON TO ME!"

Swift listened and grasped her wings around him, holding tightly, allowing Perry to use his own to gain what lift he could in the two hundred metres left between them and the ground. Perry extended his wings – they immediately slowed down, but just not quite enough. Still travelling at quite some speed he began to glide, but was weighed down by carrying the half-conscious female falcon. The distance to the ground now less than fifty metres, Perry had to maneuverer around large tree canopies, but eventually clipped one branch.

Falling into a dive he and Swift prepared for the impact on the ground. Perry managed to lift up enough so that they skimmed across the short grass in the meadow before eventually hitting the ground. Going so fast, they tore up clumps of dirt and grass as the two falcons rolled across the ground, eventually coming to an abrupt stop next to each other.

Sprawled on the ground Perry and Swift breathed heavily with the relief of surviving their ordeal by freefall. They remained there a moment in silence staring into the azure void of the sky, only listening to each other's breath as it eventually began to steady; it also gave Swift time to become less disoriented from her concussion.

They had landed in quite a secluded meadow of the countryside, abundant in many colours of wild meadow flowers. They had come quite a distance from human civilisation but could still see their presence: a cobbled stone wall with a wood stile for ramblers to cross over. It was now, at ground level, the wind was much calmer, only lightly rustling the grass and flowers

Eventually Perry decided to lift himself off the ground, ruffling his feathers as he did so and extended his wings to check if they were ok. He was aching, but could assume there was no real damage from his part of the fall. Swift still remained on the ground, still feeling like her head was spinning.

Perry soon broke the silence between them.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Swift, still lying on the ground, nodded softly; "I think so," she murmured.

"We…" Perry stuttered, "We really need to stop having these rough landings…"

"Huh?" Swift muttered, lifting her head to look at Perry.

"I mean first the glass from that skylight, now this… god knows what trouble we'll get into next…"

"Perry-" Swift spoke softly, now shifting herself to stand up.

"Think I might be bad luck for you or something-" Perry continued remorsefully, still not looking at Swift.

"Perry-"

"Hmm…" Perry turned to look at her, finding Swift now standing and looking at him intently.

"You… you saved my life-"

"I… well… you saved yourself a bit too," Perry kind of shrugged off the fact.

"Hey," Swift tried to turn him around, "I… I can't thank you enough… you risked your life for me," she spoke with admiration.

"It's what anyone else would have done…"

"No, not everyone would risk their life like that,"

"I would for you…" Perry quickly answered.

"Perry?"

Although the timing was probably not the best, Swift was clearly looking for the real reason Perry acted so selflessly.

"Swift… I couldn't bear to see you hurt… I… I couldn't bear to lose you…" Perry gulped, not sure how to tell her, "I… I like you… I…err…. Like you a lot,"

Swift smiled widely as she heard this, "Come here," she said softly, as she moved closer to Perry, and, to his surprise, lightly pressed her beak against his.

"Swift?" Perry questioned…

"Well I… I wasn't sure how to say it either… but," Swift paused, "I… I really like you too,"

Perry and Swift both smiled at each other widely. They hadn't actually said the word, but they both knew what the other meant by saying 'really like'. They embraced each other, lightly wrapping their wings around the other's bodies as a form of hug. Perry was jubilant, in fact, they both were… Swift was just as jubilant that they had finally admitted they love each other, and for much of the afternoon they remained in that meadow, just glad to be in each other's company.

Now nearing sunset, the two falcons decided to finally return to the airport and back to Swift's handler. As they did they flew in unison, performing aerobatic manoeuvres in sync with such grace and detail, their movements mirrored almost to perfection – only two falcons in love would do such a thing.

They soon reached the gravel strewn carpark where Swift would return to her handler after a day's work. He was already there, awaiting the bird's imminent arrival, and as Swift's handler watched her and her male friend swoop and glide together in the sky, he knew as an expert that what the two birds shared was more than friendship. He smiled, happy that his companion had found a mate… one to spend her life with and live the full and fruitful life of a falcon as nature intended. He knew what he had to do.

The two falcons flew down to him, perching on the same fence post they usually did. Swift's handler strolled over and almost sighed before he spoke to them;

"I've studied falcons enough to know you two are more than just friends," The human turned to look at Swift and spoke almost remorsefully, "Swift… I knew this day would come eventually, and I'm not going to stop you from living a full life,"

The human raised his arm, allowing Swift to jump and perch upon the thick leather glove that her handler wore. After she had, the human took off Swift's falconry gear, including the strap around her leg (coincidentally the piece that nearly killed her that day). Swift looked at him with a confused expression.

"I'm letting you go..." her handler said to her calmly, "You're free…"

Swift didn't know what to feel in this moment, she was both joyous and saddened, but her handler assured her otherwise.

"You just be safe, ok?" he said reassuringly

Swift nodded in reply, and gladly accepted a loving single finger stroke from her handler from her cheek to underneath her chin.

"And you keep her safe little guy," Swifts (now former) handler spoke to Perry.

The human smiled when Perry genuinely nodded in reply. He then elegantly took off into the air, and after a little hesitation, Swift followed, making the distinctive shriek of a falcon, as a form of goodbye to her former handler.

"Goodbye Swift," he quietly muttered to himself, as he watched the two falcons fly off into the glimmering orange light of a sunset sky.

Perry set off, Swift in tow, excited to now act and live as a free and wild creature. They flew together now, a pair bonded forever. The male falcon knew exactly the place to go… free of danger and free of humans… the very place he had left after spending almost half his life to get there; White Deer Park.

However, Perry was not aware of it yet, but the White Deer Park he was to return to would not be the same as the one he left ages ago… all that was about to change…


Many miles away, back behind the fences that shielded them from the dangers of a human world, the animals of White Deer Park were settling in for another night, and for others it meant time to go out… and hunt.

In the confines of Farthing Land, in the glade outside Plucky's earth, Scarlet had just disappeared into the foxhole, attempting to get their cubs off to sleep, while Plucky remained outside as he was about to go hunting for them both.

For a change, Plucky had invited his grandparents to accompany him for tonight's hunt. Fox and Vixen politely agreed; they would usually hunt together just the two of them, but getting the opportunity to spend some prolonged time with their grandson, they took it, considering how busy Plucky usually was.

They were all there in the clearing ready to go when, quite suddenly, the distinctive whistle echoed through the hole in his wing as Whistler abruptly landed in the glade, surprisingly not by crashing in a heap on the ground for a change; it immediately caught everyone's attention. The heron seemed out of breath and in a bit of a hurry, which he made clear by what he said next.

"Plucky..." Whistler began, "Laird has requested your presence at the stone circle,"

"Did he say what for?" Plucky questioned curiously.

"Unfortunately no... But it's important; some sort of summit is going on," the heron continued.

"This is most unusual," Vixen remarked.

"Indeed… I don't recall having my presence requested like this before," Fox commented, then turned to his grandson, "Best not keep him waiting Plucky,"

"I agree… I'll go now..." Plucky began, "though whatever Laird wants me for I'm getting a bad feeling it's not for a good reason…"

Plucky didn't waste time, he quickly went into his earth to inform Scarlet of the situation and then immediately set off to the stone circle alone.

The sky left a thin strip of orange from where the sun had now set behind the clouds in the distance, and the other side of the sky gradually became a dark navy blue, slowly turning into a deep, star dotted black.

Plucky reached the stone circle, toning his pace back down to a stroll after running to get there. He could see Laird, stood authoritatively upon the angled centre stone, like his grandfather, the original Great White Stag, used to do before him. As Plucky moved closer he noticed two other smaller figures within the circle… two other foxes; and although it was now darkening, Plucky could clearly see, neither of them were red foxes, one was grey, and one was blue.

Plucky didn't recognise the Blue fox, but he almost had to suppress a growl when he saw who the Grey fox was. It was Tyran… the one fox that Plucky could immediately assume was his enemy. The red fox knew for certain that this meeting would not bring a positive outcome.

"Plucky, I'm delighted you could join us so quickly," Laird greeted the red fox.

"Whistler said it was for an important matter, therefore I didn't dawdle,"

"And I thank you for your promptness," Laird then spoke to all three of them, "I would like to keep this summit short, due to the time of day,"

Each of the three different colour foxes stood authoritatively, listening intently to the stag.

"The three of you stood before me are the respected leaders of your clans… Plucky, the leader of the Farthing Animals… Blaze, the leader of the Blue Foxes… and Tyran, the leader of the Grey foxes… The grey and blue foxes have come here looking for refuge from the world of humanity… as the leader of the White Deer herd, it is my duty to welcome you and ensure that your presence will not affect the peace of the park-"

"In that case Laird you can then tell the grey foxes to leave," Plucky suddenly interrupted forcefully.

Laird backed up from Plucky's sudden outburst, but allowed the red fox to continue.

Plucky turned to look at Tyran; "I was under the impression there was an agreement that the grey foxes were not to set forth in White Deer Park ever again," he said vehemently.

"I told you Plucky, that agreement was between you, and my Father… not me," Tyran answered clearly.

"Then where is Caesar?"

"An unfortunate incident I'm afraid," Tyran began forlornly "he and several of our number have been killed recently… Therefore we came here to seek sanctuary, and then we came into contact with the blue foxes,"

Plucky had reason to suspect Tyran wasn't telling the truth, nor was his sadness genuine. Considering the last time they had talked Tyran had threatened him, Plucky was acting defensively. The meeting however continued, so Laird spoke again.

"As I understand the Farthing Foxes and the Blue Foxes have a history as do you Plucky and Tyran and your Grey Foxes-"

"Not a positive history," Plucky interrupted again.

"Indeed… but due to this matter," Laird continued, "I decided it would be better to re-establish the old boundaries… for Farthing Land and the rest of the park… and as Blaze is the son of Scarface, he does maintain the right to his old territory, and the grey foxes will be allocated some territory of their own… that way you each have territories of your own and can all live within the park and keep to yourselves as much as you prefer,"

"And then how are we supposed to live… we can't hunt on Farthing Land…" Plucky pointed out.

"I am aware Plucky… but now that the park is much larger than before, with the addition of your respected territories, the rest of the park will be a neutral zone, where you both may enter to hunt and forage… that is as fair as I can make the arrangement… as long as the three of you agree to it."

"With respect Laird, I would like to request that the grey foxes and the blue foxes territory be conjoined," Blaze requested, "Our journey together to the park has created a bond between our clans… it would be a shame to lose it,"

"Then it shall be so," Laird approved.

"Then I agree… the terms are fair," Blaze said.

"As do I," Tyran said.

Laird gratefully nodded, then turned to Plucky.

"Plucky… as long as this sits well with you?" the stag asked.

Plucky wanted to protest… something… but he couldn't argue with the terms that Laird had created… they were all reasonable. But Plucky had this gut feeling all of this was wrong. He then remembered, Laird, Blaze and Tyran were looking for an answer.

"Of course," Plucky answered, and he continued unconvincingly to Tyran and Blaze, "Welcome to the park,"

The meeting quickly continued with the boundaries of each other's land been made clear, but it soon ended. Tyran and Blaze promptly left, but Plucky stayed behind, silently thinking to himself. Laird too turned to leave, but before doing so, noticed the red fox still sitting silently among the grass of the stone circle.

"Is there something on your mind Plucky," Laird asked the fox.

Plucky looked up at him and would be sure to make his thoughts known to the stag.

"Laird… you can't seriously be allowing this to happen?" Plucky spoke forcefully, now standing up.

"What on earth do you mean?"

"Allowing these other foxes to live in the park-"

"Plucky, this Nature Reserve is a haven for all animals, this includes them too,"

"Maybe the blue foxes do still have a claim on their old land, but they left on their own accord before… but these grey foxes… they don't belong here-"

"Plucky, I'm surprised you're acting so ignorant..." Laird now spoke forcefully, "Your grandfather and his friends were new arrivals to this park once too-"

"That may be... but my grandfather isn't a psychopath in disguise! … Tyran is!" Plucky explained, now raising his voice, "Take my word for it,"

"No Plucky... I will not, I've seen no proof of those accusations," Laird too had raised his voice.

"Then instead heed my words;" the fox implored, "Tyran and those grey foxes will bring nothing but misery to White Deer Park! And the blue foxes will be no better,"

"Plucky, my decision is final-"

"And you will regret it!" Plucky shouted angrily, "Goodnight Laird,"

Plucky turned away from the Great Stag, and departed the stone circle with a vigorous walk which clearly showed his anger.

After tonight, White Deer Park suddenly felt a lot less safe… and Plucky was sure that a conflict would erupt soon; he was certain Tyran and Blaze had come here for a reason, and he was also sure that reason was not to seek refuge... All he could do, was be ready for when it happened…