The Raiders

Chapter 9

What's that?

Welcome to chapter 9 of the Raiders! I like four day weekends. I can update more. Enjoy!

With a great deal of effort, Matthew finally awoke. His head throbbed, and he noticed that he was in a nest. How did I get here? he thought, I thought I got banged on the head by that-

A voice sounded out," Awake yet? Don't try and escape," said the Raider who was apparently watching him. Why are they keeping me alive? thought Matthew. Ignoring that fact for now, and checked what the Raider was equipped with. It wasn't good. The Raider had on a huge pair of battle claws. No way he could fight him without a weapon. He looked around for a weapon. Also no good. There was a stick, but, unfortunately, most of the sticks in this region were very bendy. There was also some twine, and some pointy sticks that were not bendy, but too thin to do much damage. Think Mathew! The rybs always say you're smart. Think! He thought if there was anything he could do with the materials. Then, he got a crazy idea. Working quickly and quietly, he took the bendy stick and bent it into the shape of a rainbow, and held it there. Then he made a notch on each side of the stick on the outermost part of the rainbow-stick. Shortening the twine a bit, he tied one side to each of the notches he made, and made sure it was taunt. He took one of the pointy sticks and made yet another notch on the end, and carefully fit it on the twine. He gave the makeshift weapon a pull. It did not break. He turned to the Raider and prepared to fire it. He put the stick part facing the Raider, pulled on the twine with his talons and let lose. His aim was true, and the owl fell silently, with a stick in his wing. But Matthew saw a problem immediately. When the twine launched the stick, it hit his talon. It hurt, but it didn't pierce the skin. Dang it, thought Matthew. I was aiming for the heart. He saw that there were several sticks left. He notched them all, and went into the fray. I need to get some claws. I only got a couple sticks, thought Matthew. The battle was a standstill. The Raiders had numbers, while the Guardians had skill. Hopefully Mathew could help tip the scales. He immediately shot a stick at the nearest Raider.

"Mat!" yelled Amelia, battle claws bloody.

"Ames!" yelled Matthew in return.

"What's that-"

"No time to explain. We got to fight!" Matthew shot his remaining sticks, all hitting their targets. He then got some battle claws to fight with, and put his bow in a safe place. He and Amelia flew through battle, nearly getting hit several times.

"Ahhh!" yelled a voice. Matthew looked and saw one of the defending owls, the Elf Owl, fighting a huge Barn Owl. He and Amelia immediately intervened. "Thanks."

"What's your name?" said Matthew.

"Felli." With their new friend, Matthew and Amelia tore through the battle. The Guardians were about to win. But then a Pygmy Owl scraped Felli on the wing. "Yowche!" Amelia and Matthew quickly countered and felled the owl.

"Are you okay?" said Amelia.

"Yeah. Just a scratch." But it was obvious Felli was in pain.

"Don't worry. The battle's almost over," said Matthew. And, true to his word, the battle finally finished. But once the crowd of the Guardians gathered, Felli started to cry.

"What's wrong?"

Felli sniffed," My friends. They're… dead."

Amelia and Matthew were silent. What could they say? Matthew got his bow, and they set back to the Tree.

Later

Once at the Tree, everyone was happy that no Guardians were killed. There was even a special breaklight. But Matthew, Amelia, and Felli were sad. They just went to Amelia's hollow, and tried to talk a bit. Together, Matthew and Amelia managed to lighten Felli's mood. Out of the heat of battle, Matthew noticed a few odd things about Felli. Besides her headband, her ear tuffs were pure white. She also had a black stripe going down each of her wings, like Matthew's, although he had three. There was also a jagged scar going down her breast. After little hassle, Felli was allowed to stay at the Great Tree, and to stay in Amelia's hollow.

"Thank you, guys," said Felli.

"For what?" said Matthew and Amelia.

"For cheering me up. For letting me stay here. for being my friend." The sun starting to rise, the trio decided to go to sleep.

Later

(You thought I was going to end the chapter there, didn't you?) It was a few days after the battle. Felli was trying out the different chaws, and looked like she was going to be in navigation, but still wasn't ready to say why her and her friends were fighting the Raiders. Amelia had been working on a special project, and wouldn't tell Matthew what it was. Matthew was looking for ways to improve his bow, and named the sticks he shot out of it "arrows." He had also, much to his pain, put feathers on the ends of his arrows to steady their flight. To his dismay, it worked.

"Hey Matt," called out Amelia, outside the Tree.

"What?" said Matthew, who had just been reading and was annoyed.

"Come out. I want to show you something." With an annoyed sigh, Matthew went out. His eyes widened when he saw what Amelia had. There was a pair of odd looking battle claws, and a metal brace.

"What are those?"

"They're for you. I made the claws very special. The metal it flexible enough for you to manipulate your bow, and it's dull in the right place so it won't break the twine on your bow. The brace goes on your talon so the twine won't hit your talons. You should get that looked at, it looks ready to bleed."

"Thanks," said Matthew, a little bit at loss for words. "But why did you make these?"

Amelia's gizzard gave a little clench. Because I… "I didn't want you to keep getting hurt from your bow. And we had to make something for metalworking chaw." They both gave a churr at that. Matthew tried out the claws and brace. A perfect fir.

So, how was that? And what could have Amelia meant when she thought Because I…?