Chapter 11: Wits Versus Wits
(Wolf's P.O.V.)
While I was standing outside of the hollow, Jewel had went inside and started to talk with their Blu's and hers chicks. I looked over to Blu and asked, "So, where exactly is Linda taking you and Jewel?"
"Linda and Túlio are both going to go see Linda's parents up in Minnesota, and Linda thought it would be a good idea to take us with… and leave the chicks with you so they could stay in the wild…" Blu explained. I sighed as I looked towards the entrance, and Blu added, "Sorry Wolf… it will only be for a week…"
I sighed again as I shook my head and said, "No, no… it is alright, it's the least I can do for when you and Jewel watched over mine…" As soon as Jewel exited my den, her eyes were slightly glassy, and she smiled as she flew over to Blu.
When Jewel looked at me, she said, "Thank you Wolf… try not to get in any trouble while we are gone…"
Chuckling, I said, "Don't worry about me, go have fun," I smiled as they turned and started to fly away, "and be safe!" I yelled after they had gotten further away. May I not get into anything dangerous either… I'm just hoping that falcon I saw when we were bathing doesn't try anything…
When I turned and faced Viviana, she looked back at me and asked, "So, does that mean I should still stay here?"
I glanced around her and looked into the hollow, and when I looked inside and saw how the chicks almost took up the hollow by themselves, I pulled away and shook my head solemnly. "How would you feel if you stayed with one of my friends until you can get a hollow of your own?"
Viviana looked around slightly as she visibly grew nervous, and she asked, "Is it a guy?"
Before I could restrain myself, I started laughing. I couldn't believe she had asked that right away, but I managed to calm myself down enough to say, "No, she is a scarlet macaw, and I believe she has a mate, but I'm not entirely sure if they are mated yet or not… I would have to ask her first though."
When I finished, Viviana seemed to think about that, and when she nodded, she asked, "Do you want me to go watch over the chicks while you are gone?"
"Yes, thanks Viviana… I will be right back. Don't let the chicks create havoc while I am gone…" with that, I nodded to her, and I quickly turned around and raced off towards Fay's hollow, which wasn't that far away actually.
…
Little did Wolf know that a dark shadow had just alighted into the air, and was slowly and silently flying higher as Wolf landed in his friends hollow. When the shadow was around fifty feet off the ground, it had leveled out, and was circling above the clearing…
…
I flew away from the Fays home, smiling since she had accepted, and without a question. Her and Marco had just been talking, and didn't want to go to sleep just yet, but couldn't find anything to occupy their time with; and I had just entered with a solution, and a good five minutes of chat. I was now flying along the edge of the clearing back home, and I took a deep breath in, enjoying the feeling of refreshment that came from an undamaged body. I remember that first month… I had accumulated so many wounds and pain from so many things… it was incredible I had managed to live for so long; and when Angel gave me life again, it just gave me so much more to live for. My endurance is so outstanding now though, I can go through so much more beating than I have needed to before; hopefully I never have to test that- "AHH!"
Pain exploded in my back and wings as something large hit me, and I had plummeted down towards the ground, but I had barely managed to keep my body aloft as I came within a few feet of the ground. I set myself down in a sort of crash, and when I looked up, I saw my tree a few dozen feet ahead of me, but I rolled over and relished in the cold moist earth, and I felt the pain ease up slightly. I saw something moving above me, and as I narrowed my eyes in the moonlight, I could make out a faint flying shape with glowing yellow eyes racing down at me. I gasped and I tucked my wings in and rolled over the ground, and I felt and heard a deep thud originate from where I just was. I stood up quickly while observing the bird in front of me. We were just close enough that the moonlight provided enough light to observe each other's features… to an extent.
In front of me stood a large brown feathered falcon, whose glowing yellow eyes seemed to be cold as well as calculating. He had a sort of collar around his neck, and along the side of it appeared to be a device that appeared to be off at the moment. When his neutral look turned into one of amusement and he smiled at me, I felt as if the air had suddenly dropped a dozen degrees, and as the falcon opened its beak and spoke, I wanted to nothing more than to be as far from this bird as possible, "Well done… but that won't save you anymore than me looking for a mouse…"
After he finished, he launched himself at me with incredible speed, with ill intent etched into his eyes. I growled as I quickly spread my wings and slammed them towards the ground, and I had just barely avoided the brown blur beneath me. I turned to keep him within my sights, but when I did, he was missing. I heard a chuckle that sent ice up my spine, and I turned around while maintaining my hover, and I was greeted by…nothing.
"After I finish off with you, I will move on to snack on those delicacies that you forest rats call chicks…" his voice seemed to melt from the darkness around me, and I could hear the swishing of his wings every so often.
A bout of courage took hold of my cold heart, and I yelled out, "I don't believe we have properly met…" I heard a chuckle that seemed to be made of ice, and the courage that had taken hold of me left until it was a wisp. "URGH!" I felt myself be rammed into, and when my back hit the ground, I was left winded as I fought to catch my breath.
I felt the sharp feeling of talons gripping my chest, and pinning me down to the ground, and then I heard his malicious voice say, "My name isn't important, since I am going to take you back to my leader, but I will indulge you before your imminent death anyways… my name is Arien, king of the night, shadow of death, and your personal executioner…"
When he finished, I just managed to bring my breathing back to its speedy rate, and as I took in what he said, I started to think of a way to escape this bird, and fight him off… I'm outmatched anyway, and every way I can try to fight him… unless I try to fight dirty and smart… I feigned fear, which wasn't to hard to bring up, especially after what he had just said, and I started to open my talon as I asked, "What did I do to you to get your personal attention?"
"Oh, it isn't anything personal, but you took out a division of our smuggler cell… and for that, you are on the hit list, along with yo-" he was cut off as I heard a feminine voice scream out, "PAPA!" I arched my head back just as Arien looked up, and I could see Beleza standing on the edge of the den with the other chicks as well, and then I saw a bigger shape wrap their wings around them protectively. Arien let up lightly on my chest as he licked his beak and said, "I had forgotten what was in that hollow…"
NO! I will NOT let him reach them! Strength swelled within me, and I threw Arien off of me and stood on his back and dug my talons into his back. He was struggling and I kept nearly losing my footing, but I took a brief second to look up and I yelled, "GET THE CHICKS OUT OF HERE! DO IT BEFO-" I was tossed off of Arien when he managed to unfurl his wings and make a massive flap. When I had regained my standing and I was facing him, he was flying towards the evacuating chicks and Viviana, and I quickly gave chase. I was still behind him when he flew in front of Crystal and Gabriel…
(Gabriel's P.O.V.)
I froze up next to Crystal when the massive bird started to hover in front of us, and as he reached for us, he spoke in the most awful voice, "Hello snacks… prepare for your death at my beak…"
When his sharp talons just started to wrap around Crystal, something snapped in me, and I flew forward and bit his talon while I flew in-between him and Crystal. He retracted his talon just as dad slammed into him from the side, and he was sent towards the lake. Papa looked over at me and smiled and said, "That's my boy," and when his face grew serious again, he said, "Hide, and when it is safe, fly towards your grandpa's hollow, and stay there until I come to get you."
Just as he finished though, the falcon rammed back into him, and I flew ahead of Crystal, but towards the branches of a tree. When I landed on it, I looked back, and saw Crystal hovering there and looking around, and I whispered, "Hey, Crystal, over here…" I watched as she looked at me, and slowly flew towards me. When she landed on the branch, she looked at me closer and asked, "What is wrong with your feathers?"
I shook my head and quickly wrapped them around her lighter blue feathers, and I brought my head closer to hers and hid us closer to the tree trunk and whispered, "My feathers are almost as black as night when it is nighttime… just don't say anything, that bird that is fighting my papa might hear us."
As soon as I finished, I felt like Crystal nodded, but then she squeezed closer to me just as we heard my papa yell out in agony, and we looked out and saw the big bird throw my dad across the ground, where he bounced a few times, but when he started to shakily stand up, the falcon rammed into him with his talons around my papas throat and wings, and then he bent down and seemed to say something to my papa…
(Wolf's P.O.V.)
The pressure that was wrapped around my throat was nearly strangling me, but I wouldn't sputter and let Arien know how truly exhausted I was. He lowered his beak until it was next to my ear, and I heard him whisper out menacingly as his hold tightened on my throat, "Now, since you scared away my meal, I guess I just have to hunt them down tomorrow… but now, we are going back to my group, so you can be dealt with there.
I felt myself losing my grip on reality since I couldn't get in any breath, and just as I was sliding past the brink of unconsciousness, I managed one last thought, I held them off… that is what matters…
Just as I felt myself growing farther from Arien and the moon floating high above him, I felt like something sweet was being planted across my beak, and my heart fluttered weakly as I heard a sweet voice saying, You did well my brave knight…
(Arien's P.O.V.)
He was a worthy opponent, but that won't stop him from his death… too bad those delectable chicks got away… those two looked absolutely scrumptious… I will just have to look for them tomorrow; I will make sure to eat that young female in front of that little brat that bit my talon…
I hefted Wolf off the ground with relative ease, and just as I was flying away, I felt soreness take over my body, and I just now realized how much Wolf had truly done to me in our brief scuffle…
A.N.: This is what I kept you all from, but this time I made sure to update it faster than I did the last chapter… please leave a review when you are finished with this Authors Note, they help more than you think. Any ideas you have will be greatly appreciated, and I might just put them in the story if they fit along with the plot.
crafty-boy-FTW: lol, right you are… but it does help… this one is easily twice the length of the last one, and it wasn't forced… anyways, school starts soon for me, so updates will start getting faster… I hope. I heard senior year is the toughest out of high school, I'm hoping they were all lies…