Chapter 6: Courage
Soren and his students were in one of the largest hollow in the Spirit Woods, Ezylryb had left to tell the King of where the squad had settled, if he did not do so, they might assume that they disappeared. (Ezylryb went himself to permit Soren to teach the owlets) The owls were not truly happy about going to the Spirit Woods, as it was quite dangerous in their perspectives, they were afraid of "Ghosts". Soren himself knew the secrets hidden in the Spirit Woods. They would have to stay the whole day in the woods, until Ezylryb came back. The temporary squad leader now had to deal with calming the students, as well as guaranteeing their safety, for a considerably long while.
Pelli, on her side, was in a corner, either talking, or trying to keep her mind of the area they were in. She had found quite a few friends in the squad; a few of them were friends of Ayanna, which implied that they were also fans of Soren.
"We will be taking turns, among the oldest, to keep watch" Soren said, meaning Pellimore would also be on guard duty for a short while "I will start, and have another shift later, thus take the longest shift, each one of you will be on guard for an hour, only" He finished, addressing the old this time.
The owls started getting ready to sleep, when Pelli approached Soren "Soren, I heard a rumour about Pure Ones forces in the area... Be careful." She said.
"No need to worry Pelli, I'll be fine" Soren responded, taking note of Pelli's worry, as it was entirely possible for the Pure Ones to be patrolling the sea surrounding the Great Ga' Hoole Tree. Also, they had passes from crows, making it even more plausible.
Soren's first shift went without problem, aside from a few random owls flying from tree to tree, perfectly calm.
Then came Pelli's turn, which came without any major events. She did think of waking up Soren from time to time, mostly to have some company, and someone to talk to while her turn came to an end. Most of the time, she would just stare at the thick, white clouds, wishing to go ahead and fly, perhaps even sleep. But she was stuck on the ground, guarding a hollow. Although her job was important, she wished she could be having some fun.
Soren's Second Shift
Soren was waiting outside the trunk, investigating the storm's aftermath, which did not seem too bad at all, compared to other storms he had seen. Ezylryb was not meant to arrive for a few hours still. His last shift would last 2 hours, followed by another shift, then the arrival of their prodigious ryb. Soren thought about what Pelli had said earlier, about the Pure Ones. He concluded that the arrival of Pure Ones at their location was entirely possible, as they had started to venture into the Spirit Woods just recently. Also, the hollow they were in was probably one of the largest ones in the woods, which increased the probabilities. He stayed on his guards whilst he kept a watchful eye on the sky.
Suddenly, he heard an owl talking in a nearby tree. He took a quick peak to realise of Pure One presence. That alone was enough for him to stand up and start waking the owlets. Which he did with a quick "Shh!" upon waking them, just so that they knew something was going on and were ready to leave the trunk at any moment. The moment Pelli woke up, she let out a yawn, loud enough to have been heard by a Barn Owl, if the Pure One Squad was bound to have.
Soren, utilising his superior hearing abilities, detected a low "Shhh, I heard something coming from that tree over there" followed by wing flapping, meaning that the squad would be reaching them shortly.
He knew what he had to do, the only way to distract the attackers, would be to dash out of the trunk and to attract them towards him, while an older owl, perhaps Pelli, would lead the others to The Great Tree. The only thing he dared hope, was that the squad was not too numerous.
He moved to Pelli "Take them to the Great Tree" He simply said.
"Soren, what are you going to do? And why me?" she asked as she did not have a lot of experience with leading squads.
He did not answer, only winked to Pelli, including a smile to make her understand his confidence, making her understand his intentions. "No, you are not fighting them alone!".
"I am, and I will… It is the right thing to do" he said, trying to make as much sense as possible, as it truly was the right thing to do.
Pelli nodded, obviously disgusted by Soren's decision, but charmed by his courage.
The squad leader stretched his wings, and dashed towards the incoming owls, with a fierce mind. "Okay, everyone follow me, no matter what happens, get to the Great Tree" she said. Most the owls seemed to find it a little unfair to leave Soren alone. "Come on, you all know that it is the right thing to do!" she responded to their blunt faces.
The owls all left towards the Great Tree, but as soon as they left the trunk, a Pure One found his way towards them, after receiving a harsh blow from Soren, he had been directed to them.
Pelli knew that Soren had his hands full with five Pure Ones, from a Squad of six. This implied that she would need to defeat this one alone, while the others kept flying. She gave a look to the second oldest owl, whom nodded, and dispatched from the formation.
- Soren -
… Soren dashed out from the trunk. He was soon confronted by a large amount of Pure Ones, at least six of them; none of them had Battle Claws, which was a good thing for Soren. All of them seemed surprised to see an owl defiantly attack them "He must be a Guardian! Kill him!" he heard one yelling.
"Wait! That's Soren! Nyra wants him dead!" He heard another yell, apparently recognizing him, probably by his heart-shaped face.
"Be careful! He is very dangerous!" And another yell.
He took a slash at one's wing, making him flinch from the pain, incapacitating him for a short while. He backed away a little, followed by a deep dive in the forest. He was obviously a lot more skilled then the Pure Ones. One of them managed to flank him, slamming both of them to a tree. Soren was stunned, perhaps even had a head injury, but dealt an amazingly deep gash to that very owl, as he was coming from a side. He ascended quickly, to the sky where he could deal more damage. He saw an owl dashing at him, which he retaliated with a dash of his own, scaring the enemy, whom lowered his claws. Soren took that opportunity and smashed in the owl. He saw him diving a little, and then leaving in another direction.
Soren was speechless, that owl was leaving towards the leaving owlets, but he could not do anything about it since he still had quite a few of Pure Ones to fend off.
Hopefully, Pelli makes the right decision He thought to himself.
That single moment of inattention, caused him a deep wound on his left side, which was not enough to incapacitate him, but enough to cause some serious damage to him, if not healed sooner. He screeched in pain, whilst another attacker was about to ram into him, he managed to dodge it, with the help of a swift wing flap. The enemy turned around, ready for another go at Soren, whom dived once again, most of the Pure Ones had fled by now, among the ones that had received major cuts and gashes, 2 of them remained.
He took a swift right, trying to shake off a pursuer, which he did. He made his way behind the owl, who seemingly was wondering where his prey had hid itself. Soren slammed onto him and started slashing at his back ruthlessly.
The owl started gliding to the ground, as one of his wings was obviously stuck, as he couldn't move it.
Soren backed away, searching for the last owl. If he had not decided to go warn Nyra about this, he would still be around, otherwise, they would need to leave quickly. He kept circling around, trying to spot the owl, which he did. It had been hiding among leaves, preparing for an ambush at a wounded Soren. He dashed at the enemy, catching him off guards as he was looking the other way, where an ambush would have been easier to execute. Soren knew of the easiest way to incapacitate, or kill an enemy, one of these ways consisted of slashing at a very sensible bone in the back of the wing. As he had the advantage of surprise, he managed to hit the owl where he desired, which was on that specific bone.
The enemy owl let out a amazingly loud screech and started panicking as he could not move his wing anymore, and was falling to the ground with tremendous speed. Soren backed away to look at the squad, flying away while Pelli was still fighting the other owl. He gasped as the owl slashed at her, but she managed to dodge it.
No worries, Pelli. He thought to himself.
- Pellimore -
Pelli was still fighting the owl that had dispatched himself from the others. She looked over to Soren whom appeared to have spotted an owl as he was diving towards a tree. There was a silence, then a loud screech coming from the trees.
C-Could it be Soren's screech? She thought, worrying.
She then saw Soren fly out of the woods with a painful smirk Hopefully, he is not too wounded She thought.
She panicked a little as the owl surprised her with a left slash, but managed to dodge it nonetheless. Soren started flying quickly, but painfully towards her. Eventually, Pelli made a fatal mistake, she dodged, but ended up behind the owl, which turned around quickly and attempted to slash at her back, which was now completely exposed.
SLAM!
As the claw was a few centimeters from her back, she heard a loud noise, as if two owls as clashed into each other with great speed. She looked behind her to see that Soren had smashed into their common enemy, and was having an amazing claw fight with him. Pelli let out a loud gasp as the enemy managed to lay down a slash to Soren, who quickly replied with a slash of his own, dealing a deep gash to the owl's stomach. He stayed in a stationary flight for a moment, before groaning a little, and falling to the ground slowly. Both of them knew that the fight was over; they had won against a squad of six Pure Ones. That was quite an accomplishment, even for Soren, who had fought off five of them to himself.
Both Soren and Pelli made their way to the hollow they were first in.
"Ar-Are you alright Pelli?" he asked, trying to reach for breath as he had been well injured and was exhausted from the battle.
"I'm fine, but it does not look like you are Soren…" She said, starting to Panic a little.
"I will survive, Ezylryb is meant to arrive in a few minutes anyways, and I might need some help getting to the Great Tree" he said, calmly, taking some breath back.
She nodded and continued "How could you be so… Reckless?" Pelli said whilst Soren was sitting up.
"It was my duty, it could not be helped" he responded, with a small smile to Pelli.
He will get himself killed if he keeps doing that… She thought, worrying about what could have happened if the Squad of Pure Ones had been more experienced.
She returned the smile as they both waited for Ezylryb to finally arrive. She looked up in amazement I wonder how he managed to beat five Pure Ones to himself… Is it something that I will learn? She thought, rather flattered by his sheer strength, talent and determination.
They heard a screech, obviously from Ezylryb as it could only be him to have such a voice. Pelli flew out of the hollow and signalled him to make his way where Soren was.
"I met the other owls on my way back here… What happened, lad?" He asked as he entered the trunk.
Soren simply lowered his head whilst Pelli did the speaking "We were attacked by Pure Ones, sir, and Soren fought off them off, injuring himself in the process, he needs medical attention" she said, getting a little panicked to Ezylryb's inactivity.
"I can see that…" said Ezylryb, while examining Soren's deep gashes and cuts "I will need your help to get him to the Tree, Pellimore" he finished.
Pelli nodded and made her way to Soren, whom she will support in getting to the Great Tree, where he will get medical attention.
Sounds like Soren's in trouble… Do you have a question, an idea or a request? Either PM me or leave a review.
-Golden