Hi everyone! Behind Shade, Marina and Griffin, Orestes is my fourth favorite character so I couldn't help but give him a role in this story too! He only had a very small appearance in Sunwing and I only knew a little about his character, so I may have changed a few things and he might be a little OOC. Sorry if that's a pain...
And with Orestes appearance come some new characters you will soon meet! The plot on turning back time is going to get a whole lot more complicated now that Orestes and his soon to be new friends discover why the Humans want this rectangular shaped object so badly. Things are going to get interesting...
Oh, and if any of you guys thought chapter seven was a little confusing there are some notes at the end of this chapter to sort some things out. And they may or may not contain spoilers depending on what you think spoilers are... Happy reading! :)
Chapter Eight
King Boreal stood ferociously, feathers puffed proudly, talons grasping tightly on a lone branch of an old oak tree, thickened with ice, and although his size was rather small for such a prestigious title for an owl, he gave the appearance of a strong, fierce king. His son Orestes stood beside him, a younger, livelier version of the great king, but his stature was much different. Orestes was hunched over, shivering bitterly against the cold harsh wind, beak chattering, eyes constantly blinking from the tiny ice shards that constantly aimed for them. He looked weak, scared, and nowhere near ready to become king. Boreal knew that. That troubled him.
"Look at the world around you, son. What do you see?" Boreal's voice rumbled, weathered from age, but in the same time exuding great power and wisdom.
"I-I can't really see anything because of the stupid snowflakes, Dad," Orestes protested feebly. Really, he didn't want to look weak, but those snowflakes just wouldn't give up.
"Then close your eyes. Now what do you see?"
"Nothing."
Thwack! King Boreal's port wing slapped sharply at the back of his head and nearly knocked him over. Orestes's talons dug deeper into the wood to keep himself steady. He looked at his father in disbelief.
"What did you do that for, Dad? I was telling the truth!"
"No. You see calm, serenity, peace. You see conflict, war, and anxiety all disappear, melting away into a beautiful cloak of darkness,"
"I don't think like you, Dad! I only see what's on the surface, not what's within and all that junk!"
"Would you like to continue arguing with me and stay stupid as you are, or become wise and composed like me? And please do not call me Dad, Orestes; it is King Boreal until the day I pass on,"
Orestes sighed deeply, frustrated and rather annoyed. Even though his father had a tendency to be harsh and controlling, there was no doubt there was wisdom and strategy behind those fearless golden eyes. He needed to learn from him in order to be ready to become King. Right now, he was just Prince Orestes, merely a pawn in this dangerous game war, deceit and death. But soon, soon, he would become King.
"Now, son, it is time for me to let you in on a-
"Sorry for interrupting, Dad, er, King Boreal, but how come you still refer to me as son not, well, Prince Orestes,"
King Boreal. That name felt strange, foreign on his tongue. He wasn't used to referring to his father directly as King, so somehow it made him feel even smaller than he already was. Orestes didn't enjoy feeling small, especially when his actual size and personality weren't that large in the first place. He wanted to feel important. He wanted to feel like he was needed, not a simple nuisance or someone who was just there. He wanted to feel special.
His father shook his head, muttering to himself in annoyance.
"I am of higher rank, so I may choose what I call you, but if you would like for me to call you Prince Orestes, I'm sure it won't mean much harm…"
"Oh, no, no, uh, King Boreal, please do call me son…!"
And yet, he didn't want his Dad to call him Prince Orestes or Prince Boreal or whatever other stupid royal names there were. If his Dad really did start calling him that, he would feel like it cut off the bit of connection he had with him, like instead of father and son, it would simply be king and prince, or knight, because, certainly, Orestes barely even acted like a prince. He was nowhere near as knightly and bold as his fathers trusted guards and, well, knights, so he might as well have been a, hmmm, he thought, what level of royalty were below knights? He shook his head in shame; he should've been studying about his father's kingdom, rather than have been playing around with his friends. Now, he really did feel like an idiot.
"Alright, son. Now I have to let you in on a little secret,"
"What is it, Da-, King Boreal? Oh, Dad, can I please not call you King Boreal, it just doesn't feel right-
"Silence! You must act like a prince now, son, or you will never be a king! Now, listen closely because I will not repeat it. You must not tell anyone what I am going to tell you because it will cause fear and corrupt panic in our kingdom,"
"Okay, okay, King Boreal, I get it. Just please tell me already…!"
"Don't rush me, son. We…" King Boreal looked at his son, with serious eyes
"- have formed an alliance with the Vampyrum Spectrum,
Orestes froze. The wind continued to howl and the snow continued to blind him, yet in his mind it was completely dark and silent. But he didn't feel calm and happy. He felt empty and cold.
"What…? Dad, how could you do this- this horrible thing, how could you- ? After all the hard work the Silverwings and the Owl Kingdom did to defeat Zotz from creating eternal night, you decide to betray them, betray your own people…? What made you agree to such a horrid- you're literally corrupting the peace we fought so hard to make just a few years ago! How can you just throw it away-?
"SILENCE! Orestes, you must learn that sometimes the best decisions aren't always easy. I thought long and hard about this-
"Well, you haven't thought hard enough! Think for some more time and realize how wrong this decision is-
"SILENCE! I refuse to listen to a son that speaks to me in such a disputable way. Find you manners before you ever speak to me again,"
"Then I will never speak to you again. I have always looked up to you, Dad, because of your strength and wisdom, but this time, I won't stand by your side. I refuse to be your son from this day forward! Until you change your mind I will be a fugitive! I'm better off that way, better off than ruling a kingdom with such dishonesty and betrayal,"
King Boreal grinned at his son cruelly.
"You think you are so high in the royal owl family, huh? You think you get to call the shots? If you refuse to be my son, that is perfectly fine, I will just move the king's title to someone else, someone who I trust can bring honor to this position in the kingdom,"
"But, Dad-
"If you would like to become a fugitive, fine, but then I banish you from my kingdom and you must live outside of the forests where I rule. You have three days to make your decision. If you have left my kingdom within those days, you are never to come here again; you are exiled. If you are still here, I will force you to cooperate, become king and never ever leave this kingdom. Choose wisely,"
And with that, King Boreal pumped his impressive wings and glided smoothly towards his tree to his hollow, leaving Orestes alone and vulnerable, shivering in the cold.
But Orestes didn't need three days. He didn't need any number of days at all. He hated his father for making such a cruel decision, working with the Vampyrum Spectrum of all the things he could do. As king, Boreal had so many choices and he chose to side with them? For what, power, riches or whatever could be gained? All Orestes knew was this had to be a trap. The Vampyrum Spectrum were evil and didn't do anything out of kindness and knew nothing of fair trade. They would lead his father, his kingdom to ruin. Orestes would not let that happen.
Though frost had begun to cling to the edge of his flight feathers, Orestes sailed fearlessly through his father's forests, in search of some place to spend the night. But the fields of snow and ice never seemed to end and the sun was beginning to go down, making the sky glow golden yellow, fading into pale violet when he heard a soft moan in the distance.
He came across a thin wolf lying on its side, one of its legs gruesomely torn almost all the way from its body. It had already lost a lot of blood, drenching the snow all round it in pools of deep crimson. It was a horrid sight and Orestes nearly passed out from the stench of blood.
Orestes had a kind heart and immediately wanted to help the wolf, but upon seeing its muzzle soaked in dark blood and its teeth stained as well, he quickly retreated several wing beats from sudden fear. Then he sucked in a couple breaths telling himself that this poor animal was probably tortured to the point that food probably wasn't its top priority right now, in fact, who knew if it was even still alive. He flew timidly towards the wolf's face and studied it curiously. He heard it breathing very softly, and Orestes sighed with relief. It was still alive.
He gripped his talons on a thick, furry fold of skin on its neck and dragged with all his might, but she wouldn't budge. The wolf was too heavy and he was too small. He would have to help her in some other way.
"…tear it off…please…tear it…" She whispered almost inaudibly, breath ragged and shaking.
"Um, tear what…off…?" Orestes asked shyly, rather confused.
"My leg…my injured leg…is almost…it's almost…off already…it won't heal…please…please…just tear it…make it quick…please…"
Orestes flew over to the leg that was hanging by a small part of its skin and a few strings of sinew. The deep pink moist muscles, strewn with red, had been torn clean off the yellow-white bones and everything was a big bloody mess. Orestes was hungry, but this vulgar sight made him want to puke everything he had just eaten the night before.
He took a careful look at the small piece of skin and sinew and clamping his beak tight around it, ripped it free in one sharp jerk of his neck. The wolf shrieked a mournful cry, like a cross between a scream and a howl and the minute Orestes spit out the remaining skin, more blood began to pool, spreading out like a murderous mob of crows. He jumped out of the way and looked at the poor wolf in disbelief.
"You made me harm you even worse! Now you are losing even more blood! What do you suppose I do now?"
She smiled weakly at him.
"I never intended to survive. I just asked you to do so, so I could die without pain. I was already dying anyway; you couldn't have saved me…"
"I-I could have! You, you just gave up hope too quickly! I know I could've done something, at least something to help…!"
"You had wanted to help me; you didn't run away in fear like the others. That is good enough for me. I thank you for your gratitude…"
"But-
Suddenly Orestes heard another wolf howl in the distance.
"Solaris! Solaris? Where are you…?"
A male wolf with dark grey and white fur, lanky but muscular, ran swiftly towards him, yellow eyes filled with worry, ears pulled back in fear.
When he saw the horrid sight, he snarled viciously, his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as he pounced onto Orestes with sudden strength, pinning his wings down with his large white paws, sharp black claws piercing into the flesh underneath his feathers. Orestes froze, eyes darting left to right, talons clenching and unclenching, scared to his very bones. Who was this wolf? Who was this monster?
"What did you do to her…? You better tell me what you did to Solaris or I will-
"Marko…" She whispered weakly, barely breathing.
The wolf turned in surprise, ears perking up.
"Solaris…? You're still alive…? Please, please tell me what that wretched owl did to you; I will avenge your death, I promise-
"No…Marko, I-I asked him to do it…I…I'm already dying…I…" Her voice had no true sound, just empty breaths like wind escaping her mouth.
A horrid wet noise emanated from her throat and more blood sputtered from her lips, spattering pools of red all around her. Marko's eyes widened in alarm and he jumped off Orestes and bent by her side. He nudged at her cheek, tears spilling from his eyes.
"Don't harm…him…Marko…please…do it for me…"
"Then…what…what do I do…?" He asked hopelessly.
Solaris writhed in pain, hurling forwards as another violent wet cough sent chills down her body, and even more blood escaped her mouth just as tears escaped her eyes. The saltwater mixed in with the dark red liquid, making it look as if she was crying blood red tears. She seemed to be bleeding endlessly, but the bleeding seemed abnormal.
"She's bleeding from the inside," Orestes spoke.
"W-what? How is that…?" Marko whispered, breath ragged, throat wound tight in fear.
"It's connected…" Solaris whispered and with one last painful gasp, she coughed with strange might and expelled a small dark object from her blood covered mouth that appeared to have been causing her the excruciating pain and agony that seemed to torture her from the inside.
With the last bit of her strength she drew a small rectangular shape, with a screen and buttons in blood on the snow and drew a line connecting the small dark object and the rectangular shaped machine.
At the last stroke, her paw slowly fell silently to the ground and Solaris ceased to move at all.
Her eyelids closed and Orestes and Marko watched in horror as her life fled before their eyes.
She was dead.
"So, what does she mean by 'it's all connected', huh? Tell me you worthless bird!"
The crazed wolf spat angrily, his hot breath almost knocking the wind out of the poor owl.
Marko seemed to have forgotten Solaris had died only moments ago and now turned back to spitting threats at Orestes. The poor owl thought pity of himself, muttering it was his father's fault for being a boreal; those birds were among the smallest in the owl species. Seriously. As if being teased for his soft personality wasn't enough; he just had to be annoyingly small. Why did life have to be so unfair?
"Look, if you calm down, maybe we can figure-
"Calm down? Are you fucking kidding me? My mate just died and spewed words of wisdom at me and I can't fucking figure out what she said! How can I remain calm at a time like this?"
"Alright. Let's take a look at the pictures one more time,"
They had been closely scrutinising the images that Solaris had drawn moments before her very death, but nothing seemed to ring a bell. A rectangular shaped object connected to a, well, blood covered, other object…what could that possibly mean?
Orestes gingerly grabbed the small dark object and ran it threw the snow until it had made an irregular shaped bloody patch in the snow. Now that it was clean Orestes scratched off some of the dust with the tip of his talons and looked closely.
Inscribed were the letters WWII. WWII… It sounded so familiar.
Orestes had been in Human captivity for a long time, several seasons ago and when he saw the Humans working in the labs he glimpsed those letters. WWII. He had met another owl, Soarine, who had successfully learned the Human language and taught him the Human alphabet and how words were pronounced. Orestes wasn't very good, but he still remembered some basics, like writing his name.
The objected had a familiar shape too. It was a disk. He took it in his beak and bit it, realizing it was metal. But it was very small, maybe around the size of an adult Human's thumbnail and it was also very thin, so thin, that if you were to look at it from the edges it would be invisible.
Orestes clumsily dropped it by accident and screeched in pain when it hit one of his toes, drawing a bead of blood from his feet. It was razor sharp. It must had punctured Solaris's main organs from the inside. But how did she get her leg nearly ripped off? Was that possible?
"Marko, I think I'm on to something,"
The nervous wolf, suddenly forgetting his grudge, rushed to his side, staring unblinking at the tiny disk.
"What? What is it?"
"I know how Solaris died. Most of it, anyway,"
"What? How?"
"See this disk?"
"Yeah. Barely…" Marko muttered to himself. The thing was so small it was almost like a dot in the snow.
"Well it's razor sharp in the edges. It must had pierced her organs from the inside,"
"Huh? What are organs?"
Orestes shook his head. How can a predator having eaten blood and guts all his life have no idea what organs are?"
"Well, your heart, lungs, kidneys, intestines-
"Uh, the only organ I know is probably the first one you mentioned but…go on,"
"Well, your organs help you live. And if they are severely damaged, like this tiny disk goes inside of you and tears them up, you'll spew blood everywhere and ultimately, uh, die,"
"Okay, hold on a second. How do you know all of this?"
"My Dad taught me the anatomy of a mouse when I was bored from his kingdom speeches. He killed a mouse, ripped its chest open and showed me all the gory stuff. I forgot most of the things he told me, because I was pinching my nose from the stench of blood,"
"Uh, is there something wrong with your Dad? Why does he teach you this stuff? In such a brutal way?"
"Who knows? He just told me one day I would thank him for the information. I don't think that one day will ever come…"
"Okay, so, basically, Solaris swallowed this thing and it cut up all the stuff inside her and made her bleed to death?"
"Simple as that,"
"Then why's her leg ripped brutally off her body?"
"Uh…that I have not yet figured out…"
"You know, I think we're going to get ourselves into a huge mess that we won't be able to escape from so we might as well cooperate. And by the way, how did you get here in the first place?"
"Oh. I had a, well, a little disagreement with my Dad and he kind of hates me right now…"
"Oh, same here…I stole the last slab of meat for the winter and Ol' Pops never wants to see my ass around our cave ever again,"
"Well, it's a little more complicated than that…you see, my Dad is King Boreal, king of the owl, uh, kingdom, yeah…so, uh, he told me that we were going to work with, um, other bats whom I believe are pure evil, so I, uh, refused to be the heir and became a fugitive to defy him…so he, uh, kind of never wants to see my face ever again…"
"Hmmm. Tough. Well, we better get going and search for this rectangle shaped thing. It's gonna get dark in a few hours and then it'll be a real pain searching for it…"
"But what will we do when we find it?"
"I don't know, play around with all those buttons?"
"What if we get killed?"
"Wait, before we play with the buttons or after?"
Orestes shook his head. Marko was hopeless. It didn't matter when they died, if they did, nothing more was to be said. End of story.
"I'm serious, Marko. We can't waste our time like that. We need help. You know, I learned a little bit of the Human language while I was in captivity, but I only know some basics. We need real help. We need help from a Human,"
Marko froze for a second, stunned.
Then, without warning he pounced onto Orestes, baring his gleaming sharp teeth, growling angrily.
"How can you trust a Human after all they did to us? They killed hundreds of my kind and they killed many of yours as well. Why would we suddenly seek for a Human's help? Are you asking for death…?"
"Seriously, Marko, what is with you and attacking small innocent birds-
"How do I know you're innocent and sm- well, uh, I-I guess you're kinda small…"
Orestes felt like he'd been hit by déjà vu over and over again. Nobody would ever let him forget that he was small. Ugh, he wished so badly that Shade was here, at least he'd have a friend smaller than himself to talk to.
Now that he thought about it, where was Shade? He had disappeared ever since he'd went on some adventure underground. He'd never seen him since. Orestes wished again that he was here. Shade was intelligent, maybe he could've helped them figure this out.
"Hey, fluffball. Wake up. Why're you staring into space?"
Orestes's eyes blinked and he was back from the flashbacks.
"Oh, um, I was just, uh, remembering some things…"
"Anything important?"
"No, I was just wishing that my really smart friend was here so he could help us out-
"Is he Human…?"
"Uh, no,"
"Good. Well, whatever. I still don't really like your stupid plan on trusting a Human but if it's the best you got, then I guess we're going to have to follow it, seeing I don't have any other ideas…"
And without another word, Orestes took to the air, flying as fast as he could, while Marko raced on land to catch up, for even though that bird wasn't powerful in size, he sure soared like a dream.
As Marko ran intensely at the edge of a forest, legs almost flying in midair, he glimpsed a small dark shape in the distance. He was beginning to get tired even if the bitter cold winter wind felt so good rushing through his thick adrenaline-heated fur, cooling the warm sweat building up on his back and forehead. He called to Orestes who soared high in the sky and he swooped down, close to his shoulder.
"What is it?"
"I think I see something. Hey, by the way, what's your name? I don't want to call you 'worthless bird' all the time…"
"Oh, it's Orestes," He said, quite proud of his royal sounding name.
"Meh, that's too long…how about Oreo?"
"Huh? Why…?"
"Ore- whatever is too long for me to remember. I need a short-
"And yet you can remember Solaris-
"Shut up, she was my mate, okay? If I forgot her name she would probably desert me and I'd starve to death. I'm a good hunter, but see, I'm rather lazy and not the brightest bulb, so I kind of depended on her…"
"Ah, so she's the one that keeps you alive. Looks like you're gonna die pretty soon then,"
"Hey, I do quite well in emergency situations,"
"I sure hope so. I only catch enough for myself to eat, and I doubt that even if I have a couple mice left over, you'll be full with just that,"
"Hey, I'm gonna try my best so don't make me feel bad. And I'm helping you. You should be glad,"
"Hey, you're only helping because it involves Solaris. Otherwise, you wouldn't care and probably just eat me whole and spit out the feathers. Everyone has their own motives in bad situations. Don't think that I don't know…"
"Hmmm. So birdie isn't as stupid as I thought. That's good, considering I'm not that smart; so you can solve the brainy stuff while I'll be the muscle and body power,"
"Now, what did you see in the first place?"
Marko stopped and looked and nodded his head.
"Oh, yeah, uh, there appears to be a Human over there in the distance,"
"Oh, and if I'm not mistaken I see it holding something rectangular,"
"Looks like we hit the jackpot. Let's go!"
"Hey, hey, hey! Wait a second! We can't just run there!"
"Why not?"
"We might scare it and then it will run away and then where will we be?"
"Oh, yeah. So, what's your amazing plan, O' Great Oreo?"
"Well, I am going to fly there first, settle on the ground, hoot softly and blink my big golden eyes innocently and wave my wings around-
"What's that supposed to do? You're gonna look stupid!"
"I have to get the Human thinking that I'm cute and adorable so it won't have to urge to run away screaming in fear,"
"How do you know that'll work? One of my good friends did the exact same thing and the Human beat him half-dead with a stick,"
"Because he was probably a very scary wolf, not a cute fluffy boreal owl,"
"What's the deal with boreal owls anyway?"
"We're small, cute and fluffy looking. Humans like those things. Trust me,"
Orestes flew off towards the Human and watched curiously, fascinated by her bright green eyes gazing at the machine and her delicate careful fingers, sliding smoothly over the buttons. She had long, thick, strangely dark hair, that appeared to have a natural sheen of blue, of which made her skin seem very pale. He was entranced.
Maybe she could help them.
Maybe she was the one.
Warning: May Contain Spoilers
Okay, here are some notes to clear things up a bit.
1. The rectangular shaped object is a time machine, if some of you guys haven't figured it out. This device was briefly explained in chapters 4 and 5, but I guess it wasn't clear enough. That's okay, you know now.
2. Shade is still alive because Marina has traveled to the past using the time machine, accidentally pressing a certain button. The buttons and functions will be described in better detail in later chapters, I promise.
3. Marina's spirit is the Marina from the present that traveled to the past (when pressing the button, not her entire body traveled to the past). The body she went into was the body she had in that time period (when Shade was still alive) and it's roughly the same as the body she had in the present, except younger by maybe a year or so.
4. Luna is the name of both the bat and the owl, but there is no owl called Marina. I chose to name the owl Luna for a little twist, because I may or may not include her later unless I have to...Frankly I like Marina more than Luna...so...yeah...
I hope these notes answered your questions about parts of the story that are confusing.
If you guys have any other questions about the story please let me know so I can clarify.
Stay tuned! And for those of you reading The Ask and The Answer I promise I will update soon! ;)