Chapter 1
Warrior of myth and legend
A tall man with dark hair and eyes stood in the hallway of a hospital in Wynnoka Falls, Virginia looking through the glass window at the scene before him. A tall slender Light-brown haired blue-eyed boy stood looking down at a petite blonde girl that was lying in the bed and hooked to just about every piece of equipment in the room. The man took out a red notebook and opened it. Inside there was a picture of the girl in the bed and the headline read: LOCAL GIRL IN CRITICAL CONDITION, UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES.
"It's not fair," said a voice beside him. The dark haired man turned to see a nurse standing next to him.
"That boy," she continued, "lost his parents to murder when he was 6 years old, he just recently found the rest of his family and now he has to stand there and watch his cousin suffer while the doctors frantically try to figure out what's wrong with her. How can fate be so cruel as to cause so much pain for a boy who never hurt anyone?"
The man smiled sadly,
"I've asked myself that question for most of my life," he pointed to his ID badge, "By the way my name is Jarod Greene." The woman shook his outstretched hand,
"I'm Deloris Wilson pleased to me." She trailed off when she saw that Jarod was looking back toward the room again.
The boy had produced a silver-throwing knife from his belt and began to speak to the girl in the bed. Jarod read his lips.
"Sadie, he said, "Ever since I found my family again I've had nightmares about this. you lying there helpless and me not able to do anything, but I'm going to find out who did this to you. I'm going to find them and make it their nightmare," suddenly the boy slit the palm of his own hand with the throwing and holding up the girl's hand let a few drops of his blood drip into her palm, "I swear it by my own blood." He finished. Then bandaging the cut with a handkerchief he turned and walked out of the room with blood in his eyes.
Jarod was slightly confused by all this but he didn't have long to think about it because just then the girl's parents arrived. The man looked around for a moment then he walked up to Jarod.
"Excuse me, Doctor Greene, you didn't happen to see, a teenage boy with light brown hair hereabouts did you?" he asked worry evident in his tone.
"Yes," Replied Jarod, "as a matter of fact he," Jarod was cut off in mid- sentence when the man's wife Dana shrieked,
"James come quick!" both James and Jarod hurried into the room. The man's wife held up the girl's left hand so the bloodstains on it could be plainly seen.
"Oh no," said James, "The Blood Oath, I was afraid he'd do that."
"I'm sorry," said Jarod I'm afraid I don't understand, The Blood Oath?" James rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand.
"It's like this Mr. Greene," he said, "Jonathan's parents Daniel and Martha Chase were Peace Corps workers in the Congo of Africa. When he was 6 years old they were murdered in a raid by a hostile tribe, Jonathan himself escaped only by a hair's breadth. From then until we found him 8 years later he was cared for and raised by the Chief of the Umbutu the tribe that had befriended his parents. He still has many of there ways ingrained in him and what worries us the most is his sense of jungle justice. The Blood Oath means that he has sworn to avenge her or die trying."
"If we don't find him soon he's going to get himself into so much trouble." Said Dana her eyes welling up. Jarod gave them a reassuring smile.
"I'll find Jonathan," he said, "you stay here with your daughter." Without waiting for an answer or a thank you Jarod was out the door.
Jarod had learned from the newspaper story that Sadie had been working as a reporter for the school newspaper when she had contracted this strange illness so he figured the best place to start would be the school newspaper office. He pulled into the parking lot and was about to get out of the car when he saw Jonathan Launch himself out of a second story window land like it was nothing and take off toward the forest on the outskirts of town. Jarod started up the car and started after him.
When they were half way there Jarod glanced down at his speedometer and stopped short.
"Either my speedometer is out of whack," he said "or that boy is running at 85 miles per hour!"
Jarod followed Jonathan as best he could on the mountain road. Finally Jonathan came to a stop. Squatting down he looked at something on the ground. Then turning to the right he started up a nearby trail. Then he stopped turned around and looked straight at Jarod who was watching from nearby.
"Well, Dr. Greene" he said "Are you coming or not?" Jarod smiled and hurried to catch up with him.
"Let me guess, Jarod" said the boy with an amused look on his face, "my aunt and uncle sent you because they're afraid I 'm going to do something stupid."
"Right, Jonathan" said "Jarod, they really care about you and I don't think that your cousin wood want you to become a murderer on her account."
"Call me, Jon," he said, "and I don't plan on becoming a murderer but I do plan on find the truth. Now, Sadie's notes say that the trail that we're standing on leads to an old logging road that has suddenly started being used again. She knows this because the time that she was up here before she got sick she saw fresh tire tracks from some kind truck leading up the side of the mountain. And the day that she got sick she had just gotten back from tailing them."
Jason paused, as they reached the road and Jarod finished
"So you think that she followed them all right and found something that she wasn't supposed to." Before Jon could reply they heard the sound of wheels on gravel and new that there was truck coming. Jarod and Jonathan ducked into the bushes and a watch as a medium sized industrial truck roared past them.
"We need to find out where that truck is going," said Jarod, "but we can't do without the car."
"I can," said Jonathan he stepped away from Jarod and the look on his face became one of concentration, and his breathing became slow and shallow. Suddenly Jarod saw Jon's skin begin to ripple and mildly spasm. His face began to sprout feathers his finger fused together and grown talons his face and skull became More and more birdlike until, to Jarod's udder shock, where there once stood a teenage boy there now stood a Red-Tailed Hawk!
TBC
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