All the other people who hate Strix Strumajen, this chapter is for you! -evil grin-
"And that constellation there is the Golden Talons."
The Spotted Owl pointed with a wingtip towards the sky. All the other owls stared up at the cluster of bright stars, eyes wide. "Try to trace them with your wing," Strix Strumajen suggested.
Right, Lutta thought sarcastically as she followed the group higher into the air. She beat her large smoky colored wings and swooped over the others, ignoring Strix Strumajen's instructions.
"Very good, Emerilla," came the irritating whoo. "Everyone, watch how Emerilla does it."
Lutta glared defiantly at the two Spotted Owls as Emerilla soared up and outlined the shape of the Golden Talons. Strix Strumajen murmured approval, then blinked and glanced at the horizon. "Chaw practice is over, it's time for free flight!"
Lutta breathed a sigh a relief and broke away from the group. Quickly the other young owls flapped off, hunting or diving over the sea. Lutta was about to fly into the undergrowth to try shapeshifting in secret like she always did when a brown and white shape caught her eye. She wheeled around to see the dappled form of Emerilla flying over to Hoole, who was just returning with the colliering chaw. A pang a jealousy pierced her heart. Emerilla had laid her egg the night before, and now she was always with the egg, Hoole or Strix Strumajen.
"You feeling okay, Thyme?"
Lutta whirled around to see Strix Strumajen flying calmly toward her, and her wings quivered. "I'm fine," she snapped.
"You look sad," the older owl remarked. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Lutta nodded vigorously and turned away sharply. She opened her beak to speak, but suddenly she felt like she was overflowing. She nearly went yeep and she spiraled down to the ground, collapsing under a bush.
"Thyme?"
Lutta hid her head underneath her wings. "It's all so unfair!" she wailed. "Everyone hates me!"
"What are you talking about?" Strix Strumajen asked. "They don't hate you!"
"No… where I was… before." Lutta watched the Spotted Owl warily.
"Oh." Strix Strumajen was silent for a minute. "Bad stuff has happened to me, too. It happens to every owl."
"Yeah… but some owls tried to kill me." Lutta turned away. You tried to kill me, she thought mockingly.
"Oh, that's bad!" Strix Strumajen looked appalled. "You know, that same thing happened to King Hoole after the battle in N'yrthghar… but you wouldn't know about that."
"I do know about it!" Lutta protested.
Strix Strumajen stared at her. "But you're much too young-"
"Oh…" Lutta realized her mistake. "I mean, while I was flying here I met some owls who said they'd been in the battle."
"Really? They were that far south?"
"Um… yeah."
Strix Strumajen shrugged. "Anyway, some hagsfiend named Kreeth created a creature named Lutta to kill Hoole."
Lutta felt her feathers tingle. "Oh, really?" Her anger boiled up inside of her again.
"Yes," whooed Strix Strumajen, shaking her head at the unfairness of it all. "She pretending to be my Emerilla. I had to kill her." She sniffed, hurt.
"Stop it!" screeched Lutta, whipping her talons out. The Spotted Owl blinked and stepped back, too late. The claws hit her face and red blood spurted out. She squawked in pain and confusion.
"Thyme! What are you doing?"
"Stop it!" Lutta yelled again, without caring if any owl heard her. "It wasn't my fault! Kreeth made me do it!"
Strix Strumajen's eyes widened. "Kreeth? But-"
Lutta's eyes blazed with fury, and she stopped trying to hold her shape. Her gray feathers darkened and became black, and her eyes turned a brighter shade of yellow. The shapeshifter rose her wings as they became ragged and pointed.
Strix Strumajen backed up. "No! Not you!" Her face showed recognition.
Lutta hissed at her, now in the form of a fully grown hagsfiend. "Yes!" Just to spite the owl, she shrank back and became a small Spotted Owl. In a heartbeat she was the image of Emerilla.
"No!" cried the navigation ryb. "I – I killed you!" She watched with horror as the owl she had known as Thyme became a crow-like creature once again.
"You didn't!" screamed Lutta. "You thought you did, but you didn't! I have a gizzard! I can love!" She lunged forward as she extended her talons, feeling them slash through feathers and skin. Strix Strumajen shrieked and slipped on a pool of her blood. She landed face down with the furious shapeshifter looming over her.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she sobbed. "I didn't think-"
"Well maybe you should have considered everything before you tried to kill me!" Lutta yelled. Her eyes gleamed yellow with the fyngrot.
"No!" Strix Strumajen whimpered again, then Lutta's talons ripped through her throat. She blinked in shock and agony as scarlet welled up and stained her feathers red. The Spotted Owl gave a hideous gurgle, then fell still.
Lutta stared down at the ryb's body, the owl that had left her for dead in N'yrthghar. Suddenly she heard the flapping of wings and she spun around, terrified. Her hagsfiend form melted away, replaced by the storm colored shape of a Great Gray.
Hoole and Emerilla lighted just behind her. "What's going on? We heard screams-"
"Oh, Glaux!" wailed Emerilla, suddenly realized what the red and brown shape in the undergrowth was. "Hoole! It's my mother! It's Strix Strumajen!" She ran over to the motionless body. "No! No!" Her cries brought the other owls, and they swooped from the sky to see what the commotion was about. As they understood that the navigation ryb was dead, they huddled together in groups and whispered.
Lutta shrugged.
Hoole stared at her. "What happened?" he demanded, his eyes pools of sadness.
The shapeshifter turned and looked straight at him. "I don't know, Hoole. I found her lying under the bushes. She was already dead when I got here."