Chapter Fifteen: A Taste of Magic

As soon as dawn colored the morning sky, Petrie was pecking Remy's shoulder. The girl woke with a groan, rolling over and peering at the flyer through squinted eyes. About to ask him what he was doing and why he was in her room, she remembered last night's conversation.

Remy pulled herself from her sleeping bag. The lone egg was still nestled in the makeshift nest while Mushroom had been curled beside her. The blue markings on his side still glowed ever so slightly, even in the bright morning light. His beige flanks moved up and down as he breathed softly in his sleep.

"Good morning, Remy!" Petrie waddled closer to the less-than-day-old hatchling and stuck his beak close to the baby. "Good morning, Mushroom!"

The frill-head looked up, sleepily blinking his pale blue eyes at the flyer. He stared, then let out a wide yawn, followed by a squeak as if he was trying to say good morning to Petrie. Mushroom yawned again and climbed to his feet.

"Just give me a minute to freshen up, and I'll take the little guy to one of the council members. Hopefully, they'll get a meeting started quickly after I explained the situation. I'll also try to not bump into Littlefoot's grandparents or Cera's dad. I'm not sure I could keep my tongue tight if I talked to either of them."

"Petrie not able to say lie to Topps or Littlefoot's grandparents either. Littlefoot's grandparents too nice. Me no lie to them. Topps too scary. He force truth out of Petrie." He turned to the lone egg, letting Remy have a little bit of privacy even if he didn't understand why. Like his mother did with his two unhatched half-siblings, he settled on top of the egg, keeping it warm and safe. While Remy changed clothes and found something to eat, he played with Mushroom after the hatchling had found something to eat from a nearby bush.

When Remy came back, ready to take Mushroom to the nearest Valley council member, she stopped. A sickening feeling had settled in the pit of her gut. The tall grasses around them rustled, and two pairs of eyes stared back at them from the foliage.

"Remy? Petrie rose to his full height, panic coloring his voice. "Who that?"

Remy picked Mushroom up, hugging him close. Whoever was staring at her, she didn't have a good feeling about their intentions. The amber and yellow-orange eyes were familiar, but just eyes weren't a confirmation of the owners.

"Where are our eggs?" The voice was thick and deep, possessing the smoothness of a snake-oil salesman.

"They hatch!" Petrie wrapped his wings around the egg he was seated on. "You claw-hands no get eggs."

"Hatched!" The owner of the voice slid out of the grasses. Amber eyes narrowed as he stared down the flyer. "They were our dinner!" His eyes then found the hatchling Remy held in her arms. A sharp hiss escaped his beak, and he flared the grey feathers that lined his forearms.

His brown-backed brother emerged from the grasses. Strut's yellow-orange eyes darted between Oz and the hatchling Remy held. Creeping closer to his brother, Strut kept his voice low. "Maybe we could just eat leaves or grass, for now, Ozzy." He nervously rubbed his long-fingered hands together, sending another nervous glance at the flyer and human. "We don't need to eat eggs."

"Yes, we do!" Oz swiped at him, claws grazing the already rough patch of scales on the back of his brother's brown head. "I've said this a thousand times. No brother of mine will be eating foliage. Not when my heart still beats. Now…" Oz turned to Remy, long fingers spreading, ready to nab the egg from Remy's hands. "Time for our morning meal."

"But we aren't in the Mysterious Beyond anymore! Look at all this food. We don't need to—"

Oz clamped a hand around his mouth. "We are eating eggs whether you want to or not. Whether they are hatched or not."

Strut pried Oz's hand from his beak. "But-but-but, we could live with the other claw-hands here. They don't have to know what we did. We could finally start families. I saw a pretty female with a colorful face. She smiled at me."

"You were seen!" Oz raised a clawed hand, features twisted in disgust. "You let yourself be seen, you insolent fool! It's bad enough that a band of stupid adolescents saw us, but another resident saw you? How many others have seen your clumsy behind?"

"But—"

A yelp escaped Strut, Oz's sharp claws slicing through the tan scales of his brother's face. Strut stepped back, holding the wound as he stared back at his brother, more than his face hurt. But the sharpness of Oz's amber eyes did not weaver.

"We do not associate with the weak fools who have taken residents here, brother. They will never know the excitement of hunting for a nest nor the thrill of sneaking into it, unseen. They will never savor the unborn. Those who live here are always under watch. Haven't you seen the flyers that follow every one of the dull-teeth that live within these walls? They are convicts in their homes. They are not trusted, and it would be no different for us. We will not produce any offspring with the females here, He who Struts in Field. If we are to ever have offspring, it will be through females of poweress. One who has tasted the flesh of the unborn and knowledgeable enough to steal with me."

Strut stared back at Oz, yellow eyes swimming with more questions.

The grey-backed claw-hand scoffed and turned to Remy and Petrie, who were frozen in their spots, not sure what to do about the brothers' quarrel. Oz shook his head, tongue lapping over his beak, amber eyes settling on the beige hatchling in Remy's arms. "Besides, brother of mine, no female would take an interest in you. And that colorful-faced one is of a very different kind than us. Just stick with me, and I'll take care of you, insolent fool."

"That no way to treat brother!" Petrie squawked, flapping his wings but not lifting from the large egg.

"I'm only giving him some hard love. He's a little slow and can't seem to understand certain things. I'm just trying to teach him the ropes of our kind, but he's a little stuck in the ways of our eldest sister. Now…where are the other two eggs?"

"With their families." Remy held Mushroom closer, feeling the heat of her Shard on her skin. If she could, she'd put Mushroom on the ground so that she could grab her bow and arrows. But that wasn't an option. With a hungry claw-hand looming over her, obviously willing to eat hatchling flesh as much as the yolk of an egg, she couldn't risk it. However, the warmth of the Shard reminded her that she had another tool at her disposal.

"Their families, huh?" Oz glanced between Remy and Petrie, gauging which would be the best to dig his claws into and which meal he would prefer. Amber eyes locked with dark brown. He lunged, but Petrie stayed rooted to the egg, though it was out of fear rather than bravery.

With a ferocious hiss, Oz pivoted. Fingers reached for the hatchling in Remy's arms. Talons sliced through soft, fair skin rather than the smooth beige scales of the newly hatched. Remy stepped back, biting her tongue through the pain as she squeezed Mushroom tighter to her chest. The frill-head squealed in fear, his thick feet grabbing onto her shoulder, trying to get further away from the hostile claw-hand.

Oz swung around, hissing at Petrie again. He lunged, barely missing Petrie's light brown underbelly. As the flyer took to the air, Petrie gasped in horror at what he had just done.

"Too easy. Flyers like you are the easiest to feed from. Too bad I never cared for the taste of their eggs." Oz reached for the egg, but his hands wouldn't move. He tugged, but something was holding him back. The grasses around him had grown long and wrapped around his arms and legs. They continued to curl tighter and tighter around his limbs until he was anchored to the ground, just out of reach of the egg.

"What is this!" Oz pulled and pulled, but the grasses did not give. "Strut!"

Strut gasped, clamping his hands around his beak, cowering as his brother glared at him. He glanced to Remy, the fear melting away as he raised to his full height. The bright blue glow of her necklace triggered a flood of memories and stories. "The thing around her neck… Look! Ozzy! Look at the thing around her neck! It's like the crystals."

Oz glared at his brother instead. "I know what it is! Just stop it."

"I…" Strut fiddled with his fingers, nervously watching Remy, who had retreated a few steps away from where she had previously stood, still holding Mushroom tight. Her necklace glowed bright and warm as more long grasses rose around her and the egg Oz had been trying to take. The now glossy blue-green grasses encased the egg in a thick layer, preventing Oz from touching it.

"She has a fragment of the Stone of Cold Fire," Strut mumbled, still fiddling with his fingers. "I don't think I can do anything, Ozzy."

"I don't care! You love plants so much, you should be able to do something about them. She can only control plants. It's nowhere as bad as that feral thin-skin that nearly killed us earlier!" Hissing in frustration, Oz strained against his restraints, desperately trying to reach the grass-encased egg. The tethers refused to break like regular blades of grass. His claws grazed the egg's glossy blue casing. Immediately, he was dragged back to the nearest tree—branches wrapped around his body, restraining him in even tighter imprisonment.

"Strut!" Oz screamed, thrashing against his restraints. "Get the egg!"

"I—" Strut glanced to Remy, swallowing hard. "I don't want to do this." His voice cracked, but, in a flash, the egg was pulled from its nest. The grasses were unable to tether themselves to the nest before Strut moved away. The claw-hand kept pacing around the clearing, disabling the grasses that still encased the egg from grasping the ground.

Remy gritted her teeth in frustration. She couldn't wrap Strut in grasses in fear of him tripping and falling onto the egg. She was also struggling to keep her attention on both claw-hands. Having never used her ability between two subjects before, she was having a hard time.

"Petrie help!" The flyer dived, beak posed to strike the running claw-hand. He missed as Strut swerved left. Petrie tried again, but Strut was faster. He tried to hit Strut repeatedly, but the claw-hand was far faster and nimbler than the flyer.

"This isn't good." Remy placed Mushroom on the ground. She took an arrow from her quiver and nocked it on her bow. "Petrie! Run him back into the clearing!"

Having heard the command, Strut tried to make an escape through the trees, but the flyer divebombed him. Petrie kept divebombing too close for comfort, forcing him back into the clearing. Either way, he wouldn't have run far. He couldn't leave his brother. So, Strut ran back, egg held close to his chest, eyes wide with terror. "Ozzy!"

"Run away!"

"I can't!"

The moment he said this, Strut gasped in pain. An arrow had skimmed across his back. Blood welled from the shallow cut, spilling down his back in a bead of bright red through his thick brown feathers. He held the egg, fearing he'd lose his grip on it. His back exploded in pain, worse than the arrow. Talons dug through his feathers, piercing the flesh underneath while powerful wings whacked his head with each beat. The egg fell from his grasp, dropping to the ground, though protected by its encasing.

Petrie released Strut's back and grabbed the egg. Egg in hand, the flyer could only hobble away from Strut, but the brown-backed claw-hand didn't care anymore. Strut crouched close to the ground, nursing the bleeding gashes on his back. "Ozzy…"

"Why is my brother such a leaf-licking wimp?" Oz snarled, breaking through the grasses and branches that bound him. Brushing the debris from his feathers, he locked eyes with Remy, frowning. Her concentration had loosened enough that he was able to escape. At least his brother did that much.

Before Remy could react, Oz pushed her to the ground and planted a foot on her back. Unable to see, the plants could only raise around her, wavering and ducking, not sure where exactly the attacker was. But Remy wasn't the target. Oz scooped Mushroom from where he had fallen a foot away from the girl.

"Now, my little egg. It is time that you meet your desired fate." Licking his beak, his talons dug deep into the hatchling soft beige hide.

From where Strut was crouched, he whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut. He waited for the sound of tearing flesh, and the screams of the hatchling as his brother tore it apart. He covered his ears, and his stomach churned. He could barely stomach fertilized eggs, let alone his brother's gruesome deeds when it came to newly hatched infants. Instead of the cries of the frill-head, screams rang past his fingers—the screams of his brother.

"Ozokerite!" Strut's eyes snapped open.

His brother had dropped the hatchling, who had run back to Remy. The grey-backed claw-hand held his hand. A chill hung around him, glistening frost on Oz's beige palm already melting in the presence of the humid Valley air. The scales on his palm were peeling away, the flesh underneath an angry red.

"It burned me! The hatchling burned me!" Oz turned on Mushroom, clawed hand raised. When his hand rushed down, it stopped mere inches from Mushroom's boney nose. Branches and grasses wrapped around Oz, pulling him away from the hatchling.

"Remy!" Littlefoot's voice shouted in the distance, the earth-shaking with his nearing footsteps.

Strut surged forward, tearing into the binds holding his brother. Remy's concentration had loosened once more, allowing the frantic claw-hand to free his brother. Once the grasses and branches were torn away, Strut pulled his brother into the forest before Oz could turn on Remy, Mushroom, or the lone egg.

Littlefoot and Ducky burst from the foliage, but the claw-hands were gone.