Chapter 11. The General's Son and the Owl Lady
Marina was flying into the forest still angry about what happened, when she hears someone following her, she turns and sees a few steps away from her, Throbb with a long smile on his face Surprised she asks him
"Throbb? What are you doing here?"
He replies "oh, I'm here to protect her in case the owls attack her"
but secretly he was licking his mustache, he couldn't wait to bite her , but Marina replied "oh I'm fine, really!"
and passed on past him
"but Senorita, I promised Goth that" before Marina could react Throbb appeared in front of her and blocked her way "protect you" he said, smiling maliciously, he was about to attack her when a voice stopped him
"Throbb!"
it was Frisk and Shade who arrived on time
"guys?"
Marina asked, "oh hello Marina" Frisk said stepping in front of her away from him "sorry but we have to talk to our dear friend Throbb" Frisk said arrogantly, which surprised very Marina, Shade motioned for Throbb to land s, a branch, he was confused but he did, while, Frisk and Marina followed them, once Shade and Throbb were face to face Shade with a smile said "great news, the colony is here and Goth is there with them "
Surprised Marina said" Are the silverwings here? "
"yes hundreds of them, oh but wait you weren't holding you were going?" Frisk, smiling, turned to his friend and said
"yes Shade is right, you said you didn't want to live with us anymore, come on go" Marina was surprised by Frisk's response, this behavior would have understood him if it were Shade but not Frisk, at that moment the girl winked at her and that was for her a signal that said
"play", Marina pretending to be indignant she said
"I would have preferred never to have known you" the plan had worked Marina had gone away now there was only one thing missing, to get away from Throbb and run away from the two cannibals,
"finally, come on now let's go" "right Frisk, Goth said he was going to throw a big celebration for the colony, come on he's waiting for us" Throbb with a big smile step in front of the boys eager to feast on the colony, the boys seeing him moving forward took the opportunity to get away from him, turned to the forest and stopped to make sure he went straight and walked away without turn around, and so it was, once Throbb was gone the boys looked at each other smiling "we screwed him big" Frisk said with a chuckle "Come on, let's get to Marina and let's get out of here" Shade replied, Frisk nodded and the two flew in her direction
Goth Pov
It was delicious to say the least I hadn't eaten bat meat for a long time, I had missed its taste, while I was cleaning my claws of the remaining blood I was thinking about what to do with those two once this story is over, i didn't care much about Shade and i wouldn't mind eating it he was just a gullible kid and that was going to be his lesson in trusting, but as far as Frisk was concerned… well, that was a whole other story, did she have that I don't know what? of interesting, i couldn't stop thinking about it and I don't understand why? , I remember well when she told me to understand me, those words left me speechless, anyone in her place would have see me a monster looking only at her own point of view, but she instead understood my need for meat, but maybe I I'm deluding,
because if she knew I also eat bats like you surely hate me, not that
I expect anything different, but when we talked tonight and saw her smile, I smiled like my heart was banging against my ribcage, who knows maybe I could take she with me as a result of my trip north, uh the idea had its charm. You get out of my mind when you hear the sound of wings and Throbb's voice "where is the colony, I'm hungry"
"somewhere in the valley I suppose, where are Shade and Frisk?" confused he turned and said "is really ..." but in that moment he realized that there was no one behind him
"but, but, but, they said that you .. and the party?" that big fool had been fooled by them "oh how did you really believe it, you let yourself be fooled so easily!" he looked at me in confusion "your brain is in your stomach!" I screamed raising my hand ready to slap him, he frightened began to stammer "they must not have gone very far, if we hurry we can reach them" he made me laugh his naivety, but deep down it didn't matter much "even if your looking for him is in the your stomach, I think you remember that Shade gave us the direction .. for the Towers of fire "
I noticed how he had calmed down but at the same time he was worried" well it's better than leaving now "I said getting up in the air, Throbb followed me immediately after
"hey Goth, what do you think about that female Silverwing" I turned around and asked "what?" "here it looks so soft and tender to chew, what do you think if we left it as it would once we were done with the rest" I don't know why but that idea made me growl and see Throbb drool at his idea,I don't know why it affected me, but seeing his hungry face made me want to strangle him, but he simply said
"maybe" but I actually have to think about what to do with her, but since now she knows the truth it won't be necessary to be too much delicate.
Frisk Pov
we reached Marina who was waiting for us on a branch not far from where she started, we landed next to her "can you know the reason for this play? if it hadn't been for Frisk I would have gone immediately" he said with an angry frown, Shade with shame he said "I'm sorry, you were right Goth and Throbb not only eat meat, they also eat ..bats" Marrina gasped in shock but then said "but your colony, Goth knows the direction to the fire towers" Shade at that point he was scared because he knew she was right
"oh no"
"guys stay calm, maybe if we affect each other we can reach them before those two, remember that neither Goth nor Throbb are able to recognize the stars of the north so they won't be able to orient themselves" Marina nodded "she's right we must warn them of the danger and get away as soon as possible" Shade nodded and then said "so what are we waiting for, let's go!" he said spreading his wings and taking flight, and later Marina and I followed him, as we flew I started to think about how Goth had taken us around the whole time, sure he pretends to be a hero saving the helpless girl, you do beautiful in the eyes of the most naive of the group and then proposes to be our guardian angel during the trip, a whole bunch of bullshit ! I was furious with him, even though I knew they were planning something horrible I did not imagine such a thing and if only I think that this morning I was joking with him and I even lost that maybe he was sincere and maybe he wasn't so bad, uh ! , how I could think it and how they can think of exterminating an entire colony, with females and children, no it will not happen I will not allow them to reach the colony.
Third Person Pov
In the forest a small white she-wolf with dark hair with a bob cut and reddish eyes, but the thing that activated the attention was a strange birthmark in the shape of a sun on her face, the she-wolf was playing happily with butterflies she wanted to catch them but then they flew higher and could no longer catch them, but then an idea came to her, but
"ok the big brother doesn't want me to do it, but there is no one so" the little wolf closed her eyes and then concentrated in that moment her paws started to rise in the air now she was in the air and was ready to fly, when
"White sun!" a male voice frightened her making her come back with her paws to the ground, the girl saw in front of her older brother a wolf with grayish fur and bluish fur with long dark hair "hello Luger" "what were you doing?" "I was.. chasing her butterflies "" were you flying? "" eh I "
Luger sighed and said" how many times I told you wolves don't fly and they shouldn't, can you imagine if someone finds out, they might banish you or angry think you're cursed and they might get you killed , you must never fly again "" but Luger I like to fly makes me feel alive and free "" no it's too risky you must never fly again "" but! " "I said never again! I'm only doing this for your own good, you're my only sister and I don't want to risk losing you" Sun gave up and lowering his head said "yes big brother" Luger smiled and said "good girl, now move General Brutus organized a meeting about the Silverwings colony "Sun nods and follows his brother
As Luger had said, Brutus had called a meeting to discuss the current situation, Sun was surprised at the multitude of animals that were there, ranging from small animals such as mice, mopers, rabbits to larger animals such as their species the wolves, foxes and bears, in particular among them was Ursa the leader of the beasts, she was surprised to find her there, her brother and the others in her herd have always told her that that white bear was incapable and inept and that she did not deserve to be the leader of the beasts, she didn't know if it was true or not, but she had to admit that she seemed a little flabby to be a leader, the girl came back to reality when she heard her brother call her "stay close to me White Sun" she listened and came close to him and the pack
Once everyone was present Brutus began his speech
"And the death of an owl by a bat is the last straw! "He screamed and spread his wings." I'm closing the skies to all bats! All bats are fair game until the treaty violators are get yourself to justice "Sun opened his mouth was he serious? but in that moment A rather brave but thin rat with a crown on his head chose to speak before Luger could do so which made him nervous and Sun knew well he knew his brother, the Rat came up and said while his brother Major sat down and let him do the whole talk "
It seems to me that you owls are too selfish. Life and death are part of the natural cycle of things ". "But this was an unnatural act!" Cried Brutus furiously The owls whistled in agreement with their leader. "We must stick together. Can I count on your support or not? "the owl general asked with an almost threatening air, Sun wondered what that meant she turned to The animals to observe their reaction, saw that they looked at each other, wondering what to do. In particular, Ursa was the only animal who didn't care about the whole ordeal which, however, did not surprise her but wondered how she could sit on the back and chew the berries while going through such a situation, but the thing that really surprised her was who complained,
"I don't want to get involved in this ..." Sun was disgusted by his indifference and wondered how such an animal could be the leader of the beasts, The Rat King replied,
"This is not our fight!" but one of the owl soldiers looked menacingly at the mouse, but the rodent didn't even flinch. "What are you going to do? Eat me because I disagree?" He challenged with an air of superiority
Eventually Luger joined the conversation, "what's in it for us?" he growled with a wicked smile, while the whole Pack was anxious to hear his answer as Sun alone watched events unfold. "Obey the law!" General Brutus replied forcefully.
"This is what you make of it." The wolf scoffed, "oh in this case we don't need to help you since we already have this" said a female of the pack and The pack giggled followed by the laughter of the rest of the animals until it became a ruckus Sun didn't laugh at all, he observed she looked at him full of Brutus' hatred which made her scare as if he were a puppy The general owl clawed loudly into the stump, the laughter ceased. "Shut up! Either you are with us or you are with the bats.
" The animals became frightened, they understood the threat and finally said one after the other "death to all the bats" this phrase was heard for about a full minute, but Sun she didn't say anything even though her herd did it, she didn't want anyone's death and in general, even the animals present didn't want her, but in order not to get into trouble with the owls they followed their requests.
After the gathering Brutus turned to Luger and said "I advise you to watch, better the members of your pack, there are some who do not understand solidarity" Sun felt his heart leap in fear,
he realized that Brutus was talking about her "I advise you to teach him that the law is important and only so we can live in peace" said that he flew away, Sun felt embarrassed, Luger passed her and said "don't worry about him, I too think he's a fool. .Anyway if we play our cards right we can use it to gain respect, power and more "but Sun asked him" brother what will they do to bats if they catch them? "" I don't know, but it doesn't matter, we just have to do what we know to do better and everything will be ok "Sun turned his face to the sky for a moment" White Sun come! "She went with her brother without objecting but inside, she wondered what was going to happen now.
Meanwhile two young owls a male and a female were doing an inspection in the forest, when the male stopped on a branch drawn by a spider that was weaving its web illuminated by the dew that adored its threads, the female landed next to him and when he noticed what he was looking at he approached him and said
"hey Orestes can you eat that spider or can I do it?" but Orestes replied
"what not .. I don't want to eat it"
"ok, I'll do it" said the female approaching the beak to the arecnid to eat it
"no Eda" Orestes exclaims, the female chuckles and said
"come on, I'm just kidding you, I know you like isets even if I don't understand this your interest, I see only food in insects "Orestes answered only
" I don't know the truth, I think it's because I find them interesting "at that moment Orestes approached his wing towards the cobweb making it sway, the dew fell from it and the spider feeling under attack jumped straight in the face of Orestes making him scream and fall from the branch in fright and surprise luckily the branch was low and falling Orestes did nothing, but that scene so embarrassing and funny, it made Eda laugh in a crack skin "even spiders are interested in you, they even hug you" she said I kept laughing, but Orestes told her "stop it!, it's not funny!" but she continued
"I see you are having fun" Eda stopped laughing immediately as soon as she heard that voice, the two turned and saw Brutus on a branch above them "father!" said Orestes "General Brutus, here we are" "no there it needs explanation, I've seen it all, I hope you two are not slacking! "
" no father, it's my fault I pulled away "
Brutus sighed in disapproval" Orestes, how many times have I told you that a general future doesn't can and must never allow himself to be distracted, why? "
Orestes looked down and said" because a general worthy of this honor must always be ready to fulfill the law for the sake of justice "" very well, now go back to find those criminals and once you have identified them bring them to me "" yes father "" yes sir "Brutus cast a last glance towards his son and the young female and left without saying anything else. Eda turned to Orestes and said "of course your father is really working with you" "he wants me to become like him, a General I wouldn't mind, but I don't want to be like him or rather I don't want to imitate his way of doing with the others "
"well at least your father wants you to surpass yourself, me instead always wants to clip my wings, if it wasn't for Brutus I wouldn't even be in the royal squad, my father always wants to keep me under his watch and you don't know how much I hate him this "" I think he loves you very much instead, but he shows it in a different way "that said, Orestes spread his wings and started to fly away" I'm going to go ahead and do a reconnaissance "
" okay, but watch out for traps , I heard that lately human hunters have set various traps in the forest "" for whoever you have with me, I'm not a chicken "said this Orestes flew away and Eda took the opposite direction
On the other side of the woods completely lost Goth and Throbb had stopped in the middle of the forest, trying to find their way to the fire towers, Frisk was right they were in trouble because of the stars
Goth growled irritably as he glared at the sky "I can't understand these stupid northern stars!" he exclaimed. "There is no order in their constellations! I'm sick of them! "He clenched his fists tightly.
Throbb meanwhile swallowed the last bit of a rat's tail that he had caught a few seconds earlier, then turned to his brother-in-law and complained, "Sick of these stars? Try eating these skinny mice! "
"Why don't you stop?" Goth hissed, not even bothering to hide his contempt for his mate.
"Why can't you just eat one!" Throbb replied as if it were obvious and then burped loudly. "Right, it's impossible," he smiled. However that smile quickly faded as Goth angrily grabbed his throat.
"If you weren't my brother-in-law, I would have eaten you a week ago," Goth said dangerously, his green eyes sending a clear warning to Throbb, a warning of imminent danger. "Then at least one of us would have enough energy to return to our beloved jungle."
Throbb gave a nervous chuckle and took his eyes away from hers and said, "yeah ... maybe I'll go get more rats ..."
"Never mind the rats," Goth let go of Throbb, knocking him onto his buttocks "Soon you'll be feasting on Silverwings, mi amigo. That little Shade show, he told me about his colony next stop. Towers of fire."
"But ... how will we find them?" Throbb asked confused and unsure
Goth smiled slyly and said in a low voice, "Zotz helps those who help themselves." He chuckled triumphantly and then pointed in the direction behind him, Throbb confused, turned to see an empty space with a lack of trees. In the center of the space was a long empty highway, crossed by a row of steel posts.
Frisk Pov.
we were flying high into the forest, as i flew my mind kept thinking about those two cannibals how far are they from here? maybe they are following us in secret? or what if they got there before us? , all these thoughts were hammering in my head, but I shook my head I didn't have to throw in the towel now I had to watch over my friends and protect them in case of need, in that moment my thoughts went out when you hear a voice, it was faint but I could understand what it said "help" and I was not the only one to notice it "do you feel it too?" asked Marina "it comes from the trees" cotinuò Shade.
The three of us approached the voice which gradually became louder and clearer. in the middle of the branches we found a trap of hunters and inside it was a young owl, from his appearance he must have been a teenager, he had brown feathers and red hair with a gray face, wriggling desperately trying to free himself "It's an owl," Shade said we landed next to him attacking by the ropes of the trap
"it looks like the trap that humans use to catch and blindfold me" Marina said the owl looked at us with surprise
"you are the three wanted" Shade looked at him angrily and said "and you're trapped" at that moment the owl said "please help me, I have never hurt anyone of your kind please help me this trap is crushing me" but Shade angrily said "well, you deserve" I turned true to him and said "Shade you can't say that" "she's right if we don't free him he'll die" "well then?, he's an owl for sure he'll attack us as soon as he is free "but I said" he's just a scared boy, do you really think he can hurt us " then Marina said crossing her arms "have you perhaps forgotten Zephyr's lessons, you know, never underestimating an act of kindness even towards an enemy?" Shade looked down and then said "but we can't trust" "I won't attack you I swear on my life" I smiled and said "this Shade is enough" he looked at me and then sighed "ok" the owl looked at us confused and then asked
"what do you want to do?" I approached and said "don't worry we will get you out of here, but maybe you won't like how we do it" I went down to the bottom of the net with the boys. the three of us grabbed the ropes under him and started pulling and pulling "hold on tight cause you are about to take a flight of luck" I said to the owl "wait what are you for…"
before he finished the sentence, we let go of him making the rumble of the blow make him jump out of the trap and land straight into the leaves of a tree.
We approached the tree where he had crashed and we found him stunned on a branch covered with broken branches and leaves, Shade took a branch and with it began to prick him to see if he was still alive "is he okay?" Marina asked.
the little owl moaned a bit but opened your eyes again "oh boys, what a flight" he said standing up
"Oh you're okay then," Shade said
the owl came close to us which made Shade go away "don't come near owl!" I growl angrily "Shade!" "I don't want to hurt you I promised I never would and materro my promise, nice to meet you, my name is ..." "Orestes !" we heard a female voice scream, before I could see it coming, paws grabbed me violently, I could hear the voice of Shade and Marina calling me with fear, at a certain point I felt my back crush against the trunk of a tree, in front of me there was a young female owl, a white barn owl with blackheads and black hair with golden eyes, looking at me angrily, then turned to my friends and said "what did you want to do to my partner !? answer or swear i chat your friend! " she threatened, starting to grind me in her claws, but the owl at that moment approached her and said "Eda, stop! they didn't hurt me, they saved my life" "what!?" embarrassed he began to tell what had happened and how they helped him
"uh I told you to watch out for traps, chicken," she said with a slight sneer
"I know sorry" at that moment I said "if we have solved it, sorry to put me down!" she apologized and let me go, Shade immediately flew to me to see if I was okay "sorry sister, but you know how, lately owls and bats don't get along very well, and I was afraid she was ..be attacking my friend"
"by the way, I'm Orestes and she and my friend Eda" "Eda the Olws Lady, you like to know each other" "well hi, I'm Frisk and he and Shade and she and Marina" "it's a pleasure to meet you" Shade at that time he said "and now what do you want to do with us?"
"Shade!" I exclaimed "it is already true what to do with you? Well I will take you to Brutus or I will eat you all!" we gasped at her answer but then she laughed and said "you should see your faces, did you really think I was going to eat you?"
"Eda this wasn't funny!" scolded Orestes "oh come on it was just a joke like that and ..." "oh come on he wasn't hurt ..." we noticed a look of shock in Eda's eyes and then in Orestes's, we turned around just to see that three owls were right above us looking at us with hate,
we're in shit again
the three owls with Orestes and Eda brought us in front of Brutus who as usual welcomed us warmly "you again lawbreaker, I see that you are with your friend" he said turning to Marina
then angrily said "what were you doing with those two guys!"
"We didn't do him anything wrong!" Shade retorts "Brutus they tell the truth, they didn't hurt us" Eda said in an attempt to defend us "it's the truth we saved that owl's life!" Marina said pointing to Orestes "that owl and my son Orestes" I opened my eyes Orestes was the son of Brutus! I was surprised because they didn't look alike at all
"but we helped them to free themselves from a trap that .." "enough silverwing! you have committed a horrible crime with your own wings, killing owls, barbarians!"
Shade growling said "barbarians! You burned Tree Haven! And we didn't kill the owls, Goth and Throbb did, they are giant jungle bats" but Brutus smiled and sarcastically said "oh yes giant bats eats now the meat "" they are cannibals! " I said "oh so now they are cannibals too" "that's the truth!" I insisted "if we really killed the owls, why would we ever have to save your son" said Orestes
"my father they saved my life and" "stop defending them, my boy" but Orestes replied "you never listen to me!" then Brutus turned towards us and said "tell me where Freda will make the next stop" "don't I know "answered Shade, Brutus looked at us and then said" very well, lock up the Brithwing boy and girl "" yes sir "two owls grabbed Shade and Marina and left me alone" no! " i said trying to reach them but I was stopped by an owl who pushed me away from them "because I'm not locked up with them !?" I said growling to Brutus "your friends are stubborn but I think maybe you will be more reasonable than them, the last time to save the colony you were ready to sacrifice yourself, well if you want your friends to be saved you will have to answer my questions "
" I'm not afraid of you Brutus "
" oh but I think you'll have some of him "
a shadow was sober of me at that moment, I turned to see who it was, but at that moment my eyes widened with fear, he was in front of me with one eye with the scars of my claws, looking at me with an expression of pure hatred on the face
" you ! "
"Haron!" I exclaimed in terror