***
18
***
Aldus Aborigine was angry.
When Aldus Aborigine was angry, he stood alone in the clearing, flicking his tail feathers irritably and grumbling something in his throat about sparrow bones. In the trees and in the underbrush, avian eyes stared at him and hissed to one another now and then. The sparrows had taken up in a poplar tree and were whispering frightened nothings as they roiled like maggots on a cat.
The entire search party had been waiting for the return of the spy. Aborigine did not like to wait.
Finally he rounded on the poplar tree and craned his long neck up to the sparrows. "WHERE-IS-HE?!" He growled, snapping his sharpened beak at them. The entirety of the sparrows yelped and hid on the other side of the trunk, their shining little eyes peeping back around like kitchen mice.
"Maybe he got lost!"
"Maybe he got caught!"
"Maybe a cat ate him!"
"Maybe a—"
"SHUT UP." Aborigine snapped.
They did.
"I will NOT be going back to prison because of your gross incompetence!" Aborigine fluffed and started to pace. His long legs and jerking progress looked strange in a forest clearing. "IF your spy got caught, pray to whatever feather-duster you heathens bow to that he's been killed already. I won't make exceptions for him if he's found in the ghoul's company, understand?"
The sparrows let a collective eep and pulled back a little further behind the tree.
"But whether that's the case, the fact remains he HAS failed, or he would have been back by now. We'll have to find an alternate means to locate the ghoul and his party. Any suggestions?"
It was, of course, absolutely silent. Aborigine narrowed his eyes.
"I SAID…any suggestions?!"
Some of the larger birds looked at one another. More than one of the eagles was wondering if anyone would really hold it against them if they just crushed Aborigine's head in their claws and went home.
At the continuing silence the egret tightened his toes in the dirt and looked up at the sky, as though asking some divine being for patience. "Fine! If none of you fools are capable of thought I'll do it myself!" he snapped. "Sparrows! Where did you find the man when you planted your spy?"
"In the woods."
"At the foot of the mountain." They chorused.
"And where was he headed towards?" Aborigine asked.
They looked at each other.
"The mountains."
"But the mountains are huge!"
"Enormous!"
"Massive!"
"We'll never find them there!"
Aldus snarled and resumed to pace.
"They aren't just IN the mountains. If he's a ghoul then they will be LITERALLY IN the mountains. In the cavern system underneath. It's the best hiding place on the island."
The sparrows looked at each other, not questioning how he knew that fact.
"But if they are IN the mountains, that puts as at a distinct disadvantage! It's too late to commandeer bats for this mission." He stopped. "Sparrows! Didn't you say there were other humans out wandering the island?"
"Redskins!" one piped.
"Lost Boys!"
"A girl in a pink dress!"
"A man with a fairy!"
"Pirates!" two said at once. Aborigine focused on them and they immediately disappeared behind the tree.
"Pirates, yes, the ghoul used to be a pirate, didn't he?" He began to pace again. "Tell me more about the pirates."
They all looked at each other, apparently shifting the responsibility of speech. The smallest sparrow ended up being the one to do it.
"There were three of them!" It chimed nervously. "There was a thin one in a cape, and a big one who had a bird in a bag!"
"And the other?"
"The giant one! The one who is missing a hand!" It paused. "He had a fairy with him!"
Aborigine's head snapped up, causing the entire poplar tree (and no small number of the larger birds) to flinch. "A fairy!? What was its name?"
The bird blinked. It had no idea what the fairy's name was. Its stupid expression caused Aborigine to snarl. "There were two sent out before me, a stupid Captain named Popper and an annoying runt named Picadilly Circuit! Tory sent them to get them out of his feathers, he TOLD me that much, but he ALSO said the idiots might actually succeed! Do you know what that means?!"
Thinking itself to be stealthy, a stout little ground sparrow had been inching its way along the underbrush while Aborigine shouted at its airy counterparts. With all eyes on Aborigine, none of the birds had seen its attempt at escape. However, Aborigine's eyes could not be on Aborigine. The ground sparrow tripped on a twig and its tail feathers went up in the air like a signal.
"It MEANS…"
The ground sparrow got to its feet and ruffled its feathers in annoyance. It got no warning before something suddenly crushed against its back, pushing its legs out to its sides in a painful splay that made it squeal against a faceful of dirt. It turned its head against the ground to stare up Aborigine's long, scaly leg to that dreadfully cocked head. There was something shining inside his beak.
Aborigine pressed his foot down a little harder. The ground sparrow squealed as its ribs spread.
"Oh, my dear little sparrow. It means THAT I—"
There was a cracking sound as beak met bone and the rest of the flock let out a horrified screech, drowning out the ground sparrow's keen.
"--DON'T GET—"
CRACK. The ground sparrow's legs were flailing with disrupted signals from a scattered brain.
"--MY PARDON!"
The flock was in a flurry now. Everyone saw yet no one really did as Aborigine's gouging beak stayed down, wretching something in the underbrush. A few moments later he calmly strolled back into the clearing, the point of his beak and the scales between his toes smeared with a foul red substance they didn't need to guess at. He was holding something most delicately in the point of his beak, and the shouting of the flock raised with the screeching, enraged shouts as they recognized a bloody, shining bead.
The eye of a ground sparrow.
Aborigine snapped his head back and dropped open his beak, sending the bit of flesh slipping down his gullet. In the flash of his open maw the birds could see glinting silver lining the inside of his beak like canoe ribs.
"DOES ANYONE ELSE WANT TO GO HOME!?!?!" He screamed over the din of the flock.
It fell abruptly silent.
Aldus Aborigine smirked smugly to himself and calmly flared his wing, preening the branded feathers with a bloody beak tip. The MURDERER sign shifted under his ministrations. No one made a sound as he casually examined his work.
"I think," he said softly to the silent flock. "That it's time we go see just what the pirates are up to. Mouse-eaters and crows, follow me. The rest of you…" He sneered at the smaller birds. "The rest of you wait here quietly until I need you. Except you." He looked at the smallest sparrow, who had given him the report on the pirates. "YOU are going to show me where to find them."
The sparrow looked like it could have fainted. Eyeing the bloodied mess of the ground sparrow uneasily, it bowed its head to Aborigine and took off from the tree.
There was not one of his companions who didn't let out a sigh of relief.
_Better him than me._
18
***
Aldus Aborigine was angry.
When Aldus Aborigine was angry, he stood alone in the clearing, flicking his tail feathers irritably and grumbling something in his throat about sparrow bones. In the trees and in the underbrush, avian eyes stared at him and hissed to one another now and then. The sparrows had taken up in a poplar tree and were whispering frightened nothings as they roiled like maggots on a cat.
The entire search party had been waiting for the return of the spy. Aborigine did not like to wait.
Finally he rounded on the poplar tree and craned his long neck up to the sparrows. "WHERE-IS-HE?!" He growled, snapping his sharpened beak at them. The entirety of the sparrows yelped and hid on the other side of the trunk, their shining little eyes peeping back around like kitchen mice.
"Maybe he got lost!"
"Maybe he got caught!"
"Maybe a cat ate him!"
"Maybe a—"
"SHUT UP." Aborigine snapped.
They did.
"I will NOT be going back to prison because of your gross incompetence!" Aborigine fluffed and started to pace. His long legs and jerking progress looked strange in a forest clearing. "IF your spy got caught, pray to whatever feather-duster you heathens bow to that he's been killed already. I won't make exceptions for him if he's found in the ghoul's company, understand?"
The sparrows let a collective eep and pulled back a little further behind the tree.
"But whether that's the case, the fact remains he HAS failed, or he would have been back by now. We'll have to find an alternate means to locate the ghoul and his party. Any suggestions?"
It was, of course, absolutely silent. Aborigine narrowed his eyes.
"I SAID…any suggestions?!"
Some of the larger birds looked at one another. More than one of the eagles was wondering if anyone would really hold it against them if they just crushed Aborigine's head in their claws and went home.
At the continuing silence the egret tightened his toes in the dirt and looked up at the sky, as though asking some divine being for patience. "Fine! If none of you fools are capable of thought I'll do it myself!" he snapped. "Sparrows! Where did you find the man when you planted your spy?"
"In the woods."
"At the foot of the mountain." They chorused.
"And where was he headed towards?" Aborigine asked.
They looked at each other.
"The mountains."
"But the mountains are huge!"
"Enormous!"
"Massive!"
"We'll never find them there!"
Aldus snarled and resumed to pace.
"They aren't just IN the mountains. If he's a ghoul then they will be LITERALLY IN the mountains. In the cavern system underneath. It's the best hiding place on the island."
The sparrows looked at each other, not questioning how he knew that fact.
"But if they are IN the mountains, that puts as at a distinct disadvantage! It's too late to commandeer bats for this mission." He stopped. "Sparrows! Didn't you say there were other humans out wandering the island?"
"Redskins!" one piped.
"Lost Boys!"
"A girl in a pink dress!"
"A man with a fairy!"
"Pirates!" two said at once. Aborigine focused on them and they immediately disappeared behind the tree.
"Pirates, yes, the ghoul used to be a pirate, didn't he?" He began to pace again. "Tell me more about the pirates."
They all looked at each other, apparently shifting the responsibility of speech. The smallest sparrow ended up being the one to do it.
"There were three of them!" It chimed nervously. "There was a thin one in a cape, and a big one who had a bird in a bag!"
"And the other?"
"The giant one! The one who is missing a hand!" It paused. "He had a fairy with him!"
Aborigine's head snapped up, causing the entire poplar tree (and no small number of the larger birds) to flinch. "A fairy!? What was its name?"
The bird blinked. It had no idea what the fairy's name was. Its stupid expression caused Aborigine to snarl. "There were two sent out before me, a stupid Captain named Popper and an annoying runt named Picadilly Circuit! Tory sent them to get them out of his feathers, he TOLD me that much, but he ALSO said the idiots might actually succeed! Do you know what that means?!"
Thinking itself to be stealthy, a stout little ground sparrow had been inching its way along the underbrush while Aborigine shouted at its airy counterparts. With all eyes on Aborigine, none of the birds had seen its attempt at escape. However, Aborigine's eyes could not be on Aborigine. The ground sparrow tripped on a twig and its tail feathers went up in the air like a signal.
"It MEANS…"
The ground sparrow got to its feet and ruffled its feathers in annoyance. It got no warning before something suddenly crushed against its back, pushing its legs out to its sides in a painful splay that made it squeal against a faceful of dirt. It turned its head against the ground to stare up Aborigine's long, scaly leg to that dreadfully cocked head. There was something shining inside his beak.
Aborigine pressed his foot down a little harder. The ground sparrow squealed as its ribs spread.
"Oh, my dear little sparrow. It means THAT I—"
There was a cracking sound as beak met bone and the rest of the flock let out a horrified screech, drowning out the ground sparrow's keen.
"--DON'T GET—"
CRACK. The ground sparrow's legs were flailing with disrupted signals from a scattered brain.
"--MY PARDON!"
The flock was in a flurry now. Everyone saw yet no one really did as Aborigine's gouging beak stayed down, wretching something in the underbrush. A few moments later he calmly strolled back into the clearing, the point of his beak and the scales between his toes smeared with a foul red substance they didn't need to guess at. He was holding something most delicately in the point of his beak, and the shouting of the flock raised with the screeching, enraged shouts as they recognized a bloody, shining bead.
The eye of a ground sparrow.
Aborigine snapped his head back and dropped open his beak, sending the bit of flesh slipping down his gullet. In the flash of his open maw the birds could see glinting silver lining the inside of his beak like canoe ribs.
"DOES ANYONE ELSE WANT TO GO HOME!?!?!" He screamed over the din of the flock.
It fell abruptly silent.
Aldus Aborigine smirked smugly to himself and calmly flared his wing, preening the branded feathers with a bloody beak tip. The MURDERER sign shifted under his ministrations. No one made a sound as he casually examined his work.
"I think," he said softly to the silent flock. "That it's time we go see just what the pirates are up to. Mouse-eaters and crows, follow me. The rest of you…" He sneered at the smaller birds. "The rest of you wait here quietly until I need you. Except you." He looked at the smallest sparrow, who had given him the report on the pirates. "YOU are going to show me where to find them."
The sparrow looked like it could have fainted. Eyeing the bloodied mess of the ground sparrow uneasily, it bowed its head to Aborigine and took off from the tree.
There was not one of his companions who didn't let out a sigh of relief.
_Better him than me._