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Untitled Document
"Banishment…" Heshrou whispered slowly. "You did not have
to take that in order to save me."
"All I care is that you still live," Thiowa
said with tears rolling down her eyes. "I never want to see my brother again.
Not ever…"
I looked up into the sky at the failing sun,
and then to Zana Taru holding the glass case with the flower. "A whole day lost,"
I said. "We cannot waist any more time. Hurry, I want to get as far as I can
before darkness covers all, and even then I will still go on until I need a
rest." And I bent down and let the others get on. Elecwator was upon my head,
with Zana holding on to my mane in front of my wings, and Thiowa and Heshrou
behind her.
"We will do this Dorono," Zana said taking a
tight grip upon my fur, and with those words, I took flight.
I flew on after the sun had set, and I kept
to the air for a few more hours until my wings felt like leaden weights. The
day had really tolled on me. As I scanned the ground looking for a resting spot,
I felt disappointed. "We should have made it out of the swamplands by now,"
I murmured as I landed in a grassy clearing.
"Remember the storm?" Zana said half asleep.
"Yes…"
"Well, it had winds strong enough to blow us
ahead three days." And then she lay her head down against my side, and started
to sleep.
"Three days?" I thought as I lay in a nice grassy
tuft of ground. "I was not sure if we even had that much time left. I just hoped
that we did.
***
Dsupa flapped his wings with a lot of might to try and stay aloft. He looked
at the two wounds that he had within his wings from the arrows of the Krawks.
It was a deep pain, flying, but he had to keep it up to put a good impression
upon his command, try and toughen them up a bit.
'Yes, that was what they needed, toughening
up. They had gotten way to soft up in the cold regions of Jown's fortress, they
didn't have enough experience in battling. If my troops had only continued to
fight, they would have easily beaten back the Krawks, and taken home that prize
of an Eyrie.' Thought Dsupa as he cringed at the pain in his wings once more.
He looked ahead past the trees, and saw the
looming mountain ahead of him, it gave him a good excuse to call a halt, so
landing in front of his command, he called out his orders, "Set up your tents,
and lay out your bags, we have gotten about half way to High Reaches, and I
am calling a break for all you lopsided creatures. We leave at daybreak exactly,
not a minute earlier or later, and lagers won't be tolerated, so be ready. You
are dismissed!" and with that last word, he heard many sighs of aspiration for
being able to take a break. 'Yes,' Dsupa thought, 'they really need to toughen
up.'
So Dsupa walked off to where a couple of hard-faced
Wockys, part of his old command before joining up with Jown, had already set
up his tent, and he walked inside out of the sight of his fellows, and laid
down. Dsupa reached into one of the healing kits, and took out a vile of green
liquid, and poured some of it on his wing wounds. The liquid was made up of
crushed Redwort leaves, a type of weed with strong healing powers.
He closed his eyes as his wings went numb, another
positive affect of the weed. Then, as his wings were treated, Dsupa put away
the vile, and slid the healing kit away. It did best to not let your command
be lessened by letting your troops see you with an injury.
Dsupa thought back to the Eyrie. He did not
seem so strong, so why did Jown want him so badly? It did not matter though,
because Dsupa the Nimmo warlord would complete that simple task sooner rather
then later, and so not only avoid Jown's wrath, but also put a good placement
for himself. "I will lay my claws upon you yet Eyrie," Dsupa said quietly to
himself. "So you had better be ready!"
***
I awoke last in the morning; Zana had left me asleep so that I could save
up my energy, for I would be the one doing all the wing work. I quickly ate
up, and then prepared to depart
I was soon in the air with all four of my friends
upon my back, and headed for home. I just hoped that the wind hadn't blown me
ahead, but luckily there was a strong southward wind current blowing me in the
direction that I wanted.
I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't realize
that I was coming upon the thinning of swamp trees, and thickening of regular
ones until I was right over them. Perhaps that wind current was blowing on the
way in, hence slowing my journey, or perhaps the winds blew me backwards. Whatever
the case, I was actually making it into my home forest a day early instead of
a day late!
I flew past the last trees of the swamp with
a smile upon my beak, I had almost completed my quest, if I was not too late
already, I would save Zarrel and Kowl. Too late, I thought about that, and what
would happen if I was, and then put on a burst of speed, I would go as far as
I could before the sun set.
With the speed that I put on, I managed to make
it to the spot marking Tarnox's grave by sunset, but I was also too tired to
carry on, and so decided to call it a night upon the hill of Tarnox.
"Is that a grave?" Thiowa asked as she disembarked
from my back.
"Yes," I said looking over to the wooden cross,
which sparkled with the sunlight. "It was a good friend of Zarrel Charmain's.
He died protecting her."
"What was he?" Elecwator asked, "Was he a strong
Eyrie like you?"
I laughed at this assumption, "No. Not Tarnox.
He was just an ordinary airax. Well, an ordinary talking airax." And I laughed
at this. Talking petpets were rare, yet both Zarrel and I had a knack for finding
one.
"How did he die?" Heshrou asked looking down
at the reflection his polished sword made with the suns rays.
"It is a long story, one best saved for another
time," I said. "But basically, he died to try and save Zarrel's life. This was
before she met me though, she is the one who told me the tale."
Heshrou nodded, "Well, anyhow, I would like
to get some sleep, for I think that you are close to home now that you recognize
everything."
"Good idea!" agreed Zana lying down, as did
I. We were up to the last stage of the journey, and I would save my partner,
I was sure of it.
We all got up bright and early, and I was in
the air within the hour, and headed for home. I flapped my wings hard, and flew
past familiar objects, and towards the spot where I had disembarked on this
journey.
I had my wings spread wide, and was gliding
in when I saw the spot, and with a squawk of glee, I circled in for the landing.
"Dorono!" I heard a familiar voice cry as I
landed, and there he was, Kirin in his green tunic, and crimson cape, smiling
that I had returned.
"Father!" Zana cried jumping into his arms.
"We did it," she said, and she took out the Flower of Trinifucus. "We really
did it."
"I don't think that there is much time left."
Kirin said breaking away from Zana's hold. "Come Dorono." And with a motion
of his hand, he ran off into the trees with me right behind him.
There she was. Pale like a ghost, but still
breathing. My partner, my friend Zarrel Charmain, and next to her laid a similarly
pale Kowl. "Hand me the flower!" I called, and then taking it in my paw, I pulled
off several petals, and crushed them in my paw.
"Do you know what you are doing?" Heshrou asked
looking at me.
"No," I said shaking my head, "But if this flower
is anything like Redwort, then this would be the way to go." And so upon seeing
the nod of Heshrou, I continued the crushing.
I held the crushed petals up to my beak, and
sniffed the fragrance that came from it, and then I took half of it in my other
paw, and put it into Zarrel's mouth, and the other into Kowl's. "Have them drink
water." I said, "It might help wash the petals down." And so Kirin came by holding
a water skin, and poured some into both their mouths. "I don't know, but you
may have caught this too by now with all your dealings with them." I said pulling
off two more petals and handing them to Kirin. "You should eat some too. Just
to be safe."
"Okay," he said with a tinge of disgust for
eating flower petals. Quickly Kirin popped the stuff into his mouth, but then
he let on a surprised smile. "These actually taste quite good," he said, and
then swallowed the rest.
"Okay," I said looking back down at Zarrel and
Kowl. "Now all we can do is wait for the flower to take its effect."
It was most defiantly not the way you would
see things go in a play. Zarrel did not just sit up with a smile on her face,
and ready to start work as soon as she took the flower. In stead we had to wait
a few hours for the first signs to take place.
We desperately waited to see the signs that
they were coming back to us, so as we say a flutter of eyelashes upon Zarrel,
we practically jumped for joy.
"Zarrel?" Kirin said taking up her paw.
"Kirin," she said weakly. "Dorono. Zana Taru.
You did it." And she coughed a bit.
"Yeah," I said with tears on my face. "I couldn't
leave you, you've never left me."
She smiled. "Kowl? Is he- is he okay?" She asked
with an open mouth.
"I have given him some of the flower. He should
be okay soon," I said, and Zarrel smiled, and then laid back down to rest herself.
***
All went well. In time both Zarrel Charmain and Kowl regained themselves,
though we are not sure how much longer it will be before we go out on another
job. Of course once she regained herself enough to ask about the journey Zana
and I undertook, I had a heck of a time trying to explain. You see, after knowing
me since an egg, the thought of me finding my birth mother must be quite exasperating.
As for Thiowa and Heshrou, the brave warrior
Krawk team. After being introduced to Zarrel and the others, they decided to
take their leave, and like most creatures in this part of the world, found themselves
in Laxcorna, and as I have heard, are now called the Krawk mercenaries.
"Dorono!" I turned to the sound of Zarrel's
voice. It was good to hear her back in her full vigor.
"Yes," I said walking over to her from my spot
on the hillside.
She reached into her tunic, and pulled out a
rolled up scroll. "Put on your sword Dorono, for we have been summoned by an
employer named Terahgo." And she laughed, and slapped my shoulder. It sure felt
great having life return back to normal. Or at least as normal as it ever gets
when you are partner to Zarrel Charmain. The Zafara assassin!
The End
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