Chapter 82: A Roost With a View.
Hill and the Avian woman simply stared at one another for what felt like an eternity before he decided that saying anything was better than the soul-crushing silence and scrutiny that had surrounded him.
"Umm hi," Hill said watching the woman very carefully for a reaction to his words and he got one even if it was kinda small.
The woman cocked his head and he saw her large golden eyes narrow as she scrutinized him but she didn't speak, she simply watched him.
Hill sighed it was probably too much to hope for that she wanted to have some kind of meaningful conversation with him given that her people had just plucked him off a battlefield having been caught trying to infiltrate their territory and kill their people, even if it was an order that he had wholeheartedly been against it wasn't like he could exactly prove that now could he?
"Look for what it's worth and I'm not even sure if you understand me here but here goes anyway, I'm sorry, I really don't want to be here fighting with you people, hell I'd give anything to be just about anywhere else right about now, I didn't join the Brotherhood for this shit, I wanted to make a difference to the normal people of the wastes, to give them something to aspire to and to believe in, not to be some fucking purist stooge trying to 'cleanse' the wastes of everything that our Elders have deemed a threat to humanity or impure, hell it's beginning to feel like I joined a fucking cult rather than an army but I gotta say I was impressed with how easily you took us all down though you might just regret it when the reinforcements arrive," he said leaning back against the wall of the cage.
"We will fight regardless, you invaded our lands coloniser not the other way around," the woman suddenly said in perfect English which surprised Hill and caused him to sit up and stare at her in shock a fact that she easily read on his face.
"What did you believe that because we are not of your species or that because we do not live in high-powered stolen airships or walk around in powered metal suits we are all savages? Or did you simply believe because you are human that you are the pinnacle of all creation, that the Great Pheionix blessed your species above all others simply because you are you?" she said with a burning look of anger in her bright golden eyes.
Her accent was rather odd almost like it had been mimicked as he swore that he could hear a variety of different accents all meshed together as she spoke, almost like he was hearing five or six different people all speaking at once and saying the same thing so that his brain pieced the words being said together to make the sentence spoken.
Hill felt the sting of that one has heard so many of his brothers and sisters refer to them as such, "Not personally no and before you say it yes I know how many of my kind refer to you but it is not a view that I personally hold, I believe that all life is important in its own way," Hill said with a sigh and the woman cocked her head as if either curious or unbelieving of his words.
"Then you would be in the minority of your kind, having witnessed the barbarity of your people I can say wing on heart that if there was ever a species that was far from blessed it would be yours, never before have I seen a race so self-destructive," she said scowling at him through the bars of the cage and hill just couldn't help it, he had to ask.
"Where did you learn your English honestly it's better than mine," he said and she made a clicking sound with her beak as she snapped it shut.
"What you believe that we are incapable of learning your simple language? I speak several human dialects some of us far many more, your languages are nothing special, just like your species," she said huffily ruffling her feather and fluffing them up around her head and neck before flattening them and glaring at him again.
"I didn't mean it as an insult I was simply curious was all, there is no need to throw insults at me," Hill said and she cocked her head to one side to focus a single large eye on him.
"Oh really? Do you believe so? our kind come into our lands in an attempt to exterminate us for nothing more than daring to exist and you get offended because I dare to throw insults your way, I do believe you should consider yourself lucky human if it were up to me you would be suffering a far worse fate than being insulted, your kind have murdered mine for no other reason than our existence offends your delicate fucking egos and delusionary belief that you are the top of the fucking food chain of this cursed place, well I have news for you human, I do not care a single fuck what you think or if you are offended by my words, you have a lot to answer for and it is my distinct wish that our elders see the wisdom of stringing you up at the border of our lands as a warning to the rest of your kind of what will happen to them should they set another foot on them!" the woman snarled angrily before banging her hand on the bars of his cage making Hill jump and stare at her with his mouth hanging open.
He took a deep breath trying to find a rebuttal but he was truly struggling, she really hadn't spoken a single lie in her accusation, it seemed that since Elder Maxim's great cleanse of the wasteland had begun the Brotherhood had made more enemies than ever and since it had ramped it up after his death to 'honour' his memory it was just getting worse if they didn't rethink their strategy soon Hill could see them winding up going to war with pretty much the entire wasteland.
"I'm sorry," he said softly and the woman went to shout something else before freezing in place with her feathers all puffed up like she had been expecting him to argue with her not actually apologise to her.
"What did you say?" she asked very slowly and Hill lifted his head to look her right in the eyes.
"I said I'm sorry and yes I know Icannot speak for all humans when I say this but I can at least speak for myself and I have always tried to be an honest and at the very least a good person so its all I can do in this circumstance, I am sorry for what your people hav suffered at our hands and I wish it was in my power to change or even reverse it but it's not and I know my apology carries zero weight given the circumstances but it's all I have to offer, it was not my choice to be where I was or to be doing what I was doing but I am a good soldier, I follow my orders even if I do not agree with them because that's what a soldier does, but please belive me when I say this, this is not what I wanted at all, I don't want the Brotherhood to be reduced to armoured thugs, the Brotherhood I know and love is made up of good people who simply want to make things better but they have become disillusioned and poisoned by ideals and seductive ideas which are born of hate, so I am sorry for what i have done and what my people have done, it's all I can say really," Hill said softly.
The angry Avian woman seemed to deflate and her feathers ruffled and fluffed as she seemed to consider his words while trying to make sense of him, it was obvious to Hill that his response had not been the one she had been expecting and it confused her.
"You are lying, you would say anything to get out of that cage," she said finally and Hill shook his head.
"Not true, I'm not expecting mercy here though I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least hoping for some, but I am under no illusions of what is most likely to happen to me all I can really ask for is that you at the least give me a quick clean death rather than a drawn out one, so if my last words are to mean anything at all I'd rather have my intentions heard and understood so maybe just maybe you can at least see that not all humans are bad people, but some of us have embraced bad ideals and that has poisoned many others, I know an apology from a captured soldier carries little weight and seems pretty hollow but it is all I have to offer given the circumstances, it was not my choice to be where I was or doing what I was doing I simply followed my orders and did my duty as a soldier, nothing more, I just hope you can understand that," he said.
The eagle woman made a deep snarling noise and snapped her beak a few times as if the fact that his words confounded her angered her, it was like she wished him to lash out so she would have an excuse to further taunt and insult him, but in Hill's experience it is really difficult to throw animosity at one who shows you empathy and this seemed to be the case among her kind as well.
The woman stomped around the prison area as if battling with herself over his words till eventually she came to a conclusion and stormed back to his cage, "What is your name human?" she demanded.
"Adam Hill, Knight first class of the Brotherhood of Steel," he replied and she looked him up and down.
"Very well Adem Hill, if our elders do decide that you are to be executed for your crimes against us I will advice them to show honour and mercy in granting you a quick painless death, your words have shown honour that I would not have expected coming from one of your kind and it would be deserved for that at the least," she said and before he could thank her for that she was gone obviously to report what he had said to the elders.
Hill sat alone in the prison now with the weight of what she had said crushing down on him, it had been a crawling squirming thought at the back of his mind the entire time since he had woken up in this prison that he faced execution but now the words of this native woman had pretty much confirmed it and it planted a hard kernel of fear in his heart.
Now it wasn't death itself that caused him to fear, death was a harsh reality that every living being faced down at some point, it was inevitable, no what caused him to develop this fear was more the manner in which his death arrived because at the end of the day who wanted to experience a long, drawn out, painful and humiliating death?
He tried to rest but the fears kept swirling around in his heart and he began to think about some of the things he'd read in the historical archives in his spare time about the old world, more specifically about the old prison systems and something called Death Row.
This was where prisoners that were sentenced to die for their crimes were sent and he wondered to himself if this was the same sort of fear that they had felt?
Sitting there simply waiting to die with the ever-present knowledge that with every single day that passed they were one step closer to having their life forcibly taken from them, how does someone live with that existential reality?
As he thought that through memories of his life swirled among the thoughts and he experienced flashes of these memories showing him some of the more beautiful moments of his life, things like the day he passed his training and was bandaged a full-blown Knight and not an apprentice, or like when he first sat on the roof of Rivet City watching the sunset over the water.
Now all these beautiful moments in time would be lost in the void, gone just like their owner, but then does one ever truly own a moment in time despite it forever being etched into their mind? He supposed it could only ever be immortal if it was a moment shared with the world so others could see it in their own mind's eye as well, a moment shared was a moment relived by many, a moment spread through time rather than lost to it like all of his were about to be.
After what felt like a mixture of hours and mere seconds the woman returned only this time she brought with her four others all of them armed with unusual-looking bladed weapons as well as firearms.
They also looked to be a mixture of subgenus as well from the look of them, two of them looked like they were related to Ravens while one of the others kinda looked like an owl, and the last one who was blatantly a male looked like a rather angry Goose as he glared in at Hill breathing out a hiss at him.
"You are to be taken before the elders for them to pass judgement upon you and to answer for your crimes, do not resist Adam Hill or it will be a lot more painful for you than it need be if any of the words you spoke to me earlier be true then show the dignity and honour that you have spoken of," the Eagle woman said.
Hill sighed heavily and nodded rising to his feet he held out his wrists to the guard closest to the gate who was carrying a pair of what appeared to be manacled, the Goose guard actually seemed surprised by this action and glanced at the others in surprise who all simply shrugged as if they were equally baffled by his behaviour.
"No stupidity human," the Goose hissed and opened the cage door before stepping inside and snapping the manacles over his wrists and attaching them to a chain which he used to pull Adam along with him as the four guards formed a box around him with the Eagle woman leading the way, that's when Hill got the shock of his life.
As they stepped out of the door of the dark prison the flare of the sunlight hit him like a slap and he shielded his eyes causing the Goose guard to yank the chain nearly making him fall which made him smirk, especially when he recoiled in fear when he saw the drop on either side of the small bridge they appeared to be on.
The eagle woman let out an angry-sounding explosive burst of language which Hill had absolutely zero chance of unscrambling, it sounded like a rapid burst of bird song mixed with chirps, whistles, clicks and beak snaps.
But whatever it was she said it seemed to work as the guard looked suitably chastised and simply lifted Hill back to his feet in the middle of the box, it was now that his vision chose to clear and truly show him the scope of what his eyes had hinted at, they were thousands of feet in the air!
As hill looked around his mouth just dropped open in disbelief, the Avians had built a city in the sky, for a moment he had thought that maybe they were atop a giant tree or mountain but that's when he saw the truth, the whole place was a series of huge interconnected islands that sat atop of massive gas bladders with huge propellers correcting their flight constantly, no wonder the Brotherhood had never managed to find their home base, the ground sites were merely staging posts, they lived in the sky!
The islands were tethered together with huge rope bridges that flexed and swayed constantly but appeared to be made of a material that was both elastic and solid, it kinda reminded him of silk in a way and was woven to a such thickness that the strands would probably be far stronger than steel plus given the moisture in the air thanks to the height would be slightly damp at all times making it even stronger and denser.
It beggared belief that what appeared on the outside to be a tribal people could ever imagine such a thing let alone actually construct a technological marvel, it look like it had flown right out of one of the Steam Punk style vids that Hill liked to watch when he came across them in the wastes, these people had created an actual floating city in the clouds.
Hill was led like a chained animal through the streets of the city which to his eyes had absolutely thousands of Avians of a truly impressive variety living in it, it was like looking at a living explosion of colour as they all stopped to watch him being led across their flying lands to its centre where stood what they had referred to as the temple of the elders.
It amazed him not only in its scope but in its surprisingly primitive nature, these people were buzzing around in fancy vehicles or using high-tech tools for everything, they seemed to pride themselves on the simple life a point that was hammered home by the fact that he saw a brahmien pulling along a plough what was being driven by a group of Pidgeon like farmers on a floating farm island that was off to the side of the main island that they were currently walking over.
He also noted that the vast majority of the people simply didn't need the bridges and they were merely an alternative for the people who were carrying heavy loads as most people simply flew everywhere rather than walked.
As they finally reached the temple Hill felt his amazement subsiding and giving way to a kind of finality, it was like this last amazing memory had been burned into his mind for him to live again only to have the chance to do that taken from him by what was most likely about to happen to him and that actually made him sadder than his impending death itself.
There was a set of stairs that led up to the large building at the centre of the floating island, on either side of it were what appeared to be statues of a variety of the Avian subspecies all in rather heroic poses.
Hill found himself wondering just how powerful the floatation systems must be to support the weight of all this but then the statues didn't look like metal exactly or like rock come to think of it, if he had to place it the stuff was more like a dyed and polished resin of some kind, infact all the houses and buildings seemed to be made of the stuff come to think of it, it must be incredibly strong and light for it to remain afloat like this.
He was guided into the dimly lit building which seemed to get its light from a series of mirrors which seemed to use a rotating system that was attached to a large rotating mirror set into the roof that directed sunlight down and bounced it off another series of them set around the room, each one of them was held by another statue of what must be Avians past, just how old was this species?
Around them was a series of tables where what looked to be scribes dressed in what looked like a mixture of traditional tribal attire and robes were sitting and writing down things thaat were being added to large ledgers that were kept on shelves that were set all around the outer walls.
In the centre of the room where a single shaft of the light was angled down from the ceiling-mounted mirror hit was a group of older-looking avians dressed in beautiful looking silken robes that were decorated with large heavy looking feathered headdresses containing little amber and silver charms.
These must be the elders that he was being brought to see and Hill could see that already did not look pleased to see him, oh this was not going to be a fun conversation he could already smell it.
"On your knees prisoner, you will kneel before the elders," the female Avian said before his escorts pushed him down to his knees as she turned to face the gathered group.
"Honoured elders I have watched over and now brought the prisoner known as Knight first class Adam Hill as you have instructed me to, my duty is done," she said bowing to them.
"Very good honoured Feather Guard Jewel Lighttail, is there anything to report about the prisoner's conduct?" one of the elders a rather large male who looked remarkably like a horned owl asked.
She glanced at Hill and her eyes seemed conflicted but then she turned back to them and nodded, "Yes his conduct has been both honourable and dignified, he has given no trouble or resistance, he has conducted himself befitting a man of honour in my humble opinion and if I may honoured elders I have given my word that if his punishment should be death that he is granted an honourable and quick death befitting this conduct," she said.
This actually seemed to both surprise and impress the elders and they glanced at one another before glancing at him and Hill could feel their gazes penetrating his soul like firey hot needles.
"Very well thank you for your honesty Feather Guard Lighttail we will most certainly take that in onto consideration," the horned owl said before turning and stepping towards Hill making his talons click on the hard resin-like floor.
"So your name is Adam Hill and you are Knight first class correct?" he said and Hill nodded.
"Yes that is correct honoured elder," Hill said feeling that paying attention to the honorifics they seemed to use for themselves couldn't hurt, this seemed to surprise the man and he blinked his large expressive eyes as he rotated his head to almost a ninety-degree angle as he looked at him.
"You are a member of what you humans call the Brotherhood of Steel correct?" he asked and Hill nodded again.
"That's correct honoured elder," he replied.
"Very well then tell us Adam Hill why is it your people have seemingly launched an extermination campaign against our people?" he asked and Hill felt his heart sink, this was going to be a hard thing to explain.
"Arrogance, in my opinion, honoured elder," he said and that seemed to surprise them all including Jewel who stood watching the proceedings.
"Please clarify, why would you say such a thing in regards toward your own people Knight Hill?" the elder asked.
"Simple because I do not believe that our mission here is either just or right honoured elder but I am a loyal soldier and I do what my elders tell me and go where they tell me, one of our elders and Elder Maxim launched a campaign he called the Great Cleansing of the wastes, this was supposed to be a mission that was supposed to clean the wastelands around the settlements of Boston and the surrounding area of the dangerous predator species and mutants so that it would be safer for all the normal people of the region, but in my opinion, it has become more than that is has become an insidious thing," Hill said and there was some chatter from the other elders though this time in their own language.
"Please continue Knight Hill, why do you believe this?" the elder asked.
"Because it has become an excuse to target people who do not fit the purist's and the elitist's view of who should be allowed to live and who shouldn't, they are using it as an excuse to push their bigotry and vile prejudice upon the rest of us and unfortunately it has spread to the lower ranks as well and it both disturbs me and sickens me, they are using it as an excuse to target the innocent under the guise of 'safety' and 'security' namely peoples like sentient Ghouls because their appearance disturbs their delicate sensibilities and even yourselves simply because you dared to push back against our intrusion into your lands using your non-human status as an excuse to peg you as an aggressive species who is a threat to humanity as an excuse," Hill said bitterly and the chatter intensified behind the elder.
"So what is your take on this then Knight Hill why do you believe your people are doing this?" he asked.
Hill sighed heavily and shook his head, "I don't claim to know the ins and outs of our commanders thought processes, I am a simple soldier from humble begginings, I was simply a scrap scavanger, to me the Brotherhood of Steel stood for somthing, it stood for goodness and strength, it was humanity pushing back against the dangers of the world, it was supposed to be the best of humanity standing up and protecting those who needed them against the dangers that lurk out there, while also securing the old technologies of the old world so that they can never be missused and endanger the world ever again, that is supposed to be what the Brotherhood is and when I joined it was but I also belive it still is, but there those among our number who would use the might of the Brotherhood to push forwards their own agendas, obsessions with things like purity and power have corrupted some of the hearts among my brothers and sisters and it saddens me deeply, with yourselves I do not belive it was ever intended to try and wipe your people out but you stood against the intrusions of our teams int your land and the arrogence of the commanders leading the operations there pushed them to lash out against your responce and this 'Great Cleansing' gave them the excuse they needed to strike at you," Hill said.
His bluntness seemed to be genuinely shocking those around him, "So how does what your people are currently doing to mine make you feel then Knight?" the elder asked.
"Sad and remourseful, I am a loyal solider who swore to duty his duty and to keep the integrity of the great chain, part of that oath is to obey all order my commanders and superiours give to me, to fight the Brotherhood's enemies with all that I am so that's what I do, so when the corrucpt Palidin who was leading my squad on what was supposed to be a simple reconesense mission decides in his blood lust addled mind to launch an atack rather than do as we were ordered to do I am sworn to obey despite my own protests and misgivings, for what it is worth honoured elders I offer my heartfelt condolences and aplogies for any damage I ersonaly did and any that I ersonally harmed it was not my wish to do so but the penalty for treason to the Brotherhood once in is death and I'm guessing it is probably somthing you can understand as it does not do to have your soldiers simply do as they wish or please, I guess you probably have simular rules for your honoured Feather Guard as you called them," Hill explained.
Now the elders went from surprised to full-on amazed, "Would you not be executed or at least considered a traitor for simply telling us this?" they asked and Hill nodded solemnly.
"Yes and I do not want my actions to be misconstrued, I do this not to gain leniency for myself because I do not doubt at this point that I will not receive any, but I do this simply in the hope of fostering some kind of understanding between us, I simply wish to show that the Brotherhood as a whole is not bad people, but a few bad apples are poisoning us and this is the result, I simply hope that it may in the future help to save the lives of any of my fellow Brothers or sisters that may fall into your hands and maybe thanks to my words you may see them in a slightly different light to what you obviously now see me," he said sadly.
"Do not be so arrogant as to presume our intentions or actions Knight Hill our judgement is far from made, you have spoken with surprising honesty and bluntness here today and in my opinion that must be taken into account in any decisions made, it certainly sheds new light upon some of the things we have been seeing so please excuse us we must deliberate," the owl elder said and with that, he rejoined his fellow elders and they began to converse in their native language as they obviously debated both the validity of what he had offered them and possibly the way in which he had delivered it.
It took them two hours of chirping and whistling at one another as Hill simply knelt there listening and looking around at the simple beauty of the temple, it truly was a magnificent piece of design and architecture, in fact, it was so beautiful that it truly saddened him that there were those in the Brotherhood who would destroy it and them for merely not being human, was this world not big enough and empty enough for them to share it now?
After all the human race was a fraction of the size or the strength it once was, if anything in his opinion making new enemies among the new denizens of this beautiful survivor they called mother earth was fucking foolhardy, surely they should be embracing them as Brothers and Sisters of this incredible mother offering them aid and forging alliances in order to both prosper in this harsh world in which they lived?
These and a million other questions cycled in his head, the maelstrom was so loud that he nearly didn't notice the elder approaching once more.
"We have reached a decision on your fate Knight Adam Hill, it is our belief that you have spoken both truthfully an honourably to us here in this chamber and this must be honoured and we have done just that, you have been charged with causing damage and death to our people ase well as tresspass upon our sacred lands without invite both of which would normaly carry a death penalty among our people but given as you have said you are a soldier who has been ordered against his own wishes to carry such things out this is somthing we have taken into account because this has esentially put you in a no win senario placing you between our blade and those of your own people a senario where your death is almost certinaly guarenteed one way or another, though I must say you have surprised us with your dignity and honour by attempting to not save your own life but instead those of your fellows, these are the actions of an honourable man in our opnion and it is for this reason we are commuting the penatly of death, inestead your life is forefit to us to pay for your still commited crimes," the elder said both releving Hill and then confusing him in one sentance.
How could one's life be spared but still forfeit?
It turned out that the elder read the confusion on Hill's face and proceeded to clarify his sentence, "Knight Adam Hill you are no longer a free man you are now an indentured servant of the Firefeather people, the remainder of your life will be spent serving a master among us in order to attempt to pay back your debt to us maybe one day you will manage to achieve this repayment and at that point, your freedom and autonomy will be returned to you but until that time you will remain here and your life will be the property of the one which we tie it to, in that regard you are to follow their every instruction and order with the same honour and dignity that you have already shown us that you are capable of, their every wish is your command, do you understand this gift that we are giving you?" the elder said.
His words kinda hit Adam like a slap, on one hand, he was incredibly happy and relieved that he was having his life spared but on the other, he was being made into a slave, but at least he was alive right?
"Yes honoured elder I understand and thank you for the mercy you have shown me," he said respectfully honestly feeling like he was chewing gravel as the words left his lips.
The elder nodded then turned to the group, "Bring out the binding stones," he said which confused Adam until a soldier came out carrying a large wooden box which he presented to the elder.
The elder opened it and inside where a set of stones that appeared to be what looked like tattooing needles, "These stones were originally designed to tattoo the beaks of our kind but I believe they should work just perfectly upon your skin as well, this will give you a mark that you cannot remove it will show your status and an indentured servant," the elder said gesturing with his hand for what Hill could only assume was a tattoo artist.
A theory was confirmed only moments later when the artist who appeared to be what looked like a peacock to Hill took out a very strange ink that seemed to shift and pulse with colours shifting in the light like a liquid rainbow in a bottle.
He settled in before Hill and took out the tools from the box before setting to work on both of Hill's hands and his face, oh boy did it fucking sting with every single strike of the incredibly thin but sharp needles as they carved out the oddly intricate designs into his skin.
"Umm honoured elders if I may ask, that umm looks like my family crest?" Jewel said suddenly and the elder nodded and then gestured to the box.
One of the other elders reached into it and brought out a single bracelet that was made from woven gold and resin in the design of a chain which was quickly snapped around her wrist, "Indeed honoured Feather Guard Lighttail, you are now his mistress, you were the one who captured him and it was your mercy that brought him here alive rather than a corpse on the field, you were the one who gifted us his knowledge so you are the one who is gifted his service, serve us well and ensure he serves you well," the elder said leaving Jewel stood with her beak hanging open as she glanced at Hill in disbelief who was now feeling the burning sting of the tattoos that had been carved into his hands and face, as he looked at the beautiful designs carved into both of his hands and simply felt the burn of the one on his face, but the reality kinda hit him like a slap. he was a slave now, her slave.