Ch. 36 Bird?

Windson poked Kaz gently. His tail flickered back and forth a little until, and he opened his eyes. Looking at the two while he rubbed his eyes, he yawned. "Is it my turn already?" Windson put his finger to his lips to hush Kaz, which made him become more alert.

Noticing that Kaz looked worried, Windson smiled and shook his head. "It's nothing serious Kaz, but Peter and I are going to look for that bird, and we wanted you to stand watch while we are gone."

Kaz looked a little irritated. "The girls are going to be mad when you show up in the morning with a dead bird you know that right?"

Peter walked up next to them and waved his arms quietly. "It's nothing like that we are just going to study it. I really, really want to see it with my own eyes, and when we cross the border, I might not get that opportunity again."

Looking over at the girls and then back at Windson and Peter, he sat up and sighed. "You are only going to study it right, no killing? I think they will be alright with that then, just make it quick I want to get some sleep too you know."

With that, they nodded and headed out into the forest. Peter was nervous since he could not see very well, but Windson was part bat, so the night was his time to shine. His dark vision came in handy for times like these. Peter cast a light spell on a stick and began walking behind Windson, looking for the original trail that he had seen earlier that day.

It took a while since Windson's night vision was suitable for not running into anything but not the greatest for details. Peters light was dim so he could only look a few feet ahead at a time, but after a few hours of searching, they came across the original trail. Walking slowly, they continued to follow it. It wound for hours during that time Windson and Peter quietly conversed with each other to pass the time.

"Do you think we'll find it?" Peter continued to follow the trails while he asked slowly.

"I know we will. I have faith in your motivation!" Windson responded with a smile. They continued for a little while longer and finally came across a dead end. The trail seemed to stop out of nowhere. They were looking around for the continuation of the footprints.

"Where do you think it went?" Windson looked around curiously, not seeing anything disturbed.

Peter circled the small area where the footprints stopped and found some broken branches that looked like it could be the start of the new trail, but something was off. The bird they were looking for was large but light it would not usually break the branches when it walks over them like that. Whatever did this was much heavier than the bird they were looking for. That interested Peter quite a bit. He wanted to see what creature this was now. If it was not the giant humming lily bird, they initially thought it to be then what was it that had such a similar foot pattern? "This way Windson I found some more disturbed areas. I don't think its the bird we thought it was."

"What makes you say that? aren't the footprints the same?" Windson walked over to the area Peter was looking at and saw the broken branches as well as the same footprints leading off deeper into the forest. Windson was not as eager to continue as he once was now that Peter was not sure what they were following. It could be anything, and with footprints that large, it could be a problem if it were hostile.

Peter, on the other hand, did not look worried one bit. He seemed even more interested in uncovering the mystery behind what was going on here. They continued forward cautiously, but Peter had a little bit more excitement in his step. Windson liked his enthusiasm but had a bad feeling in his stomach about this. That feeling was slowly getting worse when they came across something that surprised both of them.

Blood spots and what looked like a scuffle had broken out.

"There are a lot of tracks here it looked like whatever happened was done quickly and in a surprise," Peter said slowly as he continued to look at the remains of the battle. "It seems like the fight ended with a victor who then dragged the opponent in this direction. He pointed to the right where a large dragged path appeared. Looking it over closer, he could see the light imprints of the bird's feet.

"I would guess that the bird won the fight and began dragging the other thing this way. The blood and dragged marks would indicate that the other creature struggled a little before passing out."

Windson was honestly impressed by the amount of information Peter was getting from this scene. He looked at it and only saw some scuffs and broken branches and disturbed leaves and thought huh someone was getting thrown around here. There was blood, so it was serious, but aside from that, he could not tell much of anything. This continued to worry him, though. If the bird fought something large and won then that means it could potentially hurt them if they encounter it and they were already starting to get pretty far from the camp.

"I think it might be time we head back to camp. It's not the bird you were looking for, and now we know it can kill so we should not chance ourselves." Windson tried to explain to Peter calmly, but he was already walking towards the direction of the next set of prints.

"It will be fine. If it had been in a fight today, that means its probably weakened and tired. We can probably get away if we are careful enough I just really need to know what it is that looks so similar to the giant humming lily."

Sighing Windson continued to follow him but kept a close eye on his surroundings. His gut was screaming at him now to go back to camp before something terrible happens. He ignored it and followed Peter. He had a feeling if he went back now, Peter would put himself in danger, and that was not something he could keep on his conscious.

The blood spots began to get more frequent until the trail they were following was less the footprints and more the trail of blood. Suddenly like before the trail ended with no sign of the bird or the corpse, it was carrying. Windson looked around too but did not see anything out of the ordinary. Peter continued to search the area. He felt he was getting close to the creature finally.

Peter returned to the spot where the footprints ended and looked closely at them. They looked like they were deeper than the rest of the prints. He was not quite sure what that meant and continued to ponder. Did it stay there for a while and then fly away maybe. But the dragging marks would indicate that its food was too large to carry and fly with. What else could it mean?

Something light hit Peter's head, and he went to feel what it was. When he looked at his hand, he saw a crimson stain on his hand. "Blood?" Looking up, Peter understood what the cause of it was, and it horrified him.

Dangling from the tree was the corpse of a human. Fresh from the looks of it and just above that was a large winged creature with sharp claws and four legs. The first two were that of a bird the back two of a cat. Its large Eagle shaped head tore into the corpse with vigour. Peter and Windson knew precisely what this bird was.

"Griffin..." Windson muttered to himself as he backed away slowly. Peter seemed to be stuck where he was looking up at the monster. The cracking of bones as the bird continued to bite into the body. "Peter, we need to leave now," Windson whispered to Peter, who turned around slowly and looked at Windson with fear in his eyes.

Slowly backing up Peter and Windson make their way back into the bushes but as they do Peter accidentally snaps a branch and the giant bird stops what it was doing and looks at the noise. Spotting the two new intruders, it licks its beak and blinks a few times.

Sweat pours down Peters face as he begins to breath deeper. Windson slaps Peter in the back of the head to wake him from his fearful daze and screams. "Run!"

With that Peter and Windson broke out in a sprint running as fast as they could back to camp. The screeching of the Griffin was heard behind them as the flapping of giant wings beat in the air.