Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles (39 page)

The young bears, hearing their mother’s call, happily cried out to greet her. It was the only motivation the huge bear needed, and before any of them could even back away, the large bear came at them at full speed.

Recognizing the oncoming danger for Raylan, Galirras shot in front of him, immediately.

“Don’t!” Raylan yelled, but Galirras made sure he stayed in front of him, indirectly shielding Sebastian at the same time.

As the charging bear approached them, Galirras took in air and let out a deep roar of his own, trying to imitate the bear’s previous roar. As he had never let out a real growl, or any roar like that before, he was not sure if it would be enough.

Raylan looked at Galirras taking a stand. His roar sounded low, vibrating deep in his throat. Raylan’s hand held the hilt of his knife strongly, his other clutched the pointed antlers of the deer Galirras had taken down. He wished he had not left his sword back at the food storage depot, but the knife and antlers were better than nothing, if Galirras required help.

The bear, confused by the gesture of a creature she had never encountered, slowed her charge. Her motherly instinct still drove her forward. The need to protect her cubs drove her to get rid of this unknown danger.

As the bear walked toward them, she let out her own deep roar, this time much longer. It sounded like she was challenging Galirras. Slowly, Raylan and Sebastian moved to the side, away from the cubs. But they were blocked by the large wall of tree root on both sides. Galirras inched sideways, to keep them out of the view of the bear as much as possible.

Up close, the bear was even bigger than she had first looked. Galirras was slightly longer, but only because of his tail. Besides that, he was much skinnier than the rugged-looking bear. The sheer volume of the animal was incredible, her roar made full use of her mass to show Galirras she would not back down from protecting her young.

Galirras raised himself on his back legs and let out another deep roar which did not fully follow through. The bear was winning this standoff. Having seen enough of the dragon not to be impressed, the bear focused her attention on Raylan and dashed forward, intent on mangling the smaller threats. Again, Galirras shot in front of her, showing his flank, trying to look bigger than he was. Raylan and Sebastian now had their weapons in hand.

The bear, seeing she would have to take out Galirras first, was right on top of him. As she raised herself on her back legs, the bear seemed to grow at least six feet. Now showing off her total height, she was the size of two adult men. If she chose to bring all her weight down on Galirras with her forepaws, he would surely be crushed under the sheer force of her.

Galirras, slightly panicked by this display of power, was taken over by instinct. Driven by the need to protect his own, he took another deep breath. He pushed off, rising up on his back legs for the second time. As he stretched out, he unfolded his wings in one powerful push. As they spanned outward, they spread to their full length with a loud snap. Suddenly, Galirras dramatically increased in size.

The movement of his wings created turmoil in the air. Sensing, more than seeing, the flow of the air turmoil, Galirras let out a third roar. Where before he had always reached out to move the wind, now this felt more like his entire core pushed outward at once. He felt himself push his roar forward, using the turmoil his wings created to amplify it even more.

Raylan had to jump backward, along with Sebastian, to get out of the way of the unfolding wings. Both of them were stunned to see the magnificent scene in front of them. As it began to sink in that Galirras now showed his full wingspan for the first time, Raylan immediately felt a warm pride and happiness swell up inside him. The little light that was still there seemed to glint off the dragon. He saw the silhouette of his wings clearly and the framework of the bones spanning the length of the wing membranes. All of a sudden, Galirras was not this small, helpless dragon anymore. This image would never be forgotten by either man.

The roar sucked him back into reality, as he literally saw a ripple in the air move forward, away from Galirras. The bear, taken aback by the sudden increase in size of her opponent, felt the rush of air hit her body. It was not enough, by far, to actually topple the bear over, but the force of the air gave rise to confusion and knocked away any desire to get into a direct fight with them.

By now, the two young bears had moved along the other tree root, approaching their mother from the side. They swayed her, with small grunts and peeps, to leave the conflict where it lay.

As the bear got back on all four legs, she snorted once or twice at Galirras, not sure what to make of it all. But with her cubs now safely behind her, she turned around and guided her young off into the forest.

Sebastian got his voice back first.

“That…was a close call.”

Lowering himself, Galirras folded his wings. He followed the bears with his eyes, until he was not able to see them anymore.

“
I still do not understand why she was so upset. I just wanted to play with them. It is not like I wanted to eat them. I just ate an entire deer,
” he said to Raylan, privately, while turning around.

He noticed Raylan was looking at him in a peculiar way.

“
What’s wrong?
”

Raylan looked at him, smiling while tilting his head.

“You just spread out your wings for the first time…you know that right?”

“
Oh! You’re right. And it did not even hurt at all,
” Galirras said, excitedly.

He jumped around in circles, once or twice, before he turned his head, looking at his wings. He spread and folded them a couple of times, moving them back and forth and up and down. He bent his neck and pushed his nose against the wing that had troubled him so much. Nothing, no pain, no obstacle. It felt like it never had any problems before.

As Galirras tried out his wings, Raylan felt the breeze created by the movement. They already moved a lot of air and did not seem to have any weak moments in the strokes.

Galirras jumped off the ground and tried to keep himself airborne…it was not a great success.

“It will take some time to build up your muscles, and strengthen your wings,” said Raylan. “You should practice as much as possible to make up for time lost, I reckon. But for now, let’s get back up to the village and bring back the doe for the festivities. They’ll be wondering where we are by now…”

By the time they got back with the meat, the preparations were already well underway. Before long, they found themselves with pretty much the entire village on one of the large platforms, enjoying a simple but tasty dinner. People sat on the floor of the platform in small groups, chatting, softly laughing, always aware of the danger of sound carrying through the air. Luckily, the wind had picked up a little, which gave them a little bit more freedom, as the leaves and trees created a constant rustle, washing out the noise made by their festivities.

Raylan understood the danger of being discovered, but could not help feeling restricted by something so constantly present. For a brief moment, he longed strongly for his sailing days, where a strong storm would test their wills; but would also allow them to scream out their anger, frustration, and excitement to their fullest, without anyone ever being bothered by it. The wind obliterated it all.

“
If I keep growing and train my wings, I might be able to take you up into the sky. I cannot imagine any place feeling more free and unrestricted than up there with nothing more than sun, moon, stars and wind,
” Galirras spoke softly to him.

Even after his successful hunt, they made him stay on the storage platform. Raylan objected at first, but Galirras told him he was fine with it. He was so excited about training his wings. He preferred the open space instead of being cramped next to all the villagers.

Raylan felt a trickle of excitement flow through him. It felt as if Galirras had been suppressing the urge to take to the sky, completely, when he was under the impression his wings would not function. Now that it might be possible, he could not hide his desire to get up there as soon as possible.

As the entire village was present, the platform was not big enough to hold everyone. There were small groups of people sitting on the walkways leading up to the community platform, as well as in a few of the small buildings along those paths.

Raylan saw Sebastian sitting next to a man he had not met before. They seemed to be in a heated discussion.

That must be Aanon…

Further down, a building was used as the community kitchen, with women walking in and out carrying dishes of stew, rice, and a fruit Raylan had never seen before. The fruit was small, oval and dark in color. The taste was sweet. It had a large pit in the center.

One of the women, who had been serving the food, explained that they grew near the larger trees that contained the vines used for all the ropes. They were not easy to reach as they grew all the way in the top of the trees, bathing in the sun, so only the most experienced climbers could get to them. The fruit had been a welcomed addition to the local diet, as not much fruit grew in this region. Mostly small nuts and forest roots had sustained them up to the point of the fruit’s discovery.

Raylan was listening to the woman answering one of his brother’s questions, when a commotion at the other end of the platform made him look away. A woman’s wailing was heard from within a small group of people. She was screaming words, crying and hitting some poor man on his back with her fists. Several bystanders tried to calm her down and hold her back.

They decided to see what was going on. As Raylan and his brother approached the scene, they recognized the man being assaulted as Richard. He made no attempt to fight back and looked as surprised and as baffled as the bystanders were. The stream of words the woman yelled, slowly changed into a soft muttering, as she dropped down on her knees and was hugged and consoled by one of the other women.

“What’s going on here?” Svetka’s voice cut through the air.

The council had been sitting in a far corner with a select little group…it had been invitation only.

Richard looked around, all eyes were on him.

“Don’t look at me,” he said, “I’ve got no clue what just happened. I was just taking a piece of meat from her platter, when all of a sudden, she started screaming at me and pounding my chest. I didn’t understand a word of it. She was not speaking Terran.”

Svetka sneered at the sobbing woman and then called out to her. Startled, the woman looked up and spit out a flow of words, rapidly. It took Svetka several questions to get a clear picture of what had happened, as the woman was beside herself and sobbed uncontrollably every couple of words.

At the end of it, Svetka looked at Richard as if judging his worth. She had taken time to talk to all members of their group, to get a good understanding of the situation and their intentions; and it seemed she had accepted them, more or less. Now, however, her look was full of suspicion.

“Did you, by any chance, use a knife when selecting your piece of meat?” she asked, calmly.

“Of course, its good table manners, isn’t it?”

“May I see it, please?”

Richard turned and looked around for a moment, before picking up something off the ground. Turning back, he flipped a long metal object in the air. He deftly caught the blade tip and stuck out the handle to Svetka.

The blade was an uncommon design. It was long and straight. The blade was twice as long as the handle, which was covered in strange markings. The handle was a faint blue color, and it seemed to have been made from a bone of some sort. The blade looked more practical for stabbing than for cutting, as it had four sides to cut with, constructed together in a long crossed point. The blade’s metal was dark gray, with lines of lighter metal gray flowing in it, from the creation process most likely. It was a very unusual blade.

It’s the same blade that Corza had on his belt,
thought Raylan.

He was still a bit surprised about all the details he seemed to pick up, even when he was focused on something completely different, like fleeing.

Carefully, Svetka reached out her hand. Raylan noticed it was trembling slightly. She picked up the knife and looked at it. The color disappeared from her face. Raylan noticed several other people, who laid eyes on the knife, breathe in sharply, in surprise.

“Where did you get this?” the elderly council member asked, softly, as she turned the knife in her hands.

“What does it matter?” Richard answered.

Svetka’s eyes filled with fire as she lost control of her emotions. Her head jerked up and she looked Richard straight in the eyes.

“It matters because this knife represents a lot of suffering and sorrow for a lot of our people. Now tell me where you’ve got it from, or I’ll have to remove all of you from this settlement, immediately.”

“I took it from one of the dead Doskovian soldiers, weeks ago. The blade struck me as uncommon, so I thought it would be a good souvenir. I thought, if I were lucky, it would bring me a pretty penny, once I sold it back home.”

“What’s wrong with it?” asked Raylan.

“It was used to slaughter innocent children—infants, not a day old. That’s what’s wrong with it!” said Svetka with such force that all chatter on the platform fell silent, at once.