294. Observing fauna, 9

(Rose)

We left the sky fields behind us.

They linger on our clothes though. They remain as dull pictures once dried.

We entered another dry land where winds and time eroded all the landscape.

Cities are getting buried rapidly. They are disappearing all over the world for sure, so maybe not especially faster around here.

B - It looks less morbid than in Britain and France though. There's less of this common nausea around here when you get lose to a city.

R - I wonder why.

B - Maybe a lingering smell? It's more clean and dry here.

More than half the things we encounter or discover are hard to understand or explain. At least the sun and the moon are not that different from what we remember.

Like many times before, Bleue is the one to spot the oddity in our vicinity.

B - I saw a bird in the distance! Close to the purple mountains, over there!

R - A bird, it is a rare sight nowadays... Okay, it counts as a discovery.

She gets her kiss as a reward. If I were the one to find it, I would have received a kiss as a reward. It was her idea...

She looks so proud, grinning her joy.

We therefore begin to walk toward these specific mountains in the distance.

~

Still feeling weak from my previous illness, I wish a horse could carry me over these lands.

Also, I'm afraid the last horses in existence might be around where I left them, north of London.

R - Well, I'm not picky, I could settle for a giant wolf, or a camel, or really anything able to carry me... Or us.

B - I want a dragon then.

R - Oh... Hm... As much as I'd love to see a dragon, please don't make a dangerous wish come true my dear little daiûa...

B - Eh eh eh... I may need convincing because I'm sure this is the perfect land for dragons to dwell. This was the land of fortresses and empires marshes since the fall of the great one, so many centuries ago. If dragons were to linger somewhere to witness the wars of mankind, wouldn't they be in Cappadocia?

I shiver a little. We might have left our boat near Issus.

Would a dragon already be watching since then? Somewhere in this wide and beautiful land, intrigued by the coming and passing of armies over countless centuries...

Would a dragon... be?

R - Noooo! It was just a bird you said!

B - Weeeell, I think it was just a bird. I could be wrong.

I'm a little anxious. She's gleeful.

By the old gods and the new, please let it not be a dragon. I'm not feeling up to the task of facing dragons just yet...

I have a flash of memory of Horannah, and what she had become coming to face me in Egypt...

And before that, Ann...

I don't want to face another dragon.

Please let it be only a bird, even if it should be bicephalous...

~

It shrieks with a raucous voice.

It's really big for a bird, but at least it's not a dragon. I can sigh my relief.

We're climbing hills, looking at what probably are falcons or eagles. Very big eagles. Hakawai? Haast? I thought they were extinct...

R - I recall hearing of these giant eagles from Oceania, but I think they died centuries ago.

B - Two things then to ask. Could they be big enough to carry us? And could they be big enough to attempt to hunt and eat us?

R - They don't look big enough for either... Maybe.

The eagles do start circling around and above us in the sky though. That's not good I think.

I'm not really confident our size is enough of a deterrent for them, so I pick up the rifle.

Bleue picks up a bow and arrows she found whilst I was sick. We stay wary of our surroundings and the heights above us.

A little while later, we do see one of the birds dive, but not toward us.

We see animals escape the rocks and running toward us. They appear to be wild dogs, given the way they bark now.

As they run toward us, we realise they behave like a hound, or rather a pack, and are hunting us. We missed them completely.

Before I can shoot the closest one, Bleue shot an arrow, piercing right through one, and getting stuck in another behind. The others are already leaping at Bleue and I can't shoot safely in her direction anymore.

As I'm dropping the rifle and grabbing my sword to attack, the birds fall on them.

In a sudden and coordinated hunt, the birds get the hound. The dogs get strangled and pierced by talons, before being taken away into the sky, one after the other and swiftly.

In a matter of seconds, every bird left with a dog captured. The few remaining dogs left on us, died by my sword or fled before they shared that end.

I finally get to Bleue, collapsed and shaking on the ground.

She's in shock, not really responsive though she's fully awake.

Her arms and legs were bitten deep and are bleeding, but she managed to protect her throat from a deadly bite.

Her clothes are now covered with mud and blood of the dogs.

I open our bag of medicinal supplies to treat immediately her wounds.

Meanwhile, a few other birds reappear in the sky above us. I don't like that.

I'm cleaning Bleue's wounds, buttering them with the blue cream and bandaging them roughly. I feel a sense of urgency. She's recovering her senses now.

We pack up as fast as we can and try to move.

One of the eagles lands in front of us, barring us the way ahead.

It hisses menacingly at us like a cat, puffing its feathers to appear even bigger.

Of course we stopped moving, under that threat of a beast almost as tall as us.

I hold the rifle in hands.

R - So, Bleue... Can't you speak with birds?

B - Come on Rose... I'm hurt...

That was a bit insensitive of me. I notice the bird has a third leg, pulled to the back. It's not u sing it to stand. Ah, maybe they're a new species actually, born from a spore of a daiûa...

The giant eagle opens its wings wide, making itself look even more imposing, and threatening us with another shriek.

We're stepping back slightly, but I'm not sure of what it wants.

B - Does it thinks we're stealing their preys?

R - I think it just wants us to leave...

But Bleue is Bleue...

B - So we can't go steal one of their little ones? They would be helpful.

R - I don't think it would be wise to try our luck right now! Another day perhaps. Let's try to leave...

We slowly go away. The bird is watching us very carefully as we retreat. That was probably it.

When we reached the plains, the bird just flew away.

We camped around there. I went back along the hill later, to recover the corpse of a dog left behind, for our dinner.

Bleue spends an awful night.

But despite her wounds, as dawn comes, she's firmly decided.

B - I may never have another chance to get my own bird of prey.

R - But we know nothing about taming them. We're not equipped for a climb, and we...

She brings a finger to my lips to shush me.

B - Have I ever told you the dream I had about my blue bird?

R - ...

B - Come on. Let's try. I want this.

May the spirit of Gülnihal bring us good luck.

We're going to hunt the diadokhos eagles...

~