Windwalker Stories - Silent Dancer - Part 2

So continues the saga of Windkin and Skydancer. Skydancer and Sunstar (c) Me, Windkin and Elfquest in general (c) Pinis.

For more information on the Windwalkers, visit my homepage (one of many) - http://members.nbci.com/Sharna" Come here if you are confused!.

- Silent Dancer (part 2) -

five years had passed

The sound of the child's laughter spread out across the still waters, filling the air with the sounds of delight, sounds of life. The vulture fledgling, his feathers still tattered from the nest, still streaked with grey, flapped heavily into the air, crashing talon first beside the withered piece of ravvit hide. He stumbled, flapping clumsily. The golden haired elven child clapped her hands together in delight, her joyous laughter bubbling forth. The immature vulture looked momentarily hurt, then hopped forward to be engulfed by the fledgling elf's wing-arms. Resting his large head on her delicate shoulder, he almost seemed to smile. The child patted his huge beak, such a deadly weapon, yet she knew it was of no risk to her. In the sky above, the great white shape of Wraith circled the clearing.

Very little had changed in the past few years, aside from the birth of Sunstar, a delicate child who took after her mother in appearance, but her father in the ability to glide to great heights, unlike her mother, who being a windwalker was only able to fly short distances. Sunstar was a golden child, with masses of golden hair, streaked with brown and red. Windkin, whilst remaining a wanderer at heart, had remained with the two bird-elves on and off throughout the previous years, more often here, in this quiet oasis, then not. The days of peace were many, the vultures bred in the cliff tops and the two adult elves spent many a peaceful, if somewhat dull, time. Windkin's reports were alarming however, the humans were making increased use of the burning wastes, for what purpose none of the elves could fathom. He had found the cliffs where Skydancer's people had once lived, until the humans had destroyed them. They were now the site for a rambling human village, a cestpool of noise, pollution, the land had been opened up to be scoured by the elements. All the remnants of the elvish village that had been there had been eliminated. The cliff lay, for Windkin, less than half a days flight away. He feared this pleasant oasis may not offer sanctuary much longer. Alas, he was right.

It was a peaceful day, reaching onto the cool of evening. The birds, released from their daytime shelters, sung cheerfully in the boroughs of the somewhat stunted trees. Sunstar played with her vulture companion, whom she called, for no apparent reason, "Fluffy". His favourite toy was a scrap of rather worn ravvit skin tied to a piece of cord. This he attacked as though it were the real thing. The two of them splashed about joyfully in the shallow waters of the pond whilst on the bank, Skydancer was weaving a basket. The sending was intense and sudden, even though it was from some distance away.

**Humans!** Windkin, returning from a journey to the great forests, where his companions still remained, had run across danger.

**Humans?** Skydancer return send was frightened, the humans had destroyed her people and she feared them like nothing else.

**A moving house, drawn by zwoots, coming towards you. You must take cover! I will be with you as soon as I can.**

Skydancer's heart skipped several beats and she stared in horror at her innocent child. Was Sunstar going to be taken from her, as the rest of her family had? She glanced around the oasis that had been her home for nearly a thousand years, a thousand lonely years. Was she finally going to have to leave it, let it destroy itself and all the birds and animals that called it home? Must the horror of humans haunt her for all eternity?
**How far away are they?**

**As the glider flies they would be there before dark, on foot, they should reach there soon after nightfall.**

It was worse that Skydancer had anticipated - soon after nightfall, what chance did she and her child have of setting up anything to detain the humans? Sunstar was just over 3 years old, too young to travel, too young to face death. Yet she had to do something.

Whistling to Wraith and Shadow, the bearded vultures that called the oasis "home", she sent to Sunstar. **Come to mother, little one, we must go and play hiding in the caves.**

Sunstar looked up from her play, she could tell that something was wrong - the traces of fear and worry in her mama's sendings were plain. **What's wrong Mama?** she queried.

**Nothing child, just come here.** Sunstar, dripping wet, rushed up the bank to her mother, throwing herself into her mother's feathery embrace.

**We must go up into the caves, there is nothing to worry about.**

The child glanced at her suspiciously, so young, but so knowing. **Can Fluffy come too?**

**Of course Fluffy can come,** her mother replied with a chuckle. The fledgling vulture stalked clumsily towards them, shaking his feathers and dowsing them both.

**Stop it Fluffy!** The child scolded, although the bird seemed not to understand her sendings.

Skydancer sent a reply to Windkin. **We are hiding in the caverns, please get back here soon.** The despair was so obvious in her sendings that Sunstar could not help but sense it. The child squeezed her mother tightly.

**We'll be all right won't we mama, and papa too?**

**Of course,** Skydancer carressed her daughters hair. **We will be just fine.**

Darkness enveloped the land like a suffocating blanket. Only the pale light of the two moons drenched the ground in diffuse light. In a tiny hollow formed in the rock "walls" that framed the oasis, huddled Skydancer, Sunstar on her lap and Fluffy lying at their feet, his gangly neck stretched across the bird-elf's feet. There was no sign of Windkin, but his continued sendings alerted them that he was actually following the humans. This was making Skydancer increasingly edgy, she cradled her child and watched the midnight black sky. Night could not be over fast enough!

The glider hovered above the covered wagon. The humans could not see him for they were resting beneath the canopy that shaded them from the sun. The zwoots, animals with broken spirits from enslavement by man, marched ever onwards, seemingly tireless. They paid him no heed whatsoever, probably not even aware of his presence. It was late dusk, fast approaching night, the cool night air invigorating Windkin. He had not left his roosting place until the shadows of late afternoon had stretched, for it was too hot to travel in the heat of the day. The procession was now slowly enroaching on his sanctuary, and at this rate they would arrive shortly after darkness. Suddenly, the caravan stopped, and the glider hesitated in his movement, hoping that darkness would hide their eyes from his form. He had limited nightvision, part of his lupine heritage that had still remained with him after Winnowill had removed his wolf blood. A human figure, relatively young and lithe from the general shape of it, clambered out the front of the wagon and it lit a fire in some type of lamp. Then the zwoots were whipped into movement once more.

*

The caravan, as was feared, reached the oasis around midnight. Inside it the humans were tired and irritable, from days of travelling. It was a family, outcasts from their village, two men, a woman and three youngsters ranging from the ages of five to fifteen. Sentenced to solitude, they had sought to cross the desert in the hope of finding a village that would accept them. Lying in a narrow bed, the five year old boy mumured in his sleep. A rangy dog lay beneath the table, its snores making the fragile walls shake.

"We shall soon be for rest," a bearded man, the children's father, called to his golden-haired wife from the seat at the front of the wagon. "I can see a rocky outcrop and some sort of plant in the moonlight. There will be water and perhaps food."

His wife nodded, so tired was she of travelling. "Maybe we can camp there a few days," she replied. "It would do the boys good to have some exercise and play."

"Perhaps," she could almost hear his grin.

**They're almost there** Windkin's alarming sending came to her, disturbing her from a state of near-sleep.

**We are hidden,** she replied. **With any luck they will stay only until the morn.**

**We can but hope so,** was the glider's somewhat sceptical reply. **We can but hope so.**

*

The rosy fingers of dawn tinged the horizon in a sheen of pinks. Skydancer twitched slightly, feeling the cramp in her limbs ease. On her lap, Sunstar squirmed as she too woke. Fluffy raised his head and let out an irritated squawk. **Shh** Sunstar sent. She had yet to learn the language of the vultures, just as Fluffy had yet to learn her language. **Are they here mama?** She asked.

**Yes my dear, so we must be very quiet.**

Sunstar immediately scrambled of her mother's lap and ran down the short tunnel to look down at the oasis.

**Come back here,** Skydancer was extremely concerned for her daughter's safety.

**Oh mama, I just wanna see what they look like. I won't go out there.**

The fledgling stared down at the oasis, at the bizarre hut on wheels that had halted on the banks of the lake. It was quiet and still, so harmless looking. She wanted desperately to have a closer look at it. Then she saw a familiar shape floating up towards her.

**PAPA!** The sending was so loud it was almost painful, and suddenly Sunstar was gone from the mouth of the cave, gliding to meet her father. Skydancer rushed to the entrance in horror, but calmed immediately as the child flew into Windkin's arms.

**Hello my dear,** he sent, grinning broadly, carrying her back to her mother. **Well, we are safe for now,** he sent to his soul mate. **But how long until they know we're here?**

*

"Are we there now daddy," five year old Sebastion asked, clambering onto his slumbering father. The bearded man awoke instantly.

"Yes my son, now go back to bed, daddy got very little sleep last night and daddy is tired."

"Yes father," Sebastion replied, humbled, he did not like it when his daddy snapped at him. Normally he was kind and gentle and his irritation startled the child. Yet he had no desire to go back to bed, they were there! At last! It made little difference that Sebastion knew not where there was, except that it meant he would be able to actually do something instead of sitting in the tiny caravan and playing by himself or with his older brothers. He had no toys, those had all been left behind when his father and uncle had been forced to leave suddenly. Sebastion had no idea why, had no idea why there were men out there that wanted to hurt his gentle father and his cheerful uncle.

He quietly pushed open the caravan door and almost cheered aloud at what he saw. Water! A big pond of it! Sebastion had not seen so much water in days. Forgetting his father's order, Sebastion ran outside, stripping off his travel-stained tunic and leggings he ran into the waters. At this early hour, the bitter chill was welcoming to his skin. Above him he barely noticed the dark shape of a bearded vulture, circling about to land in the water. The sudden splash scared him, and he floundered into the middle of the pond, where the water was deceptively deep. Suddenly he found himself sinking under the water.Floundering wildly, unable to swim with any skill, the youngster became very frightened. His splashing scared away the vulture, which flapped out of the water and heavily into the air.

**What is that sound papa?** Sunstar queried, as the three of them sat together in the hollow of the rocks. There was nowhere else to take shelter, nowhere to hide, the oasis was too small for that. Windkin, who was comforting a terrified Skydancer looked about at his child.

**What noise?** And then he heard it, a floundering, splashing sound, like the vultures bathing. **The vultures?** At that point one of the vultures, Shadow, landed on the rock beside him, its feathers drenched.

Sunstar ran to peer over the edge of the hollow. **Something splashing under the water.**

Windkin froze, glancing over the cliff himself. **I think someone's drowning down there.** He sent, and suddenly he was gone. Skydancer rushed to the edge of the hollow, grabbing her child she stared over the side.

There was definitely something struggling under the water, it appeared to be elf-sized which probably meant it was a child. Did the humans have children with them? Skydancer watched as Windkin swooped low over the water. She called to Shadow in squawks, asking him to watch Windkin. The bearded vulture immediately flapped into the air, gliding down to hover above the lake.

As the glider reached the splashing shape, he realised that it was indeed a child, although a very large child meaning it must be one of the human's cubs. With barely a thought for his own safety, and without a glance at the caravan, he plunged into the water. Somehow the child had managed to find the most treacherous part of the lake, the source of the water, a deep spring that brought cool water deep from below the desert. It was the most appropriate part of a lake to drown in. Cool water caressed his skin, chilling it the deeper he got, unusually cool water for a lake in the desert. The water spraying from the spring gurgled around him, and he had to struggle to stop being forced upwards. If only the child had lain still! Below him he could see the child, floating limply. Was he too late to save it? With the last of his breath he grasped the child firmly as it floated up toward him, buoyed by the currents. The child was small for a human, too young to be playing in springs unwatched. Relaxing, propelling himself upwards with his feet, Windkin half-glided, half-swam to the surface. He exitted the water in a shower of spray, and quickly carried
the child to the bank. Above him, Shadow circled impressively.

The bird-elf could barely contain the sigh of relief when her soulmate broke the water, carrying with him a limp burden. Such was his dramatic rescue, she could feel the happiness, the love rising in her. For although she knew he did not love her, his heart belonged to one long lost, she could not contain her love for him.

**Mama, look human!** Sunstar sent, pointing at the caravan, and Skydancer drew her eyes away from her lover long enough to notice a human stepping out of the caravan, a large human.

**Bwynn, human!** She urgently sent to Windkin. Windkin paused, having just placed the child on the bank, and glanced at the caravan. She could see he was torn between a fear of humans and wanting to let this man know he had helped them. Suddenly the human shouted something, and all chaos insured.

Sebastion had disturbed Jaison enough to make him uneasy. What if his sondid not go back to sleep? He should probably check. With all the effort of the terminally tired and the yet to fully awake, he had drawn himself out of bed and staggered to the caravan door. The moment he opened the door a horrifying sight met his eyes. Sebastion, his beloved son, lying limp on the lake shore whilst a dripping wet, wingless bird demon crouched over him. The bird demons were legendary in Jaison's previous village - stealers of babes, they were rumoured to be and symbols of ill-luck. It was just lucky that he had disturbed this bird demon after it had knocked out his son but before it had dragged him away to eat, or whatever these demons do. Shouting to his brother to awaken he seized the bow and arrow that sat near the door. Whilst he strained to load it, the bird-demon rose into the air, although it had no wings.

His first shot, whizzed through the air, missing Windkin's leg by a hair's bredth. The second shot was not so lucky though. Jaison's brother, half asleep but still an expert marksman - or maybe just lucky, managed a
strike. As the point of the arrow buried itself in Windkin's leg, just above the knee, the glider started to lose control. Perhaps it was because of the shock and pain, but whatever the reason, he sunk earthwards for a few feet before managing to maintain his altitude.

Skydancer, watching the performance below hastily sent to Sunstar **Stay here, and stay down.** After a quick glance to assure herself that Sunstar was going to do as told, Skydancer stretched out her arms and clambered onto the edge of the rock. She had to intervene, the humans had those horrible arrows, the arrows that had slaughtered her people, and if she could distract them enough, maybe Windkin could get away. Shadow also seemed to sense that its friend was in danger, for the great vulture swooped down on the bearded human. Skydancer rose her arms, leaping into the air, feeling the wind beneath her wings providing her with lift. She flapped out in a ragged circle, screaming like a banshee. One of the humans looked upwards, directing his next shot at her. The other one had changed his focus from Windkin to the bearded vulture flapping directly towards him. Skydancer shrieked a warning to Shadow, but whether the big bird heard her, it paid her no heed. The shot was point blank, there was no way the arrow could miss. The force of the shot sent the vulture flying backwards, even though it was no light weight. Feathers floated
through the air.

**NO!** Skydancer's sending was so loud and so forceful, that is seemed even the humans recoiled at it. Distracted by the death of her feathered friend, she failed to notice the arrow flying towards her in time enough to dodge it. The pain shot through her left side like hot ice. She staggered, barely stopping herself from plummeting earthwards. There was nothing she could do for the vulture. Its bedraggled corpse lay belly-up on the grassy floor of their haven, her greyish-white feathers tinged with blood. One of the humans, the bearded one, had run over to the fallen child. Windkin took his chance to soar into the air unmolested. As he reached Skydancer, still flapping clumsily in the air, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the hollow. Warm blood trickled down her side, staining her clothing. As he landed in the hollow, she noticed that he tried to hide the visible wince of pain. Sunstar cowered, clinging tightly to Fluffy and watching her injured parents with huge, worried eyes.

**What happened?** She sent nervously.

**We must leave, now,** was Skydancer's worried reply. **Before they hunt us down and kill us. Kill us like they killed poor Shadow.**

Windkin nodded, letting out a barely audible noise of pain as he drew the arrow from his leg, thankful it had not penetrated the bone, tearing off a strip of his clothing to bind it. He tried to help his soulmate remove hers, applying pressure around the wound as he slowly withdrew the point from her side. Luckily the arrows had not been barbed, but even then the pain was terrible and the windwalker almost swooned from it. **We must leave,** he sent to Skydancer, **but to be out there, in the wastes at noon, is sure suicide.**

**I understand,** she replied through the pain, though her sending was tinged with it. **But if we stay here, we are as good as dead, but if we leave, we are only likely to die.**

Already the clean shaven human was scaling the cliff towards them, with his bow slung over his back and a knife at his belt. The humans knew where they were hiding and they were surely doomed if they did not move soon.

As the human, prepared for killing, reached the hollow where they were hidden, he was surprised when four creatures erupted into the air in front of him. So surprised, that he failed to draw his knife in time, and indeed barely managed to stop himself falling off the cliff.

Meanwhile, the three elves, Sunstar and Windkin both gliding on the currents, whilst Skydancer flapped clumsily with them, her smaller, rounder wings not providing the required lift to actually glide, began their hot journey across the burning sands as the sun slowly drifted towards her zenith. Fluffy, the tatty young vulture, followed effortlessly, and a moment later his father slid in quietly from above.