An: Anyone know Alfred Tennyson? Eagle not a hawk but same diff right? Right? The Gold Hawks are based off the Ferruginous Hawks which are about the same size, give or take as the Common Raven, although heavier. And Ferruginous Hawks do sorta look like eagles...
Jenny did not move an inch as the giant eye glanced her up and down. The long hooked beak that stretched out beside her did not move either but Jenny heard the words in her head.
"Twice fresh meat in short days. Fortune. Fortune! Ha'ak! Meat clings to weak talon. Gesture. You seek escape? Pitiful."
"Pitiful." There was another rush of wind and a second Hawk landed, jostling the first. There was a brief argument between the pair, giving Jenny time to collect her wits.
Her mouth was too dry to speak and she was unsure they would understand words anyway so she thought as defiantly as she could. "I'm here for the Marchioness."
There was a harsh rasping sound. The first Hawk was laughing at her.
"Kirrah! You are funny! You are funny meat." A giant talon gouged a line in the earth as its beak clacked. The amber eye withdrew and the Hawk stood to its full height, taller even than Vastra. It rustled its wings, puffing up its breast with laughter, stamping down its talon. The second hawk hissed in agreement. A third joined the pair and they stood, wing joint to wing joint, heads tilted, regarding her.
"I'll fight yer for her." It sounded ridiculous even to Jenny as the thought crossed her mind and she not surprised as harsh cries and hisses of laughter filled the air.
"Too funny. Too funny! Kirrah! Silence now!" The first Hawk snapped its beak at the other two. It spread its wings to their full impressive wing span, as wide as 13 Paternoster Row and the other two nudged each other until they felt that any blame for noise had been appropriately allocated on the other. "Take the meat to join the other." The first Hawk gestured to third Hawk. "They can keep company. Perhaps more will follow and we shall have a feast." It did a small shuffling dance and lowered its head to open its beak in Jenny's face threateningly. She struck with her sword, leaving it vibrating in her hand as it clanged against the hard bone of beak. It retreated a little way but the second hawk had circled behind Jenny as she was distracted. She swung her sword as she spun to face it but the third hawk grabbed her in its beak, tearing a hole through her shirt and waistcoat to hoist her into the air by the fabric.
"Oi!" Jenny spat a stream of expletives at it, not bothering to think this time, as it stalked off along the bank. "THAS MY WAISTCOAT YOU BASTARD!" she swung her sword upright, over her shoulders and stabbed it in a nostril.
"Kyyaahhh!" It screeched in pain and dropped her. "Why you! Such rude little meat." It jerked its head, stabbing its beak at her as she lay winded on the ground. A giant claw tried to pin her down but she stood her sword up next to her and it stabbed right through the scaly skin of its talon. The resulting shriek left her ears filled with a tinny ringing and she shook her head to try and rid her mind of it as she staggered upright, feeling wet blood spatter on her face and clothes as the Hawk danced in pain, letting out soft cries of agony.
"Oh watch out!" A lady's voice called out from far above her head, distorted by the ringing. Jenny didn't have time to respond, still disorientated as she was, before she was knocked off her feet by a giant wing, her sword sent skittering. She felt her ribs gathering more bruises to add to the ones already there.
"What's this? What's this? Meat is bothering you now?" the second Hawk had come to find out what the noise was about and was laughing unkindly at its injured brethren.
"Call me meat!" Jenny allowed anger to replace pain and leapt from the crouched position she'd gained, grabbing at its chest. She closed her hands around fistfuls of feathers and tugged harshly.
"AWK! This meat truly is troublesome!" the second hawk preened in horror at its breast, keening at the stinging sensation left there. Jenny took advantage of its distraction to search for her sword, running low over the ground, her arms outstretched. Her right hand brushed against cold metal and she slid her fingers along until they found the hilt. She ignored her already aching wrist and brought the sword up in defence.
"Ca'ack! Stop worrying about your feathers and get the little meat!" The first Hawk joined them, clacking its beak disdainfully. "Cannot leave you two to anything."
It hooked Jenny artfully by the tear in her waistcoat as she stooped to avoid its beak and tossed her high into the air, tumbling in a neat arc head over heels until she landed heavily in the middle of a pile of twigs and moss. She swiftly realised this was the Hawk's nest and it already contained a cowering occupant.
"The Marchioness of Salisbury I take it." Jenny stood up slowly, using her sword to help her up, stifling groans of pain. Her legs buckled but she managed to stagger to her feet, nearly losing her balance again on the uneven bottom of the nest. She realised she must look a sight to a lady, clothes torn and bloody and carrying a sword.
"Yes." The lady affirmed cautiously. "Who might you be?"
"Jenny Flint, at yor service." Jenny bowed ostentatiously. She rose up again to find a silence had fallen about them. The Marchioness was frozen, looking over Jenny's shoulder. Jenny spun round to find the three hawks had recovered and were gathered round the nest. They looked a little more thoughtful than they had when she'd first seen them.
The first hawk bent its head into the nest to regard Jenny again. It clacked its beak.
"Jenny Flint?" The tone of the thought was surprised and wary.
Peggy's voice floated to the forefront of her mind. "Bit infamous you is". Figuring that her reputation might be the only thing to get her out of this alive, Jenny grinned, manic with bravado. "Thas right. Otherwise known as the Isle Dog Slayer. The Kraal know me as the Great Warrior, Defender of Earth. An' I've come to collect the Marchioness an' take 'er 'ome. There's people missin' 'er."
"It is the little trespasser. Who slayed a hound and tricksed her way out of paying the toll." The second Hawk explained as it bent near. The third hawk shuffled on its talons and hopped backwards from the nest, fluffing its feathers.
"What's your toll?" Jenny Flinted asked out loud. "For safe passage for me and the Marchioness."
"The meat would bargain with us!" There was a shocked clacking of beaks.
"It speaks true of being a warrior." The third hawk waved its talon from its position of safety a few metres back, flicking drops of blood everywhere.
Jenny stood, watching, as the other two retreated to join it, huddling together. She didn't think that whatever toll they came up with, she'd be able to pay it. There would be no trickery this time. She settled her sword more firmly in her hand, trying to flex out the rippling twinges of pain. Then again, fighting might not be an option either.
The first Hawk had its back to her in the huddle and an idea struck her. The other two might be cowed if this one was beaten, as it definitively appeared to be the leader.
"If this don't work, then I'm sorry." She whispered to the Marchioness who was looking at her in awe. She sheathed her sword, backed up to the edge of the nest and then pelted across it, as quickly as the uneven surface of branches and mud would allow her. She vaulted onto the side, using it as a spring step to launch herself as far as she could towards the Hawks.
She had judged it well, and slammed into the back of the first Hawk, knocking it off its talons with the remaining force of her jump, leaving it in a heap of feathers upon its breast. It flapped its wings, trying to regain its balance, squawking in annoyance as she used its feathers to haul herself up to its neck. She settled her legs over its wing shoulder joints, squeezing her legs around its neck as if it were Alice and she was riding it. Holding on to a clump of feathers in one hand, she dodged a beak as the Hawk twisted its neck to try and knock her off. With her other hand she drew her sword and brought it round against the Hawks' throat, effectively stopping its attempts to dislodge her.
"Now…" she panted breathlessly, taking advantage of its stillness to settle herself in her position. "Let me an' the Marchioness go."
"Or what?" The Hawk hissed and raised its wings, the movement almost unseating Jenny.
Her answer was lost as the Hawk leapt forwards, picking up speed in an awkwardly gaited run, its wings beating swiftly and strongly. It bent its scaly knees and jerked upwards, the momentum from the run and the lift from its wings launching it skyward. Jenny's scream was lost in the sound of the draughts the wings made as the Hawk rose slowly into the air, its powerful wings struggling to create enough force to carry Jenny and the Hawk. She resolutely kept her sword in her hand even as she flung both her arms around the Hawks' throat to stop her from falling backwards as it flew.
A thought intruded into her fear. She was flying. The rushing wind made her eyes stream as the Hawk went higher and higher and it was cold! So cold. She risked a glance down and promptly vowed never to do that again. But the brief glimpse revealed to her the Brook, the nest, the pale oval of the Marchioness's face, the Hawks and even, in the distance, the watchful Ravens, gathered to observe this strange battle.
The Hawk gave a cry of exasperation that she hadn't fallen and circled higher. The motion of the wings was unsettling and the slanted angle the Hawk was flying at as it circled nearly unseated her. Her hands were beginning to freeze, even protected as they were in some small measure by the Hawk's feathers. Falling was only a matter of time it seemed. The move had been a really bad idea but the thrill of flying almost seemed worth it. For, despite the knowledge that her death was ever more imminent, the exhilaration was ousting fear.
The air filled with the sound of many beating wings; Jenny looked down to see several dark spots approaching them from the ground. The Hawk let out a defiant cry but the Ravens soon surrounded them. The four Ravens circled it like a mob, hesitant to attack. Probably because of her, Jenny reasoned, muttering a small prayer, her first since the Industrial school. As much as they were holding off, they wouldn't for long, not with a chance to bring down one of the enemy. If her hours had seemed numbered before, now it seemed more a matter of minutes, for as the Hawk twisted and turned to avoid the stabbing beaks of the Ravens, Jenny slipped further and further, finally being dislodged by a twist of a wing.
The wind whistled too fast for her to draw breath enough to scream. She was a very long way up to be falling so far but not far enough up that the ground wasn't coming towards her very, very quickly. She tried as much as she could to aim for the nest, her only hope that the twigs and moss would give enough cushioning to allow her to survive, breaking her fall a little. Jenny could see the Marchioness, white face upturned, her mouth a black O. She was going to die and what would happen to the lady? Or the Irregulars? Or Vastra? She thought a quick apology, wishing she could reach Vastra with her mind somehow to tell her.
She closed her eyes to rest them from the biting air and something knocked into her, sending her wheeling through the air. A large feathery body buffeted at her again, leaving her stunned, the ground was even closer now as a black shadow passed beneath her. She flung out a hand and grabbed hold of something, causing a caw of annoyance.
"I am no that large enough t' fly wi' ye!" the voice came into her head, sounding rather desperate but Jenny didn't relinquish her grip. This time her scream was audible as together she and her saviour bird tumbled towards the nest. "Ye owe me a rilly biiigg favour fer this!" the voice came again, pained, as wings flapped desperately. "An' t'rest of us fer rescuin' ye."
"I don't neither!" Jenny yelled back over the bluster of the wind.
"T' fall wi' break ye through. Grab her as ye gae noo." A sharp stabbing peck at her hand made her let go, the nest now a mere ten metres below her and approaching fast. She saw the Marchioness and flung out her hand, grabbing at her in the final second before she splashed…
The height of Jenny's fall carried them far underwater and Jenny felt a stab of despair. She had no air left in her lungs. Her chest was burning but she kicked upwards anyway. She felt her stomach flip and twist and nearly vomited at the strange sensation of both travelling upwards and downwards at the same time. When the world seemed to have righted itself she looked up and the surface was close and dappled with strong light. Not borrowed light. Above light. London Above. She was being dragged down by the Marchioness held in one hand and her sword still in her other but she kicked fiercely with her legs as darkness crowded the edge of her vision. She couldn't swim, she'd told Vastra, but she was learning now and fast.
Her head broke the surface and she gasped and choked her way through restarting her breathing, fighting all the time to get to shallow water but…this was shallow water. It was a pond. She staggered, fell backwards and looked about her. She was sat in a pond, clutching at a very disorientated Marchioness. Tugging the Marchioness with her, Jenny stumbled upright and out. She let go of the Marchioness's hand but the lady clung tightly to hers, even as they stood dripping on firm ground.
"Jenny?!"
Despite the disbelieving tone of voice, Jenny had never been so happy to hear it. Relief flooded through her at the final proof for her that she was back.
"V…" she went to collapse gratefully into Vastra but stopped short as she saw the Inspector standing just behind Vastra, looking equally as shocked and baffled. She coughed and straightened up. "Ma'am." She nodded her head. "I got the Marchioness." She held up the hand had the Marchioness's attached to it.
"I think that was the pond I fell in." The Marchioness said weakly, looking behind her fearfully at the stretch of water.
"Madame!" Inspector Abberline darted forward, springing into action at the sound of a cultured voice. He took off his coat and flung it round her, leading her away towards the police cab as Jenny watched with mild disgust, Abberline waffling on about how glad her husband would be and asking what had happened without giving her a moment to answer. Jenny heard the Marchioness faintly say over him "I think I must've hit my head…" before she was bustled inside.
"Well I s'pose thas us walkin' home again." Jenny snorted as the cab pulled off. She turned as there was no reply to see Vastra, speechless and staring at her in mild shock. Jenny looked down at her torn clothes and the gashes on her arms from various beaks and talons. She opened her mouth to try and explain but gave up. "S'a long story." She shrugged, looking back up at Vastra as she wiped her sword clean on a damp shirt tail before sheathing it.
"Did you have to kill anything this time?" Vastra asked, falling in beside Jenny as the young woman started her way across the park.
"No."
"Give anything up?"
"No."
"What happened to Peggy?" Vastra looked around as if the urchin would appear magically now that the extra observers had gone.
"What won't happen to Peggy when I get 'old of 'er." Jenny muttered, the memory of the Rat Speaker's desertion coming back to her now she was no longer in danger.
"Who, or what, was the Lord Rat Speaker?" Vastra started another line of enquiry in an attempt to be tactful.
"Albie."
Vastra stopped short but Jenny didn't, continuing to stride along. Albie was the name of Jenny's brother who'd been…picked. Taken. That's how Jenny had described it. Vastra hurried forward but walked beside Jenny in silence now, merely handing the young woman her cloak, despite the chill that bit at her from the February air. A young woman walking round London in torn men's clothing was going to get questions asked.
Vastra kept the rest of her own questions to herself for now. Jenny clearly didn't wish to talk about it at the current time. Vastra trusted Jenny would inform of her of all once she'd recovered. Vastra sighed, thinking that this was hardly a good way to spend their Valentine's day. She resolved, once they'd eaten something and Jenny had bathed and dressed her wounds, to try and make it up to Jenny. The Doctor had talked about flowers, a box of chocolates, making promises she never intended to keep. But none of that seemed quite special enough for their first Valentine's Day together. She had plenty of time to ponder the issue however. The walk from Ravenscourt Park to Paternoster Row took nearly two hours.
An: No seriously it takes about that long. No cab would take them because water damage to upholstery is expensive and they didn't have that much cash on them.
