A Whisper of Wings (24 page)

“The team will be ready for training in half a hour. I have planned everything. Nothing shall go wrong.” The blonde girl bowed. “Rain and Wind bless you, my leader. I shall prepare myself for my part.”

Zhukora looked down at her friend and smiled.

“There’s no need to bow, Daimïru. We shall do away with class distinctions. Our new world will have no need of them.”

Daimïru smiled and shook her head. “I bow to you because it is my privilege to do so. Would I do it if it were not a pleasure?” The girl spread her wings and poised herself upon the brink. “I am proud to serve you, Zhukora. One day I will show it to the world!”

The girl swept out her wings and soared into the sky. Zhukora watched Daimïru with a smile shining in her eyes.

“And I am proud to be served by you, my love. The trail shall be long and hard. I am grateful that a companion travels with me.”

The woman sipped her tea and turned her head to gaze out across the village fields, where the people sat to gather foodstuffs and to make their songs. A proud people - inventive spirits fired by such incalculable passion. Zhukora gazed across her village with a quiet surge of love.

“Lord Serpent. Are you there?”

ïsha coils arose from the shrouded skull hidden on a shelf.

*I am here. What do you wish of me?*

“Thoughts.” Zhukora sipped tea and gazed in sharp concentration at the sight of the High Priestess far below; the old woman sat with counsellors, pouring her poison in their ears. “The Priests will eventually be my enemy. How may a warrior defeat magical power?”

The beautiful ïsha of the Serpent spirit looped and coiled about the roof poles of the room.

*Power must be fought with greater power. Take a ‘rider’¹. It will swap you power in return for sensory input from your body.*

“Good!” Zhukora settled back against the door and simply drank her tea. “Then I choose you.”

Serpent flashed with colours of arrogance.

*I am no mere sparrow spirit, girl! I am a great one of the ïsha! My race was old before your own was even born! My power would burn your mortal body into ash!*

“Courage shall prevent it.” Zhukora looked carefully at the skull, new intuitions flooding sharply through her mind. “You fear it, don’t you. If I were to die, you might die with me.”

*I am beyond death! I fear nothing!*
Sepent looped and coiled in irritation.
*I wish only for glory to come back onto the Earth!*

“You do not fear death? How interesting.” Zhukora regarded the villages across the fine steam rising from her cup. “I wonder. You see, it seems to me that of all things, love is the one thing that goes beyond mere life.” The girl’s slim black form turned perfectly still, her eyes staring unseeing out into the trees; when she spoke, it was with her gaze focussed upon something strange and fragile that only she could see.“It came to me at last, do you see? I now know I have a gift to give - perfect value, but at ultimate price. And it is love that banishes my fear of the giving…”

Zhukora tossed the dregs from her cup sharply out across the leaves.

“I will call on you, Lord Serpent. Until then - let the glory run like fire through your dreams…”

***

To walk through the forest with Shadarii was to discover a whole new world. The background aura of the forest bloomed around her as she passed. Shadarii spread wide her arms and grinned for joy, and the touch of her silent laughter made Kotaru smile.

They ambled merrily beside the stream, their wings folded up behind them. There was no need for speed - no need to fret or worry. The sun streamed through the forest canopy like a rain of yellow warmth, and the wind grew soft and mellow as it ruffled through their fur.

Shadarii led the way down through a dripping maze of ferns to a place of dank, primeval peace. A wide brown pool spread out beneath a gleaming waterfall, dashing spray across the bracken in an icy sheet of rainbows.

Kotaru stretched and breathed in the cool, clear mist. Shadarii stood watching him, her fur rippling to the rhythm of the breeze. With the sun and spray behind her, she seemed like some strange spirit of the rain.

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“It’s so perfect! The waterfall, those rainbows… however did you find such beauty?”

Shadarii looked up at the streaming mists and gave a smile.

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She grinned as Kotaru blinked in puzzlement.
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The girl breathed in the peace and ran her fingers through her hair. Her great green eyes were slitted up in pleasure. Kotaru watched as she framed a question with her supple fingers.

“Do I like stories? Yes! But there are just so few these days…”

Shadarii gasped, then sprang up to her feet and excitedly danced before him. Kotaru blinked and tried to follow her motions.

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“Ha, and is there a story inside me?”

Shadarii grasped Kotaru’s chin and peered critically up into his face.

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Shadarii flicked water from her hands, then touched the lilies and the bracken all around her, stoking at their rich green leaves.

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“Do you come here often? This could be a lonely place.”

Shadarii faltered. She half tuned away, her tail hanging down behind her.

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The girl raised her head.

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Shadarii quietly came to sit at Kotaru’s feet, looking up at him with great green eyes.

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Kotaru dared to touch her hair, allowing himself to stroke her for one brief, precious instant before timidly withdrawing. Kotaru had no wish to spoil the fragile magic by letting his heart fly free.

Kotaru softly drew a clay flute from his pouch and nervously turned it over in his hands.

“I really did make a song for you, Shadarii. May I play it for thee? Only if you’d really like to hear…”

She sat expectantly at his feet, her whole being waiting for him to begin. Kotaru lifted up his flute and gently cupped it in his hands.

The man transformed as soon as he raised the flute up to his lips. Kotaru played with gentle grace, his love colouring the ïsha all around him. The girl’s eyes closed as she drifted on a dreamy cloud of joy. Finally the song drew to a close; Kotaru softly laid aside his flute, his music still shining in the ïsha like a forest dawn.

The girl softly stood and kissed Kotaru on the cheek. Kotaru ran a hand across his tousled hair, suddenly bright and filled with life.

“Well! Shall we eat? I can find us lunch. Do you mind? I suppose I could find something.”

Shadarii’s eyes filled with eager light.

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“Can we eat here? I mean, it’s thy place and all. You care for all the plants.”

Shadarii ruefully patted her nice round belly.

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“I’ll see what I can find, then. Just you rest and watch a master at his work!”

Kotaru hastily began to strip away his moccasins. Shadarii pretended not to watch as he peeled off down to his loincloth. Her heart almost skipped a beat as Kotaru bent down to pile his gear; his grey tail wafted high above a firm, pinched rump - warm and round and smooth…

“Ha! Back home we’re living on nothing but boiled bracken starch. Next years crops are gone as well! The food’s run out, and Rain only knows what we’ll eat next season!” The hunter snapped his fingers. “I still eat well enough. No one else knows where to look, that’s the trouble. You have to use your brains!”

Small holes dotted the mud beside the water hole. Kotaru knelt and cocked his head, bringing his antennae close towards the ground.

“Yep! Crayfish livin’ in the mudbank. They’ve all gone out into the water for a midday stroll. How d’ you like shellfish, eh?” Kotaru edged slyly into the shallows and began to peer beneath logs and stones. “There they are! All squabblin’ over territory beneath the rocks. What say we just make the argument a wee bit simpler, eh?”

Kotaru edged back out of the water and stood dripping on the bank. He dug beneath the mud and found a fine fat worm which he threaded on a fishing line; a few deft turns and he had a tiny baited noose held in his hands. The great hunter wriggled out along a mossy log, his snare dangling across the drink.

“We used to get big emus up the valleys - long time ago now. You can chase ‘em down, but I tried another way. Ever notice how nosey those critters are? Well I just laid back and waved me legs in the air. Sure enough, one of the beggars came my way to see what was up. Bam! I had him in the pot before you could blink and whistle!”

Kotaru bent over the cool brown water, and Shadarii moved to give herself a better view of his behind. The girl lounged back to enjoy the show, her ïsha field touched by tendrils of warmth.

A girl can always dream…

“Ha!”

Kotaru jerked the line, and he hauled out a fine fat crayfish bigger than his hand. Shadarii clapped politely as he brought her his first catch of the day. He made a great show of laying his bounty at her feet, and Shadarii simpered properly, holding out her hand above her vassal’s head in blessing.

Kotaru tottered back across the log, and Shadarii regretfully ceased spying on Kotaru’s charms. It seemed high time she made herself seem useful, and so the girl gathered kindling for a fire, clearing out a likely spot beside the waterfall. A flock of tiny finches whirred and flitted through the trees. She reached out her hands and gave a little kiss, bringing in the birds to land all about her hair. She checked their eyes for sickness, smiling as she felt the eggs ripening within the little hens.

“That’s another! Ha, I thought y’ said there was no food?”

Shadarii smiled and kissed a tiny bird upon the beak; the creatures flitted back into the trees, their gentle cries filling up the air with song.

“Come back here you bugger! Damn!” One of Kotaru’s victims refused to snare itself inside his noose, and fell back into the water with a splash. Kotaru cursed and dove his hand in after it, then yelped as the crayfish locked its pincers in his finger. With an awful splash Kotaru fell into the pond.

Shadarii laughed, clutching at her middle. Kotaru erupted from the water, slapping at the vicious crayfish clinging to his hand.

“Ouch! Stop laughin’ woman and come and help me. Aaawwwk!”

The man gave a yelp and catapulted from the stream. A second crayfish had latched onto his tail. Kotaru ran across the bank, his little enemies grimly sinking in their claws.

“Aaah - Fire! Arson! Murder!”

Shadarii fell onto her knees and laughed so hard she gave herself a stitch. Kotaru ripped a crayfish from his hand, cursing with words Shadarii had never even heard. He turned to deal with the creature dangling from his tail, only to have the first beast latch onto his toe.

“Fire and damn! You beastly little vampire!” He ripped the creature free, falling down and landing on his backside in the grass. The crayfish grimly made a bee-line for Kotaru’s groin. The hunter gave a squawk and frantically backpedalled on his rear.

“Shadarii! Help!”

Claws clashed shut just short of Kotaru’s loin cloth. Now the little beast was threatening valuable territory; Shadarii deftly flicked it away with a stab of ïsha. The hunter sullenly jerked the last crayfish off his tail and coldly stalked down all the others, his pride stung by Shadarii’s laughter.

Shadarii had the hiccoughs; Kotaru glared at her, his ears flattened in annoyance.

“A fine thing! The damned beast could have circumcised me! Aaaah skreg it! Nothin’ ever goes right!”

Shadarii simply closed her eyes and slowly spread her hands; Kotaru felt a warm glow spread up from his toes as she dried his fur with a tight spiral of ïsha. She grinned slyly as she let the whirlwind almost lift him from his feet.

The last wisps of moisture evaporated from Kotaru’s fur. He ignored the miracle and irritably dusted dried mud from his hide.

“Why hasn’t anyone else noticed all this tomfoolery o’ yours? I’m sure they’d love you in the healers or summat! In the Vakïdurii they’d tattoo² your hands blue in a trice!”

Shadarii grinned maliciously and crossed her eyes.

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“Ha! Well someone should take you. We could make you the world’s first silent priest!”