~Serana⚜

What was that?!

I jerk awake with my bow already up with a crude aero notched and ready to shoot.

I had been camped-out in a shallow cave for one day and two nights.

I was still in the forest with the vyx, but I had managed to find a cave, well crack, in the bottom of the nearby cliff face and stayed there in the relative safety.

After the first night of sitting on the hard stone ground with nothing but a bow with no aeros, a small knife made from a whittled down babbo fang Vavi gave me on my sixth birthday, and whatever else was in my bag. I waited until midday when most of the animals were resting to make sure it was safe enough to go out and find the rolled up hide I managed to drop as well and some sticks strait enough to whittle into aeros.

Now sitting on the still rolled up tuvey hide with only a couple hours of restless sleep, a noise has my bow horizontal with the ground and the talontips of my left hand twitching against the drawn leather bowstring aimed toward the early morning light coming in through the front of the cave.

I pause and wait for another sound. It comes when I hear light huffing and grunts. It didn't sound like a predator though. It sounded almost like a tuvey but the sound was too deep.

Tuvey made high pitched bleats and soft grunts, but the thing was making deep snuffing sounds. The distinct sound of hooves scraping the ground made me curious and I slowly rose into a crouched position.

Carful to keep my wings down and the red hidden behind me I crept forwards until I got within a foot away from the mouth of the cave.

Peering out into the forest I see something large and black. In a blur of motion it jerks around.

Retreating back into the shallow cave I press my back to the wall waiting and listen. The sound of huffing and hoof stomping has stopped. I slowly gather the courage to move against the wall and peak out.

Standing there starring straight at me is a huge creature with large curling horns as black as its pelt. Starring back at the thing I notice light gray and white markings under its eyes and around its snout.

I saw something flick behind it and glance to see a long tail with sail like fins along the top and bottom curving to meet around the end.

I look at its sides and notice similar white and gray patterned sails folded down, smooth against its sides and down to its stomach. They were large and covered most of its lower torso from the midpoint down to its stomach. Another set of smaller fins ran down the sides of its thick neck and folded against its throat.

It huffed and stomped one of its split hooves tossing its head at me. With large ears flicking and horns swing, it made a move like it was going to charge.

I flinched and backed up a step into the cave.

It must have taken this as a sign of weakness because it came at me again, only this time it took a few more steps in its charge.

I stumbled back some more before holding my ground. He was daring me to call his bluff and I sure as hell wasn't getting kicked out into the forest with the vyx.

Huffing again he makes a deep grunting sound before rearing up a good foot off the ground and coming at me horns first.

I dodged to the side as he came into the small cave after me and stood back as he wheeled around to face me.

He tossed his head again but he wouldn't charge me in this confined of a space, he wouldn't need to if I got any closer.

I didn't want to give up my shelter and I certainly didn't want to go back out there with the vyx. Apparently I wasn't the only one.

Taking a couple threatening steps toward me he swings his head forcing me to jump back into the cave entrance to avoid being impaled. Now that I stood in front of an open space the large creature took this opportunity to charge.

Back pedaling I tripped over my own wings and feet in my rush to get out of the charging animals way.

Diving sideways I roll before leaping to my feet. The sound of threatening grunts and stomping feet from behind has me on my feet and sprinting as fast as I can, with my bow clutched tight in one hand with my bag banging spastically against my leg.

I wasn't exactly accustomed to actual running so I'm sure I looked like an idiot in my half folded over posture with my wings beating and flailing about, but at that very moment I couldn't care less what I looked like. My only concern was getting out of there as fast as I possibly could.

Sprinting for all I was worth I leapt and vaulted over trees and rocks. After I was sure the creature wasn't going to follow me I turned back to look at where I'd come from. I couldn't go back to the cave I knew that, but thankfully the only thing I'd left behind was the tuvey pelt. Well this is just great. I scoff to myself. No shelter, a handful of makeshift arrows, and a jungle full of giant creatures that want to kill me. Best. Day. Ever. And of course it's while I'm distracted complaining about my predicament that I come across a steep decline and slip.

Tumbling head over heel down the hill I don't manage to keep grunts of pain from slipping out as I bang against trees and rocks on my way down, managing to bite my tongue in the process.

Landing with a solid thud on the pact dirt at the bottom of the hill I groan as I roll over onto my front and lay there for a second. Pressing my forehead to the ground I take a deep breath and cough lightly as dirt tickles the inside of my nose and throat. Lifting my head up I scan the forest around me to see if my fall has alerted anything to my presence. I couldn't see or hear anything but that didn't mean something wasn't coming to check out what made all that noise.

Pushing myself up onto my knees, I sit back on my feet and let my wings rest against the ground as looked at their dirty and mussed state. I could feel a fresh wave of soreness rippling across my back, I still hadn't fully recovered from my day long flight two days ago.

Climbing to my feet was more difficult than I'd like to admit. Standing I searched the ground around me for my bow. I spotted it a few meters away with most of the arrows still tied to its staff, I could already see that a few had been broken in the fall but a couple were still usably.

Walking over I bent down and had to bite back a gasp as sharp pain pierced through my back. Grasping the bow I stood back up with a sigh as started pulling out the broken arrows and dropping them to the ground where they lay useless.

Looking around I try to orient myself and figure the best direction to go. A loud bleat from somewhere in the distance was sharply cut off and left an eerie silence in its wake. Not that way. I turn and started trotting in the opposite direction the bleat, and whatever had cut it off, had come from.

I wasn't sure where I was going or what to do. I knew how to hunt and make a fire, but a fire would draw attention as would the smell of meat and blood. I walked in fear of what could be lurking in the shadows and startled at every bump and shifting of light.

Finally having enough of this I throw caution to the wind and climb a tree. I knew taking myself off the forest floor made the chances of the rebel soldiers finding me significantly higher but I couldn't take the nerves rattling my bones from staying on the ground any longer.

Digging my claws into the bark of a large tree I use my free hand to pull myself up and dig the talons on my feet into the bark as well. My right had was gripped tightly around the bow staff and arrows, I wasn't about to drop them and have to go back down to ground level.

It didn't take long for me to reach the first branch of the tree and pull myself up onto it. Crouching on the tree branch I looked down to see the ground some thirty feet below. Looking up, the tree stretched another forty feet or so above me towering above the ground with the other trees.

Taking a deep breath I climb up to the next branch and the next until I'm almost to the top. There's a taller tree off to my side just past the tree next to the one I was currently in. Taking a deep breath I use the leather strip holding the arrows to my bow and tie it to the bag still hanging around my hips. I couldn't tie both the bow and arrows so I dropped the few arrows I had left and made sure the strap around my hips was secure before letting my breath out and leaping to the next tree.

I hit a thick branch with a loud thud and grit my teeth as my talons snag in the tree bark. Straddling the branch I sit up and flit my wings about getting ready and trying to work a bit of the soreness out. Getting on my feet again I make my way around the tree and do another check to make sure I have everything. My bow was still tied to the bag strap and didn't look like it would come loose so I took another deep breath before releasing it and jumping to the taller tree.

Hitting the tree with another hard thud I just barely manage to snag one hand into the bark. Dangling from the talons of my hand I swing my other arm up and dig into the branch. Pulling myself up, I pause for a moment and catch my breath making sure my bag and bow are still strapped around my torso.

Standing up I press my body to the trunk and make my way up to the highest branch that can hold my weight. I turned to look out at the sea of trees and open sky around me. The sun had come up higher and the sky now blazed a beautiful orange that was quickly fading to a bright blue.

Testing my sore muscles I extend my wings until they're halfway to full spread. I was still sore but I was pretty confident that I could hold a flight position. I staid there a moment, the talons of my feet digging into bark with my dirty and messy wings out in a half spread, sunlight gleaming through the leaves in brilliant rays washing my wings a blood red shot through with gold.

Standing there something the rebels had said came back to me. '...only royal or noble bloodlines still have the arc colors...' The gold I realized. The man had made a comment about the lavalier matching my wings. Thinking back to all the things I'd heard murmured by the village water pool I recalled the hushed whispers when my vavi would walk by.

I distinctly remembered the words 'disgraced' and 'arcless'. I hadn't known what they meant but the colors gold and silver were always mentioned with them and Vavi's lack of either color.

I remember when my flight feathers had come in several years after Vavi's execution, the first time Nani had seen them she had gasped and been scared. Backing away before scooping me up and taking me back to the house. She had never been the best or most affectionate parent but after that she had withdrawn from me and started looking at me with this look of anger mixed with fear. That's when I really saw what my vavi had always tried to shield me from.

Shaking the dark thoughts I turn my attention back to the forest around me and leap from the branch before I can be drawn back into old memories.

Ignoring my protesting muscles I stretch my wings out and glide over the tops of the trees. I needed to focus my attention on finding a source of fresh water. I hadn't had a drink for the past two days and my body was starting to feel the effects of dehydration.

I scanned for any sign of a brake in the tree line that might lead to a pond or river. There were none.

I could still see the distant mountains that were part of this land shelf. It still amazed me how so much land could be in one solid piece, I knew there were places like this and there were ones a thousand times larger like the ocean locked land the Deamons lived on, but I never thought I'd see them with my own eyes.

Shaking the thoughts I turn my attention back to finding water and not being found myself, wither by the rebels or the royals.

From what I'd learned about water it always traveled down, back to the ocean. So if that's true then I need to head somewhere low, somewhere water would flow to until it could either flow right off the edge of the land shelf or fall through it and into the air below the shelf.

Looking around I didn't see any noticeable signs of the land declining. Maybe if I go somewhere high and see what looks to be low from there. As this though crosses my mind I make a hard bank and start heading toward the mountains. Let's hope this works.

~💠~

I don't think I truly appreciated just how far away those mountains were. I had been flying toward the mountains for well over an hour now and they looked to be getting farther away.

Just as I'm thinking of giving up I spot something shining in the distance. Squinting against the harsh glare I try to see what could be making the light shine back like that. Against my better judgment I start flying toward the glaring light, being sure to stay low incase I have to duck into the trees.

As I get closer I can make out the sound of rushing water along with muffled voices.

Dipping into the trees I land as quietly as I can on a branch thickly surrounded by leaves. Peering through the leaves as best I could I see a river coming from the direction of the Mountains and disappearing over a ledge of rocks into a large hole where the waterfall disappears into blackness.

I could see a large group of people around the rocky outcrops that made-up the edge of the hole. Several of them were wearing the dull gray armor of the rebels and a few others looked to be from other villages.

Looking closer I spotted light gray wings with green speckling, Treale. These were the same people from before. The soldiers were saying something off to the side while a few others guarded the villagers and made sure they didn't go anywhere.

I tried to listen to what the soldiers were saying but they were too far away. I wasn't good at reading lips and their helmets made any attempts futile since they half obscured the motions of their mouths.

Shifting my gaze back to the villagers I can tell they're nerves and a few looked scared. I watched as a man I didn't recognize stepped forward to one of the soldiers. The rebels first reaction was to draw his sword and point it at the man.

The man put his hands up by his head and stopped, he was clearly trying to talk to them and didn't seem to be threatening, he didn't even have a weapon unless you counted tooth and talon but that was hardly a weapon compared to a sword pointed at his chest.

The soldier holding the sword brandished it threateningly at the man. He backed up a step with his hands still raised and even from this distance I could tell he was trying desperately to pacify the situation.

Apparently whatever he was saying wasn't working, because another one of the soldiers guarding the various villagers steps up and grabs the man by his wing and practically throws him back with the other villagers.

What in the skies was going on here? The rebellion was supposed to help people from the Queen and here guards, not act like them.

A fleeting thought crosses my mind that this is my fault for accidentally making them think I was the Queen, but I quickly shake it and focus on the scene before me.

The other villagers gathered help the man back to his feet and pull him away keeping a few bodies between him and the soldiers guarding them.

A noise off to the side has my head whipping in that direction. A few more soldiers emerge from the trees not far from the one I was hiding in.

Ducking down father into the shadows of the tree I watch them make there way to the group. A man in shiny black armor was leading them. I couldn't tell any of his features other than large dark gray wings that faded into light blue flight feathers.

As he landed the other soldiers appeared to straiten up like he was a high ranking officer.

I took that as my queue to leave, I couldn't take off and fly like I had been but I could jump from tree to tree or just fly straight through them. I already knew from the day before last that the soldiers weren't all that equipped to flying through narrow spaces and quick changing environment.

I took off not daring to glance back and made my way up river where I could get some water and leave the area before the rebels found me.